Decatur Democrat, Volume 48, Number 28, Decatur, Adams County, 15 September 1904 — Page 1

a 7shenews~~ all the time.

OtUME XLVIH.

■Li Farquhar, of the Randolph K. -j c ourt. was a witness in a suit ■1 Ahams circuit court Tuesday. ■ William Adler and wife took advanH [lb e Sunday excursion toTole- ■ to visit relatives at Freemount, Eo, and spent a delightful day. ■ yr 9 John Bowers was badly Ened Saturday afternoon while ■tte-npting to light the gas in her Kokstove- The accident were Eased from an explosion of the ■ ' Her taoe waS terrih ' y burned Ed her right arm and hand was Eso caught in the flames. The fire K t h e stove had been turned off K IU noon until the time she tried ■ light it. and what caused the ex■osion is a mystery. Dr. J. S. ■ lTer s was called and dressed the injuries and stated that sne resting somewhat easier. ■ E»ther Fleming, three-year-old ■nghter of Mr. and Mrs. R. K. Kerning, who reside in the west ■rs of the city, was badly scalded Knday morning by having a Kffee p3t turn over on her hands Kdface. The little girl was sitting K’nher grandmother's lap near He stove when she reached up and Klled the steaming hot coffee pot Hom the stove, the whole contents H the same falling on the babe. Dr. ■B. Coverdate was hastily sum■onedand dressed the injured child Hd relieved it of its suffering. The Hild is resting easier. ■ Fred Tague and family arrived ■me Sunday morning from a visit ■ the world’s fair, St. Louis. The ■in they were on struck a woman ■ Marion, instantly killing her. ■he proved to be Jennie Hall, no■rious character known to the Ma■on police as the “Queen of But ■milk Hill. ” She had been on an ■ll night spree and by many is be■ved to have committed suicide, ■he had just emerged from a sa■onand was walking along the ■ack. The engineer saw her, but ■o late to stop the train, and she ■aid no attention to the shrieks of ■e locomotive whistle. ■O, Louie! Listen how the editor of Bie Pulaski described a ■edding: Eyes gazed deep into eyes ■aming with love as they knelt atthe ■fine, while the minister’s words ■at blended their loving hearts ■ell like dew of heaven on their Bowed heads. The groom was the trong, majestic oak, the bride the inder, clinging ivy She was iarming as any who ever arrayed erself in bridal vestments here, he was radient and lovely as the >ses now opening their petals to >e fall zephers. Her luxuriant lining tresses were garnitured ith jewels and she was as all “ides shouldhe, a radiant queen f joy, and beauty. She has the nest feminine instinct and graces nd the oaviliei in whose heart she as become enshrined as his bride louldcheiish her as a fragrant, Plicate flower, a rare exotic trans■lanted from its native soil. Decatur has turned out a numer of freaks, but the one that now onies to the front beats anything bat has ever been placed on the market up to the present time. The arty referred to is Harry Reed, a °nng man employed by Peoples & lolthouse at the Fashion stables, 9 a hostler, and his great freak act ! in catching rats with his bare lands. Mr. Reed acquired this bange habit some months ago nd was first noticed by one of the table hands who saw him sitting lear a rat hole li«e a cat waiting or its prey. When the rat made ta appearance young Reed pounced 'Pon it with both hands and literlliy choked the life out of it. Since 'bat time he has killed hundreds d rodents and is fast ridding the of itsjnuisanoe. One day last reek young Reed oaught and killed w ®nty seven large rats, which is ertainly a record in itself. During bis ordeal ’of catching these rats o ed has been bitten several times lQ d his hands are now full of soars vhere the sharp teeth of Mr. Rat sunk into the flesh still he has as yet felt any ill effects from 6 bites and still persists in catchfig the long-tailed animals. The )Oys about the barn have named human rat terrior.

e • • EL Ew ■ n ILK ■ B ■

Mrs. Eliza Amend returned to Dayton, O„ Tuesday, after visiting here for a short time with Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Christen. She was accompanied by Miss Rose Christen who will visit with her for a short time.

