Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1898 — INDIANA INCIDENTS [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. New Supreme Court Decision Very Favorable to Laboring; Men—General Lew Wallace Challenged to Fight a Duel—Killed in a Laporte Saloon. Victory for Labor Men. _V The decision of the Indiana Supreme Court that a railroad company is liable for damages in a personal injury case, where the accident was caused by the negligence qf a fellow employe, is attracting attention. The decision upholds the constitutionality of the so-called co-em-ployes liability act passed by the Legislature. There is much rejoicing.among labor organizations over the decision, as they have been demanding the rule now laid down for many years, ,nnd succeeded in lobbying through tlie new law. The decision, attorneys point out, is contrary to the old common law rule, which up to this time governed in this State. In connection with the main decision the court decided that an employe who becomes a member of a railroad benefit association, and in doing so signs an agreement that he will not sue for damages in case of personal injury, does not bar himself from , the right to sue. Wallace Asked to Fight. Gen. Lew Wallace has been challenged to a duel by George E. Oakes of Indianapolis for remarks reflecting on Gen. George B. McClellan during a recent Lincoln day address, in which he said that Lincoln visited Harrison landing to prevent McClellan from surrendering the Federal army. Oakes served under McClellan. In a letter to Gen. Wallace he denounces the story as untrue and asks the hitter to meet him upon the field of honor, at such time and place and with such weapons ns the general may choose. Fhot n Fellow-Student by Accident. While several Valparaiso students were preparing to take a flashlight photograph of their room, Hayes T. Smart of Detroit, 111., entered the -room and Frank Rosenherger, a fellow student from Petersburg, 111., pointed a revolver at him as a joke with an order to throw up his hands. He accidentally pulled the trigger and Smart dropped to the floor with a bullet in his brain. Smart died foifr days later.

Victim’s Neck Was Broken. James McClelland, a laborer, was murdered in the saloon of Sehoof & Bark, in Laporte, his body being found in the rear yard of the place by Policeman Zees. The neck of the victim was broken by the force of a blgw on the head. The proprietors, William Dust, Bertha Krull, May Lewis and Blanche Cogle are in jail awaiting the sitting of the grand jury. Within Our Borders. Mrs. John Mille is heir to pu estate in New England valued at $200,000. Guy Van Tassel and Herbert Gorham sawed the bars to their cell and escaped from the Martinsville jail. George C. Bodge, a farmer of Delaware County, dropped dead on the street at Hartford City of heart disease. f The frozen body of William Burns, a prominent young man who lived near Columbus, was found along QJifty creek. • At Vincennes, Isaac R. Conway, an old soldier, and his family were poisoned by eating candy, said to have contained strychnine. ' j Mrs. Samuel Umbcnhour, a farmer's wife living near Fortville, drew SSOO from a battle. .She was robbed of the money and was probably seriously injured. The largo stock nml dairy ham belonging to George Sheets, west of Nora, was destroyed by fire, Sixteen line dairy cows and five horses were destroyed.

A buggy in which Col. Richard P. De Hart, the well-known lawyer, and Thos. Lonergn.ll were.riding was run into at Lafayette, badly injuring the occupants. Mrs. Frank Cory of Shelbyville is contesting the will of her brother, the late W. Scott Ray, tlie well-known newspaper editor, who loft a large estate to his four single sisters. The sophomore and freshmen classes of Wabash College at Crawfordsvilie have been having numerous “rushes.” In one of these skirmishes a sophomore got a shoulder broken and two others fainted. The widow of Oliver P. Morton, the war Governor of Indiana, and his son, Oliver T. Morton, have approved a plaster model for a statue of the late Senator by Sculptor Niehaus of New York to be placed in statuary hall, Washington.

A few days ago a mad dog was chased from Princeton to Hasclton, and on the way it bit many domestic animals. As a result there is a widespread hydrophobia scare and many horses, mules, cattle, hogs and sheep have been killed. Farmers are watching their stock day and night to prevent a spread of the disease. Mrs. Mary Beach of Porter County garnisheed the wages of Samuel Pomeroy, under the law of 1H))7. Pomeroy defended on till* ground that he is a householder and could claim exemption up to sfloO. The Porter Circuit Court decided against him and the Supreme C<*irt reversed the decision, holding the law constitutional, but iiiiisl Is* construed in connection with the exemption law. The l.’ulmer children, recently taken to the Mndisoii County infirniatory from Anderson, arc attracting a great deal of attention among Indiana medical men. The children are 10 and 12 years old respectively, and there seems to he virtually no connection between the brain and the muscles. They do not even have a desire to cut. When started to walking they will continue to walk until Htop[>cd, or if seated or standing they will stay that way until changed. They are considered freaks of the first water in every respect and are strange enigmas for medical men. This is one of the few known eases where animal* of high or low degree did not have desire for food. They demand constant eu re. In a head-end collision between two freight trains on the Chicago aud Calumet Terminal road, near East Chicago, Conductor Melvin Smith was killed. Fireman Funkhouscr and Engineer Golding escaped by juiitpiug. v A 2-ycnr-old daughter of W, n. Newkirk, a traveling showman of Kokomo, died from the effects of a gasoline explosion in the show wagon u few' days ago. New kirk Ad his frank show in one end of the wagon and his family in the other. Other members of the family were seriously hurt by the horses running awayj after the explosion.