The Greentown Gem - 1926-06-03

              PHYSICAL TRAINING CLASS
THE GREENTOWN GEM
SPECIAL SERVICE OF THE WESTERN NEWSPAPER UNION
Taper For odic laeople of Ecasters7 Ficrszstairel. ( SINGLE COPY
k FIVE CENTS / Oviy $ 1.50 Ia.:. year
THIRTY- SECOND YEAR
	
GREENTOWN, INDIANA, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1926
	
No. 45
Flames From Burning Corona;
Mill Is Seen for Fifty Miles
Many Girls Enjoyed and Were Benefitted by the
Physical- Education Classes During School Year
THE KITCHEN CABINET
ORC'ESTRA TO APPEAR
First row, left to right— Stella Kirkendall, Marcella Murphy, Geneva Kingseed, Delene Wooters, Ada Tygart,
Glennis Summers. Second row, left to right— Gladys Shrock, Bernita Cohee, Helen Hardy, Lulu Sommers, Lilly
Rody, Inez Maggart. Third row, left to right— Dorothy Keith, Esther Eash, Edna Shrock, Dorothy Kauffman,
Maudie Fisher. Fourth row, left to right— Lola Bookout, Mildred Dryer, Kathryn Spann, Gula Frakes, Ellen Mc-
Dowell, Florence Bell. Fifth row, left to right— Elmina Booher, Louise Scott, Mary Powell, Marie Alley, Eliza-,
beth Cohee, Lavada Mills. Sixth * ow, left to right— Edna Harper, Leona Bookout, Virginia Martin, Lauretta
Hawkins, Inez Burgan. Seventh row, left to right— Dorothy Garrison, Florence Shrock, Edith Mugg, Mildred
Powell, Wilma Saul. Eighth row, left to right— Ruth Stanbro, Lorene Kimmel, Fannie Dryer, Clara Rody, Jean-ette
Kelly, Maxine Zirkle.
Famous " Musical" Organization Will
Make Initial Bow Locally Friday
Evening.
Flames Discovered About 10: 30 Last
Thursday Night Soon Enveloped
the Big Mill.
LOSS SOMETHING NEAR ONE
HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS
Leaves 005, One More Mill of Kind
In the World— Were Just Get-ting
Started on Big Production.
building although it had taken fire on
numerous occasions. Only heroic work
on the part of the volunteers kept
the flames from spreading to the
house. They were forced to work a-gainst
that terrific heat, and it is
hard to understand just how they
were able to ssand it.
Cobs Burn Long
The nearly seventy- five car load of
cobs furnished fuel for a blaze of long
duration and the heaps were burning
yet Sunday morning, and on Monday
morning they were still smouldering.
The brick walls of the mill proper
were left standing, although warped
somewhat at the top, and on Monday
the north wall was pulled down to
make it safe for passing trains, the
other three still standing.
The big boilers were not damaged
to such an extent that they cannot be
repaired and used.
Burned Once Before
In the year 1898, the Corona Mill,
then a smaller plant and located just
a few feet to the east of the present
plant was destroyed by fire, but in
the following year, the present plant
was erected, later the big cob house
was added. The late Chas. J. Davis,
was superintendent of the plant at
that time.
The plant operated at that time un-der
much mystery, but it run night
and day and furnished employment for
some thirty men. It continued in op-eration
under a cloud of mystery as
to just what they done with the meal
ground from corn cobs, which it is
understood was used as filler for stock
food and polishing aluminum ware
and tin plate. Some was shipped to
Germany it is understood, but no one
but employees were allowed in the
building and this rule was rigidly en-forced.
It is recalled that on one oc-casion,
" Billy" Blodget, star news and
feature writer of the Indianapolis
News came down to Greentown to get
a big feature story on the big cob
mill, which at that time was the only_
one in t e world, but when he began
to use his reporter privileges of ask-ing
questions and being allowed to go
through the mill, he was stopped and
allowed to go no further by Mr. Davis
who informed him that it was against
the rules of the company, and Mr.
Blodget had to return to The Gem
Office empty handed and with a plea
to John W. Melton, then editor and
publisher of the Gem, who was a per-sonal
friend of his, to give him a
story on the mill as best he could with
a couple of pictures of the exterior.
Why the secrecy about the mill is
not known. It was then owned by the
Toledo Elevator Co., of Toledo. At
about the time of the war, the busi-ness
became slow and the hands were
laid off and for a time the plant was
idle, resuming operation for short per-iods.
