Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1909 — Page 1

THE RENSSELAER REPUBLICAN.

VOL. XLL

CONTRACT LET FOR CONSTRUCTION OF INTERURBAN.

Work to Begin at Battle Ground and Continue Towards Rensselaer — Other Line to Be Built Later. At a meeting last week the contract for the construction of the interurban road which is to run through Rensselaer was let by the Northwestern Indiana Traction Co. to the LaSalle Construction Co., of Chicago. This is a firm of big railroad contractors. The contract with them provides for a complete system, the power houses and all equipment being provided for in the contract, so that when the contractors complete theirwork the company will be ready to befein running trains. The company is busy now securing the right-of-way, and as soon as this work is completed the work of construction will begin. It is the intention to begin work at Battle Ground apd work nQFth_Qji_tlils.. line, building to Reynolds, Wolcott, Remington, Rensselaer, and on north. The Monticello-Logansport branch will be constructed later. The contract with the construction cpmpany provides that the road must be completed through the different towns and cities in the time provided for in the different franchises. So far franchises have been secured at Logansport, Monticello, Burnettsville, Reynolds, Brookston, Chalmers, Remington, Rensselaer, Lowell and other points north of hefe. The Tippecanoe and Newton county commissioners have granted the company franchises for those counties. At Wolcott the franchise has. not

yet been passed, as the council there is holding up the matter in order to . give the citizens an opportunity to secure a more favorable route through the town than asked for by the company. This route is now obstructed by an elevator company, and it is hoped to induce the elevator people, to vacate this right-of-way in favor of the interurban. t The company has decided on the Washington street route through Rensselaer, and unless plans are changed the road will cross the river at the Washington street bridge and pass tire full length of that street . The company has not yet decided whether there will tye two power houses or one. If two are usod they ' will be located at Reynolds and St, Johns. Ilj only one is used it will be located at Rensselaer. 4fc-is probable, however, that two power stations will be used. It looks as if this company means business and that the road" will be in operation before many years.

Patrons of The Princess Treated To Surprise Monday Evening.

There was a surprise in store for those who attended*the performance at the Princess Monday night. The house had been thoroughly remodeled between the time of the Saturday night performance and the opening of the house Monday evening. A neat stage with drop curtains had been erected and dressing rpoms built on the west side of the stage. The walls have been repapered and handsomely decorated and it would now be hatd to find a prettier moving picture theatre' in the state. For the opening Manager Phillips had provided an extra attraction for three nights, closing with the performance of Wednesday evening. Prof, and Madam Haney were the extra attractions in their posing acts. This is a very beautiful performance and pleased the audion"'o immensely.

Lowell High School To Meet Our Football Boys Tomorrow.

For a great many years football has been a feature of Rensselaer Thanksgivings and Jarge crowds always assemble at Riverside field on that day. Tomorrow another big game has been arranged for, and our local high school gladiators will bo opposed by the Lowell high schooT and a large crowd is expected to be present to see the game if the weather is agreeable. The game will be called at 2:30 o’clotk, and thus everyone will have a chance for a little rest gfter their turkey dinner.

Menn for Thanksgiving Dinner nt Fate’s Model Restaurant, 85c. Turkey and Dr ssing. Scalloped Oysters. Mashed Potatoes. Celery, Cranberry Sauce. Mince and Pumpkin Pie. Coffee, Tea or Milk. Why buy turkey at 20c per pound when you can get all of the above at Fate’s Restaurant for 36c. GEO. FATE, Th' Fat Dinner Man. When the blacksmith starts to doctor up a broken-down wagon he doesn’t say, “stick out your tongue." The rural mall-box Is a sort of postoffice on one leg. * A man cannot enter the straight gate without leaving behind him everything that is crooked.

First Steps Taken Towards Organizing Boy Band.

