118. Randolph County Misc.

She Loves Me. She Loves Me Not, 1903.

Modoc ----  She Loves Me.   Twice upon the marriage dockets of Randolph County can be seen the license of Harrison Howell to Alice C. Howell, both well known people living north of Modoc. There are very few such instances as took place last week and probably not another one like it in the state.
  Only Saturday these two were granted a divorce by Judge Macy. A fierce divorce case had taken place and both sides put up a hard fight. Yet, while all this had taken place, in the hearts of both of them was that real love, that knows no ending. They had had some trouble and a divorce case was the result. But to be separated forever could not be. After the granting of the divorce they realized their folly and began to understand better what real separation meant. They truly loved each other and to live apart the remainder of their lives seemed to be an impossibility. Promises were made and Wednesday morning the couple appeared at the clerk's office where their second marriage license was secured.
 With the services of Olynthus Cox, the two were again united in the holy bonds of matrimony, the ceremonies taking place in the law office of Nichols, Goodrich and Bales. The groom is forty-three years old and the bride thirty-nine.
  The Herald joins their many friends in wishing them a married life free from all trouble and hardships, but everyone has their troubles and a life free from trouble is hard to be found. Mr. and Mrs. Howell are highly respected citizens of this county and they have a host of friends that wish them an exceedingly bright future.  Winchester Journal-Herald, July, 1903.

Ridgeville ---- She Loves Me Not.    A sensational case has come to light through the second elopement of Mrs. Maude Stewart, of Ridgeville and the abandonment of her pretty two year old daughter; and both times the unnatural wife and mother took up life with a man at Marion.
  In February, 1900, Miss Amanda Wood, near Hartford City, fell violently in love with Al Stewart, of Ridgeville, then an employee of the steel mill at Montpelier, but Stewart did not return her love. Miss Wood then went to Hartford City and swore out a warrant charging him with paternity. Stewart, though claiming to be innocent of the charge, married Miss Wood, and after twelve months a daughter was born to them. By this time Stewart had learned to love his wife, but strange to say her own affections had waned. Sickness then came on Stewart, and he was compelled to give up his work and from brooding over his misfortune he became mentally deranged. On April 25, 1903, his wife confessed to him of being untrue and left him and their little daughter, going to Marion, where she was joined by a man by the name of Cooper.
  Stewart, on account of his condition was not able to support the child, she was placed in the Randolph County Orphans' Home west of Winchester.
  About four weeks ago Mrs. Stewart, having tired of Cooper, returned to Ridgeville, begged forgiveness of Stewart and asked to be taken back. Her request was granted, She also wanted the child. Money was borrowed from a neighbor and the child was taken from the home.
  Last Monday she asked for money so that she could go to Marion and get the furniture which she and Cooper had been using. At the same time she told him that she had forged her father's name to a note and placed it in the Citizen's Bank at Hartford, and asked him to pay it. Stewart, in order to save her, borrowed the money and took the note, and also gave her money to go get her furniture. Since then she has not been heard from, and Mr. Stewart is inquiring as to her whereabouts. It is believed that she is now in Marion with Cooper.
  Mrs. Stewart is only 20 years old, and a very good looking woman. The child will have to return to the Orphans' Home.
  The Journal-Herald was informed that the little girl, now nearly three years, was brought back to the Moorman Home last week.    Winchester Journal-Herald, December, 1903.


Gunfire At Winchester Party.
Winchester Jrl-Hrld, Jan. 11, 1911.

