Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1888 — INDIANA STATE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

A CHRONICLE OF HAPPENINGS IN HOOSIKRDOM. Shocking Deaths, Terrible Accidents, Horrible Crimes. Proceedings of Courts, Secret Societies, and, in fact, Everything of Interest to the Hoosiers. A very peculiar legal ease has just been decided in the Knox Circuit Court by Judge Franklin, Judge pro tem. He divined the money at issue equally between the claimants. This singular case was as to the heirship of a S3.(KM) insurance policy, held by Joel B. King at the time of his death in the order of the Royal Arcanum. The widow, a divorced wife, laid claim to tho money, and the guardian of the only sou also insisted on receiving the money for his ward. King had the policy made payable to his wife on his death. He afterward was divorced from the woman, but the policy was never changed, it being still payable to his wife at the time of his death last January. Now, the courts had previously decided by the divorce suit that he had no wife, and yet at his death the divorced wife claimed the insurance money, as the policy made it payable to her, Laura King. Of course the son was an immediate heir, and the claim of the guardian could not be ignored. The order of the Royal Arcanum was ready to pay the money as soon as it was legally decided who should receive tho ■ame. As already stated, the court gave an equal part to each of the claimants.

Fatal Work of a Worthless Shotgun. Wesley Middleton and his son, William Arnandale and his son, and an unknown cooper, all of Sellersburg, went coon hunting recently. They had but one shotgun between them. On treeing the coon the cooper took the gun and shot. It exploded, driving the breechpin through his eye into the brain, and almost scalping young Middleton. The elder Arnandale was knocked down by the gun-barrel, and his son’s face was horribly lacerated. The injured men were compelled to walk seven miles for medical treatment. Young Arnandale will probably die. Taken from the Fields. The following figures, furnished by the State Statistician, will show the grain products of Indiana for 1887 and 1888, and give the opportunity for a comparison of the crops of the two years: Bushels, 1887. Bushels, 1888. Wheat 39,093.057 28,750,764 Com 70,017,6’4 128,4’6,281 Oats 24,378,981 27,493,8 >1 Barley 340,663 403,515 Rye 460,750 515,425 Irish potatoes 2,216,131 5,48',960 Sweet potatoes 167,387 234,812 Buckwheat 69,375 91,405 Flaxseed 1(7,208 101,693 Clover-seed, 261,284 295,50.5 Timothy-seed 43,515 41,881 Tons, 1887. Tons, 1888. Clover hay 1,728,776 1,311,4 50 Timothy hay 1,543,556 1,548,888 Serious Accident to an Ohl Citizen. William Stewart, an old resident and a prominent citizen of Pendleton, recently met with a serious, if not fatal, accident. While crossing the railroad bridge he heard a train approaching and stepped aside on one of the abutments of the bridge. Becoming confused he lost his balance and fell into the shallow water of the creek below, breaking an arm and receiving several bad cuts about the head. This is the third accident which has occurred at Pendleton within a few weeks to people walking on the railroad track.

Physician# Will Black-List Delinquent*. The physicians of Crawfordsville have formed an organization for their mutual benefit and protection. It is proposed to black-list persons who will not pay their doctor bills, when able to do so, and will also tend toward bringing other delinquent persons to time. The new organization includes all the physicians of the city. The President is Dr. May, Secretary, Dr. Rankin, and Treasurer, Dr. Keegan. They have adopted a constitution and by-laws, and will bind themselves to stand firmly together. Fatally Injured by a Freight Train. While returning from Elwood to Curville, Charles Brown was knocked from the railroad track by a Panhandle train and received injuries from which he will die. His head was badly crushed and his left shoulder and bip were seriously injured. Brown makes the third man that has been struck by trains in that locality during the past year. Richard Moon and James Tyner were the other two victims, and all were intoxicated at the time of the accidents. Minor State Items. —Young Richter, a boy 16 years old. working at the wholesale grocery house of W. H. Hood, Pertland, was fatally injured, by a hogshead of prunes rolling over him. He will not live. His mother is a widow. —lsaac B. Friend, a prominent business man of New Albany, fell from the roof Of a building and fractured his shoulder. —Claude, the 14-year-old son of Joseph B. Kinder, of Cleveland, Hancock County, fell down a stairway while visiting an uncle near Anderson, and broke his neck. —George Rottger, an ( employe of the tight-stave factory at Seymour, met ■with a serious, if not fatal, accident, a piece of timber from a planer striking his head and entering the brain. —An explosion of powder occurred in the office of Dr. Kell, at Liberty. The result was, a mass of broken medicine bottles, shattered windows and several ■i ■ / ' *rious wounds and burns to the doctor.

