Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 10, Number 217, Decatur, Adams County, 10 September 1912 — Page 1

olume X. Number 217.

(ROM THE I FOLKS AWAY Olany Letters Received In- ■ eluding One from J. F. France, a State Official. Bells few old ones Slenator Beveridge, Mr. LanBdis, Myron King and Others of Note Reply. apologies to Poet Walt Mason of Kansas) want our former neighbors who f'.lfo distant places roam, come back to Decatur WAlui make themselves at home' TTI ' doings will be worth your while. A time of festal joys; De caturites are calling you To come and see the boys, fpii 11 hardly know the good old town, She s taken such a brace: streets are paved and street cars whiz AH up and down the place; ■Mur still her heart is true and kind, She wears the same old smil°’ De. :atnrites are calling you To come and stay awhile! Oh. come back home, Decaturites, From every distant shore; ;e hands with this old town again, Slide down her cellar door! The warmest welcome she can give, Your feet this way will coax; De< aturites are calling you, So come and see the folks! Old friends will greet you at the door And cordial hands outreach; Nev friends will give a welcome I warm And tell you you’re a peach, Home-coming Week will surely be Th. gayest of all whirls; Ddcaturites are calling you, So come and meet the girls. > - I ■Peter Tonnelter writes from Benton Ha rbor that tie will renew acquain-• tan< es here during the big week. Mrs. I Ma rion Ellis and daughter of Indian- ■ J apolis have accepted, as B. Broysher off Toledo: Mr. apd Mrs. Will Chris- . ten and Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Ehret of ■Kucktord, Ohio; Mr. and Mrs. Burt Wkicliolds of Coldwater, Mich.,, will be Here and the letter says they like ■fthe slogan; Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Peters! Band Mr. and Mrs. Erman Mentzer of] ® Bluffton are arranging to come, and 'William Bond of Richmond 'has accepted. I, Fre.l Landis, progressive candidate' lor lieutenant governor, of Logans-1 port, says he will come if political en- ] gagements do not interfere. Ex-Sen-*tor Beveridge, candidate for governor on the progressive ticket, writes: “I have referred your letter to the chairman of the speakers' bureau with the request that h p inrluhe in my itinAfMi . this address if possible Myron King, deputy auditor of state, says he will make an earnest effort to aifend the big celebration. ■A Committee is Pleased: e p ,-,f the "Old Home Week’ is pleased over the! great number of happy responses to | the invitations that have been sent. out and regret that it is Impossible to j jgblish them all although knowing] What pleasure is derived by all our| ; People in reading them. The press has been very generous in their space giving to our “Old Home M eek ami ,'Jflßure the people that this generosity will be continued and as many ic plies published as possible. The inflntion committee wishes to impress fWongly on all our people that there. 1S a responsibility resting on them i committee is striving to reach all ler residents with an earnest inion to come back during the i, and the committee Insists that t part of the pleasant labor is be religiously accomplished, but out ile in general must do their part, itne of our former residents are looked and remain uninvited, ■ we run the risk of offending a. of hurting them. This we must do, we don’t want to do. hate no ntion of doing. To be sure, our >le must each see that their re ior friend is not overlooked. Do see the responsibility? Send in es and addresses to to Mr. French m, chairman invitation commit-

