Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1905 — Page 1

THE RENSSELAER REPUBLICAN.

OL. XXXVIII. NO. 16.

A SURE SALE THIS TIME.

THE IBOQIJDIS DITCH IS SOLD RIGHT (ID SOLO WELL The Prices Nearly All Way Under The Estimates And Aggregate Fully $3,000 Less Than The August Sale. A big crowd of bidders and interested property owners assembled in the east court room Friday afternoon, to participate in or witness the sale of one of the greatest and most expensive ditching enterprises ever carried to a successful termination in northwest Indiana. Namely the Iroquois River ditch, an enterprise w’hich the viewers, estimatod would cost some $150,006. The sale' was conducted by Myrt B. Price as Engineer, and Attorney W. H. Parkinson as auctioneer, with S. C. Irwin assisting the engineer in keeping the minutes, and County Attorney Marshall advising the auctioneer. The sale was conducted in a plain straight-forward way which the law seems to contemplate, namely offering each allotment first by number, which was of course a mere formality but ordered by the law, and then selling each working section by itself.

The entire rock work with the dirt above and between was sold first. There are 58,000 cubic yards of this rock, and 25,365 cubic yards of this dirt. The viewers estimated the rock at sl.lO per cubic yard and this dirt at 25 cents. At thebeginning of the sale it was stated that the successful bidder must waive all ownership in the rock after it was taken out, the same being reserved as the property of the improvement. To start this bid Judge Thompson offered to take it at the viewers’ estimates. The next bidder was Stewart & Brother a cent lower on each. The bidding went very slow for a time, and it began to look as though the outside bidder.* had formed a combination and divided the work. However it such was the case the combination was soon smashed by the commend ible aclion of home bidders. Granville Moody began to bid and the pi ices began to come down rapidly C. 11. Sternberg & Sons then began to bid, and very soon it was he and the Stewards for it. They worked down gradually, often a tenth of a cent at a time until Sternberg bid 80 cents for the rock and 114 cent for the din above the rock, and Steward said “let him have it,” and the' auc tioneer knocked it off to Sternberg. The rock is sold for 20 cents a a yard under the estimate and 71 cents less than at the attempted sale in August. The dirt at 13. cents less than the estimate, and 2 cents more than in August The total contract price of this section, including dirt and rock, is $19,317. This is $14,054 less than the viewers estimate and $3,597 less than tinsame work sold for to Stewart & . Son, in August. The work is to begin within two months and be finished in 12 mouths barring unavoidable delays from bad weather. The stde of the dredge work then followed. The first section sold was the main ditch from the upper end of the rock section to the Davisson Lateral. Sternberg & Sons were again the successful bidders, at 6.24 cents per cubic yard. Tae next lowest bids was by Stewar 1 & I r ther at even 61. The cubic yards are approximately 535,000 which would make tl e contract price $33,384. Before, this same work was bid off at even

main ditch from the Davisson Lateral to the Monon railroad bridge, near Parr. It was bid off by Mr. Hathaway of Winamac, for Sternberg & Sons, at 5.36 cents per cubic yard. The next lowest bid was A. V. Farmer at 5.361. There are approximately 150,000 yards in this section, and the contract price is SB,OIO. Before this was sold at 6 cents, the saving being $960. The next section sold was the main ditch from the railroad to its upper end at stake 0. It was bought by A. V. Farmer, at 5.99 cents per cubic yard. This work was bid off before at even 6 cents. The saving is only about sls. The Pinkamink Lateral,of 31,325 Cubic yards, was sold to the Sternbergs, the only bidders, at 8.95. cents. This is 2.25. cents more than before, making a loss this time of $704. ( The Gifford Lateral, 39,239 yards was sold to Sternberg, at 9 cents. Previous price 7.70. Loss on this $902. | The Davisson Lateral was sold to Stephen T. Comer, of Union, at 625 cents per cubic yard. Next lowest bidder, A. V. Farmer, at I 6.49 cents. Cubic yards in lateral 74,650. The former price was 8.15 cents. Saving on this lateral sl,418. Other small lateralsand branches were’bid off by D. H. Yeoman, S. | P. Thompson H. B. Kurrie, and ( Sherman Thornton. The prices j were practically the same as sold for before. The total of all the savings mentioned above is $5,990. The total of all the losses is $2,890. This gives a net saving over the former attempted sale of $3,100. But the figures are are somewhat hastily prepared and may vary a little either way, from the official figures. The firm of C. H. Sternberg and Sons, who have the great bulk of the work,are welland widely known in this region and have been carrying numerous similar contracts for many years. Until the present year they lived at Winamac, but lately have moved to South Bend as a more central point. The nearest extensive contract they have c irried out here is the Kent or Curtis Creek ditch, which they carried through with great expedition and to the complete satisfaction of the property owners. The next largest contractor A. V. Farmer, lives at Royal Center. He is now completing the Garrison ditch,l in this country, ami he also has evidently given perfect satisfaction in his work. All these contracts amount to about $123,000, or some $26,000 less than the viewers' estimate. The possession of the excavated rock is still to be disposed of, and will probably be left to the county commissioners. if it can be brought about in any way, it would eem that Rensselaer and Marion township would be the proper parties to acquire this rock ownership. The contracts are being signed up and bonds given in good shape, md at last it looks like the big ditch was finally on the way to sure and early construction.

