Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1902 — INDIANA INCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Btate Has Done Well Through 1901 Elkhart Girl Accused of Witchcraft —Soldier Goes to Porto Rico on Wild* Goose Chase—Hartford City Fire.

The annual reports covering the various departments of the Indiana State government show a prosperous condition of affairs. During 1901 the State debt uas reduced $817,000 and the debt promises to be wiped out by 1907. The cost of running the State was $7,129,483. The balance left over for the new year was $042,299. an increase of $228,047 over 1900. Of the receipts the State tax produced $ 1,237.20 1. The total assessed valuation of the State is $1,300,445,139, and the number of acres subjected to taxation was 22,375,040. The assessed valuation of lands and improvements thereon aggregates $50,734,275; of town lots and improvements, $325,227,903; personal property, $332,857,739; tele phones and telegraphs, $7,330,102; railroad properties and holdings, $153,009,120. Ihe current tax on this property produced $21,825,127. and $2,904,201 was added by collection of delinquents. The thirteen charitable and penal institutions of the State were the greatest item of expense, the former using up $1,110,070. Thj? value of Indiana crops amounted to $2.i0,000,000. Despite short corn, wheat and oat crops the year was a record breaker in agricultural prosperity, as shown by the bank deposits, which increased largely. Remarkable increases are reported in all of Indiana’s lines of industry. Based on the reliable figures of the census report, the capital of Indiana manufacturing concerns has increased IS per cent over 1890, aud is now $234,481,528, and there has been an increase of (57 per cent in the value of production, which in 1901 was $378,238,100.

Soldier Duped by Fiancee. James Hicks of Irvington, a regular in the army when it camped in Porto Rico, met in San Juan a fascinating Australian woman 21 years old, who was doing missionary work. lie loved the young missionary and they became engaged. Afterward Hicks sent her money to come here and to buy her trousseau. She replied that she preferred being married in San Juan. LK>c. 4 Hicks sailed, and when he arrived there found that his fiancee was engaged to two or three others, from all of whom, he says, she had collected nearly $2,000. She said to Ilicks that she was “sorry,” and Hicks took the next boat for “the States.”

Girl Accused of Witchcraft. Bessie Currier, a pretty miss of 13, has been forced by Mrs. William Currier of Elkhart, with whom she and her mother, Mrs. Mary Currier, lived, to leave homo because of certain mysterious happenings which have alarmed the household and have been attributed to some occult power possessed by the girl. Plates, it ia said, have been caused to float through the air, water pails to upset and bed•teads to come apart. The mother does not regard the girl with supernatural awe, but thinks the phenomena the result of trickery on her part, though the child maintains that she is not responsible for the manifestations.

Holds Foe on a Hot Stove. John Yalasky, a crazed miner of Rosedule, made a desperate attempt to kill Henry Johnson, another miner, in a Crawfordsville saloon. Johnson and several others were playing cards when Valaskv came in suddenly and, seizing Johnson by the throat, raised him up bodily and held him over a red-hot stove with one hand while he kept the rest at bay with a revolver. Johnson was badly burned. Ho was finally released after the maniac was knocked senseless by the bartender, who stole up behiud him and Btrhck him with a poker.

Big Fire at Bartford City. At 5 o’clock on a recent morning fire broke out in the dry goods and clothing store of E. I. Winters in Hartford City. The flames had gained great headway when the discovery was made, and they could not be brought under control until heavy damage had been done. The stock was almost totally destroyed, and the building was laid in ruins. The loss Is $50,000, and the insurance $30,000. There was nobody in the store at the time, and it is not known how the fire was started. It is supposed to have been due to irregular gas pressure, however.

Within Our Borders. A millinery store at Goshen was robbed, the robbers carrying away the entire stock. Van Martin, (3, Washington, chased a pet rabbit, when he fell and burst a blood vessel, death resulting. A little son of William McCormick, Washington, was fatally burned. His clothing caught fire from a grate. Johu P. Edwards and Mrs. Nancy Reeder were killed on a Pan-llaudlo graffe crossing a mile south of Mount Summit when goiug to Newcastle to be married. A notice has bc’-n posted at the Elwood plant of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company stating that the factory would closj indefinitely. Muuager Ilaruack said that failure of the gas supply was responsible. Willie and Mary Daniels, aged respectively 5 years and 7 years, living near Sand creek, were bitten in several places by a largo rattlesnake that bad taken refuge from the cold weather in a stock of wood. The piece of wood had been carried into the houso and placed behind the stove to dry. The parents of tho children were attracted by screams from the kitchen and were horrified to find the snake coiled in the little girl’s lap. Her brother the reptile by the tail and was bitten on the hand and arm. The girl was bitten twice upon the leg. Big Four train killed a man at Anderson, who is thought to be Fred Marker of Cincinnati. He was knocked front a bridge. A negro named Hensley was shot to death by a crowd of miners at Island City when he returned to tho scone of a fight he had with a few of them earlier. Elxa Bennett. 21 years old, shot and fatally wounded his stepfather, Edward Bishop, at their home in West Indianapolis. The investigation by the police showed that the boy had shot In defense of his mother, who had been struck and abused by Bishop.