The property was finally sold to the
American Hominy Co. which was one
of the largest milling company's in
the United States. They operated it
for a time. Through the loss of much
business from the brewing industries
the American Hominy Co., was thrown
into the hands of a receiver and the
company went to the wall, which ligi-tation
had shut the mill down and on-ly
day and night watchmen were kept
on the job. This continued for sever-al
years, and finally the watchmen
were disposed of, and the belting and
other materials were removed and the
windows and doors boarded up.
Much concern was felt for the safe-ty
of the town and steps were taken
to have the buildings condemned and
torn down before they burned endan-gering
the whole town.
The bankruptcy of the Hominy Co.,
threw the plant on the market and
two or three local people tried to buy
the plant, but their bids were below
that of C. C. Truax of Scircleville, 0.,
who had mills located at Columbus,
Ohio, and other points. When the new
owner had investigated the plant and
the community surrounding it, he de-cided
that it was the most convenient
location for a plant available at that
time, and he immediately began to re-pair
the buildings, and replace much
of the machinery with newer and big-ger
types, thus increasing the pro-duction
to about five times the old
capacity of the mill. It required al-most
a year to place the new machin-ery,
boilers and cover the frame build-ing
with galvanized tin. The build-ing
was secured for only a small
fraction of its worth, but when it was
ready for operation again, many thou-sands
of dollars had been spent on it.
New Market for Product.
In the old days the mill was operat-ed
under mystery, but Mr. Truax had
another market for the product and
the demand was so great that he be-lieved
he could make this mill one of
the largest in the world in a very
short time. Only one other of the
kind was then in existence. The new
use for ground cob meal was no mys-tery,
but in the various forms of the
products, sizes, grades and blends
were especially comminuted, designed
and adapted for use in the drying and
Physical Education for girls being
one of the newest subjects introduced
into the school, has already proven
very popular. Although it is elective
in the Senior high school, many of the
girls have chosen to take it. It furn-ishes
the physical and recreational
side of education which is much need-ed
in the teen age and is the source
of supply from which the girls' basket
ball team is drawn.
polishing of aluminum, tin plate and
metal products, and in the production
of adhesives, furfural, resins similar
to bakalite, plastics, dynamite, lino-leum,
wall board, fibre containers, in-sulating
brick, pottery, clay pigeons,
and thermos bottles and jugs.
The variety of uses for the various
ingredients of the corn cob opened a
bright future for the mill and much
work was done on the plant, testing
out new machinery in order that the
production could be raised.
Mr. Sligh stated that they had just
placed an order for about $ 12,000
worth of new machinery, and were at
the time of the fire, building a new
sack house, and were preparing to re-ceived
cobs by the ten and twenty car
loads to fill the cob house. New con-veyers
were ordered for the cobs and
a new car unloader was ordered to be
installed right away. New electrical
power equipment was soon to be in-stalled
because the boilers did not
give them enough power to run the
mill at capacity. The old mill capac-ity
was five tons a day, and the new
capacity was about five tons an hour.
Some five to six thousand sacks of
the meal were consumed in the flames
which were stored in the cob house
ready to be shipped, as a part of a
nine carload order. Cobs were being
trucked in from over the country and
prospects for the mill were very bright
for a busy summer season.
Loss Not Known Yet
The loss to Mr. Truax is not known
at this time, as the amount of insur-ance
carried on the buildings and con-tents
is not known. Mr. Truax was
here on Tuesday before the fire and
had gone to Cleveland, Ohio, to see as
( Continued on last page)
MEMORIAL SERVICES VERY
IMPRESSIVE HERE SUNDAY
Memorial Services were held here
Sunday afternoon in charge of the
local Post of the American Legion.
Services were held at the Main Street
Christian Church according to the pro-gram
as outlined last week. The boys
band furnished the music and Hon.
Forest A. Harness of Kokomo, deliver-ed
a fine memorial address.
Following services at the church,
ritualistic services were conducted at
the cemetery and the graves of de-parted
comrades from all wars were
decorated with flags and flowers.
The services were very impressive
and were witnessed by a large crowd
at both the church and cemetery.
ANNOUNCEMENT
• Rev. Leek of New Carlisle, Ind., will
fill the pulpit at the Main Street
Christian Church Friday evening at
7: 30 o'clock. It is desired that a large
attendance of members of the church
be present.
NOTICE 0. E. S.
Greentown Chapter 0. E. S. will
meet in regular stated session, June
10th, at 8 p. m. There will be initia-tory
work.
