Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 117, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1919 — INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE CITIES

Has Canon City a Ghost in Dead Man’s Canyon? CANON CITY. COLO.—Natives of the region along “Dead Man's canyon," on the Canon City Colorado Springs automobile highway, are firmly of the belief xb-it :• ghost on n white h»»rse nightly frequents the canyon. Person®

with good reputations for veracity fitate that they have seen this phantom rider, and one person Is'said to have lost his reason after an adventure with this mysterious stranger. Fifty-sixyears ago this spring an old man named Harkins oja-rated a sawmill in this canyon on the Little Fontaine creek in El Paso county. His body was found with the head split open with an ax or hatchet. From that day to this the place has been

called Dead Man's canyon. The tnys- ' terious killing of Harkins began a reign of terror In south central Colorado. The sparse!v settled region from South park to the New Mexico border became panic stricken on account of a series of murders, in which it is estimated that upward of 50 people lost their lives. Each crime was shrouded in the deepest mystery. Travel stopped on the highways, mail carriers never ventured forth except under heavy guard and families abandoned their lonely ramhes. Gradually the fact became established that the perpetrators of these murders were three brothers. Mexicans, known as the “Bloody Espinoslas.” As a climax to a long series of murders in South park they killed two prospectors named Leyman and Seyga. These two men were citizens of California Gulch, now Leadville. Under command of Capt. John McCannon a posse of 17 volunteers dime upon two of the brothers in a canyon about 20 miles north of Vunon City. In the tight one brother was killed by Joseph Tjtmli and the other escaped. The survivor joined the third brother in the San Luts valley.«. Tom Tobins, a noted mountaineer, trailed them with soldiers, who killed them both. ■ ~

Doughboy Snapshots a Tornado; Then Dodges It OMAHA.— It has just transpired that the recent tornado which battered this city, damaging 400 houses and doing about half a million dollars’ damage, was photographed and that the photograph is undoubtedly the most wonderful

photograph of a tornado ever taken. The tornado struck Omaha about eight o’clock in the evening. It went through the suburb of Dundee, Omaha’s finest residential district, literally “like a whirlwind.” The long, slender tail shot along the ground, throwing itself this —way arid that way. * It waved around like the trunk of Jt giant elephant. When it hit a house, that house disappeared. It. cut a swatli through Dundee from lbo ieet to UK yards wide —that’s all. The photograph

was made by Ralph Rolph. Rolph had been In the army, in b rance and was familiar with ttLrror For that reason he stood his ground for a few moments while the Uif-ng.Mfns coming toward him. . Rolph had been out photographing all that Sunday. He was returning with just two films left in his camera. When ho reached Fiftieth and Center streets he heard a tremendous roaring off towsyd the southwest. In another moment the tornado was upon him. He turned the lens high uj. In the'air and snapped the shutter. Quickly turning the film, he snapped again, this time with the lens pointed horizontally, trying to catch that part oi the tornado which he had missed in the first-snapshot. Scarcely two second* elapsed between the two snaps. After Rolph made the snapshots, he leaped into a deep gully beside th( road. Tly* tail of the tornado made an upward movement and passed ovei him without injuring him. Tim two negatives, when developed, fitted almost exactly.

What a 22-Caliber Rifle Bullet Did to Two Men • '■■■' • HICAGO. —August Ehlers, sixty-one years old and a carpenter, quarreled V with his wife 12 years ago. They separate*!, and last November his wanderings brought him to live on the first floor of a little two-story frame house

at 1529 North California avenue. His wife and children are living on Irving avenue near North avenue. Soon after Ehlers’ arrival, Thomas Fisher, sixty-four years old, a wire worker, rented the second floor apartment. Fisher had been separated from his family two years, leaving them at the old home at 1721 North Kedzie avenue. The loneliness of the two old men and the similarity of their family estrangements occurring so late in life

made them great friends. In front of the little house is the three-story bric£ apartment of the landlord, r rant McClellan. His foitrteen-year-old son John wanted a rifle. But Mr. Met led ar refused to buy John a rifle. So, unknown to the parents. John “worked” 41 newspaper route and managed to save s<>. John sent to a Chicago mail order house for a 22-caliber rifle. At last it came. * f ; “Hey. Elmer.” he shouted to his companion, thirteen-year-old Elmer Ruper tus, who lives upstairs. ‘-‘lt’s here- Let’s try it I” The boys had only two cartridges—one shot apiece. The cellar window of the little' ho,use in,the rear was the target. John fired and hit the window. So did Elmer. The rifle was thett' hidden under John’s bed. The next day the “Little House of Shattered Homes” smelled of gas. The gas company was notified- and at 7 p. in. an inspector came. Both aged men were found dead. Theories of suicide vanished when a bullet hole was found in the gaa meter. Then the boys confessed.

Sir'Francis Drake Was Great, but His Estate— SPRINGFIELD, ILL.—Branding the selling of “shares” in the so-called Sit Francis Drake estate as “h fraudulent scheme designed to enrinch the promoters at the expense of the ignorant and credulous investors therein,” the

Chicago Bar association filed a petition in the state supreme court asking that Milo F. Lewis, a Chicago lawyer, tn disbarred, charging 1 that his actions have been “Unprofessional, unethical and criminal. The action is the result of a lengthy inquiry by the grievance committee of the bar association. Its-find' Ings are that the Drake estate, which has been held out as a scheme for jnore than 40 years, is 8

“fake." Its principal promoters, th< bill alleges, have been Lewis, Sudie B. Whitaker, Oscar M. Hartsell and O. F Peterson, they peddling, the “shares" in the estate to persons in Chicago, St Louis, Kansas City, Monmouth, Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington, Des Moines and Oskaloosa, Ta., and various other places. It is claimed that within the last two years Lewis’ share from the Scheme has been in excess of $20,000, among his alleged victims being Margaret Glen dening of Monmouth, 111., who contributed $2700; Elsie Reedfe, also of Monmouth. who paid sl,ooo.’and Adeline andUlalph Gorham of Avon, 111,, who not only were induced to part with $10,900 cash, but mortgaged tligrr farm fbt $15,000. »’ ’ k. iThe bill recites that it Jias been represented by the promoters that Sii Francis brake left a large estate in lands in England and that the real estate has increased in value to $200,000,0b0, It is claimed that the direct heirs ant lineal descendants of Drake became extinct riiqre than 50 years ago, and since there are bo direct heirs the real estate passed to collateral heirs, about 25( Of whom, the promoters claim, settled in the United States. -•