The Greentown Gem - 1923-08-09

              THE WORLD MOURNS •
THE REENTOWN GEM
SPECIAL SERVICE OF THE WESTERN NEWSPAPER UNION
raexper For " I` 17. Peopie of Seisterry Flowsnarel . ( SINGLE COPY
) Orily $ 1.50 Par Veer s. \ FIVE CENTS
Thirtieth Ninth Year. Greentown, Indiana, Thursday, August 9, 1923. No. 1
$ 5,000 DEMANDED IN
BLACK MAIL LETTER
HARDING FUNERAL
TO BE HELD FRIDAY
Death Came Last Thursday Evening
Very Suddenly— Was Thought
To Be Recovering
BODY TAKEN FROM SAN
FRANCISCO TO WASHINGTON
Thousands Pay Homeage Along Route
— Services at Rotunda Held Wed-nesday.
RURAL
CARRIERS TO
HOLD ANNUAL PICNIC
At Forks of the Creek Sunday, Aug. family reunion near Herbst, Sunday.
12th-- Expect Many Visitors From Mrf. Law.- A rolfield J ot. near Cet,,,
Over County.
was the guiest 1V1anday_
, of Mrs. Glen, Kelley and farn y.
Mr. and Mrs. Marion Shockley had
as their Sunday evening supper guests
Mr. and Mrs. Everett Babb of Kemp-ton.
Mr. and Mrs. George Werking en-tertained
Sunday, Mrs. Susie Sloan,
Miss Anna Linville and Harold and
Kenneth Sloan.
Mrs. Flora Bell Rensch and baby
Virginia Rae are visiting at the home
of Mrs. Rrensch's parents, Mr. and
Mrs. W. I. Bell, west of town.
Mrs. Chester Gang and baby and
Mrs. Frank Burgan and daughter
were visitors at Kokomo Saturday
afternoon.
Fred McCan, wife and children of
Kokomo are spending the week at the
home of Mrs. Mina Gentry, east of
town.
Mrs Nancy Burgan of Kokomo re-turned
to her home Friday, after a
two weeks visit with her grandchil-dren,
Armour Burgan and family and
George Shepherd and family.
Mr. and Mrs. Emor Johnson and
family have moved their household
goods from North Meridian street to
Kokomo, where they will make their
future home.
Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Hamer enter-tained
Thursday evening, Mr. and Mrs.
Guy Peters and sons of Cincinnati, 0.,
Mrs. Mary Peters of Kokomo and Mr.
and Mrs. C. F. Mast of Swayzee.
Dr. and Mrs. H. I. Kingery and
daughters entertained Thursday even-ing,
Mrs. Neva Ryan and daughter
Helen of Frankfort and Irene Holli-day.
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Mast and chil-dren
left Saturday morning for Nap-panee,
where they attended the Mast
reunion on Sunday and went from
there to Lake Manitou, where they
spent the forepart of the week.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Singer and fam-ily
stopped here a short time Monday
Ad visited the former's sister, Miss
Edith Singer. They were enroute to
Wabash where they are making their
new home after living in Colfax.
Mr. and Mrs. Lon Kem per enter-tained
at their home Sunday, Mr. and
Mrs. Albert March, Miss Agnes Har-ness
and Ralph Hicks of Kokomo,
Mrs. Mary Kemper, Mrs. Gay Ackley
and son Valore.
Mr. and Mrs. Otis Wolfe were the
victims of a pleasan* surprise Monday
evening when a number of friends
gathered at their home, the event be-ing
in the nature of a miscellaneous
shower. A pleasant evening was en-joyed
and the young couple were
recipients of many nice gifts.
Among the out of town guests at
the funeral of Miss Cora Brunk. Tues-day
afternoon, were. Wm. H. Turner
and wife, Wayne Freeman and Mr.
Dietemyer of Kokomo. Mr. Foutz of
Dayton, 0., Oscar Brunk of Akron.
0.. and Charles Brunk and family of
Evansville, Ind.
Mrs. Clarence McQuiston returned
home Sunday. after spendin g the past
three weeks at Rochester. Minn.. with
her mother, Mrs. Rachel Coomler, who
underwent an o peration for gall stones
at the Mayo Bros. hospital. Mrs.
