Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1896 — INDIANA INCIDENTS.' [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.'

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THIt PAStIWEEK. i ' Primary Teachers of Mancie Get Themselves in Hot Water—The Murder of Hesigr Curtis a Most Mysterious Affair. v. t . Children Lose Faith in Santa. Prof. .W. It. Snyder, .Superintendent of Public Schools at Muncie, finds himself in the unenviable) position of arbitrator, of a peculiar trouble between (he tenebers and the parents of the school children. It is a custom for the various classes to hold Christmas exercises each year just before she holidays. This year, just after the exercises closed, the teachers in tho lower grades informed the children that their enterprising papas and mammas had been imposing on them by making them believe there is a Santa Ola as, whereas he is only a mythical creation. The children went home with aching hearts and with tears in their eyes, feeling that Christmas had lost its charm for them. A few were so gloomy and despondent they refused to haye anything to do with their presents. The parents, arose in their indignation in a body v . They went to Supt. Snyder, and, after fxpiaining the situation to. him, demanded that the “heartless” pedagogues be dismissed. The Superintendent is perplexed as to what to do. The teachers intimate that a strike is not improbable should ho dismiss. the_nffenders. - Ou the other band, if he does not the parents say they will compel the-School Board, through public sentiment, to discharge them. The Casa of Hester Curtis. Thcre-is the material for a cause celebra in the mystery surrounding the murder of Hester Curtis at Lafavetre. The murder, which was discovered Sunday, is,thought to have been committed on the Friday or Saturday previous, and the circumstantial evidence thus far unearthed gives absolutely no clew to the murderer nave Ahat his motive was evidently robbery. Mrs. Curtis, who was known to be in possession of money derived from the sale of some property, lived in an isolated cottage in an obscure street. Her body, when discovered Sunday, was sitting upright in a chair, tfte head being beaten in with the blows of some sharp instrument. In the woman’s hand was Clutched her bank-book opened at the. page where her last deposit had been recorded. The theory is that the woman, iu trying to prove to the murderer that 'she had no money, with her, was showing her bank-book to him attlietimeThe fatal blow"fell". The facts certainly lend color to this view. There was silverware in the cottage, but the murderer, who had evidently ransacked the place, left it untouched. He was looking for money. The «ldfet plausible explanation is that the woman and her unwelcome visitor had an angry discussion in which she refused to comply with his demands for her money. Possibly there was also a slight scuffle when the robber started to make a search of the house for himself. As a proof that no money was iiv her possession she then got out her bank-book and sat down to show its pagqs to the thief. • While doing so tho thief, either because he feared further interference with his hunt of the house ,br because of baffled rnge, seized a weapon and killed her. It is in every way a most singular case, and one- winch may be expected to attract considerable attention. The manner of the murder, tho story told by the bank-book, the woman’s natural posture,, the length of time claps- _ ing between the murder and its discovery, together with the successful flight of tho murderer, combine to make it one of those cases whieh beeome, famous in the annals of an entire neighborhood. -» AU Over the State. The family of Amos Fry, near Boston, is in a terrible condition ns a result of impure vaccination. Mr. Fry determined to vaccinate his four children from virus taken from the arm of the neighbor. Tho children were taken violently ill and eruptions appeared over their entire bodies. Amy, 17 years of age, was compelled to have her arm amputated, and she probably cannot recover. All the children nro suffering from blood poisoning of a severe type and all of them may die. Physicians say that the virus’has permeated tlieir entire system and even should they recover they will bo physical wrecks. At Fletcher, a village in Fulton County, the wedding of Arthur Matthews and Miss Gertrude Ilecd was to havC taken place Tuesday evening. A number of guests had been Invited and an elaborato wedding feast prepared, but Tuesday morning,- when Mr. lined had prepared to accompany tu« pTryepecKve sou-in-law after the license, Mr. Matthews, the father of the groom-to-be, arrived and explained .that the ceremony could not be performed because Arthur the night before had, without bidding his relatives good-by, packed his clothing and left home, his destination being unknown. Miss Reed is heartbroken over the affair,-and both families denounce the perfidy of Matthews. W. C. Denny was arrested at Richmond recently by an officer from Manistee, ; Mich., on a charge of having obtained a loan of SIO,OOO from the Manistee na-. tional bank by false representations. The transaction took place-two --years ago,-’ when Denny was cashier of the First National Bank at Little Rock, Ark. Ho negotiated the loan for his bank on bonds of a Little Rock street railway. Tho bank and railway company both failed, aud it was alleged that Denny had represented them to have been solvent concerns. When Denny was nrreated his Richmond friends tendered both sympathy and financial aid, and prominent attorneys at both Manistee and Richmond were employed to look after tho case. Word was received from Manisfco that the motiofi to quash the indictment had been granted nnd tho ekse is at an end. Mr. Denny’s attorneys say that a heavy damage suit will be Instituted against the Manistee National Bank for unjust arrest. David Oliver Allen, of Ruskville, aged 77, who was sick with grip, grieved so hard when his mother-in-law, Mrs. Mary Osborne, aged 80, died as to cause heart lelliar e, aniTJ«r3ie3"a few bburs'aff«r lieik The funerals were held together. , - At Bristow Willie, tho 5-year-old son of Thomas McCnrrol, diet with a singular accident which will probably result in his death. The boy went tfc the pantry Iu search of a piece of pi* and being too small to reach it, fell against tbs door and closed it. The little fellow attacked by rats and the physicalug fang hydrophobia will result. . J