Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 21, Number 188, Decatur, Adams County, 9 August 1923 — Page 1

Volume XXI. Number 188.

government of 11, S. MOVES TO mandntonight a|| Officials Board Morning Train To Attend Harding Funeral impressive FAREWELL President Coolidge Postpones All Matters Os State Until Return - - ( By Paul R. Mallon, United Press staff correspondent) Temporary White House, Willard Hotel, Washington, D. C„ Aug. 9— (Special to Daily Democrat)—The national government of the United States moves tonight to Marion. O. Executives, judicial and administrative leaders of the sorrowing nation will board a mourning train to carry the deep reverence of their people to Warren G. Harding in the little town where he will be buried. | His vice president, now the nation’s chief executive, his supreme court, his senate, his house of repre | sentatives, his officials and his friends will travel far— abandoning the necessities of government —to bow their heads while his body is I lowered into the grave. The government traiin leaves at 10 p. m., and will arrive at Marion, Friday. Farewell Was Impressive The farewell of the capital to the body of Mr. Harding was the most impressive ceremony of the heartrend'ng 19 hours the remains were here. The last journey of the boly of Mr. Harding in Washington was made down from the capitol to the station through an endless aisle of white sailors and khaki soldiers. Mr, Coolidge and the Harding cabinet—which he is lor the present, at least, retaining. stood with hats crossed upon their breasts while the same marine band that greeted the body the night before bade it farewell in the stirring rhythm of Lead Kindly Light. The sound welled through the great concourse at the station, mingling with the rumbling of trains while Mr. Coolidge and the cabinet stood in sorrow’. The president returned to the Willard hotel where he has his temporary offiie and home and dressed for dinner. President Deeply Grieved The president is deeply grieved and does not wish to be bothered witii matters of state until he returns from the funeral servires at Marion to take up vigorously the impending questions of the nation. Action of Mr. Coolidge in the anthrarite coal situation is eagerly awaited. The observers believe he will not hesitate to seize the mines in a master stroke to safeguard the country against an anthracite strike, if the miners and operators fail to agree on a wage scale by Sept. 1. The bonus adherents are confident that he will urge through the senate a soldier bonus bill which has been tarrying there so long. They point to his signing the first bonus bill passed by a state legislature. The farm bloc has signified its confidence in Mr. Coolidge’s stand on farm credits, and leaders of the various other groups are without fear. As Senator Willis, Ohio, points out, there was never before a vice President who entered office with such great confidence of varying people throughout the land. —“— o marriage licenses Arthur \V. Coble, barber ,of Fort M ayne, age 25 years to Cleo Beavers, ‘acher, Decatur, age 21 years.

Court House Custodian Plans Memorial Program

A large heart, representing the leading heart of the nation in mournlng tor President Warren Harding, W 'N be placed above the entrance of 'be Adams County Court House Friday morning. by James D. Stults, '■nstodian of the court house. The boll in the court house tower will he tolled fifty-eight times, a tap for each year of the late president’s age at ° ne minute before three o’clock and 'be solemn echoes will remind all that

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

G. E. Road Bonds Are Offered For Sale Today The bonds for the construction of the G. E. macadam road were offered for sale today, but at noon a bid had not been received. The Issue is for *20,840.00. The money derived from the sale of the bonds will be used ir, building the O. E. road, west from th< north line of North Seventh street, across the G. 11. & 1. .tracks to th*, corporation line at the intersectior of the Erie railroad tracks. A ntv her of street intersections will also be improved. The entire length of the road is two and one-half miles. M. E, RALLY WAS A FINE SUCCESS Large Attendance And Good Addresses At County Rally Yesterday A total of 207 people attended the Adams county Methodist rally held at Bellmont Park yesterday. All but I two of the eight Methodist charges in the county were represented at the rally. None were present from Pleas'ant Mills and the Geneva circuit. Leaders in the movement were well pleased over the result of the rally which was the first ever attempted in this county. It was suggested yesterday that a county organization be effected and the rally made an annual affair. This will likely be done, it is said. A feature of the rally yesterday was an orchestra composed of more than fifty musicians from the vicinities of Monroe and Geneva. The famous Northern Indiana Conference male quartet, composed of ministers in the conference was present and enter- , tained the audience with several se- , lections. This quartet is composed of . the Rev. Dan Guild, of Garrett; the . Rev. Fred F. Thornburg, of Elkhart; i the Rev. V. L. Clear, of Freemont; and . the Rev. Earl Nastzger. of Winona i Lake. Rev. Clear has filled the vai cancy created by the death of the ; Rev. Leslie Nastzger, who died a few ■ years ago. A bounteous basket dinner, consist- ’ ing of fried chicken and dozens of ; other good things, was served at the ’ noon hour. In the afternoon addres--1 ses were delivered by Dr. Harry A. King, superintendent of the Indian- ’ apolis district; Rev. .1. D. Coppes, of ’.Nappanee; Rev. F. Thornburn, of Elkhart, former pastor of the Decatur church; Dr. W. W. Martin, superintendent of the Port Wayne district; * Rev. Clear, of Freemont; and others. *| Dr. Earl Nastzger and his wife 4 1 are evangelists and they will be in 1 Decatur to assist in the evangelistic ’ campaign at the First Methodist i church on November 4. Rev. Nastz- ' i ger made a short address yesterday. ’ Mrs. Fred Frye, of the Simpson church 5 of Fort Wayne, made a talk on Woman’s work. Rev. Clear sang a solo, } "Open the Gates." Most of the Meth- ’ odist pastors in the county were represented at the meeting. t • . i Good Community Meeting t 1 The Union Township Community club held an interesting meeting at 4 the Kohr schoo’ Tuesday evening and * in spite of the extremely hot weather s the room was well filled. Henry 1 Blakey, Jr., delivered an address on 8 * the merits of education and Dore B Erwin, of Decatur, spdke on the form i ation of good citizenship. Motion pictures showing home water systems were shown by the county agen'. Sing ing and regular business also made t up part of the program. C. S. Mum t, ma, chairman of the organization, pre sided at the meeting.