Coomler is recovering slowly and will
remain at Rochester a few weeks be-fore
returning here.
HON. FRED S. PURNELL TO
BE PRESENT IN AFTERNOON
Colored Jubilee Singers of Kokomo
To Be On the Program— Big
Basket Dinner • Noon Hour.
The annual picnic of the Howard
County Association of Rural Carriers
and Patrons will be held at the Forks
of the Creek Sunday, August 12th.
This is an annual event and is par-ticipated
in by many patrons of the
routes over the county and their car-riers.
This year it is planned to make
it the best ever, and a fine program is
being arranged for the afternoon. At
the noon hour, 12: 30 p. m., the fea-ture
of all such gatherings will take
place, the big basket dinner. Every-body
is invited to participate in this
feature of the day's enjoyment.
The real feature of the day how-ever
will be the appearance of Hon.
Fred S. Purnell, who has given the
committee the assurance that he will
make all efforts to be present and de-liver
a short address. Everybody
knows Fred and there is not much
use of trying to give him an intro-duction
at this time.
The Colored Jubilee Singers of Ko-will
be back again this year and will
furnish some high class music for the
entertainment of the crowd.
There will be other musical num-bers
and readings which will please.
This is a time when the patrons of
the rural routes and the carriers frol-ic
together for a day of real enjoy;
ment and the Forks of the Creek is
an ideal spot for such an occasion
with its flowing well and natural
scenic location. It is expected that
carriers and patrons will be present
from all over the county and many
from adjoining counties. The invita-tion
is extended to everybody, and a
good time is assured you, should you
decide to attend.
CELEBRATED BIRTHDAYS
Chas. E., the eleven year old son of
Letis E. and Mrs. Lamb, and Martha
Ellen. the five year old daughter of
Floyd and Mrs. Wright, celebrated
their birthdays Sunda- at the home of
Floyd and Mrs. Wright near Vermont.
A bountiful dinner was served at the
noon hour and ice cream in the after-noon.
Those present were, Chas. A.
Lamb, Letis Lamb, wife and chil-dren,
Chas. E. and Eloise, Ben and
Mrs. Gentry. Curtie and Mrs. Wright
and son Dallas and Mrs. Retta Wood-mansee.
Mr. and Mrs. U. S. Brannen enter-tained
Friday, Mrs. Retta Woodman-see,
Miss Ida Woodmansee, Albert
Middlesworth and Mrs. Docia Daugh-erty
of Indianapolis.
daughter Jeanette attended the Steer_
The whole United States and the
world was thrown into a deep state
of mourning last Thursday evening
when the report became known gen-erally
of the death of President War-ren
G. Harding, at the Palace Hotel
in San Francisco, where he had been
suffering with a slight case of pneu-monia.
Death came while he was con-versing
with his wife, who was read-ing
to him at the side of his bed, and,
according to an official statement is-sued
by physician, was due to cerebral
apoplexy.
The end came so suddenly that the
members of the official party could
not be called. It came after a day
which had been described by Brig.
Gen. Sawyer, the president's personal
physician, as the most satisfactory
day the President had had since his
illness began. The physicians in their
formal announcement of the end said
that " during the day he had been free
from discomfort and there was every
justification for anticipating a prompt
recovery."
The first indication that a change
had occurred in the condition of Mr.
Harding came shortly after 7 o'clock
when Mrs. Harding eersonally opened
the door of the sick room and called
to those in the corridors to " find Dr.
Boone and others quickly."
At that time Mrs. Harding was
understood to have been reading to
the President, sitting at his bus
with thv vvenigig papers anal
-
sages or sympathy which had seen
received during the day.
The body was taken to Washington
on a special train, where it lay in state
until the final rites will be held Fri-day.
A few hours following the death
of President Harding, Calvin Coolidge,
Vice President, was given the oath of
office by his elderly father in their
farm residence, and the United States
was no longer without a President, in
fact as well as in name. Pres. Cool-idge
took up the reins well qualified
for his position.
