Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1888 — INDIANA STATE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

A CHRONICLE OF HAPPENINGS IN HOOSIERDOM. Shocking Deaths, Terrible Accidents, Horrible Crimes, Proceedings of Courts, Secret Societies, and, in fact, Everything of Interest to the Hoosiers. John Beno, once a noted criminal, has been released from the northern penitentiary, having first been taken to Indianapolis aud examined as to his standing nnder the poor convict law, there being a fine standing against him. About three years ago he was .sent to the penitentiary named for counterfeiting, his sentence being for three years and three months. A portion of this time was eliminated for good conduct. He has quite a history, being a survivor of the famous Beno family, several of whom were lynched in the vicinity of Seymour shortly after the war. After that eventful period in the family history John Beno drifted West, and in a short time engaged in robbing a county treasury in southwestern Missouri. He escaped and went to Indianapolis, where he was Jiving in great style at the old Palmer House, with a woman whom he passed off as his wife, when he was arrested for his Missouri crime. Had he not lived so high his actions might not have aroused suspicion, but the arrest led to his conviction, and he was sentenced to eight years in the Missouri penitentiary, which he served. He is now about fifty years old. He is a stonemason by trade, but has not announced his future intentions.

Heavy Damages Demanded. A sensational action has been commenced in the Wabash Circuit Court by Miss Daisy Slack, a comely school teacher residing at La Gro. Miss Slack seeks to recover damages in the sum of SIO,OOO from William Orr. the richest farmer in the township, who, it is alleged in the complaint, vilely slandered the defendant, and accused her of being impure. The only provocation Miss Slack is known to have given Orr was to send home two of his childrn because they were not of school age. In his rage, On - called all the teachers at La Gro bad names, but Miss Slack received the full measure of abuse. Public sympathy is with Miss Slack, who has suffered greatly from the accusation. Shocking Death. While plowing a stubble field, on Stony Prairie, near Winamac, George Shelhart encountered a nest of bumblebees. He threw some dry grass over the nest and set it on fire. The fire spread, and in fighting it to save his fences Mr. Shelhart became overheated and fell to the ground, a blood vessel having probably burst. The only person in tho field with him was an adopted boy, about 7 years old, who ran to a neighbor and related the circumstance. When the neighbor reached the field the stubble fire had reached Mr. Shelhart and burned his body to a crisp. He was nearly 70 years old, and one of the oldest living resident of the county. Appointed by the Governor. Hon. AV. H. Bagan, of Greencastle, who was recently nominated by the Indiana Horticultural Society, of which he is the Secretary, as Trustee in Purdue University, has been appointed to the place by Gov. Gray aud received the commission. It is for a term of three years, beginning Aug. 24. Mr. Bagan has a national reputation in horticulture. He was at one time a member of the Legislature. In politics he was formerly a Republican and afterwards a Greenbacker. The Governor has also appointed John D. Emmert, of Boone County, as Prosecuting Attorney for the Twentieth Judicial District, to succeed Cassius Wyncoop, deceased. The Monument’s Superstructure. Owing to difficulty in obtaining stone, the Soldiers’ Monument Commissioners have abandoned the idea of doing any work upon the superstructure until next spring. The work on the foundation will be completed in about two weeks, and a little finishing will require about two weeks’ additional labor, after which the work will be relinquished for the winter. The Commissioners expect to be able to advertise for bids for the superstructure some time in November. The laying of the corner-stone will, of course, be delayed until work on the superstructure begins. Fatal Runaway Accident. Mr. Ab Mosure, a highly respected citizen of Bluffton, while driving home in his buggy met with an accident which resulted in his death. When about four squares from his residence he stopped to take in Mrs. E. B. McDowell, who was going out to his house, and the horse, becoming frightened at a parasol, dashed off down the street. In turning the next corner Mr. Mosure was thrown from the buggy, receiving internal injuries and a fractured skull. He was carried home in an unconscious condition, and so remained until he died. Well-Digger Seriously Hurt. While engaged at digging a well at tjie home of Ben Gifford, near Windfall, David Derlimple was seriously, and perhaps fatally, injured. The well was about twenty feet in depth, and Mr. Derlimple was at the bottom. He had filled the dirt-bucket, audit had reached the mouth of the well, w’hen the bucket became detached from the rope, and, in falling to the bottom, struck Mr.