• At the band meeting last evening called by Prof. Otto Braun, the preliminary steps were taken for the organization of a boy band in Rensselaer. Seventeen, young fellows enrolled as members and it is thought there will fee no trouble in organizing a band of at least thirty members, but even if no more join Rensselaer is assured of a good band for next year. Another meeting will be held Wednesday evening at the Armory to secure additional members and to devise means to secure band instruments. The following are the members enrolled to date: Ed Robinson. Don Wright, Jake Moore. John Moore. George Healey Cecil Lee. Archie Lee Floyd Conoway Ed Watson. Edward Honan. John Shesler. George Babcock. Bradford Poole. John Horton. Forest. Morlan. John Knox. Herbert Hammond.

Further Investigation of Auto Mystery Still Being Made.

Sheriff Shirer returned from DeMotte Monday evening, where he had been to investigate the automobile mystery at the Justedt farm. He refused to talk far publication, but stated that he had learned the number of the automobile, and that the evidence he uncovered Monday tended to incriminate certain persons. He returned to the north end Tuesday to make further investigations, and a telephone message to the Republican from Shelby that day stated that the river near there is being dragged for new evidence. The Republican editor went to DeMotte Monday afternoon to investigate the mystery. The following dispatehfrom~HamTncnci Monday to the daily papers, if correct, clears up the mystery, but the officers are evidently not accepting this story as the solution of the matter. The dispatch is asjfollows: The Kankakee automobile—mystery seemingly is ent-rely cleared. Information cam. to’sfiifiriff Thomas Grant today that't machine belonged to a Chicago imui named Smallcy7“He is “a jeweler ami has a store in’the downtown business district. He says that four weeks ago the machine was taken'from' a garage by two of his friends, who went on a “joy ride” unknown to him. They wrecked the machine and to erase ati evidence of their guilt, decided to destroy it. One of the two came back to the farm of William Justedt hear Water Valley for three nights and instead of repairing the machine as he told the farmer lie would do, he took it apart, buried parts Of it in the ground and others in the grain in the granary. The wheels and cylinder he carried to the nearby Kankakee river. When the news of the discovery of the auto wheels went out the two friends of Smalley became frightened and fearing detection went to him and made a clean breast of the affair and offered to settle with him. He will not divulge their names. He said the auto was worth $2,000.

Dimon Brought His Prisoner Here But Did Not Prosecute.

Tom Dimon, of Gillam township, found; his erring daughter and her sweetheart, Mart Mansfield, at Scfilth Pend, and arrested them. He arrived in Rensselaer Tuesday afternoon and was prepared to prosecute Mansfield for kidnaping his daughter. The girl, however, said that she would stand by Mansfield and there seemed to be no, ■case against Mansfield. Friends of the father wanted him to let them get married but he "would not do it. Finally Dimon took his daughter and went back to Gillam township and Mansfield remained in town over night and the next morning appeared before Justice Irwin and made application for his release. As he was already free and no bond had been required the Justice told him that there was nothing to keep him from going and lie left feeling happy. The girl declares that she will go to him, and pa Dimon might as well relent now a 4 later on. < „ ' " -Hl* Hill! I ■■■ I .

Special Prices.

10 barrels fancy Jersey sweet-po-tatoes at 2c a pound. 10 barrels fancy jumbo cranberries at 8 cents. 50 baskets Now York Concord grapes at 25 cents. Nice Florida oranges, 18c a dozen. Fancy grape fruit, eating apples, head and leaf lettuce and celery. JOHN EGER.

H. E. Bucklen,*%f Elkhart, states that he has already put into his Valley Line Interurban railway over |l,000,OOQ. Construction cost him |15,000 to $20,000 per mile. The kind of giving upon which God premises a blessing is the kind that is willing to 'give some of its own blood. ( Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to.

ISSUED TWICE A WEEK—TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. Entered January 1, 1697, as second-class mail matter, at the post-office ait Bensselaer, Indiana, under the act of March 3, 1879. • —.-- *

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 26, 1909.

STILL A MYSTERY; Mrs. JOSTEDT’S STORY

Woman Claims No Knowledge of the Machine’s Destruction and Talks Freely With The Republican’s Reporter Last Tuesday.

