Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 14, Number 309, Decatur, Adams County, 30 December 1916 — Page 1

Wolunie XIV. Number 309.

Allies refuse f TO TALK PEACE Allies Formally Declined to | Discuss Peace With Germany in Note ■ISSUED AT PARIS ■Charges Germany With ReI fusal to Talk Peace When |i Offered by Allies. (United Press Service) Paris. Dec. 30—(Special to ■ Daily Democrat) —The allies to- ■ day formally refused to enter ■ peace negotiations with Ger- ■ many without knowing what ■ conditions the Teutonic powers I have to propose. The note of the allies replying I to Germany, as announced this letening. charges that the GerI man proposal appears more like I a war measure than a peace - I proposition. The allies expressed their reI sentment of the effort of GerI many to place upon them reI sponsibility for the war. The ' (Continue., on Para 1.) I WAS BIG SUCCESS | Auto Day Attracted Crowd of Thousands to Decatur —Band Was Out. EVERYBODY HAPPY I i j Mrs. Dye Ferguson, Blue ' ■ Creek Township, Presented With Ford car.

Auto Day was a success, from every point of view. The crowd was one of the largest in Decatur in many months and it was a good-natured crowd, every one of which recognized the fact that the business men of this city were alive and anxious to meet them half way. The Decautr city band furnished the music, everybody met everybody, the judges selected James Touhey as the headliner, while John Spuller, the well known auctioneer, made the announcements. The business houses enjoyed a splendid trade and the monthly business days will be continued by the merchants. Mrs. Dye Ferguson of Blue Creek township was presented with a Ford ear as a gift from the merchants of Decatur in general and the M. E. Hower grocery in particular. The next Auto Day is Saturday, January 27. COURT HOUSfe NEWB. The case of Edwin C. Vaughn vs. D. Hostetter, on account, demand 5355, was received here in change of venue from the Wells circuit court. Heal estate transfers: Margaret Ann Hamrick to David E. Bolinger, one acre, $l2O. The various county offices were closed this afternoon for the making the year’s reports by the various officers.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR. Jim A. Hendricks, county road sul*rintendeut. and one of the fellows who know how a printer loves to smoke, slipped in today and presente<l us a box of White Stags, with a Happy New Year wish, and out again before we had the chance to thank him. We Bure W ish Jimmy the same, a nd lots of it. ' o-— SHOE STORES WILL CLOSE The Peoples & Gerke, Charlie Voglewede, Chas Elzey and Winnes Shoe stores will be closed all day Monday °n account of New Years. BERNSTEIN’S STORE TO CLOSE I Bernstein announces that the s, ore will be closed all day Monday °n account of New Year’s.

DEC ATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

receives fine oranges County Aszeszor Wm. Frazier Gets Crate From Sun. Tho orange that county Ajwmrof I William Frailer and family will have | for New Years will be the real kind, »ig as a foot ball, luscious, juicy and sweet, fresh from the Florida orange groves Mr. Frazier has received a crate of .the fruit from his son. William Frazier, who went to Indian River ( ity, Florida, five weeks ago. | That there is all the difference in the world between fruit plucked ripe from the trees and that taken green, and sent here to ripen, can be attested by the writer who was given a sample of the Frazier fruit.

SMALL JTIIKES Strikes in the Switching Yards Believed to be the Most Likely. IF TRAINMEN BREAK And Attempt to Force Railroads to Observe the Adamson Law. (United Pi>rr Service) New York, Dec. 30—(Special to the ’Daily Democrat)— Strikes, if any, take place in the large switching yards of larger cities are believed the most likely as a result of the refusal of the railroads to immediately adopt the Adamson eight hour law. The yards south of New York and in New England are not involved. This was the information received by the New

York Central and other trunk lines. Washington, Dec. 30—(Special to Daily Democrat)—Senator Newlands, chairman of the inter-state commerce commission, believes the presidents > proposed railroad legislation will be put through congress in time to avoid oj>en rupture, through trouble that again seems to be growing between the four big brotherhoods and the railroad executives. Newlands admits some congressional leaders think the situation contains serious possibilities, ■ o HAS GONE TO TOLEDO Miss Marguerite Gerard has joined her mother and sister, Miss Irene Gerard at Toledo and will in all probability make that city her future home. Miss Garard was for a good many years the stenographer at the Bowers Realty Office. Her many friends iu this city regret very much her leaving. COMMITTEE CLOSES FUND At a meeting of the muncipal Christmas tree committee last night it was determined to devote the unused balance on hands to charity and to close up the business to date. Unless more interest is shown than was the case this year, no further municipal trees will be had.

