Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 110, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1904 — RECORD OF THE WEEK [ARTICLE]

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERBELY TOLD. Mrs. Krauss llenies that She Hus Made Confession —Farmer Driven to Suicide by Bustle—Child Strangles to 'Death on Bean—Mill Dum Dynamited. Angry because a local paper published an alleged confession of Mrs. Rue Krauss to iter husband. W. R Krauss, that she sent after the strychnine which raus.M the death of her stepdaughter. Crystal. Mrs. Krauss called all the newspaper representatives in Hartford City tn her cell in the jail and made her first public stiuenuMit. "I have made no confession,’’ she said. "1 have no confession to make. When tile ease comes to trial the truth will all <•01111* out.- AH I ask is justice. 1 don't ask for anything else, I-have stood all the misrepresentations heretofore without complaint, but this lets gone too far." W. R. Krauss also said the published story of a confession was without thi‘ least foundation. Noise Drives to Suicide. (leorge Baldwin, 55 years of age, committed suicide in Marion by hanging, lie had been suffering from nervous trouble and guards were employed to watch hint, lie escaped from his guard and when his body was found hanging front the rafter of a small building life was extinct. Baldwin owned a farm adjoining the city, on which he lived. Twenty oil wells had been drilled on his farm, from which lie received a large revenue. He objected to tlie wells being drilled, but members of bis family insisted. lie was always annoyed by the noise and bustle on the farm and woiTied until ins mind was wrecked. Mystery in Marion Death. The decomposed body of Christopher Smith, 50 years of age. a retired merchant, was found in a vineyard near his home in the suburbs of Marion by two hoys who were getting some grapes. A bullet hole in his head made by. a revolver which was lying by his side indicated that lie bad shot himself. Members of liis family refuse to believe he committed suicide, but insist he was murdered and revolver left at his side to indicate self-destruction. Smith was in comfortable circumstances and there seems to be no reason for his having killed himself. Brains Father and Son. Charles Driscoll and his son, John, ofShelbyville are dangerously injured as a result of a feud of long standing between the former and Martin Hill. During a quarrel Driscoll called Hill an ugly name in the presence of the latter’s wife and Hill found an ax near, with which he split Driscoll’s head, felling him. John Driscoll, who ran to his father's assistance, also received a blow in the head. Neighbors rushed to the scene and prevented Hill from chopping his victims to pieces. The elder Driscoll will die, while the son may recover. Hill is in custody. Shot iu Dark) Slayer Unknown. John Wells of Cincinnati was shot from ambush north of North A'ernon, the wound proving fatal. Wells was on his way to Visit his wife and children on his farm when the shots were fired. lie staggered to the log cabin of William Barton, a farmer, where he declared he had been shot by some unknown person. He died five minutes later. Arrest Negro for Assault. A negro giving tlie name of William Staples, who assaulted and robbed Mrs. John Waddell, a farmer's wife, in a lonely spot near Crawforilsville on a recent night, was arrested iu Rochester and taken to Crawforilsville by officers. The prisoner had found employment with a gang of men paving the street iu Rochester.

Gather Kinli in liusketa. Unidentified parties dynamited the mill race dam at Millard, early, the other morning, completely demolishing the dam and ruining a 30-foot steel bridge. Farmers picked up tisli by the bushel basket full. The damage done will amount to almost $2,000. Ileun Strangles a Child. Mamie, the 2-year-old girl of Charles F. Lacer, a Boonville merchant, died from swallowing a bean which had become lodged in lier windpipe. One operation was performed, tint the tot strangled to death. Short State Items. Natural gas is still plentiful at Hart* ford City. Gasho family held a big reunion near Atlanta. Indiana remains the center of the nil industry. Kokomo papers arc complaining of hard times. Boone county farmers have raised a big tomato crop. William Dudley Foulke has returned to Kichniond from Kurope. Railroad may he huiltffrom Lagrange via Middlebury to Klkhurt. Cornerstone of a handsome school house was laid ut Mulberry. Yearly meeting of friends will take place at Pendleton next year. Miss Ethyl M., Peters, a Lnporte singer,. will study music in Europe. Twenty-sixth Indiana volunteer infantry held a reunion nt Kokomo. The fine court house now being built at Boonville soon will be tinder roof. Bessemer Gas Engine Company, Grove City, Pa., will locate at Muucie. Well-known llicbmond men have deckled to give a miniature Mardi Gras. A number of Filipino students will he enrolled at Indiana university this fall. Solomon Ball, a pioneer of Howard county, died at his home near Greentown. One hundred and forty-six members of the Hess family met iu reunion near Milford. A hot box eaused five box car* to burn up nt Royal Center, On the Pahhnndle switch. Henry C. Brown, 42. was kicked'by a horse at his farm near Muucie and died soon afterwards. William Hunkle, 91, one of the best* known pioneers iu Indiana, died at his home near Edinburg. Vincennes, West Baden ami I*ouisville traction line will he Installed soon, according to the promoters.

