Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1914 — MAN KILLED IN LAFAYETTE FIRE [ARTICLE]

MAN KILLED IN LAFAYETTE FIRE

Captain Mitchell of Fire Department Loses Life. WALL FALLS ON FIREMAN One of the Worst Blazes in History of the City Completely Destroy* the Handsome DreyfusTheater.

Lafayette.—One of the -worst fires in the history of Lafayette completely destroyed the handsome Dryfus theater and resulted In the death of Capt. John Mitchell, forty-five years old, of fire company No. 4. Mitchell was Injured when a portion of the front wall of the theater fell, striking the heavy canopy entrance and crushing him beneath the debris. He died two hours later. Mitchell had been warned by Chief Johnston not to venture under the canopy, but went In to weigh down a line of hose that had been laid Inside. A portion of the brick and stone work fell from the top of the front wall and when It struck the canopy-The whole structure fell. Mitchell was caught beneath the brick and metal.

Founder of Dental College Dead. Kokomo. Dr. Samuel T. Kirk, seventy-six years old, died after a week’s illness of acute diabetes. Doctor Kirk was a member of the state and national dental societies, and was frequently a delegate to the latter’s conventions. He was the founder of the Indiana Dental college at Indianapolis. For 19 years he served on the state board of medical examiners and for four years was Its president. Doctor Kirk had' practised In Kokomo for over fifty years.

Two Hurt in Fall in River. Lafayette.—While working on a scaffold on the construction of the Main street bridge, C. E. White and James Maher were precipitated into the Wabash river, a distance of 40 feet, when the false work on which they were standing broke. They were rescued from 15 feet of water by fellow workmen in boats, and were unconscious when they were brought to the east bank of the river. The men were badly injured and were taken in an ambulance to a local hospital. Girls Must Make Own Dresses. Boonville.—A departure in the matter of dress will be made by the graduates of the Boonville high school at -the commencement In June. The orders have been passed down the line (hat every girl graduate will have to make her ovyn dress. Miss Fultz, director of the domestic science department oLthe high school, is assisting the girls. They select their styles and goods, the only requirement being that every girl must make her own dress.

Woman Finds Husband Dead. Goshen—Returning from a visit in Warsaw, Mrs. Delbert Van Sickle did not find her husband at the Winona traction station to meet her, as he had said he would. She went home and, finding the door locked with the key inside, gained entrance by raising a window. In a bedroom Van Sickle was lying dead with his body' fully clothed. Coroner Mast thinks he died of natural causes. Farmer Slays Man. Gary.—Ernest Harms, a farmer of West Gary, killed Paul 11. Habziiaski, foreman of the Ajax Engineering & Construction company, on the outskirts of Gary. Harms asserts that Habzuaski chased him with a knife and that he picked up a large piece of slag and struck him on the head, fracturing his skull. Will Install Printing Plant in School. Fort Wayne. The local school trustees purchased the printing plant of the Times-Herald company, which failed, and will install the plant in the Washington school, to be used in vocational school instruction. Fort Wayne will thus become the first city in northern Indiana to teach printing In Its public schools. Insane Woman Kills Herself. Wabash.—Driven insane by the death of her husband and her mother, Mrs. Augusta Tibbetts, widow of a prominent farmer, leaped from a bridge to the waters of Eel river, 25feet below. Her body was later seen as It was swept over a dam a mile below the bridge and was recovered. Peach Crop Dedlared Lost. Evansville. Vanderburg county farmers assert the cold weather has destroyed the peach crop.

Indianapolis Has Snowstorm. Indianapolis.—Snow fell in Indianapolis and below zero freezing temperatures prevailed all day. The cold followed 36 hours of continuous rain. Temperatures dropped 20 degrees In less than twenty-four hours. Thought She Had Headache Powders. Muncie. —As the result of having taken a deadly poison by mistake for headache powders, Mrs. Carrie Shaffer, age twenty-five, wife of C. L. Shaffer, died at her home here.