Short and simple services have been
the request of Mrs. Harding and this
has been the rule. Services were held
Wednesday about noon in the rotunda
at the capitol, where thousands upon
thousands of dignitaries and from all
walks of life viewed the remains in
deep silence and bowed heads. In
death, the friends and foes of the man
have been brought to see more clear-ly
the real worth of the man who serv-ed
as our chief executive.
Warren Gamaliel Harding was born
in Blooming Grove, Morrow county,
Ohio, just thirty miles east of Marion,
on Nov. 2, 1865, the oldest of eight
children. His paternal forebears came
from Scotland and some of them
fought in the revolutionary war.
Others were massacred by the Indians
in Pennsylvania.
President Harding's mother, Mrs.
Phoebe Dickerson Harding, was de-scended
from an old Holland Dutch
family, the VanKirks. While Warren
was still quite young, his father, Dr.
J. F. Harding, a country doctor, mov-ed
with the family to Caledonia, nine
miles nearer to Marion. Warren at-tended
school there for a time and
later taught school there two years,
working at odd times in the village
printing office and acquiring the foun-dation
of his training for his occupa-tional
career.
Young Harding played a cornet in
the Caledonia brass band, played base
ball and engaged in all the sports and
village activities attractive to a well
spirited and poular youth. The Ohio
Central college at Iberia enuipped the
future statesman with an education—
one which cost him many a weary
hour, since it was necessary that he
earn his way. This he accomplished
by cutting corn, painting barns, driv-ing
teams arid on one occasion, by
helping to make a roadbed for a new
railroad.
The study of law lured Harding's
fancy when college days were over
and when he was 19 years old, he
moved to Marion, with a view to pre-paring
for that profession. The law
proved less attractiv . on closer in-spection.
however, and Warren turned
. to newspaper work. In colle ge he had
been editor of the colle ge paper. He
began work on the Marion Mirror, a
Democratic newspaper. For his labor
on the staff, he drew a salary of $ 9 a
week. The Blaine campaign took place
at that time and Warren insisted on
wearing a Blaine high hat, thus a-rousing
the indignation of his boss
who fired him.
( Continued on another page)
C, urleas of t: anti-
White of Converse ' spent Tues-evening
with Mrs. ClOra Curless.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Turner re-armed
home Sunday after a week's
visit with relatives in the southern
part of the state.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Armstrong and
family had as dinner guests Friday,
Mrs. Maggie Ayers and children and
Frank Rioth and family.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenton Maddock and
children left Saturday morning for
Tangier, Ind., and St. Joe, Ill., where
they visited until Thursday.
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Fleming had as
their Sunday dinner guests, Mr. and
Mrs. Jesse Osborn and James Warns-ley
of Kokomo.
Miss Leah Powell, Miss Addie Res-oner
and C. C. Hannah of Swayzee
and Harry Kendall of Kokomo motor-ed
to Silver Lake, Sunday.
Mrs. Will Duncan and Charles Bog-ue
and wife were dinner guests Sun-day
of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Duncan and
son.
Mrs. F. P. Cates and grandson Al-bert
Hofferbert and Mrs. W. P.
Thompson visited at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Emery Creviston and sons
near Van Buren, Sunday.
Rufus Currens, Floyd Neyhart and
Ed Neyhart went to North Manches-ter
Sunday in the interests of the
Street Fair and report some added
features.
Mrs. Mollie Turner, who has been
sick the past two weeks, is improving.
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Woody and chil-dren
of Swayzee were Sunday even-ing
guests of Mrs. R. J. Currens.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Ormel'Spen-cer,
southeast of town, a fine eight
pound baby girl, Friday. The little
Miss will answer to the name of Ar-netta
Jane.
Dr. and Mrs. J. F. Powell had as
Saturday night guests, Mr. and Mrs.
Russell Hall and children of Kokomo.
On Sunday they all motored to Ossian
where they visited Mrs. Powell's par-ents,
Mr. and Mrs. L. F. Chalfant.
J. C. Symons and wife of Jerome,
Mrs. Bert Symons of Greentown, Mrs.
Rena Land of Curtisville and Mrs.
Anna McVickor of Landesville, Ind„
were dinner guests Friday of Mr. and
Mrs. Samuel Himes.
The Women's Foreign Missionary
Society of the Wesleyan Methodist
church met Wednesday afternoon at
the home of Mrs. Maude Larowe. An
interesting program was given and
a good number was present.
