Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 22, Number 309, Decatur, Adams County, 30 December 1924 — Page 1

y.| iinl e XXII. Number 309.

■soman admits I SHE MURDERED I FOUR relatives l..fhi-v Treated Me Mean.'' I k Explanation For Her | ,s Rash Act LsAMTV IS CHARGED ■ Woman Who Killed Four I Xear Logansport Believ I ed To Be Insane I Logansport, Ind.. Dec. .'Bl—l/qnecial to Daily Democrat)— I Justice of the Peace M. ( . | Beebe. upon recommendation 10l two doctors, this afternoon | held Mrs. Mary Emma HoI bough. widow, insane after | a brief inquest. I Authorities said they would I rush her to an insane asylum I a s soon as possible. I (' XITED PRESS SFRVien. I Logansport. Ind , D<‘( 30-Mrs. I'mI M Hobough. 33. 8 widow, has conI (,«sed murdering four members of I li,.- family at the farm home of her I other's eight miles north of here I Sunday night. Sheriff Walter Bowannounced early today. I The confession was made while the 1 woman was sitting in her cell and beine questioned by the sheriff in the pruaence of a Logansport newspaper nun j "! never used a shotgun bofou .' ,fi. t.il! the sheriff. “I did not 1-now how to open or close the breech. b’.t I ’ did it. "I, wondered at th.? time if th' neighbors heard the shots." The sheriff did not attempt to got a detailed confession from her when she made the confession. He planned to secure a signed statement later in the day. “They treated me mean" was Mrs. HoMiigh's only explanation for*' t!i« act. I Coroner Stanton, in his verdict to--1 day, declared that the murders were ; committed by a paranoica “suffering with hallucinations of grandeur and persecutions”. Logansport, Ind., Dec. 30.—A sanity commission was called today to examine the mental condition of Mrs. Emma Hobough, 33. year old widow, held in jail here in connection with the murder of four members of her family. Although iu a state bordering on collapse the woman refused direct Answers to questions of authorities seeking to secure a confession. Throughout hours of grilling last night Mrs. Hobough told a story of alleged abuses and indignities suffered at the hands of members of her family, but would not make a direct admission of the crime. “God told me to because they were mean to me," she said once, when Sheriff Bowyer asked why she did it. "They were mean to me after my husband died and I had to go live (Continued on page two) ■ o MRS, CATHERINE MUSSER IS DEAD Well-Known Lady Dies At Home Near Pleasant Mills Monday Mrs. Catherine Musser, age 74 years, well-known resident of St. Marys township, died at her home two miles west of Pleasant Mills yesterday morning. Death followed a short illness of broncho-pneumonia Which was preceded by a stroke of Paralysis about a week ago. Mrs. Musser was born in French township, February 21, 1850, and prac- ’ Cally all of her life was spent in that township. A few- years ago the family moved to St. Marys township. She is survived by seven children, namely, Peter Musser, of Berne; Lydia Musser, of Wayne county. Ohio; Lan. Joel, Mary Frances and Aldine. a| l at home. Twenty-two grandchildren and ten great grandchildren sutyive, also. Funeral services will be held from *he Reformed church in Berne at - o'clock Wednesday afternoon. Burial "ill be made in the Yoder cemetery west of Berne.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Match Party And Dance At Odd Fellows Hall will b, u wal(|l paHy aD(I -lance ar the odd Fellows lodge hall Wednesday evening. The party Will • Atari at 8:30 o - c iock and continue ) -f'or th.; advent of tl „, hHW year. Good music will he furnished for the dancing. The public is (n . 1 ! vlted CHURCH OF ROH CHOOSES RASTOR Rev. E. A. Hall, 01 Ansonia, Ohio, Takes Cp Duties Here j The Rev. E. A. Ball, of Ansonia, i Ohio, has been chosen to succeed the | R-v. I). M. Lyons as pastor of the I Church of God in this city. Rev. | Lyons resigned a few months ago to ! accept the pastorate of the Church of God in Defiance, Ohio. Rev. Ball, assisted the Rev. R. 0. Marsh, of Union City, in the revival which closed in the local church last Sunday night. He preached here during the revival for about ten days and made if favorable impression with the congregation and others as well Rev. Ball has been in the ministry for about twenty-five years. He has held the charge a; Ansonia. Ohio, for the last two and one half years. This is not his first charge in Indiana, as he formerly was pastor at Rushville and Williamsville Indiana. He has a v it- and one son. fourteen years! old. Rev. Ball will move his family to Decatur as soon as he is able to locate a residence. He has taken charge of the work in the local hutch, already. FONED TO HELP BANDITS ESCAPE Paulding, 0., Youth Forced To Drive Four Bandits To Terre Haute Van Wert. Ohio, Dec 30,-Marriage plans of Darius Albert. Paulding young man. were sadly broken up Sat urday. when he was forced at the point of five revolvers to help four bandits escape after they had bound and robbed Jacob Shiterbeck, Union township farmer. Albert was on his way in a Dodge touring car to Haviland to claim Gladys Ansley as his bride and to be married that afternoon. Near the Paulding county experiment farm, two miles north of the Nickle Plate tracks, four men with leveled revolIvers stopped him. "Jump over out of that seat and be quick about it." was the command Albert heard. He was forced to the right side of front seat. One of the quartet took the driver's wheel and the other three got in the back. They drove west down the mud road past the expert ment farm to the Dutch John road, turned off and kept going south and west to New Haven. Indiana. From there they went south to avoid Fort Wayne and arrived in Indianapolis at I midnight Saturday. Here two of the men got out of the L r to do some telephoning. Albert was kept in the car which was driven by various routes in and out of In dianapolis two or three times. The two who had left the car were then picked up and the party went to Terre Haute, Indiana, driving very slo-•• When Terre Haute was reached , the C ar was turned off on the second ■ street after entering the town . drove up to the side of a big sedana Cadillac, Albert thinks. Ordered Back Home “Now you get out and get back to Paulding without stopping. Alber ortrred. »«» y °" " ‘ “ - «*• He got back to Paulding Sunday noo with his speedometer registering miles for the trip. Sunday afternoon he and Mi slev were married. A Thrilling Trip Albert describes th? trip 51 * , On Page Four)

