Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1887 — INDIANA STATE NEWS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

J. F. Studebaker, one of the’ well known Studebaker Erothers, of wagon fame, died at Chicago, Sunday, silted 43 years. He was buried at South Bend, Wednesday. " The barn of W. A. Cover, located one mile east of Birmingham, was burned on Thursday. The live stock was saved,but hay, grain and implements of the value of $2,200 were destroyed; partially injured. A ten-thousand-dollar damage slander suit was filed in the Circuit Court in Union county Friday by Peicy Loviston, a hardware merchant of Liberty, against bis former partner, Samuel Crist. Representative iid Conger, of Shelby conntv, the leading poultry breeder in the West, telegraphs from St. Louis that in the,poultry show there he secured eighty : hree premiums of eighty entries. He al o won the SIOO “Busch” cup and one package of the “Loyal Legion” fine old Bodibon. " T. E. Murphy, the temperance orator, closed his Shelby ville meetings, Wednesday night, in the presence of one thousand people. He delivered a magnificent address, and at the close the list of signers wag increased one hundred, making in all about thirty -two hundred. ®furphy will work in Indiana all next yeap. Engineer Elwood, of Huntington, was killed ina collision last Christmas between two freight trains on the Chicago & Atlantic railway, near Kenton, Ohio. Suit was begun in the United States Courts, at Toled >, by his wife (cr slo--008 damages. Saturday a compromise was effected by which the company pays the widow $4,000 in full of damages. Afi astonishing trial was held in ’Squire Keigwin’s Court at Jeffersonville, Thursday morning. A Mrs. Seiler charged John Wahl with assault and battery. He stated that she was a witch and had caused sickness and death in his family. He hung a cross on the gate in the name of the Trinity, hence she was unable to enter, and fell and bru>s ed herself. The suit was dismissed. Architect B S. Tolon,known through out the State as the designer of court houses in Kosciusko, Delaware, Parke, and Whiiley counties, male an unsuccessful attempt at suicide in a hardware store at Fort Wayne, Wednesday. He had asked to see gome revolvers, had slipped a cartridge into the chamber of one, and pointed the weapon at his head,when the clerk disarmed him. On Sunday night Henry Faeset, junior member of the milling firm of Fasset <k Sons, of Hillsboro, lost a pocket-book at or near the restaurant of Bly & Crayton, which he claimed contained cash to the amount of $785. Failing to find it, a great sensation was created by the swearing out of a search warrant, and causing the premises of Dr. W. R. Stout, a prominent citizen and leading physician, to be thoroughly searched. Patents were granted Indiana inventors Tuesday as follows: Eli Beghtel, Huntington, portable sawing machine; Marvin Campbell, South Bend, ham-mock-stretcher; William A. Krag, Indianapolis, coffee-pot; Darius Patterson, Richland, combined ham-hitch and col-lar-fender; James J. Turner, assignor to Mmself and J. F. Miller, Richmond, device for actuating signals, switches, etc.; William M. Waltman, Bean Blossom, mole trap. , , The cases against the Knox county fair directors came up for hearing in the Circuit-Court at Vincennes last week, and a judgment was rendered for $25 and costs against the president of the association J. W. Emison, and J. B. Kelso, superintendent of space, two of the leading ciiizeils of the county. The indictments were for allowing a wheel of fortune and other gambling devices on the fair grounds. The litigation has created a great deal of bitterness, but effectually ends gambling and beer privileges at the Knox County Fair. State Statistician Peelle has prepared that part of his forthcoming report which relates to the agricultural products of the State for the past year. It shows a decided decrease from 1886 of all the cropß, the result of the protracted drought. The average total production, average and estimated value of the various crops this year are as follows: 1 Wheat, 2,794,196 acre 5,3,909,657 bushels. 13.9 average to the acre and $30,104,426, the estimated value. Corn, 3,-39.914 acres. 