Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1892 — THE WAY THINGS RUN [ARTICLE]

THE WAY THINGS RUN

IN THE GREATEST OF GREAT STATES. INDIANA. filing* Which Have Lately Happened Within Its Borders—Some Pleasant and Some Sad Readine. The Northern Prison. The annual report of tho Northern Prison, submitted to Governor Chase, sets forth the condition of tho institution. Warden Freueh has only been in charge eight months, tho first lour months of the fiscal year being under tho Murdock regime. The Warden’s report states that there aro in the prison 800 convicts. During the year 323 were discharged and 41(5 received. The receipts of tho year from contracts and miscellaneous sources, independent of tho officers’ boarding house and stewards’ sales to prisoners, were SI 16,(593,1)0, and from tho library fund, 51,140, making the gross receipts $117,833.90. Tho net expense of maintaining the prison, independent of tho officers’ boarding liouso and steward’s sales to prisoners, was 8104,384.5(5. Thb directors—Messrs. Levi Mock, John Brodieand James Renihnn—say in their report that they believe every prisoner should be given an opportunity to attend school. Tho Board states that in its next recommendation to the Legislature it will ask that bettor provision bo made for tho education of prisoners. Tho directors also ask that tho Stato Board of Charities give tho prison more attention. Fort Wayne Methodists aro in the midst of a revival. Mrs. John Bkggs, of Clark Countv, died suddenly of appoploxy. Charles Stockwell, of Rushviile, died from an overdose of morphine. Henry Scott, farmer near Wabash, whipped his wife, and tho “White Caps” paid him a call. Mrs. A. R. Boyerlo, wife of tho junior editor of the Goshen Daily Times, died after an illness of a week. A cow belonging to a farmer near Nappaneo was bitten by a mad dog and went stark mad. Had to be shot. Henry Boli.inger’s store at Blue Lick was entered and robbed of goods to the amount of 8100 and S3B in money. Jacob Hurbord, the oldest man in Scott County, died at tho ago of 9(5 years. His wife’s death occurred throe days before. Arthur Kinson, of Brazil, ruptured a blood vessel iu his stomach while putting on a shirt and came near bleeding to death. Louis Wagner, a workman with tho electric company at New Albany, was struck by a broken electric wiro and Instantly killed. Five boys near Mitcholl was scared nearly to death by seeing a ghost “sure ’nough.” Two of the lads are seriously 111 as a result. Old Larry Hart, of Peru, has reached his 105th birthday, and lias tho honor of being tho oldest man in Indiana, llo’s never been married. Mrs. Kidhart, of Whiteland, thought she was being carried past tier station. She stopped from tho moving train and was fatally injured. Near Branchvillo, Perry County, tho 7-year-old daughter of Amos May foil from a wagon, the wheels of which passed over one of her legs, severing it below tho knee. Gov. Chase made Mitchell Mallott a Christmas present of his liberty. Mallott was serving a term in tho Prison South for murder in the second degree committed at Vincennes in 1877. A watch-peddler in Southern Indiana is swindling boarding-house keepers by alleging the theft of jewelry from his room and refusing to pay for board and lodging until tho missing articles aro returned. The remains of J. C. Kolly, of Altoona, Pa., were found strewn along tho lino of tho Fort Wayne railroad at a point near Wheeler Station. Kolly was beating his way from Chicago, East. Tho remains will De taken home by friends who were with him. The residence of Elmer Conner, four miles west of Roann, was destroyed by fire, with nearly all Its contents. Mrs. Conner had gone to Peru and Mr. Conner was husklng.com near by when he discovered the tire, which ho thinks started by a spark from the stove. Db. H. W. Taylor, a Farmers’ Alliance talker, has prepared a bill entitled “An Act for the Relief of the People o's Indiana.” and sent it to Senator Peffer to bo introduced In the United States Senate. The bill requests the loan of $150,000,000 to be made to the people of Indiana for twenty years at 1 per cent, per annum.

