Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1906 — Page 1

Jasper County Democrat.

si.o'o Per Year.

REVOCATION

Sustained by State Supt. Cotton. DECISION GIVEN OUT WEDNESDAY. Admission of Teacher B. N. Fendig That tie Had Played for Money Held toJustlfy Co. Supt. • a ' ; >- ■■ ....... - -t—*'■ ' Fassett A. Cotton, state superintendent of public instruction, today revoked the licenses of Berthart N. Fendut, the teacher in the Jasper county schools who was charged with gambling by Superintendent Hamilton of that county. Mr. Cotton finds that the accused teacher is guilty as charged, and formally orders that the decision of Superintendent Hamilton be sustained, and the license revoked. He wrote Fendig to this effect. The case is one in which several prominent people of Rensselaer were implicated. Fendig was accused by the county superintendent of gambling and frequenting a public gambling house; it was charged that he was found at such a place early one Sunday morning when the place was raided. The county superintendent demanded his licenses, and Fendig refused to give them up, asserting that his presence at the gambling house was in the interest of a friend. He appealed to the state superintendent for a hearing, and last week Mr. Cotton, accompanied by Henry A. Dowling, an assistant in the attorney general's office, went to Rensselaer, where a public hearing waaheld. After reviewing the testimony at the hearing, that seemed to show indisputat bly that Fendig did play cards for money, * winning or losing, at times, as much as $25 a “sitting," Mr. Cotton, in his decision analyzes the testimony. “While the evidence is in conflict in many points,” the decision reads, “I am convinced that it establishes the truth of the charges made against the 'appellant by the superintendent bf Jasper county. The previous conduct of the appellant, the admission that he had, at recent dates, played games of chance for substantial sums of money, his frequenting the gambling resort where his gaming companions were arrested, his confession that he saw no harm in such pastime and did not think his moral character suffered from these associations and amusements, all prove beyond question that he had become addicted to gambling. “His presence at the resort known as Rosenbaum’s is not sufficiently explained by him, as it seems scarcely credible be would be so zealous in behalf of a friend that he would run the hazard of being caught by the officers with other gamblers upon the premises, perhaps in the very room where the game was going on, and thus obtain a notoriety and subject himself to criticism and ignominy, and yet absolutely forget for a whole evening, the instant peril of that friend for whom be was suddenly willing to risk so much. “I am, therefore, of the opinion that the evidence sufficiently proved that Benhart N. Fendig was addicted to the practice of gambling and was, therefore, guilty of conduct unbecoming one of whom is entrusted the instruction of youth, and who bad been placed in a position where he may exert a powerful influence, not only on the intellectual life, but on the moral standards of the boys and girls.” The opinion then goes into two legal questions: Whether the immorality must be proved to be in direct connection with the school work ; and whether the bearing before the county superintendent was illegal. The opinion concludes, with reference to the first point, that the teacher must maintain a fair degree of decency at all times, in school and out. On the second point the opinion does not decide, as for all practical purposes the hearing before Cotton makes the previous hearing before the county superintendent a moot point. In conclusion, the opinion says; “My holding accordingly is, that the decision of the county superintendent of Jasper county, Indiana, revoking the license of Benhart N. Fendig,Jbe and the same is hereby in all things affirmed and approved. ’—Wednesday’s Indianapol is The above tells the story of the result of the hearing in this case, which was going on last week when The Democrat went to press. Mr. Fendig will now "lay down” and give up his school, teaching yesterday for the last day. Arthur Tuffeer, who has been clerking in the grocery department of the Chicago Bargain Store, has been hired by Trustee Stackhouse to finish out the term. The evidence in the case as brought out in the hearing was rather contradictory as to the previous reputation of Mr. Fendig The officers and a few others stated that he had the reputation of being addicted to gambling for some years, while many others stated they never had heard of anything of the sort until this matter came up. When Mr. Fendig himself was crossexamined he apparently made a clean breast of all his connection with; the poker games; said that he had played some at "Mr. Warner’s” and "Mr. Thompson’s,” and hadalso played at the Rosenbaum gambling rooms; that he

