Delaware County, Indiana - Sidelights on Local History, 1924 (part 1 of 21)

Sidelights on Local History

Local participation in the state-wide celebration of Indiana's centennial in 1916 was quite general and the spirit of regard for ''the days of old" thus stimulated was productive of a demonstration at the county seat that attracted much attention. This local celebration of the centennial was carried on at Muncie during the week of June 4, 1916, and was attended by many attractive and impressive features, including an industrial exhibit of ""made-and-sold-in-Muncie" products and a pageant illustrative of the historical, social and industrial progress and development of the community. This pageant was participated in by more than 3,000 persons and required more than an hour to pass a given point. Newspaper accounts of the event say that the pageant was witnessed by more than 50,000 persons, and was "the greatest demonstration of the kind ever attempted heretofore."

The days of Indian occupancy were portrayed in the pageant by representatives of the thirteen councils of the Improved Order of Red Men in Delaware county, and down from the Revolutionary period to the present typical incidents were portrayed in fitting and in some instances quite spectacular fashion. Ox teams, log cabins on floats, "prairie schooners" and other emblems of the pioneer period gave an interesting historical perspective to the pageantry quite informative to those of the younger generation who had not given much thought heretofore to such things. The collection and display of numerous relics of pioneer days formed one of the most interesting and infor- - mative features of the week. The Star printed a collection of portraits of persons prominent in the earlier life of the community, including those of Goldsmith Gilbert, the founder of the town of Muncie, and his daughter, Mrs. Mary Jane (Gilbert) Andrews-Edmunds, the first white person born on the site of old Muncietown, who spent all her life here, living to be near eighty years of age. Other portraits of pioneers of this group were those of Thomas S. Neely, Dr. Samuel P. Anthony, Jacob H. Wysor, Thomas Kirby, William N. Jackson,

Arthur Patterson, Adam Wolfe, C. M. Franklin, Minus Turner, Charles F. Willard, Oliver H. Smith, N. F. Ethell, John Jack, Samuel Cecil, Dr. 8. O. Budd, Dr. General William Harrison Kemper, Susan Talbott Jack, Salome Langdon, Cynthia Turner, Mary E. Streeter and Juliet S. Riley, a most valuable contribution to the spirit of the occasion as well as to many a carefully kept scrap book in the community.

The newspapers also carried much interesting matter of a historical and reminiscent character during the week and there was a decided revival of historical interest throughout the county. One of the most engaging exhibits of all was the replica of a log-cabin, arranged and equipped by the Mary-Martha Club, with details of surroundings and interior faithfully worked out so as to portray for the information of the present generation something of the manner and style of living of the pioneers. The exhibition of relics of pioneer domestic equipment here was quit complete and provided a picture of great value to the school children of the community. The week was made the occasion of a general "home-coming," a sort of a "back-homers' week," and was beneficial in many ways.

The interest of those who are concerned in matters historical hereabout in relation to the coming celebration of Delaware county's centennial in 1927 was gently stimulated in the spring of 1923 by the contribution of the text of a pageant written by Francis Marion Van- Natter, formerly of this county, now a resident of Washington, D. C., dealing with events in this county from the days of Indian occupancy to the present, and which is regarded as appropriate for stage presentation in connection with the proposed centennial ceremonies.

Mr. Van Natter's pageant (copyrighted 1923) is addressed to Muncie and is dedicated to the children of Muncie, with the expression of a hope that "if this pageant succeeds in instilling a greater love for home, greater respect for community, and greater patriotism for country, the purpose I set out to attain will have been accomplished." Mr. Van Natter's initial direction in connection with his pageant has it that "this manuscript . . . is to remain forever the property of the Muncie Public Library and under no circumstances is it ever to be removed." .

The Muncie pageant consists of thirteen episodes, beginning with the arrival of the Munsees at their new hunting grounds on White river following their dispersal from the Ohio country and closing with the armistice following the World war. Other episodes have to do with incidents connected with the days of Indian occupancy, the old "torture post," the Moravian mission, the War of 1812, the coming of Goldsmith Gilbert and other pioneers, the Civil war, reconstruction days, the coming of the first automobile and the World war. It is understood that plans already are under way looking to the proper presentation of this pageant during the coming celebration of the county's centennial in 1927.