At Crothersvlllo, at tho residence of Mitchell Lott, Mr. Lett and his brother Branham wore loading shells. In taking some charges from shells that had missed Are one of them exploded in Mitchel’s face, burning his mustache and hair, and setting lire to a plate of powder which exploded and firightfully burned the little child of Branham and set the house on fire. By the presence of mind of Mrs. Mitchell Lett the fire was put out before it reached a package containing several pounds of powder, her husband being blinded for the time being, although ho was not badly hurt. Tho child is yet In a critical condition. Ax Pleasant Plain lives Cornelius S Myers, who for twenty-seven years had tho contract for carrying tho mail between Pleasant Plain and Huntington. He has recently been compelled to retire from the business on account of ill health, but ho tells many good stories of his experiences while employed by Uncle Bam. His routes took in a circuit, varying from time to time as new villages sprang up, between Huntington and Pleasant Plains. At one time he had a fifty-five mile circuit. Mr. Myers has computed the number of miles traveled during bis service, and finds that they amount to 106,104, equal to four times around tho globe. Nkab Yallonia, when Mr. B. H. Jones, a well-known fruit-grower, arose and went into an adjoining room he found the lifeless body of his wife lying across the wood-box, where it is supposed she fell while up in the night, William Titks, of Kouts, was found by the roadside at a late hour at night in an unconscious condition. He had been assaulted by highway robbers, and when found was bleeding profusely from wounds in the head. He lingered a few hours, when death resulted. The authorities have been unable to establish any clew to Tites’ assailants. The victim was a mute. Gas was turned on in the natural-gas mains between Sheridan and Crawfordsville recently. It was quite a sight to see what was blown out of the mains at the air-holes along the route. Rabbits were blown out by the dozen, and some of them have every hair on their body blown off, so great is the pressure of the gas. Mrs. Margaret Stevenson Peck, mother of the late Capt. William Peck, and one of the early pioneers of Putnam County, died at her home, near Greencastle, aged 82. She fell a victim to the prevailing influenza, resulting in catarrhal pneumonia. Mrs. Peck leaves a large number of descendants, even to the fourth generation.

Elkhart Is now in with the Indiana Trotting and Pacing Circuit The roar of the now gas well at Nobiesvilio Is said to bo terrliic. There's a panther loose noar Washington. Escaped from a circus. 'Tis said that a farmer near Elwood is allowing his live stock to literally starvo to death. The oldost school-house in the State Is a log cabin in tho city of Richmond, erected in tsio. Workers at tho flint glass works, Muncie, have returned to tliolr posts after a several days’ strike. Sixteen young women and gentlemen have been arrested and fined at Hope tor disturbing religious services. Thom as Barr, who stole eight head of cattle in Brown County last August, has been captured in Gilman, 111. Well-diggers near Crawfordsvllle have unearthed some prehistoric bones, believed to be the remains of a mastodon The people of Dubois County are determined to ferret out tho White Caps who whipped John Lee, and prosecuto them. At a church in "Hell’s Half-Acre," in Tipton County, some rowdies pitched a beer-keg through the window during service. The dead body of a little child, sewed up in several napkins and wrapped in a newspaper, was found in the woods noar Valparaiso. Indianapolis is in earnest about wanting tho Democratic National Convention, and has started out to raise a fund of *IOO,OOO. Samuel Thurston, about ninety years old, of North Vernon, was caught beneath a falling treo and instantly killed, near Groensburg. August Joust, young Frenchman, killed himself at Evansville. Intended to wed a married woman and she failed to get a divorce. That settled it. Muncie is elated over the fact that twenty-five families will follow tho Dowling shoo factory, now being removed from New York to its new property at Muncie. Miss Cora Allen, tho young lady of Gosport who mysteriously disappeared last week, was found In a cave, tied hand and foot and nearly frozen. No ciuo to her abductors. In tho Muscatituck River, Thursday, near Seymour, a young man named Busch, from near Salem, was drowned together with his team, whllo trying to cross the swollen