had never won nor lost to exceed the amount of $25 at a "sitting ;” that be bad visited the Rosenbaum place as late as August last, but was not in there on the night of the raid, having merely gone there to warn a friend, Dan. Waymire, the republican drainage commissioner, of the contemplated raid. For some reason the question of how be learned of the fact that the raid was to be made was not asked of him. It would be interesting to know where the “leak” wps, for the officers state that they gave no one any intimation of their plans. Mr. Fendig denied having admitted to Mr. Hamilton that be gambled, and stated that be had not gambled since his school began. It is no doubt a fact that there are many of the so-called “upper-tens” of Rensselaer who play poker in their homes, and for money, too, and Mr. Fendig evidently thought it no very serious crime to do so. Affidavits as to his good reputation were introduced to the number of a score or more, and a petition signed by all tbe pltrons of bis school was presented, testifying to their satisfaction and confidence in him as a teacher.

MAN HUNT IN WHITE COUNTY.

Woman Near Burnettsville Assaulted in Her Home —Dastard Overhauled at Kentland. Abeut 2 o’clock Monday afternoon, a stranger about 35 years of age walked into the kitchen of the home of Price Odell, a LAlf mile east of Burnettsville, and demanded something to eat. Mrs. Odell was alone in the house at tbe time with the exception of her five-year-old boy, who was asleep. She told tbe man that dinner had been cleared away and she could give him nothing. At this he started toward and before she could seize anything to defend herself with, struck her to the floor, where she lay unconscious, in which condition the little boy found her some two hours later and ran to the field and informed his father, who hurried to the house tofind that the fiend had outraged the woman. On regaining consciousness Mrs. Odell gave a good description of the guilty wretch, and a man hunt was at once started, every ablebodied man in the neighborhood taking part. Bloodhounds were secured from Noblesville Tuesday and took up the trail in a roundabout way to the Panhandle railroad station, and suspicion was at once directed to a stranger who had taken the afternoon train west. He was traced to Kentland, where he was arrested and taken back to face his victim, who positively identified him as the brute. He was then taken back to Monticello and lodged in jail to await a preliminary hearing. His name is given as Purl Heeter. Heeter is a young married man 24 years of age and resides 10 miles north of Burnettsville, and had gone to Kentland to work. The White County Democrat says that “he claims that be is innocent and that he will be able to establish a complete alibi. He claims that hie father-in-law brought him down to take the train. They had stopped at several places on the road and talked to people, and that he is able to account for his whereabouts from the time they reached Burnettsville until the train left. He may be innocent and the people of Burnettsville are to be congratulated on the almost complete absence of the mob spirit. ‘ “Young Heeter has employed Judge Reynolds to defend him, and the preliminary hearing is set for Saturday at 10 o’clock.”

THE PEOPLE WILL PROSECUTE OFFENDERS.

The Democrat believes it voices the sentiment of a large majority of the citizens of Rensselaer in saying that a fair trial should be given the no liquor license feature just inaugurated here in the closing of the last saloon last Friday night via the remonstrance route, and whoever attempts to set the wih of the people aside in trafficking illegally in intoxicating liquors will do so at his own peril. The sentiment here is too unanimous toward giving" the no saloon feature a good honest trial to submit to any “blind tigers,” “boot legging’’ or any other method of illegal dispensing of liquors, a fact which anyone who is disposed to disregard the liquor laws will do well to paste in their hat.

Rensselaer, Jasper County, Indiana, Saturday, October 20, 1906.

DON’T BE FOOLED.

