Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1911 — Page 1

Jasper County Democrat.

$1.50 Per Year.

ACCOUNTING ACT DECLARED LEGAL

Supreme Court Reverses Starke Circuit Court Finding TITLE IS HELD SUFFICIENT Ruling Says “Due Process Of Law Is Not Denied”—Title of Act Also Held Sufficient—Constitutionality Upheld. Upholding the constitutionality of the public accounting law in every particular, the Supreme Court Thursday reversed by the cision of the Starke Circuit Court in the case in which a taxpayer sought to obtain an injunction against Lee M. Ransbottom, auditor of the county, and others. The injunction was asked to prevent the county from paying expenses incurred by field examiners of the State Board of Accounts in going over the books of the county in search 'of discrepancies in accounts of public officials. The ground of action alleged in the complaint was that the accounting law was unconstitutional and that assertion was prodiated upon two proportions. (1) It was alleged that the law was in violation of Sec. 19 of Art. 4 of the constitution of Indiana, which provides that every act shall embrace but one subject matter and that such subject matter shall be expressed in the title of the act. (2) The act was alleged to be in violation of both the state and Federal constitutions, because it denied to the citizens of counties of the state due process of law. “The proposition that the statute violates either the constitution of Indiana or that of the United States because it denies" ‘due processor' law,’ can find no support either in reason or authority,” Chief Justice Morris of the Supreme Court declared in his opinion on the case, and numerous authorities were cited to sustain the opinion. The title of the act also was held sufficient by the higher court. The contention of the appellants that the plaintiff—the state of Indiana, on the relation of Henry R. Rodbins, a taxpayer of Starke county —lacked legal capacity to sue was discussed as follows: “Where it is sought by a taxpayer of a county to enjoin the unlawful expenditure of county, funds, suit should be brought in the name of the taxpayer, for his own use, and for the use of the other taxpayers thereof.” . The judgment of the Iow r er court, in which the defendants’; demurrer setting out the causes ; of invalidity of the attack on the accounting law was overruled,; was reversed by the Supreme] Court with instructions to the Starke Circuit Court to sustain the demurrer and undertake such further proceedings in the case as will not be inconsistent with the decision of the higher tribunal. The defendants in the case in; the lower court 4 were Lee M. 1 Ransbottom, auditor of- Starke county; and Christopher C. White, Otha C. Herdrick, Chas. H. Knapp, Alfred R. Hardesty, aminers upon whose investigaLeonard R. Schrader and Wil- • liam A. Hammond, the field extions the suit was based.. The judgment of the lower court enjoined the auditor of the county from issuing his warrant] for the payment of the sum in! controversy and from paying the ■ and held that the plain--tiff in the case should recover the costs of the suit from the! defendants. It went further and; adjudged the act of the legislature, known as the public accounting; law, unconstitutional; and denying the citizen and taxpayer due process of law. Lee M. Ransbottom. the auditor. failed to pray an appeal, but Attorney General Honan, acting for the State Board of Accounts, had the notice of the appeal to the Supreme Court served upon

the county official. The total amount of the claims, filed with State Examiner W. A. Dehority by the field examiners, who worked in Starke county, was $1,705.90. Mr. Dehority ordered Ransbottom to pay the sum out of county funds, as provided by] law; and the injunction suit followed.

Mrs. Joe Jeffries Dead.

A. F. Long received a telegram yesterday noon from Joe Jeffries at Huntington stating that Mrs. Jeffries had died that morning at 1C o’clock. No particulars garding the funeral were given., but- it is supposed that she will be taken to her old home in Ohio for burial. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries formerly resided here and have a large number of friends who will be pained by the news of her death. She died of consumption.

New Sexton for Weston Cemetery.

J. H. Holden, who purchased the former D. A. Stoner property in the northwest part of town a few years ago and has since followed chicken raising and small gardening, has decided to give l up the business and sell or trade his place for a srhaller property. He has been employed as sexton of Weston cemetery and will succeed Al Swim, the present sexton, January 1.

Pythian Sisters “Christmas Box.”

_ The Pythian Club was delightfully entertained Thursday ‘ afternoon by Mrs. J. D. MartinI dale, Mrs. Harry Kresler and Miss Della Norman at the home of the former on Jefferson street. Quite a large number were present to take part in the opening of the Christmas box, from which were distributed many beautiful and useful presents, or rather they were distributed by number from the highly decorated tree that Mrs. Martindale : had prepared for her children’s ; Christmas. The guests selected • a number at random from a plate that was passed around, and were given the corresponding numbtrs on the boxes.

Returns From the “Wild and Woolly.”

