USA > Indiana > Carroll County > History of Carroll County Indiana, its people, industries and institutions > Part 19
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The people, clad in clothes spun and woven by the mothers, who were neat cutters and fitters, appeared fully dressed on public occasions. The rule to do unto others as you would have others to do unto you was the law of the land. The latch string hung out. Hospitality was a crowning fea- ture of every family. The table was supplied with choice venison, turkey, squirrels and fish. They vied with each other in making corn bread and "johnny cake." It must be conceded that rural life, under the condition mentioned. contributed to longevity. The appendix was unheard of those days. Consumption carried off more people than any other disease.
ABDUCTION OF LUELLA MABBITT.
The most startling and tragical act of a villain occurred in Carrollton township, in Carroll county, August 6, 1886.
William Mabbitt was an early settler of Carrollton township, and- lived on a farm. He had a wife and several sons and daughters about grown. A man by the name of Amer Green lived with a widowed mother in the western part of Howard county. He was about twenty-five years old. He had been paying his addresses to Luella, a daughter of William Mabbitt, who opposed his daughter permitting Green to visit her. She wrote a note to Green, a few days before the occurrence we are about to relate took place.
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informing him not to visit her thereafter. On the 6th of August, 1886, about nine o'clock in the evening, one William Walker, a man who lived in that neighborhood drove up to the Mabbitt home in a buggy and called for a sister of Luella to come out to him. At that time the family had retired, and after persistent calling the sister got up and went out to the buggy and talked with Walker for a short time, when Amer Green drove up in a buggy and called for Luella to come out. Green was then informed that Luella was in bed, but he demanded that she come out or he would "tear down the house." Thereupon Luella got up and went out to him and talked a while, when they started off together, apparently, for a walk. The sister returned to the house and Walker drove off. That was the last ever seen of Luella alive. It was claimed that cries were heard along the road leading towards Wildcat creek south, but no attention was paid to them.
The news of this affair went out over the country and aroused the officers and the people, and the country was searched but no positive evi- dence was obtained that would lead to the arrest of Green. Subsequently it was learned that Green had a large sum of money in a Logansport bank, but it was supposed to belong to his mother, who soon after this occurrence drew the money out of the bank and went on a visit to Pennsylvania. Mr. Mabbitt spent a large amount of money in hiring detectives to find the miss- ing girl and apprehend the abductor, without accomplishing anything. It was not until in February, 1887, that any evidence was found about the missing girl. The remains of a badly decayed body were found in the Wabash river a few miles above Lafayette, which were identified as those of the missing girl.
In October, 1887, deputy sheriff Stanley, of Cass county, arrested Amer Green in southwestern Texas and lodged him in the Carroll county jail. The news of his capture went broadcast. He had been in jail but a few days until strangers were noticed on the street; but it did not create any suspicion that a mob was preparing to take him out and hang him.
On Friday morning, October 21, 1887, a mob of one hundred or more surrounded the jail, overpowered the sheriff, Nelson VanGundy, and his deputies, and with sledge hammers battered down the doors and seized Amer Green, tied him, put him in a carriage and drove off south, being joined by many more, and went east on the Delphi and Flora road, about eight miles, to Walnut Grove, where a parley took place. Green was asked as to whether Luella Mabbitt was alive; he said, "She is." He said, "She is at Ft. Worth, Texas, living with a Samuel Payne." He said, "I hope
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you are not going to burn me; you have come out to murder me, and are going to do it, but do it like civilized men." The mob cried out, "Give him the stake." "Burn him." "Torture a confession out of him."
Green requested that his body be sent to a sister in Ohio. The chief actor placed a rope around Green's neck, the rope was placed over a limb, and he was launched into eternity in a few minutes without a struggle.
The coroner next day took charge of the body. The court ordered the immediate convening of the grand jury, and delivered a charge to the jury, which was published in the papers. The grand jury examined over one hundred witnesses, no one of whom was able to tell who the chief actors were. The people generally believed Amer Green was guilty of mur- dering Luella Mabbitt, but desired that the law should have been permitted to take its course. It is said that not one of the persons engaged in that affair is living.
A LEGAL EXECUTION.