  Winchester was the scene Sunday of a "wild west" affair that put to shame any of the moving picture films that have been thrilling the lovers of the "life and death" game, and if an enterprising motion picture photographer had secured it his fortune would be made. The scene of action was the extreme north end of North East street, the principal characters were John Cunningham, his son Shirley, the police forces of Winchester and Randolph County and several dozen innocent bystanders. Rot-gut whiskey, revolvers and a "black jack" were the "props." Father and son were celebrating the boy's seventeenth birthday, and as they hail from the mountains of West Virginia, mountain dew was used to excess in the celebration. The whiskey's first influence seems to have put the pair in a playful mood, and their sense of humor gave play in their shooting at one another's feet and then into the sky both inside and outside their home.
  Officers were called and in endeavoring to pacify the celebrators the whiskey turned their mood from the humorous to the fiendish, especially the father, and but for the good judgement displayed by the officers, a tragedy might have resulted.
  Cunningham is a blacksmith, large and strong and drunk and defied Sheriff Strahan, Deputy Sheriff King, Marshal Mills, Night Patrolman Durr and special officer Buck Fletcher and being enthroned in his own home, put up a serious and threatening resistance to arrest. The officers were unarmed, but the five of them bravely faced the father and son and after a spirited struggle, overpowered the pair. The fathers strength was attested by him snapping asunder a pair of handcuffs placed on his wrists. They are now in jail and will face Judge Engle today.


Farmland Opera House,
Winchester Journal, October, 1889.

  Farmland now has what Winchester has long needed - an opera house. It is a two-story brick with business rooms below and two offices above in front of the hall and a basement, full size of the building.
  The building was erected by those enterprising druggists, Blye & Thornburg, one room of which will be occupied by their business. The north room is 18 x 77 1/2 feet and the south room 15 x 62 1/2 feet. The office rooms above are fine ones, each having a grate. The opera room has a dress circle 36 x 60 feet, the gallery extending out at the east end twenty feet and out  and above eight feet clear around the room. It has a seating capacity of 700.
  The building was designed by W. A. Yowmans, of Chicago, a very popular architect. The windows are on the north, south and east, and with a ventilator in the center of the roof will give plenty of good, pure air.
  The tiling and cornice and trimming were made by the Pioneer Company, Ottawa, Illinois. This style of ornaments are rarely seen in this part of the country.
  David Wasson superintended the work, while Frank French had the contract for doing the brick work. Thornburg & Taylor did the painting. The plastering has not yet been done.
  Farmland can boast of having the finest opera house in the county, which speaks well for her enterprising people.



Bloomingsport - Johnson's Station - Lynn.
Richmond Daily Telegram, Jan. 7, 1888.

  Marshall Buck Fletcher, of Winchester, Ind., arrived in the city last night on his way to Osgood, Ind.
Buck, though a young man, has a reputation as a thief-taker that many Tan older officer would be proud to claim and has made himself a terror to crooks of low and high degree all over the country.
  "I am going to Osgood to get some witnesses against old Jess Way," was the officers reply.
  Pressing him for something of the history of Way, Buck and the reporter and the officer related some of the incidents in the career of this most noted of crooks.
  Where Jesse Way was born, no one knows. He dropped into the vicinity of Bloomingsport, Randolph County, which is just a little across the Wayne County line, many years ago and his little hut in the vicinity of Johnson's Station is the only home he has had, save the State's prison, that anyone is aware of. He had not been in the locality a great while until a good deal of crooked work began. Houses were robbed, horses stolen, barns burned, but the perpetrators went unpunished. Way made a great fuss and noise in his efforts to capture the marauders who were never captured. He was unsuspected of the crimes, but in after years, when the blackness of the crimes came out, the old settlers were of the opinion that it was he who had committed all the mischief.
  To give a full history of Jesse Way's crimes would more than fill this issue of the Telegram. There is hardly a crime in the catalog but he has been guilty of. Over thirty years of his life he spent in different prisons and there is hardly a penitentiary west of the Allegheny mountains but he is familiar with the inside of it. He has broke jail in Winchester, was carted out of Michigan State Prison in a lot of rubbish and he once scaled the wall of a Columbus, Ohio jail.
  He was a member of the Jess Toney gang of counterfeiters when the gang was captured by Detective Rathbone a number of years ago. When Will Dormer was a guard at the State's prison south, Way was an inmate. In and around Johnson's Station, of late years, he has been a terror. Everyone was afraid of the tall old man who roamed the southern Randolph county woods with his dog and gun, but never worked any. Horses were stolen and houses were robbed. The victims were satisfied that Jess Way did it, but they had no proof and were afraid to make their suspicion public.
  Several years ago he was sent to the penitentiary from this county for stealing wheat and has not been out over two or three years. But the many punishments inflicted on him could not make him honest and he is in the Winchester jail, with a dead certainty of going to the State's prison again.
  Several months ago the barn of Leander Holloway, residing at Neff, Randolph County, was broken open and a fine mare was stolen. Marshal Fletcher was notified and followed the trail to Osgood, Indiana, where he found the mare in the possession of a man named Levi. Levi is a crook, also, a member of the old Tittenhouse gang, that used to make Osgood its headquarters. Levi readily gave up the horse and it was taken back to Winchester. Fletcher found that Jesse Way had taken the animal to Levi and so he got after Jess. He found that individual walking the streets of Lynn, and slipping up behind him, captured him after a struggle which ended when the old crook found Buck's revolver under his chin.
  Way was heavily armed and had not the officer surprised him there is no telling what the result might have been.
  Of course he denied his guilt, but the evidence is all against him and he is booked for another term in the State's prison. Fletcher had the old fellow's picture, which was not a very good one as he fought hard against having it taken and two officers had to hold him while the photographer pulled the camera on him. It is likely that his friend Levi will have a charge to meet when he gets to Winchester.


