Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1910 — Page 1

Jasper County Democrat.

•USO Per Tear.

MRS. D. H. YEOMAN DEAD

Mrs. David H. Yeoman, who has been in failing health tor several months and for the past few days in a critical condition, died at 1 p. m., yesterday. Funeral arrangements had not been made at the time of going to press, a .' ■

UNCLE JAMES LEWIS DEAD

Uncle James Lewis, an old and respected citizen of Barkley tp., a brother of County Assessor J. Q, Lewis, died at 3:30 o’clock Sunday afternoon at his home in Barkley and the funeral, conducted by Rev. J. L. Brady, was held yesterday from the residence at 10 a, m., and burial made in the Smith cemetery. He had been in poor health for seveial months. Ilis age was about 75 years. ■

SWORDS AND PISTOLS FOR TWO.

A Rensselaer young lady is currently reported to have hidden a young man’s dancing pumps Friday evening to prevent his taking another girl to the dance. He raised particular Hades about it and went to her home where a regular fist fight is reported to have ensued during which the girl was knocked down two or three times. As, the matter has not yet been aired in “police court" —and perhaps will not be—we refrain mentioning any names, but the young man is one of Rensselaer’s star football players and the young lady is stenographer for a well known local firm.

LOSSES CONTROL.

Bicycle Rider Plunges From Incline and Spectators arc Injured. Delphi, Ind., September 30. — Juanetta, a bicycle rider who is performing at the merchant’s carnival in this city, narrowly escaped death while doing her act Thursday evening. Owing to delay in starting and the intense cold, combined with the fact that being reared in this community, many of her friends were in the audience, she became nervous, erred in guiding her bicycle and both wheel and rider plunged from the incline into the crowd, smashing electric light bulbs and knocking down many spectators. The rider was unhurt. One girl, Marie Knefle, age fourteen, was seriuosly injured, Juanetta’s real name is Maud Isley. Her home is at Colburn, a village west of here.

MRS. J. C. PORTER DIES.

After Months of Suffering Death Comes As a Blessed Relief. Mrs. Carrie Porter, widow of the late J. C. Porter, died at her home on the corner of Cullen and Susan streets at 7:15 Friday evening after long months of suffering, aged 49 years, 8 months and 16 days. The funeral was held Sunday at 2 p. m.’ from the Presbyterian church, conducted by Rev. J. C.° Parrett, and a large number of sorrowing friends followed the remians to their last resting place in Weston cemetery, where the grave was litterly hidden by the latge number of floral offerings. ; She leaves three brothers ard one sister, James F. Irwin of Rensselaer, Robert F., of Remington, John A., of Brook and Mrs. Man- J. Watts of Broad Ripple, Ind. She resided near Remington for several years and later taught in the public schools of Jasper county, including Rensselaer,. She was married to J. C. Porter in June, 1891, but no children were born to them. Mr. Porter died suddenly from heart disease April 19 last, and Mrs, Porter, who was apparently recovering from an operation of a few months before, was much depressed by his death. and seemingly from that time cared little how soon her time came to join him. She had been confined to her bed a greater part of the time since her husband’s death, and the end has been expected at almost any hour for several weeks. Mrs. Porter was highly respected, was popular in church and lodge circles, and a host of friends grieve over her taking away. \ , WW-A - ,

PURTELLE WANTS SUBSIDY VOTED

• _ _• • * In Marion Tp., and Oensselaer for His Traction Line. SAYS HE WILL PUT UP BOND Guaranteeing the Expense of the Election and Also That He Will Begin Work Here iWthin 30 Days If the Election Carries.—Petition Filed Monday Asking for the Election.

Eugene Purtelle, former proprietor of the Rensselaer, et al. string of "board of trade” shops, now chief promotor of the Indiana Northwestern Traction Co., was' in Rensselaer Friday and paid The Democrat a call. He asserts that his company is goiig right ahead in grading and constructing bridges for its lines and that the right-of-way has all been secured between Dyer and Chicago Heights with the exception, of about 1-4 mile, and all between Hammond and Lowell. He says the contract for construction of the road has been let. and the line will take in Dyer. St. John, Crown Point and Cedar Lake. He also says that he has expended of his own personal means SIOO,OOO in carrying the matter along to its present stage.

He wants a subsidy voted in Rensselaer and 'Marion tp., of IJ4 per cent, and said that he would put up. a SIO,OOO indemnity bond, guaranteeing to pay the expense of- the election if the same should fail to carry and that his company would- begin the work of grading here within 30 days. Asked how much work they would do he replied that he didn't know; that it depended on the weather and other circuni - stances, and left the impression that a single shoveful of earth moved would comply with the agreement.

