The Bluffton news. [volume], May 05, 1949, Image 1

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

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May 5-12
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Trade
VOLUME LXXIV
Scrub and Paint Brush Brigades
to Attack at Dawn,
Thursday
Pickup of Trash and Rubbish
to Come at Close of Drive,
May 12
Bluffton’s eight-day concentrated
campaign to make the village clean
er, healthier, safer and more attrac
tive will be launched Thursday
morning as the town’s Clean up—
Paint-up—Fix-up drive gets under
way.
Private individuals, community
organizations, business men and
industries have been urged to co
operate in the campaign running
through Thursday of .next week.
In the drive aimed at making
Bluffton a cleaner, more healthful
community, sponsors have mapped
intensified efforts to guard against a
repetition of last summer’s polio out
break.
Rubbish Collection
Regular April rubbish collection
will be delayed until Thursday, May
12, to give patrons of the municipal
service an opportunity to participate
in Clean-up week before the village
trucks begins its rounds. Rubbish
will be hauled only for those who
subscribe for the municipal collection
service.
Retail stores here are cooperating
in promoting the clean-up campaign,
advertising special items and em
phasizing the advantages of united
community-wide effort to assure
success of the program.
Help Available
Bluffton college students will be
available to work for residents who
want assistance in cleanup of their
premises, and calls for help may be
made to the college administra
tion office.
In cooperation of Bluffton public
schools, the grade school pupils will
be dismissed at intervals from class
to aid in cleanup of the school
grounds, it'was announced by Supt.
Ralph Lanham.
By cleaning up deposits of cans
and other rubbish, residents will be
assisting in the control of mosquitoes
and flies, the mayor said this week,
both of which have been described as
carriers of disease germs, possibly
including polio.
Gains High Rating
In Music Contest
Rath Diller, Bluffton high school
junior, won a No. 1 rating for piano
solo at the state high school instru
mental solo and ensemble contest at
Capital university, Columbus, Satur
day.
Miss Diller is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Clarence Diller of South
Jackson street. She qualified for the
state contest in the district meeting
held early this spring at Bowling
Green State university.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Houck, Arling
ton, a boy, Ronald Paul, last Wed
nesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Johnson, Bluff
ton, a boy, Richard Lee, Thursday.
Mr. and Mrs. Derol Monday, Ben
ton Ridge, a girl- Mary Rosella,
Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brodine,
Benton Ridge, a boy, Gary Robert,
Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Wade Shook, Defiance,
formerly of Bluffton, a boy, Roger
Kevin, born at Defiance hospital
last Wednesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Marshall of
'Walnut Hill farm, Lexington, Ky.,
formerly of this vicinity, a boy,
•Christopher Eric, bom at Good
Samaritan hospital, Lexington, April
28.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Augsburger,
Ashtabula, a "boy, Harold Craig
born at General hospital, Ashtabula.
Mr. Augsburger is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Albert Augsburger south
of Bluffton.
Mr. and Mrs. Karl Schultz of Los
Angeles, a boy, Karl Gordon, bom
in that city. Mr. Schultz is the son
of Dr. and Mrs. J. S. Schultz of
South Lawn avenue.
In New Location
Eugene Basinger and family have
moved here from Mt. Cory to the
former Noah Zuercher property on
South Main street which he re
cently purchased.
Bluffton Mobilizes
For Clean-up Week
Cleanup
Elk Restaurant
Changes Hands
Mr. and Mrs. George Schantz of
Lima have purchased the Elk Res
taurant from Mr. and Mrs. Chris
Mullenhour in a deal completed over
the week end. The new management
took over operation of the restau
rant Monday morning. Mr. and
Mrs. Schantz formerly operated a
Lima restaurant. Associated with
them will be their son-in-law and
daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond
Theis. Mullenhour who lives at
South Main and Kibler streets has
announced no plans for the future.
COUPLE INJURED IN
THREE-AUTO CRASH
IN HOSPITAL HERE
Tennessee Man and Wife Injur
ed in Highway Accident
near Bluffton
Passenger Car is Badly Damag
ed in Collision With Two
Trucks
A Tennessee man and woman have
been in Bluffton Community hospital
for six days, suffering from injuries
received last Thursday evening in a
three-vehicle collision north of the
Swiss Inn on the Dixie highway.
Hurt in the mishap involving two
trucks and one automobile were
Lacey Hammitt, 47, and his wife,
Mrs. Edmona Hammitt, 52, of John
son City, Tenn.
