Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1902 — INDIANA STATE NEWS [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS

Wilbert Sherwin, a bactielor, was found dead in an old hovel in the southern part of Mishawaka. Rats had eaten the flesh from the fingers, nose and face. Neighbors declare that Sherwin had neither food nor fuel and that he starved or froze to death. Freeman and Finley Cronk of Dowagiac, Mich., are said to be two of the heirs to an estate in Holland valued at $80,000,000 says a dispatch from South Bend. It has been discovered that the bride of Senator- Chauncey Depew is one of the heirs. It is hoped by some of the other heirs that she will enlist the services of her distinguished husband to work through the United States and Holland consuls to secure the money. Among other heirs are Frank Cronk and Mrs. M. L. Wood of Chicago, Fred Cronk, a well-known Lake Shore railway man of Elkhart, Ind., and Mrs. Charles Mason of Argentine, Kas. Other heirs reside In New York and Pennsylvania. The Rev. Albert Rickey, a Baptist minster and former superintendent of the Sunday school at Scottsburg, has betrayed the confidence of his friends and gone to parts unknown. Ten days ago he was found with a farmer’s cow in his possession, and, after an investigation of his story as to how he got it, he was arrested and placed in jail. Friends offered to bail him out, but he refused indignantly to leave the local bastile till he was freed by the law and his good name vindicated. Meantime evidenceaccumulated against him and his closest friends became clnvinced that he had actually stolen the cow, and had dlsguished himself with a wig and false whiskers for the purposing of it without being known. And whtfn he was willing to go out on ball and applied to his friends none of them would go on his bond. On Friday morning Rickey was missing from his cell, and investigation among the prisoners, none of whom had accompanied him in his flight, showed that the minister had planned his escape so as to throw the jailer completely off his guard. He arranged with the other prisoners to play a game of cards ir. the corridor just in front of the cell door, and -exhorted them to make a? much noise as was consistent with their pastime, and while they were thus engaged he was in bls cell ap parently praying for them. Hour after hour the prisoners played, and hour after hour the minister prayed for the deluded men who were wasting the precious moments in idleness and sin. When the jailer passed through the corridor or drew near to the prisoners he always found Rickey in prayer, and he was so devoted to the self-alloted task of trying to converl his fellow prisoners that he made c decided impression upon the jailer himself. The impression was quickly dispelled, however, when the jailer entered the minister's cell on Friday morning and found a hole in the floor where Rickey was so often seen kneeling in prayer, and Rickey's cell empty He used an old file to cut away the stone of the floor and had made hir escape in the night. The prisoner: say that Rickey asked them to play cards in front of his cell, and that they heard him pounding on the floor whlk presumably in prayer, but they supposed that he was simply enforcing his utterance by pounding on the floor and had no idea that he was making a hole through which to escape. Helence 8. Ulrich, youngest daughter of the late Jacob F. Studebaker, the great vehicle manufacturer, has been granted a divorce at South Bend from Russell Ulrich of Chicago. The court also gives her the custody of their only child. Ulrich is now supposed to be In Alaska, and the divorce was granted on the grounds of desertion. This if •the second suit filed, the defendan' first showing an inclination to fight the case. All opposition was withdrawn the other day and the divorce granted James A. Bowles, a student In chemistry at Purdee University, Lafayette whose relatives are prominent in Paoli Ind., has been missing In Chicago since Dec. 24, and fears are entertained by his relatives for bls safety. He is 2C years old and had a considerabl sum of money In his possession when he came here.

Joshua Turner has assigned thf Peru, Ind., woolen mills to H. H. Ham mond of Cleveland. Liabilities, SB,OOO During the services at the Salvatior Army barracks in Muncie Miss Iren< Ertle, a pretty young Salvation Arm? girl, and Marion Rook of Portland Tnd„ were publicly married before e large crowd by the Rev. Osborn Den nis. The bride plays the snare drum and will continue to take part in nightly services on the streets and in the barracks ' The residence of Henry Overmeyer at Yorktown was burned Sunday. Overmeyer, who is an invalid, was overcome by smoke and was rescued with difficulty. Monday afternoon was the appointed time for the marriage of John Hensel of .Stillwell and Mrs. Sophia Harness, but during the morning hours Hensel was found dead, as Is supposed, of heart failure. In the afternoon the minister engaged for the marriage feast officiated at the burial. Patrolmen at Marion, disguised, entered a gambling house, through a secret passageway and arrested thirtyfive gamblers. The Rev. N. Gillam, aged 87, a widely known Methodist minister, is dead at Richmond.

