Decatur Democrat, Volume 39, Number 41, Decatur, Adams County, 27 December 1895 — Page 1

The Decatur Democrat.

VOL. XXXIX.

Frank Gass and wite —a boy. Will Hughes returned from Portland Tuesday. Regular services at Methodist " church next Sunday. Miss Mena Myers has returned from Deleware, Ohio. Mrs. Mary Gaffer is visiting relatives at Fort Wayne. Mrs. George Patterson' will visit at Ft. Wayne during holidays. Mrs. Lemmon of Avilla, is visiting her daughter Mrs. T. R. Moore. Mrs. James Dailey of Bluffton, will visit her mother in this city during holidays. Mrs. E. B. Walkup, who has been - visiting in the city, returned to her home at Delphos, 0., Tuesday. Miss Nellie Krick returned Satur- • day from Terre Haute where she has been attending school. All the railroads are obliged to carry extra passenger coaches to accomodate their immense holiday travel. ’ - E. E. Friedline, an attorney of Marion, with his familyvWe the guests of Treasurer Bolds and family. Miss Maggie Beatty, a teacher in west ward school, left for Indianapolis today to spend Christmas with relatives and friends. W. J. Vesey and wife of Fort Wayne, and Mrs. A. B. Morrison and daughter of Marion, will visit in the city during holidays.' They claim that the water will be turned’ into the water pipes next week. Let us hope and pray that / we will not be disappointed. jT On Christmas eve Clarence Baxter and Miss Laura Cline were ' quietly married at the Christian parsonage by Elder B. F. Vaughn. XThe passenger coaches on the different roads entering this city are taxed to their utmost capacity to accomodate the big holiday travel. At the Evangelical church next Sun „ day Rev. George W. Schroeder will » occupy the pulpit in the morning and Rev. A. S. Elzey, of Ossian in the evening. Cards announcing the marriage of Miss Annie Johns, of this city, 1 to Mr. Emerine, of Tiffin, Ohio. / Miss Johns is one of our most accomplished young ladies. Xmas night the Y. P. C. U. gave a reception to about sixty of i their friends at the home of Rev. Shepherd and wife and presented them with a handsome oak library ease. Music was the chief feature of the evening. The Geneva Herald comes up smiling with a fine holiday edition. a The oil seems to lubricate Editor Rayn so that lie moves in good shape.. May he always be in such a condition. Hoyt’s “Texas Steer” at the ( Masonic Temple attracted a number of the Decatuntes northward a few evenings ago. Decatur hasn’t an opera house fit for any steer to be exhibited in, hence the theatre going people look elsewhere for attractions. : —- Earl Adams and Roy Archbold who have beeh attending Ann Arbor University are at home visiting ; Y their parents during the holidays. ) The boys like the school very much J’ but were not rhuch taken up with v the hazing tbey received when they entered college. - f < A. M. Fisher returned from Ger- |•* many after a four months absence. He has been engaged in exporting horses for the foreign markets and from all reports his business ventures have been successful. From I his personal appearance German I gout and a foreign climate seems to I agree with his anatomy. V

DECATUR. ADAMS COUNTY. INDIANA, FRIDAY. DECEMBER 27, 1895.

