Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1915 — Former Mt. Ayr Preacher in Trouble [ARTICLE]

Former Mt. Ayr Preacher in Trouble

Rev. B. F. Clifton, a young Methodist minister, who was lately" located at Mt. Ayr but has more recently been pastor of a charge at Kingman and Salem, Ind., was arrested several days ago at the home of his fiance, Miss Olcie Hessler, daughter of George Hessler, a wealthy farmer of near Hilsboro. ( He was charged with stealing a couple of automobile light tanks, but denied the charge and claimed that he- had purchased them from a stranger. Rev. Clifton’s marriage to Miss Hessler was scheduled to take place a f£w days after his arrest, but it has been indefinitely postponed. Clifton has resigned from the ministry and gone to Conpractice law with his brother. Later—Newspaper dispatches state that Rev. Clifton is now at the home of his father, A. G. Clifton, near Flora, Carroll county, suffering from a nervous collapse, and that a warrant is in the hands of officers charging him with having stolen the auto of Thomas Marwood, from the city parking space at Crawfordsville, on April 5. The car was found in the possession of Bert Clifton, to whom it is alleged to have been traded by Rev. Clifton. The latter’s physician states that Rev. Clifton’s mind has been unbalanced for the last three or four months.