Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1886 — INDIANA MATTERS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA MATTERS.

A Dccismi on tin 1 Term of a Township Tm-toc \f\v Swindling Scheme in Itoono County —A Decision on the l.usl ol' tile Tcii'|)i|..me Cases .Minor state Items. State Auditor Rice submitted to-Attor-ney Central Herd for ..n official opi .rou the question.“ Suppose a Township Trustee die- and the vacancy is. filled by appointment, and the appointee holds by virtue of such appointment for tlm period of five months. ,m l he i- elected Trustee at the succeeding April i lection and holds for the term of two year- hs he again eligible to tlie s ime officer” in amove! to the question the Attorney General says- -The statute provides 'hereafter no IHiso-.i shall be t lirible to the cilice c.f Township Trustee move than four y ears m any period of six years.' If the statute was susceptible of the construction that a Trustee cannot nndernuy circumstances hold the office tor move than four years in anv period of six years, and that tho time during which the officer held under appointment should ho estimated as a part cf such time, yet the fact of tin. officer holding the office for live months under appointment and two years by election would not render him eligible to a second election ns Trustee, hut his time ns such officer would terminate when tho lonr years of continuous office would expire. But this statutemust he construed in connection with tlie Constitution of Indiana, which ptovides, ‘ln nil oases in which it is provided that nn office shall not be filled by the same person more than a certain.'number of years continuously', an appointment pro tempore shall not bo reckoned a part of that term.’ The statute must bend to the Uonstitmion, and not the Constitution to tlm statute. It is my opinion that the time of five months hold-under an appointment is not to be recluned ns any' partof tho four. years during which a Trustin' may hold his office, but that lie is eligible to the office for two terms by election, and that he, can hold by virtue of such elections t'< r four years, and the time li Id under an nppt intmei .t pro tempore is not to be counted as any partof su di four years." —A well-dressed, smooth tongued swindler has been defrauding the unsuspecting farmers in Boone and adjoining counties. This time it is the paint trick. The First National Bank of Lebanon is in receipt of several notes on farmers, who claim that they were misled into signing the notes under the impression that they were receipts for paint, to be used by them in painting the roofs of their buildings. A couple of nice-appearing strangers, during the month of December last, went to the houses of farmers and represented that (hoy were agents for roof-paint, and proposed to give ten dollars' worth of the article to the honest tiller of the soil, and he was to recommend it to his neighbors. It looked very nice, and they took in the bait; some gave receipts, and others notes, which would never be collected, but were to show to others of the neighborhood, just for tho influence it would lmve. —The Supreme Court of Indiana has decided the last of the telephone cases. The decision was given by Chief Justice Niblack. It covers tbe constitutionality of the two laws passed by the last Legislature for the regulation of telephone affairs, the points involved in the law reducing rentals having previously been decided in the cases of Jloekett against tho State, and in this th 1 Court reaffirmed its former opinion by simply calling attention to it. Regarding tho non-discrimination act, the Court holds at length that the telephone company is a common carrier, and as such is subject to all the regulations which the law imposes upon common carriers. It cannot, therefore, refuse service to any person who demands it and fulfills the legal requirements. —Tbe children of Frank Klee, a farmer living in the vicinity of Huniingburg, went fishing, and on their return brought home several small fish, which they carelessly laid down. One of the smaller children, aged 2 years, picked up one of the fish and attempted to put it in its mouth. As the fish was still alive it flounced put of the child's hand and got fast iu its throat. The father, in attempting to pull the fish out, pulled the tail off, and the child was choked to death in a few minutes. ~ —Some time ago a New Albany photographer received a copy of a picture from the Sheriff of Orange County, being that of three toughs sittiug on the same seat in a spring wagon, one driving, one flourishing ii revolver, and the other holding a bottle of whisky. He was instructed to make 500 photographs of the mail sitting in the'middle, which was tlie notorious Anther. As soon as the Sheriff of Fountain 'County received a photograph he at once went and put his hand on the man. —An attempt was made to poison the family of. Henry Sanders, of Stone’s Crossing. A quantity of “Rough on Rats” was placed in the coffee the family had for breakfast. Four members of the family were made violently sick, but by prompt treatment are recovering. A son-in-law of Sanders named Champlin was arrested on suspicion and lodged in jail under $20,000 bond. He protests his innocence. —Some of the best corn lands in Indiana are the bottoms of ponds which have been drained, but in certain of these the working of the soil on warm days causes an intolerable itching, followed by burning pain in the skin for some days. The cause of this is found to be the minute spicules of sponges which once grew in the pond and remain iu enormous abundance in the dust. —A fe>v days since, two patent deeds Were recorded in the Recorder’s office, at Goshen, one, dated 183 G and signed by President Andrew Jackson, for forty acres in Jefferson . Township, to Ede Davison, and- the ,6thpx : .dated 1837, for IGO acres in same signed by Martin Van Buren, to Jofin.S. Wilson. A —lsrael .Neal, the oldest resident of Logauspoit, is dead. Mr. Noal came to Cass Couu y sixty-five years ago, when there were but a dozen log cabins in the county. —Christian Failor, aged 80 years,* at one