The Bluffton news. [volume], October 19, 1939, Image 3

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ALLEN COUNTY
Seeks Freedom To
Face Murder Charge
The third district court of appeals
has under advisement the case of
Robert Wyman, 43, who is seeking
release from the Lima state hospital
so he can return to Ashtabula coun
ty to face first degree murder
charges.
Wyman was committed to the in
stitution 12 years ago when he was
accused of killing Eva LaRue, his
51-year-old sweetheart, with a ham
mer at a cabin where they had been
meeting secretly for six months. He
is a college graduate and a former
coal dealer.
In his habeas corpus petition, Wy
man contends he has been restored
to sanity and is being held unlaw'
ftally.
Election Board’s Rul
ing Challenged
The Allen county Board of Elec
tions Wednesday was asked to “jus
tify in court” the invalidation of
some 1,400 signatures on civil service
referendum petitions after it had
been announced from Columbus that
approximately 24,000 additional sig
natures were necessary to put the
referendum on the November ballot.
Protest against the signature can
cellations was filed with the local
board Wednesday morning by D. W.
Overly circulator of one of the Allen
county petitions, a staunch Democrat
and a former assistant sergeant-at
arms in the Ohio senate under the
administration of Gov- Martin L.
Davey.
Lima Buys Three New
Fire Trucks
A contract was signed last week
by Lima officials for the purchase
of three fire department pumpers
with delivery expected in mid-Decem
ber. The low bid of a Cincinnati
firm was $26,970. Three obsolete
pumpers will be sold to the same
firm for $100 each. The new pump
ers are of 750-gallon capacity.
Money for their purchase was
made available by a special bond
issue approved by voters a year ago.
Organize To Fight
Paralysis
Coincident with the announcement
that the first case of the disease in
more than a year had been reported,
an Allen county chapter of the Na
tional Foundation for Infantile Pa
ralysis was organized Wednesday of
last w’eek at a meeting in the Ar
gonne hotel, Lima.
The group will handle all local
funds for infantile paralysis re
search and treatment. It was re
ported at the meeting that the dis
ease had greatly increased thruout
the nation during the past year.
Answer Filed In
$250,000 Suit
Answer in the libel suit filed by
Virgil H. Effinger was filed Wed
nesday by The Lima News Publish
ing Co., the defendant.
A general denial that articles deal
ing with Effinger were published
with malicious intent was made by
the defendant, the answer stating
that the various articles printed by
the newspaper were fair, impartial
and true proceedings in the various
courts of Ohio and Michigan.
The suit by Effinger, asking $250,
000, was the outgrowth of investiga
tion of the Black Legion.
$1000 Coon Chase
Planned
When the Old Time Coon Hunters
club stages a raccoon chase on Sun
day, October 22, it will add to it a
fall festival which will include a
chicken dinner at noon and a dance
at night. The program will be on
the grounds and in the R-Own club
house, northeast of Delphos.
An estimated purse of $1000 will
be given.
Receives High Masonic
Honor
T. Carl Jansen, prominent Lima
Mason, returned Wednesday from
Boston where he received the thirty
third degree, the highest honor con
ferred by the Masonic fraternity.
Jansen is a member of Garrett
Wykoff lodge No. 585, Lima chapter
No. 19, Lima Council No. 20, Shaw
nee Commandery No. 14, Scottish
Rite Valley of Toledo and Aladdin
temple of the Mystic Shrine, Colum
bus.
Death Takes Widely
Known Detective
Lt. Rue! W. Steen, 47, of the Erie
railroad police, known by crooks and
thieves the world over as “Lima
NEWS NOTES FROM FOUR C0UNTIEr~|
Slim”, died Tuesday morning in Lima
Memorial hospital following an ill
ness of five weeks from steptococci
poisoning.
Steen had always predicted that he
would die violently, probably by
“lead poisoning”, in a gun fight with
some criminal he was chasing, but
the end came for him peacefully in
a bed. He had been ill since July 4,
when he arrested a man for placing
an iron bolt on the Pennsylvania
railroad tracks west of Lima.
Senator Cancels Lima
Speech
Because Senator Robert A. Taft
cancelled his speaking engagement
due to the session of Congress, Re
publicans have cancelled a rally
planned for October 16 in Lima.
Prize Steers Are Sold
Thirty-five steei s raised by Allen
county 4-H club boys were sold at
the Wapakoneta Producers Coopera
tive Commission Stockyards.
The National Bank of Lima bought
the grand champion steer owned by
Lewis Bassett, of Route 5, Lima.
This steer weighed 1030 pounds and
sold for $13.50 per hundred.
Eleven steers were sold for $11
per hundred pounds or above and
only two for less than $10.60.