70,017 604 busheis, 31.6 average to the acre and tctal value $31,507,922. 0at5,885,927 acre 5,23,378 984 bushels,27.7 average to acre and $7,313,695 value. Barley, 17,311 acres, 340,663 bushels, 18 5 average to the acre and $220,630 value. Rye, 33,871 acres, 460.750 bushels, 13 6 average jo the acre and $250,020 value. Buckwheat, 6,469 acres and 69,375 bushels. Flax, 14,870 acres and 20,729 bushels. Clover, 201,284 bushels of seed and 1,728,776 tons of hay. Timothy, 4 338 bushels of seed and 1,543,558 tonsof hay. Potatoes, J 7,306 acres, 2,216,130 bushels and 30.2 average to the acre. Tobacco, 7,150 acres, 3,3*2,148 pounds. There are 21,028,087 rods of drain tile in the State, an increase of 1,560,805 rods over 1886. The total drainage of the Stato is 65 712 miles. .Judge Taylor of the Marion Circuit Court ruled on demurrer Thursday in the case of Robertson, Lieutenant Governor, vs. Green Smith, and Messrs. Cooper and Black sureties on his bond, holding that the complaint showß v* cause of action. Originally, Smith filed iniunjrtioc proceedings ageinst Robert-

son to prevent, him from assuming theduties of Lieutenant Governor,to which he bad been elected,' and the suit was defended by Robertson to final action in the Supreme Court. Then Robertson brought suit against Smith, and the sureties on the injunction bond, torecover the expense to which he had been subjebted in the printing of briefs, employment of attorneys, etc, in fight ing the case, claiming $2,500 damages, snd to this a demurrer was filed alleging that it did not state facts suf- • . .vi* i •“ flcient to constitute a cause of action, being the assigned statutory cause. The precise ground of the demurrei was, however, that tha complaint did not ’show that thesole object of the suit was to settle the legality of the election for Lieutenant Gove - nor, and the injunction was a mere incident auxiliary to the main action. Judge Taylor, in his ruling,goes over the ground exhaustiveIy, ahcfhe”cont3lude3 with the expression that the facts stated in the com plaint and admitted by the defendant are sufficient jn law to constitute a cause of action in plaintiff, and the Court adds that there is now no necessity for atf expression of opinion relative to the merita of the original controversy. The decision is regarded as a victory for Robertson, and the case will be tried on its merits. The directors of the prison South have made their report, which shows an improved condition of affairs. Repairs 'and improvements were made costing $5,273.49. The directors find claims against the prison, incurred during the previous administration, to the amount of $14,621.50. The*" allowed $11,330.73, and referred $378 50. They also found back pay-roll claims of officers amounting to 18,738.59. Thb conduct of prisoners ... was found generally uellent; they are Well fed, well housed and comfortably bedded, and few complaints are made by them. A classification of convicts shows that 171 are confined for crimes against persons, IG4 of them for murder or manslaughter. Crimes arainst property number 327, while 40 are incarcerated in consequence of unbridled lust. The report also shows that 240 of the prisoners were under twenty-one years of age when sentenced. The prison is now about self sustaining for the first time in its history. When Warden Patten took hold the income trom convict labor was near $4,000 a month, now it is near $5,600, with ahout S2OO from other sources. The earnings per week average $1,350. Warden Patten states that he will hardiy use the entire appropriation of SBO,OOO for current expenses, and with what remains on hand will probably pay off one-half of the old, salar claims during the first quarter of ■ e fiscal yrar. During his administr ,on he has introduced a cheerful ature, the “musical hour.” Daring t .s hour, after the day’s work is done, the prisoners are permitted to play on musical instruments, and they gladly avail themselves of the privilege. It works well. Many of the prisoners prefer task work to day labor for the contractor, and being thus enabled to do extra work accumulate quite snug sums, the warden having now in his hands $3,000 belonging to convicts made by overtime.