Home Talent Entertainment.

Be sure to attend the Home Talent Entertainment at the Court House on Friday evening. Mr. White and other entertainers will please you. The price of admission is 25 cents, children 15. Benefit of the New Christian Church building.

Kountry Kid Homing.

All theatre-goers «iill undoubtedly be delighted to lie enable to witness the most genial of r\ll comedy creations. “A Country Kid” presented by Nesbitt Scoville and his excellent company when it app< ars at the ..pera house Thursday "night Oct f th:

ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY. THE FRIDAY ISSUE IS THE WEEKLY REPUBLICAN.

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, TUESDAY,. OCTOBER 2, 1905.

Young Clary’s Sentenced Suspended

Judge Palmer called Homer Clary, the amatuer boy forger from Seafield, before him Thursday, and after informing him that under his plea of guilty the lightest penalty would be a sentence~in the Jeffersonville reformatory of from two to fourteen years, he passed that sentence upon him and then suspended it during good behavior. They boy went home with his father, and both promised he would resume his attendance at school, and be an entirely good boy hereafter. He is only 17 years old, and until the law [was recently changed he would have been sent to the reform school at Plainfield, rather than to the re formatory. The Judge gave the boy a good lecture, which would have been a good thing for any naturally wayward boy to have listened to. The sentenced stands over the boy and if at any time, his conduct is not w r hat it should be Judge Hanley can send for him, and com mithim at once to the reformatory, without further trail.

Durbin Divorce Case Dismissed.

The divorce case of Mrs. Mary Durbin vs Burley Durbin, a Carpenter township case, was before Judge Hanley, Saturday afternoon. Owing to the failure to have witnesses to establish the fact of Mrs. Durbin’s residence in state and county for the length of time the law requires, the case was dismissed. However it has been refiled and probably next time the plaintiff will meet with better success. The plaintiff’s attorney declared that one of his witnesses, whom he depended upon to establish the fact ofhis client’s residence, had got mad abont something and ex perienced a convenient lapse ol memory when called to the witness stand, and “didn’t know where she lived.” But such things will occur in the best regulated divorce cases.

Jud Adams, who had become the veteran drayman of the city, has just sold his outfit and busiuess to Everet Warne, of Parr, who has alreidy taken possession of the same. Stout Dave McConahay, alias Shorty, will remain in the employ of the new owner, to lift the big weights no one else cares to tackle. The sale was negotiated by Bruner & Hamm’s agency.

Still another of the early settlers of Gillam township has passed to his long rest. It is Elias Faris the oldest surviving member of the Faris family. His death occured Sept 24, at the home of his son, Capt. B. R. Faris, after a long sickness. His age was 88 years, 10 months and 29 days. He had been a resident of Gillam Tp., since 1854. He leaves one son, fourdaughters, 24 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren; also two brothers. The funeral was held at Independence church the Tuesday following his death. He had been a member of the M. E. church for 54 years.

A Former Resident Dead.

Mrs. Levina Hopkins, widow of the late Wm. Hopkins, died Sunday at her home in Chicago. She and her husband lived here for many yeurs, The remains will be brought here for burial, but no definite announcement of the time and place of the funeral could be made when we went to press.

Sept. 29 George Elmer Salrir, Jasper county, age, 21, farmer, Ist, marriage; to Maude Petr rson, Jasper county, age 16, first marriage.

Jud Adams Sells Out.

Death of Elias Fans.

Marriage License.

