Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1888 — INDIANA STATE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

A CHRONICLE OF HAPPENINGS IN MOOSIERDOM. Shocking Deaths, Terrible Accidents, Horrible Crimes, Proceedings of Courts, Secret Societies, and, in fact. Everything of Interest to the Hoosiers. Some weeks ago a marriage license was issued to one, Mr. Wilson, living north of Muncie a few miles, to wed a young lady by the name of Huffman. Ever since their marriage they have lived happily together. A few days ago the young wife divulged a secret to her husband that is causing him to investigate its truthfulness. She says that her real maiden name was Glass instead of Huffman, and when about eight years old. and while living with her parents near Columbus, Ohio, she was kidnaped from them and was kept concealed for a long time. The parties who stole her placed her in the hands of persons who finally moved to Indiana, where she has lived ever since. Her statements are quite startling, and are creating a great deal of excitement. All the parties concerned are highly respected. Horribly Torn by a Charge of Shot. A young man named Geo. Duckworth, of North Salem, was out hunting alone, and accidentally shot himself in the side. He was standing on a log with his double-barreled shotgun in his hand, both barrels being full-cocked. He slipped,and involuntarily put the butt of the gun to the ground to support himself. One barrel was discharged, the heavy load of No. 5 shot entering his left side and tearing its way out at his bark, and shattering two ribs. He fell in a shallow pool of water, and was heard calling for help by two men who were at work in the same woods. He was conveyed to his home and several physicians called in. They found that the left lung was exposed and that the three arteries were severed. His. condition is critical.

Will Not Fool with Guh Again. There was an explosion of natural gas at Wabash, which produced considerable fright. A lad named Miller noticed gas escaping from a cut-off gate, which was uncovered, and getting down into the hole the boy lighted a match. The force of the explosion lifted the lad up and threw him whirling like a top across the road. He was slightly burned about the face. A moment later there was a frightful roaring. The pipe a short distant away had parted, and the force of the explosion threw up a great shower of dirt and rocks, while the roar shook buildings in the lower part of the city. The pipe had previously been subjected to the rock pressure 320 pounds. Thinks It HU Duty to Kill His Children. Joseph Wigner, who resides on the Lagro road, east of Wabash, is afflicted with a strange mental aberration, and he appears to be convinced that it is his duty to slaughter three of his children. The trouble dates back for several days. The neighbors think that Wigner has had mighty domestic trouble, which may account for his present condition. He sees huge knives coming through the walls Of his home, and many other apparitions. He has repeatedly stated that he would kill his children, but a close watch is being kept on his movements and his designs are certain to be frustrated.

Conference of City Attorneys. A number of city attorneys, from different parts of the State, met in convention at Indianapolis, in response to a call issued by D. N. Taylor, City Attorney of Terre Haute. This is the first meeting of the kind ever held. Its object is to devise means to secure better legislation for cities throughout the State. Many of the laws governing them are defective, and an effort will be made to have the next Legislature make many needed changes. A committee to wait on the Legislature and present the facts to their notice was appointed, and a permanent organization perfected. A Survivor of Balaklava. in the City Hospital of Indianapolis, suffering with fever, is an aged Englishman, named John Levick, who has an eventful history. He is one of the very few survivors of the immortal 600 who made that awful charge at Balaklava—“into the mouth of hell”—celebrated by Tennyson’s poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” He has papers establishing hi's identity. Becoming a plumber, he fell sick while putting natural gas pipes in houses. Indiana Patents. Patents have been granted to Indiana inventors’as follows: James W. Coates, South Bend, two-wheeled vehicle; Asa M. Fitch, Seymour, card game; George W. Harris, South Bend, spring for sidebar vehicles; Andrew J. Hinkle, Ladoga, gate; Jonathan J. Moore, Thorntown, steam-boiler; George Stevenson, Northfield, broadcast seed-sower; Robert Westphal, South Bend, two-wheeled vehicle. Minor State News. A distressing accident, which terminated fatally, occurred near Nortonburg. Lewis Woods was out hunting, when his gun was accidentally discharged by the trigger striking a log. The heavy load of shot entirely disembowled the young man. His companion summoned assistance, and the wounded man w»" conveyed home, where he died