Late Graham carried home the big stick of candy given away at Coffee & BakePs on Christmas day. The parties who are stealing the wood from Foreman and Mayer’s brick yard in the north end of town had better discontinue their operations. They are known and if any more of the wood is missing they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The bus team ran away yesterday afternoon and left the bus lying in the mud upside down near the Madison street crossing of the G. R. & I. railroad. Luckily no one was inside and John Eller escaped injury by jumping, just before it upset. They became frightened at the passenger train from the south. A party of tourists from Willshire, Ohio, passed through the city Fri day on their way home from Mobile, Alabama, where they had been looking at the country with a vew of locating. They resolved however, that this part of the country was good enough to live in. Considering the present condition of our roads, making it almost impossible for farmers to get to town, our business men are having an exceptionally good holiday trade. But this is easily accounte d for when the prices quoted by our business men are considered and they will come to town to buy when prices are low. There is no more fitting design for the Christmas time than the star—“ The Guiding Star of the East”—with its outstreaching rays, which The Companion has adopted for its Christmas cover. The contents of the Holiday Number area treasure-house of the best and brightest of story, history, anecdote, humor, etc. Fifty-two Companions cost pnfy $1.75. Diamonds are very valuable stones and are worth having. Footpads are anxious to get hold of them, and they made a desperate attempt to take one valued at SSOO from the shirt front of a young tailor employed in this city. They did not succeed however, for the young man was too fleet of foot. He now lays awake nights thinking of what he might have lost. Star gazing was the chief attraction on the streets Wednesday. One lone solitary star was visible to the naked eye, and all kinds of reasons were given for its appearance on Christmas, and a great amount of evil was predicted by some people. In all probability it was one of the group of Pleiades that had wondered/off. This group of stars is better known to most people as the old hen and her chickens. Gerber & Sprunger are engaged in shipping stock as well as in supplying our people with meat. They have shipped five car loads of hogs and have three more bought ready to start. They have paid out over $13,000 in the last month. This looks as though our farmers should have some money. Gerber &'Sprunger are not only a benefit to our city but the county in general receives the benefit of their business. Such men are tKe ones that should receive the encouragement of our people. The citizens of Williamsport were highly pleased with the elocutionary and delsarten performance held there last Saturday evenirig by Miss Dollye Schafer of our city. The entertainment was for the benefit of the Methodist church of that place, and they are highly gratified with the result of the Miss Dollye is a daughter of our townsman Jacob Schafer and is an elocutionist that will win fame should she continue to labor inThe work. Our citizens may we 5 ! congratulate themselves that'she is one of our » 5 ' 1 *

Maggie Miller, of Berne, and Oliver Itskin, of Cincinnati, Ohio, are the guests of Mr. and Mr. E, N. Tyrell during the holidays. Al Fristoe has resigned his position as express agent and baggageman on 'the Clover Leaf railroad. Owing to the change of the division from this place to Tpledo, he would have been obliged to move his family to the latter place, and Al objected to being railroaded all over the country. ' Charles Pierson was very pleasantly surprised by his comrades and friends last Saturday night. On his return home from Post meeting he found the house filled with friends. The occasion of this out pouring was to celebrate Mr. Pierson’s 54th birthday anniversary. An elegant rapas.t was served, and a general good time had by all present. Mr. Pierson was presented a beautiful rocker by his friends. About fifty people were present. Uncle Jacob Buhler and wile were reminded Wednesday that Christmas was on hand when their boys with their families and friends came in on them with baskets filled with good things to eat and wear. A social time was had and no o®e enjoyed it better than uncle Jake and wife, and no one deserves to have the enjoyment of their family any better than they do, having raised six boys who are and honorable citizens, the most of them living in our city and engaged in business. Their friends wish that they may live to enjoy many more Christmas’ with them. A disgraceful act was the one that was perpetrated upon A. J. Kirklend, of St. Marys- township, last week, when his sixteen-year-old son was induced to use intoxicants to such a degree that he fell off of his horse over on the Piqua road near the Robison farm. The young boy feels, heartily ashamed while the men who were With him will feel better when they are sure that they are not liable for giving the boy whisky, or should some of our saloon men have so far forgotten themselves as'' to sell a boy of his age whisky, they may consider themselves fortunate if retain license to sell. David Mauller found the boy and took him home. The editor of the Decatur Journal attempted to show to the people last week, that all the ex-county treasure.! defaulters, and that Dan P. Bolds the present incumbent is an accessory to the crime. This is a pretty broad assertion to make, and especially when it comes from a man who has been in the county but a few short weeks. It is strange that he could so thoroughly acquaint himself with county affairs in such a short time, and the people who have lived here a life time should be unable to discover such a state of affairs. His next howl will be. “open the book.” Probably if the Peoples party was in power, things would be different. The new enumeration blanks have been sent out to the various school trustees of the state. The new school enumetation shall be taken between the 10th and the 20th of, April each year.’ In the hope that it will prevent the stuffing of the enumeration with a view to ravishing the school fund, each enumerator must take an oath to do his work accurately. The enumerator is also required to list the names of parents or guardians and in cities he must give the number and street at which the child lives. Any enumerator who shall knowingly enumerate persons not entitled to be enumerated or who shall in any manner add to or take from the number actually enumerated shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor for which the fine is from 15.00 to SIOO, to which may be added im-