The class periods are devoted to cal-isthenics,
playing, and rhythmic move-ments
which have for their purpose
the relief of mental strain and the
tension of long sessions in classes, the
production of good posture and cor-rect
carriage of the body; the satis-fying
of the urgent demand of every
healthy girl for muscular movement
or activity; and finally the insurance
of health and normal growth.
FORMER LOCAL RESIDENT
DIED AT KOKOMO SUNDAY
Morning After Long Illness of Dropsy
and Heart Disease— Funeral Held
Tuesday.
Mrs. Emma Leafgreen, wife of
C. hga arl 	 es . L 	 eafog'crleoec nka, dtied Sunad aiyy mhoormne-in
Kokomo, of heart disease and drop-sy.
She had been ill since Thanksgiv-ing
but became bedfast only one mon-th
ago. In the last week the decline
was rapid and death came as a re-lease
from great pain.
The deceased was born near Stock-holm,
Sweden, on December 6, 1859.
While a young girl she came to Amer-ica
to visit a sister and met Charles
Leafgreen who was a native of her
homeland. They were married March
15, 1885, and spent the early years of
their married life in Pittsburgh. A-bout
thirty years ago they moved to
Greentown and after a few years here
moved to Kokomo which has since
been their residence. Many of the
older residents here will recall the
Greenleaf family.
Surviving with the husband are 3
children, Misses Sadie and Lena Leaf-green,
and Albert Leafgreen, all re-siding
at home. Two other children
Roy and Anna died several years ago.
Two sisters and a brother are left al-so,
Mrs. Lizzie Pearson of Pittsburgh,
Pa., Mrs. Christine Peterson of Mal-mo,
Sweden, and John Leafgreen, who
is attached to the Swedish navy.
Funeral services were held from
the home Tuesday in charge of the
Rev. J. W. Lake, pastor of the U. B.
Church at Kokomo, followed by burial
in Crown Points cemetery at that
place.
STANDARD BEARERS
The Standard Bearers of the M. E.
Church took a picnic lunch and sur-prised
Mrs. Kate Hall last Thursday
evening. It being the regular meet-ing,
all business was transacted, and
the lesson study was conducted by
Miss Jeanette Street and Miss Louie
Inez Burgan. Those present to enjoy
the lunch and meeting were, Mrs. A.
E. Leese, Mrs. Ed Neyhart, Mr. and
Mrs. John Hall, and Misses Louise
Scott, Elmina Booher, Josephine
Wright, Ethel Clark, t dna Fawcett,
Elizabeth Main, Jeanette Street,
Louie Inez Burgan, Margaret Shrader,
Dorothy Keith, Elizabeth Honeas,
Edna Haper and Zernelle Robinson.
W. C. T. U.
The W. C. T. U. will meet rest
Tuesday afternoon at the home of
Mrs. Arvilla Linville. This is a s • ec-ial
meeting. The flower mission day
will be observed. Mrs. Ida Hopkins,
County President, of Kokomo, will
have charge of the meeting. A large
attendance is desired. Members ate
requested to bring flowers to this,
meeting.
Miss Glenda Quick was the Sunday
guest of Miss Bernita Cohee.
During the first semester physical
education in our school was under the
direction of Mrs. Van Tyle, and for
the second semester the work was con-tinued
by Mrs. Pickett, each of whom
were well pleased with the work at-tempted
and accomplished during the
school year.
The above picture is reproduced
through the courtesy of the Senior
Class Emerald Staff of 1926.
Wen Frankie Millur tride ter gitt
upp in er hurra whin de Korona wuz
huroin, he thot he - wuz standin onn hiz
, i and tried ter putt hiz shurt wher
pantz belongt en hiz pantz wher
' Az shurt belongt. Frankie saize dat
dey wonte work dat wa.
Itznoyuse ter tri ter wakun Schilur
Patun wid dynamite er hollirin, kawse
pie didnt evun kno de Korona burnt
' yl nex mawnin.
Dere iz lottz uv fishin doun et de
krik, en awlsow lotz uv fishe ey wreck-in.
kawse ey didnt finde none en lef
dens awl der.
EVERY MEMBER AN ARTIST
AND POPULAR ENTERTAINER
rogram Over- crowded With Fun and
Good Clean Entertainment For
Everybody.
