Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1901 — RECORD OF THE WEEK [ARTICLE]

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERSELY TOLD. X I Keith Hanged in Michigan City Prison —Girl Found Lifeless tn an Orchard —A Madman Terrorizes Passengers— Girl Fulfills Death Visional Kokomo, Maintaining the remarkable nerve that characterized the closing days of the doomed man’s life, Joseph D. Keith shot through the trap of the gallows in the death chamber of the Michigan City prison at 12:10 o’clock Friday morning. Within twelve minutes the prison physician and his attendants anonunced that he had paid the penalty for taking the life of Nora Kiefer, near Elberfield April 10, 1899. Supported by two he was led from his cell a few minutes past midnight. As he mounted the scaffold, when the warden asked him if he wanted to make a statement, his month worked Convulsively and his voice was harsh and tremulous as he said he was a victim of enemies who had hounded him to his death. As he finished speaking the black cap was quickly adjusted and the trap was sprung. Keith made a complete confession of the murder before going to the scaffold. Girl’s Death la a Mystery. About daybreak Sunday morning the body of Miss Bessie Decker, aged 21 years, was found in an orchard in the rear of the family residence by her brother. The Decker home is in the edge of the woods northeast of Hartford City. When the family retired about 10 o’clock the previous night Bessie was playing the organ and singing sacred songs. When ■found the body was neatly dressed and on the head was a white fascinator. Investigation of the girl’s room disclosed the fact that her bed had not been occupied during the night and it is supposed that when she left the organ she went into the yard, but at what hour or whether for a clandestine meeting no one knows. There are no marks of violence on the body and the cause of death is shrouded in mystery. The girl’s mother and brothers are of the opinion that after she left the house she was taken ill and froze to death. The coroner thinks death was due to heart disease. Madman Amuck on Train. Passengers on a Big Four Southwestern limited train were terrorized by an insane man Who boarded the train a few miles out of Cleveland and became violent. Conductor S. F. Engle and several of the train crew attempted in vain to quiet him. Passengers left the car and. going into other coaches, demanded that the door be locked so that the maniac could not enter. A porter and a brakeman were put in charge of the man and did what they could to prevent him from demolishing the furniture. He was removed from the train by force at Union City and given over to the marshal. Stricken After Telling of Dream. Cecil Champ, a 10-year-old orphan at Kokomo, told her classmates at school of a dream, in which her mother (fame down from heaven and requested her to accompany her back to the celestial shore. Cecil, in the dream, consented to do so. An hour after telling of the vision she was taken violently ill and died in a few hours. She had been in excellent health. Cecil was a student of St. Francis’ Catholic Academy and lived with her aunt. Mrs. A. B. Coonfare.

Caught by Fallins Tin. r .Tames Ebert, a hot mill shearman at the Elwood tin plate mills, was caught by a bundle of plates weighing several hundred pounds that fell from a crane. It crushed him to the floor. His leg was broken in two places, and the bones were crushed. He may die. It is a miracle that he was not killed outright. State News in Briet. Mrs. Mary Pott, 63 years old, died at St. Mary’s Church in New Albany, while attending the burial services of her husband. Kenyon College has been made richer by an addition of SIOO,OOO to its endowment fund and a gift of $50,000 tor a new dormitory. Whitestown has put on her hustling raiment, and now is talking of incorporating. The town also wants an interurban electric line. In a quarrel ensuing from' the flourishing of a revolver in a football game at Terre Haute Louis Lemley shot Charles Wilson, causing a serious wound. George Brush, a farmer of Perry County,’ built a fire under a balky horse. Now Mr. Brush is sorry. The animal kicked the stuffin’ out of his new S2OO rig. The horse lost its tail during the conflagration. Seized by a sudden uncontrollable impulse, Elmer Montgomery of Logansport on his wedding day shot himself through the temple, dying within a few minutes without divulging the cause of his rash act. Sam Hollingsworth, Russiaville, cut down a hollow tree. When it fell, two bushels of apples and a brood of young groundhogs rolled out. The apples camo from Hollingsworth’s orchard, several rods away. Miss Floy Gilmore, the young attorney, who left Elwood three months ago to engage in law practice in the Philippines, writes that she has arrived safely, and is delighted with the coitntry. She has opened a law office in Manila. Miss Minnie Coddington, while being baptized by a minister of the Thorntown Christian Church, in some way slipped from his grasp and narrowly escaped drowning. She was rescued by the bystanders, aided by the minister, and physicians restored her to consciousness after two hours of hard work. The body of Joseph D. Keith, who was hanged in Michigan City prison, was buried in the Barnett cemetery, near Elberheld. A great crowd attended. A constable went to the home of Mrs. Frank Rubright in Evansville to arrest her on a warrant charging her with resisting an officer and she jumped into the cistern. She was rescued. ' J. R. Riley, Muncie, arrived home at an early hour from work Thursday morning, and found his wife and five children unconscious from escaping gas. Riley carried the members of bis family into the cold and revived them.