Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1910 — THE COURT HOUSE [ARTICLE]

THE COURT HOUSE

Items Picked Up About the County Capitol. Attorney Guy was over from Remington yesterday doing sorin. abstract work and looking af-ter-some-matters in commissioners’ court. Fred Longwell was up to Chicago the first of the week gathering evidence in one of the numerous graft prosecutions he has now under way in this and Jasper county. —Brook Reporter. —o New suits filed: No. 7612. Petition of John I. Kinzie of Hebron for the adoption of Samuel C. H s oshaw of Rensselaer, who will be six yeairs old Sept. 9, 1910, and whose mother is dead. Wilbur A. Hoshaw father of above named Samuel C. Hoshaw, consents to the adoption. J. H. O’Neall of Indianapolis, spent a part of last week with his wife Mrs. Bertha Parcels O’Neall, and daughter here a few days last week. Mr. O’neall is ah expert accountant, and for several years has been engaged in this work. He now holds a position under the state accounting board.

Squire Spriggs was in from Walker tp., Monday with Trustee Karch, and filed a strong petition with the commissioners asking that the voting place of Walker be changed from Kniman to Walker Center school house. As it is the voters from the east side have to travel clear over to the west side of the township to cast their ballots, and numerous efforts have been made to better this condition, but all have heretofore failed. John O’Connor worked on thu proposition several times, his idea being that if the voters all turned out at one election enough votes would be cast to entitle the township to another precinct, snd one could then be located over on the east side. This failed, however, and now the proposition is to move the one precinct over east to nearer the center of the townsip.

According to the Hammond Times Henry P. Sartorious and Miss Hazel E. Webb, a Hammond couple who were granted a marriage license here last Tuesday and were married by Squire Irwin in the Clerk’s office vigorously denounced the published announcement of the granting*of the license and marriage by the Rensselaer papers as a blank lie, and said if “Judge” Irwin .had said he married them he stated an untruth. The irate “Miss Webb” even stated to the Times reporter that she was coming down to Rensselaer Saturday to run the “lie” down, but she did not come, so far as learned. What reasons they had for wishing to keep the marriage secret is unknown, but unless someone swore falsely in giving their naiyies to the cl’erk and signing up the applications for license, two parties by this name with parents of the same name as those given by the Times, wete actually married in Rensselaer last Tuesday, and there -is t no excuse for them to denounce everyone as liars who so states. The county commissioners met in regular session Monday, but the day was taken up for the most part with the allowance of claims. Following is a report of all else of record for that day, and a complete report of the proceedings will be given in Saturday’s Democrat:

The various county epositories reported interest on county funds for the month of May, and tne Bank of Wheatfield also for April, its report for that month not getting in time for action last month, as follows: Bank of Wheatfield. . .$20.56 Same, April . .... 11.24 State Sank, Trust & Savings 8ank...... 67.67 First Nat. Bank;.*.... 137.67 The proceedings in the Lewis Dunker, et ai. ditch in Gillam tp., were dismissed, owing to an error of the drainage commissioners m computing, the number of cubic

yards to be excavated, the report showing but 4,083 yards, when in reality there is 11,000 yards, and the estimated costs at SBO2 when it will cost $1,500 or more. The petition to dismiss was filed by W. P. Osborne, supt. of construction, the petitioners joining in the petition. A new petition was filed at once for the proposed ditch, The graft in working out railroad taxes in this section of the state, which has been revealed by the probing of Prosecutor Longwell in Newton county, resulting in grand jury indictments there, calls to mind the fact that Marion township, Jasper county, had a little experience along this line a few years ago, but through the stand taken by Trustee Stackhouse the township got all that was coming to it in that instance at least. The stoi., told us is as follows: The railroad tax in a certain road district here was $l2B, and a fainter of that vicinity had $55 of private tax to work out. The work was done in gravel hauling, and when the farmer saw that the township got no more for the $l2B than he was putting on for $55, he made a kick to the trustee, who found that the supervisor had issued a receipt for the railroad tax to the contractor. Mr. Stackhouse acted promptly. The gravel that each had hauled was measured and it was found that for the $l2B two more loads of gravel had been hauled than for the $55, The trustee telegraphed at his own expense to the railroad officials at Chicago and got the superintendent of the Monon down here and put the facts before him, and told him that the work would not be accepted. The superintendent informed the trustee that it had not yet paid the contractor and would not do so until he did the required amount of work, which was later done and the matter dropped without any publicity of the courts. Albert Bonk another democratic trustee, of Walkc. tp~ also had a little experience in this line, and he, too, made the contractor or supervisor come to time, by bringing suit in the circuit court of Jasper county.