In the spring of 1871 an old man by the name of Slater, living in the city of Logansport, was foully murdered, and Jerome Brooks and Charles Carr were arrested for committing the crime. The motive was supposed to be robbery. The Cass county grand jury returned an indictment against both men, charging murder in the first degree. The prisoners took a change of venue from Cass county and the case was sent to Carroll county. At that time the circuit court convened in August, this county then being in the eleventh judicial circuit, with Cass county. Horace P. Biddle was the presiding judge. Alexander Hess was the prosecuting attorney.
At the August term, 1871, and on the 17th of August, the case was called for trial. The state was represented by the prosecuting attorney with D. H. Chase assisting and the defendant was represented by David Turpie. Carr was accorded a separate trial. The jury was quickly obtained and the following persons were empanelled to try the case: Ira L. Bridge, Samuel Meyer, Horatio Warrick, J. M. Bryant, William H. Sleeth, John Lane, H. H. Deo, Eli Wingard and Daniel McCain. The trial consumed three days. The jury returned their verdict on August 27, 1871, as fol- lows: "We, the jury, find the defendant, Jerome Brooks, guilty as charged in the indictment, and make his punishment death .- W. H. Sleeth, fore- man." A motion for a new trial was filed.
On the 31st of August, 1871, there being no cause shown why the court should not pronounce judgment on the verdict of the jury, Judge Biddle then pronounced judgment on the verdict of the jury and fixed Fri-
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day, October 27, 1871, between the hours of ten o'clock a. m. and four o'clock p. m. of said day, "he shall be taken to some proper and convenient place and then and there for said crime shall suffer the punishment of death, by being hanged by the neck until he is dead. And the sheriff of Carroll county is charged with the execution of this judgment."
There was no appeal taken to the supreme court. On the day fixed for the execution, John K. Fry. the sheriff. erected a scaffold at the north- west corner of the court house, on the west side of the present office of the sheriff, and enclosed it with a board fence, sixteen feet high. The prisoner was taken to the scaffold, out of the sheriff's office and was hung. On that day there was a large crowd of people in town and after the execution and the body had been taken down the people were permitted to see the apparatus. A certain man, whose life and character was none the best, appointed him- self a committee of one to show the curious-minded people just how the trap worked, operating the lever for an hour or more. The boards were removed so that a good view could be had.
This was the first and the only legal execution that has taken place in Carroll county.
PRISON SENTENCE FOR CARR.
Charles Carr, who was indicted with Brooks, and granted a separate trial, was arraigned before Judge Biddle on the 23rd of August, 1871; the defendant appearing and by his attorney, David Turpie, entered a plea of guilty of murder in the second degree, to the indictment. He was sent to the state prison for life.
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STREET SCENE. DELPHI, OVER FORTY YEARS AGO.
THE OLD DELPHI HOTEL.
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CHAPTER XIII.
CITY OE DELPHI-COUNTY SEAT-WATERWORKS AND LIGHTING SYSTEM- TELEPHONE SYSTEM-FACTORIES-SEWERAGE SYSTEM-STREET IMPROVEMENTS-DELPHI PUBLIC SCHOOL.
CITY OF DELPHI.
Delphi is the seat of justice of Carroll county. One hundred acres of land was donated by William Wilson, May 15, 1828, to the commission- ers named in the Act of January 7, 1828, by the General Assembly, for a county seat. On the 24th of May, 1828, the county commissioners met. having been elected as such on the 28th of April, 1828, and received the report of the state commissioners, and accepted the same, and formally established the county seat and designated the name "Delphi." County officers were elected on the 28th of April, 1828. The county being organ- ized pursuant to law, the county seat established, the survey and platting the land into lots, laying out the streets, establishing the public square, and the selling of lots as required by law was the work of officials.
The board of county commissioners, in 1829, ordered the county agent to contract for the building a county jail and for an office for clerk and recorder. A public well was ordered to be dug fifty feet south of the center of the public square. The jail building was erected on lot No. 101, which was in the block north of the public square. In 1840 this building was enlarged to furnish a jailor's residence. The courts were held in a school house situated in the block cornering at Monroe and Union streets. The first court house was started in 1831 and completed in 1836. The present court house was built in 1856 and 1857. The present sheriff's residence and jail was built in 1871 and 1872.