Giant Locomotive
Completed
The biggest engine ever built by
the Lima Locomotive Works, and one
of the world’s largest, was completed
Friday for the Southern Pacific Rail
road Co.
Before delivery, the magnificent
giant iron-horse was placed on dis
play Sunday in the Lima plant. It
is the first of 12 ordered last Feb
ruary by the Southern Pacific Rail
road, and will be used for heavy
duty in mountain regions.
The engine has 16 driving wheels,
and weighs 544.35 tons, complete
with tender. The over-all length is
126 feet.
Workman Killed By
Falling Steel
Albert Kalle, 23, Lima, was
crushed to death at the Ohio Steel
Foundry, where he was employed,
when a quantity of steel slipped and
fell on him as it was being loaded
onto a freight car.
Three Trapped In
Wrecked Car
Charles F. Walters, 22, of near
Rawson, is in Lima Memorial hos
pital with a possible skull fracture
received Thursday evening when the
automobile in which he was riding
crashed into a bridge abutment five
miles east of Lima on route 25.
Harvey Cole, 42, also of Rawson,
driver of the car, sustained numer
ous facial lacerations and Walter J.
Hinds, 46, of Brooklyn, received
minor cuts and bruises.
State highway patrolmen reported
the automobile enroute to Lima, was
demolished. Hinds, a hitch-hiker,
was picked up at Beaverdam.
The top of the machine had to be
cut open to free the three occupants.
Business Upturn
Reported
Upturns in all business and indus
trial indices in Lima are shown in
a report compiled by the Association
of Commerce.
City building permits are $128,646
ahead of the same period last year,
the total Oct. 1 being $255,038. For
the same period, postal receipts to
taled $224,303, an increase of about
$17,000. Bank debits remained ap
proximately stationary. Eleven of
the city’s leading industries reported
an increase of 845 persons in the
average number of persons employed.
Cars Deriled In Train
Wreck
Traffic on the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad near Cairo was tied up for
approximately nine hours Thursday
night following the derailment of five
ore cars, agents reported.
The mishap occurred one mile
south of Cairo while the tran was
southbound. The side and main
tracks at that point were torn up,
officials said. B. and O. passenger
trains were routed over the D. T.
& I. tracks until repairs were made.
$331,720 Paid In
Sales Tax
Sales, personal and classified tax
collections Saturday totaled $2,792.
88, bring the figure for the week to
$15,880.61, according to Allen county
Treasurer Byron H. Dershem.
The collections follow: sales tax,
Saturday $1,083.49, for the week $7,
514.34, since Jan. 1, $331,720.27 per
sonal, Saturday $1,611.68, for the
week $6,446.27, total thus far $70,-
500.52 classified, Saturday $97.71,
for the week $1,920, total thus far
$15,745.93.
Bonus Payment
Announced
Westinghouse Electric and Manu
facturing Co. last week announced
adjusted compensation of four per
cent would be paid to all employes
this month in accordance with its
wage and salary plan.
The amount is established each
month in proportion to the net earn
ings of the preceding three months.
Last Living Canal
Employe Dies
James Robinson, 82, last remain
ing employe of the Miami and Erie
canal, when it was a commercial
artery across the state, died last
week at the home of his sister, Mrs.
Mary Davis, in Delphos.
One of the oldest residents of the
town Robinson began his working
career at the age of 12, in 1857,
when he became a driver of a team
of mules, on one of his father’s boats
and made the round trip between
Cincinnati and Toledo, a journey of
247 miles, working for his parents
for many years. His father also op
erated a dry dock in the early days.
Even to his advancing years, Rob
inson recalled the days when he
drove his mules for transportation,
carrying all kinds of freight.
Sheep Demonstration
Near Bluffton
Allen county farmers had the op
portunity Wednesday of seeing sheep
dipping deconstrated.
The exhibitions were held at the
Andrew’ Gratz farm on the Dixie
highway at the Gratz crossing at
9:30 a. m. and on the Herman
Young farm, Jackson township,
seven miles east of Lima, at 1 p. m.
HANCOCK COUNTY
Sugar Plant Starts
Operations
Approximately 160 truck loads of
sugar beets were received at the
Findlay factory of the Great Lakes
Sugar company Tuesday of last
week, the second day on which beets
have been received.
Slicing of beets was started Wed
nesday morning and three or four
days the first sugar will be sacked.
A 70-day campaign is expected this
year.
Plans Laid For Husk
ing Contest
The Hancock county com husking
contest, set for Saturday, October 21,
will be held on the farm of Mrs.
Verna Shafer, a mile east of Find
lay on the Carey road, County Agri
tultural Agent Forest G. Hall an
nounced Tuesday.
