Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1900 — INDIANA INCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST '/EEK. Plaxue of Grasshoppers at Fouth Bend Land Owners Will Hunt Up Oom Paul—Dr. Casto Declared Not GuiltyBig Oil and Gas Deal. The swarms of grasshoppers tb’at swooped down on South Bend recently are causing merchants much trouble. In clothing stores they are particularly troublesome. They seem to possess an appetite for fabrics of almost any sort aud iu several places have damaged suits of clothes displayed. Merchants who have had experience with the many pests common in tlie business say the grasshoppers are far more destructive than moths or any other insect ahey have encountered. They work holes in cloth aud are very ambitious. As yet no one has appeared who can advance a probable theory to account for the presence of the grasshoppers in stwh great numbers. There is nothing to attract them to the barren pavements of tiie city and yet the business district is alive with them. A few nights ago one merchant swept over a quart of dead insects from the vestibule of Ids store. Land Owners Fend Agents to Africa. Land owners in the Kankakee region will iinit£jjj„fiemiing a representative to the Transvaal to encourage emigration and settlement of colonies upon the immense trai ts of land gWhieh have been reclaimed in the immense waste of. swamp land which stretches across northern Indiana. The representatives who will visit the Boer republics will hunt out President Kruger with a view of obtaining his co-operation in the enterprise. The movement is well organized and lias the backing of men witli almost unlimited capital. Gas Plant Changes Hands. One of the largest oil and gas deals ever made in the Indiana field is about to be closed at Marion. The Mississi“newa Mining -Company that owns the local gas plant and 20,<)00 acres of gas and oil leases, is to be sold for SBOO,OOO. The promoter of the deal is John R. Pierson, president of the Indianapolis Gas Company. It is not thought, however, that the transfer will be made to the Indianapolis company, but that the Standard Oil Company is the real purchaser. Doctor Guiltless of ArsonAfter being out forty-eight hours the jury in the trial of Dr. Casto at Terre Haute, accused of trying to burn his three stores to collect $22,000 insurance, returned a verdict of pot guilty. There was a sentiment with all that the circumstantial evidence perhaps did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the doctor who had honeycombed his stores with trains of powder, oil and paint. State News in Brief. Ransom Hill. Id, near Windfall, was drowned at ar gravel qdf , Indiana retail liquor dealers will ask Congress to repeal the war beer tax. The President has appointed Gen. Geo. Maginnis postmaster at Indianapolis. Richard McClure sold 6,000 bus-hels of corn in the Elwood market in a week. Two men in the Mv.neie workhouse escaped through a hide eight inches square. Giant County Board of Education will oil school house Hours as a sanitary measure. \\ illiani Lawson, aged 58 years, was killed by a Vandalia passenger train at Brazil. A temple nf the Knights of Kiiorassan was instituted at Muncie, with 400 charter members.' A vicious dog ton* away half the lower lip' of the little daughter of Richard Bartholomew. Lagro. Merchants in South Bend will close at 6 p. tn. Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday. the year around. James M. Tempter, Jr.. Muncie, has been appointed a cadet at West Point, and \\ alter E. Prosser. New Albany, alternate. John Hill, a prominent farmer, aged f‘>.> years, accidentally shot himself while hunting near Pierceton. Both loads of the gun lodged in the alidomen, causing instant death. < lyde Jones, who was sentenced indeterminately to from one to twenty-one years' confinement in the Jeffersonville reformatory for the abduction of and assault upon Nellie Berger, is refused a new trial. , Mrs. Catluwine Kirkwood, aged 99 years, the oldest resident in eastern Indians. died at Muncie of old age. She was the widow of James H. Kirkwood and the mother of fourteen children, twelve of whom survive. Howard Ellis, 19 years old. was killed in a Crawfordsville saloon, being struck on the head with a beer faucet by Jim Osborn. Ellis’ body was hidden in weeds. There were several persons in the fight. Osborn was arrested. William Schoeplin, a popular young man of Osceola, had a tooth extracted, the dentist applying n preparation to make the operation painless. Blood poisoning developed and Nchoepetin's death followed, after continual ngosy. Joseph D. Keith nt Boothville was held without bail to answer to the charge of murdering Miss Nora Kifer, Those body was found in Pigeon creek solfie weeks ago. Keith's son gave some damaging testimony against the father. * Experiments in producing gas by a new process for the manufacture of glass, which have been in progress nt a factory in Terre Haute, have proved .1 success. The cost of producing gas by the new process is claimed to be less than half the cost ot natural gas, and even cheaper than natural gas iu the boom days ot tho ?.idiaua gas belt. In South Bend J. W. Morrison, former proprietor ot the Morrison Hotel, held on a charge ot murder and arson, had a preliminary hearing before Judge Whitcomb. After a seven hours’ session he was held to the grand jury on $5,000 txuids. In a discussion over an alleged board bill nt New Albany Archie Dye shot and instantly killed Peter Carnes. Dye claims Carnes was advancing on him with a knife when Dye shot him. Dye is an ironworker and Curne* Operated a saloon and boarding house. Both the tuen are about 50 years old.