DECATUR DALLY DEMOCRAT

tee and write post cards yourself. Letter from J. Fred France. Indianapolis, Sept. 7, 1912. Mr. French Quinn, Chairman, Decatur, Ind.: Dear Friend French:—l have your kind invitation to attend the Homecoming at Decatur October 14-19, and am pleased to know that I was not forgotten as one who formerly made his home in the good old county of Adams Wonderful have been the changes and improvements since I first came to Decatur in 1868 from a farm in Blue Creek township, where we resided from my infancy. While I have been away for twenty years 1 have not forgotten the home of my childhood and for some time after my maturity. No more honest, patriotic and law-abiding citizenship can be found anywhere than that of old Adams. The fertility of the soil, the industry and honesty of her people, the sentiment for improvement, the excellency of her schools, the quality and character of her business men is nowhere surpassed. I remember when a boy just from the farm that soon after our arrival at Decatur, I went down to Old Sammy Flagg’S store and purchased five cents worth cf candy and on my return home Bill Jackson held me up and took my candy, and I ran home frightened and crying, and wished I wa< back on the farm. The next dav Bill came over to our house, just across the street from where Jacksons lived, with much more candy that he had taken, and made an unsuccessful effort to show me what a good joke it was. We afterward became fast friends, fished the St. Mary’s together, swam together in the old “swimmin' hole,” where the Erie railroad bridge stands, quarreled occasionally about who had the most warts on his hands and the most and sorest stone bruises on his feet. I recall the time when 1 had more pluck than sense and undertook to lick John Yager on the walk in front of Byron Thompson's store that stood where the Stone building now stands, and almost before I could close my fist, John's big right paw landed between my eyes and I found myself lying about fifteen feet out in the street, with two swollen black eyes that were visible evidence of contact with a force that spoiled my optics for some time. I never had any inclination to try it over, but have always thought that the vanquished was entitled to an apology from the victor, and perhaps when I come “home” he and I can get together, break a bottle of apolinaris water and when it takes effect he may at least say, that I should be thankful it was not worse. I have never since thought I was built for a prize fighter and I am sure I will never carry another black eye from the same cause, unless the other fellow can catch me. The foundation for my limited education was laid in the old frame school house under instructions from Lydia Bollman. I remember one afternoon when we were seated in the school room all busy with our studies, we were startled by a severe shock that, frightened not only the children, but the teacher, and in a mad and excited rush we fled from the room to find the air filled with debris and to learn that the boilers in the Shackley Wheel company had exploded. Miss Bollman fainted on the walk in the school yard. ! believe she had a brother or some relative who was in the explosion. It was here that Frank Hunchey and Tobasco Burt lost their lives. •The first railroad engine I over saw was during the construction work of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad when a crowd of we small boys walked down to Williams and with our eyes saw the engine glide back and forth over the rails, with our ears heard the toot of the whistle and the escaping steam and the ringing of the bell. I think this was in 1871. Soon after that they reached Decatur in their construction, and the people of the town served a big dinner in the old Dague Stave factory near the present crossing of the Erie over the Grand Rapids road. On the tablet of my memory there are many little incidents recorded of ray boyhood days in the county. How ] pleasant it is to recall these little happenings of our youthful career, ] and how indelibly they are impressed on our memory. | How thankful w.e.should be to the Creator for such a’counly and such a I home Many of us will recall, even | now the thought of the little old bridge or culvert back home, along whose shores our first boy in- ] itials went down in the gritty sand.! We can recall how the old creek used ( to sound as it went rippling over the stonesand pebbles on its way to the | sea-such a bewildering blend of ti(Continued on Page 4)

“DECATUR CAN AND WILL”

Decatur, Indiana. Tuesday Evening. September 10, 1912.

TAPPED THE TILL Harold Newlin, Two Weeks Clerk at Murray House, Tapped the Till. HE GOT THE MONEY But Was Caught With the Goods Before He Made Escape from Town. Harold Newlin, from Indianapolis, for some two weeks the clerk at the Murray hotel in this city, attempted to pull off a novel stunt of disappearance with the firm’s funds Monday afternoon but was effectually caught by s the quick wit and immediate action of Mrs. Charles Murray, who realized his game in the few seconds necessary for action. Nowlin has been in the habit of checking up the cash each day just after dinner and Monday there happened to be about fifteen or twenty dollars in the till, mostly in dimes. He asked for the dimes for making change, and the management allowed him to keep them. Later he absented himself, which was noticed, and inquiry revealed that no one was in charge of the office. Mrs. Murray immediately made inquiries and found that the fellow had gone to his room, packed his belongings and set them on the fire escape. Going out the front way with the cash in his pocket he made his way to the rear and securing his clothes, rushed to the G. R. & I. depot, where the northbound afternoon passenger train was about due. Mr. Murray was notified and he made a quick trip to the depot, where he found Nowlin, and he objecting to return, the officers were called. In the meantime the train pulled in and it was held by the operator until the arrival of the officers that the criminal might not escape. Before the officers arrived Nowlin agreed to come back to the city and on the way up town was met by the officers who accompanied him back to the' Murray house, where he turned over the money, and was checked up and turned loose. He was given orders to get out of town immediately, which he did by going north on the interurban at 4 o’clock.

