SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
Page A-2
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: Serialized novels and short stories in early Hendricks County papers enraptured voracious readers, eager for the sensational. Heroes were popular fare, as well as tales, sometimes true, of the cowardly and criminal. Countering lies, recounting the weird and commentary filled the bill, too. I think Nineteenth Century newspapers sought to be everything small, nearly self-sufficient communities needed. From an excerpt of “The Boy Buccaneer” The Gazette carried in September 1881, I read of the lad, Daring Davy, cutlass in his teeth, leaping overboard from a burning frigateen just before it “blew up with a tremendous shock, like the banging of a picnic car door.” (I do not know what a picnic car door is and when I searched on-line, I was directed to myriad used auto parts, none of which I particularly need and can ill afford.) A blazing mainmast then struck Davy fully on the head, the rigging sending him to the bottom. Freeing himself, he valiantly swims toward golden-haired Milly Morninglory clinging to a chicken coop adrift four miles distant across 15-foot waves, only to be distracted by a piece of coral which he pockets, and delayed by a monster shark which he blows up and a whale which he promptly guts. The distance behind him, Davy reaches the chicken coop and just as he was to “clasp Milly to his crime-stained but noble heart,” a giant octopus grabs his right toe. And that was it. Readers would have to wait for the next installment. Which toe? Big toe? Little toe? One of the three in between? Not until next week. There was “Shavehead” from Hardscrabble, a January 1885 tale from 1856 by Ben E. Factor, Republican correspondent. The poor scholar, clad in motley patched clothing, bald from a fever and cruelly persecuted as a result, rose to great occasion and bravely declaimed Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life,” winning a prize box of drawing materials. There were dastards, such as the bigamist who deceived an innocent woman and bribed someone to fire a mine. Finally caught by 20 miners in a February 1885 issue of The Republican, he is savagely beaten before the law steps in. “. . . so, at last the law raised what seems a bag of bones; nothing left on him but one boot and fragments of a shirt, ghastly, bleeding, covered with bruises, insensible, and to all appearances dead.” And next? To be continued next week. I’ve no idea of whom The Republican referred -- unless it was a notoriously celebrated Western outlaw – when in a May 1885 editorial it bemoaned the apparent “decline” in convicted criminals’ punishment, “or it has rather lost its force.” A gallows-bound convicted murderer, declaring it “a pleasure to die” in that way “plainly indicates a looseness somewhere in the moral codes of the land . . . “Life seems to be held almost in contempt, and he who commits the greatest crime is the hero of the day.” A correspondent in February 1883 complained about “human vultures” who cornered people on the street and let loose with a barrage of “barefaced and foul lies.” They made themselves “the hero of some unusual thing.” The correspondent wished he was “as tall as the Court House tower, with a leg as big as a walking beam, and a foot as large as the average St. Louis girl’s foot.” A swift kick would send the offenders as far as Uranus or the Big Dipper. One night in August 1882, a man incarcerated in a Chicago bridewell was beaten to death with his own wooden leg. A cellmate “regarded as an idiot,” unscrewed it and committed the crime. The Republican compared the case to the uxoricide of one-legged Miss Killmansegg, who was equipped with a golden lower limb. Her husband, “a rascally foreign adventurer,” had married her for her money, and he dispatched her with the “auriferous” prosthetic while she was abed. “Down came the limb with a frightful smash,” a poet-painted scene informed. The lady had been killed by her own leg; her husband was found not guilty. Precedent established, a verdict in the Chicago case could thus acquit the perpetrator, “and it must be said that it is quite in accord with many of the renderings of modern juries in murder cases.” Paul Miner Lizton _____________________________________________________________________
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It’s News To Us
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 27, 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 28, 1896 Stilesville: Three couples came through here on their wheels Friday evening. They had been having a muddy time of it. One of the couples was on their wedding tour. New Winchester: Uncle Jimmy Crews, seventy-five years old, is “raslin” with the measles. He advises everybody to have them while young. Workmen have this week been arranging for the sewer from the new bank building. It will connect with the county sewer. It is proposed the basement of the new building will be occupied by a barber shop. The building will be the most pretentious structure in town, its front being of stone. The class of ’96 planted its banner high and succeeding classes will do nobly to do better. Will G. Bennett spoke on “The Immigrant and Our Future Civilization.” Mr. Bennett is the first colored boy to complete the High school course and is the second colored graduate. He spoke with energy and received an ovation in applause when he finished. He commenced to read law Monday and intends to enter the State University. Coatesville: Cheivor Davis has traded his wheel for a horse. Cheivor thinks it is too much like work to ride a wheel. In you want to be in the swim go to Evergreen Park and take a plunge in the Lagoon. There was a very pretty wrestling contest Tuesday evening between C.H. Dale, a representative of the Chicago Times-Herald and Marvin Thistlewaite, a student. Amo: Miss Lena Patterson and her brother, Carl, came out on their wheels from Indianapolis, Sunday. _____ ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Issue of May 26, 1921 Still the cry goes up, more babies needed in Hendricks County. The school enumeration this year shows a loss of 33 compared to last year. In five years, there has been a loss of 323 in the county. The window of Edwards’ grocery has an instructive exhibit showing the return to normalcy. A sack of 