USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Indiana > Part 58
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FOUR YOUNG PEOPLE DROWNED.
On Tuesday evening, June 2, 1868, at about half-past six o'clock, Eugene Seixas and Charles Walterlionse, accompanied by Miss Adele Seixas and Miss Molly C. Miller, started boat-riding, with the intention of going a short distance up the river from South Bend. Launching the boat near the headgates of the west race, very close to which runs the elbow of the dam, it is supposed that before the young men got hold of the oars or were conscious of the danger, the boat was drawn into the swift current and carried over the falls. Two mnen on the bank of the river saw the boat go, and stated that it went over sideways, all the parties being in it until it capsized just on the edge of the dam. There was nobody near enough to render them any assistance, the workmen having all left the shops, consequently all were lost. The body of Miss Miller was found the same evening, fifteen minutes after the accident hap- pened, near the bridge. That of Charles Waterhouse was found the next morning at six o'clock; the body of Eugene Seixas abont nine o'clock, and Adele about noon, near a large sycamore tree beyond the foot of the east race, and a quarter of a mile from where the disaster occurred. The young folks were well known in the city of South Bend, and their terrible death cast a gloom over the entire community.
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF HENRY F. PORTER.
Henry F. Porter was the superintendent of the Carriage Works of Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company. Some time in
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the month of January, 1878, he resigned his position for the pur- pose of accepting a position in Philadelphia: so he stated. A fare- well supper was given him on the night of the 31st of January, on which occasion he was presented with a fine gold watch by the Studebaker Brothers, valued at $300. Mr. Porter was a very tal- ented man, and a writer of merit. He was at one time connected with the Carriage Journal, and a regular contributor to other trade journals. On the evening of the 5th of February, Mr. Porter sud- denly disappeared from the city. Fears were entertained that he had committed suicide by drowning in the St. Joseph river, but the facts in the case were not fully known until the evening of March 8, when his body was accidentally discovered by a party of fishermen. They were drifting down stream with a torch-light in the bow of their boat, engaged in spearing fish, and had reached a point about a mile and a half below the city of South Bend, when a white object on the surface of the water, near the shore, attracted their atten- tion. They immediately turned the boat into shore, and on reach- ing the object, discovered it to be the lifeless body of a human being, resting on its face, with the baek protruding white and ghastly from the water, and the arms disposed close to the sides. Believing they had no authority to remove the body, the men secured it in the position it occupied when discovered, by thrusting their spears into the river bottom in such a way that the current could not carry it down streamn and necessitate further search for it. The alarm was given the next morning, and the body taken from the water. Its condition was terrible to contemplate. It was stark naked with the exception of a stocking on the right foot, and a shoe and stocking with a piece of his red flannel drawers clinging about the left ankle and foot. The face was considerably disfig- ured, though but little swelled, and the thin hair of his head was full of the sweepings of the river and looked much darker than its natural color on that account. The body was not bloated in the least. The naked condition of the body was a general surprise, and created a new mystery in the premises, as when he disappeared he wore a full suit of clothes and an extra heavy overcoat. The where- abouts of these articles was a question. Whether they were taken off by the drowned man, or whether torn off by the hidden powers of the river will remain a secret until all mysteries are exposed. But the remains were fully identified as being those of the missing Henry F. Porter. They were placed in a metallic casket and for- warded to Philadelphia for interment.
HENRY SHERMAN.
On Sunday afternoon, June 8, 1879, W. R. McCracken, of South Bend, was rowing up the river in a small boat, and when abont half way between that place and Mishawaka he discovered an object in the water which at first sight resembled a valise, but upon closer examination proved to be the skirts of a coat floating
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over the shoulders of a man's body. The body was lying upon its face and was lodged upon a snag. Mr. McCracken immediately turned his boat about and floated down stream a short distance where he found three men fishing. To them he disclosed his start- ling discovery, and the entire party repaired to the spot where the body was still held by the obstructions in the water. The men hauled it on the shore with some difficulty. The face was black, the limbs stiff, and it had the appearance of being in the water for some time. The coroner was notified and an inquest held over the remains, which were recognized as those of Henry Sherman, of Mishawaka. Mr. Sherman had been of unsound mind for about four years, and to end his troubles threw himself into the St. Joseph river, and added one more to its long list of victims.