Leon Eiglesbach, who left here several months ago in company with Arthur Battleday for the west, returned home Thursday. He reports that there is very little work of a desirable kind that one can secure there, and that the wages paid are-very low. He spent several days with his sister at Medford, Ore., coming here from Spokane, via Los Angeles and the Southern Pacific, through New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, and other points of great interest to the tourist.- Arthur Battleday is located at St. Paul where .he has secured a position, but is dissatisfied and will probably return here. “Dutch” expects to return to the west in the spring and secure a job as chauffeur.

The Catholic Bazaar and Corn Show.

The Catholic bazaar and corn show Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in the Foresters Hall was largely attended and hugely enjoyed by all. The gross receipts were about $270, of which jn the neighborhood of $215 is clear of expenses. In the corn show Alex Hurley of Barkley tp.. won first on yellow corn, and John Kolhoff of Jordan, second. ' On white corn Rev. Father Geitl of the Indian school won first, and Stephen Kohley of Marion tp.. second. Mr. Kohley also won first on the largest ear of corn. W. C. Babcock and J. L. Brady were the judges, and the committee desires to thank them through The Democrat for their Services. * Mrs. Joe Nagel was the fortunate winner .'.of the handsome silk* quilt made by Mrs. P. T. Hofdeman, and Rev. Father Daniel the elegant muff donated by Mrs. Mary Meyer-Healy. Father Daniel expects to send the muff to his aged mother for a Christmas present.

Get our prices on cloaks and savje money G. E. Murray Co.

THE TWICE-A-WEEK

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA. SATURDAY, DEC. 16, 1911.

COURT HOUSE NEWS IN BRIEF

interesting Paragraphs tram me Various Departments OF JASPER COUMn CAPITOL The Legal News Epitomized—, Together with Other Notes Gathered from the Several County Offices. Sheriff Hoover was in Lafayette yesterday. —o—• Attorney John A. Dunlap was in Chicago on business Thursday. —o — The clerk has just completed a transcript of-the Marble ditch,' which is being taken up on a few particular points. The transcript contains 1,238 pages. G —• There is little doing nowadays in the matrimonial line, in fact nothing, everybody evidently. holding off for the Christmas rush. Not even a divorce suit has been filed during the past week, and were it not for a. little doing on transcript work the clerk’s of-. fice would hardly be worth keeping open. —o• A. C. Jtobinson settled a little difficulty of old standing yesterday forenoon with Homer Smith,' a Brookston insurance man, ac.cording to Marquis of Queen--bury rules. The affray occurred in front of the Republican office,! but unfortunately the . fighting, editor was not about to referee 1 the set-to, and this task fell to] bystanders who were attracted to the scene. Smith was not bad-' ly hurt, although he is said to' have gone to a doctor’s shop for a few bits of court plaster after, failing to answer to the call of “time” iji the third round. No' arrests were made. —o —• The olaim made bv the Bader bridge graft defenders that the recent release of Mr. Bader from] the State Prison to allow him to spend Thanksgiving with his family and work up sentiment for a pardon, and to travel about anattended for ten days, is not, an unusual thing, is wholly false.) No favors of this kind were shown Tom McCoy or Robert 1 Parker, the Rensselaer and Rem-' ingtoti bankers, respectively, and no one will doubt for a moment that their conduct at the prison was just as exemplary, their word just as reliable and their families were just as dear to them as Mr. Bader’s. Yet Tom was only permitted to leave the prison twice during his incarceration,: under guard, to attend thefuner-. als of his mother and father, respectively, but neither he nor Mr. Parker were sent out un-i attended to work up a pardon for, themselves. In fact, we do not believe such a thing ever occurred before under any administration.

Joe Marshall Was Murdered.

Leon Eiglesbach, who returned Thursday from the west, gave us the following facts as the cir-j CUmstances surrounding the' death of Joe Marshall. It seems, that Joe had secured a position I as a forest ranger near Willits, Cali., and was thought a great, deal of hy the people of that section of the country. He fell in' love with a j r oung lady postmistress and was carrying the mail, for her and doing other little fa-, vors which made the young men j of the town envy him the posi-j tion he held in her eyes. •On the day of the murder he, went to the house where the girl, boarded, the home of a Mr. Spit-, ler, the village blacksmith, and whether he went to see the girl, or to see MY. Spitler is not, known. However, Mrs. Spitler t came to the door, and when he asked for Spitler, the latter at first refused to come to the door to see him- or allow, him to come inside. Finally Spitler came to the door and told Joe to get offi

