Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1879 — SUSPICION OF FOUL PLAY. [ARTICLE]

SUSPICION OF FOUL PLAY.

It is horrible to be accused of murder. It is atrocious to charge an innocent person with the commission of this awful crime. It is cruel to lqy such an accusation at the door of a parent or child. It is fiendish to publish in the public prints repovts of this nature against people of highest respectability, without cause, reason or plausibility. It is dastardly and cowardly to publish them anonymously, liko an assassin striking from behind, stealthily, under cover of darkness. The Chicago Times of the 21st instant contains a telegraphic dispatch as lollows : Montickli-o, Ini>, February 20.— I Tlio town of Rensselaer is considerably excited over the sudden deutli of l)r. Moss, a few days ago. Suspicion of foul play is so strong that the citizens of that place are demanding an examination of the body. No name was attached to the dispatch, but it was sent abroad into the world to be copied, repeated and commented upon. People ajk one auother who was Dr. Moss ? They write to acquaintances here inquiring for particulars—when did he die? under whose treatment? what were his soeial relations? and a thousand others. Dr. Washburn, the local correspondent of the Indianapolis Journal, in yesterday’s paper gives a very concise and complete denial of the harmful part of the report to the Chicago 'Times, which the Journal had copied. Doctor Washburn says: Ttie item in the gleanings from exchanges concerning the family of Dr. Moss docs them a gr*at injustice. Dr. Ilarrv Moss had been an invalid for many months, having lind epilepsy, ills death was not unexpected to those w ho understood iiis case. Rensselaer is not at ail oxcited concerning liis death, and if any one lias demanded an examination because of foul play, y.our col respondent lias failed to hear it. . To this The Union adds that its editor has been intimately acquainted with all the parties most nearly concerned in the matter, for twenty-five years. Yotlng Dr. Moss, deceased, was a schoolmate of the editor, and the intimacy thus formed inejreaeejd rather than diminished with The Doctor had been afflicted with rheumatism a long while, for five or six years, some tiling like a year and a half ago the disease attacked his heart, causing epilepsy. Numbers of people are personally eoguiz ant of this fact, having frequently assisted him to his, office or home after lho convulsions hud seized Trim on the streets or at places P of business he frequented. To' alleviate the acute pain caused by his rheumatic affection, the ’ Doctor began using opium, and as the severity of his pain increased the anodyne doses were increased in size arid frequency, until under the combined! influences of disease and drug his mind-weakened and at times symptoms of,insanity were strongly marked. For four months immediately proceeding his death the young doctor had seldom left his father’s house in which he died. His father, Dr. "Gordon A. Moss, is a physician of more than thirty years experience. His long career in this community makes him one of the most extensively known of its members. Strictest integrity has ever marked his dealings with the thousands of people for whom lie has prescribed, and with whom he has been brought into contact. In the writer’s family lie'has hold the intimate relation of physician and personal friend. We know him to be as honorable,..as pure, as conscientious,ami. as - fender a tnatr as there is among our acquaintances. He attended liis son through lii.s fatal illness and was present by his bed when death relieved him of suffering. Dr. Gordon A. Moss, .is utterly incapable of the crime imputed to him by the innuendo of a coward, base poltroon and infamous liar. As Dr. Washburn writes, young Moss’s “death was not. unexpected to those who understood his case.” 7 Indeed the young man himself was well aware of liis'precarious condition and on many occasion* spoke, of it to his more iutimate friends, remarking that he was liable to be stricken down atmuy ,momauk. A case pni-allffl with this one occurred at Goodland only last week. The Goodland Register of the 21st instant records that Dr. J, 11. Mann, a prominent plivsiriiin ami hialily esteemed citizen of tills ' y KiifMeoly l»-t Weiim silny, of l-lieninatisin Sit the heart. Jin linssuil'ered with this ilisense for some time, lint liis death was very unexpected, as lie had been «bl<; to be around and had been out to his barn about an hour previous. There is nothing specially remarkable about these sudden deaths; they arfi of quite frequent occurreuce'.'antl' the medical profession have long sinegv ceased to regard them ns extraordinary or peculiarly They are hot surprised by them. Again quotiug from the Indianapolis Journal correspondent: Rensselaer is not at all excited over the death of Dr. Moss, and if any one has demanded ail, examination of the body because of foul play, »e have failed to bear of it. Feksidknt Mcpor of the ludianTtpoiis, DelphiC’hilngo railway, went <}pwn alppg;tho lino <Sn Tuesday to prospect for- 0 vigorous forward luoveyeilt when spring opens.