George Sammis, who was in Indianapolis in advance of Miss Julia Marlowe and “When Knighthood Was in Flower,” to appear at English’s Opera House, received a letter from Miss Marlowe’s manager, Charles B. Dillingham, in New York, saying that negotiations which have been pending for some time regarding Miss Marlowe’s appearance in London halve been completed by cable. She wlllSqake her appearance in England early next season and will present the production from the pen of Indiana’s playwright in one of the largest theaters in London. The present company will go to London with Miss Marlowe. William Seymour, aged 30, committed suicide at Valparaiso by taking strychnine. He was despondent over losing his position and the continued illness of his wife. Bessie Currier, of Elkhart, a pretty miss of 13, has been forced by Mrs. William Currier, with whom she and her mother, Mrs. Mary Currier, lived, to leave home because of certain mysterious happenings which have alarmed the household and have been attributed to some occult power possessed by the girl. Plates, It is said, have been caused to float through the air, water palls to upset and bedsteads to come apart. The mother does not regard the girl with supernatural awe, but thinks the phenomena the result of trickery on her part, though the child maintains that she is not responsible for the manifestations. Bessie has gone to live with another sister-in-law, Mrs. John Currier, who lives near Elkhart. Her playmates admitted that Bessie possessed “an extraordinary amount of electricity,” and that when others touched her hands they felt a stinging sensation. James Shook was indicted for the murder of John Ryan at Cambridge City. John Valasky, a crazed miner of Rosedale, made a desperate attempt today to kill Henry Johnson, another miner, in Wilson’s saloon at Crawfordsville. Johnson and several others were playing cards when Valasky came in suddenly and, seizing Johnson by the throat, raised him up bodily and held him over a red-hot stove with a revolver. Johnson was badly burned. He was finally released after the maniac was knocked senseless by the bartender, who stole up behind him and struck him with a poker. Several months ago Valasky was left alone in the mine all night and became crazed with his uncanny experience with water and rats. He had no lignt and was in darkness all night. He blamed Johnson for not notifying the «haft man that he had been left underground and has always sworn revenge. He Is now In jail.

Edward Heyer, a well-known local character, 1b dead. He died from the effects of morphine taken with suicidal Intent. Heyer had been drinking and had domestic troubles. After taking the drug he laid down on the Wabash station platform. From there he was removed to his home. He was 37 years old. At the bride’s home in Plymouth, Wednesday evening, Miss Edna A. Yockey, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Yockey, and Earl Corbaley, son of oJhn Corbaley of Indianapolis, were married. The wedding was one of the society events of the winter. The bride is a graduate of the high school, an accomplished pianist and for several years has been a member of the Presbyterian church choir. Her father is postmaster of Plymouth. The bridegroom’s grandfather, Richard Corbaley, founded the first newspaper published in Plymouth, and was the first white child born in Marion county. The bridegroom is 24 years of age and the hride 22. After a family dinner the couple left for Indianapolis to spend a week with the bridegroom’s parents, when they will take up their residence in Plymouth. A letter, said to contain insulting proposals, written by Dr. C. D. Driscoll, a dentist, to Miss Eva Miller, who formerly lived in Paoli, came near to securing for him a public horsewhipping at the hands of that young woman In that town. Before things quieted down almost the entire population of the. town became involved in the disturbance and a tragedy, possibly a lynching, was averted only because two or three citizens remained coolheaded. Besides being accused of wrltng the insulting letter, Driscoll was charged with mistreating his family. On this latter charge he was placed under arrest. He asked to be allowed to go to his office to secure some toilet articles he needed, and the police took him there. He was given twenty-four hours in which to leave the town, but when he pleaded that he could not wind up his business 1 affairs in that time the limit was extended to twenty days. He promised to shake the dust of the place off his feet before the time expired. The late David E. Simonton, a pioneer of Elkhart, left a large estate to his children and grandchildren. James M. Riley, who is dead of paralysis, Tas a pioneer of Martin county, eighty-?.ve years old. y The Terre Haute Knights of Columbus are arranging for a special train to South Bend on February 2, when they will assist in the installation of a large class. The new armory of Company E, I. N. G., was formally dedicated at Franklin with an exhibition drill by the company and a smoker.

