Daily Democrat, Volume 1, Number 68, Decatur, Adams County, 30 March 1903 — Page 1

VOLUME 1

■OMMITS SUICIDE. — jjacy Bowers Ends Life h With a Razor. ■bilES HIS THROAT TWICE FROM EAR TO EAR. d|y Found in the Barn by His Children Yesterday Morni MI — ,3 , Bower- e<mimitle<l -uieule lv Sunday morning bv cutting hi hr< it. The terrible act was done J die suffering from a temporary fi of insanity. Racy had been actin • queerly for three days past, yet n< p- In hered he was in a condition M warrant taking his own life. : ■ day morning Racy arose about o'clock, dressed himself and out. His wife supposed he ■.vs going to attend to some work an< that he would return soon. Th.> ho s rol ed by and he failed to rJ arn. and Mrs. Bowers becoming wj rried sent for a neighbor, George in. who at once instituted a J rch for the missing man. About stj pn o’clock two of the children fa nd the dead body of their father in organ box. which was lx*in_' use las a grainery, in the barn. He pl Rented a ghastly sight, his throat cut twice from ear to ear, his clol saturated with blood and in his hand still clasped with a firm gri k the razor which had caused tla ; awful deed. He had been dead for vend hours when found, and no c ■ 'niiiitteil t c ,i ■ - . ■ • \ aft« n leaving the house about two o'Ack. The razor was one he had bd for years and with which he tad shaved himself Saturday. It wl Iving on a cupboard in the kii ten within easy reach and it is pri (able that when his eye fell upon BSl* -iav morning, the tir-T tlcm_-iit can r of self destruction; still the Orness with which he dressed wot Id lead to the belief that he had led out the details of the act. Bac the north »of town for several years, just ite the Patterson mills and has crippled up with rheumatism lly that he walked with canes as been a phyiscal wreck for ’ ll years due to this disease and «■ i forced to quit farming which 4M Ution he was engaged m for a i time. The only work he has tee able to do for some time was tally clerk at the Bower- -tone qJ py His ill health is -aid to date to a night many year- ago. who i the A. R. B»-ll livery tarn tarli.] At Mint time Racy waworking then-and slept in the 'urn H*l(woke to find the building in is and his first thought was of « torses. It was a bitter cold .and without waiting to dress - '' d" land succeeded in saving ill. some fourteen head. His re so badly frozen that it was amputation would be necesThis was averted but since ?ht he has never been in gixxl The wife, is prostrated with nd with the four children re The children are Vera, aged ; Teddy, aged eight; Johnny, ive and an infant but three old. John 8. Bowers, the mown hardware dealer and i*r of the gas company, is a ' of the deceased. The fun Jrvioes, which were private, teld from the home at three this afternoon. tier Schenck of Berne arrived irning and held the inquest I retnrn his verdiet tomorrow. A ta-ual observer at Squire Key. nold’a office today would have thongiit. the circuit court hail change*Mßations. The trial of Willard ’'toelfl vs Isaac Robinnso, an eject'neetlsuit is on tafore u jury of six 'nen. Attorneys Merryman and S. t’cteA.n ap]M<ur for the plaintiff and L. C. DeVss for the defendant.

The Daily Democrat.

