Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1902 — RECORD OF THE WEEK [ARTICLE]

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERSELY TOLD. German Grocer Murdered by Robbers in Sonth Bend—Terre Haute Churches Open Campaign Against Saloons— Murder Case at Evansville Ends. The negroes who murdered John M. Konnsmau in his grocery at South Bend while trying to hold up the place, were seen running tpw’ard the railroad tracks and it is supposed they escaped on a special freight train which went west on the Indiana, Illinois and lowa road about that time. Konnsmau was one of the best known German residents of South Bend. He was getting ready to close his store when the negroes entered and with drawn revolvers tried to hold him up. He resisted, fighting the jobbers with a broom so fiercely that he succeeded iu forcing them to the entrance of the store. Then, foiled in their design, they turned on him and fired three shots, which lodged in his neck, left lung and just over the heart. Konnsmau fell to the floor dead. Widow Adopts a Physician. Mrs. J. S. Slick, an Indiana woman, nnd the widow of Judge Slick, who was once on the bench of the Forty-first Indiana Circuit and later a member of the Wabash Circuit bar, has adopted Dr. Woodruff, a practicing osteopathist, who formerly resided at Huntington. Mrs. Slick is 50 years old nnd Dr. Woodruff is 35. Mrs. Slick went into court and asked for authority to adopt him. The two have gone to California. Judge Slick was afflicted with paralysis for ten years. He died at Wabash three years ago. Dr. Woodruff was one of his physicians. The two were very close friends. Mrs. Slick has considerable property. Begin War Aga nst Saloons. Sunday was set by the Terre Haute Ministers’ Association for special temperance services, and several speakers were sent to the city by the State AntiSahxin League, but some of the Churches refrained from participating because they fear thut what was announced as an educational movement only will develop into an aggressive movement by the church against the saloons. Some of the ministers gave the newspapers an assurance that nothing more than an educational effort was contemplated, but the chairman of »the temperance committee stated that the services were to lie the first step in an effort to enforce the saloon law. Murder Trial Ends Suddenly. The State has entered a nolle prosequi at Evansville in the case against Wilbur S. Sherwell, ex-policeman, charged with the killing of Fannie Butler, a mulatto woman, after his trial had been under way for a couple of hours. Sherwell was tried last Goto Ist for the murder of Mrs. Georgia Bailey, but was found to be not guilty. He is now at liberty under $5,(XX) bonds. The State will id raw a motion very soon to quash the third and last indictment against the prisoner. The arrest of Policeman Sherwell, with the evidence that' immediately accumulated thereafter, was the most sensational on record in southern Indiana. Shows Deficit of $13,100. The investigation conducted by Elias Scott, deputy treasurer of Wabash County, into the books and accounts of John B. ltose. former city treasurer, was completed the ot}ier night. The result of the examination confirms the accuracy of the figures of Expert Cridley, who made an investigation a month ago in behalf of the city aud found a shortage of $13,100. Hose, who aided in the second investigation, says he can account for $7,500 of the shortage. Poisoned Cider Almost Fatal. Cider which coutnined embalming fluid nearly caused the death of John Childs, H. M. Fliat and William Nett. The men were cutting wood north of Kendallville when Mr. Hartman, a farmer, gave them some cider taken from a barrel which was once used by an undertaker to hold embalming fluid. Flint's condition is critical. All Over the Btats. Fort Wayne Elks have temporarily abandoned building project. South Bend police have been ordered to smash all the slot machines. Fire did $ 10,000 damage to the newspaper pluut of the Daily Truth at Elkhart, owned by C. G. Conn. Robbers blew open the safe of the postofflee at Vevuy, securing $340 in stanips nnd money-order blanks. Pearl La Follette, aged 13, died In Indianapolis ns the result of a dose of carbolic acid given to her by mistake for a gargle. W. 11. Hickman, for six years chancellor of Depauw University, Greeneastle, will tender his resignation and reenter the Methodist ministry. Mart Ilurhniis, n wealthy clubman, was shot twice by footpads. He was driving In a desolate part of Elkhart when attacked. He was ordered to halt and did not do so. The wounds are serious and may prove fatal. Mrs. Adelaide > F. Allen, duughter of United States Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, was granted a divorce from her husband, I>r. Horace I>. Allen. Jr., by Judge McMnster in Indianapolis, for failure to support her nnd cruelty. After a session lasting a week the grand jury returned 104 indictments at Shoals. All the men named are chnrged with selling their votes at the last election. The names of the indicted men nro not made known, ns no arrests huve been made. As soon ns the warrants are served the men will he plnced under bonds to appear at the February terra of court. The organization of a company to deal in Indiana coal lands nnd the purchase for $45,000 of the coal under 400 acres of land near Terre Haute, by President McDoel and Director Dlcknson of the Monon Railroad Company, is taken to indicate thatytlie road, which hns hyen getting some of the Indiana coal traffic by way of Greencastle, will enter the field direct. Muncle public school teachers are planning a visit to Washington in the spring. Clinton people keep their chickens in the house nights because of chickon i thieves.