—Jacob and John Fowler, living at Rolling Prairie, Laporte County, have just discovered the whereabouts of their father, whom they have not seen since 1861, when they enlisted in the army. They were living in Wisconsin when the war broke out. and during their absence their father and mother moved to Missouri. On their return they were unable to find any trace of their whereabouts, and they moved to Indiana. Last September the Fowler boys attended the Columbus encampment of the G. A. R., and from a comrade there, chanced to learn of their residence and postoffice. A correspondence was entered into, and the family finally re-united. —ln the annual report of the notherm prison at Michigan City the whole num-/.’ ber of convicts in the prison at thejirat' of this month is given at 702. During the year 364 had been received and 296 discharged. The treasury shows $105,718.76 receipts aud $99,417.36 disbursements, with a balance on hand of $9,• 042.64. The cost of feeding each con-» vict has been 12J cents per day. —The Fort Wayne Medical College is making a fight for the body of James Jemison, the man who choked to death there a few days ago. He had no friends or relatives, but the man who employed him insists on the privilege of burying till' body. —Patents have been granted to Indiana inventors as follows: Benedict F. Alvey and F. Leseure, Marshall, whiffletree coupling; Seymour S. Cole, Aurora, blotting device or pad; John Cornelius, Evansville, stump-extractor; William A Preston, Fort Branch, refrigerator; Griffith W. Williams, Greensburg, wire-stretcher. —Charles Reynolds, of New Albany, 10 years of age, attempted to jump on a moving street car and was thrown under the wheels. He will have one hand less, if he survives the amputation operation. —Tom Warren and John R. Berry, miners employed in the Triplett slope on Otter Creek, a mile north of Brazil, were crushed under falling slate. They were both at work in the same room. Warren was dead when found and Berry was so badly bruised and broken up that ho will doubtless die. Both were men of families.

—Ben Holton, who killed George Emery, at Jeffersonville, last May, was sentenced to twenty-one years in Jeffersonville prison. —Robert Steele was caught between the bumpers while coupling cars on the Wm. Scott & Co. switch of the Vandalia road, in Frankfort, and instantly killed. The deceased was a bright lad of 16 years. —The boiler in the chair factory, at Cochran, exploded, killing William Bencke, John Starke, and William Matthew, jr., and severely injuring Fred Bruce, the engineer, besides wrecking the factory. —A few weeks ago Isaac Sauer, of Plymouth, aged 10, died from the effects of a dose of arsenic, and his 12-year-old sister was arrested on suspicion of having mixed the poison with the food. The grand jury has ordered the arrest of the child’s father on suspicion of being an accomplice. —A special school for the study of veterinary science will be opened at Purdue Univrsity Jan. 9, 1889. About three exercises will be given each day, and persons of good moral character, not under eighteen years of age, will bo admitted without examination. The instruction will be chiefly by lectures and by practical demonstrations, including dissections andclinics.

—While eating supper, at Fort Wayne, James Jameson, a laborer, chocked to death on a piece of meat. A doctor was summoned, the meat extracted, and air pumped into bis lungs, but without avail. Jameson had no family. —Charles Dawson, of New Albany, was accidently shot and killed by Frank Polan. They were out hunting three miles from the city, and careless handling of the gun is attributed as to the cause. Dawson was but 17 years old. —The following-named gentlemen have been chosen directors of the Wabash County Agricultural Society: Samuel Gamble, William Hazen, Joseph Busic, Tobias Miller, John Summerland, John B. Latchum, Enos Powell, J. M. Harter, Thos, R. Porter, Henry Smeyers, and Ben Wolf. The finances of the society are in good shape. —Mrs. Aaron Price, of Plymouth, returning recently from the field with a pail of milk, jumped from the fence to the ground. She soon complained of severe pain and in a short time died. A post-mortem revealed a rupture of the stomach two inches long. —John Stevens, of Martinsville, has been fatally injured by being thrown from a buggy. —lt is estimated that the farmers of the bottom lands adjoining Lawrenceburg have lost fully 10,000 bushels of corn on account of the recent rise in the Ohio and Big Miami rivers. —John H. Frank, of Lebanon, was very severely scalded while butchering. In the dark his helper threw a bucketful of boiling water on him, scalding his lower limbs from the hip down. —J. Pence, engaged in the saw-mill business at Fairmount, was struck with a flying bar, and sustained a probable fatal fracture of the skull. —Moses Smith, a miner living at Brazil, has become heir to a fortune of SIOO,OOO by the death of a relative ia Wales. •