CLEAN UP TOWN Committee Will Push the Work Along, Backed by City Officials. PROGRAM ARRANGED Every Day of Old Home Week Will be Big One— The Hotel Committee, - - - At a committee meeting of the Oid Home Week association held Monday evening, the question of cleaning up the city was thoroughly discussed and D. M. Hensley named as chairman of the clean up part of the affair. He will name several assistants and they will make every effort to induce the people of Decatur, as a matter of pride, to clean up and fix up their properties, streets and alleys. Dr. J. S. Boyers of the state board of health, addressed the men and gave them some valuable pointers. The city council will probably take some action at the next meeting to assist, it being planned that if the property owners will gather up the dirt, the city will haul it away. A dumping ground will be secured, and if we don’t shine that week it won’t be the fault 6? the managing board, Mr. Hensley or the council. Every man in Decatur should aid in this work. A discussion of the program for the big week resulted in an agreement on the general attractions. On Monday there will be a district convention of Odd Fellows here. It will be settingup day for the attractions and the free exhibitions will be given on that day the same as the others. On Tuesday will come the parade of beet wagons, with Mr. E. M. Wagner as mar-

shal of the day and with John Egis in charge of an additional parade of beet workers. On Wednesday will occur the opening of the sugar factory, on Thursday the automobile parade in charge of O. L. Vance, and it is to a winner. Friday is to he celebrated with a horse show in charge of J. T Myers, who will call to his aid a number of well known horsemen. Prizes will be given in these events and they should prove real features. Added to each day's program will be the free and paid shows, mid-way and other events that will make them busy. There will be a number of speeches by prominent men during the week. Get ready for it by fixing up the oid town so it will look good, for the streets will be filled with strangers every day. E. X. Ehinger has announced the members of a committee which will look after hotel and boarding houses for the strangers. The committee includes Dr. E. G. Coverdale, John Smith, F. A. Peoples and H. J. Yager. o— THE CENTURY LINE Is Neared by Grandma Ferry, Who Celebrates Nine-ty-eighth Anniversary w OF HER BIRTH In a Quiet Way Today at Dr. W. W. P. McMillen Home—Many Greetnigs. The oldest lady in the city, withal Possessed of all her faculties, and in remarkably good health, though somewhat frail, is “Grandma" Ferry, as she is lovingly known or Mrs. C. P. Ferry. She is ninety-eight years old today, and at the home of her son-in-law, Dr. W. W. P. McMillen, with whom she resides, and is tenderly cared for by her grand-daughter Miss Minnie P. Orvis, she is receiving the calls and greetings of her many friends, not only in this city but of others in this country and abroad. Mrs. Ferry is the oldest of five generations, and has five great-great-grand-children. They are: Dora Plank, James and Caroline Morris, and Chauncey Hosier. The last named is the son of Chauncey Hostler, formerly of this city and his wife who was Miss Mazie Boyles, of Fort Wayne, grand-daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Levi Barkley of this'city. They now reside at Logansport. Mrs. Ferry is connected with the early history of Fort Wayne, having gone to that city with her father, Mr. Bourie, in 1814. Os her six children, but one survives, she being Mrs. Eudora Boyles of Fort Wayne. STORK’S VISIT. Frederick is the name of the fine boy baby born to Mr. and Mrs. Zeke Evans on Grant street. Mrs. Evans was Miss Ethel Stettler before her marriage. — o— A CAVALRY TOUR . .w \ Abe Boch and J. W. Meibers Will Accompany State Militia on a Tour. ON ADAMS CO. HORSES Will be Eight-day Trip— Horses Will Then be Taken and Sold. Abe Boch and J. W. Meibeds left this morning on an eight days’ tour with Battery D. of the state militia, at Fort Wayne, Indiana. The battery will make the tour on the one hundred horses gathered from Adams county’s best and brightest by Boch, Meibers and Watson, and Decatur’s name as a horse center will spread throub many cities. The battery include Huntington, South Whitley, Columbia City, Pierceton, and others of that part of the state. After the tour is made, the horse company will gather the horses together and a sale of them will be held.

