Decatur Democrat, Volume 52, Number 10, Decatur, Adams County, 11 March 1909 — Page 1

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Volume LII

HE GETS A DOLLAR Xabor Meibers Gets Judgment in the Horse Case NINETEEN HOURS The Jury Agrees Only on a Compromise Verdict ♦.’“s; • ■ > • > . .Labor Meibers gets a dollar and a 'windy horse. It wag a hot court contest, and it was not only hot during the progress of the trial, but the spirit of the thing hung to the Jury and ’when it came time for them to have an inning .they waged a Contest that lasted for nineteen hours, and then agreed on a compromise verdict, which gave the plaintiff, J. W. Meibers, Judgment In the gum of one doHar. It all was brought about by a horse deal, in which the plaintiff Meibers,. purchased from Harry A. Klutz a horse which some time after the purchase was claimed to be windbroken, and otherwise not as represented. As is many times usual in such cases, they can only be settled by the circuit court, and it is not likely that the verdict rendered in this case will prove satisfactory to either the plaintiff or defendant It was a genuine contest, however, Peterson & Moran having the interests of the plaintiff, *nd >. E. Smith those of the defendant Ohe day and a half was spent in selecting the Jury and the Asking of evidence, these being completed yesterday at noon. In the afternoon the . arguments were made, the jury instructed and at four o’clock the Jury began their deliberation on a verdict Finally at eleven o’clock today they agreed to a compromised verdict,which 'was read in open court and the Jury ■discharged. — o— — — - John Zimmerman came home last ■evening from Remona Lake, Michigan, where he purchased twenty cars of ice for storage purposes in his houses across the river Zimmerman succeeded'in packing the only ice put up here this winter and he only secured 350 tons. Two "weeks ago he left tor Michigan and has been looking for suitable Ice since. Even there the quality is pbor, so much being frozen slush and snow but after visiting Frankfort, Cadillac, Lake City, Grand Rapids and other points he bought twenty cart of the Romona Lake company.—Bluffton News. DEPLTYAUDITOR , • Paul Baumgartner to Go Into the Auditor’s v Office GOES IN MONDAY He is Familiar With the Work and Will Make Good I Paul Baumgartner is a new deputy auditor, he baying ben selected today and if possible he will begin his duties in that office on next Monday. Since coming into office Auditor Michaud has seen the necessity of more help In order that the work of the office might be cared for promptly and on the minute, and to this end has had his eye on a good deputy, and so today selected Mr. Baumgartner. The new deputy is familiar with the work of the public offices at the court house, he having for four years served as deputy in the treasurer’s office, following that with four years in the clerk’s office, under the term of David Gerber. He is not only familiar with the duties in these offices, but he is capable and trustworthy in , every sense of the term. He will begin his duties there on Monday, and - Is already arranging his business affairs to that end. .He is now living In St. Marys township on a farm purchased not long since, and where he has lived for a year'or more. :■» ..■ .<■ ■ ■j’.-:

Os-atilß DWCRqT.