Ham mitt suffered fractures of the
oelvis and left leg and his wife was
•ut and severely bruised. She is
ible to be up part of the time at the
hospital, but her husband remains
confined to his bed, hospital attaches
reported.
The Ham mitts were enrouW from
Johnson City to Pontiac, Mich., when
the mishap occurred. State highway
jatrolmen, who investigated, report
'd that the northbound Hammitt car
vas involved in an accident with an
F. J. Egner gasoline truck operated
y Roy Jacob Wilkins, of Findlay,
xnd a beer truck driven by Frank
Mauceri, of Lima. Neither of the
.ruck drivers was hurt. The Hammitt
•ar was badly damaged.
The Diller ambulance of Bluffton
removed the injured Tennessee
:ouple to the hospital here.
13 In High School
Scholarship Test
______
Bluffton high has entered 13 pu
pils in the district scholarship test
to be held at Bowling Green State
university, Saturday. The school
here is competing in Division 3, for
enrollment below 200 in the four
upper grades
Bluffton pupils and the subjects
in which they will compete are:
Margaret Stratton, biology John
Bauman- chemistry Howard Miller,
general science Marilyn Oberly, 1st
year algebra Lynn Carmack, plane
geometry Howard Landes, Ameri
can history Roger Linden, senior
social studies Charles Hilty, 9th
year English Barbara Lewis, 10th
year English Ruth Diller, 11th year
English Susanna Kempf, 12th year
English Robert Wenger, 1st year
Latin Louise Reichenbach, 2nd year
Latin.
With The Sick
Mrs. D. C. Bixel is seriously ill
at her home on Lawn avenue. She
is suffering from a fractured rib,
pleurisy and complications follow
ing a fall.
Some improvement is reported in
the condition of Sidney Hauenstein
who has been under treatment at
Bluffton hospital for a heart ail
ment the past three months.
Condition of Mrs. E. C. Ludwig,
patient at St. Rita’s hospital, Lima,
is reported unchanged.
Mrs. A. J. B. Longsdorf of South
Ijawn avenue is a medical patient at
Bluffton hospital.
Couple To Wed In
Harrod Thursday
Wedding of Mrs. Ruth Trippie
horn of West Elm street, Bluffton,
and Lee Richey of Lima will take
place at the home of Rev. Thomas
in Harrod, Thursday.
The couple will reside in Lima
where Mr. Richey is in business as
a heating contractor.
Charles Hardwick, Oil Executive
and Bluffton Native Ad
dresses Lions
Modern Equipment Would Have
Expanded Oil Boom Here
Fifty Years Ago
How Bluffton’s oil boom of a half
century ago provided the training
ground for men who later attained
positions of prominence in the oil
industry was recounted in an address
by Charles Hardwick of Findlay,
speaking at the dinner meeting of
he Lions club in the Walnut grill,
Tuesday night.
Hardwick, vice president of the
Ohio Oil company,, is a Bluffton
native, the son of .Mr. and Mrs. Ed
Hardwick of Railroad st* and is
well known here.
His formal address of the place
occupied by the oil industry and its
products in present day commerce
was interspersed with numerous
informal references to his early ex
periences as a youth in Bluffton back
some thirty years ago when as a
delivery boy for the late Albert
“Dutch” Benroth, who operated a co
operative grocery delivery service he
knew virtually every kitchen in Bluff
ton.
Hardwick’s association with the oil
industry began when after graduat
ing from high school and completing
a business college course he was of
fered a position as secretary to the
late Arthur Warren in Louisiana.
Warren, originally from Orange
township and brother of John Warren
was prominent in the oil industry in
the south. Others who went ou*
from Bluffton to make a success in
a larger way in the oil fields were
the Trippiehorn brothers Jacob and
Dave, now in Texas, brothers of Fred
and Dan Trippiehorn and J. S.
“Mack” McCullough who went to
Mexico and later to South America.
Hardwick said that in his travels
around the country he frequently
meets men in the oil business who at
one time lived in Bluffton or were
employed in the oil fields in this
area.
In his own career which began as
a secretary in Louisiana, he was
later assigned to the company’s refin­
Bluffton area farmers may join
others of the nation in establishing
new total crop production records
this year, according to information
gleaned in a survey by the U. S.
Department of Agriculture.
Despite a 14 per cent drop in the
general level of farra prices during
the past 12 months, most farmers
apparently are planning for in
creased acreage in farm crops, and
some agriculture department officials
expect that new records may be set.