The Hammond Times story about the Kankakee automobile having belonged- to a Chicago man named Smalley and having been stolen and wrecked by acquairitances who later confessed their guilt and proposed to make good by repaying him’, is now not thought to apply in the Keener township and Kankakee river mystery. Sheriff Grant, of Lake county, went" to Chicago and there learned that Smalley’s machine was a very different one from the one destroyed on the Jostedt farm. Convinced that this was not Smalley’s machine and that no light was in that way thrown on the mystery Sheriff Grant has decided to continue his investigations in the Jostedt home and at Water Valley. The editor of the Republican went to DeMotte Monday evening and early Tuesday morning went to the* Jostedt home and secured a very well connected story from Mrs. Jostedt. The woman had not yet arisen from her bed* MJhen the writer rapped at the door. The rap was greeted by several gruff barks from within and a Second rap was needed to receive response from the occiipants of the little house. Mrs. Jostedt asked who was there and when informed -stated that she would dress and then admit her caller. Soon the door was thrown open and the writer invited in and Mrs. Jostedt built a fire in the room that is used as a . parlor. It is the largest of the four rooms in the house and was plainly but comfortably furnished. Mrs. Jostedt said, ‘7l presume ycu are -here—to look after that -automobilematter, also?” When answered affirmatively she said that she was willing to talk about it and to tell every- : thing she knew. The following is her story as elicited by the reporter’s inquiries: s Four weeks ago last Saturday Fred Gage, a. chauffeur for a wealthy woman named Bethsinger in Chicago, in company with a man whose name'she afterward learned to be Woods, went to the place where Mrs. Jostedt’s grass-widowed daughter, Mrs. Lottie Hopkins, worked and asked her to go riding in an auto that was supposed to belong to Woods. She accepted and they went to Pullman, 111., where Tony jostedt works, aud he joined the party and they started for the Jostedt home in Keener township, 2Vi miles south of DeMotte. They reached the Jostedt home at 11 o’clock Sunday morning, having had a great amount of trouble enroute, according to the members of the party. There was no top on the machine and it had rained’ and snowed during the night but the members of the party had not sought shelter at any place but had kept going throughout the night, notwithstanding the fact that it rained and snowed. They stated that -when two miles out of Lowell they had run out of gasoline and that two of the men had to walk to Lowell for gasoline. Mrs. Jostedt said that she had never

met the man who was supposed to j own the machine, but was introduced. to him as Mr. Woods. Mrs. Jostedt’s I daughter, who is about 15 years of age and lives with her mother, stated I that she thought some of the others i called the stranger Mr. Kersey. He was a large man, weighing 225 pounds or more and was a nice looking and well dressed man. He was much affected by the long, cold drive and it wav feared that he was going to be sick, but he later revived. They all had dinner at the Jostedt home and Fred Gage, who is to be married to Mrs. Jostedt’s daughter, Lottie, said that the machine could never make the trip back to Chicago and so they decided to leave it there and go back on the train. D. E. Fairchild, the DeMotte liveryman, was called and he came out after Woods and Tony and took them to Shelby to catch the train. Fred and Lottie remained all night and went home the next day by the way of DeMotte. The machine was left near the barn and Mrs. Jostedt did not hear anything more about it until almost two weeks when Woods came down from Chicago, coming via Roselawn and renting a rig from Liveryman Best. He worked some at teaming the machine apart but Mrs. Jostedt said that she did not observe his methods* He said that he was going to pack the machine and ship it back to Chicago apd have an aluminum bed made for it as he did not like the wooden bed. Woods left the house saying that he would send some machinists down to dismember the machine. A few days later two men came down and said they had been sent.there to tear the machine down and box it. Mrs. Jos-

