Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 241, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 October 1911 — BLUFFING PROMOTOR MAKES FUNNY APPEAL. [ARTICLE]

BLUFFING PROMOTOR MAKES FUNNY APPEAL.

S' 2! notices In several conspicuous places in Rensselaer. , The notices read as follows: To the Citizens of Rensselaer: *

We are about to resume the construction of our road through Marion townbbip and the city of Rensselaer, with the understanding that the citizens of Rensselaer will protect us from any further attacks in either the dTtTk\ particularly those of the Jasper County Democratism the proved a struction Of our road when we first started work here and we trust that for the future there wiin>e no necessity for our discontinuing the work owing to a situation caused by the newspapers of this city. . We are fully alive to the fact that the promoters of any great public undertaking must expect considerable opposition from the narrow-minded and the small-souled. We however feel that the citizens, especially the merchants of Rensselaer who will be most benefltted by an interurban railroad, should see to it that our work will not he made more difficult than is necessary in this township. . ‘ F Northwestern Indiana Traction Co. During the forenoon Of Wednesday Purtelld had filed the suit seeking to have the college property desired for right-of-way, condemned, and the writer met Purtelle on the street and Inforjoied him that he was proceeding' with poor policy. He said, “Did any one ask you for advice?" To which we replied, "No, but you are certainly in need of advice and ought to go some place to get it and then act upon it" Purtelle rushed across the street to the hotel and shortly appeared with the notices, some of which are still posted in various places along Washington street. > There is nothing in the substance matter of the proclamation that needs much comment. BuC The Republican considers it necessary to answer the mild chastisement in order that no one may be misled by the sycophancy it displays. It la preposterous to assert that the attitude of the newspapers toward Purtelle could have anything whatever to do with his cessation of the flimsy work he started here last June, and it is equally foolish to anticipate that any honorable methods on his part to resume the work would be endangered by the hostility of the newspapers if they were even against bis project.

Readers of this paper will recall that It supported the first steps taken by ffiptal}* here; they wilt remember that when the franchise was discussed this paper favored the franchise and gave it support in every honorable manner. They will recall that this paper encouraged the voting of the subsidy and later aided aR that it could to Induce people to give their land free as a right-of-way. During all this time, the Hammond Times was publishing many stories to discredit Purtelle aid the articles went unrefuted. I» the meantime Purtelle went into bankruptcy and the publication of his adventuresome life In Chicago papers left nothing to be admired and no reason for trust He dropped out of sight for some time and then bobbed up with ail the serenity of a man who bed been abroad on a pleasure trip and had just returned to take up important business. The Republican again stood up for Purtelle’s project We were cautious not to say .anything that might credit Purtelle personally, but we wanted to help him build the railroad. Our city and our county and the surrounding country needs jaat such a road. One day Purtelle came into The Republican office with a broad smile on his fac£ He extended bin hand and said, "Weil, congratulate me, old man, on ray success; we have put a big force of men to work building the railroad.” Ho was possessed of gauefaerie of an overgrown youth. Before we could answer, he continued, “Now ia the time to boost old man. Boost her good and strong.” Naturally we asked some questions “Whore did you begin works. “At the Slough bridge, south of town," he answered. ‘We are putting In the bridge there." , • We asked what kind of a bridge, what mnmrlai, which side of the road, etc. Purtelle seemed to he uneasy

and unwilling to suddlv the information essential to a newspaper article. Then we asked how many men he had, at work. He did'not know at Urn, Then be said it was 2k or 30 men. That looked shod aiad we wanted to boost, but Purtelle. wanted us to adrise the people to buy his stock, stating that he wanted to sell 100 shares with a face value of SIOO each to people living in and near Rensselaer at $25 a share, fully paid and non-asaos- ■ sable. He wanted the recommendation of the newspaper. We told him we could not do that and he went away angry. We made some hasty investigation and found that be had only two men at work on thn Slough bridge. We fonnd that under the laws of Indiana stock sold ‘for less than face value Is liable up to the full face value for indebtedness. We then did what any self-respecting newspaper publisher would do, we told tbe truth/ We first told Mr. Purtelle that we were going to tell the truth and.that tbe only aid we could give his stock selling would be to encourage aid if tbe money from the sale of stock was deposited in a local bank with the understanding that It could only be checked out for labor and construction material. Purtelle refused to do this. He said he had to send his he expected to get favors. He jwsts money to the Hammond bank, where told that people had their doubts about his honesty and that he conld best prove bis wellmeaning by doing business here.

Purtelle later got a few local laborers and several foreigners and they worked for two or three weeks on the right-of-way south of Rensselaer. Much of the work looked like hoy's play. A qualified contractor said at the time that Purtelle did not get one dollar’s worth of work for every five dollars he spent Then his checks were turned down at the Hammond bank and the laborers who had accepted them and the merchants who had cashed them were the victims. Then he btyneß the newspapers for his trouble. He changed his base of operations to the Kankakee river and there did some flimsy tresslework that has made him ridiculous to all who have seen it He made many promises to redeem his checks and each time he failed. Another bunch of poor foreigners who were put to work on the Kankakee grade, were deceived and defrauded by not receiving their wages. He then came back to Rensselaer and told of having received new financial aid, and thia did not materialize, and he blames the newspapers for that - , ’ He calls us narrow-minded because we could not recommend his project as an investment and he suggests that we are small-souled because we criticized his action in defrauding laborers out of their wages and be calls upon the merchants who cashed his worthless checks to protect him from the assaults of the newspapers. It is really so much of a joke as to produce laughter and yet there is a tinge of pity connected with it, for one wonders if Purtelle is really sane. Purtelle is certainly an enigma and we are much afraid that even with his tenacity, of purpose he will never be able to accomplish a thing in the building of'the railroad.

Chase Moore, riding in a big Premier touring car, arrived in Rensselaer last night and remained over night He now lives in Pierre, S. Dak., where he organised the First National Life Insurance Co., about two years ago. He is a grandson of W. S. Moore and a cousin of Attorney Wv H." Parkinson. He went from here to Guion, Ind., near CraWfordsVille, where Mrs. Moore has been visiting. They will go together to French Liclj for a few days and then return to their northwestern home. Mr. Moore was for some time located in Chicago in the insurance business and he Hi regarded as one of the ablest young insurance men in the country. Robert Tpoms, from near Newland, was bitten about two weeks ago by a bulldog owned by Chris. Koepkey. He paid no attention to the injury, although his arm was badly lacerated. Yesterday he was in to have it dressed and it was badly infected and inflamed, and it was decided to send him to Indianapolis to be given the free treatment at the Pasteur institute. He will ge there Friday. There is thought to be no danger of hydrophobia. The same dog a few days later hit Hugh Hurley. Ed Walker then killed the dog.

George Griffin came from Rem* lngton this morning, bringing Mrs. Bert Bartoo over to see ber mother, Mrs. Florence Peacock. Mr. Bartoo, who has been living in Washington for some time, where he was engaged in the job printing business, has purchased a newspaper in a small town near Wabash and will remain In Indiana. He formerly published the Morocco Courier and is an able newspaper man. Now try a pall of that clear, white syrup at The Home Grooery.