Decatur Democrat, Volume 48, Number 2, Decatur, Adams County, 17 March 1904 — Page 1

all the news ALL THE TIME.

VOLUME XLVIII.

I RAILROAD BOOM ■hance to Make Decatur a Railroad Terminal Point. ! I “if Decatur will secure a lease on ■he necessary ground and furnish ■nongh money to build a round Kuse, you may consider the trade Biade,” said President Shontz of Ke Clover Leaf as he addressed ■everal hundred enthusiastic oiti■ens of Decatur at the station yester- ■ a y. He is a man of few words ■nil his offer means just what he Bid and more. Until this morning ■ was not known that the Clover Kaf people were anticipating makKo’ a division point of Decatur but Ke news spread rapidly. After Kgent Miller recieved the following ■jessage: I Toledo, Ohio March 15 K L. Miller, Ag’t., Decatur Ind. I Special party will pass long the K.ul tomorrow, (Wednesday) and & .11 reach Decatur about noon. Ke would like to have Messrs. Kmith, Carroll, Vai], Niblick, I Her. Hale, Kirsch & Sellemeyer, Krick & Tyndall, the Mayor of the Kwn and other shippers, or parties K meet the special party. Signed, T. J. COOK, [ General Tfr., Agent. II The business of such a visit was Koroughly discussed and it soon Keeame whispered that a proposition Has to be made whereby if accepted Kecatur would secure a division railroad shops. Bulletins were Hosted in the Democrat window, were distributed and as a result Here than two hundred businessmen Mid citizens interested in the welfare Decatur’were at the station at 12 :- when engine 111 with a special Mur. pulled in. The party which Mighted included President Shontz ■| New York City, General Traffic Ross, General Auditor ■wth. Asssistant General Traffic ■anager Cook, General Freight ■anager Davis, Traveling PassenIr Agent Brown and Insurance ■anager Brown. The party were ■lot ©f genial men and within a ■w minutes had grasped the hands a majority of the people present. I ■<< party seemed to be in the j »nds of Mr. Cook who did his MLrt nicely. President Shontz was ; Be chief attraction however and pressed for some statement IH 111, ruing the division proposition ■re said he had not intended to ■■ike any statement but the welto Decatur was too strong to MLde. He admitted that Decatur Hd been much taked of in railway Kcles and had a bright future as both the Clover Leaf and Erie ■tnpanies would undoubtedly soon H*ke deciaed improvements here. f° r the Clover Leaf he said, “U'e have the very warmest feelings ■ your city and have always been ■t half way by you, now if Decays will secure us a lease on the neO&sary lands and furnish enough to construct a round house W| wil] guarantee to make this a ■ncipal division, and will erect buildings ourselves. More ■|i’ this we wll erect a refrigerator I Mnt large enough to hold 50,000 of ice and with facilities for d *mg a thirty car train in Hl•ty five minutes. As to the size he shops, Decatur is midway tveen Toledo and Frankfort and shops would necessarily have le sufficient to take care of any Iness. Besides this we will te Decatur the transfer station b the Erie and that road will > us make some other improvers nor necessary to speak of [• The Erie would probably refe their ice plant from Gallion there.” In other words they [make a railroad town of Decalif we will help them. Every pber of the party was well pleas[ith the reception given them bven the engineer s face was pinated with smiles as he haltPis train. President Shontz ‘‘My engineer^ill be here to>w and will estinWlte the ut of land necessary and the f the round house. I mean rhat I say and will fulfil I'l promise made, if any encoursnt is shown.” The offer is