Meetings still .continue each night at the Baptist church under the leadership of Mrs. Lesleys our state evangelist. Come and enjoy the blessings with us. Come and enjoy the blessing with us. Come and get Right With God.” John D. Nidlinger of this county, certainly took his share of honors with his Duroc Jersey swine at the Fort Wayne fair last week. The examination began Friday and up to date he has won fourteen prizes, having received first in the following classes: aged boar, yearling boar, boar under one year, yearling sow, sow under one year, aged herd, young herd, five pigs under six months, champion boar and sow. His herd won first and second on boar under six months and aged sow and second on get of boar and pair of pigs. His swine took first, second or both in every class. Bob Miller, who last week en dorsed a check for S2O for a friend, named John M. Fields, of vteneva, and had to pay the check because it was discovered Field had no money in the bank, has received from Fields a satisfactory arrangement concerning the check. He called on Fields yesterday and was informed that Field had written several checks on the strength of money he expected in the Parker City bank in his name. The deposit was not made and Field, has been busy since paying off the checks. He did not have enough to pay Miller’s check but promised to do so in a few days. He paid him for the trouble of calling to see him about the check.—Bluffton News. Col. Isaac W. Brown, the Indiana bird and bee man, has arrived in Texas under the direction and at the expense of Miss Helen Gould, to make a study of the Texas boll weevil, and is to try to find a remedy in the bird creation. He will labor in that state for several weeks. He has the confidence of Miss Gould, who recently h d him at her home in the east to study the extermination of tne mosquito pest. He believes that for every insect dangerous to vegetable life God has created a bird to exterminate it, and he will try to ascertain what bird is needed in Texas to cope with the boll weevil. After completing his work in Texas he will go east to lecture, and from there will go to Europe to study the bird life of those countries and to ascertain whether it would net be well for America to import certain birds to fight new insects that have appeared in this country and are working damage to crops.

Paul Beardsley, a son of Dr. and Mrs. Beardsley, met with an accident Sunday evening that resulted rather serious for him . Paul with a number of other boys had gone to the Clover Leaf station to see the nine o’clock pasenger arrive as is the usual Sunday evening custom of a large crowd of Decatur’s young folks. After the train arrived Paul had started for home, and had gone a little distance from the depot, when one of the night cabs passed him. Paul at this moment got the idea that he would ride as far as his home on the bus, and immediately started to put his thought into action. He hurried into the street, made a lunge for the bus, missed his footing and was hurled forcibly to the brick pavement, lighting on his head. Michael Wertzberger who was passing along the street saw the accident and hastened to assits the young man who he found was unconscious and utterly helpless. He called for help and the bus came back They assisted Paul into the rig and drove him home, where his father made a thorough examination of his injures, finding a large cut »ve!» his left eye which required several stitches, and his face badly bruise up, as was his head, nothing more serious however being found.

DECATUI?, INDIANA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 11)04.

While canning fruit Saturday afternoon at her home on First street, Mrs. Roy Archbold had the misfortune to mistake her hand for a can of fruit and poured the sealing wax on the back of her hand, burning the same in a frightful manner. Dr. J. S. Boyers was immediately summoned and dressed the injured member. The injury is a very painful one and it will be a number of days before Mrs. Archbold will be able to use her in. jured hand. Marshal Ed Green is after a team of stolen horses, which were taken from Elyria, Ohio, a few days ago. The horses weigh about 1200 and 1300 pounds respectively, and were hitched to a new surrey with green cushions. An outfit answering this description drove rapidly through here Sunday, and Marshal Green, together with the Fort Wayne police are trying to land this man and the outfit. A reward of SIOO for the return of the outfit is offered and S2OO fur the conviction of the thief. The tax rate in Bluffton next year, commencing with the May installment will be higher than it has ever been in the history of the city, $4.35 on the SIOO. This is made up as follows: State tax, 9c; benevolent, 5; school revenue, 11; sinkiag fund, 3; benevolent institutions, 2|; county tax 33|; turnpike repair, 17; court house 12; city tax, special school Bc, general fund, $1; waterworks, 30c, electric light, 20; library, 6; sinking fund, 42. Total $3.25. To this will be added subsidey to the C. B. & C., 90 cents, making $4.35. All railroads in the county, even the C. B. & C. itself, will be assessed to pay the $36,000 subsidy to the C. B. & C.—Bluffton News.

