Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1901 — BURNS TOBACCO. [ARTICLE]

BURNS TOBACCO.

Because Her Son Dies of Diphtheria. Hammond Tribune. Clouds of tobacco smoke floating over Dyer, Indiana, Sunday afternoon were a sign tltpt Albert Stommel, the proprietor of a general store in that village was no longer a dealer in tobacco. Stommel decided to cease selling tobacco because an elder tn Dowie’s church had said the death of Stommel’s 8 year-old son Roy, which was mentioned in yesterday’s Tribune was due to the fact that the father dealt in tobacco. Because of this traffic, the elder said, Stommel’s prayers were ineffective. On hearing this Stommel ordered all his stock loaded into a wagon, hauled to a vacant place on the prairie, and burned. The elder was hissed and jeered as he departed for Chicago on the afternoon train. The boy was taken ill last Wednesday afternoon. Neighbors pronounced the illness diphtheria. The mother and father are believers in the Dowie faith, and would not consent to have a physician called. Their son continued to grow rapidiy worse until Saturday afternoon when he died. Early Sunday morning an elder from the Zion institution went to Dyer in answer to a summons. The boy was buried privately Sunday noon. The elder then called with Stommel at his store. Arranged on the counter was a large stock of tobacco. “There is the. cause of the'lad’s death,” the elder is reported to have said. “Your prayers could avail nothing while you are engaged in such traffic.” Stommel believed, and calling his teamster he ordered all the tobacco burned. The proceedings were watched with much interest by the people of Dyer. Various comments were made, and Stommel was upbraided for allowing his son to die without consulting a physician. When the elder left for Chicago he was hissed aud warned to remain away. * /