The Bluffton news. [volume], November 16, 1939, Image 1

About The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current

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I*
BLUFFTON NEWS
The Advertising Medium for
Bluffton Trade Territory
VOLUME NO. LXTV
FLIES ATLANTIC
ON CLIPPER SHIP
Former Bluffton Resident Radio
Officer on Trans-Atlantic
Air Line
Winton “Slim” Modin on
America to Portugal Hight
Of Pan-American Line
Winton “Slim” Modin, who was
employed here at the plant of The
Triplett Electrical Instrument Co.
until late in 1938, is a radio officer
on one of the Pan-American Clipper
ships flying between Baltimore and
Lisbon, Portugal.
Modin has been associated with
Pan-American airways nearly a year,
but last week he completed his first
round-trip flight to Europe as a
member of the crew of one of the
Clipper ships.
In the future he is expected to
make regular trips as one of the two
radio operators assigned to each
giant plane. A radio officer must be
on duty constantly during the ocean
crossing, and the two operators al
ternate at the radio board.
Pan American air flights between
Baltimore and Lisbon have not been
disrupted by the European war, altho
the northern route that took planes
to London was discontinued after the
outbreak of hostilities.
All Clipper ships making European
flights now have very large Ameri
can flags painted on each side of the
cabins to denote the nationality of
the ship and prevent any possibility
of being fired upon by warships or
attacked by other planes.
With conditions as they now are
in Europe, more passengers are
carried from Portugal to the United
States than from this country to
Portugal.
During the time he was in Bluff
ton, Modin was an active member of
the Bluffton Radio Club. He came
here from Chicago.
Family Night At M.
E, Church Monday
Family night will be observed at
the Methodist church here next Mon
day evening beginning with a cov
ered dish supper at 6:80 o’clock fol
lowed by a program.
Everyone in any way connected
with the church is invited to attend
the dinner and program which is be
ing held as part of the observance
of Fellowship week by churches of
the denomination.
The program, consisting in part
of special musical numbers will be
unique in its presentation of a num
ber of Methodist notables in proxy
on the witness stand for questioning
by a hearing committee. A feature
will be a skit portraying work among
the Mexicans given by three men
and two women of the church.
Presbyterian Services
Close Friday Night
A week of special services now be
ing held at the Presbyterian church
here will close Friday night. Var
ious ministers of Lima Presbytery
are speaking each evening at 7:30
o’clock.
Rev. Chester Armantrout of Co
lumbus Grove will be the speaker
this Wednesday night. Speaker on
Thursday night will be Rev. Ray
mond Bair of Rockford and Rev.
Robert Bowman of Ottawa will speak
on Friday night.
Masonic Lodge
Elects Officers
Officers to serve for the coming
year were chosen by the Bluffton
Masonic lodge at the annual election
of the order, Monday night.
Those elected were:
Master, B. R. Herring senior
warden, Chas. Aukerman junior
warden, Stanley Basinger sec., G.
R. Bogart treasurer, Ralph Stearns
senior deacon, Fred Wenger junior
deacon, Donavin Conrad tyler, J. A.
Thompson trustee, Fred Mueller.
In New Locations
C. B. Kuhn and family have moved
from the Central Ohio Light &
Power company residence on the
county line to the Battles property
on Cherry street.
John Dunbar and famliy have
moved to the former M. L. Perkins
farm east of Bluffton which they re
cently purchased.
Mr. and Mrs. Alva Morrison who
occupied the Harry Morrison farm
in Union township have moved to
Bucyrus.
Concern was expressed by relatives
and friends here Wednesday for the
safety of two former Bluffton people
residing on Lake Maracaibo, Vene
zuela, one of the world’s largest oil
producing centers when according to
press dispatches a film of oil cover
ing water of the lake caught fire and
destroyed the town of Lagunillas,
built on stilts on the edge of the
lake Tuesday with a loss of from
500 to 800 lives.
