Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1903 — RECORD OF THE WEEK [ARTICLE]

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERSELY TOLD. Distillery Fire Causes Heavy Loss Shortest Railway In World Is Finlulled—Snnb for Island Park Chautauqua Association, A fire which started in the elevator of the whisky trust's Majentic distillery in Terre Haute caused a loss of SIOO,OOO on the building, grain elevator and machinery. The spirits house adjoining, ill which there were 100,000 barrels of spirits in large copper tanks, was saved by tbo work of the firemen and a change in the wind. The loss is fully covered by insurance. There were 1,200 cat tie in the pens ami the distillery was grinding 8,200 bushels of corn daily. J./-H. Beggs, until July 1 manager of the trust, is building a new and larger independent house for Cincinnati and Louisville wholesalers and blenders, and, it is said, the trust may not rebuild. i*Finish Shortest Railway. The shortest railway system in the world lias just been completed twelve years after its con .-true lion was commenced. The line. 2,000 feet in length, is known as the Mooney Lateral Railway, and was incorporated in this form at the time of its organization. It connects the Mooney tannery at Columbus with the Big Four Railroad. When the Big Four trie-d to lay a switch into the tannery in 1891 the Pennsylvania company refused a crossing. In order to condemn a way the company was organized with a full corps of officers and directors. The const ruction was begun, but court proceedings were instituted and the tracks have just been completed. Fnbbatnrinns Are Snubbed. The Island park assembly, a Methodist organization, posted a notice at Rome City, bordering Sylvan lake, asking several hundred cottagers along its shore/, to refrain from boating, fishing and bathing on Sunday. The cottagers posted a most indignant reply. pointed out that the assembly themselves rented boats on Sunday, that one of the leading officers keeps a drug store open on Sunday in order to sell ice cream and soda fountain drinks, while they keep Island Park open on Sunday in order to get the 25 cents which is charged for uikni.tdon to Island Park on Sunday. Hail Cuts Down the Crops. Reports of almost total destruction of crops by the heavy hailstorm come from points in the southern part of Kosciusko County. In many places hailstones as large as walnuts fell, cutting entire fields and shattering thousands of window panes. The damage is estimated at SIOO,OOO. Electric Fhock Proves Fatal. P.cyard Quick, aged 25 years, assistant superintendent of the Brookvillo Electric Light and Power plant, was instantly killed while trimming <au arc light. Owing to an accident he received a heavy shock of electricity. Quick was a member of a well-known family. Woman Ifangß Herarlf, Mrs. West, wife of Captain James West, a prominent citizen of Frankfort, went to an upstairs room in her home and hanged herself. She had been in poor health for some time. Brief State Happenings, Smallpox has given Washington physicians all they can do vaccinating citizens.

Henry Seward of Terre Haute was bound over to the grand jury at a preliminary hearing oil the charge of wife murder. The recent award of a contract for a $24,000 bridge to span White river at Anderson calls to mind that Anderson has nine bridges. While in bathing at Miller Station a stranger, who is thought to be from Chicago, cried for help. Before aid could reach him lie was drowned. Steven Shanks, 70 years old, a former county treasurer, committed suicide at Frankfort, by throwing himself in front of a (.'lover Leaf pasienger train. John W. Sipes, an old soldier, aged 72 years, was walking on the Southern Indiana track at Oale, and failed to hear the warning whistle. He was killed instantly. A jury at Valparaiso has returned a verdict for-the heirs of John W. Swygart of South Bend, holding that" deceased was not of sound mind when he executed his xafill. A petrified log has been found 45 feet below- the surface of the earth near Sullivan. The log is about 12 feet iu length and two feet in diameter, and the outlines of its bark make k look like a fluted stone column. The log was found by workmen who were sinking a coal shaft. The old bridge across Wildcat creek, near Kokomo, is being torn down, which recalls the hanging by a mob of a man named Long, in 1882. Loug was accused of assaulting a little girl, but physicians who examined the-child exonerated him. He confessed to stealing a hor. *\ however, and the mob hanged him anyway. Robert Meyers of Torre Haute says his bride of two weeks, whom he married through tlie agency of a matrimonial bureau. is a failure as a housekeeper. Therefore he has sent her back to Clintonville, Wis. He was a widower with eight and she the Widow Penu with two children, when the couple were married. An unknown colored man attempted to assault Mrs. Joseph Watts, wife of a prominent farmer near Logan.-iport. Thrashers on the farm heard her screams and started after krai, chasing him several miles and firing a number of shots at him. He escaped into the Bwamp country and is believed to be badly wounded, Charles Moore, the teamster who drew the s73o'automobile at the Eagles’ carnival. in Fort Wayne, sold the machine for SIOO. The Hoosier State recall# that thirty years ago the mob spirit prevailed in southern Indiana and that Gov. Hendricks. was obliged to issue a proclamation to quell It. c. The Washington City Council was obliged to hold a special session for the sole purpose of abating a wire fence nuisance. Some one maintained an “unr sightly and dangerous ’ wire fence in heart of the town. - j