SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
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The Republican
Delving Into Yester~Year
Local historian and writer Paul Miner takes items from
The Republican’s Yester-Year column to develop an interesting, informative and often humorous article.
To the Editor: Country folk had fun a century ago. Take Leslie Goodwin of New Winchester early in May 1921 when friends helped kill 152 rats in his barn. Yet they let one escape. Perhaps kindness prompted their moderation. “Hundreds of rats of the voracious kind” infested the barns and buildings of farms near Anderson in 1890. Nearly twice the size of “the common wharf rat,” they resembled muskrats. Although heavily trapped, their numbers were undiminished. Harvey G. Moore north of Montclair killed 96 rats in May 1899. All he had to do is move corn and rubbish around in his barn. Didn’t anyone have terriers and cats back then in those pestilent sheds? My brother and I enjoyed killing mice while shoveling corn from cribs. We’d slam them with our scoop shovels. Insatiate barn cats and a murderous terrier were arrayed around the perimeter. None escaped. We’d see rats occasionally. There were “armies of rats” swarming across Warrick County in the spring of 1890, and the Pleasant Hill Lodge of the Farmers’ Mutual Benefit Association laid siege. Two weeks later, 9,967 rats lay dead on the field of battle, their tails taken as trophy proof. I rather hope those farmers left their shotguns at home. Close quarters fighting could end up with feet blown off. Sledge hammers? Axes? Rooster Cogburn used a .45. Any of the aforementioned weapons likely would necessitate extensive barn repairs. I’d use a terrier. Bite, kill, on to the next rat. Millions of rats infested World War I trenches, feeding on death. Terriers were effective then. Rats caused as much mayhem during the Great War as 200,000 German soldiers, the government reported in 1918. The U.S., alone, had 200 million rats. Each pair could have 20,155,392 descendants in three years. Rat damage hurt the U.S. war effort. Rats ate animal food, eggs and even baby pigs. The Republican reported in 1898 a Chinese man, a former Yale scholar, promoted rats for human consumption. “What a carrot is to a horse’s coat, a rat is to the human hair,” he declared. Chinese women, he continued, ate rats to stop their hair from falling out and “make the locks soft, silky and beautiful.” I think I’ve come up with a great new pick-up line. Something like, “Do you eat rats? Your hair is so lustrous.” Rat, rabbit and squirrel skins were used for fur linings in the late 1880s, but in 1884, more than 1.5 million cats were killed in Liverpool because their skins were “more serviceable.” That likely resulted in a rat and mouse population boom. One of Danville’s “professors” experimented with tricking rats to death in 1880. He placed a block of wood on the center of a plate, laid bread on the block, and then poured enough sulfuric acid on the plate to form what he believed was an impenetrable Rough on Rats was a popular poison inventmoat. He left, returning some hours later to ed by a druggist in 1872. Its main ingredient was arsenic. To sell the product, the company find a corn cob bridging the acid and the used a racist illustration of a Chinese man prebread gone. paring to eat a rat. “He verily believes rats to be the origi- ______________________________________ nal bridge builders.” The Egyptian Rat Destroyer was “the best preparation ever devised,” in 1881 for not only snuffing that “troublesome vermin,” but for exterminating all bugs, insects and roaches as well. But something was terribly wrong. I don’t know whether drunken itinerant printer Colonel Hargett made a mistake in setting type, or the old Union paper meant to confuse credulous locals, but the ad immediately swept into a pledge that Hegeman’s Camphor Ice was the best thing for chapped hands and worked as an aftershave. In August 1889, Uncle Lige, “an old citizen familiarly known on the public square as a graphic delineator of tragic scenes,” claimed he’d caught 38 rats the first night with a new trap. “Not satisfied with this enormous haul,” he chased down yet another, “catching him foul and choking the life out of him.” Uncle Lige was bitten in the struggle, and in a sling claimed he’d contracted rabies. The Republican doubted the declaration. After all, there were “hundreds of recorded instances of rat bites being cured by the juice of the cornbug.” Uncle Lige’s hydrophobia “manifestations” more likely were not that rat’s fault, but rather “a jug-full.” Paul Miner Lizton [Editor’s Note: We hope the writer and his brother took the precaution of tying binder twine snuggly around their pantlegs before the assault on the corn crib. We have a childhood memory of an uncle who didn’t batten down and a rodent attempted to exit what it thought to be an escape tunnel. We also remember the attending dogs and cats during crib cleaning. One mama barn cat in particular would catch a mouse, disappear, then return shortly. When we checked later, we found she was taking them to an old empty wooden crib and had them stacked like cordwood for her latest litter of kittens. Affidavits available on request.] ______________________________________________________________________