The two former Bluffton people
are Walter Locher, 28, employed by
the Lago Petroleum corporation,
South American subsidiary of the
Standard Oil company of New Jersey
and his mother, Mrs. Eph Locher of
Cleveland who has been visiting at
the home of her son at Lake Mara
caibo since last summer. Word from
them is being anxiously awaited
BLUFFTON FAIR
DECEMBER 6-8
Dates Announced for Annual
Three-day Showing Early
Next Month
Premium Lists Ready Commit
tees Busy with Arrange
ments for Showing
Premium lists are being distributed
and plans are nearing completion for
Bluffton’s 24th annual agricultural
fair on Wednesday, Thursday and Fri
day, December 6, 7 and 8.
Residents of Allen, Putnam, Han
cock and Hardin counties are eligible
to compete in the three-day farm
show that is widely recognized as one
of the best in this area. Entries will
close at 9 p. m. Monday, Dec. 4.
Showing this year will be in nine
departments, including the junior fair
and total awards offered aggregate
nearly $1,000. Divisions in which
competition will be open are: Horses,
cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, grain and
fruit, domestic science, fine arts and
the junior fair.
Features Planned
Arrangements for places of exhibit
and the selection of adjudicators will
be completed within the next week, it
is believed. Among features will be
a pulling contest, pet parade and the
livestock parade closing the fair.
For the three last preceding years,
the Bluffton fair has been held in Oc
tober, but this summer the board of
directors voted to hold the agricul
tural show in December, as customary’
in the first 20 years of the fair’s ex
istance.
Officers of the fair board include:
Hiram Kohli, president Clyde Kling
ler, vice-president Harry’ F. Barnes,
secretary and Ray Marshall, treasur
er.
On the board of directors are: Hir
am Kohli, Clyde Klingler, Ben Am
stutz, Ray Marshall, Carl McCafferty,
Joe Powell, Harold Carr, Albert
Winkler, Clyde Warren and Edgar
Herr.
Department Superintendents
Superintendents in charge of the
various departments of the fair have
been announced as follows:
Buildings—Hiram Kohli and Ray
Marshall.
Horses—Ray’ Marshall and Joe
Powell.
Pulling Contest—Ray Marshall and
Joe Powell.
Cattle—Clyde Klingler and Clyde
Warren.
Hogs—Ben Amstutz and Carl Mc
Cafferty.
Sheep—Harold Carr and Hiram
Kohli.
Poultry—Albert Winkler and Will
iam B. Luginbuhl.
Agricultural Products—Francis Ba
singer and Edgar Herr.
Domestic Art—Mrs. Joe Powell and
Mrs. H. F. Barnes.
Junior Fair—Harry F. Barnes and
Miss Edythe Cupp.
Women From 21 Churches Coming
For Missionary Meet Thursday
Auditing Committee—Albert Wink
ler, Joe Powell and Ben Amstutz.
Chicken Dinner For
College Grid Squad
Members of the Bluffton college
football squad and Coach A. C.
Burcky will be the guests of Dr. and
Mrs. Gordon Bixel at a chicken din
ner served in the Bixel home this
Thursday evening.
Dr. and Mrs. Bixel entertain the
college and high school grid squads
on alternating falls, following the
close of regular scheduled play.
I
VENEZUELAN OIL BURNING LAKE HOME
OF TWO FORMER BLUFFTON RESIDENTS
here.
The town, destroyed by flames, is
said to be inhabited principally by
natives employed in the oil field.
Whether Locher’s residence was in
or near this place could not be im
mediately determined.
Flames Spread Quickly
The flames were assumed to have
spread quickly over the oil film on
the lake in which hundreds of der
ricks stand. The fire roared thru
some 2,000 dwellings which had been
built out over the water as homes
of the oil workers of the great Mara
caibo field.
Conflicting reports were given as
to the origin of the fire. Some were
that it started after a warehouse ex
plosion, while another stated the ex
plosion of a kerosene lamp in a bar
(Continued on page 8)
Fall Session of District to be
Held in Presbyterian
Church Here
Work Among Southern Moun
tain Folk to be Told by
Afternoon Speaker
One hundred women from the mis
sionary societies of twenty-one Pres
byterian churches of this district are
expected in Bluffton, Thursday to at
tend the fall meeting of Lima Pres
byterial.