B. H. Beard, of Ohio State uni
versity, has been secured as the
speaker for the occasion, Mr. Hall
said.
Government To Erect
Corn Bins
Announcement was made by R. M.
Traucht, chairman of the county ag
ricultural conservation program, that
26 steel com bins have been received
from the Commodity Credit Corp.,
for erection in Hancock, Wyandot,
Hardin and Wood counties.
Each bin has a capacity of 1,000
bushels of shelled com which will be
turned over to the corporation by
farmers in payment for the 1937 and
1938 corn loans and held by the gov
ernment under its "ever normal
granary” program for use in years
when corn is scarce.
According to Traucht, 16,000 bush
els of corn will be sealed in 18 bins
in Hancock county while another
14,000 bushels will be re-sealed on
Hancock farms.
Drives Cars For
40 Years
Among those who obtained driv
er’s licenses in North Baltimore
were W. L. Stouffer, merchant, who
has driven more than 40 years, and
William Harrison Dennis, 85, a
farmer. Mr. Stouffer drove the first
car owned in North Baltimore. It
was a Stanley Steamer.
Firemen Rescue Dog
From Pool
A small bird dog jumped into the
shallow Cory park pool in Findlay
and couldn’t get out.
The canine found the bottom of
the pool too slippery and each time
he attempted to get up over the side
wall his hind feet failed to hold and
back he went.
Finally, a woman resident of the
vicinity, seeing the dog’s predica
ment, notified the first department
THE BLUFFTON NEWS, BLUFFTON, OHIO
THURSDAY, OCT. 19, 1939 ______________________
and firemen simply reached down
and pulled the dog to safety.
None the worse for his experience,
the dog ran away as if nothing
had happened.
Crippled Children Get
Treatment
The Findlay board of education,
with the co-operation of the division
of special classes of the state de
partment of education, has within
the past two weeks established a
new procedure for the crippled child
ren’s class in the Lincoln school.
According to Superintendent F. L.
Kinley, physio-therapy treatments
will be given by a trained nurse
twice a week to children who are
in need of such treatments.
Ditch Improvement
Granted
Hancock county commissioners last
week granted the petition for the
S. W. Boyer ditch improvement and
instructed County Engineer Max
Stringfellow to prepare plans and
estimates by Dec. 15 when the next
hearing is scheduled.
The proposed improvement will ex
tend a distance of six miles in
Blanchard and Union townships up
stream from an outlet into Buck
Run. It is proposed that the pro
ject be carried out with aid of CCC
labor.
Work Continues On
Walks
Nearly one-fourth of Findlay’s
nine-mile sidew'alk building program
—a $30,000 WPA project—has been
completed and construction work will
continue this fall as long as the
weather permits, according to City
Engineer Otto C. Gohlke.
Organize For AAA
Control
R. M. Traucht, Madison towmship
farmer, was re-elected chairman of
the Hancock county agricultural con
servation committee at the organiza
tion meeting held Friday night in
the farm office.
The conservation program will be
carried on in the county next year
with 17 township committees serv
ing in the place of the 11 commun
ity groups as in the past. Members
of the township committees include:
Orange: Chairman, Edgar C. Pi
fer vice-chairman, Lloyd Arnold
regular member, Russell Elzay first
alternate, Harry Ream second alter
nate, oJhn B. Koch.
Union: Chairman, C. M. Hause
vice-chairman, Floyd J. Moyer reg
ular member, John W. Thompson
first alternate, Pearl Burket second
alternate, Earl Y. Frantz.
Burned Fighting Oil
Fire
The condition of Sam Ferrel, 64,
seriously burned earlier w’hile fight
ing an oil fire in a ditch on the Ed
win Alge farm west of Findlay, was
reported by attendants this week as
“no better.”
Mr. Ferrell was ordered moved
from his home on the Alge fsym, to
the Miller-McComb hospital in Mc
Comb. He suffered severe burns on
the hands and face.
Corn, Soy Bean Crops
Good
Hancock county farmers are in the
midst of the harvesting of the best
corn crop in recent years while at
the same time the harvesting of a
large acreage of soy beans is getting
under way.
The corn yield is estimated to be
20 per cent above normal because of
the large amount of hybrid produced
this year. Of the 65,000 acres of
corn in the county around 80 per
cent of it was planted to hybrid.
Soy bean acreage in Hancock
county more than doubled last year’s
with something like 25,000 acres be
ing planted. The average yield prob
ably will be around 25 bushels to the
acre with 30 bushels considered good.
Friday 13th Lucky
For Him
Friday the 13th may have been
unlucky for some people, but to Wil
liam Clyde Douglas, 52, ii was the
happiest day of his life.
For 21 months and 18 days, Doug
las has been confined to a hospital
bed in Findlay. Last Friday he w’as
released—told he could go home.