I the last sad rites are being held at [ Marion, Ohio, over the body of the I ’ twenty-ninth president of the United' States. The above program was Mr.! Stults' own idea and he is to be coni-1 . tion as a mark of respect to the presii dent. Business in Decatur and mended for his. thoughtful consideraAdams county will halt for one hour I at three o'clock, the hour of the fun : eral services at Marion, Ohio.

' » Officials of Old Adams County Bank / | \ pr f IjMI ‘Mils' 'I" 'Aa $ w r Ost 7 KI .AdfcttU WKWwIw t C. S. NIBLICK, president E. X. Ehinger. cashier G. T. BURK, vice-president

At the annual election of officers of the Old Adams County Bank held in this city Tuesday afternoon the above men were unamiously elected officers of the bank. Mr. Niblick

ROTARIANS TO HOLD MEMORIAL — Memorial Services To Follow Regular Luncheon This Evening The Rotarians will meet this evening at G:ls and following the regular luncheon, memorial services in memory of president Warren G. Harding will be held. President Harding was a Rotarian, being a member of, the Marion. .Ohio, and Washington. D. C„ clubs. The address which pres- j ident Harding delivered at the International convention of Rotary held at St. Louis on June 18th to June 22nd will be read this evening. The presi-! dent's address was printed in the August number of the Rotary maga-1 zine and it is numbered among the best addresses delivered by the late president. Dr. Fred Patterson who attended the convention, being a delegate of the Decatur club, heard the president. Mr. Patterson is probably i the last person in Adams county to see President Harding alive. ARNOLD BUYS | OIL PROPERTY J. F. Arnold Purchases 17 Wells, And Equipment Os Black Panther Company James F. Arnold, of this city, purchased the oil property, including 17 wells, tanks and equipment, of the Black Panther Oil company, northwest of Marion, at receiver’s sale yesterday. Mr. Arnold paid SB,OOO for the property. The farm owned by the Black Panther company was disposed of in three pieces, the Muncie Reality company purchasing 366 acres. The other sections were purchased by S. Simons, of Jalapa, and Forrest Henry, of Marion, the farm bringing approximately $25,000. Suit legislation for a receiver was filed iu the Jay circuit court several weeks ago by Floyd Kenyon, of Portland. former manager of the company. Mr. Arnold very likely will pull the 17 oil wells and dismantle the equipment, it was stated at his office here I today. The 17 wells have produced a total of approximately three and one half barrels of oil per day for the last | nine months according to the statement of the pumpers. There is so much water in the wells that thousands of gallons must be pumped before the oil is reached, it is said. The wells have been in operation for about six years. The equipment on the property ts . first class, it is said. There was as much equipment on the 17 wells 'as there is on many leases where there are many more wells, it is said. The casing in the wells can be used again, it is thought.