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the best ever made to Decatur. It is genuine and deserving of all our energy and enterprise. It means much for our city and we cannot afford to pass it up at any cost. Never in history has a city secured the shons and division of a railway like the Toledo, St. Louis & Wesern and not doubled in population within a few years, and Decatur can soon be the best town between Lima and Chicago and between Toledo and Marion. Every one of the two hundred people who heard the offer are enthusiastic and it only remains to meet the requirements, which even if they should seem large will pay for themselves over and over again. The party was here about fifteen minutes, going on through to Frankfort and from there to St. Louis to night on a general inspection tour. President Shontz is a wide awake, twentieth Century railway President, and his assistance would soon make Decatur the best town on the map.. Lets he]p him do it. As he said in his remarks if we get these additions and once get the railways interest ed, other concerns are bound to come and the future is an assured success. Citizens, business men and manufacturers of Decatur, the time is here to act, it is now or never. A dispatch from Columbia City said: “Joe Lower was one of the boys who went to Korea with Leigh Hunt in January, 1901, and as he left he said to his mother, Mrs. Juila Lower, who owns a small farm near town. ‘Some day I’ll send the money to relieve you from debt. ’ He has kept his word, for there has been recieved at the First National bank here a draft to cover the indebtedness. With the draft was a very encouraging letter as to his work ana life in far away Korea. The letter was written before the Russian-Japanese war. commenced. It is undrestood here that the Whitley county contingent are now down in the Philippines awaiting the turn of events in the far east.” These Lower’s are relatives of Joseph S. Lower of this this county. An interesting decision rendered by the Appellate court of Indianapolis Thursday was to the effect that when a bulding is struck by lightning no one is entitled to recover damages. Judgment was recovered by the School Trustees of the town of Crawfordsville against the contractors employed to remodel ther school buding. Just before the contractors had completed their work but after they had reoieved four-fifths of their money for it the building was destroyed by lightning. The School Trustees sued to compel the contrators to replace the building. The contractors filed a counter complaint demanding the remainder of their pay. The Appellate Court decided that lightning is “an act of God” and that no one is repsonisble for its work. Tne point has never been determined before in an Indiana court.

Levers of horses throughout the state will be glad to learn that they will have a chanca to see some of the finest specimens of horses that the world can boast of by visiting the coming exposition to be held at «St. Louis, The Arabian horses, the pride of the desert, which have figured in history and romance until their fame can never die, are to be displayed in large numbers. W. W. Stevens, chairman of the live stock committee of the Indiana World’s Fair commission, made the announcement on his return from a trip to St. Louis. Chairman Stevens has been working hard to see that Indiana is well represented m the horse show, and he believes that Indiana stock dealers will be even more anxious to send their animals since there will be an opportunity too “match” them with the blue bloods. The first of the Arabian steeds is alread at St. Louis. This is a pure blooded “Barb* with a pedigree a yard long, which was sent by the sultan of Morocco as a present to President Francis of the exposition company. The horse is the only one of his race on the American continent today.

DECATUR, INDIANA, THURSDAY, MARCH 17,

The township assessors were in session at the sheriff's office Satur today; every member being present with the exception of James M.Duff, of Jefferson township. A number of deputies w ere also present an the meeting was one of general good to the officers. Today ended the first week of the assessors duty and the session today was called by county Assessor Elias Crist to give each townsip officer an opportunity to compare notes with the atlas and ask any question which they should deem necessary. Word has been received by Governor Durbin from his attorneys at New Orleans that the Federal Court of Appeals has sustained the lower court at Jacksonville, Fla., in its decision in the defamation suit brought against Governor when he was colonel in the Spanish American war. The decision is favorable to the Governor. The case was instituted by a man named Harton, who operated a saloon near the camp of the soldiers. Some trouble arose which Col. Durbin thought was caused by the presence of the saloon, and he stated his opinion to the keeper in strong terms. Barton then brought suit on the charge of defaming his charcter. The case has been pending in the courts five years. Grover Cleveland has applied for membership in the Masonic f raternaty and in a short time will be given the first three degrees at once. The former president has taken the course of instruction, and was to have been initiated two weeks ago, but a postponement followed the death of his daughter Ruth. When he does take the degrees, a distingushed company, including the officers of the grand lodge, will be in attendance from New York. The Grand Lodge is assembled only on extraordinary occasions. President Roosevelt too a the first degrees in Masonry at Oyster Bay two years ago when Masonic dignitaries from all over the country attended the ceremony. Many of Mr. Cle’’eland’s friends in Buffalo and several of his cabinet members were prominent in Masonry.

