Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1907 — Indiana State News [ARTICLE]

Indiana State News

FIRE DESTROYS OPERA HOUSE. East Chicago Phone Girl Remains at Post While Building Burns. The Todd Opera House at East Chicago was partially destroyed by fire at 7 o'clock Sunday morning. The loss will be about structure and- burned fiercely several hours. It was necessary to summon the departments of Hammond and Indiana Harbor. The Amalgamated Association of Puddlers, Iron and Steel Workers’ local union held a smoker in the hall Saturday evening, and the fire is said to have started from burning cigars carelessly cast upon the floor. Ella Thompson, night operator of the Chicago Telephone Company, which has offices in the building. remained at her post until she had summoned assistance from neighboring towns. Then the falling of the rear wall forced her from the switchboard. The lower floors were occupied by the East Chicago Land Company and the First National Bank. The offices of the building were mostly given over to physicians and dentists and professional men. many of whom will suffer a total loss of their effects. Wins n Rhodes Scholarship. T.awrenc"eC.llun,Jr.,grandsonofDr. Nelson S. Darling of Laporte, has won a Cecil Rhodes scholarship, which entitles him tg four years’ study at Oxford university and an endowment of $1,500 per year -for his support—Hull is one of the youngest students ever graduated from the University of Michigan, where he is now a student in the law department.Lenses in Fabnlons Jump. Rich strikes in oil in Vigo county have convinced oil meh of a field this side of the Illinois field. A big boom has started with jumps in values of leases from 1 cent to hundreds of dollars. Crowds of oil men are coming from all parts of the country. Missing Engineer In Found. Samuel Reed, the veteran locomotive engineer of the Lake Shore road, who wandered away from Goshen on a recent morning while mentally deranged, was found walking toward Elkhart, partially recovered from his aberration. Coughs Up Tooth nnd Talks. Joseph Loder, a 12-year-okl boy living south of Terre Haute, who was stricken dumb eight months ago, coughed up a broken tooth and commenced at once to talk. Sleep Through Dynamite Crash. Dynamite was put under the house of John Taylor in Evansville and set off and the end of the building was blown out. Taylor and his wife, who were sleeping in the room, were not awakened. ----- Within Our Borders. A negro normal school was opened at Princeton March 1. It will be the only school for the negroes of the kind north of the old Mason and Dixon line. The plant of the Old Vincennes Distilling Company at Vincennes was partially destroyed by fire. The loss is estimated at between $150,000 and $225,000. George Bird, owner of a coal mine at Frapcisco, and John Skelton, a miner, were killed in the mine by falling slata Harry Lance and Oscar Brumfield, miners, were seriously injured. John Hart, 54 years old, despondent, committed suicide by hanging himself in his barn near Hagerstown. He was a bachelor with but few relatives, and a member of the Pythian fraternity. Mrs. Fred Schwomeyer and William Gill died from bullet wounds inflicted by the woman’s husband, who returned unexpectedly to his home at Ben Davis and found the two together. The two men had been close friends for years. Looking through a window he found his wife and Gill together and shot them. Big Blue river will be stocked with 5,000 small black bass in April. S. Herbert Morris has received this promise from the United States fish commissioner, and with a proper petition to the fish commissioner, signed by many of the farmers who wish to stock the streams on their farms, he thinks he may be able to obtain a few thousand additional. By their overanxiety to open the safe in a men’s furnishing store in Fort Wayne, a gang of robbers played with the combination, locked the safe door, and lost $l5O for themselves. The manager of the store had forgotten to turn the combination the previous evening, and the door was left open. Goods amounting to several hundred dollars were taken. Jack Stopher, aged 70, a farmer, attempted to commit suicide. He had made arrangements to meet his wife in Aurora for the purpose of looking at a number of residences for sale. Arriving before his wife, he went to Taylor’s livery bam, whore he fired three shots at his head with a 32-caliber revolver, one of which took effect. He may recover. It is thought that the idea of leaving his old home in the country may have made him despondent. Two weeks ago Stanton L. Dillingham, trustee of Pleasant township, died, and County Auditor Corboy appointed his son Clarence of Valparaiso as his successor. Later a suit was filed in the Circuit Court by residents of the township, alleging that Clarence Corboy is not a resident, and asking the court to enjoin the auditor from approving his son's bond, and to enjoin young Dillingham from assuming the duties of the office. There were eight candidates in the township for the. position. John Henry Rowe, son of Sir Henry Rowe of London, England, now working as a laborer in a little Indiana town, Ims made application to be restored to the English roll of skilled seamen. lie is a graduate of Cambridge. An affidavit charging Charles S. White and Thomas J. Mason with complicity in the wholesale forgery of Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern shop pay checks was filed with Mayor Russell in Washington. White Is in jail at Chicago and Mason is in prison at Joliet. Extradition papers will be served when the two men are hdeased.