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, August 9, 1923.

has been connected with the bank for 41 years, while Mr. Ehinger has seen 27 years of service back of the eoun ter, being cashier for twenty years. Mr. Burk has been on the board oi

HOAGLAND TILE MILL DESTROYED — Fire Early Yesterday Morning Caused A Loss Estimated At $25,000 Flames, believed to have startei. in the boiler room of the L. P. Hart zell Tile mill at Hoagland, destroyer that establishment about 3:30 o'clock yesterday morning with a loss esti mated by firemen at $25,000. An appeal for aid was sent to Ft . Wayne firemen soon after the fire was discovered and the wagon and engine from No. 4 engine house house was sent at one to the scene, but before they could reach the blaze the mill had been reduced, to little,' more than a pile of smouldering ashes | The flames spread rapidly from tin , frame structure and fanned by a higl i wind, soon completely covered the place, sending showers of live embers I so high into the air that most of them j were carried completely over the I town to die in outlying fields. Resii dents of the village assisted in fight l , ing the flames and farmers residing several miles were attracted by the | spectacular blaze. CITY WILL PAY FINAL TRIBUTE Work To Stop At 3 O’clock Tomorrow While Deceased President Is Honored Tomorrow afternoon Decatur will pay her respects to Warren G. Hard ing, late president of the United States. Work and all forms of bus iness will cease and bells will he tolled, while hundreds bow their heads in prayer. •Plans for the union memorial setvice to be hejd in the Methodist church corner of Fifth and Monroe streets, are nearly complete. There will be prayer, music by Mrs. Dan Tyn dall and others, and an address by Harry G. Hill, president of the Indian:', college of Muisc and Fine Arts. The public is cordially invited to attend this service. It will start at 3 o’clock in theafternoon, the hour of the funeral in Marion, Ohio. All stores in the city will close at 3 o’clock and remain closed for one hour. The banks will close at noon and remain closed for the remainder of the day: the court house and city hall will close at 3 o’clock for the remainder of the day. At the local plant of the General Electric company, all work will stop and remain at a f Continued on Pave six) Weather Mostly clottdV and somewhat unsettled tonight and Friday; somewhat warmer in north portion Friday.

directors for a number of years and at the meeting Tuesday was elected vice-president. The assistant cash iers are Albert Scheumann, Robert Meibers and D. J. Harkless.

TO FIGHT WATER BATTLE TONIGHT ■ ■ ■' — ■ Two Teams From Fire Department To Fight On Seventh Street At 7 P. M. A water battle between two teams of the Decatur E’ire department w be fought to a finish at 7 o’clock this evening on North Seventh street, op f . posite the Grand Rapids and Indian Station. Fred Engle, Arthur Bakei and Ed Stevens will compose one. team, while Jack Freit. captain of th< local department. Erve Elzey and Earl Smith are members of the othe team. The boys say they are goin;. to fight until one side gives in. Sev enty pound pressure will be used. Several weeks ago a water battle w: staged between the two teams and the dicision of the judges was a tie Members from Roanoke fire depart | ment will witness the event tonight, i Roanoke won the water battle at tht | Firemen’s convention in this city on June 21 st. n GEORGE DEINER 1 EXPIRED TODAY Well Known Resident Ot This Citv Died At 1:55 P. M. Today George Deiner, former crossing watchman on the Chicago and Erie railroad here and well known throughout the city, died at 1:55 this afternoon at his home on West Madison street after an illness with cancer of the stomach. Mr. Deiner took ill sometime ago and has been confined to his home. He was past sixty years of age. He was born in Germany. For a number of years Mr. Denier was the sexton at the St. Joseph Catholic schools and at the St. Marys Catholic church. letter h,e became the night watchman at the old Schafer Saddlery company factory which was destroyed hy fire in the spring of 1920. Mr. Deiner. in attempting to put out the blaze and keep the flames from spreading received serious injuries and for a time lay between life and death. He finally regained his health and since that time has been a crossing watchman on the Erie in this city. He is survived by his wife, two daughters. Mrs. Philbert Gase and Mrs. Molly Debolt, of this city and one son Joseph Deiner. of Cleveland. Ohio. He was a member of the St. Marys Catholic church, from which place the funeral will be held At press time the funeral arrangements had not been made. 0 Mrs. D. J. Hensley went to Fort Wayne to spend the day with friends.