FOUND A WATERY GRAVE.
Joseph S. Kenyon and Ellet W. St. John went in swimming in the river near South Bend, Sunday, Aug. 3, 1879, and their two sons, Johnny Kenyon, aged 13, and Henry St. John, aged 12, went in with them. The two men, after bathing awhile swam across the river, leaving the two boys to bathe where they then were. At this point the water was quite shallow some distance from the shore, then it deepened suddenly at a clayey bank. Henry St. John was the only one of the boys who could swim. While the fathers were across the river, the two boys were playing in the water, walking backward and splashing the water over each other. Suddenly Johnny slipped on the clayey bottom and into the water over his head. Henry, who was with him, made an attempt to save him, but was so much smaller that when he grappled Johnny both went down. John Marble was on the bank watching the swimmers, and although lame, he plunged in when he saw the danger, with his clothes on. He reached Henry first and started him toward the shore and he got safely on the bank. He then turned his attention to Johnny, but the moment he seized him, Johnny grabbed him by the throat with vice-like grip and choked Mr. Marble so that he was nearly drowning him- self, and was obliged to throw him off and catch him by another part of his body. When he attempted to do this Johnny was out of reach, and Mr. Marble was himself so exhausted he could scarcely get to shore. The alarm was then raised, and the two fathers swam across as rapidly as they could and began the search for Johnny's body. As soon as they found it every effort was made to resnscitate the boy, but in vain, although they did not cease trying for over an hour.
KATY FLECK'S TRAGIC DEATH.
About the first of April, 1876, the wife of Charles Schaeffer, of South Bend, died, leaving an infant child about four months old.
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A sister of the deceased, Miss Kate Fleck, then came to keep house for Mr. Schaeffer, and attend to the motherless one, receiving as compensation the sum of $2 per week. On Wednesday, July 5, she demanded an increase of wages to $2.50 per week. Mr. Schaef- fer told her he could not afford it, and if she was not satisfied with what he was paying her, he would have to hire some one else. The following morning Schaeffer arose at an early hour, went down to his shop and returned to the house at his usual breakfast hour. Instead of finding the mneal prepared, he found a note from Kate as follows: "Charley :- Hunt me and your baby on the other side of the railroad bridge in the river." Search was at once instituted, but no trace could be found of the bodies, and it was thought the letter was an idle threat, a mere blind, and that she had gone else- where, probably to her father's house, near Plymouth.
On Friday evening the dead body of Kate was seen going over the dam, the arms nearly encircling the head, and the hands above as if fighting the water-the position in which the arms of most people drowned are found. The river was high and the current swift, and the body floated rapidly down stream after emerging from the seething waters under the dam. It kept the middle of the river and passed the iron bridge before a boat could be secured to follow it. Two men finally brought the body to the shore about 20 rods below the Singer factory.
The action of the current in foreing the body against obstacles had bruised the face and head somewhat, and torn and displaced the clothing so that below the waist the body was bare. The face was discolored slightly from being so long in the water, but other- wise the body presented a very natural appearance.
On the Sunday following, the dead body of the baby was seen floating down the river, and was taken from the water by Theodore Chaudoni. The body was bloated and badly discolored. The legs were spread out and bent at the knees, with the knees drawn np toward the shoulders. Around the waist was tied a scarf, the ends of which had been made into a loop, which evidently Kate had put around her neck to keep the child by her that their bodies might be found together. Certain discolored marks around Katy's neck were thus accounted for.
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF J. C. MARVIN.
On the 25th day of March, 1870, J. C. Marvin, engineer in the lower shops of Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company, dis- appeared. On the evening of the day mentioned, he parted with some of his associates on the street, telling them he must go to his room. He boarded at 167 Michigan street. Reaching there, he got out his old letters, and spent an hour or two looking over them; after which he burned them. He then placed his watch and keys upon the table and left the house. About ten o'clock he called at Rupp's drug store for chloroform, as he had often been in the
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habit of doing, using it to relieve neuralgic pains from which he at times suffered so severely as to render him temporarily insane. After applying the chloroform, he conversed with the clerk a short time, and then started, as the clerk supposed, for his board- ing house. This was the last seen of him by any of his acquaint- ances.
