Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1889 — INDIANA HAPPENINGS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA HAPPENINGS.

EVENTS AND INCIDENTS THAT HAVE LATELY OCCURRED. Aa Interesting Summary of the More Important Doings of Our Neighbors—Weddings add Deaths—Crime, Casualties and General News No tea A Permanent Hangman’s Scaffold. Capt. James B. P.atten, warden of the Indiana Prison South, has commenced the work of erecting a subtantial building to be used for the execution of William Benson, the murderer of Jacob Motweiler, and who almost fatally wounded his wife, Ellen Motweiler, near* Edwardsville, Floyd County, Dec. 9. The building or annex, will be located at the north end of the old cellhouse. It will be made of wood, and is to be large enough for the purpose to which it will be put. The platform upon which will stand the executioner, his assistants, and the condemned man’s spiritual adviser and relatives and friends, if they are requested to be in attendance at the execution, will be fifteen by twenty-five feet. The scaffold will be a permanent fixture. The mother of Benson is making strenuous efforts to save her son’s neck, which will be broken at midnight on Aug. 16. Her aim is to have the sentence commuted to life imprisonment, and it is understood that she is meeting with no little amount of encouragement. It is intimated that the prosecutor, together with the court and jury, except one or two of the latter, that tried Benson, have signed a petition to this end, which will soon be presented to the Governor for his consideration. Benson’s physical condition-is good. He is said to maintain that stoical indifference which characterized his conduct throughout his trial. Balance of the Loan Obtained. The $1,055,000 balance of the $3,905,- • 000 loan to refund the school bonds has been effected in the New York market, at the rate of $1.50 per thousand. This has been done in the face of the fact that the State of Maine has had similar bonds on the same market, to the amount of $3,000,000, for more than three months, and Massachusetts is offering $2,500,000 worth of bonds, for which there are no bidders. Auditor of State Garr is engaged in getting out the warrants for distributing the balance of the money thus obtained to the various counties in the State. Of the entire sum, 73 per cent, has already been paid, and the additional money to be sent out will place the distribution on a basis of $7.28 for each voter. Winslow, Lanier & Co., of New York, who assisted in negotiating the loan, have filed their bond as Indiana’s financial agent in that city. This bond is for SIO,OOO and they will receive SSOO per annum for their service.

Minor Slate Items. —Goshen is shipping -mud tattles to Eastern markets. —John Walters was killed by a falling tree near Scottsburg. —Tony Best, of Mooresville, was fatally hurt by a runaway team. —Logansport’s street-car company has been sold to a New York syndicate. —Dr. Timmons, of Otterbein, died, recently, of heart disease, at the age of 70. —The Pennington band-saw works are to be removed to Edinburg, and enlarged. —James Mcßride, residing south of Goshen, fell from a hay-mow and broke his neck. —Martin Meyer, jr., of Connersville, lost an arm recently while trying to couple cars. —George Fay. a well-known resident ■of Muncie, fell dead from heart disease in his office. —Edward Miller, a colored man, was killed by a train at Batesville, while trying to steal a ride. —James Camden, a young farmer residing south of Spencer, was thrown from a horse and killed. —Patrick Killion fell from a hand-car, near Richland, recently, and when picked up was found to be dying. —Benjamin Junkins, husband of Elizabeth Junkins, the Quaker evangelist, died at Wabash, at the age of 75. —The cow ordinance having come to stay at Greencastle, the fences around the university parks will be removed. —A 13-year-old son of Valentine Roehers was run over by a Lake Shore engine at LaPorte, and fatally injured. —Reunions will be held by the Ninth Indiana, at LaPorte, August 28, and by ■the Fortieth Indiana, at Crawfordsville, September 12. < —Ligonier has a new Presbyterian ■Church with forty-two members, and Rev. Edward Barr, of Elkhart, has been called as pastor, —Scottsburg vandals tore up the flowers and shrubbery in the court-house yard there, which were planted by the ladies of that town. —Work has been commenced on the Bimel Wheel Bending Works at Balbec. The buildings are of brick. The works will employ 100 men. —Alva Courts, 18 years of age, took a fit while fishing in 'White River near Rockford, and drowned before assistance could reach hitn. —The State Board of Health has or•dered the swamp near Lafayette drained. This swamp was caused by the repairs -on the Wabash and Erie canal.