Morning and afternoon sessions
will be held in the Presbyterian
church here. The Bluffton meeting
is the first of a two day session, the
second day’s meeting to be held in
the Presbyterian church at Vaughns
ville.
Churches which will be represented
at the meetings include Ada, Blanch
ard, Bluffton, Celina, Columbus
Grove, Delphos, Enon Valley, Fair
view, Findlay, Gomer, Lima, Mc
Comb, Middlepoint, Rockford, Rock
port, Sidney, St. Marys, Van Buren,
Van Wert, Venedocia and Zion.
The Thursday morning session
here will open at 10:30 o’clock with
Mrs. Thad Moorhead of McComb
presiding. Routine business will be
transacted in the forenoon. Lunch
eon will be held in the church dining
room at noon.
The afternoon session, beginning
at 1:30 o’clock will be open to the
public at which time Miss Ruth
Hudson of the Asheville Farm
School, Swannanoa, North Carolina,
is to be the guest speaker. Her
subject will be “Men to Match Our
Mountains”.
Miss Hudson, a graduate of Mount
Holyoke college, has also done grad
uate work at Columbia university in
the field of religious education and is
prominent in work among the
southern mountaineers.
To Hold Religious
Education Program
Religious education classes in the
public schools will hold their annual
thankoffering service in the First
Mennonite church on Wednesday
afternoon of next week at 2:30
o’clock. The public is invited.
The program will be under direc
tion of Miss Janet Henderson, re
ligious education instructor in the
schools here. Donations of fruit and
vegetables brought by the pupils will
be given to the Bluffton hospital
following the program.
Thankoffering Meet
At Reformed Church
Miss Ruth Heihnflller of Cltvfel^bd,
will be the principal,at, the
annual thankoffering service to be
held at the St. John’s Reformed
church, Sunday night at 7:30 o’clock.
Miss Heinmiller is secretary of the
Girls Missionary Guild of the Gen
eral Synod of the Reformed church
and has traveled extensively in Ja
pan and China.
The meeting will be under auspi
ces of the Woman’s Missionary so
ciety and the Gertrude Hoy Mission
ary circle of the church here.
Announce Schools9
Holiday Vacation
Holiday vacation for the Bluffton
high and grade schools will begin
on Friday afternoon, December 22,
and continue until Tuesday morning,
January 2. Dates for the holiday
recess were fixed at a meeting of
the Bluffton board of education, Mon
day night.
THE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INT ERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1939
Hunter Bags Red
Fox On Farm In
Union Township
First red fox of the season to be
bagged in the Bluffton district was
killed on the Earl Frantz farm in
Union township by a party of Bluff
ton hunters Wednesday morning.
The fox, a young female, was shot
by Forrest Harmon of South Lawn
avenue. With Harmon on the hunt
ing expedition were Fred Hofer and
Raymond Conrad.
The fox was located by dogs in a
clump of brush on the Frantz farm
and shot by Harmon before it could
make a getaway. Foxes are rare
in this vicinity.
TURKEY PRICES
SRbW DECLINE
Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner
Next Week Will be Less
Than Year Ago
Turkeys and Chickens Lower
Prices of Other Foodstuffs
About the Same
Thanksgiving dinners in 1939 will
be cheaper for Bluffton families who
are bound by tradition to serve
either chicken or turkey as the main
dish on the holiday table.
With a large number of first-grade
turkeys on the market the demand is
brisk, but prices are three cents less
a pound. It is the lowest price since
1934.
Chickens also are cheaper, two
cents less a pound than last season.
The cost of geese and ducks is
slightly lower, also.
Turkeys 20 Cents
Turkeys, which sold on the retail
market at 23 cents a pound alive last
year, are bringing 20 cents a pound
this fall for choice birds. Farmers
are getting from 16 to 18 cents a
pound.