The question of who shall.be the city attorney of Decatur, is still unsettled and the outcome is as much a puzzle as ever. When the session of Wednesday night quit work it was only for a recess and with the 'understanding that business would be resumed again at eight o’clock last evening. When that hour came last night Mayor Coffee and three oouncilmen, Gaffer, Porter and Kirsch were present, lacking but one for a quorum, but that one failed to appear, those absent being Teeple, Fordyce and Buhler. After waiting until nearly ten o’clock Mayor Coffee entered the fact upon the docket that the quorum was not present and the continued session was thus broken. It will be impossible to elect a city attorney now until the next regular meeting, Sept. 20th, but Mayor Coffee has issued a special call for the council to meet tonight, when some action will be taken upon the matter. Some other matters of importance are also to come up, among them being the extending ot the electric light line to Bell View farm, four patrons for electric lights having been secured. The remembrance of September 9th will always be a happy one to Henry Zwick and family of Bingen. On that day Mr. Zwick was fifty years old, just half a century of summers having been seen by this pioneer of this community. On September sth Mrs. Zwick was forty-nine years old and on September 7th Miss Ella Zwick, the youngest daughter was eleven. In honor of these important events a surprise was planned with Henry as victim. He went so his mothers’ house on an errand, and returning found his home occupied by a crowd of his friend s. With a gasp he exclaimed, “I have been caught to a finish this time,” but he soon recovered, and enjoyed the affair immensely. The happy crowd included F. Bublitz, Charles Zwick Louis Kleine, Conrad Doehrman, Herman Reese, Henry Galmeier, Rev. Huge, Henry Erb, William Gallmeier, Ernest Buuok and their families, August Koeneman, Rev. Swanskoskey, Ed Zwick, Mrs. William Zwick, Mrs. Breiner, and Miss Mary Zwick of Adams county, and William H. Getting, jjred Brandt, Sr., William Brandt, Henrv Luehman and their families, Fred Bauat, Jr., Fred Reese Misses Mary and Carrie Meyer of Allen oountyandF. H. Witte, of Hoagland.

General James B. Weaver, of lowa, will open the campaign in this county with a speech at the court house tommorow evening, September 16th. Gen. Weaver is one of the best known men in na tional poliotics and his appearance here will be the cause of a democratic demonstration fitting for the occasion. He is an interesting speaker, a man of great force, notwithstanding his seventy-one years and his arguments will prove to those in doubt that the democratic principals are right. Arrangemen ts ■for the meeting will be announced [during the week. Arrange to hear Gen. Weaver at the court house next Friday night. Last Thursday evening a young lady arrived in this city, who gave her name as Francis Beeler, and claims to live at Bluffton. She found a b warding place and the following day became ill. A physician was summoned and on examination showed that a criminal operation had been performed and the girl was in a very dangerous condition. A few hours after a child was born dead. For some time it was believed the girl’s condition was such she could not recover, but her symptoms today are improved, and she will recover. The operation was performed by a Bluffton physician whose name we were unable to learn. A young man from Adams county was in this city last week several davs, apparently making an effort to consume all the red liquor to be bought in this city. He boasted continuously of the fact that he had been drunk for a period of five weeks. He seemed so proud of the fact that he tried to borrow money on the strength of his accomplishment. He is a young man of good antecedents, but he has become possesed of an insane idea that a 1 species of tough notoriety is a de- ’ sirable attribute for a young man to have in order to get along in the world. This is where he is mistaken. A young man who loses sight of the decent manner of living ' and is willing to throw away his opportunity by drowning his mentality and physical strength in the cup of transitory cheer, is sure of a 1 front rank position in the march that leads to the region known as ' the demention bow-wows.—Van Wert Times.