Men Prominent In Oil Industry Got
Early Training Here, Speaker Says
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
All-Time Crop Records Expected
From Nation’s Farms This Year
Heavier planting schedules are
spurred principally by the fact that
this may be the last year during
which producer prices of major
crops will- be supported by the gov
ernment at wartime levels.
New’ farm legislation scheduled to
go into effect for the 1950 crop
year authorizes lower support prices,
and most farmers expect to cash in
on the last w’ar-level payment by
seeding as many acres as possible
this year.
An additional factor entering into
the forecast of a record crop output
is the fact that this may be the last
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, MAY 5. 1919
ASKING
Combustible rubbish like the above is a stupid invitation to disaster. FIRES thrive on trash
Join “The Spring Clean-up” and get rid of it.
ing division at Robinson, 111., and
from there transferred to Findlay,
where he is vice president in charge
of marketing. His wife is the form
er Constance Wise, of Bluffton.
Referring to Bluffton's oil boom at
the beginning of the century, Hard
wick said that equipment in use at
that time made possible the pumping
of only about forty per cent of the
available supply of oil.
Had it been possible to follow soon
thereafter with modern equipment,
there could have be»'n another oil
boom here, fully equal to the first
one. Since that tinn however, the
underground supply Jias deteriorated
and it would be too date now to at
tempt to obtain it.
Sgt. E. Burkholder
Gets Two Medals
Sgt. Elmer E,. /Burkholder, Jr.,
son of Mr. and^frs. Elmer E.
Burkholder, Sr., West Elm street,
has been recently awarded the Army
of Occupation Medal and World
War II Victory Medal. He is a
member of the 34th Infantry Regi
ment, a unit of the 24th Infantry
Division.
The famed 24th Division, popular
ly known as the “Victory” Division,
now occupies the entire island of
Kyushu, third largest and southern
most of the Japanese home islands.
Sgt. Burkholder, re-enlisted in the
services in 1947, and arrived in Ja
pan in February, 1948. Prior to
this enlistment, he served in the
European Theater of Operation dur
ing the War.
Engage Orchestra
For Alumni Dance
Music for dancing at the Bluffton
high school alumni reunion on Fri
day night, May 27, will be furnished
by Mack Finch’s 10-piece orchestra
currently playing at Green Mea
dow’s at Piqua, it was stated by the
committee in charge this week. Ad
vance sale of tickets will be start
ed during the coming week.
Modern farm equipment includes
suitable first-aid kits located in the
home and in convenient points about
the farmstead, or on certain equip
ment.
year for some time when such crops
as wheat, corn, cotton, etc., may be
planted without being subject to gov
ernment controls. The prospect of
heavy surpluses of these crops is
beginning to appear, and controls
likely will be the picture by the
time another year rolls around.
A third factor is the weather, for
except in a few southwestern areas
there is a plentiful supply of sub
soil moisture, a condition extremely
favorable to maximum crop output.
In addition, farmers are equipped
to expand production still further,
for much farm machinery has been
added on countless farms during the
last year. Farm labor supplies also
are improving, and more and more
farmers are using fertilizer to in
crease their yields.
The agriculture department has
recommended a total crop acreage of
about 365,000,000 acres. This is ap
proximately the Same as the acreage
planted last year, but at present
there is every indication that a new
record will be established this sum
mer.
Pai nt up Fixup Week in Bluffton
BLUFFTON NEWS
FOR IT
BY HAR.R.Y L. MALI
Editor’s Note—This is ons
of a series of articles to appear
in ths Bluffton News dealing
with early Ohio history. Others
will appear in forthcoming
issues.
A Bride At Ninety
Nineteen-year-old Ann Sargent
danced lightly over the cobble stones
of a Liverpool, England, street,
swinging her school books gleefully
at the end of a strap. This was to
be her last year at school—and then
her dreams of a rosy future would
be realized.
That day something happened.
Ann never knew just what it was
but a heavy cloth was thrown over
her head and she. was quickly pulled
into a carriage. It was a genuine
old English kidnapping, only too com
mon in 1719, and Ann landed on the
James River in Virginia, where she
was sold “for the expenses of her
passage.”
Ann was born in 1700. Her father
was a soldier in Queen Ann’s wars
and named his daughter for the
queen. When 14 Ann had gone with
her mother to London and had seen
Lord Lovett beheaded.