SCHMIDT WILL BE A CANDIDATE f He Will Seek Nomination for Mayor of Fort Wayne. Following the passage of the amended Thornton bill, which now bars present city officials in Fort Wayne from re-election, City Controller A. M. Schmidt today confirmed well-defined rumors that he was to be a candidate fer the mayoralty. Asked if he intended getting into the race , now, Mr, Schmidt today said: "i don't think there’s any doubt of it.” Much interest was aroused in Fort Wayne by the amendment and passage of the Thornton cities and towns bill in the closing hours of the legislative session, which in its revised form prevents present elective officials from being candidates to succeed themselves. The situation was the big topic of conversation in local political circles about town today.—-Fort Wayne Sentinel. \ ,/ ■ * MANY LIVES LOST A Torpado Done Deadly Work at Brinkley, Arkansas THIRTY WERE KILLED ■■l 111 1»nla—l ■■■ Damage to Property Will Amount to a Million Dollars -- Brinkley, Ark., March 10.—Thirty or more lives were snuffed out, sixty people Were injured and property estimated tq be Worth one million dollars was destroyed as a result of the tornado which wrecked this little city. The tornado shrieked above the city a few minutes, but its woriTdf destruction was complete. The Roman Catholic church, standing directly in the path of the storm, alone escaped damage or destruction, ■ and stands grimly in a scene of desolation. It has been converted into a hospital. Main street and Cypress avenue, the two principal thoroughfares of the town, are now impassable and are piled high with wreckage from end to end. Every business house is in ruins and there is hardly a home that has not at least suffered the loss of a roof or a wndow. The Arlington hotel was totally demolished. Eighty guests were registered there, but all escaped uninjured. Th® Brinkley hotel, Southern hotel and Kelly hotel were all destroyed, without loss of life however. Relief squads have been at work all day caring for the dead and injured. The Rock Island and Cotton Belt railways have placed cars at the disposal of the local relief committee and many people are leaving Brinkley seeking a temporary refuge at other points nearby. The dead were sent to Helena from which point interment will take place. Governor Honaghey arrived from Little Rock in response to a call from the citizens’ committee. He has the situation well in hand, and says food, clothing and shelter are the things most needful. Hundreds of people are homeless and are wandering about seeking a temporary abode. —; <>— ■. HAB ENGAGED DETECTIVES Warsaw, Ind.,' March 9.—Believing that her husband has become tem.- k porarily deranged, or has met with foul play, Mrs. Minnie Rand, wife of the Rev. Mr. Rand, has employed the Pinkerton detective agencysend a man' here to make an effort to Ind the missing man, who went south last Thursday morning on the Big Four railroad. Rand was traced as far as Wabash. Mrs. Rand is wealthy and all the property is in her name. They came here about three years ago from Chrisman, 111., where he had a charge. .—, q - — By a'deal which was consummated yesterday. H. L. Miller and J. W. Lester have purchased the interest of Arnold Ashbaucher in the Bluffton Business college. By the deal Arnold gets the property of Lester on south Johnson street. Ashbaucher retires from the college. The •membership of the school this winter as been greater than ever before. None of the students have been able to graduate, owing to the fact that several of them to go out of the school to take positions before completing their i studies.—Bluffton Banner. ]

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, March II L9op

IS LAW REPEALED » ♦ ■I. . What Has Become of the Three-Mile Gravel ; Road Law IMPORTANT HERE People of this County Would Regret It’s Repeal The piece of legislation that par-' haps is of more concern to the people of Adams county than any other. Is tbe three-mile gravel road law, and just now it is an even bet as to whether the law wu repealed or whether it was not. Contradictory stories have daily been printed in the metropolitan press, and just which is which, is the question. The bill waa introduced by E. J. Mendenhall of Hamilton county, and it went through in the rush of the last day, without being printed. A representative of this paper asked Mr. Mendenhall what was in his bill, and his reply was characteristic of a legislator. He said that he really did not know what the provisions of the bill were. The conflicting stories about this bill, are first that it repeals the three-mile gravel road law, and second that .if it does not repeal it makes a remonstrance good where the remonstrance is signed by more people than the petition. An effort is being made to have the proposed law copied that its contents may be known, and as soon as it Is possible to get a line on tte correctness of this legislation, the provisions of the law will be prints® in the columns of the Democrat, that our readers may know what has happened to them, in regard to this Important road improvement. The threemile law has been of more benefit and service to the people of Adams countv than any''other law ever enacted by a general assembly of the state of Indiana It’s repeal would be a blow to the genuine improvement of the highways of the county. Every township in the county will suffer, as-a part Os the roads have been macadamized under this law and the whole people of the township have paid for the improvement. The repeal of the law would mean that those people who have no roads will now have to dig down in their jeans and pay for their roads, while they have willingly and gladly paid on all the roads in the township. — -0 —— IN CIRCUIT COURT The Eley Divorce Case Was Dismissed and Costs Paid AN ALLOWANCE Mary Knavel to Get Fifteen Dollars for Expense Account Julus Haugk vs. James W. Place et al, motion by fleCendants, Katharine Place and H. L. Center overruled. Separate motions in arrest of Judgment filed. The divorce case of Bertha R. Eley vs. Joseph Eley, waa dismissed and costs paid, such action being asked for by the plaintiff. In the case pf Mary Knavel vs. Edward Knavel, the plaintiff asked for an allowance, and this was granted, the court ordering the defendant to pay fifteen dollars to the clerk of the court for this purpose. Two warranty deeds were recorded today, they being Louisa jMagley to Josephine Magley. Simmons & Dailey were represented by the senior member of the firm in the case of Frank M. Johnston vs. The Philmont Oil Co., default of defendants, judgment on findings and decree for order of sale, inventory (Continue don page 4.)

