Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1910 — Page 1

Jasper County Democrat.

WJSO Per Year.

INVESTIGATION SHOULDN’T STOP

In the Bridge Bratt Matter In Jasper County, SO SAY MANY TAXPAYERS. Competent Engineer Should Be Efhployed to Measure Other Bridges and a Grand Jury Called to Inquire Into Their Findings.—Money to Pay Expenses of Further Investigation Is Assured.

A great many prominent taxpayers of Jasper county have in the past few weeks urged The Democrat to use its influence in creating a sentiment in the county that will demand a further investigation of the bridge graft conditions here which were developed to some exttnt in the recent prosecution and conviction of C. L. Bader, superintendent and general manager of the Winamac Bridge-Co., and these people who have urged this have not been all democrats by any means. On the contrary, many of them were republicans who came to The Democrat because they had no place else to go— The Democrat was the only paper demanding that the matter be further looked into. The April term of court will convene one week from Monday, and we believe that..we but voice the sentiment of nine-tenths of the taxpayers of the county in saying that the court or prosecutor ■ —which ever is the proper source —should employ competent engineers of known integrity to investigate and measure up and compare other bridges in the county with the specifications for same and have them report their findings to a grand jury called for the purpose of sifting this bridge graft business to the very bottom. The expense of making such investigation should not be very large, and the county council could be called to appropriate the necessary funds or, if it could be done for SIOO, the court does not care to call the council in special session at this time, The Democrat will undertake to guarantee to raise this amount by popular subscription in a week’s time and»turn it over to the court or prosecutor to pay for the work of the engineers. More thjm a score of our citizens have already told The Democrat that they would give $5 each to such a fund, and we have confidence that the court or prosecutor would see to it that an honest and unbiased investigation would be made under these conditions.. No man tvhose skirts are clean has anything to fear from a thorough sifting of this matter, but none of the guilty ones should be allowed to escape, no matter who they are *or where they hail from. Jhe offer of The Democrat to raise this money and turn it over to Judge Hanley or Prosecutor Longwell is made in good faith and with the intention only of bringing the guilty to justice and informing the taxpayers of the extent of the swindle, and we stand ready to make the offer good in every way. K .

HAD A FINE SALE. Harvey Davisson’s Sale Tuesday Totaled $5,400. While/ rather late for public sales, that of Harvey Davisson’s of Unijjn tp., Tuesday was the best held in Jasper county xthis year, and the crowd was perhaps the largest ever at a sale in this vicinity. Everything sold well, .and the sale totaled $5,400. This included Mr. Davisson’s old Buick auto, which was run upto $390 and bid in, he wanting $425 for it. Harvey drove the machine to town next day, however, and traded it to C. S. Chamberlain for a fine new 20-horse 1910 model Buick, with top and all up-to-date equipment, which he loaded into his car and ships to

his new home at Hamilton, No. Dak., this week. He expects to dabble a little in real estate out there as well as farm, and when any of his Jasper county friends come out to See what sort of a country he is in he will “show” them in fine style. Mr. Davisson was well pleased with the success of his sale, as well he might be, for everything sold at good figures.

OXFORD TRIBUNE SOLD.

The Oxford Tribute, the oldest paper in Benton county, has been obsorbed by the Oxford Gazette, a paper started there by Craw & Craw a year ago. Jesse Birch, who has conducted the Tribune for the last twenty years, has been in poor health of late, and will retire from the newspaper business.

FIRE AT GOODLAND.

Fowler Leader: The magnificent home of Charles Perkins was burned at Goodland Sunday afternoon about 3 :30 o’clock. Mr. Perkins lives at Mishawaka, Ind., and the property was occupied by Robert Boyles. Most of the furniture was saved, but the house was almost entirely destroyed. It was valued at about $3,500. \

IN AND OUT LIKE A LAMB.

to tradition, March ®me in and went out /‘like a lamb.” Old residents say they never remember so beautiful a March .- Not a real bad day during the entire month, and practically all the oats sown and much ground plowed for corn before April 1. Plum and pear trees are in bloom and grass in pastures almost big enough to turn the cattle out.

ROSS DEAN RE-ENTERS INDIANA UNIVERSITY.

Ross Dean, teacher of history in the city schools, has procured a substitute for the remaining two months of the term in the person of Miss Edith Leonard of Brighton, 111., and will re-en-ter Indiana University at Bloomington Monday to complete his course there. He will graduate from that institution this spring, but will teach here again in the city schools the coming school year.

