Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1901 — INDIANA INCIDENTS. [ARTICLE]

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Bio; Machior Ditch la Opened—Fire la Clrcne Winter Quarter* in Pern— Crawford, vi He Wire Mill Burns— Odd Fellows Klect Officers. The big Machlor ditch in Laporte County, which has been under construction for the last eighteen months and which is. one. of the largest drainage canals la northern Indiana, Is completed. The ditch Is ten miles long and cost abouts $40,000. It begins near Thomaston and 1 the Nickel Plate Railway, and Joins the Kankakee river three miles from the Panhandle Railroad bridge. It is estimated that It drains and improves about 17,000 acres of land, although only 14,000 acres have been assessed for its construction. When the connection between the ditch and the Kankakee river was made the released water in the canal rushed down with such a velocity as to carry the big dredge into the river in spite of its heavy anchors, and in twenty minutes the water in the canal had lowered four feet three miles from its mouth, and five feet at the point where it joins the river.

Odd Fellow*’ Officers. The following officers were elected at the recent session of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows in Indianapolis: Grand Master, George P. Bomwasser of New Albany; Deputy Grand Master, E. E. Pryor of Martinsville; Grand Warden, Alexander Johnson of Fort Wayne; Grand Secretary, W. H. Leedy of Indianapolis; Grand Treasurer, W. H. Morris, Frankfort; Trustee, Benjamin Franklin of Indianapolis; Thomas R. Jessup of Richmond, Grand Representative to the next convocation of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, which meets in Des Moines, lowa, September, 1902. Wire and Nail Mill Burned. Fire started from a gasoline engine at the, Grawfordsviile wire nad nail plant, and in two hoars the entire establishment was in ruins, entailing a loss of $150,000. The plant was built by local capitalists last spring and was outside the trust. The wire drawing mill had been in operation only two months. The loss includes $50,000 of finished product awaiting shipment. There is but $25,000 insurance, distributed among several companies. One hundred and fifty men are thrown out of employment. The stockholders say they will rebuild at once. Elephants in Peril of Fire. The elephant barn at the winter quarters of B. E. Wallace’s circus at Peru was destroyed by fire, but the bulky animals were taken out in safety, although with considerable trouble. Fortunately the fire was confined to the one building and this prevented the destruction of a $5,000 hippopotamus and other animals that could not have been moved in time. The fire started in the hay mow of the barn, and seven elephants were taken out with live coals raining upon their backs.

Within Onr Border*. Michigan City has a Bueltzingsloewen building. Wm. Cromer. 35, Salem, was killed by the limb of a falling tree. Fireman David Shoemaker was injured in a wreck on the L. E. & W. at Lafayette. Benton Hough, Bloomington, tried to stop a runaway horse, and was seriously injured. Walter Bennett, Elwood, was perhaps fatally injured by a horse throwing him into a ditch. Fred Black, an'eroploye of Wallace’s circus, was ground to pieces under a train in Peru. Ernest Livezey, near Muncie, was perhaps fatally shot by his brother Joseph, while they were hunting. Nelson Williams, 67, a New Castle carpenter, fell from a scaffold and fractured the bones of both legs at the ankles. Charles Seegars, 30 years old, was almost instantly killed in an explosion at the Val Gruber stone quarry, eight miles south of Vernon, caused by a defective boiler. Jesse V. Bright, cashier of the Bank of Flora and son of R. K. Bright, president of the institution, was married in Chicago to Miss Theresa Cloidt. The bride is a musician of considerable note. Mistaking him for a burglar, John Cole of Plevna shot and mortally wounded his brother-in-law, Milton Kendall. Young Kendall had been out late and sought to enter the house without knocking. The people of Peru are proud that Captain Hiram Bearss, who has just been commended for bravery, is of that city. Tbe*young man has been reported as one of the leaders of an attack oa a Filipino stronghold in the Philippines. In the federal court at Indianapolis Richard C. Davis, bank cashier of Washington, indicted on the charge of embezzling $70,000 from the funds of the People’s National Bank of that city, pleaded not guilty through bis attorney, Smiley Chambers. Thirty ministers of St. Joseph County have adopted resolutions agreeing not to perform the marriage ceremony for divorced persons except where the decree was granted for biblical reasons, and where the facts arc positively known to the minister. A 50,000,000-foot gas well ha* come, in on the Hobbs farm, four miles south of Tipton. Gas was struck, the tools were thrown out, and the drillers had to run for their lives. The well is <*qual to if not larger than the Wallace well, struck near Fostoria, Ohio, seven years ago. Congressman Crumpacker settled the Hobart postofflcc squabble by deciding to retain Miss Jennie Spray, a cripple and a Democrat, as postmistress for the present. Elwood has cabled acceptance of ?-•>.- 000 offered by Andrew Carnegie, with condition, made, it is said, in deference to labor unions, that building shall not bear Mr. Carnegie’s name. The Farmland Natural Gas Company has developed a new oil field near Parker City, a gusher being drilled In the other night. In forty-one minutes the well spurted 300 barrels.