BEN HURS ELECT ■ ■ ' Mrs. Olen Baker Succeeds Clayton Schafer as Chief of Lodge. THE NEW STAFF Other Officers Will be Appointed Later to Take Places for the Year. The Ben Hurs held their regular election of officers last evening. They are: Chief—Mrs. Olen Baker. Past Chief—Clayton Schafer. Judge—Mrs. Cota Worden. Teacher —Fem Henoeisen. Scribe—Mrs. A. D. Artman. Keeper of Tribute —Mrs. Emma ■ Burk. i Captain—Naomi Cramer. ’ Guide —Harry EarehardL Inner Guardian —Mrs. Mary Cramer. Outer Guardian—Mrs. Rosa Ray. Pianist —Mrs- Goldie Close. ■ Janitor —John Burk. Other officers will be appointed later.

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday Evening, December 30, 1910.

BURIAL SUNDAY Services for William Erwin, Cousin of Dore and Dan, Will be HELI) ON SUNDAY From Residence West of 1 ort Wayne—Death from Blood Poisoning. Funeral services for William Erwin. a resident of the old Erwin homestead, six miles west of Fort Wayne, will be held Sunday afternoon at two o'clock from the residence, Rev. Guild officiating, and Harmony I. O. O. F. lodge in charge of services at Lindenwood. The deceased was a son of the late Richard K. Erwin, sr.. and death resulted Thursday night at Hope hospital, Fort Wayne, where he had been suffering for two weeks from blood poisoning, developed from an injury. He was a cousin of Dore B. and Dan Erwin of this city. Surviving relatives include the widow, one son. Harold, the aged mother, four sisters, Mrs. J. C. Murchland, of Monroeville; Mrs. J. S. Bird, of Angola; Mrs. N. B. Kennedy and Mrs. E. E. Wilkinson of Ft. Wayne, the latter being a graduate nurse at Hope hospital, and three brothers, R. K. Erwin, jr., D. F. Erwin and James S. Erwin of Fort Wayne.

THREE ARE HURT Decatur Teams Badly Used in Tri-Series of Games Last Night. BEERY WORST HURT Having His Right Eye Badly Bruised in Collision —Others Hurt. In a hard fought series of battles I scheduled as basket ball, but evincing j every known foot-ball tactic in prac- : tice, three Decatur teams were badly defeated by visitors, three players were injured and numerous substitutions had to be made in order to continue the games, at the tri-series of games at the Weber hall last night. In the teachers game against the ■ Magley Independents the score of 37 to 19 in favor of the visitors showed how fast the playing was. In the early part of the last half a collision, in I which Beery had his eye seriously injured, broke Decatur’s machine like

action, giving the visitors a chance to pile up a lead. Several previous efforts to foul Beery were frustrated. In the first teams game with Bluffton, Linn went into the game with a broken foot. The score in this game was twenty two to thirty favoring Bluffton. The local boys fought hard thes first half, but could not put over enough scores in the last half. Monroe substituted their first team in competition with the Decatur second team and as a consequence overpowered the little fellows here by brute strength, the score here was 14- ! 18 favoring Monroe.

