SERVING HENDRICKS COUNTY SINCE 1847
Page 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: At random, I chose page 3 from March 9, 1882, to learn what The Republican subscribers read that day. The poem “My Curse” launches the page. I cannot divine its meaning; the refrain, an unfathomable malediction, condemns, “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.” In a short tale, a lovely princess is betrothed to a king she has never met. Princess Elizabeth, “with blue eyes like the violet hue and lips like cherries,” arrives with her father and his retinue for cathedral services. A mysterious and wondrously gifted organist appears, replacing the previous one who was dead. Hearing the music, the king proclaims the organist will play at the wedding the following day. But the princess’ eyes had met those of the organist “in a long yearning look.” It was Bertram Hoffman, her music teacher and the man she truly loved, and that evening she professed her feelings. But their love could never be. Wedding day, “flame colored flowers waved by the wayside” and flame-colored leaves littered the ground. Ripe wheat “waved like a golden sea,” and berries dropped “in red and yellow clusters over the rocks and along the Rhine.” I forgot to mention they were in Germany, possibly Bavaria or Baden-Wurttemberg. The cathedral was resplendent. Then Elizabeth appears on a “snow white palfrey and clad in snow white velvet.” Downcast Elizabeth faced a horrid life married to a stranger. Then, surprise, surprise, Bertram actually was King Oscar. He had hatched “a stratagem” to ensure Elizabeth had the hots for him. And her father was in on the ruse. Well, “for once two hearts were made happy by a royal marriage.” To my thinking, Elizabeth would have been furious at hubby and dad. Alongside was an item declaring horn and hoof shavings contained 25 times as much nitrogen as ordinary stable manure. Further down was a recommendation to paste old newspapers to chicken house and stable walls to keep out cold drafts. Intending to tie the knot with his 20-year-old fiancée, a young man was flummoxed when the Newport, Rhode Island, city clerk refused to issue a marriage license for that evening. The girl wasn’t old enough without her father’s written approval. Producing letters from the agreeable father was not enough for the clerk. However, he suggested taking the train to Massachusetts or Connecticut, “where no rigorous law held sway.” That’s what they did the next morning. A doctor failed to discern what ailed him mightily. His condition worsening, he noticed his sporadic “fluids” were “covered with froth or filled with brick dust sediment.” His minister recommended a proven cure, and “the most pronounced case of Bright’s disease” was overcome. The panacea? Warner’s Safe Kidney and Liver Cure. Corroborating letters accompanied the story, signed by the manufacturer, a doctor, a mayor, postmaster, two newspaper editors, county clerk, district attorney, a capitalist, a member of Congress and the rector of St. Paul’s Church in Rochester, New York. That doctor declared hundreds of daily deaths were attributed to heart disease, apoplexy, paralysis, spinal complaint, rheumatism, pneumonia and other causes “when in reality it was Bright’s disease of the kidneys.” The page had something about Nero’s excesses, a whipped potatoes recipe, instructions for constructing a lady’s dusting cap, advice on boiling tainted water, tips for cleaning greasy pans and kettles, making cottage cheese, and something about fashioning window lambrequins. The page wrapped up remarking that Civil War General Fitz John Porter’s back pay “should he be restored,” would amount to $115,000. Having better intelligence about enemy strength and position at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Porter reluctantly obeyed his superior’s conflicting orders and during the ensuing engagement, Union forces were defeated. Porter was court martialed for disobeying orders and misconduct the following year, and dismissed. Army politics and personal loyalties were involved. Porter immediately and persistently sought for two decades to clear his name. In 1882, President Chester Arthur commuted Porter’s sentence and Congress four years later exonerated him and restored his commission, minus back pay. Vindicated, he retired from the army. I don’t know how long Elizabeth and Oscar were married, but I’m betting she reminded him every chance she got about his stunt for what likely seemed to him far more than 20 years. Paul Miner Lizton ______________________________________________________________________
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Thursday, August 19, 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 August 20, 1896 Stilesville: The “Gold Bugs” defeated Mt. Clair at this place Saturday, the score being 17 to 11. Stilesville’s old umpire, Herk Tignor, umpired the game to the satisfaction of both sides. Cartersburg: Saturday afternoon, the 29th, the Republicans will have a speaking and pole raising. Hon. Lucius B. Swift, of Indianapolis, will speak in Holderman’s grove at 2 p.m. Brownsburg: Our businessmen are trying to secure a pouch mail on the morning train to the city and one from there on the evening train. Resolved: That the teachers of Hendricks county in institute assembled urge the passage of a compulsory educational law in Indiana. A number of young ladies who call themselves the Thirteen Club took breakfast yesterday morning at the Cartersburg Springs. Danville went to Stilesville Tuesday and was defeated by the “Gold Bugs.” The score was 22 to 4 in favor of Stilesville. The feature of the game was the way Stilesville rubbed it in. The North Salem Itemizer has appeared. It is the successor to the Herald, and is published by C.E. Moore and Miss Minnie Fleece, who will continue its publication until the owner of the Herald plant resumes the publication of the Herald. The Itemizer is a bright and newsy sheet. Many improvements are in progress at the railway station. A concrete platform is being put in. The freight house will be moved to the south side of the tracks and a new baggage room built. The platform will be protected by a shed and a fountain will be put in. _____ ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Issue of August 18, 1921 Hendricks county will be one of the few counties to have more than one girl enrolled in the Indiana