I ENE 01 OKLAHOMA FIRE WH CH COST THIRTY-FIVE LIVES. Ii —————— ________ ( | ■ . ■ / / ; M 1 KS I * a > bA i • " _• . i The above shows the little schoolhouse at Babb's S .itch, near Hobart Okla, which war destroyed in a Chiistmas tree fire. There was only one door. and wire netting encased the windows so that it was impossible I '• ’v ■ ’milling onlckly Thirty five persons perish ’ -ho d-saster.

K, OF P, ELECTION WEDNESDAY NIGHT Local Lodge Preparing To Initiate Large Class On February 5 ' - The regular meeting of the Knights lof Pythias lodge will be held on Wednesday evening of this week inI stead of on Thursday evening, on account of Thursday being New Years day The annual election of officers will be held Wednesday evening. The Page Rank degree team of tne local lodge is practicing diligently now, as it will confer the rank on a class at Wabash, Indiana, on February 4, an<T on a etass in this city' the following n/ht. A round-up of I new members will be held by the local lodge within the next few) weeks and it is hoped that a class of i at least fifty may be secured to the page rank initiation on February 5. 0 . — BULLETIN (UNITED PRESS SERMCF) Washington, Dec. 30—(Special to Daily Democrat)—The Watson bill authorizing two more federal judges and one more judicial district for the state of Indiana, was adopted by the senate. The bill already has passed the house and now goes to the President for his i signature. - oJudge Sutton Declines Jurisdiction In Case Judge Jesse C. Sutton, of the Adams circuit court, has declined juris diction in the case of fifty Montpelier men charged with the explosion which damaged the business section of that city on the morning of Jan uary 9, 1924. Judge Sutton was appointed special judge in ~ the case about two weeks age, after Judge A. 1,. Bales, of Winchester, who heard one of the cases, resigned. Judge Sutton stated, in declining jurisdiction, that the duties of his own court, were too heavy to permit him to assume jurisdiction in the case, which, would be tried at Hartford City. | Judge Victor Simmons, of Hartford City will refer the, matter to the governor’s office for the appointment of a trial judge. Decatur Youths Hear Two Foreign Radio Stations Gerald Cole and Robert Freitag, two well-known radio fans of this city, report that they heard two European stations broadcasting Saturday night. French 8-AB was heard at 10:56 p. m., testing with the naval station NKF, on about 75 meters Xedength. Station 8-AB is the station of Leon Deloy and is located at Nice. France. The local young men also heard Belgium stat on P-2, at n-42, p. tn., calling station CQ. Station P-2 grated by Mr. Com reur at Brussels. Belgium. Both of these stations were heard on a twoUte short wave. low loss tuner, using an inside antenna and ground. This makes three foreign stations heard bv Mr. Cole, he having heard th P British station 2-NM. located at Sherry, England, last Match.

