“Widows, man, Widows”

A light frost was visible on Friday April 9, 1880, when the newspaper was published.

Michael O’Roarke was said to have raised the best parsnips of the season. The New Light Brethren were negotiating for the old Presbyterian church. The Lawrenceville village trustees appropriated fifty dollars out of the township tax collected towards the new road to be made northeast across the river bottom by the Road Commissioners.  It was time to make soap. Housecleaning was the order of the day.

Sumner: H M Wagner, at his shop in Sumner, was said to have the finest lot of marble (for tombtones) ever brought to this part of the west. Elementary school opened with a full attendance of 95. Several pupils were non-residents of the village. JP Jones presented his daughter Miss Della with a handsome piano. Dr WR Bedell, a young physician of Vincennes, moved to Sumner and occupied the office formerly occupied by Dr. French. Rev Cauble of the Sumner Press sold out his interest in the paper to Mr. Downey of Sumner.

The number of students attending the four rural one-room schools in T3R11 included School Number One- 78 children, Number 2 - 151 students, Number 3- 126 students, and Number 4 -142 students. (Usually, these schools had only one teacher. How’s that for student teacher ratio.)

Mrs. Caroline Ryan received a letter from J Fields about her son Mark who left town two or three weeks previously hoping to gain health and strength in the pure and bracing air of Colorado. “Colorado Springs April 1, 1880, Mark is improving remarkably fast, much faster than I expected.  He and I occupy adjoining rooms. I heard him singing before he retired last night.  He thinks he feels well enough to pitch horseshoes if he were at Lawrenceville but there are no persons idle enough to pitch horseshoes here.  I think I shall get him a place on a ranch in a week or two.”

 Mary Buntin, the editor of the Rural Republican, thought the owner or manager of the property to the north of her office needed to get out and clean up the lot under her window.  It has been raining a crop of frogs, and a fishing park has been created, and she didn’t appreciate the music emulating from the large number of frogs.  “Ugh,” she said.  “In other words in plain English.” she went on “get this hole filled up.” 

The Allison Township election resulted in a Democratic victory. Wm A Organ, D, running against Wm Cunningham and Lawrence Ginn won by 58 votes.  Albert Crews, D, beat Samuel Baker for commissioner. George Kiger, D, edged by WS Norton, SS Lockman, and John McBride by one vote for Assessor. Frank R Lawrence had no opposition for Collector. Enock Organ, D, beat EC Crews and JR Gold by 17 votes for the office of Clerk. Jay Leonard had no opposition for justice of the peace. For the office of Constable, John W Myers, D, won over Thomas Young by 53 votes.  AND there were 128 votes cast in favor of hogs running at large and 49 against it. (I wonder how that worked out for them.)

Results of St Francisville election:  The Democrats came out ahead with Jacob Potts winning over Wm Buchanan for supervisor. Paul Tougas beat Joseph Price for accessor and Newton Potts won over JF Synder for the office of Collector by three votes.  John Collinson won over AT Lavallette for Clerk and Felix Tougas beat JG Buchanan for Commissioner.  The reporter noted that not an intoxicated man was visible, nor did any rows occur.

The Board of. Supervisors asked JK Dickirson to provide suitable locks for the hall doors of the courthouse. Mr. Moses Petty was running for Sheriff. (I’m sure that these two news articles were not related.)

Bridgeport: The Shinkle girls had 150 yards of carpet to weave. Ed Applegate was studying medicine under Dr. Frazor. So was HM Vaught of Bond Twp. Otie Smith left for Crawfordsville Indiana where he was to attend Wabash College. George Mieure had some of the finest potatoes the reporter had seen that spring.  Hiram Buchanan was not going to return from Kansas till the next fall. Ed Robbins had a good buggy mare. Elliot Lamot had sold his farming implements and household goods and planned to start for Iowa soon.

TP Applegate was erecting a large barn in Broad Prairie. Rumors were afloat that OV Smith was killed in Texas while out hunting buffalo, but the correctness of this was doubtful.  JN Miller of Clinton County, Ohio bought the Sands farm in Lukin. Dick Crump, one of the oldest brakemen on the west end railroad had at last been promoted to a conductorship. 

The mail carrier between Lawrenceville, Russellville, and Palestine whose disappearance was mentioned in the Vincennes paper had returned after an absence of five days.  He reported that his absence was caused by the washing away of a bridge over a creek on the route.  The small streams caused considerable annoyance during the early part of April 1880. 

Mr. Sager, living two miles north of Claremont, went to the field to burn weeds, accompanied by his little daughter of eight years. He was a short distance from his daughter and watching the fire from the fence when he saw his little daughter in a flame of fire.  In trying to rescue his daughter from the flames, Mr. Sager burned his hands very badly.  The little sufferer was conveyed to her home and Drs. Batson and Allen were summoned. but to no avail, and she died about two hours later. 

And from the Mt Carmel Register: A Case of Man’s Inhumanity. “The actions of a lecherous young brute have brought endless misery and disgrace upon one of the most highly respected and worthy families in the Coffee precinct.  The fellow in question is a Hoosier who came to this county about two years ago.  His first act was to seduce the sister of his brother’s wife, the young daughter of one of the oldest citizens in the county.  Legal proceedings were about to be instituted against him, when the matter was compromised by a monied consideration. About this time, or perhaps before, he had succeeded in gaining the affection of his employer’s eldest daughter, a girl of about seventeen years, and to him she sacrificed a woman’s priceless jewel, virtue.  When her condition became known to her parents, her betrayer was notified that he must right the wrong, so far as it could be done, by marriage; this was done, and the unhappy parents supposed their worst troubles were over.  But a greater trial was still in store for them.  The scoundrel had not only seduced the elder daughter, but had also debauched her sister, a mere child of fourteen, who, a few days ago, gave birth to twins.  The Register is not an advocate of lynch law, but in this instance, it would deem the outraged father justifiable in filling the hide of his beastly son-in-law with buck shot.”

A novel pastime opened in Vincennes when a ten-pin alley was introduced. The alley constituted a room amply provided with air, light, and gas.  Arrangements had been perfected by which the pins were accurately and readily set up and the balls were brought back by simply pulling a string.

The government at Washington, DC published that the whole number of Civil War pensions granted from 1862 to 1879, not including the arrears-of-pay claims, had been nearly seven hundred thousand dollars and nearly a quarter of a million applications for pensions were on file for continuing future payments.  

“What was the worse result of the Civil War.” asked an orator. “Widows, man, Widows” shouted a fellow in the back who had married one.