Quite a good time was had at the home of Fred Lehmann’s of R. R. No 3., last Saturday night, it being Mr. Lehman’s 32nd birthday and his wife had planed a surprise on him in which she succeeded well. Thoses present were Messrs and Mesdames F. F. Boknecht, Christian Bucher, L. Boknecht, Chris Boknecht, J.N. Knapp, August Walters Louis Boerger, Fred Sherer, Chris Sherrer, Lous Jackapple, H. Bohne, besides quiet a number of young folks. The music was furnished by the newly organized string band knewn as the Macy McTune String Band. Cards were indulged in, in which two prizes were given, the first being captured by J. F. Bokceht and Chrisian Bucher second, and the booby by J. N. Knapp and Louis Jackapple. At ten o’clock a sumptous repast was served to which all did justice and when the time came to part every one present was glad to have been there.

A. C. Hower and family who resided southeast of town were pleasantly surprised by their many relatives and friends who came with well filled baskets with’good things to eat. Those among the guests who partook of the delightful repast were: Messrs, and Mesdames C. T. Payne, W. Miller, A.C • Hower, J. H. Barnette, “Bluffton” Wm. Arnold, Joseph Shilling, Chas. Hower, John Steele, Frank Martin, Isreal Bender, Wm. Brown, Wilson Mailer Mesdames Lew Springer, Sarah Barnett, Jerry Archer, D. Fuhrman, G. Boyd, S. Bowser B. Mathewson H. S. Ashbauoher of Marion. Misses Ina Archer Iva Fuhrman, Anna Bowser, Mellie Payne, Elva Zerkle, Dora Hower, Dora Mathewson, Cora Hower, Elowise France, Velman, Laura and Jessie Springer, Olive Barnette and Florence Smith. Mesrss. Lew Shilling, Pressley Witner, Luther Hower, Milton Hower of Decatur, Earl Archor, JKomer Arnold and Freck Hower. After few hours social enjoyments the guests departed wishing Mr. and Mrs. Hower many more such happy occasions and success in their new home in Howard City, Mich.

Erwin & Erwin closed a deal Tuesday, whereby they disposed of a bunch of oil eases on land east of Geneva. The leases covered over 400 acres of land were owned by Erwin & Erwin and Trout & Miller. Senator Ullery of Fort Wayne made the purchase and the price while not made public is said to have been a handsome one, and sufficient for the Adams county men to have cleaned several hundred dollars. It is possible that the Catholic churches of the Fort Wayne diocese, may be allowed to retain the female members of their choirs. Bishop Alerding, of the Catholic diocese of Fort Wayne, has taken the matter of woman singers under consideration in accordance with the announcement of Cardinal Gibbons that the execution of the order of the pope w ill be left to the discretion of bishops and that, when conditions are such that a change would be inconvenient, the order need not be enforced. Bishop Alerding will make a carefull investi. gation, and, if conditions make such a radical change possible with out causing too much hardship, the pope’s mandate will be carried out. Hamilton Mercer and O. J. Bayes will in a few days begin the work of soliciting advertisers for a Decatur city directory. It will be remembered that Mr. Mercer started this work last fall and when he had secured some 3000 names and sold several books, word came that free mail delivery would be institued and that the residences would liave to be numbered. Mr. Mercer decided to abandon the work until after the houses had been numbered Bayes is making rapid progress with the numbering and the directory work will now proceed. Decatur needs a directory more than ever, and the business men will doubtless be pleased with this information. A solicitor will see all these men who have not already contracted advertising space in the new directory.