LEAVES SOON. c. 0. France to Join Ball Club by Thursday. <’■ Ora France, tatter known as Bones will leave here Wednesday evening for Terre Haute, where he joins the Decatur, Illinois, base tall club of the Indina, Illinois and lowa league. He has signed with them ior the season and will play as leftfielder. After three pa nes at Terre Haute the club goes to Chicago for several games with the American League team, then to Notre Dame tor a week and then to Champaign, Illinois, fora week. The season proper will open about May 1. "Bones” is considered a first-class all-round ball player and will have no trouble holding his job' EASTER BALL. Grand Event Promised for April 13th. The C. Y. M. S. Club will Give Their Second Annual Easter Dance. Invitations today announce the fact that the Catholic Young Men's Social club will give their second annual Easter ball on Monday evening. April thirteenth, at their rooms in the new Studataker block. The grand march is scheduled to occur at B;3oanda large crowd is expected to attend. Tickets are one dollar and if you don't have the tast time of your life you can get your money tack. The C Y. M. 8. boys have built for themselves a reputation in the art of entertaining and they mean to retain it. They are making elaborate arrangements for this event and if you really want to be happy and enjoy doing the light fantastic, get in the push anil secure a ticket. Many of the invitations were sent out of town and jx'oplc will te here from the various cities. A first-class orchestra will furnish the music and the occasion is sure to ta delightful. MONROE FIGHTS. Mix-Ups Results in Arrests Today. Saturday night was a tad one nt Monroe and as a result two affidavit- were filed liefore 'Squire Smith this morning, against John Andrew- by Mrs. Eley, one for selling her hustand, who is in the habit of becoming intoxicated, liquor, and another for assalting him. Another fight is also reported from Monroe and also occurred Saturday evening. George Nichols of Berne and John Andrews are said to have drank a little too much and went to a livery tarn where Asa Andrews [worked. After a few words the men went to fighting and Asa came out the champion. No arrests have beeen made in this awe. FOOLED HIM. Dan Straub Got Mean and Went to Jail. Dan Straub is in jail, charged with assaulting his wife. He got drunk Saturday ninght, went to Fort Wayne and came home this morning in a fighting mood. He tried to whip his wife but a son, Harry, interfered and gave his father a g, MK I trouncing. Both were arrested but Harry will ta released. Dan will lx* given a hearing this evening.

The C.

DECATUR, INDIANA, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, 1903.

FOR FORGERY. Curt Johnson Jailed on Serious Charge. Confesses His Guilt and Says He is Willing to Pay the Penalty. Curt Johnson, the ballonist, known to many as Curt Emetine, is in jail for forging the name of A. C. Gregory to a check for $7.85. He wrote the check himself and signed the name of Mr’. Gregory, the same reading payable to Frank Smith. He purchased a pair of shoes at the Winnes shoe store about four o'clock Saturday afternoon and gave the check as payment. Miss Anna Winnes waited on him and when she handed Curt the change he was so anxious to get away that he neglected to pick up eighty cents, hurrying away without it. He visited severil saloons and then went home where he was arresteed about six o'clock by Marshal Cordua. He was given a hearing before Mayor Coffee when he confessed his guilt and said he was prompted to do the act by Ed Touhey. He was bound over to court without tail and went to jail. Johnson was drunk Saturday afternoon and says he scarely knows what he did or said. Touhey was arrested Sunday morning by Policeman Fisher in a hut on the Zimmerman farm and also placed in jail as an aeeesory. Both boys interviewed by a Democrat representative . Johnson says, "I did all the work myself and am willing to suffer for it; Touhey had nothing to do with the act and I wish they would let him go as he is innocent. Don’t know why 1 did it, only I was drunk and didn’t care; if I can get out on tail I will make the talloon ascension as advertised next Saturday." E<l Touhey said, "I don't know anything about this business and was not even with Curt. I don't six* why they should hold me and they surely won t when they hear the true story. The forgery was discovered at the Old Adams County tank when Miss Winnes presented the check alxiut 4 :30 Saturday afternoon, and n telephone message to Mr. Gregory confirmed the theory. Marshal Cordua was notified at supper time and was soon after Curt with above results. Pri .seeutor Moran will file affidavits against Johnson and Touhey in circuit court tomorrow morning, and they will then answer to Judge Erwin. LIVELY CONTEST. Bluffton to Enjoy an Anti-Saloon Contest. The W. C. T. U. and anti-saloon forceshave joined hands in Bluffton and propose to crusade the town against the saloons. Several national representatives of the W, C. T. U. were there yesterday and made things lively at a union meeting, and in a few days the antis will have their representative open the ball in earnest. In two townships the reform forces have already carried the day and this has given them encouragement to carry the fight to the city. It will be an inter esting conntest, the end of which can nnot at this time taconnjectured. COURT NEWS. The last week of court began this morning and business was transactas follows: Dayton G. Addlesjx'rger et ul vs. Adams county, change of venue grunted to the Allen circuit court. Edward J. Kinney vs. Continental Insurance company, disniised and costs ]laid. Minerva Dudgeon vs. Douglass Dudgeon, Ben Shrank appointed guardian.