An exchange says for the following: Wanted—A iriend who will recognize me when I am compelled to wear patched pants; who will, take my hand as I am sliding down hill, instead of giving me a kick to hasten my decent; who will lend me a dollar without two dollars security; who will come to me when I am sick; who will pull off his coat and fight for me when the odds are two to one; who will talk of me behind my back as he talks to my face. Such a frend is wanted by ten thousand of beings throughout the whole world. One hundred thousand dollars was. Friday appropriated by Congress to defray the expenses of the Venezuelan commission. The President is being strongly backed by congress in the stand he has taken in regard to the question. Newspapers throughout the country regardless of partisanship praise Cleveland for his prompt action in the matter. Os course England ha§ taken up the matter and are trying to produce a scare in this country by throwing American securities on the market * and calling loans. American sentiment is united on this question and any attempt made by England to create a panic in this country, by trying to lower the value of American stocks, will only hasten war and lessen the chances of a peaceful settlement. Isaac Peterson has taken unto o himself another half for better or worse. Uncle Isaac did not say a word about it to bis friends either, he simply went and secured a license and employed Rev. J. F. Horton to tie the knot, and on last Sunday himself and Miss Alice Wand the well know 7 milliner were made man and wite. But secrets will leak out, and he could not keep it from the boys. Monday night about 150 of them congregated near the corner of Second and Jefferson streets, where the bride and groom have temporarily taken up their residence and with horse-fiddles, tin cane, saws, etc., opened up their music. Before long Mr. and Mrs. Peterson sought refuge at the furniture store of Woodward <& Ball to evade the unearthly noise. This did not have the required effect however, and the music kept on just the same. Isaac finally gave the boys a Christmas gift and they went away happy. The Democrat extends congratulations. The tirade of the World against ns in its last issue is intended to create a little sympathy. While Bobo charges us with trying to in jure him in our evidence in the Bobo-Welfly case he forgets that he is a member of the Adams county bar and as such knows the rules of evidence and that if he thought our rates were too low or we put his rihes too low, that he could have met the same by having .the newspaper men of the town put upon the witness stand and have shown to the court that our statements -jwere incorrect, but he dared not do that, well knowing that Messrs. Everts, Phillips, Ellingham, drill, Edmunds, McConnehey, or the editors of the Star News would not have fixed the value of his advertising as high as we did. If our testimony was not what he thought was right, he could have put any or all of the above named parties on the witness stand to show what was a fair price, but like the Irishman that was being tried “it was justice that he did not want.” The garbled condition of the evidence he presents, he would not even pretend to meet nr court, let alone the straight facts. Such cases as the BoboWelfly case in the last term of the Adams circuit court generally rests upon the preponderance of the evidence which he could easily had if hie statements* are- true, but he dared not present the evidence of newsI 6U ‘"■■"'x / \ A..’- / - - -Q - X‘"l