—The Vincennes military company organized under Speaker Nibla«k’s captaincy will be known as Company A. First Regiment, Indiana Militia. —Brainerd Jordan, a young farmer of Lett’s Corner, was found dead in bed. A coroner’s jury returned a verdict of death from pulmonary apoplexy. —Billy Doyle, a young man 18 years old, while stripping timber in the handle factory at Montpelier, had all of the fingers on his left hand cut off. —Some persons at Crawfordsville put letters in the mail-boxes, and also money for the purchase of stamps to go on the letters. The mail-carriers then have to stamp the letters. —Jacob Garlitch, an old German who lived near Shelbyville, killed himself revolver. It is supposed that he was overbalanced by the death of a son, which occurred the same day. —M. Prudent, who had an eye blown out while blasting for Cabel & Co., near Washington, owes his disfigurement to some scoundrel who sprinkled heads of matches in the blasting powder. —Winchester has just completed two more good gas wells. The larger of the 'wo is by far the best well yet struck tqere, and has an estimated capacity of four to six million cubic feet per day. —John Hunter was thrown from his carriage and seriously, and probably fatally, injured while out riding with his family a few miles west of Peru. The others escaped with lesser injuries. Since the cow has been fastened up at Crawfordsville, the city has grown up with grass and weeds. To get the weeds cut the Council had to pass an ordinance to compel property owners to have it done. —A naked tramp, with a story of being robbed, starved, etc., was relieved at Ligonier, and now it appears that he is working the nude scheme regularly, a confederate following with clothing to be used when not at work. —Mrs. Boaz, wife of Simeon Boaz, a wealthy farmer living five miles north of Columbus, dropped dead while standing in the yard at her home, talking with her husband. Apoplexy is supposed to have been the cause. —A mob of masked men stormed the house of Nance Vincent, a notorious character at Montpelier. They broke every window in the house, and the doors, sewing-machine and stove, and thefi gave her a coat of tar. —Farmers are being worked by a swindle which includes a signature to a plausible permit to repair lightning rods. The signature subsequently turns up on a promissory note, collectable in the hands of the parties who hold it. —Homer B. Dobell, of Remington, a law student at Logansport, and a recent graduate of the State University, is the winner this year of the $250 prize offered by the American Protective Tariff League for the best essay on free raw materials.

—Marat Strain, a well-to-do farmer, living near Thorntown, disappeared some days since, and Mrs. B. L. Shultz, the wife of one of Strain’s employes, disappeared about the same time. Mrs. Strain is arranging to take possession of the property left by her husband. —The barn of Anderson Hogston, at Marion, was fired by incendiaries and totally destroyed, involving a loss of $2,000; partially covered by insurance ol S6OO. Hogston and two of his hired hands were sleeping in the barn, and narrowly escaped with their lives. --William Meyers, a young farmer, living three miles east of Fort Wayne, while cutting wheat, was thrown from the reaper right in front of the knife, and both of his legs were cut off below the knee. He came near bleeding to death before medical aid could be summoned.

—A young man named George Beatz, living at Richmond, was struck by lightning, but although the bolt tore the shoes from his feet, the burning and breaking of the skin, and the shock he sustained, were the worst result. Only the toe of one shoe with the torn upper was left on one foot.

—While rafting logs at Stuteville’s barn, five miles below Rockport, George Howard, one of the loggers, was caught by a log, and three more, eighteen feet ■long and three feet thick, passed over his body, mashing him almost beyond recognition. Another man, name unknown, was also injured, but not seriously. —The factional division in the membership of the United Brethren Church at Lincolnville, which had created great interest in the eastern part of Wabash County, will probably become permanent. The radicals, or seepders, have rented the Methodist Church building, in which they hold quarterly meetings. They are sanguine of obtaining possession of the church property when the matter has been presented in court. The radicals claim to be the church.

—lt was agreed last January, at the meeting of the delegates representing the Western State Fairs, that Indiana should hold her State Fair on the same date as last year, and that the Illinois fair should be held one week later. The Illinois folks have since changed their mind, and fixed their fair for the same week as the Indiana State Fair. This state of things is highly-unsatisfactory to many exhibitors, who cannot attend both fairs if held simultaneously. It looks, however, as if the Illinois men would stand firm, notwithstanding Secretary Heron’s efforts to get them to change to one week later.