Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1913 — Back Again to Rensselaer. [ARTICLE]

Back Again to Rensselaer.

To the Editor: I have been asked several times Why I came to Rensselaer and why I did not stay here when my term of office expired as sheriff. Here are the tacts: When my term of office expired I returned to my old home, which was vacant while I was away. I wanted to go back to good old Walker township and cast my vote as an American citizen. I want to say right here that the four years I was living in Rensselaer with my house, barp and other buildings locked up, with no covers over any windows, there was never anything disturbed, not even a glass broken. That can not be said of every place, but thanks to the good bringing up and manners of the citizens of Walker township, it is the case around Kniman. One forenoon while I was sawing ■Wood Mr. Robert Michael came up and asked me if I wanted to sell or exchange my property. I will say, as Mr. Michal can tell you, that I at first treated it as a joke and asked him if he were joking. When he told me he was in earnest I was so (surprised that I told him I would have to have time to consider, as both my wife and I were married to our home in good old Walker. After considering that three of our children are married and that Nellie, the youngest, would graduate from Notre Dame Convent, near Kartkakee, 111., next June, when She would be able to command a good position in or out of a good school, and wanting, of course, like all other parents, the family to be as near together as possible and knowing that Rensselaer has good railroad facilities and also knowing of a host of good friends that we have everywhere in Jasper county, we concluded that Rensselaer was the proper place to locate. I want to say that when I told my children who came home for Thanksgiving while we were at the dinner table that we had sold our home the girls cried and we all shed tears, and I want to say in conclusion Walker township and my friends in. Walker will be always held dear to my memory. I will always be glad to meet my old friends from there and to have a good word for them. I have a splendid home here, well located and among my friends. The flag and I go together. JOHN O’CONNOR.