Captain Ostenrider and another detective of the Erie railway force, were here yesterday and cleared up a mystery that has been causing police officials of that line considerable inconvenience for Several months. Early last spring in the month of March complaints began coming in from shippers and mer chants, of goods being stolen while enroute over the C. &E. These goods had to be made good by the company and the keenest detectives of the road were put on the job which resulted in the discovery that the goods were stolen at Decatur. Some one had broken the seals on freight cars and then taken the goods from the boxes. It will be remembered that shoes were found on the John Voglewede farm last spring and it is believed these were a part of the plunder. After weeks of searching the detectives concluded that the guilty parties were Jasper and Bert Bailor, who have lived in the west part of Decatur. Zesterday Captain Ostenrider filed an affidavit before ’Squire James H. Smith, charging these men with burglary and larceny, and secured a search warrant. With the assistance of Sheriff Butler and Marshal Green of this city the homes of the Bailors, who live on Twelfth street were searched, and a part of the stolen goods reooverd, among the most valuable being two $25 clocks. The total value of stolen goods amounts to considerable, including 10,000 cigars, shoes, jewelry and other articles. The Bailor boys are working in the country one cutting corn and the other helping to bale hay. They will be arrested and no doubt given the limit of the law. Jasper is at present under bond to appear in court on a charge of highway robbery.

In the last year seven persons in Marion have died as the result of taking carbolic acid. Many others have taken the deadly poison, but have been dragged back to life by medical interference. Thirty-three have sought by their own hands to end their lives during the last twelve months. The list is enough to horrify the staid citizen. Seventeen died and the remainder remorsefully returned to face the problem once more. The startling feature is the fact that of the deadly attempts most were made by young people who used drugs. The notable thing is the ease with which they secured the poison.—Marion News-Tribune. Attorney S. A. M. Butcher, of Geneva, filed ajlcase in court Tuesday, entitled Bertha E. Bricker vs William E. Bricker, divorce. The parties were married September 14, 1895, and lived together until March 2, 1904. The complaint alleges cruel and inhuman treatment says that Bricker freqeuently cursd his wife, choked her and threatened to shoot her and cut her throat, that he gave her ten dollars last March and left her, going west, since which time she has not heard from him. The family lived at Marion, Indiana, during their married life, Mrs. Bricker returning to her parents’ home at Geneva, after the seperation. A divorce, such alimony as the court may believe just, and the custody of the only Child, Marie, is asked by Mrs. Bricker.

A handful of republicans were drummed together by Chairman John U'risinger of the local g. o. p., Saturday afternoon, and an imitation convention was held. P. L. Andrews was introduced as permanent chairman and spent about a half hour trying to tell what disloyal rascals the democrats are in general and in Adams county particular, but he failed to stir up the least enthusiasm. Melvin Butler was made permanent chairman. The following ticket was then named in a stereotyped manner, each man being nominated without opposition: Fur representative, Shaffer Peterson, of Decatur; auditor, John S. Hilty, Berne; treasurer, S. G. Shelter; Decatur; sheriff, Harry Cordua, Decatur; prosecuting attorney, Earl B. Adams, Decatur; commissioner, first district, Fred J. Scheeler, Preble township; commissioner, third district, George W. Brewster, of Jefferson township; surveyor, W. J. Edwards, Blue Creek township; coroner, Earl G. Coverdate, Decatur. Tuesday’s Berne Witness gives the following account of the accidental death of a citizen of the south part of the county: “John Mettler, a well -known young farmer of Wabash township, last Saturday forenoon met with an awful accident, the effects of which brought death to him several hours afterwards. The community was shocked upon hearing of the accident and death of a strong young man. Mr. Mettler, who farmed his father’s place in Wabash township went to the farm he formerly owned, now own. ed by Abraham Bixler, to haul a load of wheat to Berne. After having loaded his wagon with 72 bushels or 6,000 pounds of wheat he proceeded, by hand, to take the load down the embankment from the threshing floor of the barn. In the act he lost control of the load and fell, and as a result a front and hind wheel of the heavy load ran over his’body, crossing his shoulder and chest. He was bruised very badly, his ribs and Jungs crushed in and it was plainly seen that he could not recover. He suffered severely during the several hours he remained alive, but was conscious up to his death about 6:20 p. m. the same day. Mr. Mettler was married to Miss Selena Leiohty, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chr,. Leiohty, three years ago last month whom he now leaves a young widow with one child. The deceased was two days less than thirty years of age. He leaves to mourn their loss, his sorowing wife and child, father, three sisters and two brothers. The funeral services were held Tuesday morning.