The famous " Kitchen Cabinet Or-chestra,"
is due to arrive in town on
Friday evening and will immediately
repair to the M. E. Church for their
initial appearance before a Greentown
audience. This orchestra, known the
world over, is composed of some of the
most noted orchestra instrumentalists
known, and every member is an artist
and entertainer deluxe.
It is also whispered that many of
our local orchestra enthusiasts will be
included in the personell, and in fact
some have intimated that the whale
orchestra will be composed of local
talent, but be that as it may, the
" Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra" will ap-pear
with their funny instruments,
such as coffee grinders, rolling' pins,
meat choppers, seives, potato mashers,
etc.
The orchestra will be under the
direction of Madam Kitchenette and
the Drum Major, Madam Easing Tub-inski,
both noted orchestra members
and able artists. Their ability to get
harmony out of chaos is remarkable
and to appreciate the numbers one
must hear and see for themselves.
There will be plenty of good clean
fun for 511, so don't stay away for
fear of soaking up some one else's
part of the evening's entertainment.
You will smile, then burst into laugh-ter
at every turn. If you do not there
is urgent need for a doctor, as this
orchestra is a guaranteed blues ex-a
wedding. Sweet Evelina will be-come
the bride of Robin Adair. The
wedding processional will be a feature
it was found that three names were
unintentionally omitted. The list is
hard to keep correct, and if any er-rors
are noticed, the Gem would be
pleased to have you call attention to
them, so that the list can be made as
nearly correct as possible.
The three names omitted are as
follows, the first two buried in the
Phlox cemetery and the last named in
the Lamb cemetery:
James Erwin, Co H 34 Ina inf.
Levi Pickering, Co H 34 Ind inf.
Mr. Silvers, ( Co. unknown.)
PAST MATRONS
The Past Matrons Club will meet at
the home of Mrs. Mary Peters, 804
East Walnut St., Kokomo, on next
Tuesday, June 8th.
Miss Doretha Cohee spent Monday
afternoon with Miss Ilene Quick.
Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Babb spent Mon-day
afternoon in Kokomo.
Greentown witnessed the biggest
fire of its history last Thursday night
when flames in all their fury consum-ed
the big Corona Milling Co. plant
here last Thursday night, entailing a
loss conservatively - eatiiiiaffed at one
_ ss 	 hundred thousand dollars. The entire
plant was swept away by the flames
which were discovered about 10: 30
o'clock, and before one hour had e-lapsed
the entire building was in a
mass of flames shooting skyward to a
heighth of nearly 125 feet and illum-inating
the sky for many miles.
The flames were so bright that one
could have read a newspaper nearly
a half mile away, and the fire was
seen for fifty miles distant, and many
who noticed the flames came to view
the ruins. Some came from Logans-port,
Marion, Elwood, Tipton, Koko-a
	 mo and SPetarurt. ed on First Floor
The fire started on the first floor,
according to those' who were first on
the scene. The flames were noticed
by Glen Davis, local drayman, who
was leaving his home about 10: 30 to
hang the mail for the Nickle Plate.
" eleven o'clock" passenger train. He
said he noticed the light in the lower
window when he came out of the door
of his home, but thought that it was
a train standing on the siding waiting
building or just after passing the
plant and nearing the mail pouch
holder just east of the mill, he noticed
that there was no train and at once
realized that the mill was on fire and
he immediately spread the alarm, and
tried to get help to the mill in the
hope that it yet might be saved.
The response to his calling was very
prompt, but as the fire siren was out
of order, his voice Was the only alarm
available, althought the siren was
blown once before it gave way.
When help arrived, entrance was
made into the building, where the fire
was raging. At that time it was con-fined
mostly to the basement and first
floor of the mill proper.
Attempted to Start Pump
Mr. Sligh, local manager and sup-erintendent
of the mill, was immed-iately
notified and as soon as he ar-rived,
it was decided to start the big
steam pump, and try to combat the
blaze with the company's hose, which
is considered a good equipment. The
steam pressure was low and the pump
would not operate properly and an at-tempt
was made to fire the boilers, but
this was too slow. Chemical cans were
used to hold the flames for a time,
but they were unable to hold them
long. By this time the whole base-ment
was aflame and the volunteers
began taking out the office furniture
and other valuables, while . another
bunch went to work on the nearby
roofs.
Flames Spread Rapidly
The flames spread throughout the
building rapidly. From the basement
they went to the first, second and third
floors through the wood chutes, and
heavy wood timbers holding the big
and heavy machines used for crushing
and grinding corn cobs into fine meal.