He received some encouragement here and as a result a petition for an election, containing 39 names was filed with the commissioners Monday praying so» such election, but no action was taken on the same in time for us to report in this issue. The election will likely be called, however. '

The Democrat’s position on subsidies is well known, and if we are to have another election / to vote aid for this road we suggest that Mr. Purtelle be made to pay all the expense of holding same, no matter whether the proposition carries or not. The road would probably be of considerable benefit to Rensselaer. especially that part connecting us with Remington. As it is to parallel the Monon north we can see but little benefit to be derived from that part of the proposed road, as we now have excellent service on the Monon.

WIFE MURDERER BIDDLE

Once Lived At Or Near Remington and Was Prosecuted Here for Desertion. Monday’s papers contained a dispatch from Brookville, Ind., telling of the murder of Mrs. Charles Biddle at the home of her uncle. Louis Koehler, of Peppertown, six miles from Brookville. at 4 a. m., Sunday, by blowing her head off With a shotgun and then setting fire to her body after pouring coal oil over htr. Biddle then fled to Metamora where he forced a barber to rise and shave off his mustache and beard. He then made his escape, to Indianapolis, but was captured at Brookston Monday afternoon. • ? Biddle was once a resident of or near Remington, we understand. At the Bebruary 1908, term of court here he was arrested at Lefayette. where he has relatives, by Deputy Sheriff Joe O’Connor on complaint of his wife at that time, Edith Biddle, charged with wife desertion. Lafayette attorneys came up here and com prom sed the matter

THE TWfCE-A-WEEK

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY. INDIANA. \VEI>\KSI>AY, OCTOBER 5, 1»10.

and the criminal action was dismissed and a civil action begun, in whch a judgment for S3OO was rendered, the money to be paid into court and disbursed by the clerk, SSO cash and $lO per month, to the wife. The money was paid and Clerk Warner sent the woman the last $lO payment only a short time ago. She got a divorce after the trouble here and is married again. Biddle had also married again at Lafayette, it seems, his wife being formerly Annie Weidman of Connorsville. She had also been married before. She left him two weeks ago and went to the home of his bachelor uncle. Biddle came to Koehler’s home at 9 o'clock Saturday night and demanded to see his wife. Their meeting. Koehler says, apparently was friendly. Biddle pleaded dramatically with his wife to return to him, promising that he would treat her properly, but she hesitated. What further conversation took place between Biddle and his wife is not known to Koehler, as he left the couple alone, hoping that they would become reconciled.

In the early morning Koehler, who was asleep in a building adjoining the house, was awakened by the. shot and rushed to a doorway, but was met by Biddle, who declared that he would kil 1 him if lie interfered. Biddle carried a shotgun. When Biddle escaped, following the murder, Koehler ran to the home of a neighbor. William Alley, a schoolteacher, and together broke in a door of the Koehler home. They found the body of Mrs. Biddle in flames. It was on the floor. The head halt been shattered. It was with great difficulty that they saved the house from destruction.

• Yesterday’s papers, in a dispatch from Lafayette, stated that Biddle was arrested at Brookston, where and at Chalmers, he was also well-known, 3 Monday afternoon and is now in jail at Lafayette. The dispatch says that he denies that he is guilt}' of the murder, saying that he was awakened in the night by two shots fired into the room in which he and his wife were sleeping, and that, in terror, he ran from the house. He caught a train and arrived in Indianapolis at 10:30 o’clock Monday morning. He says that he did not know his wife had been killed until he read of her murder in an Indianapolis paper. His father and mother reside at Brookston. .

He came from Indianapolis to to Lafayette and from there went to Brookston. On the train Biddle was recognized by twe men. who got off with him at P.rookston, and one shadowed him while the other telephoned to the police at Lafayette. Marshal William C. Holcraft and his deputy. Frank Ellis, both of Brookston. arrested Biddle after a chase and held him until officers from Lafayette arrived in an automobile and brought him to this city, where he is being held for the authorities\ of Franklin county. ' 4 l %

JUST LISTEN TO THIS.

Winamac Paper Publishes a False and Garbled Account of Bader Trial. Winamac and Pulaski county people wjll be gratified to learn that our fellow-citizen and bridge manufacturer, Clinton L. Bader, was found not guilty, and was completely exhonorated from all wrong-do-ing and intention to defraud in building bridges in Jasper county, in a trial held at Rensselaer Monday and Tuesday of this week.