THE DISTRICT MEET The Odd Fellows Are Getting Enthusiastic Support for Meeting. ON OCTOBER 14TH Will Probably Hold Parade —Five Hundred Men Promise to be Here. The Odd Fellows’ committee which has in charge the arrangements for the district meeting to be held here on October 14th, the first day of the Home-coming week, has had very enthusiastic support from the various lodges of the district and considerable detail for the day’s program has already been dispensed with. At the regular meeting of the lodge held Monday night the arrangements were detailed so that much work conducive to the work in hand might be dispensed with and the communications from the other lodges were handled. Berne lodge, one of the most progressive in the district, will be here with flags flying, and will probably have one hundred to two hundred Odd Fellows in line. Then comes Geneva, with a lively letter, saying that a big delegation will be here, also their degree team for the first degree. This lodge has a record to live up to in putting on the first degree and the members attending the meeting will be regaled with an exemplification of the degree by a team worthy of emulation. Linn Grove will be here, too, and they say they will have a hundred strong. That, with the local lodge, will easily make the five hundred strong expected by the committee and if possible the committee will secure a band and hold a huge parade. All members of the local lodge are ■ urged to be present at the regular ijeeting next Monday night that they may work with the committee In making this one of the best meetings held in the state this year. o HOME FROM COLORADO Ed Johnson is expected home this week from Denver, Colorado, where he spent some time for the benefit of his health. He is somewhat improved. — SHOOTSALLFAMILY Beet Worker Living Across State Line Becomes Enraged With Jealousy OVER REPULSION By Daughter of Richard Marten Home—Shoots Nearly All in Family. Angered because his attentions to a young caugtiter in the family had been spurned, Ernest Verrbeke, a Belgian beet tender, went to the Richard Marten home, twelve miles northeast of the city across the state line, and eight miles northwest of Van Wert at 11 o'clock Sunday night, and finding the familj seated about a table in the front room, with the outer door open, fired two loads from a shotgun at ttie entire group. Practically every member of the family was struck by the shot, and Mrs. Marten is expected to die. Verbeke's lifeless body was found a short distance front the house, with a load of shot in the region of the stomach, when an investigation of the premises was made by the sheriff early Monday morning. The love-crazed man had dashed from the Marten doorway, ran but a short distance, reloaded the weapon and ended his own life. The shots struck Mrs. Marten its the back, and her condition is regard ed by physicians as critical and practically hopeless. Miss Bertha Marten, agend twenty years, with whom Verrbeke was in love, and who had ordered him to stay away from her home, was struck in the face and throat, but she is expected to recover. Miss Clara Marten, aged twelve, is suffering from gun shot wounds in the foot,

and Camlel Alleeme, a guest at the Marten home, was struck in the nose and head. The Marten family came to this vicinity from New Hampshire and have been prosperous in their farming pursuits. The family is highly respected and since their residence here have become very wen Known. The attempt to end the lives of the entire family by Vcrbeke has stirred the community intensely. Verrbeke was twenty-five years old, and had worked around in the fields near the Marten home for years. Recently he had been working on a farm adjoining that of Marten's and it was but lately that he received a refusal of his attentions to Miss Bertha Marten. o WAS LAID TO REST In Beautiful St. Joseph Cemetery —Funeral Services for Anthony Conter. AT ST. MARY’S CHURCH Father Wilken Gives Requiem High Mass—Large Concourse Attended. It was a large concourse of sorrowing relat'.TrfS and friends of the late Anthony Conter, who gathered at the St. Mary’s Catholic church at 8:30 this morning, when the funeral services for this young man were held. Rev. Father Wilken officiated at the requiem higii mass, which was most beautiful in its solemnity, and following, delivered a sermon, which in its tenderness and beautiful simplicity was a sincere tribute in the highest degree to the youth who had lived the life of what Father Wilken knows to be that of a model young man, and one of the best that has ever lived in his parish, and whose goodness must be a source of great consolation to the sorrowing father, Peter Conter, and the sisters in their bereavement. He told of the piety of the boy from a lad in school to manhood, of his service as an altar boy in the holy place of the church, and then of his determination to enter the priesthood, which he was sorrowfully obliged to relinquish on account of heart trouble, which finally resulted in his death last Saturday evening, September 7th. That his piety was real and sincere was manifest because of its unchanging quality from the convent through life after he had entered the world, and his life was specified as one worthy of emulation. “Watch and pray; for ye know not the hour.” was Rev. Wilken's text, a most appropriate one in this instance, and he spoke of the preparation in which all should hold themselves for the final summons. The St. Aloysius sodality of which Mr. Conter was a member attended in a body, and the large church was filled with those with whom he had been associated closely through life, and by all of whom he was beloved. Pall bearers were Benin rd Terveer STul Frank Bremerkamp, two of his classmates; Fred Fullenkamp, Her bert Ehinger, Alph Volmer and Chas, Lose. Tins young ladles of his class, including Celeste Wetnhoff, Bertha Kinney, Mrs. Agnes Schaub, Mrs, Celeste Neptune and Anna Clark served as flower bearers, and carried the many beautiful floral offerings which had surrounded his casket while the body lay In state al the home, a touching reminder of the esteem and love for him, for scarcely has the floral offering been so large and beautiful for any one. The body was laid to rest in the family lot on the shady hill in the St. Joseph cemetery. Among out-of-town relatives present were: Mrs. T. C. Bixler and son, Joseph; Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Babcock, of Muncie; John Moran, Defiance, Ohio; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Conter. New Beilin, Ohio; Mrs. A. A. Arnold, Fort Wayne; H. L. Conter, Indianapolis. Card of Thanks. Peter Conter and daughters wish in thlS way to extend their sincere thanks to all who helped them so kindly and in all ways during their late bereavement, in the death of their beloved son and brother, An- i thony Conter. ———<j i Alonzo Runyon of Linn Grove caught a three-pound catfish and has i pictures of himself and the catfish on : exhibition. <