NOT A BUCKETSHOP.

In last week’s issue of the Democrat this paper stated that Mr. Hayes, of Goodland, was “now in charge of the local bucketshop owned by Schwabacher & Co.” Monday Mr. Schwabacher telephoned this office protesting against the appellation and stating that they were not a “butketshop” but regular members of the Chicago Board of Trade. The Democrat confesses that it does not know the full definition of the term “bucketshop,” and probably not one person in every five hundred of its readers knows what a bucketshop is; so if that is an improper term to apply to Mr. Schwabacher & Co.’s local office, we take it all back.— White County Democrat.

“TONY, THE CONVICT”

Will Be Presented by St. Augustine’s Literary Society. St. Augustine’s Literary Society will present “Tony, the Convict” at the Parochial School Hall next Monday night, the'proceeds to go to the new home fund of the church. -This is a strong play and eleven characters appear in its production. The actors have been practicing for some time and will give an entertainment that will repay you for attending. The general admission will be 25 cents, and, as before stated, the proceeds will go to the new priest’s home, ground for which has already be£n broken on the St. Augustine’s block on which their church and school is located.

Many special sacrifice bargains at the Cash Store this week. Bring in your eggs.— G. B. Porter. We want you to see our new spriijg line of Rugs and Lace Curtains, they are the finest and best assortment ever shown in this city.— Rowles & Parker.

THE TWICE-A-WEEK

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1010.

THE COURT HOUSE

Items Picked Up About the County Capitol. Commissioners’ court convenes in regular session Monday. Sheriff L. P. Shirer was in Fair Oaks on business Wednesday. There were eight marriage licenses issued last month, against 15 for the month previous and 7 for the month of March, 1909. New suit filed: No. 7594. Charles W. Reed vs. Elizabeth Michael; petition to have guardian appointed for defendant, who is alleged to be in poor health and incapable of conducting the ordinary business affairs of life with reasonable prudence. Defendant is alleged to be 82 years of age. —o — The bridge graft matter continues to be a live wire in Jasper county, notwithstanding the efforts in certain quarters to have it die out, and it is altogether probable that more will be heard of the matter again when the April term of court convenes. The great majority of the people of the county think it should not be dropped at this stage, but that the court or prosecutor should have the matter thoroughly sifted to. the bottom. That there are many other bridges in the county on which the taxpayers have been swindled is now a well known fact, and every person in any way criminally connected with this systematic swindle should be brought to justice, regardless of who is hit.

STEUBEN REMAINS “DRY.”

“Wets” Carry Only One Township In Tuesday’s Election. By a majority of 889 Steuben county voted “dry” in the county option election held there Tuesday. The vote was light and little interest was shown by the wets. Every township in the county returned a /dry” majority, with the exception of Pleasant, in which the city of Angola is located, that township going wet by a majority of 54. The county was already dry by remonstrance Steuben is the sixty-eighth of Indiana’s ninety-two counties to vote dry under the county option law.

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY.

Mr. and* Mrs. James Wisertian, Jr., celebrated their twenty-fifth weeding anniversary Sunday, March 27, at their farm near Virgie. Thirty relatives and friends helped them to enjoy the day and to partake of the bountiful dinner served at the n'bon hour. The table was nicely decorated with plates of colored eggs and a bouquet of roses and carnations. Mr. and Mrs. Wiseman were presented with several nice pieces of silver and chinaware. A beautiful chest of silverware was given by their children. All left in the evening wishing them many more anniversaries. xx

CITY IS WELL PREPARED

For a Strike In the Soft Coal Districts—Over 400. Tons On Hand. The city water and light plant is pretty well prepared for a strike in the coal mining districts. which now seems nent, having upwards of 400 tons of coal on hand, which will last three months or more should the supply be shut off by strike or other causes. The having of so large an amount on hand at this time is more due. to accident than anything else. The mines with which the city has a contract were not shipping any for several weeks, by reason of a temporary shut-down for some cause, and Supt. Chamberlain bought a number of carloads from other operators. Then the contract coal begun to come in, and as a result we have an extra amount on hand and can rest easy for several months to come. Seventy-five thousand miners in the Illinois coal fields went

on strike Thursday night for an indefinite periojl, and Chicago has but a few weeks supply of fuel on hand. Her manufacturers are worrying about where the fuel supply is to come from if the strike continues for any length of time. The strike will probably effect the coal fields in other states also.