A GREAT SHOOTING TOURNAMENT.

At the shooting tournament given here by the Rensselaer Gun Club last week, under the management of Everett Brown, some cf the best amatuer and professional target shots in the country, were present, and 19 out of 24 shooters made scores of 90 per cent, or better. Chas. G. Spencer of St. Louis, Mo. made a run of 241 without a miss including extra events after the program. E. Brown made a run of 118 without a miss. Mr, Barkley from Chicago was- high gun with the good score of 391 out of 400 on 971 per cent. In the eight county badge race Chas. Peck from Remington won. Peck, Brown, Burnham and Park broke 25 straight and in the shoot off at 15 targets Peck won with straight scoje, Brown 14, Burnham 14, Peck 12.

SHOT AT BROKE P. CENT Barkley 400 391 97t Spencer 400 388 97 Reid 400 390 97$ Brown 400 3£5 96 i Reihl 400 372 93 Stannard 400 382 951 Vietmeyer 400 375 93i Burnham 400 369 92 i Park 200 189 94 i Peck 200 188 94 Zea 200 169 84 i Mullen 200 185 92 i Spinney 200 184 92 Laume 200 184 92 Blistaiu 200 173 84$ Benner • 185 174 94 1-5 Nichols 17b 145 85 1 5 Humston 170 145 85 1-5 Corey 105 96 91 Rice 200 281 93 1-3 Rees 300 276 92 Ferris 230 281 91 1-3

Wm B. Donahue Jailed.

Wm. b. Donahue, the well known northwestern land agent and steady boarder w r here at the Madame Brown place in the east part of town, was arrested here this, Monday forenoon, and placed in jail, by Sheriff O’Conner. He is wanted at Winamac on the charge of passing a fraudulent check. The Pulaski county sheriff was expect ed to be after him this evening. It is related by one well informed in matters of those social circles that Madame Brown 1 when informed by telephone ofthejailing of her star boarder, indulged in no tears nor lamentations, but instead declared thats where the ought to be However we do not vouch for tin accuracy of this statement.

Accept Call to Rensselaer.

A call extended by the Rensselaer Presbyterian congitgatibn to Rev. J. C. Parrett to becopie their pastor has been accepled and Mr. Parrett will enter upon his pastorate there Sunday Oct. Bth The church is one of the wealthiest and largest of that denomination in this district but they had been without a regular minister for some tune, and the call may be considered a promotion but it is one that will not l>e misplaced. Mr. Parrett is a young man of more than ordinary ability as a preacher and is one who will rapidly gain friends by his sociability and friendliness. His friends can well congratulate him on his prospects and the Rensselaer presbyterians on their good fortune in calling him. —Wolcott Enterprise.

Al Cowgill Sells Out.

A. B. Cowgill, the undertaker, has sold his stock and business to his competitor, W. J. Wright. It is MrCowgill’s intention tocontinue the same business in s< me other town. The Wrights, son, father and grandfather; have been undertaking here for 65 years, and in all that time they have bought out every competitor who has started in busii < as against them.

T’was In The Mild September.

One the whole “Mild September’’ just ended lived up to its reputation in matter of mildness although it started out in anything but that condition. Thus the first three days had 2t inches of rain, and 2$ inches of it came in one<* day. After that there was i an inch on the 10th, 1-3 ofaninchon the 16th, a light shower on the 12th. All the rest of the month w r as wholly rainless, except the merest sprinkle on the very last day. For the entire month there was 3.69 inches of rain. There were 12 clear days, 11 partly clear and 7 wholly cloudy. Probably the state records will show it was an unusu lly warm month. Thus, there were 23 days with temperature of 75 degrees or above, and of which 11 reached 80 or above and on the 28th, was the record breaking heat of 91 degrees. The lowest temperature was 40 degrees on the day before the hottest, with 40 degrees. Those who thought they saw a light frost on the 24th, were undoubtedly deceived by a very heavy dew. The great difference between day and night temperature during the latter dry half of the month was a very notable feature. This difference of temperature often exceeded 30 degrees, and on the 28th, was the phenomenal range of 43 degrees. A daily difference never recorded here before in fair weather.

He Passed Himself Off For Eis Own Grand-Daddy.