factor, Indiana. Tuesday, December 30, 1924

James Fetters To Get I His Sentence Friday I I Celina, Ohio. Dec. 20—James Fetters local youth who was found guilty of manslaughter last week by a Jure in the common pleas court here, will receive his sentence next Friday. ] Judges Barnes, of Sidney, who was special Judge in the case will return on that date to pronounce sentence Fetters was indicted for the murder of Ed Moyer, Mercer county farmer in August. 1922. j o a JAPANESE SHIP A ( BLAZING INFERNO; r 1 'Explosion Os Nitrates Expected Momentarily; | 9 Passengers Rescued San Francisco. Dee. 20. —A blazing 1 Inferno, with an explosion of nitrates 1 expected momentarily, the Japanese i ‘ steel twin-screw steamer Ginyo Marti. [ drifted helplessly off the coast of; ( Northern Mexico early today. Rescued by the steamer Julia Luck-1 enbach, the passengers and crew of the liner were reported safe, in wire- 1 less messages received here. The Ginyo Maru, which was from Valparaiso with passengers and' freight for American Pacific ports. 1 1 was heading north up the coast late’ last night when fire broke out. In view of the danger of an ex-t plosion of nitrates in number four hold, to which the flames rapidly ate > their way, the ship’s officers decided] she should be abandoned. I , Pasesngers and crew took to the life boats and were saved by the Julia ' Luckenbach. -—— o— YOUNG PEOPLE PLAN MEETINGS’ Special Services Planned By Young People Os Baptist Church ■ There will be a meeting of young ' people at the Baptist church this evening, at 7:30 o'clock, for the purpose lof making arrangements for the meeting to begin there tomorrow. The /Rev. Bennett, the evangelist, will be ( here tonight to meet Hie young ' people and practice some songs. The 'meetings from December 31 to ’ January 4. inclusive, will be for tho , public, but young people will be es- ' pecially welcomed. All young people are cordially invited. The watch-night service will be held tomorrow night. The Rev. F. D. 1 , Whitesell, pastor of the Baptist 1 i church, is spending this week in Nor-' folk. Virginia, where he will preach 1 tomorrow- night in the Park Avenue' ' Baptist church. The program for the Watch-night service here tomorrow ■ night w’Hl be published tomorrow. . — I Weather i Mostly overcast tonight and Wednesday; probably snow in north por . tion and rain ol- snow in south portion. Colder Wednesday.

