Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 165, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1915 — Troops Held Ready to Block Plans of Lynching. [ARTICLE]

Troops Held Ready to Block Plans of Lynching.

Three companies of militia have been ordered to the Milledgeville state farm in Georgia Tuesday night to thwart a plan to lynch Leo M. Frank, who is confined there. The orders were issued by the adjutant-general, who, Gov. Harris explained, bad blanket instructions to call out troops to protect state property. All roads leading to the farm are guarded. Frank recently began serving a life term for the murder of Mary Phagan after his sentence of death was commuted by Gov. Slaton.

Some time ago one James Short of DeMotte was fined for intoxication. Information supplied by Deputy Prosecutor Sands is to the effect that while under the influence of liquor Short cut some telephone wires and took some small tools/and put them in his pockets. Three charges were made against Short, but only the intoxication charge was prosecuted. The other depradations were committed while he was befuddled with booze. It was suggested that perhaps he did not intend to steal the tools that were in his pockets but had expected to use them for ballast. Short was shorter by the time the justice and the prosecutor got through with him and it should be a long time before Short longs for another such short-sighted escapade.

G. E. Rebhan, traveling agent of the American Express Co., is here today checking out the local agent, G. C. Hart, and checking in the new agent, W. G. Gehr, of Lima, Ohio. Mr. Hart will leave for his new position as agent at Crawfordsville tomorrow. The Crawfordsville office pays a better salary than this office, but Mr. Hart is deserving of the promotion, as he has made a splendid record here as a hard worker and accommodating agent and his friends will hate to see him leave here. His successor is a young man and will no doubt fill the office acceptably to the public.

The high waters caused by the recent heavy rainfall are receding rapidly and cellars that had several feet of water in them are now all empty and the river is becoming lower, but is still quite deep. Several property owners suffered considerable damage from the water in their basements. J. J. Montgomery had trunks full of wearing apparel stored in the basement of the bungalow formerly owned by him and the trunks were rescued after being in the water several hours with the contents in a badly damaged condition. Miss Maud Spitler had considerable household goods stored in the adjoining bungalow awaiting the completion of her new residence and these were also soaked with water. Only a few basements in town escaped the high water, which emphasizes the necessity of a better drainage system in Rensselaer. The basements in the business section were flooded for a short time, owing to the sewers being too small to carry the water that was pouring into them from the roofs and catch basins.