tedt went out to dig her potatoes and did not watch the men. When she returned in the evening the men had gone but she did not notice that the machine had been injured although parts of it were lying about the back yard. The following Saturday morning Woods came down again and put in the day tearing the machine to pieces. She did not watch him and did not know what methods he used in taking it apart. He said that the machinists would come there again that night to help him. The “machinists” arrived at about 12 o’clock at night and Woods sat in the house and talked with Mrs. Jostedt and the men, she did not know hßw many, but two or more, worked with the machine. She did not retire but sat up until 4 o’clock Sunday morning when she lay down by her daughter and dozed off to sleep. She awoke at a quarter of 6 o’clock and was surprised when Woods told her that the man had finished their work and had gone with part of the machine to Chicago. She offered to get Woods’ breakfast but hg. would not wait and he drove Mr. Best's team bask to- Roselawn , and - took the milk train to Chicago. It was that night that the auto parts were dumped into the Kankakee river, presumably having been hauled there Bw the “machinists” who returned to ChL cago in .an auto. Parts of the machine were left scattered in a disorderly way about the barn lot and Mrs. Jostedt said she feared parts might, be .ainlan. by.. I hunters who we her passing over the farm I'rcquently, so she telegraphed her daughter, Lettie, to have Fred get the men to come down and complete the job of taking the machine away. Woods and one or two other men came down a night or two later, arriving in an automobile at a late hour and leaving before daylight. She did not see them but heard them talking and heard one of the men caHed Mack. The next morning most of the machine was gone and she supposed they had taken it away with them. That is the night the machine was buried in the sand beneath the shed adjoining the barn and of which she claimed to have no knowledge. Axe, hammers,' spade, shovel and hack saw bad been used in dismembering the, machine and yet Mrs. Jostedt maintains that she did not know that the machine was being destroyed. But, nevertheless, she was burning for kindling parts of the bed of the machine. Although Mrs. Jostedt claimed to be telling all that she knew about the matter and told a very well connected story there w’as the general appearance all of the time that she was concealing a part of the mystery. Mrs. Jostedt said that she had kept boarders in Chicago for many years and had come to this farm the last cf April, 1908, having lived there with | her daughter. Her husband spent part i of the time with her. I During Tuesday Sheriff Shirer bad i Mox Ahlgrim, of Water Valley, drag I the river. The water is now very I high and the current, very swift and the task was a difficult one, but Mox ! and his two sons did a very good job but found no trace of the missing auto parts. One of the wheels, the ' rear springs and three of the cylinders are still missing. If any of these had been 1 dropped into the main river channel, however, they may have washed a long ways down stream, and an examination was made only about 30 feet below the bridge. I. N. Best, the Roselawn liveryman, visits of Woods. He understood that Woods' first name was Jack. He did not state why he made the visits to the Jostedt farm, and did not mention an automobile. On one of his visits a man giving his name as McCarthy and claiming to work in the Boston store accompanied Woods and went to the Jostedt farm with him. Mi* B - Jostedt did not mention this to the reporter. Woods and McCarthy were both Masons, according to Mr. Best. Woods told another pa/ty at Roselawn that his former home had been in Logansport. The little Jostedt girl also heard him say this. Woods, according to those who met him during his trips., watf a fine looking man. He claimed to work in a factory, according to some, while to others he said he was a policeman. A description of the Jostedt woman was sent to Inporte and bore such close resemblance to Mrs. Belle Gunness that the sheriff of Laporte county decided to come to DeMotte and see the Jostedt woman. Sheriff Shirer