The Welshes of Jordan all look the same age after they get whiskered out, except perhaps that some of the older ones look younger than some 'of the younger ones. This family peculiarity of personal ap pearance resulted in an amusing incident at Remington some time ago. As is generally known Uncle Henry Welsh now lives in Reming ton, while his lively and humorous son Frank still lives in Jordan, •tome time ago Frank took a load of grain to Remington, and found a stranger in chargeofthe elevator While he was still on the wagon, waiting for a chance to unload, h< got into conversation with the elevator man, and the latter asked if Frank was any relation to Henn whom he had got acquainted with “Well I guess so,” says Frank, heisasonof mine,’ The elevator man was greatlj surprised that the father of a man so well along in years as Henry should still be so hale and vigorous in appearance. But Frank assured him he was not near so spry as he looked, ai d when he got down from the wagon, he did so with great ciution, and took pains to keep his back well humped over. The elevator man then told him that the wagon dump was out ol fix and that the grain would have to be unloaded by hand. However he said it would be a shame for so old a man to do the work, so he drove the wagon around and scoop ed out the whole load himself while Frank sat in the .shade, and chuckled.’ After he got his money he went up town and circulated the story: and it cost the elevator man a whole lot more than his profits on the load, to “squai v it” with his friend-.

Death of A Former Resident.

Ancil B. Downing, a former well known resident of Jasper county, died a hh home near Little River Kansas., Sept. l*>th. aged a little over 62 yeirs. He (moved to Kansas in 18S1, previous to v hicii time he ha 1 l>een a resident of Carpenter Tp.. this conntv. for many years. He was a member of the 10th, Indiana regiment in the civil war, and served for three ' ea t *

Old Time News

Facts from Jasper County's First Paper. February 2nd, 1864

The editor heralds the advent of several new advertisers with the sage and still applicable iemark that liberal advertisers are the best men to trade with. They, go in for quick turns and small profits, and believe in the “live and let live” principle; while non-advertisers are men who think the only sure policy is “keep all you get aud get all you can.” The scarcity of houses was preventing people moving here, and it would be a safe and profitable investment if people aide to build would do so, and thus add to the prosperity of town and county. The editor had just learned that the common pleas court, which adjourned two weeks before, had sent the young man detected in passing counterfeit money to prison for two years. The editor did not take the trouble to learn the young man’s man’s name, and disposed of the whole matter in six lines. R. Weston, one of the town’s founders, wrote from Metuchen, N. Y., enclosing as 2 bill. Of this $1.50 was for the paper one year and the balance the editor was to “set-em-up” with atGodard’soyster saloon, either to Clerk Spitler or Auditor Bruce. The editor announced that he would have them both there, and they would have a regular “bust.” We fear the whole $2 was bio wed in, on that occasion. An item from the Council Bluff’s “Bugal” said the county had voted SIOO,OOO to the proposed transcontinental railroad, and the whole state of lowa would take upwards of a $1,000,000.

Wm. Kerns, who had made the journey clear to Oregon with ox teams, had written a long letter to A. 8. Tharp, dated Portland, Ore. Nov. 8, 1853. He liked the country and climate immensely, and his letter, with a few corrections to •ring it up to date, would make a good Oregon boomer’s letter to this lay. He quoted some prices then prevailing ther e. Wheat and corn 32.50 to $3.00 per bushel. Oats ind potatoes $1.50 to $2.00. Oxen 3200 per yoke. He had worked three months in Portland at $5 to 37 per day. Samuel had been geting S7O per month and John was a book-keeper at SIOO. Minister Soule was reported as having fought another duel at Madrid on account of the remarks regarding Mrs. Boule's dress at a hall. Mr. Soule was reported kill’d this time, —but he wasn’t and lie too lived to be a perniciously ictive Johnny Reb a few years later. « Although only 6 lines were devoted to local news, a column and half article was copied from the Detroit Free Press describing a great celebration there of the opening from Chicago to Niagara of the Great Western Railway. A load of the authorities of Chicago were present. ** The new ads boasted by the ed. tor were one by Isaac L. Stanley, who had osage orange plants to sell, for hedges; ami one by Chesnut & Babb who had opened a cabinet business and especially always had all sizes of coffins constantly on hand. Also one by Ayers & Co. of “Morocco Jasper Co. Ind.” They sold everything of course, r as all merchants did in those days.

Band Concert This Week.

The Rensselaer Band, weather permitting, will give at other open air concert on Thursday evening of this week. An interesting and welt selected program will be executed. Try our Snow Flake flour, every sac . guarantee d onl\ 91.20 a sack. Laßue Bros.