It will be remembered that charges were filed in court against Mr. Bader by a member of a rival bridge concern, which was gradually losing much of its business to the Winamac company. Unfortunately the affair became complicated with local political differences in our neighbor county, and between the charges and counter-charges, our fellowtownsman found himself a defendant against all kinds of accusations, some of which appeared very ugly upon the surface, and derogatory reports were circulated all over the 1 state. The Republican has at every stage of the proceedings, firmly believed in Mr. Bader’s integrity, and it- is frith no little; gratification that we now learn that in the strongest case that could be made against him.

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THE COURT HOUSE

Items Picked Up About the County Capitol. • >nly four marriage licenses were issued last month against six for the month previous, and six for September 1909. Janies F. Irwin has been appointed administrator of the estate of the late Carrie I. Porter of Rensselaer, and, Judson L. Adams has been appointed administrator of the estate of the late George G. Thompson of Remington. Marriage licenses issued: Oct 1. Rov Man ford Beaver of Jordan tp., son of \Ym. If. Beaver, deceased, aged 21, occupation farmer, to Stella Josephine Marion, daughter of Frances E. Marion, of Barkley tp., aged 20, occupation housekeeper. First marriage for each. Township chairmen should call township conventions for the nomination of township advisory boards and such other offices—justices of the peace and constables—at once, that the certificate of their nomination may be filed with the county clerk not later than 15 days before the election. "Billy" Lyons of Remington who has been ditching about Rensselaer, was given another “one dollar and,” 55.80 in all by Squire Irwin Saturday for being “drunk and dressed up.” In default of payment he was sent to jail, but was allowed to be taken out Monday in charge of the marshal to help, clean up the streets and was put back !n jail Monday night. g , x Notes from the circuit court abeket: W. H. Berry ditch; assessments confirmed as corrected, allowances as per entry. W. V. Porter appointed construction commissioner. Charles Hill vs. John A. Williams; case dismissed, cause compromised. Orrin Elijah vs. Chicago, Indiana & Southern R. R. Co.; continued for term by agreement. ? Jean Edna Crowell vs, Richard Crowell; decree of divorce granted plaintiff and custody of minor child. At the meeting of the Board of Education Monday an order was. made that any children of the county in the sth, 6th, 7th and Bth grades might be excused from school to attend the County Sunday School Association, to be held at Rensselaer Oct. 12 and 13. Provision was also made that before the teacher would excuse such absence she must have written statement from parent that child was present at the Association on the day or days on which child was absent from school. This seemed a wise move as there will be several talks by men of national reputation at the Association; and it will be quite a privilege for the children to be present.

EXHIBITING BAD TASTE

For the Republican Organ in this ' County to Kick on State Accounting law. The Rensselaer Republican has been very bitter in its opposition to the state accounting law, a non-partisan measure passed by the last legislature, and has resorted to much falsehood in misrepresenting the action of the law thus far. The Democrat has exposed some of its erroneous statements heretofore, and while this paper has not as yet said very much in indorsing the measure—preferring to wait until the law had been in operation for a longer time—we have felt that it would prove popular when fully understood. While the expense of first examinations are necessarily more than the future examination of the books of public officials will be. because of the fact that heretofore books have been kept in fiiost any old way. the officials are now started out on a uniform system of bookkeeping and with all books kejSt in the same form the future examinations will be a matter of but very brief moment.

Besides, many of the little things, public money paid out for this and that without any \ arrant of law or justice for it, which have been passed over without public comment by the examiners, where no evident intent of wrong-doing was evident. and the officer’s attention called to such illegal and uncalled for expenditures, aggregating thousands of dollars the state over, will hereafter be cut off entirely. < * . But, so far as Jasper county is concerned, the people certainly have no kick coming over the operation of this law, and the fact that four republican officials, past and present, have been found short in their accounts aggregating over $3,000, ami that no democrat has thus* far been reported short—and a part of the time we have had 8 of the township trustees- —makes the Republican’s attacks on this law seem ail the more ridiculous. The examiners work in pairs—one democrat and one republican —and in the examination of the township trustees books in this county John G. Davis, former clerk of the Newton circuit court and for many years a prominent, republican, was one of the examiners These.examiners found and reported the following shortages: Fred Kaivh, trustee of Walker tp., .... ....... $7Bl .H» S. 1.. Lure, ex-trustee of Keener tp., ........ 775.71 A. A. Fell, ex-trustee «>f Carpenter tp., ..... 1125.71 Louis Paulsen, ex-treasurer of Wheatlield town... 07.50 Moses Leopold, ex-treasurer of Rensselaer 70.71 Total 3,157.12 Some of the above amounts were errors in book-keeping, some was money lost in the McCoy bank and some for money lost in the Parker bdnk- at Remington. But every one of the above happen to be republicans, ami one is the present chairman of the republican county central committee. George M. Wilcox (rep) and Joseph Stewart and John Bill (dem) were also among those who lost township money in the failure of the McCoy bank, but they made the Ibss good, and their friends argue that if it was right for them to pay —and they were entitled to np legal exemption from such losses—it is right for the others to pay. Regarding the howl that has gone up in Newton county over paying the examiners the Republican has had much to say. Only last Friday it published the following;