Price, Two Cents.

PRAISED TRUSTS Mr. Beveridge Had Good Words for Steel and Harvester Corporations. IS AGAINST OTHERS Is Unfair Also in His Words Concerning Legislature —ls a Partisan, Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 10—(Spec- ’ ial to Daily Democrat)—The delivery by Beveridge of his keynote speech is accepted in Indianapolis as a signal for a campaign of misrepresentation and the suppression of facts similar to that sounded by Watson on behalf of the republicans. The sacreligious singing of hymns and the mingling of the sacred features of religion with the fight for the pie of patronage make a new era in the history of Indiana politics. The democrats have merely smiled at the effrontry and suggested that George Perkins is the only “angel” known to the Indiana bull moosers, but the republicans have been inclined to discuss the personalities of candidates with a freedom that Is amazing. A few features . of the Beveridge speech have been , freely discussed during the last twen-ty-four hours, but none so much as bis tribute to the steel trust and the Har--1 vester trust, both of which he had • the audacity to praise for their treat- . ment of their men. The fact that lit- ■ tie children are worked under vicious . conditions by the harvester trust of ■ which his friend Perkins is the finan- ; cial chairman, and that the report of ■ the commissioner of corporations shows that the men of the steel mills I are worked as much as 14 x and 18 i hours a day and thousands of them I seven days in the week lead many to I believe that Beveridge would refrain i from his customary tribute to these i monopolies. Th.e fact that he didn’t is taken by the far-seeing as additional evidence of the source of the slush fund he has at his disposal. The former senator is being severely criticized for his treatment of the work of the legislature which passed more laws for the benefit of humanity than nny for years. He failed to men tion the law against child labor passed by the democrats; the law providing for trade and industrial schools; the law regulating the sale of cocaine; the Resolution ratifying and adopting in behalf of Indiana the income tax; and the passage of the "Corrupt Practice Act.” The great point of his speech was that something must be done for the children, but he had no praise for the democratic legislature for the passage of the following measures in behalf of the childrenThe law prohibiting and regulating child labor. The law providing for the adoption of dependent and homeless children. The law to prevent blindness in infant children. > -g The iaw providing f or medical inspection in the schools. His appeal to labor for its support was not coupled with any praise of the democrats for the passage of the law abolishing the fellow servant and assumption of risk rules, and making employers liable for injury to their employees, caused either by the negligence of the employer or his servants. He failed to mention the law requiring the weekly payment of wages in all the manufacturing and mining pursuits. He omitted all reference to the democratic law establishing the Home Bureau of inspection which provides for the inspection of buildings, factories, workshops, mines and boilers and compels the establishment of safe and sanitary appliances, etc. The law defying dangerous employments and providing for the safety of persons employed therein, and the' law giving mechanics a lien for their labor, both passed by the democratic' legislature, and scores of other humanitarian measures, were utterly ignored. Q . __ Mrs. Joshua Parrish of this city has laid claim to one pair of the shoes offered by the enterprising Geneva merchant in that she has lived in this county continuously from her birth, which occurred February 9, 1839. or seventy-four years past. Mrs. Parrish is still hale and hearty and is enjoying the best of health.