Derlimple, inflicting serious injuries. He was taken out in an almost unconscious condition, and will not recover. Child Horribly Burned. A 3-year-old child of Merchant Johnson met with a terrible accident at Keystone. It was playing by the saw-mill, and in some way ran through a pile of hot ashes and smoking embers taken from underneath the boilers. It was rescued immediately, but was horribly burned. The soles of its feet dropped off as they were carrying the child to the house, aud its legs and hands are literally roasted. The child’s recovery is doubtful.

Minor State Items. —Calvin Mitchell, colored, was run over by a J., M& I. train. His mangled remains were found one mile south of Seymour. He had been employed at the Seymour Republican office. —While engagedin paintingthe house of F. A. Gleason, at Tipton, Al Snyder fell from the scaffold to the ground, a distance of fifteen feet, receiving serious injuries. He alighted on his head and shoulders, aud it is thought has been injured internally. —Patents have been granted to Ipdiana inventors as follows: George W. East, Heltonville, harvester guard renovator; Isaac N. Goodnight, Kempton, assignor of one-half to J. T., Linebuck, Frankfort, fire extinguisher; John M. Perkins, South Bend, vehicle seat; David J. Terrill, Kokomo, vaginal syringe; Charles Van Wormer, Auburn, mole and gopher trap; Joachim Wilke, Garrett, truss. —Amand Yobst, of Fort Wayne, called on his daughter there, and aftera pleasant chat went into another room and shot himself, expiring instantly. No cause is ascribed except insanity. —The survivors of the old brigade of the Eighth and Eighteenth Indiana Regiments and the First Indiana Battery will hold their thirteenth annual reunion at the Court House in New Castle, October 19 next. —Frank and Elam Hall, brothers, at Nashville, attacked Jacob Pavey, aged (55, but a powerful man. Pavey seized an ax aud split Frank’s skull open, killing him instantly, and also struck Elam,, mortally wounding him. Pavey made his escape. —Mrs. Bigler, a well-known old lady of Wabash, has just received word that an nncle named Brandenburg had died in Germany, leaving a fortune valued at $1,909,000 to hei*self and a few other heirs, all living in the United States. The bulk of the property is in Baltimore, Md., consisting of a number of fine business blocks. The windfall is a complete surprise to Mrs. Bigler, who will undoubtedly come into possession of her share of the vast estate.

—The strange request of Mrs. O. Taylor, late of Pern, that when dead her hands, feet, and heart be taken from her body and sent to France for burial, was complied with. The remaining portion was interred at Somerset. —Homer Lenox, of Union County, aged about twenty-six years, was found dead in his room at Branham's resturant. He bad left a note directed to his mother, indicating that he had taken morphine with suicidal intent. An unfortunate marriage is the supposed cause. —George Floyd fell from a telephone pole at Terre Haute, and was seriously injured. —Thomas Leech, a switchman in the Jeffersonville, Madison, and Indianapolis Railroad yards, at Jeffersonville, was killed under peculiar circumstances. His foot caught in a frog, and he signaled an approaching locomotive to stop. The engineer reversed his engine, but too late, and the man was cut in two.

—The directors of the Rush County Agricultural Society have concluded to withdraw their membership from the American Trotting Association, and the fair, which begins September 11, will be conducted under rules of their own adoption. —The sixteenth natural-gas well was drilled in at Marion, producing a great gusher of 10,000,000 feet capacity. A big well was also drilled in at Point Isabel, Grant County. —Marita Matter, concert soloist and teacher, of New York, has been engaged to fill the position of professor of voice culture, opera and oratorio singing in the School of Music, DePauw University. —I. H. Huckstep, of Jefferson Township, Boone County, raised 1,000 pounds of potatoes from 190 hills of Early Rose; some hills weighed a little over nine pounds. These potatoes were raised in an old stockyard, and were planted on May 1. —Two fanners of Cass Township, Ohio County, named David Minx and E. J. Bright, who had been in partnership for some time, quarreled concerning a business settlement. Bright drew a revolver and shot Minx through the body. Minx is mortally wounded, but Bright has not yet been arrested. —ln the running race at the fair grounds, at Hartford City, William Hooker one of the jockeys, was run into by another jockey and hurled from his saddle, sustaining a broken arm and seriously internal injuries. Hooker resides at Montpelier. Jefferson Jones, a farmer, was also kicked in the stomach, by a horse and seriously hurt. —Albert Greenstreet, of. Spiceland, died of heart disease, aged 72. He wag probably the first white child born in., that township.