Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1887 — INDIANA STATE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—A rather exciting incident happened on the J., M. <fc L trnin near Edinbnrg. The notorious Henry Underwood was on the train in charge of an officer who was taking him from the northern prison to North Vernon as a witness in a trial there. He was heavily ironed and was standing up when Henry Webster, on whose evidence, chiefly, he was convicted, passed down the aisle, not noticing or recognizing Underwood. When passing, the latter struck him a square blow in the face with both his manacled hands, cutting a severe gash and almost felling him to the floor. The officer forced Underwood to take his seat and prevented any further violence, but the incident created quite a commotion in the car. —The follow ing patents have been issued to Indiann inventors: Jonathan Chalfant, Bluntsville, cultivator; Greer W. Davis, New Albany, apparatus for producing stage effects; Ned E. Hildreth, Decatur, tubular well valve; Noah Hollinger, Goshen, grain separator; Joseph H. Martin, Bloomington, mole trap; Charles McNeal, Mishawaka, boring machine; James L. Townley, Vincennes, coin counter, with automatic locking device; William Weber, Evansville, roller knife; Charles Wittenberg, Indianapolis, return attachment for telephone toll collectors; Edmund Zoller, Indianapolis, cuff holder. —Representatives of the Grand Army posts comprising the soldiers’ association of Grant, Madison, Delaware, and Blackford counties, held a meeting at Marion to perfect arrangements for a reunion and enenmpment, to be held next summer. A large number of veterans from a distance were present. It was decided to hold the encampment at the fair grounds, at that place, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, commencing August 2. The program will include processions, parades, and a grand sham battle on the closing day. Maj. George Steele was chosen encampment commander.

—Tho Westfield Gas and Improvement Company has entered into a contract with the Indianapolis Natural-gas Company, whereby the latter company agrees to begin drilling for gas in the immediate vicinity of Westfield, and to pipe the town and furnish gas for both light and fuel, and, if gas is found, to have pipes laid, all within six months. The compnny havo over 1,000 acreß of land leased on which to operate. —William Fiscus, 80 old, living three miles south of Greensburg, met with an accident that will probably prove fatal. While alone before an open fire, he rose from a chair, and in attempting to turn, in some manner fell backward into the fire. Before assistance arrived, his clothing was burned off, and the flesh from his neck to his thighs almost literally roasted. —The Fairmont Mining Company, with a capital stock of $50,000, has been organized at that place, and Dr. A. Henley elected Pres ident; C. It. Small, Treasurer, and Thomas J. Nixon, Secretary. The purpose of the company is to bore for oil, gas, and coal, and a contract was nwnrded to Messrs. Liilard A Bryan, who will commence the work of drilling immediately. —Joseph Wright, a teamster at Fillmore, on the Vnndalia road, was run over by a freight train. He was alighting from the train when he fell upon the track, and both legs were crushed beneath the wheels. His legs *were amputated, but the unfortunate man lived only a few hours after the accident.

—Mrs. Louisa Sturgis, of Fort Wayne, the last surviving member of the noted Ewing family, died at an advanced age. Her father was the owner of one-third of the land that the city is built upon, and her brother, the late George W. Ewing, was the owner of the vast Ewing estate in Chicago. —An attempt was made to wreck a Wabash passenger train near Marshfield. A bag of blasting powder was found in the coal, where it had been placed by some scoundrel. It weighed three pounds, and would have blown the boiler to pieces and probably killed the engineer and fireman. —Mr. Joshua Turner, living five miles from Vevay, was burning a tobacco bed, when his five-year-old daughter approached so near the fire that her clothes were ignited and entirely burned from her person before assistance arrived. It is feared her injuries will terminate fatally. —lsaac Heffelfinger, a young man living at Huntertown, was found dead in a haystack, near that place. Cause of death unknown, but it is supposed he froze to death, as it was bitter cold. He hod no home, except when he found jobs on farms adjoining the town. —William Gwin, an aged and respected citizen of Owen County, and a minister of prominence in the Christian Church, recently died suddenly of rheumatism of the heart. He complained of a pain in the breast and died in a very few minutes. He was near 70 years of age. —The Fort Wayne census-takers have completed their work, and their statement shows the population of that city to be 32,800, a slight increase since 1880. The census was taken to satisfy Boston holders of city bonds that the city’s population exceeded thirty thousand. —Strangen Crageen, principal of the Lebanon public schools, has been elected County Superintendent to fill the vacancy made by the resignation of Harvey M. LaFollotte, State Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect. 1 —Hon. B. ,W. Hanna, United States Minister to the Argentine Republic, has obtained a leave of absence, and is expected to reach his home at Crawfordsville some time in the month off May. —At a special mefetiqg of the Crawfords*