Chickens, priced nt 18 cents a
pound last Thanksgiving, may be
bought for 16 cents alive retail this
year. Prices paid farmers are 13
cents a pound.
Light breeds bring farmers from
8 to 10 cents a pound alive, and sell
at 11 and 13 cents.
Supply Adequate
Supply of chickens and turkeys is
quite adequate for the Thanksgiving
trade, altho many turkeys are re
ported not far enough along to be
marketed before Christmas. Quality
of both types of poultry is reported
excellent, and the demand as a re
sult is expected to be active.
With this year’s poultry prices
generally lower, and the cost of
other foodstuffs no higher than last
fall as a rule, advancing costs will
not mar the Thanksgiving dinner
picture.
Cost of side dishes and garnishes
for the holiday repast will not vary
greatly from those prevailing in the
past few years. It is estimated that
a full course turkey dinner for a
family of five will cost considerably
less than five dollars, including
everything.
Former Orange Tup.
Boy Is Bridegroom
Announcement has been made of
the wedding of Richard R. Crawford
of Shelby, formerly of Orange town
ship,, and Miss Eilene Bernice Rob
inson, of Tiro.
The wedding took place in the
Methodist Episcopal church at Ply
rnouth, Ohio, Sunday, November 5.
The bridegroom is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Ray Crawford of Orange
township. The bride is the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. John Robinson of
Tiro, Ohio.
STUDENT RECITAL
A student recital of the College de
partment of music will be held at the
chapel next Monday night at 7 o’clock.
Appearing on the program will be
high and grade school pupils of Mrs.
H. P. Mann and Prof. Sidney Hauen
stein. The public is invited.
GRID DINNER SPEAKER
Coach A. C. Burcky was the
speaker Tuesday night at the Colum
bus Grove High school football ban
quet, held at the school. Columbus
Grove ended their 1939 season last
Saturday when the team lost to
Pandora.
Shooting at a hawk while hunting
pheasants brought surprising results
for George Combs, Bluffton funeral
director, in a hunting expedition on
the Harold Carr farm in Union
township last Saturday.
Unsuccessful in his day’s hunting,
Combs was about to return to Bluff
ton when he glimpsed a hawk flying
high overhead.
Although he thought the bird was
out of shooting distance, Combs fired
at it, and before his astonished eyes
the hawk appeared to be falling to
pieces.
The hawk went flying on, however,
but what at first had appeared to
Meeting of Ohio and Indiana
Institutions Scheduled for
Dec. 1 and 2
Two Mennonite, Two Friends
And One Brethren School
To Send Delegates
Bluffton college will be host to a
Historic Peace Church Conference,
represented by the five area denom
inational colleges, tentatively set for
December 1 and 2.
Two Mennonite colleges, two
Friends colleges, and one Bretheren
college will be present for the meet
ing, the first of its kind ever to be
held on the Bluffton college campus.
The Mennonite institutions will be
represented by Bluffton, the host, and
Goshen college, located in Goshen,
Indiana. Earlham college, situated
at Richmond, Ind., and Wilmington
college, of Wilmington, Ohio, will
represent the Church of the Friends.
The Bretheren denomination will be
represented by Manchester college
of North Manchester, Indiana. Both
faculty members and students will be
present with a ratio of ten stu
dents to five faculty members from
each college participating.
The two-day conference will be de
voted to lectures by leading peace
leaders and group discussions on
varied peace topics. Peace programs
of the various colleges will be pre
sented the first day of the meeting.
Some subjects to be taken up at the
meeting include: “The Christian
Philosophy as the Basis of Pacifism”,
“Ways and Means to Preserve
Peace”, and other related topics.
Several outstanding men will be
on the campus to deliver the main
addresses of the conferences. Ar
rangements are being made to get
J. N. Sayre, president of the Fel
lowship of Reconciliation, and one of
the outstanding peace leaders of the
nation. R. W. Balderston, a mem
ber of the Friends Service Commit
tee, will lead discussions on relief
work in war areas. He has had
wide experience in this field of the
peace movement.
