Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1908 — MISERY IN THE FLOOD [ARTICLE]

MISERY IN THE FLOOD

People of a Whole Town Driven from Home and the Weather Execrable. RISE THAT SETS A NEW MARK Situation Near Hazleton and at Eaat Mount Carmel la Desperate and Population Suffering.

Hazleton, Ind., Feb. 19.—Hundred* of flood-stricken families camped on the high places In the Wabash, White and I‘atoka river bottotaas spent a day of hardship and suffering. During the day a biting wind, accompanied by hall and rain, made it impossible for them to use boats. Late in the afternoon the temperature moderated and the melting snow added to dw torrents. The rivers rose four feet, covering hundreds of acres seldom known to go under water. The whole population of East Mount Carmel was forced to leave the town. Thoroughly alarmed over the encroachment of the water the Evansville and Terre Haute railway is bending every effort to save Its roadbed. The Methodist church one mile from St Francisvllle is given up to flood sufferers. It is surrounded with water. THERE WAS A “JOKER” IN IT Whole Fire Department and Police Force Rushed Out to Rescue a “Dummy.” Elwood, Ind., Feb. 19. —The fire do partment, the entire police force, an ambulance crew and 300 citizens, who were on the way home from church were the victims mt a practical joker in West Main street. A telephone call advised the police department that there was a drowned man in the waters of Duck creek, at the West Main street bridge. The department hurried to the scene, where what appeared to be a man’s feet sticking up out of the the rushing waters. The fire department hurried to Hie scene with the hook and ladder truck, and a ladder was lowered from the bridge, down which a man scurried and tied a rope around the man's legs. Sturdy hands grasped the rope and quickly hoisted the body from the water, when it was discovered that it was only a dummy placed there by boys. The deception was so complete that when the supposed body was first discovered the coroner was telephoned for. Wants a Limited Separation. Columbus. Ind., Feb. 19.—Because he has religious scruples against divorces Andrew Ray Carmichael has filed salt in the Bartholomew circuit court against his wife, Fannie Carmichael, asking for a separation for a period of five years. Carmichael says be believes it is wrong to ask for a divorce, but he also says that he cannot live with his wife. Wanted Company and Warmth. Marion, Ind., Feb. 19.—Joseph Goins begged Judge Williams, of the city court, to give him a jail sentence so that he would have a warm place to stay and would have company, his home being cold and cheerless. Goins’ wife is in a local hospital. Goins had been arrested for being drunk. He was sent down for ten days. Triplets Late in Life. Boonville, Ind., Feb. 19. Triplets, two boys and a girl, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob W. Roth, of this city, and mother and children are getting along nicely. Mr. and Mrs Roth are forty-seven and forty-two years old, respectively. Five children have previously resulted from the union. Hanged Himself in the Barn. Fort Wayne, Ind., Feb. 19. After he had dressed to accompany his family to church Ernest Gallmeyer went to the barn, ostensibly for the horses and carriage. Not returning, his dead body was found suspended from a rafter, he having committed suicide by hanging. He was a farmer, fifty years old. v Almost an Epidemic. Kniglitstown,- Ind., Feb. 19.-—Albert L Furgason, thirty-live years old. Is dead of tuberculosis, at hia home here. A widow and two children, a son and a daughter, survive him. Fgrgason’s death is Hie sixth death in this city from tuberculosis since the first of the year. Girl Shoots Her Father. Fort Wayne, Ind., Feb. 19. Because her drunken father was choking her mother Minnie jpetcher, nineteen years old, picked up a revolver at her home and fired a bullet Into her father’s back. The wound is not serious. I Spring Birds Appearing. < Milton, Ind., Feb. 19. The early spring birds are coming to this vicinity in large numbers. Among them are the robins and socailed “sugarmaking” birds. There is also a large number of red birds to be seen. Dies of an Old Wound* Jeffersonville, Ind., Feb. 19. William H. Shaffer, sixty-seven years old. Is dead of wounds received during the battle of Chlckamauga, where he was left as dead, and was a week before getting surgical attention.