Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1914 — LIVES LOST IN TERSE HAUTE FIRE [ARTICLE]

LIVES LOST IN TERSE HAUTE FIRE

Youth and Man Die in Rooming House Flames.’ SIX ARE SEVERELY INJURED t>. ' Lighted Cigarette or Cigar Is ,Supposed to Have Started Blaze in the Tenderloin District of City. Terre Haute.—Fire at the Rowley rooming house, 214 North Second street, in the tenderloin district, suffocated and burned to death two men and injured severely six others. The dead: R. C. Rowley, nineteen years old, son of the rooming house keeper; L. D. Alexander, forty-five years old, a laborer. The seriously injured: Mrs. Mary Rowley, keeper of rooming house, badly bruised about hands and knees from jumping to the pavement; Clifford Rowley, one-year-old son of Mrs. Rowley, thrown out of window by Mrs. Rowley and injured. Will Gentry, a roomer, knees sprained as result of jumping. Ralph Ketchum, cut and burned. Tine building was occupied by about thirty men. The cause of the fire is not known, but in the opinion of Chief Bledsoe of the fire department it was , probably caused, from a lighted cigarette or cigar dropped in one of the rooms. Youths Held as Burglars. Terre Haute. —Herbert Birchfield, nineteen yfears old; Joe Feiler, twenty-two, and Frank Hudson, nineteen, were arrested, charged with burglarising the grocery of N. S. M heat, near Sixteenth street and Maple avenue. When the police reached the scene of the burglary they found almost a wagon load of groceries piled outside. Entrance had been made by breaking- a window. The burglars backed away from the building, stepping in their old tracks in the snow in an effort to conceal the direction they took. Feiler is a brother of William Feiler, now held by the federal authorities, charged with breaking into freight cars. Provisions Sent to Belgium. Crawfordsville.: —A carload of provisions from the people of Crawfordsville and Montgomery county was shipped to the people of Belgium. It consisted of SOO bags of flour, one ton of beans, SIOO worth of condensed milk and S2O worth of malted food. Besides the provisions, SIOO in cash was sent. Most of the money for this purpose was solicited by Dr. G. L. Mackintosh, president of Wabash college, and Rev. T. M. Conroy of St. Bernard’s Catholic church of this city. Three Accused of Bribing Witness. Evansville. Walter Fischer, a patrolman; Lon Carter, a city fireman, and Mrs. Emma Diefenbaugh, mother of Irvin Diefenbaugh, recently convicted of robbery, were indicted for bribery on December 1, by the Vanderburg county grand jury. It is charged they influenced Haggard Abstan, the prosecuting witness against the Diefenbaugh boy, to leave the state. f Club Hears War Correspondent. South Bend.—Praise for both the Germans and allies in their treatment of persons not directly engaged in the war was given by John T. McCutcheon, Uhicago cartoonist and war correspondent, in an address herd before the Knife and Fork club. He described his experiences at the front in Europe. Wilbur D. Nesbit and J. W. Foley of Chicago also spoke. Committed Suicide at Reno. Bloomington.—A message was received here fr<sm - Reno, Nev., saying that Mrs. 11. A. Henderson had committed suicide there. Mrs. Henderson was the divorced wife of Oscar McHenry, and a daughter of David Larue of this city. Fire Destroys Machine Shops. Tipton.—The machine shops at the Lake Erie & Western yards were destroyed by fire, and much valuable machinery, such as lathes and drills, was damaged. The fire caught from an over-heated stove and was burning fiercely when discovered. Workmen Find Deer Horns. Huntington. Workmen excavating for the basement of a new downtown building found several deer horns. The horns were about four feet below the surface and all were in good condition. Baby’s Burns May -Be Fatal. Evansville.—Earl Peagh, one year old, is probably fata-lly burned as a result of the overturning of a pot of boiling coffee on his arms and body. Alleged “Bootlegger” Freed. Columbus.—At ’ the conclusion of a trial that lasted twb days George Hays, who was convicted of “bootlegging” and fined' SIOO in the city court last week, was acquitted in the circuit court. • > . Christmas Tree Dedicated. Goshen.—The first municipal Christmas tree in the history of Goshen was dedicated when several thousand per sons assembled in Court park for the exercises. School children sang Christmas carols. >■ *