Other prominent peace speakers
and leaders are being contacted for
resource purposes in the conference.
Several meetings will be open to
the general public. Other sessions
will be held by the delegates and
the respective leaders. The repre
sentatives will also meet in small
seminar groups, according to present
plans.
Purpose of the conference is to
unite the peace activities of the re
spective colleges of the Historic
Peace church group, according to
President Lloyd L. Ramseyer, who
is making arrangements for the
meeting. It is very likely that the
conference will be made an annual
meeting.
Many To Attend H, S,
Home Economics Meet
Members of high school home
economics classes from Hardin, Put
nam, Hancock and Allen counties
will be held Saturday to attend the
annual Home Economics club round
up at Bluffton high school.
The program will open in the
morning at 10:30 o’clock when Miss
Harriet Criblez who spent the past
summer in Europe will speak in the
auditorium on the subject “Home
Life in France”.
Hawk Shot By Bluffton Hunter
Drops Hen Pheasant In Flight
Five College To Participate
In Bluffton Peace Conference
Also appearing on the program
will be club members from Colum
bus Grove, Liberty, Spencerville,
Rawson, Arlington,Kenton and Dun
kirk.
Luncheon will be served at noon
in the cafeteria by members of the
Bluffton club. In the afternoon the
group will make a tour of Bluffton’s
new houses and also enjoy a recrea
tional program.
be a part of the bird came fluttering
to the ground. Combs went to a
bean patch in which it fell and
found a crippled hen pheasant, which
the hawk had been carrying away
for his dinner.
The pheasant was alive, but un
able to fly because of injury suffer
ed from the talons of the hawk.
Combs left it hiding in the grass
in the hope that it would recover.
It is believed the shot of the local
hunter hit the hawk smartly enough
to make it drop its prey, thereby
giving the hen pheasant a welcome
reprieve from eventual death at the
hands of the larger bird.
Hunters Home
From Canada
With Two Deer
BRINGING with them two
deer, a buck and doe. three
Bluffton big game hunters re
turned home Saturday after two
weeks in Canada where they
hunted in the wooded district of
northern Ontario.
The hunters were Dr. J. S.
Steiner. Leland Sechler and Rol
land Stratton. Enroute home
their car was damaged when it
skidded on an icy road and over
turned. None of the occupants,
however was injured.
Talk To Solicitor
On Liquor Ban Here
Mayor W. A Howe stated the first
of the week that a conference will
be arranged with Bluffton’s City So
licitor Francis Durbin of Lima to
outline procedure in carrying out
the mandate against liquor sales
which was voted here in the election
a week ago.
Attorney Durbin was absent from
his Lima office the first of the week
end and definite date for the con
ference will be arranged as soon as
he returns, Mayor Howe said.
The vote here last week which
banned liquor will not effect the sale
of 3.2 beer which was not an issue
at the election.
“Squatter” Family In
Trailer Moves South
Richland township’s “squatter”
family who resided in a house trail
er on the old Hilty school ground
four miles west of Bluffton have
left for the south.
The family, Mr. and Mrs. A. L.
Strait and eighteen-year-old daughter
Alice, originally from Lima who
lived for the past year in their
trailer are headed for Bradentown,
Florida, according to reports from
neighbors.
Strait, a jobless Lima machinist,
deserted the city last fall and with
his family in their auto trailer, took
up residence on the Hilty school
grounds now owned by Levi Althaus
and Melvin Hilty.
For the past year he had worked
intermittently on farms in that vi
cinity. The family’s trailer-home
was heated last winter by a wood
burning stove. Strait kept his auto
mobile in the abandoned school
house during the coldest weather,
but the remainder of the time it was
outside.
With The Sick
Mrs. J. J. Sutter, former Bluffton
resident, now living in Wooster is
convalescing in Wooster hospital
from an operation which she under
went in the hospital at that place.
Her husband, Dr. J. J. Sutter, form
er Bluffton physician is health com
missioner of Wayne county with
headquarters in Wooster.