stream. Tho body was not recovered. Miss Donnaghkb, of Shelbyvlllo, who has eaten seven dogs in as many weeks, and who was reportod to bo gradually getting tho best of her consumption, is down with the grip, and a serious sotback is feared. T. A. Armstrong, of Montgomery County, after two yoars' correspondence with a beautiful widow, Mrs. Lulu Edgerton. of Cooper, Mich., won her heart, and loft to bo married recently at tho homo of tho prospective brido. Benjamin Scupper, a school-teacher at Tipton, yanked Frederick Oglobayout of his seat for creating a disturbance, breaking the boy's leg. Ho is the son of a prominent attorney. Ho nnd other bright urchins have been trying to run the school. Frank Taylor, of Brown County, who was bitten by a copporhead snake twenty years ago and becamo Insane, and who after years of treatment at tho asylum was sent home as an incurable, has become so vlolunt recently as to necessitate incarceration again. During a ball in tho City llall at English, there occurred a free fight In which all tho males and many of the fomales took an active part. Iron weights, stones, and bludgeons flow through the air with telling offect. Among those wiio were seriously hurt are John Ispam Blevins, James Newkirk, and Edward Filch. The dance, of course, broke up prematurely. A novel wedding was that of John Manning and Miss Maggie Hwopo, which occurred in the show window of a dry goods store at Porn, Ind., tho merchants paying the minister and furnishing a nice supper, which was eaten In tho window and witnessed by fully a thousand people. Tho bridegroom partook so heartily of tho repast as to become sick; and a physician had to bo called In. The State Board of Agriculture, has decldod to purchase tho Yoss farm, four miles northeast of Indianapolis, as a State Fair site. The tract contains 160 acres and lies between the Lake Erie and Wostcrn and tho Monon railroad tracks. The Board purchases eighty acres outright and takes an option on the rest. The purchase price Is *3OO per acre. The old fair buildings will bo removed to the now site at once, and the grounds will bo put in order early in tho spring. Farmland is now in tho midst of a general boom. Four factories have located there, and a contract was closed recently witti tho St. Mary’s (O.) Tow Company for a plant, which will employ many hands. Business men are running a full force of Clerks, and say that business was never bettor. The gas supply Is stronger than ever, with ten wells to take from, and men are now at work drilling another. Dwellings are In great demand, and tho town is full of speculators ready to Invest their capital. A glass factory Is talked of, and laboring men are flocking In by hundreds. William Higgins and Charles Sellers, jr., were tho victims of a terrific powder explosion, at the Freeman coal mines, near Vincennes. Higgins was blown 155 feet, and Sellers hurled a distance of sixty-five feet through an underground entry. His shirt was torn and his body frightfully mangled. How tho men ever escaped with their lives is a mystery. The cause of the accident was a spark irom a miner’s lamp into a keg of powder. After two hours of suffering and intense anxiety the Injured miners dragged themselves to the air-shaft, and each was surprised to find tho other alive. An investigation of the Auditor’s books in Randolph County, from 1886 to 1890, inclusive, has resulted in *7-,360.20 being paid back into tho county treasury; *3,447.56 of this amount was for "illegal fees,” and the remainder, *3,812.64, for “warrants improperly drawn.” Gov. Chase has pardoned William Shular, who was sent to the penitentiary from Crawfordsville for seventeen years for murder. Shnlar’s release had been promised by Gov. Hovey. The murder was committed during a brawl, and there was always some doubt as to who fired the fatal shot. George Graff, employed in the Journal official at Peru, had his fingers badly mashed while wiping off the press. The toll-pikes in Delaware County are having a tough time of it, and recently several of them have been presented to the County Commissioners by dissatisfied stockholders. The farmers, in many instances refuse to pay the fee, and several lawsuits have ensued. The other even*, ing four farmers, John and Samuel Baell, Nelson Adams, and John McClean, were going to Muncie on the Granville pike. A toil-gate was pulled down and locked on them for refnsingto pay the 3cent fare. Samuel Baell hitched hil team to tbe gate, pulled it down, and proceeded to Muncie.