In America Ann was married to
John Trotter, who was killed at
Point Pleasant in 1774. After that
she joined the army and remained in
the garrison until the Indians w’erv
driven from the neighborhood. That
was where Charleston, on “the
Kanawha,” now is located.
Once in the face of an Indian at
tack she rode 100 miles through the
wilderness to Lewisburg after am
munition for the garrison and got
[yack with it before the powder ran
out. It was through a trackless
savage infested foreSt but Ann made
the trip safely.
Ann was a good soldier. Only five
feet tw’o inches tall, squat and
Strong, she shot bears and deer like
a man, rode her black horse, “Liver
pool,” like an Indian and was much
feared by the savages, who said she
was insane and therefore under
special protection of the Great Spirit.
Hence she was called Mad Ann.
Once, closely pursued by the In
dians, Ann rode into an impenetrable
thicket where she was forced to
abandon Liverpool to be captured by
the savages and crawl into a hollow
sycamore log as a hiding place. The
savages took the horse and while
searching for her sat on the log
where Ann was concealed without
suspecting her presence.
After the Indians were gone Ann
followed their trail and in the night
recovered her horse, gave a war
whoop of her own and rode away.
She was not followed.
After 16 years of widowhood Ann
Trotter became lonesome and in 1790
married John Bailey, a soldier, and
went to live with him at the fort on
the Kanawha. There, soon after,
Bailey was murdered.
Again a widow, Ann went to live
with her son, William Trotter, who in
1818 moved into Gallia County and
became an extensive landowner and
was for 21 years a justice of the
peace. Ann did not like the life and
soon left to build her own cabin and
live alone. She was too wild for the
conventionalities.
Cabin Near Gallipolis
Ann Baily’s shack was high on the
Ohio River hills four miles below
Gallipolis. She built the one-room,
floorless hut from fence rails and
roofed it with black oak clap-boards,
four feet long and held down by
eight poles. It had one door and a
single window with four little square
(Continued on page 12)
May* Close Buckeye
Lake Swimming
Orange Tivp. Sunday
School Convention
Semi-annual Orange township Sun
day school convention will be held
at Bethesda E. U. B. church four
miles east of Bluffton, Sunday.
Afternoon session will open at 2:17
o’clock with Rev. Bateman of Bethel
Church of Christ as the principal
speaker. Mrs. Frederick Lauriat of
Bluffton will speak at the evening
session opening at 8 o'clock.
Music ad other numbers on
program will be provided by
participating Sunday schools.
MUNICIPAL PLANT
New 2,000 KW Unit is Pro
nounced Satisfactory After
Trial Runs
Installation Work on Additional
Boiler Also Reported Well
Under Way
Trial runs of the new 2 000 KW
turbo generator at Bluffton’s muni
cipal electric light and waterworks
plant conducted during the past
week have proven satisfactory, it was
stated by John Swisher, plant super
intendent, and the unit is now in
routine service at the plant.
The turbine was originally a navy
surplus unit taken from a destroyer
and rebuilt for use in the plant
here. Its installation gives Bluffton
two generating units either of which
is sufficient to supply all present
needs for electric current Supt.
Swisher said.
Installatioji work on the new boil
er rated at 36,000 pounds of steam
per hour is progressing satisfactorily
and the unit should be in service
within a month, he added.
Dr. Cliff WetheriU
Former Resident Dies
Funeral services were held Satur
day at Weston for Dr. J. Cliff
WetheriU, 65, practicing physician
at that place for 40 years and a
former Bluffton resident. He died
unexpectedly at his home in Weston,
Tuesday night of last week follow
ing a period of failing health. In
terment was in Weston cemetery.
Born in Beaverdam he came as a
youth with his parents to Bluffton
where his father, the late Dr. I. R.
WetheriU was for many years a
practicing physician.
He was a graduate of Bluffton
high school, Central Mennonite col
lege, forerunner of Bluffton college
and Starling Medical college, now
Ohio State university.
A veteran of World War I, he
was also vice president of the West
on Citizens Banking company, mem
ber of Masonic bodies, including the
Scottish Rite, a former member of
the Wood County Republican Execu
tive committee and formerly served
as coroner of Wood county.
Surviving are his wife, Frances
son Robert by a previous marriage
stepmother, Mrs. Ora WetheriU and
stepsister, Mrs. Edith Biery, the
latter two of Bluffton.
