Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1879 — INDIANA ITEMS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA ITEMS.

The new Court House at Wabash will be dedicated on the 4th of July. David Mitchell, who resided five miles east of Salem, was struck by lightning recently. Poor quality of seed necessitated the replanting of nearly all the corn in Wabash county. George W. Walker, a fourteen-year convict at the Indiana prison, south, made his escape the other day. Minnie McMurren, a 7-year-old girl, was probably fatally burned at Salem while using coal oil to start a fire. The report of the Assessor of Brookville township, Randolph county, shows an increase of $13,000 over last year. Ed. Michaels, a son of Elder J. W. Michaels, was drowned in Sugar creek, just below Crawfordsville, while bathing. The Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company disregard the “whistling” law, and will continue to do so unless prosecuted. Tipton county farmers, whose growing wheat was destroyed by the recent storm, are plowing up the ground and will plant it with corn. The expenses of the public schools of New Albany the past school year were, for pay of teachers, $25,154; other expenses, $18,000; total, $44,154. The City Council of New Albany has passed a resolution prohibiting policemen electioneering at the polls at city, county, or State elections. Mrs. Henry Whitman, of Sullivan, lived 90 years, and then died suddenly last week from strangulation, caused by the bursting of a blood vessel in her throat. The contract for the erection of the new Methodist church at Greencastle has been let for $12,990. The Presbyterian congregation, having bought the old Roberts Chapel, will remodel it at once. Mrs. Marsh, 80 years old, and her daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Williams, of Booneville, were thrown from a buggy by a runaway horse the other day, and the former instantly killed, while the latter was severely injured. Rev. J. P. D. John has resigned the Presidency of Moore’s Hill College. Within the past five years the net assets of the college have been increased about $15,000, and the character of the institution was never more enviable. Rosanna Peters, aged 11, was shot in the back in her father’s house near Fort Wayne, a few days ago, the ball being fired by a party of young bloods who were passing along the road in an intoxicated condition. She will probably die. Capt. Jesse Custer, formerly of the Eleventh Indiana regiment, died at Thorntown lately, after a lingering illness. Mr. Custer was a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. fraternities,and was well known and respected by all who knew him. While some boys were carelessly playing with a loaded revolver in the hands of Almon Riddling, at Little York the other day, one of the loaded chambers was accidentally discharged, the ball entering,the shoulder of Peter Hanny, from which it is feared he cannot recover. William Cheeseman, one of the pioneers of Indiana and the first mailcarrier entering Indianapolis from the East, died at his residence in Richmond lately of general paralysis, caused by old age. He was known as the author of the legendary phrase, “The woods is full of ’em.” Thomas E. Kackley, of Vincennes, a prominent politician and farmer, was badly injured by a reaper, while harvesting, one day last week. The mules became unmanageable, throwing Kackley before the knives. His leg was broken in three places. Robert J. Hughes and John I. Spray, two bad characters who were sent to the Northern prison for burglarizing a store at Waynetown last winter, have confessed to having murdered Tim O’Connel, about two years ago. O’Connel had received a month’s wages. They murdered him and threw his body on the railroad, where it was run over by the night train, and thus the cause of his death was concealed. The High School Board of Fort Wayne forbade the presentation of bouquets at the commencement exercises. The exercises had not progressed far, however, before the order was violated, and the fair recipient refused to surrender her floral tribute. Great excitement prevailed, and a squad of police appeared, when the lady surrendered her bouquet and left the stage, followed by eight members of the class. The exercises were at length continued, but great excitement and confusion continued until the close. Mrs. Eliza Weir, aged 66, the wife of John Y. Weir, of Memphis, Clarke county, has been afflicted with rheumatism for two weeks past, and one evening last week she, to all appearances, died. The family made the necessary arrangements to prepare the corpse for burial, but about an hour after her supposed death Mrs. Weir gave one groan, and commenced breathing. The people in the house were horrified and ran out, screaming loudly; but one woman stood near the corpse and called out, “Mrs. Weir.” She answered, “Oh! ” and has not spoken since, but lies in an unconscious condition, and breathing naturally. The affair has caused great excitement in Memphis.