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Birthday parties, new babies, anniversaries, visits from long-lost cousins -these items that make up the kind of news you only find in the pages of The Republican. If you have a local news item you’d like to contribute, you can call us at 317-745-2777, send by fax to 317-647-4341, e-mail to therepublican@ sbcglobal.net or drop by the office at 6 East Main in Danville. Our deadline for submitting news items is noon on Monday for Thursday’s edition.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Yester~Year
The Republican has published local news weekly since 1847. We offer this column as a look back at events from our archives and to help connect today’s readers to the people and events in our past. ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 21, 1896 Pecksburg: Charley Walls, the genial trustee of Franklin township, has purchased a new wheel, on which he may be seen daily attending to his official business. Stilesville: John Harding says he has a new kind of corn planted which grows so high you have to use step ladders to gather it. It has no cob. The corn grows in the shuck already shelled. He will sell the seed at one dollar and fifty cents per bushel. New Winchester: Items are a scarce this week as donations to the heathen. There are four graduates from Avon school – William Smith, Byron Cox, Esther Guthrie and Irma Huron. There will be a glorious Fourth of July celebration in Danville this year. It is proposed to have the celebration in the driving park. In the morning there will be some good bicycle races for young American. After the picnic dinners are disposed of under the trees, the trotters and pacers will be brought out and some good races will be the entertainment. W.S. Wooten is spending this week in Danville having this trees and underbrush on his nursery property trimmed up. Mr. Wooten has lost considerably by the people cutting down trees and removing them from his property. Rev. Nelson Greene thinks this is the champion year for potato bugs as he picked thirty-six off of one hill Monday. He thinks he is entitled to the premium. Mont Clair: Isaac Mendenhall has contracted to furnish 85,000 feet of lumber for the Union Stock Yards. _____ ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Issue of May 19, 1921 Saturday, the contract for the new school at Lizton was let at a total cost of $110,385. The building is planned on the “T” shape and when completed will be one of the most modern arrangement and equipment to be found in the central states. Edgar M. Blessing has accepted the position tendered him on the Public Utilities Commission by Governor McCray. Tonight at the chapel, the forty-first commencement exercises of the Danville high school will be held. The class is counted one of exceptional strength and consists of thirty members. A wedding party was staged for three o’clock last Saturday afternoon in the private room of the County Recorder’s office in Danville. The contracting parties were Mrs. Almedia Jones and John W. Pounds, of Clayton. In the window of the Christie grocery is a beautiful vase made from a French 75 casing. It is he handiwork of George R. Fleenor, a student, and was made while Mr. Fleenor was with the American army overseas. His tools were a hammer and two punches. Amo: On Sunday, May 15th, about thirty-five relatives with well filled baskets met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Cosner to remind Mrs. Cosner that her birthday was near at hand. Avon: The Huron bridge is out and Enos Denney must travel four miles to go from the house to the barn if he goes around the road. Rev. William Wallace Curry, 97 years old, once a widely known resident of Danville, died at his home in Washington, Tuesday. As a campaign orator he had a national reputation and his services were in great demand. _____ SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 23, 1946 Donald Hogate has been elected president of the Washington, D.C. DePauw alumni club. Children who are 15 years old or younger, are eligible to enter the first annual Junior Horse Show, to be held Sunday, May 26, under the sponsorship of the Danville Saddle Club at the club grounds, 2 ½ miles north of Danville on Road 39. Two World War II veterans were laid to rest in the South Cemetery since last Memorial Day, Joe Scearce and Alvin Hall. A paper by Stanley Shartle appears in the April issue of “Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Compute,” published by the National Research Council. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Cartlidge, of Avon, are the parents of a daughter, Katherine, born at the Methodist Hospital, Monday. North Salem: A Cub Scout organization was completed at a meeting held in the church, last Thursday night. Everett Davidson was made Cub Master and will be assisted by Richard Trotter and Charles Kurtz. John Jenner, a veteran of World War II,
is taking his printer’s apprenticeship to The Republican office, which has been accredited for Veterans training. Mr. Jenner has served in the Navy, is married, has one son, and lives in Danville. Special – See the 500-Mile Race and the Speedway crowd from the air – Decoration Day – May 30, 1946 – Round Trip Sightseeing Tour, $7.50 – Mecca Airport. Phone 535-L. Miss Avis Thelma Logue, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Logue, of Amo, and Robert Maxwell Rees, of Chicago, were married April 15, at Covington, Ky. A pure white filly was foaled May 8, out of Silver Babe, a palomino mare owned by Mrs. Enver Shaw and has been named Silver Beauty. _____ FIFTY YEARS AGO Issue of May 20, 1971 Dell Harrison Nunaly III, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dell H. Nunaly, Jr., R.R. 3 Danville, has been accepted for admission to the U.S. Military Academy as West Point. Avon high school’s 1971 graduating class will have 105 seniors. The Hendricks County Health Department has given the Christ Festival Committee until tomorrow to file written verification of “certain precautionaly measures” before it will evaluate the facilities and general situation for the proposed Christ Festival, May 28-29-30 at Maplecroft Drive-In Theater, U.S. 40. As of May 14, a total of $2,021.85 has been contributed to the Evelyn Miller Artificial Kidney Fund. Last week’s balance was $1,235. Mrs. Huldah York, town clerk-treasurer, administered the oah of office to Earnest Davis as new town marshal, Saturday morning. Terry Cupp, Danville Community High School senior, won the coveted Robert D. Leedy Sports Award last Wednesday night, at the All-Sports Banquet, sponsored by the Danville Booster Club. Miss Linda Ratliff, R.R. 1, Lizton, was among 78 co-eds initiated into Gold Peppers, activities society for upper-class women at Purdue University. Dr. William Hudnut III, senior minister of the Second Presbyterian Church at 7700 North Meridian St., Indianapolis, will deliver the Danville Community High School commencement address. _____ TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 16, 1996 A total of 1,093 seniors will receive their diplomas from the seven high schools in Hendricks County in the Classes of 1996. The Hendricks County Heritage Alliance will kick off National Historic Preservation Week with a guided tour of the Historic Court House Square District in Danville. Superintendent John McKinney of the Danville Community School Corporation announced at the May School Board meeting that Richard Snodgrass will be the varsity basketball coach for the coming season. The Hendricks County Singles Over 40 will meet on Friday, May 17, for a Spring Fling Picnic at Avon Park. Marjorie Schulmeister has a unique collection of miniature doll houses at the Danville Public Library. For the first time, two Danville Community Middle School students have placed in the top three statewide in the State Math Mania Finals. David Tripple placed third of all Grade 7 students and Aaron Pizarek tied for second in the state overall. ______ TEN YEARS AGO Issue of May 19, 2011 Sergeant Kevin L. Courdray, son of Gene and Jo Cordray of Coatesville, was awarded the Bronze Star for exceptional meritorious service during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. Lt. Governor Becky Skillman recognized outstanding contribution to the tourism industry during a ceremony at the Indiana Statehouse. One of the recipients was Doris Marten, schoolmarm for the Pittsboro One-Room School House. This week Danville’s landmark, the Dairy Queen, operates under new ownernship, Lee Kleiner, and manager Micah Brown. The Danville Community School Corporation, next fall, will not only be giving only the teachers, but each student at Danville High School, an Apple iPad as part of the curriculum. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #132 hosted a Memorial Service for fallen officers in the court house rotunda at noon on Wednesday, May 14.