CIRCULATION 2800 W£EKL>

NUMBER 28

One of the most brilliant and interesting social functions ever held i i this city, was given at the elegant and spacious home of Dr. and Mrs. W. P. McMillen, Saturday, afternoon, Mis. McMillen’s mother Mrs. Lucian Peyre Ferry, being the hostess. The occasion was her 90th birthday. Mrs. Ferry was born in Detroit, Michigan, and moved to Fort Wayne with her parents when but a few months old, where she resided for 81 years, whence she came to Decatur to make her home with her daughter. At a reunion of Old Settlers of Allen c uaty, held four years ago, Mrs Ferry was presented with a gold medal and made honorary life vicepresident on account of her being the oldest settler of the county. She is a remarkable woman, is in splendid health and retains control of all her faculties, is active and walks erect as many persons of seventy. She is a great reader, keaping abreast of the times and able to converse on the curren t topics of the day in the most engaging manner and takes great interest in the progress of the times. Dr. J. M. Miller helped her to celebrate the day by taking her for her first ride in an automobile which she enjoyed greatly. The handsome McMillen home has long been noted for the hospitality and generous consideration of its guests, and it was with a thrill of pleasure that the invited friends learned of an opportunity to again ,be welcomed by one of the city’s most noted entertainers. The decorai tions of the house were very elaborate. In the parlor, library, music room and hall potted palms, ferns and vases of roses were arranged in graceful groups about the rooms. The archways, mantels ■ and chandeliers were entwined with the Michigan creeper with its ■ red berries,and was most artistic. 1 The dining room was extremely at- ' tractive, being in green and white. The sideboard and bay window 1 being banked with smilax and ■ white roses; the globes of the incandesent lights were veiled in smilax; in the bay window of the - music room Mrs. George Flanders - presided over an old punch bowl - which has been in the Ferry family ■ for over a half century. Part of • the decorations were roses sent for - the occasion by her [son, Col. C. P. 5 Ferry from Tacoma, Washington. - Mrs. Ferry received her guests in • the parlor before a mantel banked • with ferns, smilax and carnations, J assisting her was her daughters, • Mrs. Mcillen and Mrs. R. D. Boyles, 3 of Fort Wayne. A guessing con test, 1 “A Romance of flowers,” was int dulged in and Mrs. Jennie Studat baker answering the greatest number correctly, was awarded a handsome vases filled with roses. A quartet sang very sweetly “The 1 Old Oaken Bucket,” after which Mrs. Ferry in her usual charming i manner gave a reminiscence of a early days in Detriot at the time of Hills’ surrender, two years be- , for her birth Her granddaughter, s Miss Minnie P. Orvis then read letters and telegrams of congratui, lations from Tacoma, Seattle, Wash., New York,Chicago, Cincinnati, Middle town, Ohio, Peterst burg, Monore, Mich., Fort Wayne, , Strassburg, Germany and Traverse j City, Mich. A most interesting i feature was the loving cup which 1 had been used on a former occasion, 1 each and every one responded with ! a toast, both touching and beautiful, r wishing Gandma Ferry, as she is affectionately known by the many 1 friends, many more birthdays, as j her strength and health will permit . her to enjoy. Mrs. Ferry was the s recipient of many handsome and useful gifts, showing their deep i. affection for her in her advanced r years. The large birthday cake a contained the initials “C. P. F. i. and 1814-1904, "with lighted candles t forming the years of her age, she a cutting the cake. Souvenirs were e given each guest, square pieces of n cake tied with white satin ribbon o with gold initials and the date of e birth and present year. A most 1 elaborate and most delicious lunis oheon was served. Several out-of-town guests were present.