Delphi was incorporated as a city in 1838. It was reorganized as a city corporation in 1852, under the new Constitution. William Crooks. Sr., was the first mayor. The Delphi public school building, situated at the corner of Monroe and Wilson streets, has been noted for the high educa- tional privileges enjoyed, and the able instructors employed. The capacity
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of the building being insufficient to accommodate the increasing numbers of students, a large annex is being built at a cost of $25,000, which will have few equals in the state. A fine library building on the south side of. East Main street, built in 1905 and 1906, is a substantial structure and of great benefit to the scholars of the public school. The waterworks system has been in operation over twenty years and is owned by the city. Under the meter system it is furnishing an abundance of water for all purposes, and yields a handsome revenue to the city. Electric light is furnished the city by the Ft. Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction Company under contract.
Various additions have been added to the original town plat as follow : Five Grimes; Jones; Butler; McGilliard; North; South; Manary; Williams; Two; Bowen; Ellwood; Case; Spears, Case & Company; Clauser; Martin; Evans and Martin; Graham and Whistler.
The city has a well-equipped fire department. Two newspapers, the Citizen-Times and the Delphi Journal, are both equipped with the latest modern machinery and appliances and enjoy a large circulation. There are four substantial banks, namely: A. T. Bowen & Company, Citizens National Bank, the State Bank, and the Carroll County Loan and Trust Company ; carrying deposits of nearly three millions of dollars. The pres- ent population of Delphi is estimated at three thousand.
WATERWORKS AND LIGHTING SYSTEM.
Twenty-five years ago the necessity for pure water for dometic pur- poses and for fire protection became so obvious to the citizens of Deiphi that the city council was induced to submit to the voters of the city the ques- tion of imposing a tax to install a waterworks plant. An election was held and the question was decided by a large majority in favor of water works. The bonded indebtedness of the city was too great to permit the city to construct a plant, so a corporation was formed which assumed the work by letting a contract to build the waterworks plant; the corporation to take the rentals of water users and a water tax levy. Bonds were issued run- ning twenty years. George Morgan, of Illinois, had the contract and put in the system now in operation. In twenty years sufficient revenue had accumulated to pay off the bonds and the city thus became the owner of the plant.
After a large expenditure of money in building two large reservoirs and adding new machinery at the pumping station, the proceeds arising from the revenue have been ample to pay all expenses and leave a good
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balance in the city treasury, which has been with great regularity covered into the city treasury as general revenue.
The water is obtained from springs four miles east of Delphi and is pronounced the best in the state.
The lighting system is operated by the Ft. Wayne and Northern Indi- ana Traction Company under a contract made in 1910 with the city. The same traction company furnishes light for Flora and Camden.
TELEPHONE SYSTEM.
The Walker telephone system has connections with the various private telephone companies in the county and in connection with the long distance telephone lines makes it possible to have communication to every locality in the county and to the outside world.
FACTORIES.
The factories are the Great Western canning factory, machine and repair shops, the Delphi Lumber Company, the strawboard mill, the lime manufacturing companies, the school wagon manufacturing company and the Delphi flouring-milll.
SEWERAGE SYSTEM.
A platted sewerage system, showing all the sewerage mains traversing the principal streets and connections, is on file, enabling the city engineer to detect breaks if any occur. Many of the chief sewers are imbedded under the paved streets and are reached by "man-holes" to flush. There are also tile drains to carry the surface water.
STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
Fourteen years ago the city council inaugurated a movement to make a "Greater Delphi," and the streets around the public square were laid with bitulithic material, at a great cost, and time has shown the improvement to be the best extant and promises to last for ages. Other streets are paved with cement, brick and crushed stone with tar dressing; which in time will show which is the best to finally adopt.
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DELPHI PUBLIC SCHOOL.