Not making his appearance next day, and his manner of leaving his boarding house exciting considerable surprise, search was made for him He had been in the habit of visiting at a house near the bank of the river, in the north part of the city, and on examining the bank there, foot-prints, supposed to be his, were discovered near the water's edge. On Sunday, March 27, a large force turned out and dragged the river, but no traces of the missing mnan were found.
On Tuesday, the 29th, a gentleman from Niles, while driving across the river at Bertrand, discovered the dead body of a man floating in the river. Giving the alarm a boat was procured and the body secured, but not until it had floated some distance below the town. The body was dressed in a full suit of clothes, and had on, in addition, an overcoat. The right arm was fastened to the man's side by a rope passed around the wrist two or three times, and then tied around the waist. A letter was found in one of the pockets addressed to J. C. Marvin, and believing it to be the body of the missing engineer, a messenger was dispatched to South Bend, and from the description he gave of the clothing, no doubt whatever remained of its being any other than the body of Mar- vin. Sheriff Glover, Mr. Rupp and Mr. Marks went to Bertrand and brought the body to South Bend, where it was recognized by his associates. An inquest was held, the Coroner's jury holding that he came to his death by drowning in the St. Joseph river, and that the drowning was the result of his own act for the purpose of self-destruction.
Before the war, Mr. Marvin was a banker in New York. At the breaking ont of the Rebellion, he enlisted and served in a three months' regiment, and afterward went to Iowa, where he assisted in raising a company and was made Captain. He received several promotions and was a Brevet Brigadier-General at the close of the war.
DEATH IN THE RIVER.
Abont six o'clock Tuesday morning, Dec. 13, 1870, two employes of the Union Cabinet Manufactory, while going to their work, were hailed near the Peninsular railway bridge by a man in his shirt sleeves and bare-headed, standing on the bridge, who requested them to take his coat and hat to Bartlett & Orvis' grocery, and he pointed to those articles, which were hanging on Mr. Huey's fence, just across the street from the bridge. The man acted rather strangely, and having suspicion that he was bent on
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self-destruction, they started toward him with the intention of pre- venting him jumping in the river, but he motioned them back, saying he was bound to go down, and almost before they could realize it he leaped from the bridge into the river and immediately sunk. He struck the water at full length, and as the distance from the top of the bridge to the surface of the water is between 40 and 50 feet, the severe shock must have stunned him into insensibility. The men then took the clothes down and left them at the grocery store of Russ & Co., the only place then open, and gave the alarm. Shortly after a clerk of Bartlett & Orvis recognized the clothes as belong- ing to R. A. Orvis, the junior member of the firm. No cause could be assigned for the rash act by friends of the deceased except that he had become temporarily insane. He had for some time been suffering from dyspepsia, and arose that morning about half past four o'clock and told his brother Willard, with whom he slept, that he was going out and would return shortly, and that was the last any of his friends saw of him. He had but lately come to South Bend from Baraboo, Wisconsin. The body of the unfortunate man was found on Thursday afternoon following his self-destruc- tion.
DROWNING OF JACOB BAUER.
About half past two o'clock, Tuesday afternoon, Ang. 20, 1872, Jacob Bauer was drowned in the river a few rods above the Penin- sular railroad bridge. The drowned man, who was employed on the race, assisting in the construction of the water works, had been laboring in the forenoon as usual, but feeling rather poorly at noon concluded to rest the remainder of the day. Shortly after dinner John Miller and John Wanderlich invited him to join them in a ride on the river, to which he unfortunately consented. Near the spot where the casualty took place, Bauer arose to change his posi- tion in the boat, his balance was lost, and in a moment the craft was bottom upward, and the three men were struggling in the water, Miller, who could swim a little, reaching the shore by his own exertions. Wanderlich climbed upon the overturned boat; but Baner, unable to swim, with not so much as a straw to meet his random dying clutches, again and again coming to the surface, finally sank almost within reach of the shore, in less than seven feet of water. His body was recovered soon after, a Coroner's inquest held and a verdict rendered in accordance with the foregoing facts.
STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE.
Johanna Sharinghausen, who had lived with the family of A. G. Cushing in the capacity of housemaid about three years, very unaccountably disappeared some time during the night of Ang. 15, 1872. She retired to her room at the customary hour, after making
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some trifling inquiries of Mrs. Cushing regarding culinary mat- ters. Her last words were comments on the beauty of the evening. Her absence was first noted about six o'clock the next morning. It is presumed she made her exit through the kitchen window, as that avenue was the only one in the honse unfastened. Her mother and sisters were immediately notified of her absence, but they were utterly at a loss to account for her strange act. The presumption was strong that she must have been attacked with insanity, as nothing in reason could have actnated her to take such a conrse. She attended church and prayer-meeting with great regularity, and was exemplary in all her walks of life. The river, near both banks, was dragged between South Bend and Niles, and the west race also was searched. On Wednesday afternoon following her disappear- ance, some tinners who were at work at St. Mary's, discovered a body floating in the river near the bank. It was secured, and although distorted almost beyond the semblance of humanity, it was recognized as the body of the poor unfortunate girl.
JOHN SCHUMAN.
On Monday afternoon, June 8, 1874, John Schuman, a young German, attempted to cross the river by walking on the apron of the dam. When about mid way, where a small stream of water pours over the dam, by some means he lost liis foothold on the slippery planks of the apron, and was immediately whirled into the boiling, seething, eddying waters below. He immediately sank out of sight and did not rise to the surface again. His disappear- ance was noticed by some persons, and in a few minutes several parties, good swimmers, commenced diving to recover his body. They continued their diving at intervals for two days, their efforts being rewarded on Wednesday afternoon by discovering the body at a depthof twenty-two feet, fast by the arm to some logs. They could not release the body from its imprisonment that evening, and, when preparing to make another effort the next morning, it had by some means become detached from its hold, and was floating on the surface. The necessary steps were immediately taken to rescue it, and by the time a boat went ont, the body lad floated further down the stream and was picked up opposite the Eagle Works. A legal inquest was held and a verdict rendered in accordance with the fore- going facts.
WHISKY DID IT.
Three Germans, working in the shops of the Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company, having been paid off a few days previ- ously, took a holiday on Thursday, June 11, 1874, and celebrated the event by imbibing large quantities of whisky during the fore- noon. About twelve o'clock they found themselves on the river bank, a short distance above the Jefferson street bridge, in South Bend. The subject of swimming was discussed, and one of the
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party, Albert Neuman, declared his ability to swim across the river at that point. To make good his word, he plunged into the river with coat and boots on, and was making fine progress as far as the middle of the stream, where he struck the rapid current. This was too much for him, loaded down with clothing and alcohol as he was, and he commenced being carried down the stream, losing every moment more completely the control of his actions. He managed to grasp a piece of timber connected with the ice-breaker of one of the piers of the bridge, and here for a few moments he made a determined effort to support himself. His perilous position was observed from the shore, and he was called to hold on to the support until a boat could be brought to the rescue, but, being too weak, or losing control of his sense of self-preservation, long before assistance conld reach him, he sank under the waters. His body was recovered in fifteen minutes after sinking, and although every means were taken to resuscitate him, yet they were unavailing; the spirit had left the mortal tenement and was then in the presence of its Maker.
ANOTHER VICTIM.