The bottom went out of the oil market again Saturday and the price of the Indiana product fell one, two and then three cents, where it stopped, to remain for the next few days. This morning the quotation board which has been reading $1.20 per barrel or Indiana oil for the last few cays, was changed, and instead of a raise in price as some of the oil operators had been expecting there came a drop of three cents and the quotations is now $1.17. Three is now little doubt but that the oil will continue to decrease in price and may fall so slow that the operations in this state will be seriously interrupted, although a brighter outlook may follow the spring opening. It costs about sixty five cents a barrel to get oil from the ground, and at this rate it may readily be seen that the product may still fall a number of cents before the ceases to be a big profit on petroleum. The G. R. & I- has established a new department and the office will be in this city. Monday a bulletin was posted announcing that the office of engineer of maintenance of way had been created for the southern division and that Benjamin H. Hudson had been named as the head of that department. Mr. Hudson resides in Petosky, Mich., and for some time has been roadmaster. He will eome to this city and the office of the department will be here. An assistant in his depart ment Mr. Hudson announces that Darius R. Wright of Portland, is appointed roadmsater to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James H. Leavy. Thomas Stewart is appointed roadmaster in place of Frank S. Bowden, transferred to Kalamazoo. James W. Carpenter is appointed master carpenter. All of the appointees are well known in G. R. &I- circles. Mr. Wright lias been with the road for a number of years at Portland. Mr. Stewart has been with the company since 1883 and has served both in the capacity of work train and passenger conductor. Mr. Carpenter has been in the service of the road as a carpenter for a number of years, formerly residing at Decatur.—Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Farmers are warned to use extra . care this spring in the selection of seed corn and to carefully test it before planting. Much of the corn | failed to mature fully last fall and ’ has been damaged by the extreme cold weather. The success of next season’s crop will depend very much upon the careful selection of seed, which should be attended to early. Word has been recieved here that Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Myers who are well known here among the young people and who recently moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, that they are doing very well and are perfectly satisfied in their new home. Mr. Myers stated that they lived on a farm just at the edge of the city and that he was now completing all arrangements to start a model dairy and launch into this business for all there is in it. Mrs. Myers was formerly Miss Nellie Ellsworth. Mrs. J. H. Goeke, with her two children, her sister Koneta, aged 14 years,, and their nurse girl Miss Mary Frank were asphyxiated by the fumes of natural gas burning in their residence in Wapakoneta Saturday night and at 6:20 o’clock Sunday morning Mrs. Goeke was found dead in bed and her two children, Galdys aged 10 years and Winfield, aged 4 years, were in such condition that the little boy died at 9 o’clock last evening and at this writing Gladys is barely alive, no hope of saving her. Miss Erank was badly effected, as was also Koneta, but they occupied an adjoining room from Mrs. Goeke and her children and there being no register in their room the deadly fumes did not reach them with fata] effect. Mr. Goeke, accompanied by Jacob Hauss went to Hot Springs, Ark., two weeks ago Thursday and had left for home but an hour before the summons had reached that place Sunday morning. He is an attorney and quite well known here.

Again the attorneys have settled down to business “in the case of Thomas Fay lor et al vs D. D. Studabaker and the court has assumed the old routine of the last three weeks of January. The entire afternoon Monday was required to secure a satisfactorv jury which when completed was composed of the following citizens: Jacob Sherry, John Baker, Peter N. Moser, Jacob Klopfenstine, Jaco v Bollenbucher, Daniel Hoffman, Lewis L. Rupert, William Singleton, Norman Lotzenhizer, L. W. Lewton, Charles M umma and Will Scherer. The examination of witnesses began this morning. It is said that already the accumulated costs in the case are over SISOO and by the time a verdict is acquired the total will reach $2500 besides the attorney fees which will increase that amount considerable, no difference which side wins out as four of the best law firms in this part of Indiana are engaged on each side.