100 pounds of sugar is shown and this a year ago would have cost $30. A list of articles is shown which $30 will today buy, including the 100 pounds of sugar. A year ago the same list of articles would have cost $69.51. The Pennsylvania System will run a special train on Decoration Day from Terre Haute to Indianapolis on account of the Speedway races. Helen Leak, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M.E. Leak of Lizton, finished her eight years of common school without missing a day or a recitation and was never tardy. She has eight honor rolls to her credit. She is thirteen years of age. Clayton: Edward Burris, of Detroit, Michigan, arrived here unexpectedly Sunday afternoon for a visit with the family of his brother, Benjamin F. Burris, midway between Danville and Clayton. It had been nearly thirty-six years since the brothers had seen each other. Four generations were represented, Sunday, at the family dinner in honor of Mrs. Julia Wills’ 75th birthday at her home on East Broadway. There were forty-nine present and the dinner was all that could be desired. At a meeting, Saturday night, of the directors of the Hendricks County Federation of Farmers and the directors of the Farmers Cooperative Company, it was agreed that W.F. Franklin, the executive secretary of the Federation should be the manager of the Cooperative Company. There are several scattered cases of smallpox in Danville. No one is alarmingly sick but the physicians agree that the wise thing to do is for people generally to be vaccinated. Then the disease will stop for lack of material on which to work. _____ SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 30, 1946 Many names of young men in the military service were added to the Hendricks County Memorial board in the rotunda of the court house last Friday. Baker & Son will open an annex to their store in the rooms formerly occupied by the Rationing Board, Saturday. The rooms have been remodeled for the display and sale of an number of items which taxed floor space in the hardware store. On sale in the new store will be linoleum, wallpaper, electric appliances, radios and paints. The radio service will also be set up in the new store. Danville’s buzzing with race fan traffic today and many will remain in Danville homes tonight, as rooms cannot be had in
Indianapolis. It is reported that one home is preparing to keep twelve persons overnight at a rate of $5 per person. An office has been opened by John W. Scatterday in the rooms of Taylor & Taylor, abstractors, on the west side of the square. A graduate of Purdue University, Mr. Scatterday is an engineer and specialist in sewage and water problems and has had experienced in home designing. ______ FIFTY YEARS AGO Issue of May 27, 1971 Tuesday afternoon, Seth B. Lewis, Hendricks County Prosecutor, filed a complaint for injunction in the Circuit Court in an attempt to prevent the assembly, May 28-30 at Maplecroft Drive-In Theater on US 40, of the “Christ Festival.” Melvin R. Lind turned over a shovel of dirt, Sunday afternoon, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Northview Christian Church on SR 39, north edge of Danville. The church is presently having services on the south side of the public square. Coming Tuesday, June 1, Medical Arts Pharmacy (formerly Turner Pharmacy) in Our New Building on Meadow Drive, just east of the Hospital. Avon High School senior Dale Flood has placed fourth in the International Science Fair at Kansas City, Mo. It was the highest placing of U.S. entrant. Mr. and Mrs. James T. Barlow of Plainfield observed their silver anniversary yesterday. They own and operate Radio Station WJMK-FM, Plainfield. Mrs. Theda Stewart and children attended the North Salem commencement, Sunday night, in which her nephew, Dennis Leathers, was a graduate. Beverly Martin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. laurel Martin of North Salem, and Susie Trent, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Trent, Pittsboro, have been accepted as members of the Ball State University Marching Band’s Cadette Corps for 197172. _____ TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of May 23, 1996 A Memorandum of Understanding has been OK’d by the Hendricks County Commissioners, County Council, and County Redevelopment Commission with Qualitech Steel Corp. for a steel mill in Pittsboro. The Town of Danville has received approval from the Governor’s Office for $631,000 for Downtown Enhancement and Streetscape. The town’s share is $157,000. Michael Tulli is the first salaried employee of the Town of Avon. The Marion County resident is the new building commissioner for the town. Danville High School will graduate approximately 167 seniors of Friday, May 24. Cadet 4th Class Christopher N. Garcia has completed his freshman year at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He received his wings at an official Recognition Ceremony at the Academy on April 27. Jenny Hobbs, S. Tennessee St., Danville, has served as a Student Ambassador at Taylor University for the 1995-1996 school year. _____ TEN YEARS AGO Issue of May 26, 2011 The Board of Trustees of the Danville South Cemetery Association invite the public to meet with them at the main entrance to the cemetery during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, on Saturday 28, between 1-3 p.m. and learn more about the cemetery. Oliver William Wilhoite was the only law enforcement officer from Danville to be killed in the line of duty, on May 26,1911, while service a warrant. Sara Hauswald, Brownsburg, a senior nursing major at Indiana Wesleyan University, will spend the fall 2011 semester in Zambia. 2011 Sagamore Conference champion Lauren Callahan, a senior a Danville, advanced out of sectionals for the 4th time in her high school career to the Lafayette Track & Field regional meet. Residents and staff of Ivy Trace at Danville enjoyed an outing to the 500 Speedway Brickyard Crossing Restaurant. While there, they were invited by Doug Boles to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the track and Louise Vandivier’s 100th birthday with a visit to the Pagoda at the track. Doug works for IMS Public Relations and is Mrs. Vandivier’s grandson. The Brownsburg Chamber of Commerce announced the 33rd Annual Festival of the Arts to be held Saturday, July 16, in Arbuckle Acres Park __________