Republicans Made, Taxes Unnecessarily High. MONEY IS SPENT LAVISHLY. Old Cry Raised That Special Improve* Made It Necessary To Double the County Fund Levy. The people of Jasper county should not again be bam-boozled by that old, moss-covered tale that the doubling of the taxes this year ( s o be paid next year) was absolutely necessary. This same cry was raised in 1898, when the levy was 65| cents, yet non-par-tisan county council reduced the levy to 45| for 1899 and to 34| for 1900, and no public interests suffered in any way. In 1901 an all republican county cotincil raised the levy to 50| cents; in 1902 the same all republican county council fixed tbe levy again at 50|; in 1903 at 49|; in 1904 at 39|; in 1905 at 39 13-20 and in 1906 at 71 13-20. During all these years new bridges were being built, a court house tax to pay interest and to pay off bonds has been levied, as follows: 1900, 10 cents; 1901, 14 cents; 1902, 5 cents; 1903, 9 cents 1904, 13 cents; 190 c, 11 cents; 1906, 6 cents; 1907, 16 cents. Some of these bonds have already been paid and interest thereon stopped, yet a greater levy than ever before —notwithstanding the increase in assessments in the county —is now “necessary.” The Hanging Grove gravel road, the Jordan stone road, the Marion stone road, the Iroquois ditch and all other special improvements are entirely separate from the county tax proper, to which we refer, and have nothing whatever to do with it, as everyone must know. Taxes are high because an all republican county council grants every request made to dip into the county treasury, builds extravagant “cottages” at the soldiers’ home, furnishes velvet carpets, leather covered couches, fine rockers, etc., for a lounging room at the court house under the plea that it is a "waiting room for the farmers’ wives and their children,” presenting Mose Leopold SIOO for helping to clear that old political banker and rascal, Alf McCoy, ectera, ectera. The democrats do not propose to cut off any necessary appropriations but, if entrusted with the management of county affairs, even in part, they will endeavor to reduce the numerous grafts in many things that usually reach a total of many thousands of dollars each year, and thereby reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of the county.

THE COURT HOUSE

Items Picked Up About the County Capitol. The old court house at Kentland will be sold at public auction November 5. —o>— H. J. Dexter has re-purchased the property known as the Dexter property on McCoy avenue, which be sold to T. J. McCoy, paying $l5O for the McCoy equity therein. The election is only two weeks from next Tuesday. Remember that all certificates of nomination must be filed not later than 15 days before tbe day of election, therefore next Monday will be the last day for filing. —o— New suits filed: No. 7084. Charles B. Wells vs. John R. Lewis et al; appeal on ditch petition of latter from commissioner’s court. / No. 7085. James H. Chapman, trustee of Alfred McCoy, vs. Edward W. Lakin and Austin N. Lakin; suit on note, demand-sll 5. —io_ Ed Gilbert, who was brought here from Newton county last week ahd lodged inf jail to lay out a

fine and costs on a couple indictments for "boot-legging” booze at the recent Morocco carnival, was released Wednesday, bis father, who resides at Fowler, having come to bis relief and paid the amount, $63. The jail is now empty once more. Marriage licenses issued ibis week: Oct. 13, Willie Parley Finney of Wheatfield, aged 24, occupation farmer, to Bessie Pearl Tabler, also of Wheatfield, aged 18. First marriage for each. Oct. 17, James T. Gray of Carpenter tp., aged 28, occupation farming, to Agnes H. Franscoviak of the same township, aged 21, occupation housekeeping. First marriage for each. —-o— The county commissioners were in special session Wednesday signing up the Iroquois ditch bonds. There are 149 of these bonds, each for SSOO, aggregating $74,500, and they begin to mature May 1, 1908, and the last series matures May 1, 1917. The bonds bear 5| per cent interest. The new bond of S. R. Nichols, as county treasurer, in the sum of $160,000, with Addison Parkison, James T. Randle, Horace Marble, John M. Wasson, Emmet L. Hollingsworth and Judson J. Hunt as sureties, was approved. The term of the present treasurer will not expire until January 1,1908. This bond should have been filed the first of January last, nine months ago.

RENSSELAER NOW “DRY.”

••Strick’’ Closed Last Friday Night and a General Drunk Celebrated the Event. Tbe closing of the Strickfaden saloon last Friday night—the last saloon in Rensselaer to close, via the remonstrance route —was marked with a sort of a general drunk, and several minor scraps were indulged in. It is reported that quite a number of boys of 18 to 20 years of age were in the crowd and vied with the older rounders in seeing who could "put away” the most booze. “Strick” says the boys did not buy the stuff of him, to it is probable some'of the older ones purchased it for them. Nothing has been done with the fixtures in the room in which “Strick” was located,and his plans are not made public, if he has any, at this writing. It is reported that he has given up starting a meat market and will seek a location in the saloon business elsewhere, some say in Dakota, but nothing definite is known at this time regarding the matter.