Mrs. H. T. Unruh who underwent
a major operation at Bluffton hos
pital has been removed to her home
on North Jackson street where she
is convalescing.
M. M. Bogart who has been ill at
his home on South Main street for
the past month is improving.
Mrs. D. W. Fox, who has been
quite ill at her home on South Lawn
avenue is showing improvement.
Albert Vermillion is a patient in
the Bluffton hospital.
Oliver Locher who is convalescing
at his home here following an opera
tion in Cleveland, expects to leave
the latter part of this week for
Tampa, Florida, where he will spend
the winter. His wife, accompanied
by her mother, Mrs. Edwin Diller of
Pandora, left Monday for Tampa to
make arrangement*.
1
BLUFFTON
A Good Place tn Live and a
Good Place to Trade
NUMBER 29
plan’orservance
FOR THANKSGIVING
Union Services in Morning at
St. John’s Reformed
Church
Public Schools and College Will
Dismiss Classes Over
Week End
Thanksgiving—one of America’s
best-loved holidays—will be observed
in Bluffton, Thursday of next week,
with the traditional dinner at noon
the high spot on the program for
most of the families in this area.
An early-morning union church ser
vices will attract many to the St.
John’s Reformed chruch at 8:30 a. m.,
the meeting being held an hour earl
ier in the morning this year in order
not to interfer with the holiday din
ner. Rev. Chester Armentrout of the
Columbus Grove Presbyterian church
will be the speaker.
Bluffton’s retail stores will be closed
generally thruout the day, but will re
main open late Wednesday night to
accommodate the unual holiday trade
rush. Business activity will resume
Friday monring.
No mail will be delivered on
Thanksgiving Day in the town or on
rural routes, Postmaster Ed R. Reich
enbach announced. Outgoing mails,
however, will be made up and dis
patched as usual.
Students Get Vacation
Students in Bluffton High and
grade schools and Bluffton college
will enjoy vacation over the holiday
week end. Classes will be dismissed
Wednesday night in the three insti
tutions and will not be resumed until
the following Monday morning.
With evidences of fairly moderate
weather and no indication yet of ice
and snow, many Bluffton residents are
making arrangements to motor out of
town to the homes of relatives and
friends for the day. Others are pre
paring to entertain guests in their
homes.
Thanksgiving is being celebrated
early this year, as a result of Presi
dent Roosevelt’s decision to set up
the date of the holiday one full week.
According to tradition, Thanksgiv
ing would have been celebrated on
Nov. 30, the last Thursday in the
month and incidentally the last day.
By moving up the date one week,
however, seven days remain in the
month following the holiday.
High School Has
“No Smoking” Signs
“No Smoking” signs made their
appearance in corridors of the high
school building this week. School
officials explained that the notices
were intended for adults attending
athletic contests and other evening
gatherings in the building. There
has been no smoking in the building
by school pupils, they said.
Tuberculosis Hospital
Head To Speak Here
Dr. E. W. Laboe, superintendent
of the District Tubercular hospital
at Lima will present an illustrated
lecture at the dinner meeting of the
Bluffton Lions club at the Walnut
Grill next Tuesday night at 6:15
o’clock.
Chimney Sparks
Start Roof Fire
Sparks from a chimney started a
fire on the roof of the residence of
Gideon Locher on Cherry street,
Tuesday afternoon at 4 o’clock. The
fire department responded and ex
tinguished the blaze. Damage was
negligible.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
Community hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Williams of
Jenera, a daughter, last Wednesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Cramer of
Findlay, a daughter, Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Welty of
Bluffton a daughter, Monday.
Red Cross Roll
Call Opens Here
Annual roll call of the Red Cross
opens in Bluffton this week. Solici
tors have been appointed to cover the
various sections of the town can
vassing for one dollar
a
year mem­
berships. The work of soliciation
will continue until the last of this
month. A portion of the funds col
lected are used in local work of the
Bluffton Red Cross chapter w’hich is
in charge of the roll call here.