WERE ARRESTED AT FT. WAYNE Howard Johnson, of Bluffton, Is In Trouble. Howard Johnson, who was implicated in the Ella LaPoint murder trial here, Is under arrest at Fort Wayne on the charge of running away with Another man’s wife from Coldwater, Mich., he and the woman both being under arrest. When Sheriff Lipkey was in Fort Wayne yesterday afternoon Johnson and his paramour were being taken to the police court for their trial. The' prosecutor was unable to hold the case yesterday and as a result it was continued until later. The woman with whom Johnson ran away had four children, it is claimed. These children were deputed by their mother. The couple was located Friday in Fort Wayne and placed under arrest Ella LaPoint and Florence Besancon, the woman who was murdered, were both Jealous of Johnson here, it is claimed, and it was owing to his intimacy with the two women that he was held as a witness.—Bluffton Banner. WILL HAVE BUYERS City Bonds Will Have No Trouble Finding Owners SALE TUESDAY Will Be Attended• by Representatives of Many Firms .There are positive evidences that the bonds for the new city building will find ready buyers next Tuesday, when the sale is held in the council chambers for there have already been many inquiries in regard to same. An Indianapolis firm has made it known that they will assume all the bonds in the event that no one overbids them. These bonds, it will be remembered are to be twelve in number and for one thousand dollars each, one of which is to fall due each year. There have been more than twenty inquiries in regard to the sale of the bonds, and it is anticipated that there will be many bdders present. The bonds wll bear four and one-half per cent interest Immediately after the sale of the bonds the city clerk will be authorised to advertise for bids for the constructton of the magnificent building and tlie letting of the contract will occur either April the sixth or one week later. The work will then commence at once and will be rushed to completion. The new city building will be an institution wheh we can well be proud of. With its many conveniences and beautiful design it will be a credit to its promoters, It will also add to the dignity of the city as a corporation, and will cause the reduction of insurance rates subsequent to the installation of an efficient fire protection system. o— A BUSINESS CHANGE By a deal closed last evening Messrs. J. J. Foughty, C. K. Foughty and L. Hopengartner have come into possession of the coal yard which has been owned and conducted by Messrs. John Schbiman and Robert Perkins for some time. The new firm has organised under ( the name of the City Trucking company, with J. J. Foughty as its manager, and beside dealing in coal and other material of that nature, they will operate the dray line from the building which is located on Monroe street Possession was surrendered to the new firm this morning. ■ Q BOUGHT SIXTY-FIVE HEAp , Herehell Beavers, of Prospect, Ohio, who is one of the largest buyers and by the way, one of the best, landed sixty-five head at the last Decatur horse sale. They were all beauties, showing that Mr. Hershell knows the best when he sees them, ft is the largest single purchase yet made from the local company, and as sixty-five bead is some horses, he is entitled to the ribbon. Every one in Decatur takes their hat off to Mr. Beavers.