M uncle fair had a great attendance. Greenfield is t roiibleiL with agraashonper post. _ .. T’ljere are 57 vacant residences at Logansport. Presbyterians 'held a carnival tit Xoblcsvillc. ' - A. P. Twiueliam is the new Mayor of Princeton— Teter family held a big reunion near < loldsmitli. William V. (1 rose is the new Mayor of New Albany. Cambridge City men have organized a big oil company. Lewis Smith, one of Henry county's oldest citizens, is dead. Valparaiso people are fighting the pmpa'flltion for a street fair; Francis Randolph Detraz, 75, a pioneer of Switzerland county! is dead. Fred Kenny, a*. Lakoton silversmith, has disappeared from luis home. Natural gas at Carthage will be sold tm the meter system next winter. The Robert Binford family reuned in "Shady dale grove,” near Greenfield.' Fort Wayne has taken up the problem of the elimination of grade crossings. Many oil men are leaving Montpelier for the more profitable Delaware county oil fields. O. 11. Montgomery has been elected president of the Jackson County Bar Association. Old boys and girls of Adams township, Hamilton county, held a reunion at "Mahomet hill.” The controversy between the Seymour Telephone Company and its patrons hah, been settled. Miss Stella Homer, Lebanon, lias been appointed principal of the Manistee commercial institute. Mrs. William Shipman, Madison, fell down the cellar way of her residence and broke her neck. Capt. James R. Williams, former wharf master at Madison, was found dead at liis residence. Edward Wolfe, New Middletown, fell on a pitchfork, which inflicted an ugly wound in his leg. IT. TV. Lagow, one of the oldest hotel men iu southern Indiana, is dead at liis home in Princeton. llarry Stein, Clymers, has been appointed principal of tlie North Side school, Logansport. Dr. Allen B. Snyder, Fort Wayne, was terribly burned by an explosion of a vulcitnizer in his office. A movement has been started at Anderson to organize a State encampment of Knights of Pythias. Rev. Boles, an Anderson preacher, has challenged the Indiana Association of Spiritualists for a debate. F. M. Swearingen, Franklin, Pa., has accepted a position as manager of tlie Oliver Hotel, South Bend. Rev. li. E. Brown has arrived from Colorado Springs to .take charge at the Lebanon Christian church. It is asserted that for the first time in seven years the Edinburg races were a financial success this year. John Michaels, 11, rode from Crawfordsville to Lebanon crouched under the pilot of a Northwestern car. Rev. Isaac Duckworth, Needham Station, who founded the M. I’, church at the little town in 1850, is dead. Introduction of tomato peeling machines at the Polk factory, Greenwood, has put 300 women out of work. Gang of small boys at Kokomo is having fun with the fire department by turning iu numerous false alarms. , Charles Hartley, 30, lias disappeared from Terre Haute and the efforts of the police to find him have been unavailing.

Timothy Nicholson, Richmond, Iras been appointed one of the world’s fair jurors on the exhibit of social economics. Seymour business men and telephone companies have come to an agreement and the war between the two forces will cease. Thief who stole valuable silverware from Mrs. E. It. Lacy, Goshen, returned ft to the clipboard from which it was stolen. Madison county horse thief detectives have caused the arrest of Walter Rector, a well-known young farmer of Adams township. Frank Harrison, of the Kokomo police force, has resigned and will take a position with the Indiana union traction company. Toadstools came near killing four ifteurbers of tlu>* family of George W. Mains, Fort Wayne. They thought they were eating iflnshrooms. . Old soldiers of Knox county are preparing a petition to the county commissioners asking for a $25,000 soldiers' monument. Miss Edith ltnveuseroft, high school teacher at Vinceues, has inherited $25,900 by the death of a wealthy aunt- of New Albany. Mell Rynenrsou, Noblesville, will he put on trial on the charge of stealing funds from tli Noblesville camp of Modern Woodmen. While trying to hoard a train near Albany. William Evans, Fort Recovery, Ohio, fell under the wheels. His right arm was ground off. City Judge Feldman, South Bend, has tiled a petition with the county commissioners, requesting them to make provisions to work prisoners. While trying to imitate professional lire enters with cotton saturated with oil John Fenerbacher, aged 14, of Evansville, was probably fatally burned. James Slim, a second-hand dealer of Covington, lias invented a flying machine and intends to give the people of Fountain county a chance to see him fly. An attempt lo burn the bridge over Maumee rlvernorth of Shirley City wna frustrated by the timely action of a number of farmers of Maumee township. Robert Davis shot and killed John Swaney nt Ihigonia hi a duel over rent which Swaney wu trying to collect. As he <ippr<Mi<ihed the house Davis shot at him, but missed, and Swaney secured a rifle. He «ihot at Davis and missed and was then killed by a second shot from Davis’ gun. Ross, the youngest son of Albert Bias, died in Liberty and title parents and eldest brother of the boy aTe in a serious condition from eating a watermelon, which, it is supposed, had absorbed parts green which had been sprayed on it to kilt ji^ecta.