Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1902 — INDIANA INCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Engine Races with Death—Rich Vein of Coal Found—Serious Train Wreck Averted by Two Little Boys-Sport Recovers Money Lost at Gambling. While Engineer George C. Pettinger of the Peoria and Eastern division of the Big Four lay dying on the floor of the engine cab Conductor John Scanlon, with his hand on the throttle, was urging the engine to its limit of speed in a futile race against death. The train was bound for Indianapolis, and when ten miles out from Carlos City the engineer was suddenly seized with hemorrhage of the lungs. He pitched heavily forward from his seat,'at the same time reversing the engine and applying the air. The train came to a stop and Conductor Scanlon rushed forward. Taking in the situation, lie seized the throttle, and while the dying engineer urged him to greater speed and directed him at the work the conductor drove the train at over seventy miles an hour toward Carlos City in an effort to reach the station liefore Pettinger should succumb. As the train eanie to a stop at the depot, however, the engineer drew his last breath. New Indiana Coal Deposit. Farmers residing near Granger have become excited over the discovery of a rich coal deposit on the farm of the Alford brothers. Chicago and Indiana capitalists who have sought to acquire control of great tracts adjoining the land have failed, although in many cases the sums offered are five times greater than the same ground could have been purchased for two weeks ago. The vein of coal has been shown to be miles in length, and the engineers at work have not as yet been able to ascertain its depth. The find was made in an accidental manner, and immediately a rural company, with a capital of $75,000, was formed for the purpose of taking up coal mining on an extensive scale. The product is said to be of an exceptionally high grade and unmistakable traees of silver ore are found in various places. Boys Prevent Train Wreck. Clifford Chapman and Daniel Carbnckle. aged 9 years, prevented a disastrous wreck on the Clover Leaf road near Kokomo. Just as a freight and passenger were due to meet at Middleton the boys found a broken rail on the wildcat bridge. Realizing the danger, one boy ran ahead and flagged the passenger with his red cap and the other went to the depot and notified Agetrt Veach. The prompt action of the children averted a terrible disaster. Gamblers Pay Back. The jury in the case of the State vs. Mathew Kelly and Dallas Tyler, gamblers, to recover money won from Richard C. Davis while "shooting craps," returned a verdict at Vincennes in favor e£ the plaintiff for $9,000. Judge Cobb overruled the motion of defendants for a new trial. Charles E. Bailey was appointed a special judge to try several other similar cases now pending to recover money lost by Davis while gambling in Washington, Ind. Peach Crop Killed. W. B. Fleck, secretary of the Indiana Horticulture Society, has received reports from each of the ninety-six counties >n the State covering fruit conditions. The reports indicate that peaches are mostly if not all killed. Apples and pears promise well and other fruit will be as plentiful as in past years. Within Our Borders. Egg famine in many Hoosier towns. Falling tree killed Farmer Henry Seebode of Elberfield. At Jackson station Warren Bessler's right arm was blown off by giant powder. Maurice Lauer's home. Muncie, burned. The loss is placed at SIO,OOO. Too much gas. Farmer Silas Hock was perhaps fatally injured. Kokomo, by his wagon overturning on him. Virgil Brandon, Michigantown, accidentally shot and seriously wounded his brother, Clinton. May Woolsey, Evansville, took a dose of morphine with suicidal intent, but doctors saved her. Benj. Hutchinson, Marion, convicted of embezzlement, attempted suicide by the morphine route. Doctors pumped him out. Elisha Brown and. wife;. Hagerstown, celebrated the seventy-second anniversary of their marriage. Larry Phelps, a Wayne County soldier, saved two comrftdes from drowning; while on duty in the Philippines. He will be promoted. Charles Jackson, formerly cizcwhatioa manager of the Evansville Courier, took an overdose of ammonia by mistake, dying in a few minutes. May bury Neal, 45. Madison, a farmer, isxnmittcd suicide by jumping into the Ohio river. Two children survive. It is thought be was temporarily insane. The plant of the Kokomo Morning News was badly wrecked by a natural gas explosion. The floors were torn up, the machinery displaced and the type pied. A freak well developed on the Henry Moon farm, near Farmland. Smith Ac Neely of Muncie were drilling for oil and drew apparatus preparatory to shooting it, when salt water flowed, spouting several hundred feet into the air. Oliver Bunton, Muncie, will file suit for SIO,OOO damages against the Muncie Natural Gas Company. Bunton claims that his wife, who was seriously ill, was convalescent when the company turned off the fuel, causiug a relapse of the sickness, which resulted in death by practically freezing. William Overly, who is alleged to have robbed several stores three years ago, was captured at Marion when he returned to visit a woman who assisted him in time of need. Lee Stevens, the proprietor or a groery store, had remained in tfis place to protect it. Overly entered and was attempting to rob the safe, when Stevens shot him in the forehead, the bullet glancing off. Overly escaped and hid himself in a large street roller for several days. A young woman supplied him with food and dressed his wound until he had recovered sufficiently to leave town. w