They soon spread to the shuck
house, office and big cob room. The
office and cob room were of wood
structure, covered by galvanized tin,
and the flames seemed to break forth
from this building all at once.
The cob room had about seventy-five
cars of cobs in storage and be-tween
five and six thousand sacks of
the finished meal ready for shipment.
Machines Fall
Each floor of the three story brick
building held numerous heavy milling
machines and as the floors gave way
under the weight large volumes of
flames in sheets and millions of sparks
were thrown into the brisk breeze and
carried to the west and north.
When the cob room roof fell the
flames shot skyward for nearly one
hundred and twenty- five feet and il-luminated
the sky for miles around.
The Heat Intense
The heat from the burning embers
of cobs, woods and roofing was in-tense
and houses for almost a block
were kept constantly under watch and
the roofs kept damp.
The house belonging to Willie Hook-er,
located just across the road from
the big cob house, was damaged con-siderably,
but the volunteers worked
hard against the almost unbearable
heat and succeeded in saving the
	 terminator._
Ott yes wea lam° 	 o sLt To- maize CONGRATULATIONS BROTHER their ' appearance here more interest-
Oscar D. Melton, editor and publish- ing and exciting, there is goin g to be
er of the. Swayzee Press, and Miss
Gertrude Mantling, formerly of An-derson
and for the past three years a
2re3sridd. ent of Swayzee, were united in of the performance and provide a most
marriage at noon last Sunday, May i welcome and pleasing part of the pro-
I gram. •
j. The marriage was performed in the I The orchestra will appear at the M.
j First Baptist Church at Anderson, of ; E. Church Friday evening and from
which the bride is a member, follow-' all indications the church will not be
. ing the regular morning church sere- I half large enough to accommodate the
! ice. The pastor, Rev. S. W. Powell, I crowd, as many are coming from near-
' officiated, using the single ring cere- by towns to again hear and see the
many, in the presence of a few rela- , orchestra. Better get there early.
I tives and friends. 	 I Following is the program:
Following the ceremony, the guests Introductory.
t were entertained for dinner at the Sweet Evelina 	 Orchestra
home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Man- Robin Adair 	 - 	 Solo
ping, the former being a brother of Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here__
the bride. 	 	 Orchestra
The couple spent Sunday night at Love's Old Sweet Song 	 Quartet
the home of Mrs. Allie Hanson, an Jingle Bells 	 , Orchestra
aunt of the bride, near Mooreland, Oh Promise Me 	 Trombone Solo
and Monday afternoon and night at Blue Bells of Scotland 	 Orchestra
the Manning home in Anderson. They Till We Meet Again 	
returned to Swayzee early Tuesday 	 	 Duet and Orchestra
morning and are now living in the Poll y. Wolly, Doodle 	 Orchestra
Melton home on west Madison street, Carry Me Back to Old Virginia ____
friends. 	 Katy- B- B- Beautiful Katy 	
QuDartet
Duet
where they are at home to their many 	 	 t
The Gem extends congratulations Olyd Gray Mare 	 Duet
to Mr. and Mrs. Melton, and wish for 	 INTERMISSION
them a happy wedded life. 	 Pack Up Your Troubles ____ Orchestra
The groom is well known here. He Yankee Doodle 	 Orchestra
has been in the newspaper business Long, Long Trail 	 Orchestra
for the past several years at Swayzee Coming Through the Rye 	 Quartet
and at one time was employed in the Smiles 	 Orchestra
Gem office. He is a gentleman in ev- Oh where, Oh where, has my little
ery respect and the bride, whom we do Dog Gone? 	 Duet
not know, but who we understand is Solomon Levi 	 Orchestra
gain contratulate you, Brother Mel- Collegian 	
Orchestra
Orchestra
a fine lady of high standing. We a- Little Brown Jug 	
t 	 o n . Indiana 	 Orchestra
On the Banks of the Wabash ____ Solo
The
	 CfOreNeCbEoRndT TONIGHT
concert
HoTf
the
h e DLioxhie: tgrin's Wedding March 	
	 Orchestra
season will be given at Greentown 	
	 Orchestra
this evening by the Boys Band, and Good Night Ladies!
	 Orchestra
to
a large crowd is expected to start the 	
The above program is subject
change without notice.
weekly concerts off to a most success-ful
season. The invitation is broad 	 THREE NAMES OMITTED
and the roads good, so come and en-joy
the evening with us. 	 In making out the list of soldiers
— buried in local cemeteries last week,