First Live "Purdue Pete" Mascot From Union City.
Winchester Journal-Herald, Jan. 31, 1957.

  The cover of the January issue of the Purdue Alumnus magazine features a Union City boy, but no one would recognize him as Larry Brumbaugh, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brumbaugh, North Howard street, and a senior at Purdue University.
  His oversize head of paper-mache featuring large bulging eyes, a button nose and a wide happy grin, and his massive shoulders and chest of foam rubber are the characteristics of "Purdue Pete," the new Purdue Mascot.
  According to an article which appears in the Alumnus magazine, "Purdue Pete" made his first appearance at a pep rally the night before the Missouri-Purdue football game. During the game, working with the cheerleaders in keeping spirits high, he was an immediate success.
  It was early last spring that the pep committee and cheerleaders began thinking about having a mascot appear on the field at football games. They had in mind something similar to the Northwestern Wildcats, the Illinois Indian or the Chicago Bear. After the project was approved by the Dean of Men's office and the athletic director, tryouts were held to select a student to be "Purdue Pete." Larry was selected because of his ability as a tumbler.
  When it came to getting a suitable costume for "Pete," who has long been a symbol of the university, problems arose. Price estimates ranged from $500 to $700 in most cases, and when this was reported to the university, it was suggested that the idea of a mascot be postponed. By this time it was August, and a letter was sent to Larry explaining the situation. Undaunted, he visited costume companies in Richmond, Muncie and Dayton, Ohio, but all estimated the cost to be more than $500. However, he did get some helpful suggestions from them, including the use of football pads, foam rubber, and a separately constructed head for the costume.
  When he returned to school in the fall, Larry, discussed these ideas with the pep committee and the athletic department who gave him the go-ahead signal. It was then that Mrs. John Keltner, of Union City, came into the picture. Her hobby is making paper-mache figurettes, and after Larry had contacted her, she agreed to make a head for "Pete." Anne Ream and Ona Russell, Purdue students, sewed and shaped the remainder of the costume, which is black and gold and is identical in image to the symbol that has become famous in identifying Purdue University.
  Brumbaugh will graduate in June from the school of mechanical engineering. He is president of Sigma Pi fraternity.



Lynn Plans New City Building.
Winchester Journal-Herald, Feb. 1969.

  The Lynn town board paid $20,000 for a corner lot plus a lot immediately to the east of it, the lots running 200 to 300 feet deep north and south. The ground, purchased from Clarence Retter and Clyde Waldron and located at the corner of Main and Church streets, was bought as the location of a new city building and fire station.
  According to Leslie Ponder, president of the Lynn town board, the new structure will cost between $50,000 and $60,000 and will house the police and fire departments, city clerk-treasurer's office and town meeting hall.
  The board, Ponder said, also is considering the construction of a community room, but this is not included in the present building plans.
  It is anticipated that sometime in the future a downtown public parking area can be situated on a portion of the purchased land.
  Ponder said that the board already has the money needed to pay for the building itself. The $20,000 for the lots was included in this year's tax rate. Reserves to pay for the city building will be taken from three funds: Capital improvement funds, water department reserves and the accumulative fire fund.
  If the board stays within the building's price range, it is anticipated the structure will be of brick veneer.
  Members of the board, in addition to Ponder, are Howard Marquis, Reed Engle and Irene Addington, clerk-treasurer.