The first school house in Delphi was built in 1829. It was used for - seven years to hold the sessions of the courts. In 1838 a building for
school purposes was erected on the site where the present building now stands, and was of an octagonal shape. It was burned down in 1848. In 1850 a two-story brick building with four rooms was built on the same site. . Capt. G. W. Bowman and J. A. Cartwright taught in this building. The grade system now prevailing did not exist until 1872. The steady increase of school children made it necessary to provide a larger and more con- venient building and in 1872 the city school board decided to erect such a building. /
The present building was the result of their efforts. It contains thir- teen class rooms; one assembly room, thirty by seventy feet; a manual training room with eighteen benches; a kitchen for twenty students at a time; and a superintendent's office. A basement extends under the building. The entire building is heated by the "plenum indirect system." ยท In 1900 the enrollment was 96. The enrollment in 1906 was 162. The enrollment in 1914 was 224 in the high school. The transfer fees received from students from the outside townships in 1906 was $1,700. In 1914 the fees received were $4,636.72. The percentage of pupils in the . high school for 1914 was sixty-five. In 1915 the percentage was sixty- three. The number of high school students from the outside townships, for 1915 is 136. The enrollment in the grades for 1915 is 325, and in the high school, 224; making a total enrollment of 549. This is a fraction over forty-two scholars to the room. The school has a good library. The students have free access to the city library. A fire drill is frequently prac- ticed and the building has been vacated in one minute.
It has been apparent for several years that the present building was insufficient to accommodate the rapid increase of students seeking the privi- leges of this school and that an additional building, constructed in accord- ance with the most improved methods and in conformity to the laws regu- lating the building of school houses, was a public necessity. The school board without delay or hesitation proceeded to obtain plans and specifications of a competent architect, which met its approval, and a contract was let to construct the annex building now in course of completion. The contract was let at the price of $25.000, which does not include the furniture.
The new building is two story, of deep red brick laid in chocolate
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WEST SIDE OF SQUARE. DELPHI, FORTY YEARS AGO.
FIRST BRICK HOUSE IN DELPHI.
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mortar, and fully trimmed with Bedford limestone. The building is one hundred and ten feet in length and sixty feet in width. It has a basement under the entire building. The study hall is forty-five by sixty feet, and is on the second floor. A gymnasium and auditorium room is fifty-seven by sixty feet. A stage fourteen feet in depth and twenty-four feet in width is flanked by adequate wing spaces for dressing rooms. There are four new recitation rooms, one new laboratory, two shower-baths and toilet rooms, a cloak and wardrobe room, corridors and office of principal and faculty.
An overhead entrance from the annex to the old building will connect the old with the new, and the entire building is heated by the same furnace and heating appliances. The contractors are under bond to have the build- ing completed for acceptance by the board, by December 20, 1915. This admirable building is worth the while of the friends of education to call and see it. The towns are few in this state of the size of Delphi, that can boast of a similar building.
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.CHAPTER XIV.
MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS-NOTES AND INCIDENTS.
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THE LOG SCHOOL HOUSE.
The primitive school house .was made of round logs. One door at the side, two windows and a large fire-place at one end of the building, and the chimney was constructed out of slats, laid one upon the other and between, them mud mortar was placed. The floor was made of puncheons which were cut out of soft timber with a broadax. The roof was made out of clap- boards, riven out of red oak timber. The boards were fastened on col- lateral poles, with wooden pins. The seats were plain benches without backs. Slates were used.
Blackboards were then unknown. The books were arithmetic, gram- mar, reading, writing and spelling. The teacher was paid by money raised from subscription. Term of school from sixty to ninety days. The chil- dren of the early settlers were, as a rule, good spellers. Within a few years better houses were erected and better accommodations were enjoyed. It may be said that the young men and women were self-made in educational matters.
LOST AND FOUND.
There is nothing quite so discouraging as the feeling of being lost. All the faculties of the mind seem to be in a disorganized condition. All sense of direction is completely gone. Objects appear strange and the surround- ings unnatural. And if darkness is near, being lost is the most disagreeable plight for any human being. Fright increases the feeling and the thought of perishing by intense cold or being devoured by wild beast cannot be described, even by one who has experienced such thoughts.
Lost people as a rule travel in a circle, and how great the surprise when they return to the very point they had started from. The maxim. "stop, look and listen," is a good motto for the lost in the jungles, as it is for the person approaching a railroad crossing in an automobile.