State Fair School of Home Economics to be held August 29 to September 12 in connection with the State Fair. Miss Ruth Dickey, from Brown township and Miss Cora Candy, from Liberty township have been appointed to the school by the Hendricks County Federation of Home Economics clubs. William Crow, of Guilford township, is laying out a fine in jail on a plea of guilty in ‘Squire Barlow’s court to taking watermelons from a neighbor’s patch. Next week, the second Hendricks County Fair – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, August 24 and 25 and 26. The fair will be held on the county’s land on the north side of the Rockville road east of Danville. The buildings erected to house the county’s road-working machinery will be utilized in addition to many tents to protect the exhibits. Avon: Miles Tudor invites his friends in for a social hour. On departing, he presented each a fine melon to keep as a souvenir. Miss Ruth M. Dix, from St. Louis, Mo., will begin her work in the county as Home Demonstration Agent, Saturday, August 20. Will Walton, of Indianapolis, and B.H. Canine, of Danville, have leased the room now occupied by J.O. Tinder where they will open an electric shoe repairing shop, shining parlor and cleaning a pressing parlor. A.L. Mayor, of Shelbyville, and Lee Townsley have purchased the Taylor pharmacy on the north side of the square and have taken charge. E.H. Conn believes he has the prize peach, weighing slightly over three-quarters of a pound and measuring ten inches around. _____ SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of August 22, 1946 Consolidation of the Hendricks County Price Control Board, popularly termed the “Ration Board,” with the Marion county board in Indianapolis will be made September 10. Central Normal College officially brought its seventy-year career to a close with the ending of the second summer term last Friday. During the seventy-year history of the college, more than 60,000 students attended classes at the school. Until the year 1899, Central Normal exceeded Indiana University in enrollment. Orrion M. Shutts, owner and manager of Mecca Airport at Danville, has secured the dealership for Taylorcraft airplanes from the company in Alliance, Ohio. Lieut. Comdr. James M. Tippey, U.S.N., son of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Tippey of Dan-
ville, has been awarded the Bronze Star medal for meritorious service while serving on board the USS Yorktown from April 1943 to April 1945. Mr. and Mrs. Hursel C. Disney are the parents of a daughter, Rose Ellen, born Friday, at the Witham hospital at Lebanon. The listening public of Radio Station WIBC, Indianapolis, from the North Salem community are please with the many little poems sent in by Mrs. Lillie Jordon, of North Salem. The poems are read daily over the Jane Day program at 9 o’clock each weekday. One hundred thirty-eight friends and relatives signed the guest register at open house, Sunday, when Mr. and Mrs. Amos Shelton celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary, at their home at 197 East Broadway in Danville. _____ FIFTY YEARS AGO Issue of August 19, 1971 Robert Huse and Gary Houser, owners of Danville Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge, Inc., will build a new building for heir car agency at US 36 and CR 300, east of Danville. The firm is presently located at 1375 E. Main St. Television star James Brolin, who plays the role of motorcycle-riding Dr. Steven Kiley in the “Marcus Welby, M.D.” series on ABC-TV, will be in Danville, Saturday, September 25, 10 a.m. to launch the 1971 United Fund campaign in Hendricks County. Hendricks County will be well represented in the state 4-H Tractor Driving Contest, August 25, at the State Fair by James Penner, Liberty Township, Gary Owen, Eel River Township, and Bruce Gibbs, Liberty Township. Brian Poynter, son of the Max Poynters, recently spent a week at Bobby Leonard’s All-American Sports Camp near Bainbridge. Chris Wynn, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Wynn, Danville, left Monday morning to enter Cincinnati Bible Seminary, where he will major in Christian Missions. _____ TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Issue of August 22, 1996* Construction will begin on the Hendricks Community Hospital’s $12-million Avon Station Medical Center expansion. The plan is to include a 45,000 sq. ft. medical office building and a radiation oncology center, occupying 10,000 sq. feet. In the past three years, Leadership Hendricks County has prepared more than 47 community leaders. This year’s class has 20 more leaders currently in training. The second annual Healthy Choice American Heart Walk is planned for September 29, at Avon Community Park. Sgt. Garry Edwards was officially named Danville Police Chief, Monday night, by a vote of 4 to 1 by the Danville Town Council. Paul Barnett was the dissenting vote. He replaces William C. Cope, who resigned in early June. David and LaDonna Radcliff of Pittsboro will be among nearly 30 participants in the second Grand Indiana Auto Tour. The Couple will be driving a restored 190 Ford coupe in the 500-mile trek across Indiana. _____ TEN YEARS AGO Issue of August 18, 2011 The September issue of Money Magazine features their annual list of America’s Best Places to Live. Two Hendricks County towns on the list are Brownsburg and Plainfield. Debi Roe, Clermont, was installed recently as Worthy Matron of the Brownsburg Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. Collectors of British sports cars gathered on the square in Danville last Sunday for a mini “British Invasion” cruise-in. Members of the Hendricks County Tourism Commission and staff of the Hendricks County Convention and Visitors Bureau congratulated Claire Vechon, of Brownsburg High School, the high school tourism scholarship winner. Lawrence and Sharon (Reitzel) Fruits will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with an open house on August 27. Sheriff Dave Galloway announced that an electronic citation and warning system (e-ticket) will be installed in all Sheriff’s Department patrol vehicles. Postal route carriers for the Lizton and Pittsboro post offices will start their daily deliveries from Brownsburg starting August 27. The Run Greater Indianapolis Half Marathon was one step closer to the October 2 start when the Danville Town Council approved temporary street closings for the race.