Judge C. W. Hanley this Wednesday afternoon granted an injunction against the auditor of Newton county paying the bills filed by the accounting board in Newton county for the payment of the examination of the books and accounts of the town of Morocco. The injunction was granted as the result of a suit started by the town through Attorneys Rodgers & Rodgers. The injunction is temporary, pending an investigation of the case. Two members of the accounting board spent some 45 days on the Morocco town books, involving*an expense of more than S9OO. The town board and citizens generally objected to the money being spent when they did not ask for the inspection. Several other towns in Newton county also objected and the injunction will probably hold good as applied to them. One of the republican editors is understood to correspond for the Indianapolis Star, and a dispatch was sent to that paper, we understand, along the same lines. Friday’s Indianapolis News, however. shows how utterly false and misleading this statement was. in the following words:

William A. Debority, chief of the state board of accounts, denied yesterday a story sent out from Rensselaer to the effect that the examinaion of the records of the town of Morocco had cost S9OO. An examination of the records in the- office of the state board showed that the examiners had spent six days at the work, at a total cost tol the corporation of $l2O.

A dispatch from Rensselaer stated that Judge C. W. IJanley had granted a restraining order against the auditor of Newton county, id which Morocco is situated, preventing him from paying claims lodged against the corporation for examination, The dispatch had it that the claim was for S9OO for forty-five days’ work in the examination of the records. The state board had not heard of the injunction proceedings

and was not prepared to say what action would be taken to obtain the

PUBLIC SPEAKING.

Senator L. Ert Slack of Indiana will speak at Ellis opera house on MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, at 7:30 p. m., on the issues of the campaign from a democratic standpoint. Voters of all parties are cordially invited to come out and hear Senator Slack, who is a forceful and entertaining speaker.

pay for the field men. Now, in view of the shortages found in Jasper county, all among republican officials, would it not be in better taste for the Republican to tell tile truth hereafter in speaking of this accounting law or dry up altogether?

HOLD UP ACCEPTANCE

Of Iroquois Ditch By the County Commissioners, I he county commissioners, at their special session last week to accept the Iroquois ditch were met with a remonstrance against its acceptance signed by E. T. Harris, Granville Moody, Werner Miljjpr and Mrs. C. Loughridgc, who alleges that they were assesed about $20,000 for its construction.

I hey set up in their reasons | why it should not be accepted ' that at point where the Gifford ; ditch empties into the Iroquois I ditch there is a large dam of sand and gravel 6 or 8 feet deep and 40 feet wide for three or four rods,' which obstructs the flow of water; - That the Gifford lateral is not constructed upon the line laid out in the plans and specifications; That the rock at the Padgett bridge and at various other points has not been removed to the required depth; That the earth has not been removed and is not now removed to a depth and of a width provided in the plans and specifications, commencing at a point of a mile north and west of Burk’s brijjge and extending soutl] to where the Gifford lateral empties into the Iroquois; That. the Iroquois ditch cost $140,000 to $150,000 and in remonstrators’ opinion, it has not been constructed according to plans and specifications and asking that t‘he board appoint another competent surveyor and engineer to go over and inspect the line of said ditch and make a full and complete report of the entire ditch before accepting same as completed. In accordance with the above remonstrance and petition the board appointed C. J. Hobbs of Kersey to go over the w'ork and report at the present term of commis>ioners’ court, but the :ime v as so short that this can scarcely he done. Another objection that ought to he raised to the acceptance of the ditch is the departing from the specifications in cutting that letter “S” in the ditch just south of the Monon. railroad, which is certainly a serious obstruction to the free flow of water.

HORSE SHOW ENDS

With Tremendous Crowd of Visitors £tt Saturday’s Show. While the crow ds on Thursday and Friday were not nearly up to expectations, Saturday’s attendance at the Morse Show was a hummer, and people were here from almost the entire surroundin" country and from many of the neighboring towns. The Knapp livery barn alone handling 227 rigs. The show passed off very nicely and except for the fact that there were no free side attractions. which many felt there should have been, it was a success in every way. The Horse Show proper—and that was about all there w'as to it—way a complete success, there being a very large number of entries in practically all the classes, and the decisions of the very able judge. Col. C. P. Madden of Danville. 111., who judged last year’s show, met with very general approval.

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Vol. XIII. No. 51.