Teachers of Adams county have received programs for the twenty second annua] meeting of the Northern Indiana Teachers Association. The sessions will be held in the Auditorium, at AVinona Lake park,Thursday afternoon and evening, Friday morning and evening and Saturday morning, April 7, 8 and 9, 1904. Thursday morning will be devoted to the registration, to furnishing information to teach ers, and to inspecting such exhibits as may be arranged by the various Sections. Arrangements have been made to teachers and this is expected to be the best meeting ever held in the state. The list of instructors include the following men: Hon. George R. Wendling, lawyer and lecturer Washington D, C. Wlilam Burgess, D. D., Author and Pastor, Chicago, 111. W. W. Stetson, Ph. D., Superintendent of Public Instruction, Augusta, Maine. Wilbur F. Gordy, A. M., Author and Teacher. Hartford, Conn. A. Jones, Editor and Teacher, Marion, Ind. The music for the occasion will be furnished by the Marion Soldier Home band and orchestra. The program for each day will be an interesting one. A number of Adams county teachers will attend.

CIRCULATION 2800 WEEKLY

; Colonel Clinton P. Ferry, arrived Tuesday afternoon from a several months trip to Paris, France, where he has been representing this county as trade counsel. His coming was evidently a surprise as none of his friends were at the depot to meet him He will visit here sevreal days before leaving for his home at Tacoma. “Poodle” Miebers who has retired from the bus and bagagge line is to become a fulfleged farmer, as he expects as soon as the weather will permit him to move on his mother's farm in the north part of the city and then set himself up in the chicken business exclusive. “Poodle” had been in the bus and bagagge business for eighteen long years and will, now for a while at least, spend his days upon’this farm. He expects to stock the place with fine and fancy chickens and go into the business for all there is in it and make a regular poultry He will not dispose of his property on Third street but will rent it. The official vote of the congressional primary has at last been convassed, and as given out from Anderson by the district chairman George Lilly, the following vote is reported : In Wells county Cromer 868, Dunlap 515; Jay, Cromer 1,433, Dunlap 1,394; Madison, Cromer 2,416, Dunlap 4,293; Dele ware, Cromer 5,469, Dunlap 2,071; Randolph, Cromer 2.277, Dunlap 2,850; Adams, Cromer 901, Dunlap 489. Cromer’S total vote was 13,364 and. Dunlap’s 11 567. Cromer’s majority in the district was 1,797. The vote was changed slightly from that at first reported, but the changes were few and of but little consequence one way or another. Mr. Dunlap and his friends may still feel proud of the vote accorded the Anti-Oromer candidate, while we presume Mr. Cromer is satisfied in saving his scalp from political annihilation. During the primary many districts were watching thq> results ofa congressionnal priamry, with a view of deciding its virtues. Since it is over, however, but few if any comments have been made as to the effects made on the minds of our neighbors. Deputy Sheriff Dallas Butler and Titus Ernst left yesterday morning for Michigan City, having in charge Joe Osborne, convicted of murder, and sentenced to prison for life. Tuesday morning the prisoners wife and three sons, spent an hour with him at the jail, from ten to eleven o’clock, the last hour they will be with him for months and perhaps forever, ft was a sad scene and the dozen other prisoners, several of them hardened criminals, each turned away as the once happy family said their farewells and in more than one face was visible signs of pity. The Osborne family wept together and sobbea out the pent up sorrow of the past six months which has cast such a gloom up on their lives. During the trial it was the general opinion that Mrs. Osborne was against her husband and desired his conviction, in fact when asked the question as to whether or not she bore any ill feeling towards him, she answered “1 dont’ know.” But that morr.ing her spirit was one of forgiveness and no wife or mother could have seen the parting and ever in the future hadja doubt as to the feelings of Mrs. Osborne. When Joe was sentenced he expressed but one wish and that was to see his children —before he was taken away. Word was sent to Mrs. Osborne and she came this morning with the babies. From the time they were admitted to the lonely cell until with tear stained faces they were led out, no one save themselves knows what words passed, nor has anyone a right to know. It was a sacred, solemn moment and the sobs of the sad family told the story. When the hour was up Joe kissed his wife and children good-bye at the corridor door'mid returned manfully to his cell. While the moments were sad, they were no doubt the happiest since his arrest for it was the only time his wife has shown him that the spark of love still I burns within her breast.

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