Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1887 — INDIANA STATE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—Attorney General Michener has filed a suit against H. C. Tinney, Clerk of Tippecanoe County, to compel him to pay over $1,300 claimed by the State. The money is the unclaimed residue of the estate of Annie Gwimp, deceased, and the law provides that such moneys shall be paid to the State, to be held in trust for future claimants. Mr. Tinney claims that the law only requires him to pay the money to the County Treasurer, and that official to the State. He wants to find out to whom he must pay it, and has refused to pay, so that it may get into Court and bring a decision which can be used as a precedent. It is a test case.

—The Auditor of State asked for the Attorney General's opinion regarding the right of a County Treasurer to retain 6 per cent, of delinquent taxes collected by prosecuting attorneys under Section 6491 of the Revised Statutes. Attorney General Michener holds that a county treasurer, under Section 5928 of the Revised Statutes, is entitled to retain 6 per cent, of all delinquent taxes collected. There are no words of limitations in the Statute. On the contrary, the law expressly says that the treasurer is entitled to 6 per cent, of the collections no mailer by whom they are made. —A man was taken from his bed by a band of masked men and tied to a tree in his yard, and unmercifully whipped. He is a young married man, and lives about five miles south of Corydon. Just before orders were given by the captain of the gang to lay the lash to his bare back, he was informed that he was about to be whipped for general cussedness. But the true reason of the whipping he received is supposed to be that he had denounced the Knights of the Switch, and had accused a number of parties of belonging to the organization. His dose was a terrible one. —ln the Allen County Circuit Court judgment in foreclosure was rendered in favor of H. B. Hollins against W. K. Vanderbilt and the Nickel Flute Railway for $281,667. The property affected, and which will be sold by the Sheriff at Fort Wayne, is the bed of the old Wabash and Erie Canal from the Ohio State line to LaGro, Ind., a distance of thirty-three miles, except five miles constituting the Nickel Plate right-of-way through Fort Wayne. —While standing conversing on the pavement in front of a two-story building in the north side of the public square at Greencastle, Hon. J. G. Dunbar, and Mr. Artie Cail, of Madison Township, were struck about the head and neck by portions of a falling brick cornice and dangerously, though it is thought not fatally, injured. Had not the fall of the brick been broken by an awning both men would doubtless have been killed instantly. —Not long since a mon at Crawfordsville lost his false teeth, and, as he was to make a public speech the next day, he was in an awkward predicament. But he was not long in solving the question what to do, and he soon persuaded a neighbor woman to loan him her teeth for the special occasion. The speech was delivered, the teeth returned, and no person was the wiser.

—A curious phenomenon resulted in Harrison County a few days ago from a bolt of lightning striking a tree standing in the yard of William Alstott, near Nevin. Near the stricken tree was a large pond, which had been used for watering stock. Shortly after the lightning stroke, the pond began sinking, and has, in the few days since that time, disappeared entirely. —The State Medical Society, in session at Indianapolis, elected the following officers: President, S. H. Charlton, Jackson County; Vice President, C. W. Burkett, Kosciusco; Secretary, E. 8. Elder, Marion; Assistant Secretary, John Nixon, Randolph; Treasurer, C. B. Higgins, Miami. —Wm. Pogue, a young man, 22 years old, residing at Anderspn, a brakeman on the Panhandle Railway, was instantly killed at Dunreith, by falling from a westbound freight train while the cars were in motion. He was cut to pieces, his head being severed from his body. —The Battle-ground Camp-meeting will begin on the 27th of July, this year, and continue over two Sundays. It is understood that the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway will run Sunday trains this year—something that has not been done for some years. —Mrs. Wm. Gates, an eccentric old lady who died at Elkhart, was found to have $5,000 sewed up in her skirt—s3oo in small change, S2OO in one-dollar bills, and the remainder in bills of various other denominations. She was wealthy, but had no confidence in banks. ■ —Mrs. William St. John, of Martinsville, fell down a stairway into the cellar of her residence, striking her head against the steps, and died in a few hours. She was an estimable lady, about fifty-five years of age, and the wife of due of the leading citizens. —Levi Thomas, who was sent to , the Michigan City prison for two years, was visited by his wife, who walked two hundred miles to see him. She has engaged as a domestic in a family near the prison that she may be near him during his incarceration. —Martin Bout, while plowing on his farm, near Michigan City, exploded a dynamite bomb which had been placed there by unknown parties. His arm was blown off, both legs broken, and he was otherwise terribly mangled. He will hardly recover. —Oliver Linsey, of Alamo, was stricken with apoplexy at Crawfordsville, and fell from his wagon to the ground, and now lies in a serious condition.