the place, after a short parley. Joe, in leaving the place met the girl with another gentleman accompanying her, and spoke to her, asking her if he was to carry the mail the next day. What she replied is not known, for Spitler then came put of the house and ordered Joe again to move on and leave the girl alone. Some heated words followed and Joe told him it was none of his (Spitler’s) business what he did. Spitler, who had a small child in his arms, set the tot down in the yard and returned to the house and after a short interval again appeared, while Joe and the young lady were still engaged in conversation. Spitler stepped to the door with a rifle in his hands and, firing, hit Joe in the neck, killing him almost instantly. and before he had a chance at self-defense. The young man. who had accompanied the postmistress, when she was met in the yard by Joe, is said to have been on the other side of Joe, behind a tree, with a drawn revolver, so that in case Spitler missed Joe he could get him from the other side before Joe had a chance to draw his gun. At the coroner’s inquest Spitler was charged with murder and bound over to court to stand trial without bail. Spitler's defense consists of self-defense, he claiming that Joe drew his gun as soon as he (Spitler) apepared in the door, and that he therefore w’as forced to shoot in order to protect himself. Joe, it seems, had made good out there, having a claim that he had proved up that was worth three or four thousand dollars, which a paroled qpnvict, by the name of Meguire, about the time of Joe’s death, was endeavoring to beat him out of by threats of making the town too hot for him, etc. The coroner decided at the* inquest that Joe’s revolver had never been taken from his holster. as was claimed by Spitler. The shooting occurred about five o'clock on the afternoon of Nov. 27, and the trial of the accused man will take place .very shortly.

About Christmas Stamps, Etc.

Senders of holiday packages ■ should bear in mind that any stamps other than the regular ! lawful postage stamps are prohibited from the address side of letters and packages of any sort, and it is the duty of the post- ! master to send any packages or , letter mailed in defiance of this [order to the dead-letter office in | Washington. Place all Christmas, Red Cross or other adhesive lor imitation stamps On the back of ydur letter or package if you , want it to be transported through the mails.

How Strange, If True.

'- * The Rensselaer Republican • says that no less than about .7,000 “democrats” (perhaps it was j 7, but no matter about the numI ber) have called at its sanctum | sanctorum in the last few days I and complained about The DemI ocrat's criticism of Governor , Marshall in his interference with ( the administration of justice in , the Bader case. This would be strange, if true, but it isn’t true nor partly true. The statement is—in keeping with that paper’s j attitude all along in the Bader case, and its editors came very, very near figuring in contempt •of court proceedings for what i that paper said, and done while , the case was in court. I But about those 7,000 “democrats." Bader was also a “dem- ■ ocratT ahd he, also, “went to the Republican” after coming to The Democrat office and trying to impress us with his democracy. We hope the 7,000 “democrats” who have lately called on .the Republican will be given equal consolation with Bader. But peculiar as it may appear, not a democrat nor_a republican has called at The Democrat office and complained: . On the contrary, scores of democrats and many republicans have personally told the editor of The Democrat that they were glad to see-that there was one paper that had the independence to condemn such unwarranted action regardless of whether the official was a democrat or a rei publican.

ONLY ONE WEEK MORE OF CONTEST

Fur Democrat’s Piano, Sewing Machine and Silver Set CLOSES DEC. 23, AT 8 P. M. And Who the Winners Will Be Is as Much of a Mystery as at the Start—Now Is the Time to Help Your Favorite. Only one week more remains of The Democrat’s big voting contest, and to say that the interest all over the county is intense is putting it mildly. However. the contest is a good-na-tured one and each candidate knows that the prizes will be awarded to the ones securing the most votes. If it happens to be “the other girl” they at least will" have the satisfaction of knowing that she didn't have any walkaway. , The leaders in the race have each held their respective positions now for several weeks without change, but what they or those lower down in the list have “up their sleeves” remains to be seen. Every candidate, except possibly one or two, is* hustling hard to win, and we regret that We can’t give a piano to each one. But only one can win this piano, and every friend of each respective candidate should do all in their power during the next few days to help their favorite contestant along. The standing of the contestants in order today is as follows: Ida Hurley, Parr Loretta Nagel, Rensselaer Maribell Kays, Rensselaer Lizzie W'lseman, Virgie Ethel M Fisher. Rensselaer Alice Daniels, Rensselaer Bessie McElfresh, Rensselaer R-1 Victoria Marsh, Rensselaer R-3 Fairy Pollard, Rensselaer R-4 Lucy Morgenegg, Rensselaer R-l .Stella Piatt, Rensselaer Arkana Ritchey, Remington R-3 Mildred Rush, Rensselaer R-3 Wilda Green, Remington Mary Bice, Rensselaer, R-4 Myrtle Leavel, Rensselaer Ruth E Bull, Rensselaer Mary Halsenia, Rensselaer Lena Trolley, Rensselaer, R-l Elsie Smith, Rensselaer May Shook, Kniman Ruth Wiltshire. Rensselaer Bernice Yeoman, Rensselaer R-2 Hazel Shumaker, Rensselaer R-4 Lucy Fulks, Remington R-4 Lois Spencer, Wolcott Martha Critser, Rensselaer, R-3 Edna Ward, Rensselaer R-4 Anna Marion, Parr Mary Gaunt. Remington R-3 Marie Moore, Rensselaer Star Route