HORSE STOLEN. Rockford Man Offers Reward of Twenty-five Dollars. J. D. Miller of Rockford, Ohio, was in town today, looking for some clue of a valuable horse and buggy, stolen at ten o'clock last night. His son drove out in the country a short distance and stopped to see a friend, hitching the horse at the gate. When he came out, after a short time, horst,* and rig were gone. Tin; horse was a beautiful sorrel animal, four years old with a blemish on the right front foot; the buggy is a rubber tire rig with red running gears. Mr. Miller offeres $25.00 reward for the return of his property. At three o’clock this afternoon Marshal Cordua received a telephone message to the effect that the horse and buggy here mentioned had taen located at Rockford. WANTS REUNION. * Old Forty-Seventh to Arrange for One. Captain D. 8. Bender, of Logansport, has issued a call for a meeting of members of the old 47th regiment immediately after the parade at the state encampment in Anderson. Col. J. B. Plessinger, of Bluffton, is secretary of the present organiza tion of the 47th regiment and he says that arrangements will undoubtedly lx* made to hold a big rennuion this year. It will probably ta* held in Bluffton, if the veterans here ask for it, because of the fact that the old regimental band, composed of J. B. and Ben Plessinger and Harrison Craig, all live there. HASTENS ACTION. Advance in Indiana Crude Insures Increased Operations. The three-cent advance in the western oil handed out by the Stand ard Oil company Thursday is an incentive to increased operations in the local fields. Some of the oil men claim that the prospects for the oil out put this spring are the tast they ever saw. All the fields in the county are very active and tatter oil is being brought to the surface tha n has ever liefore been pumped. Preparations are being made by the owners of least's to put down us many more wells as possible ut once and to keep those which they have actively working during the coming months. AN OPERATION. Daniel Bailer will Have His Crushed Foot Treated Surgically. Daniel Baller a citizen of this town will go to Fort Wayne tomorrow and have his left foot O]x*rat<*d on by a specialist of that city. On June 21, of lust year, Mr. Bailer was asssisting In skidding logs when by an accident a heavy log slipped and rolling tack, caught his leg and tadly crushed the bones of the ankle. Since that time* the injured man has taen unable to stand at all on the injured leg and a cartilaginous growth has set in, which prevents the hone from propi*rly knittninti together. It is the intention of the man to have this growth removed and though a very crucial operation to submit to, he talieves it to lx* the only way to a positive cure. Mrs. D. E. Scott was pleasantly surprised Saturday evening by alxiut thirty-five of the Rebecca lixlge, who imisqueraded themselves and inarched in iqxin that lady, who little suspected what was coming. The evening wasspent with various amusements and nt a late hour refreshments were served. The entire affair was very successful and enjoyable in every detail.