WOMANS CLUB TO HOLO OPEN HOUSE Daughters Os C'nh Members To S’ n g Christmas Carols New Years Daughters of the members of the Woman's Club are requested to meet at the high school auditorium at three o’clock Wednesday afternoon for the purpose of practicing the Christmas carols to be sung at the open-house program to be held by the Woman’s Club at the Library on Thursday afternoon, New Year’s Day. Clrls of the eighth grade and high school ages are requested to meet at the high school for rehearsal. It has been an annual custom of the Woman’s Club to hold open house at the ; Library on New Y’ear's day and an j excellent program which will be pub-i listed Wedjiesdayt will be given _____o Three Masses At St. Marys Church Thursday Three masses will be celebrated at the St. Marys Catholic church on New Year's day, a holy day of obligation. Masses w'll be held at five, seventhirty and 9:45 a. m. o ■ Local Produce Companies Again Publish Quotations The local produce market quotations are again being published. The quotations were withdrawn last week, because local produce companies were not making any effort to purchase poultry. The markets quoted today per pound are, chickens, 16c; leghorn chickens, Sc; fowls, 16c; leghorn fowls. 8c; ducks. 16c; geese. 16c; old roosters. Sc; and eggs, 48c per dozen. 0 — Santa Barbara Rocked By Severe Earthquake (UNITED PRESS- SERVICE) Santa Barbarra, Cal., Dec. 30. — A 'severe earthquake rocked Santa Barbara at 4:17 today, followed by a smaller one at 6:15 o'clock. The tremers came as sharp, heavy blows, not prolonged. No damage was reported in either quake. 0 —— BoUinger Child Remains In A Serious Condition The condition of Cletus Bollinger, five-year-old son of Mr and Mrs. Peter Bollinger, who was accidentally shot by his father, is still in a serious condit’on at the Adams County Memtorial hospital in this city. The acci- ’ dent occurred last Friday at the i home of the boy’s grandparents near t Berne. The bullet from a .22 calibre I rifle penetrated the child's abdomen. o Fined For Being Drunk | John Deßolt was fined $1 and costs jyesterday by Squire John W. Merriman when he pleaded guilty to a charge of public intoxication. lie stayed the fine. Deßolt was arrested Sunday by Chief of Police Joel j ßeynolds, and spent the night in jail.

‘Elks Magazine Editor Dies In California San Dlegn, Cal.. Dec. 30.—Robert Woodbrown, past grand exalted ruler of the Elks and editor of the Elks Nu tionul Magazine, died at his home ' here Sunday of cerebral heinor rh:,gis. IB- was fir t stricken when visiting his mother's grave on East. i Sunday, 1922, at Russellville, |<y„ ANNUAL CHARITY BALL WEDNESDAY Tri Kappa Sorority Sponsoring Big Social Event New Years Eve The tenth annual Charity Ball of the Tri Kappa Sorority will be given Wednesday, New Year's Eve. ut the 1 Masonic hall and a cordial invitation 1 le extended to the public to attend. Dancing will begin at nine o'clock 1 and will continue until the old year 1 is history and the New Year Is one ' hour old. the program ending at one ’ o’clock. Tile Blue Bird orchestra of Muncie an eight-piece musical organization. < ' will furnish the music for the even- < ) lug- This orchestra is one of the t *ood musical organizations in the ( date and the lovers of the light fantastic will be given a thrill when It,< comes to dancing to the music fur- i ulshed by the artists. The Masonic hall Is fully decorated for the event. Miss . Helen Dugan is chairman of the . decorating committee and assisted by I other members of the sorority, decor-; ations typical of the holiday sea- 1 on. including a Christmas tree, smllax and other beautiful decorations are being placed today. Tickets for those who dance are selling at one dollar each and spectators tickets are selling for fifty ( cents each. SPELLERS TO WRITE WORDS County Spelling Bee To Be Conducted In Writing, Committee Decides Although the final plans for the county spelling bee to be held sometime after the first of the year have not been made, it practically has been decided to hold the contests in writing. Instead of the former oral con-I tests. A committee was appointed severI al days ago by County Superintendent E. S. Christen to make arrange- , ments for the spelling matches and | . the committee favors the written con- ■ i test instead of the oral contests. The ! ■ argument is that a pupil should learn I 1 to spell the words by writing Hmm, j ; because the correct spelling of words j • Is required in writing. , Tentative plans for the spelling ■ bee call for the pronouncing of the! words and then to have the pupil | write the word on paper. Teachers | would grade the papers immediately. Teachers and school authorities state ' that.a person often will spell a word correctly, but when it comes to writ- < ing it, they often make mistakes and ' such is the case, not only with school i children but among grown ups. Some I ? people can see if a word is spelled : correctly by writing it on paper and if the 1925 spelling bee is conducted in writing the contest will he an interesting one. The committee has not yet decided on the date for holding the spelling bee, but will decide withl in the next ten days, it was stated. CONGRESS TODAY r 1 Senate:— ’ Meets today to consider objected ' bills. I Postal pav bill hearing continues. -1 j House:— r Continues consideration of treas--3 ury and postoffice supply bill. Appropriations committee considers independent offices and District of Columbia appropriations bills. Naval affairs committee considers s Br'tten resolution calling on the state - department for information relative i to elevation of guns. ? Postoffice committee holds regular • meeting. 1 Judiciary committee considers . judges’ salary bill.