MEETS NEXT TUESDAY. Program for W. M. S. of the Reformed church, which meets Tuesday. January 2, with Mrs. F. Reppert, on North Second street: Devotional—Mrs. B. Elzey. The Beginnings of the Reformed Church in the United States—Mrs. H. Moyer. Presentation and Aim of Text Book on Home Missions —Mrs. L. Stolte. Questions for discussion: 1. What great purpose influenced the explorers of the fifteenth century? 2. To which of the early Spanish explorers does America owe the most? 3. Name and tell of five early explorers. 4. What was the attitude of the Indians toward their conquerors? 5. Why did Spanish efforts fail in the new world? G. What do Spanish failures in the I nineteenth century spell for the U. S.? Business meeting.

broke left leg Bernard Brown, residing five 'miles southwest of the city while getting some timber down from a pile -his morning had the misfortune to have a piece fall on his leg fracturing the left le gbetween the knee and ankle. Dr. D. D. ('lark was called and ml the fracture. STILL BORN CHILD A still born child was horn to Mr. and Hrs. Merris Rchwartzwood residing In the old court house, onu First street, today? Funeral services will be held privately. Another similar case is reported to have occurred in the west part of the city but the death certificate has not been handed to county Health officer Costello yet. FIRE 'FROM TREE Will Butler Home Had Narrow Escape Last Night When The Tree TREE CAUGHT FIRE Dining Room and Its Contents Nearly a Total Loss —A Bad Fire.

One of the first Christmas tree fires of serious consequences, in several years in the city, occurred last evening at 5 o'clock, at the Will Butler home on Eighth street, when nearly the entire contents of the dining room of the newly remodeled home were damaged. Mrs. Butler and daughter. Monai. were at home alone at the time. The little girl was near the tree in the dining room, which had just been lighted, when the tree and the paper decorations caught fire from a candle. The blaze ran like wild fire, stripping the large resinous tree, running along the streamer decorations to all parts of the room, burning the wall paper, and the woodwork, the carpets, the top of the table, chairs, and breaking the window glass, and ruining the entire room, except dishes in the china closet. Some of the woodwork can be sandpapered and used again, but much must be replaced with new. The damage cannot be fully estimated, but will not be less than S2OO. The fire was finally put out, without a call to the fire department, excitement being so great that they forgot to put in a call, confining their ef(Continned on Page z >

SHY OF_THE JAIL Fear of Penal Farm and Hard Work Makes Inmates at County Jail UNKNOWN QUANTITY Only Seventy-four in Past Year —Two Hundred Fifteen Year Before. That Adams county is approaching the millenium at a rapid pace is evidenced by the report of Sheriff Ed Green and his deputy, L. D. Jacobs, for the year. It shows that there were only sev-enty-four prisoners in the county jail during the past year. This is in strong contrast to the report of the year 1915, when there were two hundred and fifteen.

The officers attribute the falling off to the state penal farm. The fear of being finally sent there to work, instead of finding snug, warm quarters, | with good food and an easy time in i jail, steers the otherwise-would-be-of | fender into the straight and narrow path, according to their belief. The jail census for the two years, according to months, is herewith■ given: 1915 1916 | January 7t > | February 27 <1 March 20 6 April 22 7 . May 22 7 June 75 4 July 11 11 August 17 8 September 20 5 October 17 1 November 20 5 December 74 5

ILL SHORT II E Mrs. Belinda Harrod, Mother of Mrs. Paul Hooper, Died in Fort Wayne FRIDAY AFTERNOON From Pleurisy—A Brief Illness—Was Eighty-four Years Old. | Mrs. Belinda Harrod, aged 84 years, widow of lhe late Mqrgan Harrod. i died at 2 o’clock Friday afternoon at I the home of a son. Dr. Morse Harrod. 834 Each Washington street. Death was due to an attack of pleurisy and followed a brief illness. The deceas- ! ed was born in Ohio and was a resident of Fort Wayne for the past ten years. Surviving her are the following children: Dr. Morse Harrod. Clark E. an<l Sherman Harrod, all of Fort Wayne; Mrs. Paul Hooper and Lila Harrod, of Decatur, Ind.; Mrs. R. B. Lipes and Mills Harrod of Morristown. S. D.; J. R. Harrod, of Charlotte. Mich., and Marion Harrod. Mrs. Harrod was a member of the First M. E. church. Funeral services will be held Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the residence.—Fort Wayne Journal-Gazete.

