Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1910 — WHAT’S BECOME OF PORTELLE [ARTICLE]

WHAT’S BECOME OF PORTELLE

And His Electric Railroad That Was To Be? 600 D WEATHER T 8 BEGIN WORK And We're All Anxious to See the Dirt Begin to Fly—Has “Gene” Given Us the Marble Heart In This Proposition, Or What Is the Troable? Matters have been very quiet of late regarding the plans of the Northwestern Indiana Traction Co., Eugene president, which was so anxipus several months ago to give Rensselaer and numerous other ttfivns in this locality an railway to Chicago. After the subsidy election failed in White county the “engineering crew” were pulled off and went down about Crawfordsville to see what could be done in that locality, it was reported, but not a shoveful of earth has been thrown up in this locality, actually or figuratively, so far as we have been able to learn, since. It was said, the reader will recall, that the contract to build the road had been let to the LaSalle Construction C 0.,” of Chicago, and only the arrival of suitable weather was waited to begin actual operations. The LaSalle Construction Co., has no financial rating, in so far as we have investigated, and it is rumored that Mr. Purtelle is the “company.” We are informed that the Purtelle “board of trade” here has recently changed hands also, and, as no more noise is being made from that quarter like a choochoo, we greatly fear that our dreams—not The Democrat’s, however, as this paper never took any stock in the proposition—of scooting through the country on a Northwestern Indiana Traction Co., car have gone glimmering.