The free voting certificates given with purchases at the stores also count up quite fast, and candidates should urge their friends to be sure to ask for them with each cash purchase at these stores. * The following stores give certificates, one vote for a cent, with each cash purchase. Cut the list out, and carry it with you every time you go shopping. And ask everybody- you see to do the same, reminding them, of course, to save their coupons for YOU. The list is: I). M. Worland, Furniture and Rugs Cleve Eger, Hardware C. Earl Duvall, Clothing and Gents Furnishings 1 B. F. Fendig, Drug Store Sam Fendig, Dry Goods Mrs* Mary Meyer-Healy, Millinery Scott Bros., Harness Home Grocery, Groceries Jessen, the Jeweler Depot Grocery, Groceries B. N. Fendig, Exclusive Shoe Dealer C. A. Roberts, Buggies, Wagons and Storm Buggies and Fronts. Spencer's Jewelry Store, Remington. - Peck's Drug Store, Remington. Worden's Harness Shop, Reming-, ton. Surrey Store, General Merchan-' dise, Surrey W. Li. Wood, Genera] Merchandise, Parr . Aix Store, General Merchandise. Aix Reed's General Store. Virgie A fine $350 mahogany piano is- something everyone would like to possess, while the splen-j did $35 Free sewing machine or, the elegant S2O silver set—6 each Of knives, forks, table and teaspoons —are articles of both

Vol. XIV. No. 72.

ornament and service, and the winners of either may well feel proud of them. The cash prizes for those finishing 4th, sth, 6th and 7 th—sß, $4, $2 and sl— induce every contestant to make the best possible showing in the wind-up.

CALL FOR CENTRAL COMMITEE MEETING.

Notice is hereby given for a meeting of the Democratic County Central Committee in Rensselaer, on Saturday, Dec. 23, 1911, at the office of the County Chairman, in the 1. O. (J. F. block, at 1 p. m., for the purpose of selecting 8 delegates to the district meeting to be held in Lafayette on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 28, to elect a district chairman, and such other business as may come before the meeting. N. Littlefield, Chm. Judson J. Hunt, Sec.

POOLE TRIAL CLOSED.

And Case Went to Jury Yesterday—Argument Lasted 3 Days. Argument of attorneys in the Poole murder case was begun Monday morning and it was expected would be completed yesterday forenoon and the case given to the jury yesterday afternoon. The opening argument was made by Prosecutor Frank Kimmel, who said Poole's kind of insanity was “accommodation” insanity, a kind of insanity which he feigned to escape punishment for a henious crime. Prosecutor Kimmel read much of the evidence to the jury and also used exhibits to emphasize his points. Kimmel demanded the death penalty for Poole. wife and daughter Grace and his young son Russell, were present during the argument. Mrs.* Poole was declared to be “hostile” to her husband, by Elmore Barce, the defendant’s attorney, in his argument Thursday. Barce made the statement in explaining why the defense had not placed Mrs. Poole on the witness stand in behalf of her husband. He said Mrs. Poole had given no assistance to the defense throughout the trial, , “1 his girl,” he said, to Grace Poole, “is standing alone, without her mother’s help in this fight to save her father’s life,” Barco challenged the state to explain why they had not put Emory Poole on the stand to testify as to his father’s condition./ “They dare not do it, because they know that this boy knows his father to be insane and that a cross-examination would have brought this out plainly,” he said. Barce further said that Poole’s insanity had been proven beyond all doubt. He told the jury to disregard the testimony of Emory Poole because, he said, the boy was as insane as his father, and had shown his bitterness and malice. Barce expected to close late in the afternoon.” •

High School Notes.

Geofge A. Williams, of the school board, spoke to the High School Thursday morning.- , Professor Mills, president of the Hanover College, addressed the High School Friday, taking for his subject, “The Necessity of I'he finance committee of the athletic association met Monday and allowed all the bills. It is the intention to begin basket ball practice as soon as a room can be obtained. Professor I. N. Warren gave the students of the High School an interesting talk Wednesday morning. He spoke briefly of the school and the commencement exercises held twenty yfears ago when he was a participant. The report for November shows an enrollment of 159 pupils and a daily average attendance of 154, the Freshmen class having the highest percentage of attendance. There were .23 cases of tardiness during'- the month. xx

Better see us about youi Christmas candies, fruits land r nuts 1 . —Rowles & Parker.