REV. MILLER TO REMAIN.

The people of Rensselaer generally will be glad to learn that Rev. O. E. Miller, pastor of the First Baptist church, has been induced by 'his congregation to forego leaving here and going to Windfall, where he had a call to x come. At a meeting held by the officials of his church here Wednesday evening the appeal for him to remain was unanimous, and Rev. Miller accordingly withdrew his resignation and will continue with us, we are glad to state.

JUDGMENT FOR $978

Secured by D. H. Yeoman Against N. I. Land Company. In the suit of D. H. Yeoman of Rensselaer, on the injunction bond of the Northern Indiana Land Co., for damages for delay in getting his pay for cleaning the Hodge ditch in the north part of the county some two years ago, tried in the Newton Circuit Court Wednesday, a judgment for $978 was secured against defendants. The money to pay the contractors for this work was held up in the county treasurer’s hands for a long time on injunction brought by the land company, who own the old Nelson Morris holdings in northern Jasper, they alleging that the ditch had not been properly cleaned. In the trial of the case the contractors won out, and they then begun suit on the injunction bond for interest on the money withheld from them, for attorney fees which they had been compelled to pay in trying the injunction case, etc., with the above result of a judgment for $978 in their favor.

RINGLINGS AT CHICAGO.

_ These are busy days at the Chicago Coliseum. Ringling Brothers’ Circus, which opens its annual season there on Thursday night, April 7, has moved in from the Baraboo winter quarters and rehearsels have begun. The big circus now has 1,280 employes, 650 horses, forty elephants and 375 performers. In the menagerie are over 1,000 animals. A number of novel and sensational acts have been imported from Europe and when the doors of the big building are thrown open to the public many surprises will be sprung. Already out-of-town are writing in for seats while those who live in the city are beseiging the box office. It promises to be the biggest engagement the Ringlings have ever held in Chicago. It took five long trains to bring the circus to the city. There were eighty-five double length cars filling more than a mile of side track. It has been two years since the Ringlings last exhibited in Chicago.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

The subject *of the morning hour will be “The Law of the Harvest.” In the evening the pastor will use the stereopticon to illustrate the fifth sermon in the series on the life of Christ. Everyone welcome to these services.

The Democrat for horse bills. A Flyer for This Week Only: Our fanciest large evaporated Califfornia Muir Peaches, 4 lbs. for 25c Our fancy evaporated Apricots a lb 10c California Muir Peaches. 4 tbs. Fancy 3 Crown Muscatel Raisins or Fancy Seedlees Sultana Raisins, per pound 5c Ask your grocer to duplicate these prices, and if he will not let us fill your order.—John Eger. Have you seen those Disk Trucks at Maines & Hamilton’s.

GANDERBONES FORECAST

FOR APRIL.

I dreamt that I dwelt in overalls, With Nature all around me; And the smiling countryside in thralls Of deep affection bound me. I loved to milk and do the choree Around that simple dwelling, And I didn’t give a whoop outdoors How groceries were selling. I dreamt that I dwelt in overalls With hired men to serve me. And something when misfortune falls To happily preserve me. I heard the lowing of the kine As deep-toned as an organ, And the thrill of ownership was mine, The same as Mr. Morgan. I dreamt that I dwelt in overalls, As all the railroads want me; And the city and its gloomy walls Were nevermore to haunt me. I lived on something more than crusts, With nothing much to fret me, And I hopped around and dared the ' trusts To come out there and get me.