Ihe large plate glass window in the store room occupied Decatur Tailoring Co., was demolished Sunday afternoon. A stone thrown at Frank Schumacher, the newsboy, better known as “Isaac,” missed its mark and went sailing through the window. Some parties were standing on the corner talking and Schumacher seeing a chance for a little fun, began jeering them. It was more than they would stand however and John Smith picked up a stone and let fly. Had it struck Schumacher instead of the window, Ins funeral would have been toj morrow. “Isaac” is entirely too I fresh and his size alone protects him in a great many instances. But unless he attends to his own business hereafter, which boys of his size and age should do, he is liable to get hurt. Everybody will libt stand his funny work. The plate glass was valued at $85.00. On Christmas day we received a copy of the. Greensburg New Era, with the following article marked with a big red line around it: “It now seems obvious that certain Indiana democrats w’ill endeav or to postpone the meeting of the state and local conventions nn‘d after the national convention. F. r the party to submit to any such time serving scheme would cert tu.lv be cowardly and essentially nn dem ocratic in spirit. Indiana demo crats want to have a hand in makingthe national' plat P-i in and the assumption tint, for any sort of a price, they must wait fir the Rational convention - to make z a Pl<form for them is nothing short of. ■ 1 an insult to their integrity aod intelligence. Despite ail the Sorts to whistle it down, the facPmust be apparent to every thoughtful mind that in the coming campaign the democracy will have to fight every existence, lor the integrity, as party foundations, of principles; by the advocacy of winch it has been given confidence and power. If the present party organization is to be maintained the methods of the machine must fie sent to the rear and the opinions of the masses must be made welcome in committee rooms and convention halls. The sole hope of the democratic party is in keeping close to the people, and the only practical, natural, usual, honest and democratic way to do this is to encourage them to express their sentiments in the various local and state conventions through their delegates who come right from thOir midst and are J fairly representative —which cannot always be said of the national delegate, unless, indeed, he is informed, instructed and backed up by the sentiments of his constituents previously expressed in the regular local conventions. This matter is of the greatest and most urgent importance to all elements of the party and is fraught with portent that no democrat anxious for party success can contemplate with complacency.” At first we thought it meant war, biit on close examination we found the brother editor was only attempting to forestall the action of the democratic party of this state. The action of the state committee in calling a convention of each voting precinct for January 4, 1890, to select delegates to the district convention of January 8, to select members of the DemocflttKsk’ontral committee for the state is truly democratic. The committe have sought to put the incoming com. mittee in touch with the great masses of the party by mass conventions. The only way you can meet”the party and have a fair and honest expression of the great party of this country. Let them resolute and talk all they want to but A*hen the time comes let the majority rule and all work with a will to defeat the common enemy of the dem-

The Earth Quaked. For some time past the earth has quaked and trembled, but as yet we have seen no account of the ponderous swinging of the earth iu the Democrat. We, therefore, call the attention of your readers to this, one ' of the most wonderful acts that has occurred iu Adams county, at least within the recollection of the oldest inhabitant. You may smile when you learn that the cause of these grh’at disturbances was the mighty strokes of the “Faber” in the hands of giants who preside over the Decatur Journal and the Decatur Press, in their elucidating the case of pencils. The articles are so mighty that they almost?* break into atoms of their own weight, and this may add to the trembling sensations that we have been called to pass through in the last three weeks.. To some readers their efforts look like the old cry, “stop thief!” ior the purpose of calling attention of taxpayers off of. the condition of the facts. The few pencils that they discuss is a small portion of what the taxpayers are robbed of. It’s true one dollar’sworth of pencils would last any 1 '>’i«iness concern of Decatur )e;tr. And this is true ol all she work that is done for the county rmid- city. Yon will find that the books and stationery of the two banks of our city does not cost them as much money as the books and blanks do the city of Decatur or the county of Adams, yet either one does a larger amount of business in a* year than the city or county does. The taxpayers of the, city will feel a shaking like the one just passed when they CbpiQ to pay their taxes for the water works. They will feel as though several car loads of pencils hid been dumped on the city tax duplicate. And that is about the condition of the county taxpayer. He wijl feel that while pencils are small articles, they, in connection with other articles, are what go to make high taxes. The great reform that was promised if a change was made in our city officials will be to the sorrow of our taxpayers,, The taxpayers shoujd not let the great question of a few* pencils overshadow* the fact that all our expenses are far beyond what they should be, and why they are so we leave the readers of the Democrat , to find their own way out of for the present, but will say the few* pencils in controversy cut no figure either in the county or city affairs, it is the other fact that makes high taxes. A Democrat. Representatives of Bradstreet's at 23 cities interviewed many leading manufacturers and merchants Thurs. day as to the effect, present or prospective, on trade or the international situation precipitated by the President’s message, the message itself, and as to the probability of actual hostilities. The interviews fairly represent the sentiment of many of the most important financial, industrial and commercial houses of the country. In no instance, so far as the interview extends, is war considered the probable outcome. So effect on business is concerned, eastern and western manufacturing centers and many of the larger western and northwestern distributingpoints report none is felt whatever. The influence in the cotton and wheat markets and at the Stock Exchange has been characterized. Perhaps - as significant as, any other feature of the interviews is that m all cities except four the consensus of opin- / ion distinctly favors the sentiments expressed in the President’s message. The exceptions, where opinion on this point was divided, are New York. Boston. Detroit and

NO. 41.