Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1900 — INDIANA INCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Rocky Road to Matrimony—Boy Shoots Himself Rather than Reveal Marriage to His Fathei —Arrested for a Crime Thirty Years Old. John \V. Clemmons eloped at 2 a. to. with Miss Florence Jackson of Bridgeport, Ind. Muddy Fork creek, which the couple hail to ford to reach the home of Magistrate Coombs, was bank full from rains, and when Clemmons waded in he was swept away, and had to swim for his life. He finally gained the bank and found Miss Jackson, who could not see him for the darkness. Putting her on his shoulders, he carried her across the creek, although they were both in danger of drowning at any moment. Magistrate Coombs married the couple, and, with their still went_to_ the home of a farmer friend of Clemmons to borrow dry clothing. The farmer suspected burglars and fired on Clemmons, but missed him. Mrs. Clemmons screamed, and the farmer recognized his callers. He gave them dry apparel, and just as the sun. rose served them a wedding breakfast. Afraid to Tell His Father. Otto Cottom, of Terre Haute, 17 years old. fatally shot himself because he could not summon courage to tell his father he had been forced to marry a woman 27 years old. He had been from home twenty-four hours, when his sister heard a pistol shot und saw her brother stagger into the house and fall on a bed. During occasional periods of consciousness Cottom told a story that a woman named Lou Chandler of National City, near Peoria, indueetl him to marry her on July. Several lettm-s purporting to be written by the Chandler woman’s father to Cottom were found, in which he threatened the youth with arrest unless he lived with his wife. Wife Beater Fatally Hurt. John Dowd was stabbed six times at Muncie, and probably will die. He was whipping his wife when Mrs. Larey Carey nnd her daughter interfered. Thereupon he struck them. Mr. Carey appeared and -Attacked Dowd with a knife, stabbing him six times in the face and three times on the body, one under his heart. Arrested for an Old Crime. Thirty years ago in a tight at Needmore. William Fleener killed John Cullon and escaped. A man named McClurg, who was mixed up in the brawl, served three years in prison. Recently Lase Percifield, formerly a Columbus constable, but now living in Oklahoma, arrested Fleenor on the Texas line. State News in Brief. New coal field will be optmed at Riley. Broom corn crop short; brooms will cost more. Cigarette smoking prohibited in Winona park. Miss Sarah Martin. 90, is deiyl in New Albany. Whitestown is overflowing with counterfeit silver dollars. Miss Laura Munsell, GO, New Albany, killed by suburban train. Miss Florence Willing Gormly, Lafay■tte. will go on the stage. Alois Kruk. 7, South Bend, beheaded while attempting to jump on cars. Fred Todtenbier, 10, Connersville, killed by a pile of lumber falling on him. Smith Duncan. Eureka. Ky., with sl,000 mysteriously disappeared from Evansville. Mrs. Samuel Whetstone, aged 27. living near Elkhart, was found dead in her dooryard. Elmer Colgan. Hartford City, is insane and thinks a mob is trying to steal his Bible. Albert Spencer has gathered 1,300 gallons of blackberries from a farm near Portland mills.

An explosion of paints and oils started a fire that destroyed Welling's carriage factory, Sullivan. Enos Phillips. Muncie, has gone to Cincinnati. to undergo an op<«ration because he is double jointed. Tillie Coyle, 20, Elwood, tried to kill herself with chloroform. Family tron- '••*. Physicians saved her. >e Witt Simpson, Wabash, saved Richid Oswalt ami Thomas Jones from drowning in the Wnbash river. Rev. E. F. Hasty. Muncie, is trying to raise SIOO,OOO for infirm ministers and ministers’ widows and orphans. At Anderson Alex. Rogers, a lineman, took hold of a live wire while at the top of a pole and was electrocuted. Fire gutted Simon J. Carroll’s building nt Logansport. Loss $12,000. Adjoining buildings were damaged $3,000 Studebaker company, South Bend, has built twelve ammunition and ambulance wagons, to go with troops to China. The horribly mutilated body of an unknown man wns found on the Lake Shore Railway six miles west of South Bend. The body was cut in two. It is believed the man's name was Johnson and that recently he came from London. England. The indications nre that he had been robbed Numerous melon growers in the famous Indiana melon districts report that there will be no crop this year. Many declare that they .will not be able to realize sufficient to compensate them for the seed. Numerous producers claim that there are already symptoms of the dreaded rust, which is so detrimental to melons, and hut if it spreads, as it invariably doe*, here will lx* absolutely no crop, as the ■dons will dry up before the arrival of vest time. A mass meeting at Logansport demanded that the Council grant no franchise tu the Central Union Telephone Company that doe* not protect the people’s rights. Miss Lnura Munsell, GO years old, was struck by a Pennsylvania suburban train directly in front of her residence in New Albany, and received injuries which caused her death an hour later. The body of Carrie Holdscraper. German. 20 years old, was found in a shallow pond near Somerville. The body hadtb* appearance of having been in the water about twenty-four hours. She left her home to pick blackberries.