PEftNUTBUTTER Dr. Barnard Advises More Widespread Use of Peanut Butter. IN AMERICAN HOMES Is Clean, Wholesome Food, Heavy With Fats and Protein, and Cheap. (By Dr. H. E. Barnard, Pure Food and Drug Commissioner for Indiana) (Written for the United Press.) Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 30—The oldtime circus popularized lemonade and peanuts. The first nickel a small boy 1 passed over the counter for a bag of peanuts made him a peanut lover for life. But peanuts have bopularly been classed as a disapation rather than real food. Within the last few years, however, the peanut has come into its own. Peanut butter was first manufactured as a food for invalids but it was too good to remain long on the medicine shelf and the article soon came into common use. especially among those who prefer a vegetable diet as a substitute for meat.

Peanut butter is a very simple preparation. The peanuts are freshly roasted and then finely ground and salted to suit the taste. Some manufacturers saw in this ground-up material a chnce to work in shriveled nd culled peanuts. But it is no more possible to make good peanut butter out of poor peanuts than it is to make good butter out of bad cream and the present commercial article is carefully made from hand-picked nuts. Peanuts are a very rich food, high in proteins and fats. They also contain considerable starch and their content of mintral salts is quite sufficient for the needs of the body . Let the children have all the peanuts they want. They are getting good food at a moderate price, and if hunger comes between meals a peanut butter sandwich is always easy to get and strong in staying qualities.

POSTOFFICE CLOSED The postoffice will be closed _ajl .lay j Monday with the exception that the i general delivery window will be open 1 between the hours of eight and nine. I The city carriers will make one complete trip comencing at seven-thirty ■o’clock and there will be no rural ' route service. Rural route patrons may have their mail by calling at the , | general delivery window. ——o — ARMY MEN HOME ! Several Decatur boys who were ser- ■ ving in the Third Indiana regiment arj rived home this morning and were I meeting old friends on the streets to■;day.

BONUS IS GIVEN. Well* Fargo Express Company Favors Employee*. C. F. Brooks, local Wells Fargo Ex-1 press agent, has received word from the company, of a. bonus to he given which affects the two employees here. 1 Mr. Brooks and his driver, Ivan Baker. The bonus Is given to those In continuous service for the company a year or more, and receiving two thousand! dollars salary a year, or less. The I bonus is equal to a month’s salary! and is payable, beginning January i first, in four quarterly installments. For those now in employment under a year, the bonus will be effective at the time they have completed a year’s service.

nine Per Cent of Christmas Mail Was Delivered by Government Before Date. FIGURES INCOMPLETE Two and One-half Pounds of Mail Per Capita Was Handled by Mail Men. Washington, Dec. 29 —In spite of | weather conditions that tied up trains I and crippled local delivery arrange- ! inents in hundreds of cities, reports toj i the postoffice department indicate that 99 per cent, of this year’s record-! j breaking budget of Christmas mail, ini eluding 125.000,000 parcels and many - millions of holiday letters and car ls : was delivered on or before Christmas, ! oay. Tile tremendous hulk of mail matter-

| turned over to the service for trans-j j portaton and delivery in the two [ weeks before Christmas was equivalent. Postmaster General Burleson ! pointed out tonight, “to fully 2< 2 i I pounds of parcel mail for every man, j woman and infant in the land.’’ That i would require use of 1,000 full mail cars, carrying ten tons each during the two weeks period. Reports on December stamp sal<-s i relied on to show definitely the volume of Chrstmas traffic as compar’d: to other years, are not yet complete, but department officials estimate that postage receipts for the month will not total less than $18,000,000. Last December 15 and 25 exceeded those of the same period last year by 43 J per cent, and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and other cities of that: section reported that previous records had been far outstripped. From other sections, too, many large increases were reported. At Indian.i---j polls and St. Louis the total was about twice that of a year ago; at. Newark the increase was 35 per cent., at Chicago and Cleveland 27 per cent at Philadelphia 25 per cent, and at New York 20 per cent. MRSLUTZWORSE Experienced Another Heart Attack Wednesday at St. Petersburg, Fla. WILL COME HOME Just as Soon as Doctors Say She Mav Stand Trip is *