NEWS IN PARAGRAPHS. The first Scottish Rite convocation in the new cathedral at Ft. Wayne closed last wteek with the conferring of the thirty-second degree on 238 candidates. , Earl T. Hall, alleged insurance swindler, was found guilty of embezzlement ih the Wayne circuit court and was sentenced to two to four' : years in the Michigan City prison. He was also known as Schaffer. Notwithstanding his neck is broken, Robert Twineman, an Indianapolis brick mason, who fell from a scaffold on the Masonic Temple that is building at Nashville, Brown countyv Wednesday afternoon, is still alive, but there is no hope for his recovery. Miss Daisy Hoover," said to have been the best professional second baseman among women baseball players in the United States, was buried in the potters’ field at Kansas City Friday. She died in destitute circumstances at the city hospital there last Thursday. A series of football games to determine the ‘Sigh school football championship of Indiana will be arranged among the Logansport, Richmond and Brownsburg teams. None of these teams have been defeated, while- the Logansport team has not been scored on. Serving as her own attorney, Mrs. Maleane Logan, blind and somewhat feeble, examined witnesses and presented argument with skill in Justice of the Peace Holmes’ court in Indianapolis Thursday, and succeeded in obtaining an acquittal on charges of profanity and provoke. , Suits brought against the Bradley Polytechnic Institute, beneficiaries of the .will of Mrs. Lydia Bradley, deceased, affecting the $2,000,000 estate, were dismissed from court at Peoria, 111.,- Friday, through the action of Thomas M. Holmes, a nephew of Mrs. Bradley, who is complainant in the 'case.

Joseph H. C. Denman, an attorney disbarred from practice two weeks ■ago, shot himself to death in.his office at Indianapolis Friday, a few minutes before a deputy sheriff arrived to take possession of the attorney’s office furniture to satisfy a claim, JOenman was disbarred for obtaining $2,- ( COO under false pretenses. William Bennett, alleged pickpocket arrested at the Knox county fair in September, was Thursday evening fined $1 and costs in a jury trial in the .Knox circuit court. Friends of Bennett from Danville, 111., paid the fine. When attested Bennett pcsi sessed a complete list of fairs in Indiana, Illinois and Miphigan and’ a map of President Taft’s recent itinerary. Dr. John R. Mcore, of Greenfield,’ k and James Whitcomb Riley were boys together and their friendship has never waned. When Mr. Riley published his book, “The Old Swimmin’ - Hole and ’Leven Other Pomes,” the poet presented Dr. Moore with a copy of the book? This week Dr. Moore received an offer of SIOO for the volume, ’but it was no temptation to the owner to part with it.

Lecture Course Dates. Dec. 10—Ram s Horn Brown. LecJ ture that none should miss. Jan. 14—Byron King, president of i King’s School of Oratory, Pittsburg, : Pa. "Shakespearean lecture. Feb. 15—The Columbian Concert I Co., which has been ond of the most | popular companies on the road, ami [which lecture course, committee considers themselves very fortunate to have secured.. March 25—George P. Bible, humorous lecturer and entertainer. * Notice. We have again secured the service of Mr. Resh, and are contracting for cucumbers for the season of 1910 at better prices than ever before. Don’t contract till you see us. ILLINOIS PICKLE CO.

was wired to "go to Shelby and intercept the woman on her way to Chicago unless the Laporte officer had ■reached there first. Tito officer arrived at DeMotte on the Three Eye train this Wednesday morning and Mrs. Jostpdt and the little girl got on the same train. The officer decided at once that it was not Mrs. Gunness, although there was a marked resemblance. Sheriff Shirer, who had been waiting at Shelby, then returned home on rhe 10:55 train. Sheriff Shirer will make no further attempt to unravel the mystery unless some later developments indicate that there Es evidence of foul play. That there is something criminal behind the destruction of the machine there is no doubt, but with the names furnished in this Article and with the license number of the machine found by Sheriff Shirer and Attorney Leopold, which is 2763 Illinois, the mystery should now be cleared by the Chicago police.

CITY COUNCIL ADOPTS INTERURBAN FRANCHISE.