City School Board To Adopt Budget Monday The city school board will hold a meeting next Monday [for the purpose of adopting the annual school budget. The budget is being prepared this week and is nearly completed, is was stated today. The board will also make arrangements for the opening of school on Tuesday September 4. No school will be held on Monday, as that will be Labor Day. High school pupils will register for the fall term on Friday, August 31. and Saturday, September 1. o ROAD BUILDING TO BE DELAYED Portland C. Os C. Receives Letter From The State Highway Commission The l following item in regard to the trouble which has arisen over the construction of the state road north from Portland, appeared in the Portland Daily Sun yesterday: "That a long delay in completing the work on the state highway north or here, halted by the action of the dredge contractor in cutting through the road, south of Geneva, Monday night, is in prospect, is evinced from a letter received here by President Levine Hersch, of the Chamber of Commerce from John D. Williams, director of the State Highway Commission. Mr. Williams said the commission is still “standing pat" in the matter and will not take any steps tc construct a bridge over a fifty foot gap in the highway made by the passing of the dredge, and without the permission of the highway commission. He said work on the improvement of the highway would be at a standstill until such a time when the . commission could construct a permanent bridge on the re-location of the road, which is to be routed west of Bryant. Mr. Williams said the pass- , ing of the dredge through the highway prevents Contractor Merschberger from hauling stone for the ini provement of th eroad north of here and that the commission will take no action towards the building of a temporary bridge there and that the matter had been placed in the hands of the legal department for decision. "Relative to the petition of the Chamber of Commerce for increased width of the road improvement nprth of Pleasant Ridge, where plans have been carried through for a sixteen foot road, Mr. Williams said the com mission denied the petition because of the fact that there is a base for only a sixteen foot roadway instead of eighteen as petitioned for by the local Chamber of Commerce. "The dredge work on the Wellman or Limberlost drain .in charge of Contractor Clamme, of Blackford , county has been halted also. Ihe , dredge is now up to the G. R. & 1railroad bridge and plans are being made to dismantle the dredge and , take it over the bridge, which will . be a difficult job. The master carI penter of the railroad company at Ft. I Wayne, has been consulted in the , matter. "County Surveyor Homer Teeters, superintendent of construction on . the ditch, stated this morning there were no new developments in the ’ controversy and that efforts to se- ' cure a pile driver, in hopes of con- . structing a temporary bridge over the dredge gap in the road, had not been successful as yet About tout tContiniied on nave «»»>

“Uncle Billy” Blackburn Loved By Everybody ‘ 3

S. I ■■■ I. *■ “Uncle Billy” Blackburn is dead. | and his death recalls to mind what a • beloved character he was and expres- j sions of the esteem in which he was t held have been heard on every ' hand. ’ Ho will he remembered by all who 1 knew him as a kind, lovable and fine ; old gentleman, who liked everybody and enjoyed the friendship of others. t He always bad a kind word and good . thought for all.

Price: 2 Cents.

BELLS TOLL AS HARDING'S BODY REACHES MARION Sorrowing City Receives Back Body Os Her Son, Warren G. Harding ARRIVES AT 12:44 P. M. Remains Removed to Home Os Father; Mrs. Harding Is Very Weak Marion, Ohio, Aug. 9 —(Special to Daily Democrat) —Warren G. Harding is home. At 12:34 p. m. today the sorrowing city received back the body of her son who died in the service of the nation. A hush, broken only by the solemn tolling of every church bell fell over i the town as the train moved slowly through the yards. Entering Marion, the train ran | through a long lane of men, women and children, massed on both sides of the track, their heads bowed. At 12:43 p. m. the casket was removed through a rear window of the observation car in which it had been carried from coast to coast. There was no sound save the deep clang of the tolling bells. While the coffin was being placed on a baggage truck by the honor guard, representing all branches of the service, Mrs. Harding left the train. Mrs. Harding swooned heavily on Presidential Secretary George Christian. General Sawyer followed. Then came members of the cabinet. Mrs. Harding walked slowly to her automobile as the casket was being i placed in the gray hearse by the pall • bearers who were bent by its great ■ weight. Absolute silence prevailed until ■ the body had been placed in the hearse and Mrs. Harding had left the platform. Then a switch engine with clanging bell clattered over a crossing and the noises of the railroad vard were resumed. » * The slowly moving procession led ' bv the hearse, surrounded by the honor guard reached Dr. Harding's home at 1:15 p. m. As it came down the street with the sunshine filtering through the branches of over arching ’ trees, throwing shadows on the earth, I the crowd of friends and neighbors i nressed forward and a rustle ran ; through the crowd. Commander of i militia attachment marked order and the troops came to attention. > The casket was then carried into . the house by the uniformed pallbearI ers. Mrs. Harding followed. (By Lawrence Martin, United Press staff correspondent) ' On Board President Harding Funeral Train, Aug. 9—(Special to Daily 1 Democrat)—-Ohio, mdtltfr state of six presidents, receivd back today ■ the latest of her sons to add lustre to ; her name. Returning in death, he I bore upon his leer the garlands of a I nation’s sorrow and love. Warren G. Harding came back to his homefolk this morning. Years ago he went from them into larger spheres as activity and honor, full of splendid vigor, robust in health. He came back today cold and pale in death, the majesty of sacrifice and service graven upon his still sac back to the mother state that waited with outstretched arms to receive him to his rest. The funeral tra'-n from Washington entered Ohio early today. It was I scheduled to end its journey at Jl:ir(PnntinupH nn rn<rn

I “Unde Billy” was a democrat in ; politics and took a great interest in | the questions of the day, and in civic and community affairs. He always stood for the best interests of the county and city. He enjoyed an election and always went to the polls to vote. A touching story concerning Mr. Blackburn at the last general election is told. "Unde Billy" had been confined to his home several (Continued on page four)