Word Received Here. Mrs. Jean Lutz Smith has received word from her father. Attorney C. J. Lutz, at St. Petersburg. Fla., that his I wife has been worse for some time | and that they will return home just I as soon as the doctors pronounce her able to stand the trip. Mr. and Mrs. Lutz went south seven or eight weeks ago in the hope thatj I Mrs. Lutz’ health would be benefited. , Three or four of the best specialists i have been secured, but contrary to, expectations, she does not Improve; as desired. Last Wednesday she ex ' i perienced another bad attack of the ‘ • I heart. ’ i It is expected that her physicians ■! will know in severel days when they j can begin the trip home again.

Price, Two Cents

LITTLE BELGIUM Army of Outraged Nation , is Standing Behind Watery Barriers. READY FOR FIGHT Has More Artillery Per Capita Than Any Other European Army. —

(By Henry Wood, United Press Cor. respondent) New York. Dec. 30, (with King Albert s Army in Belgium jr, . (Special to Daily Democrat)—Behind barriers of water that are more impassable than the strongest barbed wire entanglements, the Belgian army is holding its part of the western battle front and trainnig and waiting for the day when more of Belgium can be wrested from the enemy. The Belgium army which now holds all of Belgium not in German’s hands, is situated in perhaps the most unique fighting position of any of the belligerent forces. It is out of fighting touch with the enemy, except for I artillery fighting. For the most part ■ the Germans are a mile distant and—intervening, in place of No Man’s Land is No Man’s Water. The Belgium system of “inundating deI fences" through the river Yser, the i Yser canal and various inundated districts puts an unique harrier between lhe two forces. Thanks In part to the allies’ help and in part to Belgium’s own indomitable spirit, and the industry of her people. King Albert’s army will not be obliged to suffer this winter the hardships and privations that fell to its lot during the first two winters

of the war. The Belgian army has been completely re-equipped and outfitted. In part the equipment has been furnished by the allies, yet a goodly position is due to the Belgian themselves. They have established numerous factories not only on the Belgians' soil left them, but also • in eastern France. These factories not only supply the troops bu~ give employment to thousands of Belgian refugees. Thanks to the efficiency of their water barriers, the Belgians aro not subject to German infantry attacks. They have to withstand only artillery firing—and they are now equopped to give adequate answer to this sort of combat. They have constructed dugouts and other shelters and with their new equipment, the army will be able to keep reasonably warm, dry anil comfortable. while manning the dikes along which their first line of defenses run. The Belgians are perfecting their army. The cavalry has been entirely remounted —almost without exception on American horses purchased in Texas. That portion of Belgium which remains in possession of the Belgian army doesn't offer satisfactory grounds for cavalry drill. Therefore the various Belgian cavalry divisions take turns in drilling on the French cavalry grounds, keeping up to the highest standard of efficiency while waitnig for the time when they can participate in the redemption of Belgian soil. The artillery branch lias likewise been developed to a point where the i Belgians can boast of perhaps the most formidable artillery strength of i any army of its size in the world. No small contribution was made to the artillery of the Belgians by the Germans themselves. When as a last resource in the fightipg of 1914 ; the Belgians opened the floodgates j that inundated great portions of their soil, the Germans had to beat such a hasty retreat that they abaailoned

heavy and high artillery. W. A. KUKELHAN DISABLED William Kukelhars. oi Root towti.udp well known stockman is disabled oa account of a very bad fracture of the right leg. Both bones of the lower leg, were broken about an inch abov* the ankle in a fall, which he susta tied Wednesday when he slipped on th«* i ice, as he was nearing his residence I on a trip from the barn. MRS CLEMENTS DEAD The M. Fullenkamp and Bosom I stores have received word of the I death of the wife of .1. H. Clements, of Richmond, well known traveling salesman for years for the Edson Moore Company of Detroit, Mich. <-If. j Clements is well known here.