Mrs. Viola Armstrong arrived home
Wednesday evening from Cincinnati,
0., where she had been visiting her
sister, Mrs. Nora Stutesman, the past
three weeks. Another sister. Mrs.
Ida Hampson of Florence, Kansas,
visited there at the same time, it be-ing
the first time in twenty- seven
years the three sisters had all visited
together.
Mr. end Mrs. Ross Kemper and Miss
Veda Phares motorei, to the home of
Frank Graf and family at South Whit-ley
Sunday and spent the day. Other
guests were, Miss Cleo Beetle of South
Whitley. Douglas Miller and Mr. and
Mrs. Will Phares of Fort Wayne. Miss
Vada Phares, who has been visiting
Mr. and Mrs. Kemper the past few
weeks accompanied her parents to her
home in Fort Wayne.
Awl dresst up an kno plaise ter go.
But ime watin fer de strete fare.
Lawse ey bett dat itl wrane ergin
sune doant yu. Sum wrane we hed
tuthir da.
Chereup, de froaste'l sune bee oan
de punkins an de fodir inn de shok.
MISS CORA BRUNK DIED
LAST SUNDAY MORNING
Miss Cora Brunk, daughter of Eli
Brunk liivng on West Main street,
died Sunday morning, following a long
illness, aged 47 years, 7 months and
5 days. The deceased had been a
resident of this community for the
entire period of her life, excepting a
few months when she moved to Koko-mo
a few years ago, that she might
be nearer to her work. She had a wide
acquaintance throughout Howard
County, gained through her connect-ions
with various merchandising es-tablishments.
She was a trusted and
valued employe of the Wm. H. Turner
Co. at Kokomo Prior to her last sick-ness,
which called for an operation.
All that loving hands could do, was
done, that she might regain her health
but to no avail, the pangs of disease
having fastened itself about her and
would not be denied. All who came
in contact with her was her friend,
and the sympathy of the entire com-munity
is extended to the stricken
family. The funeral occurred from
the M. E. church Tuesday afternoon
conducted - by the pastor, Rev. A. E.
Leese, followed by burial in the local
cemetery.
The obituary will be found on an-other
page.
MEMORIAL SERVICES
•
REV. WHITE AND DR. H. C.
MILLER TO GIVE ADDRESSES
Services Will Be Simple In Compli-ance
With Services at Washing-ton
and Marion.
In compliance with the various
proclamations of the president and
governor, Greentown in a spirit of
reverence and mourning, will meet at
the Meridian Street Christian church
Friday afternoon at 2: 30 o'clock, to
pay their respect to the late presi-dent,
Warren G. Harding, whose un-timely
death has thrown the entire
nation and world in mourning.
The nature of the services will be
in keeping with the spirit of the oc-casion
and will be simple in every
detail, just as the services at Wash-ington
where the body lies in state
will be, in compliance with the wishes
of Mrs. Harding.
Proclamations by the president of
the United States and the Governor
of Indiana,- have proclaimed this day
one of mourning, and all loyal Amer-icans
are expected to observe these
proclamations in some fitting manner.
Therefore, it is the duty of each and
every one of us to be present at the
services to be held in the Meridian
Street church, and thus pay our home-age
to one whom we looked upon as
the leader of the greatest nation on
the face of the globe.
The program for the services will
be one in which all may feel that
the spark of patriotism and love of
country predominates; one in which
all come with bowed heads in mourn-ing
the loss of our twenty- ninth presi-dent,
regardless of creed, politics or
personal opinions. A large number
and in fact every loyal citizen, who
possibly can do so, should be present
at this service. Don't forget the time
at 2: 30 Friday afternoon.
The music will be in charge of Mrs.
J. E. Fulwider, and Rev. Clifford L.
White and Dr. H. C. Miller will de-liver
short addresses. Following is
the program as outlined:
Song, " Nearer My God To Thee"
Congregation
Devotional Rev. Bicycle
Solo Mrs. Fulwider
Scripture Lesson ____ Rev. A. E. Leese
Quartette, " Lead Kindly Light"
Talk Dr. H. C. Miller
Talk Rev. Clifford L. White
Song, " America"
Benediction.
