Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1905 — STRANGE NEW VAPOR [ARTICLE]

STRANGE NEW VAPOR

Gas Coming from Petroleum and Salt Water Is Deadly and Debilitating. SPECIMENS OF ITS EFFECTS When It Doesn't Kill It Affects the Brain Friends Commend w Governor Hanly. Muncie, Ind., Sept. 29. Physicians in Delaware county are worried over unusual phenomena in the way of effects produced by the admixture of salt water and oil from the oil field east of Muncie. There are many proofs to indicate that when salt water and crude oil is mixed, a gas is given off that will produce death In a few minutes’ time and that will cause a temporary loss of memory to those who may be rescued before the gas has had time to have fatal effect. Applies to the Williams Tragedy. The investigation by Coroner Aaron Cecil, of Delaware county, into the case of the Williams family, last week, when Mrs. J. C. Williams and daughter Margaret were asphyxiated by gas coming from oil and salt water that had come into their cellar, and Williams and son John, almost met death while trying to rescue Mrs. Williams and her daughter, leads Dr. Cecil to believe that a new’ and strange gas is" produced by the oil and water. He Remembers Nothing. Williams, who was carried from the cellar where his wife and daughter met death, is unable to recall anything that happened that day. He is rational in all other ways and knows that his wife and daughter are dead, but cannot be made to realize how it all happened. Williams’ son John, who was overcome while bringing out the bodies of bis mother and sister and rescuing his father, says that while the effect of the gas has been bad on bis mental faculties, his memory is still good. Two Other Similar Cases. J. R. Meredith, a pumper on the D. C. East oil lease, which is near Smithfield. says that while working on top of an oil tank a few weeks ago, he was overcome by the gas and fell unconscious to the ground below’. When he recovered he could remember nothing of what had happened. While bending over an oil well on her father's farm. Miss Nellie Swanders, a well-known young woman living near Selma, was similarly overcome, falling unconscious to the ground. For days she was unable to remember any- ' thing. EARLY VOTE GET THE OFFICE ? Club Organized in Indiaua Gains Fame Abroad and a Britisher Wants Information. Marion. Ind.. Sept. 29. The Ten O’clock Button club, organized last national campaign by Elam Neal, chairman of the Eleventh Indiana district Republican central committee, is gaining fame abroad. It is said a request has been received from the Oxford district, England, where a candidate to the house of commons desires information about the workings of the Ten O’clock Button club, saying he has a majority of 500 votes to overcome. J. N. Langham, chairman of the Ninth Pennsylvania district, has asked for particulars about the club. Two days preceding the last general election the Eleventh district chairman forwarded from-his headquarters in this city a letter and a button urging the voter to cast his ballot by 10 o’clock. The result was that a heavy vote was cast early in the day and the party devising the scheme profited thereby, apparently. Why She Wants a Divorce. Muncie, Ind.. Sept. 29.—As a reason why she should be divorced from Riley Mills, Mrs. Della Milis, in her complaint, just filed in the circuit court, alleges that her husband has not taken a bath for nineteen years. When they were first married, he took one bath, she says, but has never taffen any since. She also charges that he 'is “slothful, Indolent and lazy, though physically able to work.” Perhaps Its a Radium Meteor. Evansville, Ind., Sept. 29. While standing in the door of his farm house near St. Anthony’s. Ind., Cyrus W. Winkler saw a bail of fire fall from the sky and alight in a vacant lot near the house. Winkler found It was a meteor five Inches in diameter and weighing five i>ounds. During the darkness the meteor shines like a jewel. Cattle Attacked by Blackleg. Bloomfield, Ind., Sept. 29. The farmers of Fairplay and Jefferson township, a few miles northwest of this place, are alarmed over the appearance of “blackleg” among the cattle on a number of farms. Several head of cattle have already died of the disease. ’PoMum Wandered Into Town. Evansville, Infl., Sept. 29. An opossum weighing thirty pounds was down at the corner of Eighth and Powell streets by four patrolmen and finally killed by the officers. It is supposed the opossum wandered in from the country and got lost in the city. Quakers Oommend Gov. Hanly. Richmond, Ind., Sept. 29. The Indiana yearly meeting of-. Friends by unanimous consent sent a message to Governor Hanly commending his attitude in regard to law enforcement and the safeguarding of public funds.