This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
This newspaper page contains 20 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Bedford Weekly Mail
Location
Bedford, Indiana, United States of America
Date
Feb 08, 1907
Page
1
Miss S. C. Culbertson extols General Lew Wallace in praise of Indiana’s famed son. She urges honoring him as a representative in a national gathering of marble, praising his art, intellect, and leadership while contrasting other states’ heroes.
Washington letters from 1907 present a Bedford educator praising Lew Wallace for national recognition. The writers recall Indiana pride, Wallace's rise from youth to lawyer and diplomat, and argue for his place in a hall of immortals, framing his life as a bridge from soldier to statesman.
Speaker Emmett Forest Branch denounced floor lobbying and vowed to end it saying the house floor is for members only and no staff may lobby for any measure. The session focused on metropolitan police power shifts with votes and several bills defeated or amended. Local items followed, including a Turkey theft case and oddities from the Green Castle Banner.
Senator Beveridge says he never owned an umbrella and enjoyed plowing corn in rain until soaked. He praises rain as wholesome, ozone-filled, and blood-tingling. He warns against borrowing an umbrella from him.
Attorney Frank M. Vance defended Chip, manager of the Jasonville Opera House, against a Sunday work charge. The jury acquitted him instantly, while local notices include varied social and personal items from Terre Haute and surrounding towns.
M P Haley of Cincinnati, head of a detective agency, was jailed by the Sheriff for alleged contempt of court relating to blocking the grand jury’s attempt to obtain Walter E Karns testimony in the Dana Gilman murder case at Dayton. Karns claimed he could name a woman who saw associates move a dead body from the Gilman home at 11 pm. Karns fled to Kentucky to avoid subpoena, and Haley’s agency partners Heitzmann and Karns had quarrelled over a reward share.
Data compiled from Weather Bureau records summarize February conditions in Indiana across 35 years. It covers mean temperature 31 degrees, warmest February 1882 at 42, coldest 1905 at 20, with extremes of 72 for high and 18 below zero for low. Precipitation averages 3.13 inches, with 11 days at or above .01 inch and a high of 7.28 inches in 1882. Snowfall peak 5.5 inches in 1908, humidity 80 percent at 6 am and 74 at 7 pm, plus wind from northwest at 12 mph on average, with gusts to 44 mph on specified dates.
Two last witnesses for the Indiana Railway Commission testified in Indianapolis that an act of God caused the Sandford freight car powder explosion. One saw lightning toward Sandford and another saw a meteor, theories used to shield the railroad from liability for loss of life injuries and property damage. A Vermillion, Ir., tenant farmer earlier told a newspaper of the meteor sighting, but Wednesday no corroboration was found.
Cecil C Wheeler formerly Operator and Ticket Agent of the Southern Indiana at Bedford has been promoted to Manager of the Santa Fe telegraph service at Galveston. He is 22 years old and an expert telegraphist. He is the son of Mrs. F X Johnson of this city.
The first official statistics by Miss Mary A Stubbs chief of the Indiana Bureau of Statistics show 930 855 church members across 6 808 congregations with many reports incomplete. Methodist Episcopal led totals with 202 540 members in 1 620 congregations and 7 810 720 in church property.
Weather prophet Rev Irl Hicks forecasts a February of multiple storm periods with sleet snow and high winds across regions alongside seismic activity and barometric shifts. Separately Representative Weaver’s bill targets voter intimidation with penalties for coercion threats and wage withholdings. Mary Stepp of St Josephs Hill wins $4500 in Monon railway death suit after a long trial in New Albany with lawyers Jewett Phipp Kopp Stannard McIntyre representing both sides.
Representative Albert F. Dawson of Iowa's Second District engages government officials to promote freshwater mussel propagation in the Wabash River. Southwestern Indiana shells support Vincennes shipments and Muscatine factories, producing pearl buttons worth about 1.5 million dollars annually. The heavy harvest threatens extinction. Dawson has met with government scientists and consulted Professor Drew of the University of Maine on mass propagation methods.
Prof Drew explains mussel reproduction with eggs laid in winter and released in spring. Eggs attach to fish as parasites, then detach and develop if conditions suit. Dawson plans to petition a government official to send experts to Indiana to study the Wabash bed and fish life to promote large scale mussel propagation.
The Bedford schools report for the first term ends January 18 with enrollment 1898 and 1608 belonging, daily average attendance 1588, attendance 98 percent, tardiness 11. Similar figures for last year’s first week show enrollment 1772, belonging 1544, daily attendance 1493, tardiness 27. Enrollment by building lists North 413 Westes 400 East 3866, Department 23 High School 168 City Hall 86.
Marion county official James Norwood introduces an habitual criminal bill in the Indiana House proposing life imprisonment for a person with two prior felony convictions, with the law applying retroactively to earlier cases if described in indictments or affidavits. The measure draws support from criminal lawyers and reform officials as a tool to keep repeat offenders off the streets.
William Davis, by attorneys Boruff and Boruff, sues the Monon railroad for $20,000 in Bedford alleging a January 2, 1907 incident on a local freight to Mitchell caused a violent derailment that threw him, injuring his back on a nail keg, with permanent injuries claimed.
Frank P Abel, through Boruff Boruff, sues the City of Bedford for 35000 claiming a section of sidewalk on East 17th street between G and F was removed last fall leaving a hole twelve inches deep and wide. He fell on October 27, 1906, breaking his right ankle and injuring his back and bruising himself, alleging no lights guarded the hazard.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon the groundhog reportedly saw his shadow, signaling six more weeks of winter according to the old Indian sign. Public mood remains light as the region has seen little real winter so far.
A fire damaged the Rabbitville Lime Kilns supply house near Mitchell on Friday forenoon, destroying barrel staves a carload of hair and about 6500 pounds of dynamite along with shed sections. Workmen fought the flames as dynamite melted, burning without exploding. Kilns owned by Lehigh Portland Cement Co.
Mrs Martha E Fawbush sues saloon keeper Elmer Morris for 5000 claiming intoxicated husband Douglas Fawbush and accomplice William A Spores, who was convicted and awaits execution in Michigan City, were driven to murder. News notes: Lenora Jackson Concert Company set for Presbyterian church program. many supposed to be dead in Baltimore and Ohio wreck later found alive, stirring investigations and potential civil actions.
We want people to find what they are looking for at NewspaperArchive. We are confident that we have the newspapers that will increase the value of your family history or other historical research. With our 7-day free trial, you can view the documents you find for free.
People find the most success using advanced search. Try plugging in keywords, names, dates, and locations, and get matched with results from the entire collection of newspapers at NewspaperArchive!
You can also successfully find newspapers by these browse options. Explore our archives on your own!
Browse by location and discover newspapers from all across the world.
Browse by date and find publications for a specific day or era.
Browse old newspaper publications to find specific newspapers.