Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1908 — SHREWD SCOUNDREL [ARTICLE]

SHREWD SCOUNDREL

Plan He Fixed Up to Rob an Express Company of SIO,OOO Damages. BEATEN BY AN HOUR’S DELAY •t'' _ - • Climax ot the Deviltry Came Too Soon and Its Author la in Durance Vile.

Indianapolis, July 14. Originality marked the efforts of Eugene F. McDonald, a young man from Louisville. Ky., to defraud the Adams Express company out of SIO,OOO at the Indianapolis office of the company. He waived examination In the police court McDonald is charged with registering at the office a package containing phophorua w hich, when coming In contact with a dry substance, ignites. The police say they have a complete chain of indisputable evidence against McDonald and that they will send him to the penitentiary. •aid Package Was Worth SIO,OOO. McDonald was arrested In Louisville at the instigation of the Indianapolis police, and he was brought to Indianapolis. A week ago McDonald deposited. a package whieb he said was worth SIO,OOO at the Indianapolis office. The clerk in charge would not accept the package unless it was wrapped differently, and McDonald left with it to comply with the clerk's suggestions. He returned an hour later and gave the package to the clerk. f~ That Much Saved by Delay. The hour’s delay probably saved the company SIO,OOO If not a large amount of property endangered by fire. The package was receipted for, and with other valuable packages, many of them containing money, was set aside to be transferred to a train. An hour later and before the package that McDonald left began to smoke and finally burst into a flame. The employes of the office threw water on It, and soon had the fire out H. C. Rogers, the manager of the Indianapolis office, Mused the package to be unwrapped, and he could discover nothing but an old sponge and excelsior.

Working of the Scheme. An examination by a chemist showed that the phosphorus had been placed in n wet sponge. Phosphorus is very active chemically and must be preserved In water. As long as the sponge McDonald used was wet the phosphorus remained inactive. But when the water evaporated and the sponge became dry the phosphorus Ignited. It was the delay that saved the company 210,000.

MRS. KERN IS ENCOURAGED Because Men are Different from Women tn the Matter of Sincerity. Indianapolis, Ind., July 14.—Mrs. John W. Kern, wife of the vice presidential candidate of the Democratic party, is nearly convinced that her husband Is going to be elected. “You would be surprised,” said she “at the /people that have pledged us their support. Then I think men are more sincere than women and I count on what they tell me. “As I have found it, you can most generally depend on the word of a man, but as for a woman—well, I can’t say. I think it Is part of their social training to be a little insincere every now and then. Men generally mean what they say and consequently I feel much encouraged over the good news I have received.”

Lightning the Death of g^Karmer. Richmond. Ind, July Seeking refuge from a thunderstorm, John Mansfield, 3 farmer living northeast Of Richmond, ran into his barn. A moment after be had entered, the barn was struck by lightning and almost iustaniy was a mass of flames making it absolutely impossible for his wife, children, or neighbors to attempt his rescue. Tl»c lightning stroke may have instantly killed hiin and may have only rendered him unconscious, tout it was all one to him as the flames guarded the lightning’s work.

Some One Trying to Kill Him. Shoals. Ind., July 14. Delbert Evans, poisoned by some person placing stryebnlne in his water jug, is slowly convalescing. He was plowing eorn at the time tbe poison was Introduced into bis drinking water. He is a young man, unmarried and of good character. Recently he has been shot at twice. A mule with which he was working, belonging to another man, was poisoned. Canvasser Beats a 'Woman. Lafayette. Ind., July 14. Joseph Deutsch, of Indianapolis, a canvasser for a portrait enlargingcompany of that city, was arrested here on the complaint of a widow, Mrs. Emma Johnson. Deutsch called at her home and on learning that her husband was dead ‘“ ckM “* " om “