Home Telephone Franchise Pasted t« Second Rending—Gerber Votes Against Railroad Franchise. At..the. city council meeting Monday . evening, all members were present except Councilman Brown. The interurban ordinance was passed with one slight change, which provides for the number o£ freight cars to a train. Councilman Gerber voted against the franchise. The Home Telephone ordinance was passed to third reading, and the city clerk was instructed to write to the Western Electric company- for information regarding the common battery or magneto systems. The report of the superintendent of the Washington street improvement was approved and a resolution making the preliminary assessments was adopted. . The following claims were allowed: -r—Electric Light Fund— C. S. Chamberlin, salary $50.06 Mell Abbott, salary 30.00 Dave Haste, salary.... 30.00 Tull Malone, work on 1ine....’... 17.44 C. W. Platt, labor 1.5 t» Moran & Hastings Mfg. Co., sup. 8.82 Metropolitan Electric Supply Co., supplies 7. 60.73 Shirley Hill Coal Co., c0a1...„.. 94.88 W. S, Edwards Mfg. Co., sup 25.75 Fairbanks-Morse & Co.,rep pump 3.60 Western Electric Co., supplies.. 20.56 General Electric Co., supplies... 96.12 —Corporation Fund— W. S. Parks, mar5ha1........... 20.00 E. M. Thomas, night watch..... 25.00 Chas. Morlan, clerk,. , 25.00 Babcock Fire Extinguisher Co., hose couplings 27.00 L. C. Klosterman, engineer 11.10 Wm. Sullivan, assisting engineer 4.40 W. W. Merrill, secy bd of health 25.00 —Road Fund— Bert Campbell, labor city team.. 25 00 Earl Chestnut, work on street and hauling.';~r.'Ttr. . 2LOO I. N. Hemphill, work on street., f 75 J. C. Gwin & Co., sewer pipe,. 117.19 Maines & Hamilton, feed c'ty tm 65 16 W. F. Smith & Co., crushed rock 406 35 Smith & Kellner, cement work. .133.13 —Water Fund— Rd Hopkins, salary 30-00 Harve Mcore, work tv main .... “ 0

The Georgia Galvin Concert At the Christian Church.

On next Tuesday evening, N.,v_. :0, the music lovir.g people |of this comreunify will have the opportunity of hearing a singer of exceptional ability. Miss Georgia Galvin, cf Indianapolis, possesses one of nature’s > richest gifts, a soprano voice cf rare parity and rich fulness. Mies Galvin lias for several years sung chiefly t» and about New York, having engagei ments at Keith’s theatre and with ’the, Peoples Symphony Concerts. Several persons in Rensselaer are personally acquainted with M ; ss Galvin and because of their knowledge of her excellent ability in concert work she has been secured for the above date. The concert will be given under, the auspices of the Sunday school and the price of admission has been placed at the very low price of 25 cents. At this price the house should be packed.

Christian Church.

The subject of the Sunday morning sermon at the Christian church is, ‘■'f’aths to Power.” "A Model Conies sfon” is, the subject of the third sermon in the series of the Sunday evening evangelistic meetings.

Thanksgiving Entertainment at M. E. Church Tuesday Evening.

The following program was rendered at the M. E. church T an ogiving entertainment Tuesday evening: Song with Orchestra Accompalhmcnt Reading of Scripture. Rev. G. IL Clarice Prayerßev. J. C. Parrett 5010.... Bernice Long RecitationMarton Parker Vocal Solo —Babe of Bethlehem ..Cecil Morgan Five Minute Talk.... Rev. O. E. Miller “I Waited for the Lord”—Mendlesohn Duet and Mrs. Delos Thompson’s Chores. RecitationMaurino Tuteur Solo—SelectedCarl Duvall Piano Solo Mrs. M. D. Gwin Male Quartette. Vocal Solo Mrs. H. E. Jacobs Chorus Mendlesohn Mrs. Delos Thompson's Chorus. It is understood on good authority that dies have been prepared by the engravers of the United States mint for a proposed United States 5-ccnt piece bearing the head of George Washington, to take the place of the nlckles now in circulation. It cannot be said yet whether the government will adopt this coin or not. Many hundreds dies have been made for coins which have never been accepted, but if this portrait coin, follows the new Lincoln penny. It will be the first coin in actual authorised circulation to carry the head of Washington. Washington refused'to allow such a coin to be Issued during his lifetime. He said it was a “monarchist” custom not fitting in a republic.

No. 124.