The free-delivery system will be in operation at Crawfordsville about Jan. 1, 1889. —-Ira A. Spaulding, one of the largest landholders in Blackford County, Indiana./was fatally hurt, at Montpelier, by a colt he was driving jumping off r. high embankment. —Councilman Jacob Seifert, of Shelbyville. a well-known carpenter, fell from a brick building a distance of some thirty feet, breaking his left arm in two places, two ribs on his right side, and receiving internal injuries which will probably prove fatal. He has a wife and eight children. —George Duckworth, the North Salem man who accidentally wounded himself by dischargimg the contents of a shotgun iuto his side while hunting, has since died of his injuries. —Albert Spurgeon, of North Manchester, while playing foot-ball had both bones of his leg broken just above the ankle. —A bill has been presented to the Montgomery County Commissioners by W. H. Thompson and G. W. Paul for $5,000, said amount being claimed as damages because the old Board of Commissioners did not employ them as attorneys for the county. In 1884 they were the County Attorneys, but that year, when the new Board assumed control, Thompson and Paul were discharged and another person employed. Now, after four years, the bill for damages is presented. George Smith, of Bluffton, has been arrested on the charge of committing a criminal assault on a 12-year-old daughter of Henry Martz. He was caught in the act by the father of the little girl. —The physicians of Crawfordsville have submitted a propostion to the City Council to establisd a free dispensary, where persons who are too poor to employ a physician can receive the proper attention. The physicians will give their services free, and the city is to furnish all needed supplies and medicines and rent two rooms. The Council will act upon this proposition at their next meeting. —An infant child of Samuel Davidson, of Harrison County, was shot in the right arm and hand by the accidental discharge of a shotgun and may die. —Measles, which has been epidemic in the southern part of Shelby County, has spread to Shelbyville, where a number of cases were reported on Sunday. —The barn of Charles Anderson, in East Colnmbus, was destroyed by fire, together with all its contents. The loss is not large; no insurance. The fire originated by a cow kicking over a lighted lantern, which set fire to the hay. —Milo Pearson has been given a verdict in the Huntington County Circuit Court fox- $3,575.50, against Wabash County, for damages caused by the breaking down of a bridge which he and his brother were crossing at the time, and which, he claims, has personally injured him. —A horse, in crossing the railroad at New Richmond, Montgomery County, got one of his hind feet fastened between the rail and the planks placed between the rails. The horse, in trying to free his foot, tore it entirely off, and afterward was shot to end his sufferings. —Two brothers, named Jacob and David Dill, living near Huntington, became violently insane on the subject of religion. Having been taken to jail, they attempted to burn themselves by setting fire to the mattresses in their cells.

—George Hacker, a German Socialist, attacked James Bruce at Indianapolis, because the latter was opposed to Socialistic ideas. Hackerused a knife and hatchet, inflicting eleven dangerous wounds. —The last lodge in Boone County of the once prosperous order of the Patrons of Husbandry, has disbanded. At one time the order ran a co-operative store in Lebanon, which flourished for a while, but finally went into bankruptcy. —Charles Sheehan, an inmate of the St. Joe Hospital, at Fort Wayne, stole a watch from another inmate. He was arrested, and within twenty hours was in the Michigan City Penitentiary, serving an eighteen-month’s sentence. —-William Deckerman, a young man whose home is in Evansville, went out for the first time on a local freight on the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad, and while making a coupling, at Princeton, fell from the cars and was horribly mutilated, the wheels of the train passing over his legs and chest. He died in fifteen minutes. The deceased leaves a young wife. —Mrs. Nancy Goins, who two years ago killed Mrs. Sarah Dawson, and was acquitted on the ground of self-defense, instituted peace proceeding against Alexander Dawson, husband of Mrs. Dawson, at Anderson. The charge against him is that since the acquittal of Mrs. Goins :he has pursued her with threats of taking her life, for vengeance. —A wild train ran into the rear of a freight train on the Chicago and Atlantic Railroad, three miles east of Crown Point. The trainmen escaped by jumping. Several car’s were demolished, and the damage will not fall short of $30,000. The road was completely blocked, and all trains were compelled to proceed by way of the Grand Trunk. —Six valuable horses belonging to Jesse Vermillion, of Monroe Township, Madison County, were killed by a C., W. AM. train. Loss, $1,200.