BUYS A GOOD FARM.

Elizur Sage has saltled down $15,300 of the $50,000 received from the estate of his uncle, the late millionaire Russell Sage, having bought the Harmon farm in Newton tp., and will move onto same. The price paid*, was SBS per acre, and there is 180 acres in the farm. It lies about three miles west of Rensselaer. Possession is given March 1. A. J. Harmon, who now occupies the farm, is talking some of going to Dakota,- and expects to make a prospecting trip out there in a couple of weeks.

PULPIT ANNOUNCEMENTS.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. There will be preaching at the Presbyterian church to-morrow, both morning and evening, by astudent from tbe McCormick Theological College of Chicago. / CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Sunday School at 9:30; lesson, The Parable of the Talents. Morning worship at 10:45; subject of sermon, "Thy Kingdom Come.” Christian Endeavor at 6:30; lesson, Faithfulness. Evening worship at 7:30; subject of sermon “Tbe Hypocrite and His Reward.” All are welcome.

Our ladies’ shoes for fall have arrived and are beauties. Be fitted properly at Rowles & Par ker’ s, See the newest and latest novelties in ladies coats arriving nearly every day. Chicago Bargain Store. , All the shapes and patterns in tbe swell Kuppenheimer overcoats. Rowles & Parker. The unprecedental selling in tbe cloak department surpasses any other year. Chicago Bargain Store.

LOCAL AND PERSONAL. Brief Items of Interest to City and Country Readers. Corn, 41c; oats 30c. ySimon Leopold has started a clothing store at Wheatfield. Eggs are now worth 22 cents per dozen in tbe Rensselaer market. ” John Randle left for Mitchell, So. Dak., Tuesday on a prospecting trip. _________ pCjlncle Isaac Thompson,of Bluffton, is visiting his brother, Judge Thompson. '/Mrs. W. G. Slagle and baby, of Frankfort, were guests of Mrs. J. A. Larsh Sunday. >yMr. and Mrs. John Mecklenburg spent Sunday with their son Charles at Wolcott. Monticello is trying to land a Chicago thread factory employing a number of hands. ..i-Ike Toben, from Melvin, 111., spent the first of the week with Peter May and family. '4-Mrs, Ross Grant,of Minneapolis, Minn., is visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Alter. ''■4-Mrs. W. C. Babcock left Tuesday for an extended visit with relatives in Portland, Oregon. V Mrs. W. R. Brown and little granddaughter, Ruth McKinzie, are visiting at Tuscola, 111. L-J. M. Knapp, the liverhman, is gping about on crutches, the result of a kick from a horse. Earl Sayler and family left on Tuesday for Elbow Lake, Minn., near which place he has bought a farm. Mr. and Mrs. George Bell were called to Danville, HL, Wednesday by the death of a nephew of the latter. Miss Pearl Graf, of Des Moines, lowa, is the guest of her grandmother, Mrs. Goetz, of Newton township. New subscribers to The Democrat this week by postoffices: East Chicago, Ind., 1 ; Lake Village, Ind., 1; Monon, 1. Harry Kresler has resigned his position as railway mail clerk and purchased a half interest in Ray Wood’s barber shop.

X Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Cain have rebently moved to Lake Village, Newton county, where Mr. Cain is conducting a barber shop. ■/Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Gray, of 'Kaposha, Wis., were gueats of the former’s brother, Sylvester Gray, a few days the first of the week. ><W. J.lmes represented the Rensselaer chapter at the meeting of the grand Lodge of Royal Arch Masons at Indianapolis this week. and Mrs. John Eiglesbach to-be —the marriage will take place tomorrow —will dtcupy the D. M. Yeoman property in the east part of town. J. F. Bruner will occupy the room east of the postoffice, vacated by Ernest Frjtts, with a confectionary store, with his son Frank in charge. _ Mrs. S. M. Freelove, of Goodland, who has been visiting her daughter, Mrs. F. B. Babcock, for the past two weeks, returned home V A daughter was born Tuesday t® Mr. and Mrs. Harry Steam of Indianapolis. Mrs. Steam will be remembered as Miss Helen Tuteur, formerly of Rensselaer. Mrs. Walter Whaley, of Washington township, Newton county, was probably fatally burned Monday by her clothing catching fire from a burning trash pile. >\Mrs. A, M. Stockton and Mrs. Hehry Wood attended the district meeting of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of theM.E. Church at Valparaiso this week. Mr. James T. Gray and Miss Agnes H. Franscoviak, both of Carpenter township, Will be married next Wednesday at the Catholic church at Goodland, at 9 a. m. '<4?ave Worland and Martin Leobold, of Newton township, left Tuesday on a prospecting trip to the irrigated district of Kansas, and from there to Rocky Ford, Colo. C. J. Dean, the real estate man, accompanied them a part of the way at least.

Vol. IX. No. 29

Mrs. Jefferson Davis, widow of the noted president of the confederacy, died at her home in New York City Tuesday. Remember the great Enamel Ware Sale at the Racket Store today. Read about it in the big 2page ad in this paper. Rev. J. C. Parrett has been confined to his home the past week with malarial fever, but is reported some better at this writing. G A. Strickfaden, accompanied by Walter Porter, is reported as being in Muncie this week looking after a location for a saloon. ■ The 5-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. August Rosenbaum got kicked in the forehead yesterday afternoon and was perhaps fatally injured. The Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the M. E. Church will have a "market” the Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 24. Notice of place will be given later. Dr. Rose Remmek, optical specialist, will make her next regular visit to Clark’s jewelry store Oct. 24-27. Thorough examination of the eyes according to latest approved methods. Monticello Herald: Delphi has hadits.fun, and now it is having its headache. The Delphi Journal remarks: “It must be conceded that a street fair does not elevate the morals of a community.” Mr. Will P. Finney, son of Everett Finney of Wheatfield tp., and Miss Bessie Tabler of the same place, were united in marriage at the M. E. parsonage here last Saturday by Rev. Kindig. The case of E. W. Stahl vs. A. B. Claspel, appealed from justice court here and taken to Newton county on change of venue, is set for trial over there next Tuesday. This is the famous gasoline engine case. Dr. Smith, a Laporte physician, who came into possession of a large tract of land between Wolcott and Pleasant Ridge, is improving the land with underground drainage. John Unroe has sold him several carloads of tile to be shipped to and unloaded at Pleasant Ridge.— Wolcott Enterprise.

The Goodland Plaindealer says that Howard Burr of Jordan tp., has purchased the old Lemaster residence property in that town, across from the Lutheran church, and will move there at once, and that he will make extensive improvements to the property. >LThe freeze last week is said to have done quite a good deal of damage in this county, as well as other sections of the state. Here onions and apples were quite badly injured, in fact, all onions exposed to the weather were ruined, it is said, and apples that were still on the trees were frozen. The neighbors and friends of Charles Phegley, south of town, “surprised” him Monday afternoon by coming in without notice and reminding him that another milestone in his life journey had been reached, but they didn’t know the precise figures on the stone, and Charley was too bashful to tell them. A fine time was had. - One week has now gone by since Rensselaer became a “dry” town, and during this time not an intoxicated man has been seen on the streets, day or night, something that is very unusual. Many citizens—and they are not the radical temperance people, either —freely say that they think the people will be so much better pleased with the condition of a dry town than they were with it wet, that they will never let the saloon back again. Last Tuesday was the second anniversary of the blowing up of the Tom McCoy residence in this city, the political banker who is now serving a short sentence in the penitentiary for stealing, with bis father, a quarter of a million dollars from the poor dupes who entrusted their hard earned dollars in their “sheep-skin” bank. The house looks now as it did the next morning after the explosion, nothing having been done to tear it down or repaia it in any way. For Rent—Grocery Store building, with cellar, located opposite depot at Remington, a good stand and will be rented reasonable from Nov. 1,1906. Joseph Osborn, Remington, Ind,