It was a happy homecoming for
Douglas whose wife has constantly
cheered him through nearly two
years of pain and suffering, during
which he had many setbacks.
Mr. Douglas was taken to the
Findlay hospital Dec. 26, 1937, with
a split pelvic bone, a crushed verte
brae and other internal injuries.
Shades Of The Past—
A Runaway
Shades of the past. A team ran
away in Findlay Friday.
Findlay residents witnessed their
first runaway in a number of years
when a team of horses hitched to a
farm wagon sped up West Front
street, across Main street and down
East Front street to East street and
then south to Lincoln street.
Observers said the horses shot
across Main street at breakneck
speed without even stopping for the
traffic light to turn green for them.
HARDIN COUNTY
Probe Attempted
Dynamiting
Hardin county authorities are
seeking the person or persons who
placed four sticks of dynamite, one
of which was fused, in a pile of
cement blocks on a “sled” used at
the Ridgeway fair last week in a
horse pulling contest.
The high explosive was found
Saturday after the pulling contest
in the afternoon. Although a par
tially burned fuse was attached to
one of the sticks, officers believed it
failed to ignite properly and thereby
saved what would probably have
been numerous persons from serious
or fatal injuries.
Finding Made Against
Constable
A finding of $846 against John
D. Worst, constable of Blanchard
township, Hardin county, was made
in a state audit of Hardin county
offices. Examiner Harry C. Rigby
said it was illegal for Worst to sell
coal and tile to the township, since
he was a public official. The audit
covered the period June, 1937 to
July, 1939.
Kenton Plans Mardi
Gras
Parade plans were made and
prizes arranged for the annual Com
munity Halloween mardi gras which
will be held on Tuesday, October 31,
by the joint committee of the Kenton
American Legion post and the Ken
ton Businessmen’s club at a meet
ing last week.
Schodl Bus Ruled
Unserviceable
One Hardin county school bus of
56 inspected by the state highway
patrol early last week was ruled un­
serviceable for school uses, it was
announced by Frank C. Ransdell,
county superintendent of schools,
who received the state patrol’s re
port The bus in question was more
than eight years old and was of
wooden body construction, the report
stated. It will be replaced, Rans
dell said.
Of the 56 inspected, 12 were found
to be without any items which need
ed correction.
Enter National Judg
ing Meet
Three members of the state cham
pionship Kenton high school dairy
cattle judging team, with their in
structor, D. B. Robinson, vocational
agricultural teacher, left for Kansas
City, Mo., Saturday morning. They
are taking part in the annual na
tional dairy cattle judging contest
which is a part of the American
Royal Livestock show there. They
are representing Ohio which cham
pionship the Kenton team won last
spring.
To Improve 25 Miles
Of Road
Approximately 25 miles of Hardin
county roads will he resurfaced with
in the next 30 days as a part of the
county-wide blanket WPA project,
county officials announced.
Roads to be treated and their lo
cations are as follows: Richland
road, Taylor Creek township Flynn
Wallace and Lynn Valley road, Lynn
township Black and White road,
Dudley township Shanks and Strong
roads, Liberty township.
Corn Husking Meet
Saturday
A change in the date of the Hard
in county corn husking contest to
Saturday, October 21, one week later
than previously scheduled, has been
announced. The meet will be held
at the Elizabeth Krafft farm near
Patterson. A junior contest will be
held at 9:30 in standing corn.
Lawyers Active After
50 Years
William P. Henderson and James
Ray Stillings, old friends who were
WA
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PAGE THREE
bom within four days of each other,
studied law together, and took the
bar examination at the same time,
last week noted the end of their
first
50 years as members of the bar in
Kenton. Each is 72. Both are act
ive in their profession. Mr. Hend
erson served as Common Pleas judge
from 1909 to 1921, then was dean of
the Warren G. Harding College of
Law at Ohio Northern University
until 1931. Mr. Stillings served two
terms as prosecuting attorney and
two as Kenton city solicitor.
Additional REA Work
Approved
Bids for Project “B” of the Rural
Electrification Administration unit in
Hardin and adjoining counties will
be awarded on Oct. 25, it was an
nounced by W. C. Ewing, manager
of the United Rural Electric, Inc.,
local unit. Specifications have been
approved by the federal government
agency.
The sum of $133,000 was allotted
from Washington for the project
which will construct 126 miles of
electric lines in the area.
County Is $11,000
Richer
The sum of $11,000 has been re
ceived by Hardin county Auditor W.
L. Wilson in the distribution of
$968,000 in auto license collections
to the 88 counties of the state.
The money is not available for
re­
lief purposes as it was collected
(Continued on page 7)
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I