DEMANDS THEM. Brings Suit to Recover Her Children. They are at the Marion Orphans' Home Where They Were Placed by the Father. A habeas corpus proceeding in the Adams circuit court will ta* filed tomorrow morning, whereby Mrs. Mary Bentz, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Pennington, will attempt to recover her little children, now inmates of the orphans home at Marion. Mrs. Bentz was granted a divorce from her husband. Joe Bentz, in 1899, and at this time the court gave the mother the custody of the children with the provision, however, that the father was to ta permitted to have them visit him at times. Shortly after the granting of the divorce Joe left here and the next heard of him he had taen convicted of forgery and sentenced to the In two years he was relased on parole and went to the home of his parents at Marion. While there a sudden desire came upon him to see his children and he sent an appeal here that they lx* allowed to visit him at his parents home. They were sent over and after a few days Joe had them placed in the orphan's home there and the mother has taen unable to get them tack. Since these hup]x*nings Joe has violated his parole and is again in the penitentiary. Mrs. Bentz has worked and saved money to bring the proper proceedings in court for recovering her babies and has finally succeeded m doing so. The hataas corpus proceedings which will ta filed tomorrow will lx* the test as to whether or not she may have the pleasure of living with her own children. WHERE ARE THEY? Farmer and Son Have Disappeared. Bill Emmenheiser the farmer who was assaulted and tattered by Ad Craig a week ago has mysteriously dissapjx'ared from his home east of Vera Cruz, and his family had two men in the city today looking for him. He came to town Wednesday ot enter an appearance to the charge of assault and Ixittery filed against him for the Sunday night riot and hasnotlx*en seen since. John Crosbie brought him to town in his buggy and Emmenheiser instructixl his son to come after him in the wagon and they would drive north of the city and get a load of corn. When Emenheiser was acquitted he left the mayor 'scourt and that is the last that has Jxxm seen of him. His son too is missing and there is no clue as to the whereabouts of either. They may have taen loafing about the city but no one rejxirts having seen them. No motive is known for their leaving the country. OTHER RELATIVES. Youni Man Drowned al Celina Known Here. Charley Covalt, who was drowned last week in the lake at Celina, or who at least is believed to hiive drowned, was a relative of George Delxilt of this city. His Home was at Rockford. Ohio, and he left, last Monda.y with a conqxinion, John Stutler. of Celina, on a duck hunt. They never returned and their guns and game were found several days afterward on a stump in the lake. The boat, was also found overturned Covalt was a cousin of Doc Covalt.

NUMBER 68

QUITE FASHIONABLE. Lagrippe the Scapegoat for Every Ailment on tbe Calendar. Notwithstanding the frequent terrific descriptions in the newspajM-rs what the grip really is, people will keep on insisting that they have the wretched ailment when they an* in reality afflicted with something much milder. A majority of people when they are sick want to ta considered very sick, and ta deeply sympathized with. Imagination rtyj. riot in nothing else so much as in sikness. Grip is generally understood to be a most searching ailment, and coughs, colds, backache, i influenza, rheumatism, shingles, chicken-pox, nose-bleed, hives, corns, bunions, and "that tired feeling" all go popularly by the name of "grip." If people would quit talking alxiut the disease when they have something else it would not ta so prevalent. It is a comparatiyly new distress, and is regarded as fashionable. Really, people of ordinary means cannot afford it. LOOKS GUSHING. The Spring Hat is a Radient Inspiration of the Beautiful. The builders of the tast of the new spring headgeear must have walked in radiant gardens for inspiration, for the wreath, the posy and the single flower play no small part in thier creations. Entire chapeaux, too, are still made of flowers or a tulle or lace crown may have a flower brim, or the condition ta reversed and the crown ta floral. Even the headgear for elderly women takest of the tinted ornaments of wood and garden, and charming toques, fashioned almost entirely of Parma I violets, or small closely-massed roses are seen. This change from the "old lady" order of things is more becoming to sweet worn faces than the more sombre styles were, and the blossoming structure, at the same time keeps withint he bonds of reason. It is never too young, but just, young enough, which suitability all fashions should preserved. TOBACCO. Jacob Heller, the Adams Countv Tobacconist, will Ship This Week. Jacob Heller, ]x*rhaps the only tobacco grower in this section of the country, will make a shipment this week of the Adams county product. He ships to a large wholesale house ut Greenville, Ohio, where the tobacco dealers of many neighboring cities get their supply. The ship- : ment this year will lx* alxiut 20,000 | pounds, and is but a portion of what | they now have on hand. Tobacco can 1 not lx* marketed the same year that it is raised, but must undergo ' process of curing that takes from I two to three years. The crops that Mr. Heller puts out varies and the I largest, that ever was s<*en in this county was twelve acres. Adams county tobacco is large and of tine flavor and if the ground could stand it, tobacco raising in this section of the state could lx* made very profitable. WILL BE BOSS. Eugene Christen Will Superintend New Building. Eugene Christen has completed arrangements with a committee of the city council whereby he will superintend the construction of the new addition at the water works station. The contract will no doubt lx* approved by the council at their meeting tomorrow night and Mr. Christen will get. the job. He is to secure thirty five dollars for his work. | The work will tagin soon.