W. C. T. U. MEETING
The W. C. T. U. will meet at the
home of Mrs. Emma Richer on North
Meridian street Tuesday afternoon. It
is hoped a large number of members
and visitors will be present.
John S. Mitchell of Windfall Received
Spurious Letter Last Sunday
Afternoon.
THREATS LIFE OF HIS SON
AS WELL AS HIS OWN
Caused Much Excitement Monday
When Letter Is Made Known to
the Public.
Our neighboring town of Windfall
was thrown into a state of heated ex-citement
Monday when it became
known that John S. Mitchell, one of
the most prominent and wealthy men
of that community, had received a
blackhand letter, directing him to
hand over $ 5,000 that evening or suf
fer the penalty prescribed in the let-ter.
Mr. Mitchell received the letter Sun-day
afternoon, but with his usual good
judgment he began to think the mat-ter
over before he acted. He was
warned to never make known the let-ter
under threat of death. After
going over the situation thoroughly
he decided to let matters take their
course and not to comply any of the
requests. However he was consider-ably
worried, which is only natural.
When it became known generally
many volunteered their assistance in
trapping the plotters, but this was
deemed inadvisable. The letter was
read before a tent meeting that even-ing,
before a large crowd of citizens
who openly expressed their indigna-tion
at the spurious letter.
As Mr. Mitchell said, it is not the
money so much as the principle at
stake. The, is nothing quite so low
clown, mean, an i unforgiveable as a
black hand, operator who is working'
uncar the veil 0 darkness, afraid to
get out in the open. One of this kind
is worse than a burglar, or a thief
who have some honor among their
kind. A blackmailer, could be your
best friend, and you would never
know it, so sneaking and low down in
their cussedness, that even a snake
would not want to bother them.
Much speculation was going the
rounds early in the week, as to who
might have perpetrated the dastardly
plot. Many expressed the view that
it was local talent, while others seem-ed
to think it was professionals at
work. However this angle of the case
is being left to the proper authorities
and their progress has been very fav-orable
to date. They evidently did not
figure that Mr. Mitchell would stand
up for a principle, as he is doing, or
else they would have thought twice
before leaping into such a sneaking
piece , of work.
John S. Mitchell, president and gen-eral
manager of some six or seven
packing plants and various other en-terprises
in and around Windfall, has
done more for the community's best
interests than any one single man in
that territory. He has accumulated
all his wealth by hard work, often
times spending an entire night solving
some difficult problem concerning his
business matters in connection with
the concerns he is at the head of. It
is hard to understand who would do
him such a mean trick locally, but
stranger things than that have hap-pened.
The Gem is permitted to publish the
text of the original letter as a court-eousv
from Mr. Mitchell, which will
put down many spurious rumors a-float
concerning the contents of the
missive. The letter follows:
Friday, August 3rd, 1923.
John S. Mitchell,
Windfall, Indiana.
Sir:
It is quite probable that your first
impulse upon receipt of this letter will
be to cast it aside, but if you have the
intelligence that we give you credit
with having, you will read carefully
and consider well. This is to inform
you that your son, June Mitchell, is in
very grave danger. In fact it may
mean his life, and in this letter we
are going to show you how you can
save him.
To get to the cause of the whole
thing we will say this. There are
three determined men at the back of
this letter. We have all been injured
by you through your small and low
down business dealings. You have at
various times taken advantage of us
when we trusted you, and the result
has been that us and our families have
actually suffered. Now we seek com-pensation.
THERE IS ONE THING SURE:
YOU WILL EITHER REPAY US IN
BLOOD OR DOLLARS. This is a
simple case of blackmail, and all of
us are aware of the risk which we
run. But that only makes us the
more determined and desperate.
First, get this, THIS IS NO JOKE,
so get that out of your head at once.
What we want is five thousand dol-lars.
AND WE ARE GOING TO
( Continued on another page)
E..
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Street and r. and Mrs. Ed Schaaf motored to
Marntou Sunday and.. spent the
.. 1Local 3Doingz•• = FRIDAY AFTERNOON
ler, lian Street Chr—
Chard. Di: ginning at 2: 30
O'clock.