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Newspaper
The Indianapolis Journal
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
Date
Dec 21, 1903
Page
1
A Panama newspaper exposes the birth of the Republic of Panama as a canal driven project led by Amador Guerrero and Panama Railroad officials. It claims independence arose from greed, with American railroad interests steering the move and Bogota politics complicating ratification of the Hay Herran treaty.
In Chicago families hide deaths to avoid union pickets from livery drivers. Undertakers store bodies in vaults and delay funerals, sometimes using evening services and private burials. Health officials tolerate secrecy to protect public safety amid picket disturbances. Association head cites strikers reading death notices to target houses.
In St. Petersbourg on his tour, William Jennings Bryan arrived after a long visit with Tolstoi who urged a siesta while the writer worked Tolstoi's physician joked about Bryan's fear of fire interrupting Tolstoi's daily exercise. Bryan dined with Ambassador McCormick as news spread of a fire at a servant's house that proved to be only a chimney.
Brown and Nashville county officers clash over the arrest of Dan Gordon in Edinburg Indiana. Gordon, held on intoxication charges with a Brown county warrant accusing him of complicity in the Nashville dynamiting of a local bootleg joint. Local Sheriff argues prior claim as prisoner was held pending warrant arrival.
New York December 2 Senator Marcus A Hanna was too ill to attend the Civic Federation national executive committee banquet last evening and remained in his Waldorf Astoria room. Reports say his condition limited his public appearances while he is under medical care.
At Rising Sun Indiana a calm prefaces a storm as the grand jury plans to report and indict tomorrow in the murder case of Elizabeth Gillespie. Rumor centers on James Gillespie twin of Elizabeth and three possible accessories. Public anxiety and speculation focus on possible state’s evidence and a conspiracy behind the tragedy.
New York dispatch recalls Jack the Ripper and other notorious crimes with the discovery of a severely mutilated woman in a sailors’ resort on James Slip near the East River. The victim, identified as Sarah Martin, was last seen with a Swede at a hotel. the man left before the body was found. Bundles including bloodstained striped shirts and a shoe box with the label B. Detone, plus purchases from Meigs & Co. in Bridgeport, Conn., are clues. Bridgeport police alerted. Central office detectives assisting.
Roscoe W. Derby, a 45 year old machinist, killed his wife Della and three children Harold eight Alice seven Thomas five in a planned morning attack before shooting himself. He had been out late presumably obtaining ammunition and left a note predicting the family’s deaths. The killings occurred as the Christmas season neared, with relatives found in the home by a friend who received Derby’s ominous note.
In Chicago a machinist named Fred Pflugradt shot his sick wife in bed and, after she died shortly, killed himself in the room. The week old baby present was unharmed as the husband fired twice, then turned the pistol to his own heart.
Fire at Citizens' Coal Company mine one mile east of Sullivan started early this morning and keeps raging. The mine pumps water from the surface while miners, including Noble Burton and Richard Jones, are rescued after smoke exposure. Cages move rapidly as air is cut off and fire spreads through a pocket gas explosion in a room off a main entry.
Six persons were asphyxiated by fluminating gas last night in San Francisco. The coroner ruled the deaths accidental, noting that open windows in each room allowed the gas to escape and that fatal results can occur when air does not enter the space.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal from Bluffton Ind December 2 1901 the jury found John W Terrell guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced him to life in prison. Eleven jurors favored life from the first ballot though one Hyde preferred a lighter term. The verdict shocked many observers with expectations of a lighter sentence. Terrell remained composed as he left for jail and said the verdict was pretty strong. His lawyers will move for a new trial Monday and pursue all legal steps if denied. The case stems from the July 12 shooting of Melvin Wolfe his son in law who had married his daughter Lucy two years earlier and taunted Terrell and his family leading to the ambush and killing near Petroleum.
Frederick R. Coudert a renowned New York lawyer died in Washington at seventy one from heart illness after years of suffering. He left a wife and several daughters and was accompanied by family and friends at his death. Funeral in New York at St Patrick’s Cathedral with later interment at Calvary Cemetery Brooklyn. He led Coudert Bros and held multiple public roles including Behring Sea counsel and Venezuela boundary commission member.
Police Chief Kruger suspended Thomas F. Colbert from the detective department for drunkenness after a Saturday morning incident. Colbert arrived intoxicated at roll call and argued with Kruger, leaving with a black eye. Colbert, a three term superintendent, is regarded as one of the department’s best officers.
In St John Newfoundland a fierce blizzard drove the schooner Susan ashore near St John. After twelve hours in an open boat the crew reached port frost bitten. The Mary Ellen ran ashore at Trepasray with the crew clinging to rocks all night. Fashoda wrecked at Green's Pond with the crew escaping. Dictator feared to have foundered with seven men aboard.
In Driver Virginia Justice Morris held court at 3 this morning by firelight to save Charles Bynum a Negro accused of starting a barn fire at John Bond’s farm near Norfolk several fine horses vehicles farm implements and thousands of pounds of cotton were burned Bynum was bound over for trial
Alexander Huff, suspended superintendent of foreign mails in the New York post office, killed himself tonight before a Federal Court trial on charges of robbing the mails. Huff, who entered service in 1875, had faced weeks of anxiety over the impending case and gave his family no warning of his intent.
Early Monday fire at the McShane Company plant in Baltimore, a United States bonded whisky warehouse nearby spared by crews after a late night blaze. Officials estimate $50,000 in losses and fear watchman Andrew Burns, 55, perished in the blaze.
In Butler Pennsylvania three more deaths bring typhoid toll to sixty nine. Three new cases added to committee tally as city physicians report steady improvement though deaths loom larger as the outbreak subsides.
The Stevenson building in Indianapolis, the city’s largest office home, will transfer ownership in early January likely January 2, to the Indiana State Life Insurance Company for $950,000. The Churchman heirs own the property, with annual net income estimated at about $50,000. The sale, the largest real estate deal in Marion County to date, strengthens local banking ties as funds move to Capital National Bank.
Cincinnati December 2 Ice has frozen the Ohio river and flooded gorges threaten craft. The steamer Courter is ice bound at Hanging Rock as workers blast to free her. The Ada V valued at 3000 sunk in ten feet of water from ice runout. rising water could wreck decks.
Evansville Indiana reports heavy rains raising alarm among steamboat crews as ice dams break between the city and Louisville. The Three Mile Island gorge has loosened over two days while Green and Wabash rivers rise, threatening flooding and possible boat blockages.
Wilkes Barre Pa December 9 The Delaware Lackawanna and Western Coal Company will pay its miners a 7 percent advance on the sliding scale for December. workers wonder if this means a drop in the current month or not. Since the scale began the company has advanced the figures early and paid the increase in the month it was earned. Other firms waited and paid in the following month. November saw 6 percent paid while the commissioner decreed 7 percent.
A sixty mile per hour gale sweeps the Virginia and North Carolina coast as the Moccasin submarine boat, ashore at Currituck, is battered by heavy seas. No shipping disasters reported to date, but danger to the vessel is feared.
In Parkersburg West Virginia a night entry into the county jail led to thefts including a gold watch and chain clothing and money. The items belonged to Jane Rush Stephens and Jasper and several residents were nearby during the incident.
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