James H. Fleming, an employe of the Register office, in com- pany with Samuel Carney, of South Bend, on Saturday, June 20, 1874, visited Lumley Lewis, Superintendent of the county poor- house and farm, with whose family he was acquainted. About seven o'clock the party went to the river, about midway between South Bend and Mishawaka, -- Lewis, Fleming and a boy named VanAmburg, for the purpose of bathing, and Carney, of looking on. After being in the water some minutes, Lewis and Fleming swam ont to a sand bar, about midway of the stream. Lewis warned his friend that if he was not a good swimmer he had better not follow him, but return to the shore by the way he came, as the water was much deeper and the passage more dangerous. Lewis began the passage, Fleming following, saying " I am coming, Jim." In a few moments Lewis noticed a peculiar sound in the direction of Fleming, and looking back, saw him showing signs of strangulation, and struggling in the water, evidently unable to support himself on its surface. He immediately returned, and before reaching the spot saw his friend sink. He saw him rising again some distance down stream and he dived toward the spot, but the drowning man had already been carried ont of his reach by the current. He swam to the shore, and hastening along the bank opposite where he saw the bubbles rise, he plunged in again and swam to the spot, but Fleming never came to the surface again, being taken with sudden cramps, as is supposed, which deprived him of all power to help himself.
Very much exhausted by his exertions in the water, and darkness rapidly coming on, Lewis was unable to make any further search for the missing body. Intelligence of the sad affair was at once sent to South Bend, and the next morning the proprietor of the Register,
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Mr. Lewis, Mr. Carney, Thomas Cottrell, John Beurva, William Gantz and Charles Brickel commenced the search. After nearly two hours diving and watching the river bottom, just as the search at that point was about being given up, and Cottrell was dressing, Gantz, rowing over the spot where the last signs of the sinking body had appeared on the water, discovered the body lying prone on the sand within a few feet of where it sank. Cottrell dived down and brought him to the surface, nearly meeting with an accident, which would have been unfortunate, had he not been a good swimmer, for as he came to the surface with the body in his arms, mistaking the depth of the water, he undertook to touch bottom, and, weighed down with the additional load, he sank under the water. With the assistance of Benrva in the boat, who caught Fleming by the hair, Cottrell came to the surface again, still maintaining his hold, and brought him to the shore. A coroner's inquest was held and a verdict rendered in accordance with the facts as given. The body of the unfortunatej man was sent to his parents at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Fleming's age was 26 years. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, where he spent the earlier years of his life. For nearly two years he served his country in the Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, participating in a number of engagements and receiving an honorable discharge at the end of the war. Some years before com- ing to South Bend he connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and on arriving here, he was received by the First Church, of that denomination, in full membership. He was also a member in good standing of a Baltimore lodge of Odd Fel- lows, the Grand Army of the Republic, of Gettysburg, and Good Templars, of South Bend.
CHAPTER XVII.
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY .- FIRST BRICK HOUSE IN SOUTH BEND .- PIONEER . MEETINGS .- ADDRESS OF JUDGE STANFIELD .- AD- DRESS OF DR. HUMPHREYS.
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
In the fall of 1867 a call was issued addressed to the old settlers, for a meeting to organize a county historical society. On the evening of October 26, those interested assembled in the City Council rooms, when Horatio Chapin was called to the chair, and W. J. Holloway appointed secretary. Dr. L. Humphreys then read the call, which was signed by George F. Layton, W. J. Holloway, Thomas S. Stan- field, L. M. Taylor, P. B. Boon, Charles Morgan, John Brownfield, L. Humphreys, A. Bugbee, J. G. Bartlett, William L. Barrett, John T. Lindsey, John Reynolds, Mark Whinery, Elisha Egbert, Charles M. Tutt, Benjamin Wall, E. S. Reynolds, Jacob Hardinan, B. F. Price, J. N. Massey, R. Burroughs, Elliot Tutt, Matthias Stover, J. A. Henricks, Daniel Green, D. Dayton, D. A. Veasey, C. W. Martin, Schuyler Colfax, Francis R. Tutt, William Miller, Horatio Chapin.
At this meeting Messrs. Stanfield, Humphreys, Egbert, Hardman and Miller were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws for the government of the society. A resolution was then adopted inviting all early settlers and all old citizens of St. Joseph county to transmit to the County Historical Society, when organ- ized, in meeting or otherwise, so much of their personal history 'as would be of general interest, and such facts as they may be in pos- session of, in relation to the early settlement of their respective localities and neighborhoods, in order that such facts and incidents may be collected and placed upon the records of the society when properly organized.
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