April was anciently the second month, and it was entirely satisfactory in that position until the founding of Rome. This occurred upon April 21, and the Romans found it necessary to keep the day with one of their patriotic parades. After they had lost most of their toes- and stopped the parade four or five times while everybody went in and got warm, they yielded second place on the calendar to February, and shoved April along to balmier weather.' The name is from the Latin Aprilis, or the opener, who was the Roman god of poker. This was a great pastime with Romans, and it so deeply impressed itself upon the national life that Aprilis became in time a sort of all around corkscrew for opening Spring or whatever else pertained to the Roman experience. It was a form of humor among the Roman wits to say that Aprilis had opened Spring and bet a robiln or something similarly characteristic, and the weather bureau of that time wholly- confined its conjectures to what Aprilis probably held or would draw, which made this branch of the Government a great favorite with the people, instead of something that everybody damns, as it is with us. The gentle rain will green the lawn, and seed the Congressman sent on to prove his usefulness to men will hazard the insurgent hen. The breath of summertime will blow, the sap and poetry will flow, and the farmer will deny his dog to feed that s3o* hog. The playful colt will plroutee And turn the double summerset. The festive calf will buck and snort And tip up where his hair is short. The farmer will get in his corn, The meadowlark will wake the morn, And Pinchot will display the welt He got to Papa Roosevelt. For All-Fool’s Day you may rejoice to learn that you will have your choice. The first, the sixth and twenty-onct have all been beautifully dunced; but of the three it may be said the first is virtually dead, whereas the sixth is something new. It is the day that Peary drew himself erect and said, to-wit: “This is the pole, and lam it.” And likewise on the twenty-first another great explorer burst upon that quiet Arctic nook and cried, “Eureka, tally Cook!” Just help yourself to either date you care to keep and celebrate. It matters not which one is set, since nothing has been settled yet. The first of April Teddy lands Upon the dock at Naples, Wfth lion blood upon hie hands, And aklne and other staples. He’ll then proceed by easy trips To lecture toward New York, And add to Europe’s scholarships

Vol. xn. No. 101.

The study of the stork.

Upon the night of April 8, or some not very distant date, we shall at last with naked eye see Halley’s comet in the sky. It will appear to be a stick of living fire and twice as thick as that which Roosevelt was wont to carry when he made his haunt around the capitol. Its head will seize upon the people who have not been giving us our due. Our Uncle John will push his plan To elevate his fellow man, And as the comet closes in, He’ll grow impatient to begin. Our Uncle Andy will recall That he has not begun at all To give, and Uncle Pierp himself Will scatter hie abundant pelf. The Rockefeller fund to date Is all there is to demonstrate The comet’s usefulness, but wait Until the money syndicate Looks up and sees that awful sign Upon the sky. They’ll get in line To square themselves. The trusts will all Go forward to repent, and bawl And howl around upon their shins, Imploring pardon for their sins.

And then the census man will come arqund the house and haw and hum. He’ll lead at this and lead at that, and ask the birthplace of the cat, He’ll fiddle here and potter there, and take a sample of your hair. He’ll measure you between the eyes, and figure and philosophize. Ha’ll make the acid test for wealth, and ask of everybody’s health. He’ll ?ount the children, and the goats, and ask how much you have in oats. He’ll kick his shins against his calves, and add and multiply his halves. He’ll show his star and stick around, and finlly declare his ground and ask the womenfolk their age, and exit bleeding from the stage. Some fifteen million, it is said, will go to see how many head there are of us, or black or white, or whether we can read or write, and what the plus of women is that no one yet is calling his, and other unimportant facts concerning our domestic acts, when most of us, to all intents, would rather have the 15 cents it costs us per, and do not care how many of us have red hair, or who can read and who can write, so’long as simply throwing light upon the matter doesn’t make the bachelor spruce up and take the pining spinster to his heart, or teach unlettered folk the art of writing, or as far as we, at least, are competent to see, improve our happiness a bit, but Congress wills, and so be it. April will chiefly consist of Taft weather, with occasional showers. The moon will be in apogee on the 24th, which will be the last day the hog will jump over it. Mr. Cannon will be the storm center. And then the month of May will come, Of all >the» months the worst, And forty kinds of bugs will fight To see who saw us first.

Rice’s celebrated new Garden Seeds, regular 5c packages, 2 fr sc.—John Eger. Lace Curtains in all nets and patterns and all grades going at a sacrifice this week, at the Cash Store.—G. B. Porter. We have decided to buy your eggs and pay the highest market price, cash or trade, at the closing out of the Chicago Bargain Store.—B. Forsythe. Everybody in Rensselaer and Jasper county should see the line of Oxfords at The G. E. Murray Don’t pay $1.75 for flour, hut come to Rensselaer and get the best flour made for $1.50 a sack. Guaranteed equal to any flour made or money refunded.—John Eger. See the new ladies’ tailor-made suits, jackets, shirt waists, rugs, lace curtains, Oxford ties, wash dress goods, underwear, etc. Phone 36. Closing out sale of the Chicago Bargain Store. NOTICE. A meeting will be held at 10 a. m., Sunday, at Roselawn school house, with a view of reorganizing the Sunday School. Come out and help and tell your friends. xx