Price 2 Cents.

M’COY CONVICTED, MANSLAUGHTER, TO APPEAL CASE Attorney For Ex-Fighter, Says Verdict Is Compromise Move JURY OUT 78 HOURS Verdict Carries Penalty Os From 1 To 10 Years Imprisonment (UNITED PRESS SERVICE) I 03 Angeles, Dec. 30.—Con manslaughter for the death of Mrs. Theresa Mors, who was the latest of his many loves. "Kid” McCoy, (Norman Selby) will appeal. "This Is nothing more or less than a compromise verdict," the former fighter’s chief counsel said, commenting upon the action of the Jury which was out 7g hours and took 24 ballots before reaching a decision. Although McCoy was tried for murder, the foreman of the jury, at five o’clock yesterday afternoon announced. "We, the jury In the case of the ■neople vs. Norman Selby, find the defendant guilty of the charge of manslaughter, a felony.” The verdict carries a penalty of from one to ten years Imnrlsonment »”d Jndee Charles 9. Crail will pass -ontence on Friday. "I guess the Jury did the he” they '■o»ld.” was the Judge's comment. T he furors Sundav night stood ten to 'wo for a manslanglt'er verdict and bv noon Monday they stood eleven to ene but it was not until 15 njlnn’es ‘■“tore five that all agreed n r Uoq Os Blond Poisoning Dr. L. L. Mattax, of Otneva. cori oner of Adams county, was removed I to the Adams County Memorial hospital th's morning. Dr. Mattax is suffering from a cage of blood poison'ing in the left hand. He scratched his hand a few days ago and blood poison developed. o ... Songntinnol CharffPd M«de By Congressman’s Wife Alncna. Mich ( Dec. 30—(Special to Daily Democrat) —Reckless gambling. shipping liquor in’o this country in barrel and trunkful lots and I the loss of all of her possessions to pay gambling bills of Congressman Frank D. Scott. Alpena, were charg ed in a cross bill filed by Mrs Scott in their divorce suit that started late : yesterday. Miss Jane Kennedy, for years secretary to the congressman was named for “consistently poisoning the ! mind of the plaintiff against his wife bv means of malicious and false tale- ! bearing." The cross bill also statvil that Miss Kennedy obtained a trunkful of Mrs. Scott's possessions from :i Washington storage company. o K. OF 0. LODGE TO MEET JAN. 5 -— Interesting Program Planned For First Meeting Os New Year The first meeting the Knights of Columbus council in the new' year, will bo held on Monday. January 5 at the K. of C. Hall. An interesting program has been arranged by the K. of C. hall. An Interesting program has been arranged by the January < otnmltte compost'd of the Charles Starost, John Kintz, Frank Gillig. R. O. Oass and Fred Baker. Several enjoyable meetings have ! been held nt the hall within recent months and the new committee is endeavoring to spring a few surprises. On’ December 23. Special Supreme Agent Daniel C. Buttler visited the local council and gave an Interesting I talk to the members. He.also inspect- < ed the records of the council and ? i complimented the officers on their ex- ■ cellent condition. He also comp.i---i inented the members on the fine r home the council now has and explained the Insurance features of the s order. His talk was enjoyed and appreciated by all present.