A NEW DIRECTORY The Citizens’ Getting Out a New Telephone Book IS OUT OF DATE The Company Still Growing and Expanding At a very early day a bright new telephone book will be laid on the table or desk of every patron of the Citizens* Telephone company. Such h book is now in the process of manufacture, and it will not be a great length of time until it will be ready for delivery. They have long needed the directory, as they have grown until now the old book is actually a back number. And thia reminds us that the Citizens’ company cover their field and cover it well with good service to any place at any time. Even during the late unpleasantness they recovered their service long before oth- * er and larger companies did, all of which shows that the local company are some pumpkins in the telephone field. The last blow that killed father, has put out of commission many companies who, before, were making a decent pretense of fulfilling the mission of -telephone service, ft all shows that every one must know their business and must have equipment and the standing to face any crisis. The business of the Decatur plant is managed with this in view and as a consequence it costs lots of money to keep up with the times and to keep doing those things that have to be done to insure to the public that which they pay for, good service. Nearly every farm line that was put under cover during the turmoil and trouble that came to every telegraph and telephone line in the coun- ; try, has been redeemed and is now doing duty as of old. As they have country lines scattered all over the ( northern part of the county it meant much labor, time and expense to replace service on all of them. This has now been done and everything is lovely. Their toll service to Fort Wayfie is . better now than it ever was in the : history or tne company. This is one of the busiest lines they have, and it is seldom idle during the many hours i of the day, and is even used at night not a little. ■ ' —o — THEY GET PINCHED 1 -0 Conductors and Motormen Have Been Arrested ’ ■■ PAPERS ARE SERVED They Are Charged With Operating Cars Too The marshal filed affidavits against Conductors Amos Prover and Henry Gertoe and Motormen James Drague and Henry Kruel of the Fort Wayne & Springfield interurban Sunday night charging that the cars of which they had charge were operated in the city limits last Sunday evening at a rate of speed which exceeds the limit provided for by a city ordinance. City Attorney L. C. DeVoss prepared the affidavits yesterday afternoon, and they were served last evening. The defendants were instructed to appear before Mayor France this morning for trial, which they did, but the case was (postponed until tomorrow morning, on account of the Illness of L. C. DeVoss, who- wilt prosecute the ease. The speed limit as fixed by the council is six miles per hour in the city limits and it is charged that this rate was exceeded- by the interurban em(Continue don page 4.)

emeuLATMM MO© WEEKLY

Number io

WILL SPEND THE TIME IN ITALY Family of Theodore Roosevelt Will Go to Italy. Oyster Bay, N. Y„ March 10.—According to ex-President Roosevelt his family, with the exception of Theodore Jr., will spend most of the time in Italy while Mr. Roosevelt is away. They will be the guests of Mrs. Roose- ■ velt’s sister, Miss Carew, at her villa near Rome, ft has been planned to have Mrs. Rosevelt leave Italy early In March, 1910, and journey across the Mediterranean to Alexandria and thence by boat and rail up the Nile | to Phartoum. Here Mr. Roosevelt, with his expedition, will arrive about April 1 and will be met by Mrs. Roosevelt. They will make visits to points of'lnterest in Egypt on the way down the Nile and will then proceed to Europe, where Mr. Roosevelt has made several engagements for the early summer. o ■ —- PRINTING THE LAWS They Will Likely Be Published Early Next Month THE NEW LAWS But One Bill is Passed Without the Governor’s Signature Indianapolis, March 10. —The acts passed by the general assembly will be published the latter part of the month or early next month, according to announcement made. The first forms, containing 64 pages of the acts, has gone to press, and Frank I. Grubbs assistant secretary of state, is<at work arranging the other acts for publication. One hundred and seventy-nine enrolled acts have been turned over to him, only one of which (the Sunday baseball bill) does not bear the signature of the governor. Governor Marshall passed on all of the bills placed before him, unaided, in about five days’ time. He vetoed seven bills that were not enacted into law. He « has cleared his desk and is about ready to look into the question of appointing state officials. He received . , and accepted every enrolled act passed by each house. The house handled 63S bills during the session. The senate handled 449. The senate journal force has completed its work, but the house force will be at work on the records of the house for at least ten days. Assistant Secretary of State • Grubbs said he could not predict just when the acts would be published. The acts of 1907 were published April 10 of that year. "The laws are not so many,” said Speaker Honan, “but they are good laws. More vicious legislation was killed at thiA session than at any session of which I have been a member of the house. If the school book bill and the telephone bill had become law in their original form the effect would have been disastrous. The cities and towns difficulty has been ironed the law clarified and the objectionable features eliminated. If the Thornton bill had passed in its original form it would have caused endless conflict with the existing laws. The metropolitan police law has seen repealed and that in itself is of4>ig importance.’* ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH. The undersigned wishes to announce herewith that the third Lenten services will be held at our church tomorrow, Thursday evening, at 7:15 o'clock standard time. All German speaking friends are most cordially Invited to attend. Rev. Klausing, Pastor. o HOBSON VISITS HUNTINGTON Huntington, Ind., March 9.—Captain Richmond Pearson Hobson, hero of the Merrimac iof Spanish-American war fame, was given a reception by the Children of the American Revolution this afternoon. Capt Hobson came to give a lecture in the evening and was the guest of the little people and 300 friends in the relic room of the court house. ———•<—'