Ridgeville Cossacks.
The Portland Commercial Review, May 20, 1978.

  What's in a name?
  Usually not much. But, in the case of now-closed Ridgeville High School, a name is a unique bit of lore of Indiana High School basketball.
  The Ridgeville players were the "last of the Cossacks." When Ridgeville High became part of the Winchester Community consolidation in 1966 there were no more prep athletic teams going by that nickname anywhere in the state.
  It was much the same for the Cossacks as it was for a couple of other one-of-a-kind team names, like the Dunkirk Speedcats and the Hartford Center Gorillas, that now belong to the pages of history.
  Like a lot of schools that have faded into consolidations, the last few years of Ridgeville basketball were a kind of "playing out the string," The Cossacks didn't win the sectional tournament in their last year of existence. They didn't even have a winning season.
But there had been past days of glory.
  Ridgeville basketball teams claimed four sectional titles, and they had to do some traveling to get a couple of them. They won it all in the Hartford City sectional in 1936 and 1938.
  Earlier, within the confines of Randolph County, they had taken titles in 1921 and 1926.
  The 1938 sectional crown was the last for the school. The Cossacks got close in 1957 at Winchester, but bowed out in the championship game to the Yellow Jackets.
  The Cossacks had the satisfaction of taking out the team host in the 1938 sectional, trimming Hartford City 30-29.
  In the 1936 title contest the Ridgeville squad got past Madison Township of Jay County 24-21.
  The 1921 and 1926 title game victories were lopsided ones. The Cossacks stopped Jefferson 36-17 in 1921 and pounded Winchester 30-15 in 1926.
  Ridgeville always got moved around a lot in terms of sectional tourney playing sites.
  Although the school is in Randolph County, the Cossacks were often sent, not to Winchester but to Hartford City or Portland.
  The fact that the Cossacks were sent to the tourney at Hartford City in 1938 was, apparently, the cause of some gloom at Ridgeville.
  The Cossacks had a good team that year and, judging from newspaper accounts, they were the class of Randolph County. The situation was to be different at Hartford City, however.
  The Commercial-Review of Feb. 8, 1938, put it this way: "It certainly is a tough break for the Ridgeville Cossacks if they have to play in this sectional (at Hartford City) when they would have about everything their own way were they to play at Winchester."
  The Cossacks, in other words, "weren't supposed" to win the sectional at Hartford City. One reason was that Hartford City was the defending champion and seemed a good bet to repeat. Hartford had also won the sectional six of the last eight years prior to the 1938 battles.
  Still another reason was an outstanding Dunkirk team, which posted a 20-1 regular season record.
  But Dunkirk didn't make it to the finals. Hartford City did, but this time the Airedales didn't quite make it.
  Along the way to the final game Ridgeville, led by Stanton Cope in scoring and coached by I. E. Templin, disposed of Montpelier (in another one-point game) and Poling.
  The Cossacks got past the first game in the regional tournament  at Fort Wayne, too. But then, in the regional tourney championship game , they had the misfortune of running into the Archers of Fort Wayne Southside. The Cossacks campaign came to an end on the short end of a 54-25 score.
  Southside went on to take the 1938 state championship, stopping a lot of other good teams along the way as they had before the regional.
  The Archers, coached by Burl Friddle to what was his second state title as a coach, finished with a 29-3 record.

The 1965-66 Ridgeville Cossack Team- Dave Doughty, Jon Young, Don Cox, Joe Bolich, Dennis Heniscey, Mike Boolman, Chris Lay, Dan Antrim, Jim Painter, Mike Gayheart and Bob Bond. David Barr was the student manager and Richard Burgess was the coach of the last Cossacks team.