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In the early settlement of this county men frequently became lost, and, on several occasions children were lost who had gone out in search of gin- seng, and were out in the deep forest all night. Everybody in the neighbor- hood turned out next morning and aided in finding them.
A RAILWAY CELEBRATION.
The Indianapolis, Delphi & Chicago Railway Company having completed a narrow-gauge road from Delphi to Rensselaer, the event was celebrated at Delphi on September 4, 1879. Banker McCoy, of Rensselaer, donated a fat steer for an old-fashioned barbecue and the animal, adorned as gaily as a bride, with ribbons and flowers, was shipped to Delphi and was assigned a prominent place in the parade which preceded the barbecue. A salute of welcome was fired as the train came in with "the fatted calf" and thous- ands of throats made the welkin ring. W. H. Haughey was the marshal of the day and Lathrope's cornet band led the march through the streets.
The program of the day provided not only for a feast of roast beef, roast mutton and hundreds of baskets of good things brought in by the people, but further provided for "a feast of reason and a flow of soul," eminent speakers having been secured for the occasion. Responses to toasts announced by the chairman, E. W. Hubbard, were made by the following persons : Col. S. N. Yeoman, Dr. J. T. Richardson, Doctor Moon, Mayor Walker, B. F. Schermerhorn, L. B. Sims, Dr. E. W. H. Beck, B. B. Daily, E. Cox, A. B. Crampton, C. R. Pollard, J. A. Sims, T. J. Steele, Isaac Jackson, Joseph Gwinn, L. E. McReynolds and John Sims. The master of ceremonies was Judson Applegate.
Thirty-six years have passed since that memorable occasion and the railway company which promoted the original road has long since vanished as a corporate entity. The partly finished narrow-gauge road long ago was changed to a standard gauge, the road completed from Indianapolis to Chi- cago and for years has been known as the "Monon." The speakers on the occasion above referred to have all passed away save three, A. B. Crampton, Charles R. Pollard and John Sims.
HURRICANES AND TORNADOES.
There have been very few genuine hurricanes or tornadoes in this county. The difference between a hurricane ond a tornado is chiefly the difference in the territory covered. The hurricane usually is a very high
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wind of great velocity, covering a considerable territory in breadth. The tornado generally runs in a narrow strip with a twisting and lifting wind, of great force and velocity. About forty-three years ago a tornado visited this region, destroying much valuable timber and destroying the Carrollton bridge.
Probably hundreds of years before any white man saw this country a hurricane passed through the southern part of this county and the territory, affected became a swamp and a home for beavers. There were other marshes in this county, found in the timber, which were no doubt made in the same manner. These marshes are the finest land in the county.
FOX CHASES.
During the first twenty-five years of the early settlement of this country fox chases were frequent and greatly enjoyed by the pioneers. Reynard was a cunning and sly foe of the people those days and was in the habit of stealing young pigs and lambs; and he was called upon many times to show his mettle when pursued by a pack of hounds. Word was passed around among the settlers to meet at a certain point, at a certain time, with guns and dogs and the best trailers were sent out, holding back a portion of the hounds to be let loose later in the chase. It was not long before the woods resounded with the mellow and reverberating sounds of the dogs, and the hunters, anxious and excited, put spurs to their horses, and over fences, through fields and woods they went, to cut off the fleeing animal at some crossing. The relay of dogs was unleashed and the battle royal was on in earnest. About the time for the sun to set the report of the guns and "hollering" of the pursuers signalized that the quarry had been caught. The hunters returned to their homes about "all in," but delighted with their experience.
TAXABLE PROPERTY.
The taxable property of Carroll county, as listed by the various town- ship assessors, board of review, and the state board of tax commissioners, in 1914, upon which taxes are payable in 1915, is as follows: Real estate and improvements, $9,351,910; personal and corporation property, $3,418,- 855; railroads, $1,626,625; banks and trust companies, $270,170; telegraph and telephone companies, $69,630; express companies, $7,780. Total, $14,744,970. This is a gain of taxable property over the year 1913 of $255,430.
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