A number of Dowie followers reslit Ing at Walton, fifteen miles northwest of Flora, met with rough treatment e. the hands of John Slusher, a bartender employed in A. H. Bell’s saloon Mrs. Martha Slusher, leader of the Dowieltes, and mother of John Slushe.-, entered the saloon to sell copies o' Dowie’s Leaves of Healing and to pra>' for the lost men and those whom the found there. Slusher became enrage and ordered the band of faith healer from his house, and when they re fused to go he threw them out by raai’ force. A mob soon gathered and th Dowieltes were pelted with stones, an not until they reached their doors was the mob’s vengeance abated. Mrs Slusher was hit on the head and quit seriously hurt. G. D. Thomas, arrested in Philadelphia for land swindles, has been iden tided as the man who under variou aliases swindled Indiana people out o 136,000, five years ago. Through a pho tograph ot Thomas and wife, furnished by a Kokomo attorney, he has been Identified to a certainty. He sold bogus mortgages to brokers in Kokomo, Lafayette, Logansport, Lebanon, Crawfordsville, South Bend, Winchester and Ridgeville. A negro who refuses to give hie name, but who claims Cleveland as hl > home, was arrested at Greencastle after a desperate struggle. He was discovered in the act of robbing a house and chased by angry citizens to Rock river, where he plunged into the raging torrent and tried to swim across. Not to be outdone, Charles Allen plunged into the water after him. He caught the half-drowned negro and handed him over to the police. Elmer Huffeni, a Big Four fireman, was Injured near North Bend, 0.. and was taken to bls home, 1229 Hoyt avenue, Indianapolis. He has several scalp wounds besides other injuries, due to jumping from his train while It was running at high speed. A cut of cars was standing on the track and the train on which Huffeni was riding collided with the cut. The engineer was painfully injured. The Indianapolis Sentinel Company has filed articles with the Secretary of State increasing its capital stock from 176,000 to $200,000. The increase of $126,000 is divided into 2,600 shares of SSO each. Under the old issue of stock, the articles show, S. E. Morse owns ( 1,496 shares, and the other four shares are owned by as many Indianapolis men. Burglars at Terre Haute used chloroform on Mr. and Mrs. Frank Effner and robbed their house and adjoining grocery. The stolen articles were some jewelry of small value and some cigars and the money In the cash drawer In the store.

Among companies incorporated this week were: The Rapp-Klein Cigar Company of Lafayette, capital 33,000; the Branch Independent Telephone Company of Saratoga, Randolph county, capital *10,000; the Marion Wreckage and Furniture Company, of Marlon, capital *3,000; the Smith-Neely Oil Company of Muncie, capital *ls - 000. Friends and relatives of Mrs. Nancy Rltzel of Evansville gathered at her home in recognition of her flftyelgbth birthday anniversary, intending an agreeable surprise. Mrs. Ritzel was overjoyed, and in her excitement she fell to the floor and died of heart failure. The examinations at Rose Polytechnic Institute show a high grade. Arthur Page of Terre Haute of the senior class was awarded first honors, with Clyde Parks, same city, second. Will Hazard, sophomore, also carried off first honors; so also Herbert Watson, freshman, of Terre Haute. Mayor Bookwaiter of Indianapolis has asked George F. McCulloch, president of the Union Traction Company of Indiana, to explain why his company can not furnish freight cars for Indianapolis merchants. Commission merchants have appealed to the mayor, saying the company has not furnished them with a sufficient number of freight cars to carry their merchandise out of the city to customers in the smaller cities and towns. George Brumemer, paroled from the Central Hospital for the Insane at Indianapolis some time ago, appears to have been cured by a blow on the head. Brumemer had been better but his trouble returned and on Battirday papers for his recommital to the institution were filed. Before-the time set for taking him back "to the asylum Brumemer got into an altercation and was struck over the back of the head with the butt end of a whip. Since then Brumemer has appeared to be all right mentally. Jacob Trick, one of the victims of the crossing accident on the Big Four road at Urban, Tuesday, died of his injuries Friday. His daughter, Farray, killed at that time, was buried in the afternoon. John Purner, nineteen years old, during a quarrel at an entertainment near Flora, was shot In the head and seriously wounded. Will Helvie, a young man, who sometimes sings in the, churches at Daleville, is attracting' attention among musicians on account of the remarkable register and power of his voice. It is naturally a tenor of sweet and clear tone, and he sounds high C with ease. Musicians have told him that he has a fortune in his voice, and he lyis expressed a determination to Study;