Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1899 — INDIANA INCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Natural Gas Cause. Fires—What Hoe Cholera Has Cost the Farmers—Grewsome Discovery by Bailroad Men— Cruel Mode of Revenge. Marion had six fires the other day. Seme were caused by increased pressure of the natural gas when the families were absent from home. One fire was in an empty dwelling which had contained no fire for a week, and was the work of an incendiary. The Kelley chair factory was slightly damaged. The most disastrous fire was the Boiler ice cream factory, which burned to the ground. The residence of AD bert Boiler, the proprietor of the factory, also burned, together with all its contents. The family was rescued by the neighbors, who broke the doors down and dragged them out of bed. Hog Cholera Costs Millions. A bulletin issued by the experiment stalion of Purdue University is to the effect that 900,000 hogs, valued at $5,000,000, have died in the State from cholera. The disease has been general over the State, but has subsided somewhat at the present time. During the past two years the station used 4,300 pounds of “guaranteed cholera cure” without finding a practical remedy in any one of them. Body in Box t ent as Freight. A mysterious box of storage freight was opened at Evansville at the Louisville and Evansville and St. Louis freight house, and a dismembered body was found. The head, legs, arms and a portion of the trunk were found. The box containing the cadaver was shipped to “E. L. Thurman,” from St. Louis. No such party can be found in Evansville. Tie a Horse on the Tracks. James Hannon went to a social function in Monroe township. When he wefit to get his buggy to go home he found it chopped to splinters. The leather parts were stripped and the horse was gone. He found it later tied in the center of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad tracks. A barb wire fence was constructed around it. The train was due in fifteen minutes. Within Our Border*. Elwood’s new high school building cost $53,000. A loss of $6,000 was entailed by ( a fire at Milford which burned the Cottage Hotel. Charles Hunt, who escaped from jail at Delphi a few weeks ago, has been recaptured. George A. Goodrich, prominent turfman, died at Shelbyville from paralysis of the heart.

Kittie Stephenson of Demotte, aged 10 years, was burned to death by fire from the kitchen stove. Henry Hyne of Stewartville has probably the largest hog in Posey County. It weighs 800 pounds. George D. Noise, aged IG, shot and probably fatally injured Ray Miller, a prominent citizen of Bridgeton. All the money necessary to construct an electric railway between Hartford City and Noblesville has been raised. Charles J. Fink, a contractor, was found dead at the Hotel Arlington in Goshen, having been asphyxiated by gas. At Marion, Miss Nellie Jacobs, 19 years old, while lighting a fire fell into the grate. She was seriously burned. At Shelbyville, Ada Henry was burned to death from a lamp explosion. Mrs. Richard Thurber will lose both hands. Van Patten & Kerr’s dry goods and department store at Anderson was destroyed by fire. Loss $40,000, insurance SIB,OOO. At Indianapolis, a company with $500,000 capital stock has been formed to develop the gold-bearing resources of Morgan County. Joseph Buskirk wrote to a cousin that he would come to Martinsville, the home of his wife and children, and commit suicide. He kept his promise. The William H. Neff washing factory at Cowan was damaged SIO,OOO by fire, with but $3,000 insurance. The fire started from an explosion in an asphalting vat and three men were slightly burned. Two buildings and the office were burned. After one week’s service as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Crawfordsville, the Rev. W. W. Hicks has resigned his charge, stating as his reason that he has received a call to the Baptist Church of Flint, Mich., which pays him SSOO a year more than Crawfordsville. At Brazil, F. O. Marshall of Sidney, lowa, died from erysipelas, said to have been caused by nursing his son. Young Marshall w’as so overcome by his father’s death that he will also die. The body of Joseph P. Patton, whose home is in Chicago, was found floating in the river near the city limits of Marion. Patton was an inmate of the national soldiers’ home there, and in November received back pension money to the amount of SSOO. On election day he left the home to go out near the entrance to vote and had not been seen or heard from since. While out hunting in the dismal swamp twelve miles west of Anderson, Frank Holbrook and others saw a man very coarsely clad and ill kept, come out of the side of a hill. He saw them and attempted to cover his trail. They went to the place and found an opening. On entering they found three large apartments under ground. A few moments later while Holbrook was in the passage the wild man returned. They glared at each other a few minutes and then, reaching out his hand, the stranger said: ‘‘Let ns be friends. You are the first man I have spoken to for twenty-six years.” Later he said that his name was Spitzmeitzer and that he was an exile on account of a love affair, which he refused to discuss. He said he was able to get a good living in his hermit life. Graham Kerr of Paris, Ivy., a student at the Tri-State Normal College at Angola, attempted suicide by shooting and will probably die. A man giving his name as H. T. Springer of Yorklynn, Del., walked into the city marshal’s office at Vincennes and gave himself up, saying he was wanted for absconding with S2OO belonging to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. He explained that he was station agent at that place and, getting hard up, ran away with the money. He said he had become tired and worn out dodging the authorities and concluded- to surrender. .