Matthey Rites Held
Here On Saturday
Funeral services were held Satur
day in the Basinger funeral home
for Mrs. Marie Matthey, 77, wife of
Charles Matthey, who died last
Thursday at her home in Orange
township. Death was attributed to
infirmities.
Daughter of Benjamin and Marie
(Tribolet) Hubscher, she was born
in Switzerland, February 17, 1872.
In addition to her husband she is
survived by three daughters, Mrs.
Frank Weinhold, Bluffton Mrs. J.
H. Thompson, Mt. Cory Mrs. Ken
neth Alspach, Detroit and a foster
daughter, Mrs. Vincent Holmes,
Elida.
Also surviving are six brothers
and sisters: Mrs. Louis Gaiffe, Bluff
ton Mrs. J. F. Steiner, Arlington,
Va. Mrs. Sophie Thomas, Charles,
Emile and Louis Hubscher, all of
Switzerland.
Burial was in the Clymer ceme
I tery.
Council
the
the
The convention has been meeting
regularly ever since its organization,
October 24, 1875.
APPROVE TURBINE
AFTER TESTS AT
z PAGE THREE
BL
A Good Place to
0
•.
Final Decision!
sion of
Prr^ID
bpot
at Buckeye
make it im-
Higher water level
lake this summer may
possible to operate the municipal
swimming pool, a focal point in
community recreation for more than
three decades, according to opinion
expressed Monday night at a meet
ing of the town council.
Even should water recede suffi
ciently to permit use of the pool,
the swimming season, wlli be ma
terially shortened, perhaps enough
to make it impractical to clean up
the premises and operate the ven
ture.
Counnl pessimism regarding use
of municipal swimming facilities this
summer came after an inspection of
the, grounds, and was reflected in
thoir decision not to hire a pool
manager at this time or make plans
for opening of the pool until pres
ent conditions may be relieved.
Grounds Vn®r Water
I With water in Buckeye quarry at
its highest stage in history, all of
(the grounds up to the raised land
6’j .which the buth house sets is un
der water and thicK growths of
algae in shallower depths are be
coming noticeable.
Walks are submerged under sev
eral feet of water, the floating beach
is cocked into the air, with all ap
proaches by land cut off, and the
fence and walk which formerly
bordered the water edge are ap
proximately three feet under water.
Higher water at the lake has re
sulted from ti decision by the Cen
tral Ohio Light and Power Co., own
er of the property, to raise the level
as much as possible as an additional
safeguard for adequate water re
quired for cooling purposes in the
nearby former National quarry used
by its rapidly expanding electrical
generating plant.
Quarry Inter-Connection
With the two quarries only a lit
tle over 200 yards apart, power
company engineers have learned that
maintaining a high level of water in
the larger quarry also requires more
water in the Buckeye, because of
underground connections between the
two lakes.
Obtaining sufficient cool water for
plant purposes has become a major
problem for the utility, as the local
generating installation continues a
rapid pace of expansion. Among
other recourses adopted by the Cen
tral Ohio has been installation of an
extensive system of sprays along the
east bank of the main lake serving
the plant, but a higher water level
also is a necessity.
Cannot
be Lowered
In offering the town renewal of a
lease on the Buckeye for the coming
year, officials of the utility pointed
out last month that water in the
lake must be maintained at a high
level as possible. One of the pro
visions of the lease is to the effect
that a drainage valve in the quarry
cannot be opened therefore any loss
of water can come only through
natural means.
It was the opinion of Central Ohio
engineers that the Buckeye water
level will recede with the advent of
hot weather in a normal summer,
probably enough to permit operation
of the swimming pool by early July.
Councilmen renewed the lease^for
the Buckeye grounds, despite the un
certainty of swimming pool opera
tions, so that all preliminaries will
be out of the way if it is possible
to plan for summer swimming, and
also to make it possible to continue
using the community park installed
at the opposite end of the quarry.
Real Estate Deal
Rolland Stratton has purchased
the 160 acre farm of Mrs. Lydia
Burkholder two miles west of town
opposite the Ebenezer Mennonite
church. Stratton expects to occupy
the place, moving from his present
quarters in the Stratton apartments.
BLUFFTON MARKETS
Wednesday Morning
Grain (bushel prices) Wheat
$2.12 corn $1.24 oats 70c soys
$2.10.
Poultry—Heavy hens 31c leghorn
hens 26c heavy fryers 3 lbs. up 30c
under 3 lbs., 28c.
Eggs—Large white 46c large
brown 44c medium white 38c
medium brown 37c.
Butterfat—59c.