Dn. James RiToiif,y is authorized to receive contributions to the Morton monument fund. The board of managers, consisting of Gen. W. W. Dudley, lion. John C. New and Cupt. Charles Leo, have issued a circular announcing the determination of the board to abandon the original plan of an expensive monu ment and the adoption of nnothcr plan for the substitution of a life or heroic size statute in bronze, the cost of which will be $20,000. They urge upon all who were contemporary with, the times when Senator Morton wak gpvernUr of Indiana, and who were in sympathy with the vigorous and patriotic measures that made him conspicuous ns a statesman of far reaching power, to contribute sums of ten to fifty dollars each for the purpose .above named. For Governor.— The name of Senator J. H. Winterbothani is being mentioned in connection witii the democratic nomination for governor of Indiana. Without doubt the senator is well qualified to occupy the uubcrnntorial office. His strength of character, independence, knowledge of men, excellent practical sense and remarkable executive ability would make ids administration rank witii the liest Indiana lias ever had, if that of Governor Morton’s alone is excepted. But, in the judgment of an outside, independent spectator, those who are proposing Senator Wlutcrbotham’s candidacy for governor are neither disinterested friends nor wisest counsellors. If he will the senator may lie nominated for congress. If he is nominated for congress his probability of election is, to speak within bounds, as promising as that of any gentleman whom the democracy arc ■'llßeTylTr'unite upon; providing that the district remains as it is at present organized. The gentlemen who aspire to the democratic nomination for congress, as a vindication or to gratify vaulting ambition, understand that liejs a formidable competitor and would gladly start him upon a wiid goose chase. Aside from partisanship we believe that Senator Winterboth-j ;ut) Would represent the true interests | of the people who would be his eon- 1 stitueney as faithfully and us ably Us i any gentleman of either party of j whom we have knowledge, if exepp-1 tion is made of Hon. \V. 11. Calkins | who lias the advantage of the experC j enee of a congressional term. If by ! any mischance the.calamity of a democratic representative shook! befall our district, we prefer to have the misfortune mitigated and made as tolerable Us possible by tho ehoiee of a gentleniaii whoso mental endou£ ments and personal habits will not btr a disgraceful reflection upon the judgment of ttie voters of tile district. True Inwardness. —A democratic newspaper says ‘‘lf Morgan 11. Weir had not forced himself upon the detn-. ocrats of tliis district ii) 1873. when lie knew that lie couldn’t be elected under any circumstances, this district would be represented in the fortyfifth congress by a democrat.” The salient point itr this statement .is the unintentional admission that John Skinner, the national candidate frtr congress and whom the newspaper that makes this admission clandestinely supported, attempted to deceive (lie people by false pretenses of na’ tionulisfil to get into congress, and that the Valparaiso Mewenycr knowiligly and willingly abetted this attempted deception. Compared with men who \tould bo guilty of sucli practices Hon. Morgan H. Weir towers as u living monument of honor. The treatment which Mrs: Weir received at tlie hands of the democrats of Porter county was not such as to inspire for them the respect and esteem of gentlemen who admire honor .and fairness in politics, for it was treacherous, cowardly, mean. < A . Picture. —The governor of the great state oC Indiana, divested of coat and vest, seated upon the stage of a theatre with ids long spindle legs encirelitwaehair occupied by a female juggler, his bonv ft.ngeis pressing her voluptuous knees, and liis head bound UP in a napkin and encased in a tin railk paiit This was the classic tableau which a crowded audience beheld one night Inst week at the Indianapolis opera house. Such is the dignity that doth hedge about the democratic successor of Governor Hendricks I Never Said Them —Acknowledgment is made of the receipt from Senator Winterbothani of an engraving of the new state houso of Indiana that is in be! This fiattering mark of esteem convinces,us (shat the gentleman from Lnporte never said tlie nuughty things about editors which democratic newspapers have alleged ; at least be never spoke them of the editors of republican papers. jfifvEßTisKiw.-*Just new, when everybody else is quiet) Is the time for shrewd bu.vi ness men to advertise. People have leisure to read now, fuirt 1 but feW are pressing theif wares ui*o« j tlie attention of the pqfilic ,