Statistics Relating To The Census

In common with practically all sections of Indiana and of the Midwest country generally, Delaware county has lost in population, so far as its rural townships are concerned, during the past twenty years, there being but one township (Center, in which the city of Muncie is located) that shows a gain according to the figures of the census of 1920. The peak of rural population was reached in this county in 1900 and since then has been gradually decreasing. Larger farms and the simplication of farm methods, with the resultant decline in the demand for manpower on the farm, are the chief factors in this decrease of rural population. The call of the cities has had its way. During the past twenty years Center township, including the city of Muncie, has gained more than 10,000 in population. All other townships show a decline. The growth of Muncie, however, has served to raise the county average, so that despite the considerable loss in the rural townships the county has made a gain of about 7,000 in population during that period. In 1900 the county's population was A9,624; in 1910, 51,414; 1920, 56,377. Here are the figures, itemized by townships:

Devastating Effect Of Cyclone That Swept Oakville In 1884 In The Cyclone Area, Oakville, 1884

In 1830, the first census date following the erection of Delaware county, the county had a population of 2,372. Ten years later (1840) this had risen to 8,840, a gain of 6,468. In 1850 the census gave the county a population of 10,833, a gain of 1,993; 1860, 15,753, a gain of 4,870; 1870, 19,030, a gain of 3,877. The gain during the next decade (1880) was 3,985. The census of 1890, following the opening of the natural gas field here, gave the county a population of 30,131, a gain during the decennial period of 7,166. During the next decennial period (1890-1900) there was a big leap, the census for the latter year revealing an increase of 19,493. Then came a period of pause, the next census (1910) showing an increase of but 1,790. The increase in the population during the past decennial period (1910-1920) was 4,963. The loss to the rural sections of the county during this period is revealed by the fact that though the gain to the county as a whole was but 4,963 the gain in population to the city of Muncie during that same period was no less than 12,519. The comparatively slight gain in population of some of the townships of the county since the time that may be regarded as the pioneer period, a point which is interesting for comparative purposes, is revealed in the following census table covering the county by townships up to the year 1880, the latter year's figures having been set out above:

For comparative purposes it is interesting to recall that the census of 1850 gave Muncie a population of 666; Anderson, 383 ; Marion, 703; Newcastle, 666; Winchester, 532; Hartford City, 250. Portland, the other neighboring county town, then known as Jay Court House, is not found in the report covering that decade, it not yet having attained a place among the towns in the country that had risen to a population of 100 and over. Pennville, formerly known as Camden, was at that time the chief commercial center of Jay county and had a population of 300. Indianapolis at that time had a population of 8,091.

The custom which prevailed under legal sanction in Indiana in a generation now past of binding children out to service by formal indenture, a practice which perhaps sometimes resulted happily for the "bound" boy or girl, but which more often, no doubt, resulted quite to the contrary, is recalled by looking through the time-stained book of ''Indentures" on file in the office of the recorder of Delaware county. The first entry in this book was made in 1838 and the last in 1892, the record carrying formal copies of numerous such indentures recorded to give them legal force and effect, these indentures binding the children thus involved to a form of servitude that happily was made so obnoxious by a recital of the evils of the system in Edward Eggleston's "Hoosier Schoolmaster" and other such tales of the period as to secure a repeal of the indenture law in this state. The first entry in this book of indentures in Delaware county is as follows:

"This indenture, made this 10th day of August, 1838, between George Turner and Samuel Heaton, overseers of the poor of Monroe township, in Delaware county, Indiana, of the first part, and John Gipson, of the county and state aforesaid, of the second part, witnesseth that the said overseers of the poor doth bind out William

Thornburgh, male minor of the age of five years old the 22d day of September next, until he is twenty-one years of age; the said William Thornburgh is to serve and obey the said John Gipson in all his lawful commands, and the said John Gipson on his part doth agree to furnish the said William Thornburgh on good holesome provision in helth and in sickness and good common clothing, and is to give the said William Thornburgh two years schooling, eighteen months between the ages of eight and eighteen, and the balance of the two years after that he is eighteen; moreover, the said John Gipson doth further agree to give the said William Thornburgh a good freedom suit and a mare or gelden between the age of two and five years old, when the said William Thornburgh is of lawful age, towit, twentyone years of old; the hors or mare is to be worth $50. In witness whereof the said George Turner and Samuel Heaton, overseers of the poor, of the first part, and John Gipson, of the second part, have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year first above written. Signed, sealed in the presents of Valentine Gipson, William (his mark) Gipson." John Gipson, whose signature follows that of Turner and Heaton, also signs by mark. Patrick Justice then was recorder of Delaware county and his notation has it, "fees paid."

On that same day indentures were recorded binding Charlotte Thornburgh to Henry Taylor (who also signs by mark) and Lot Thornburgh to William Brown. In the case of Charlotte, then aged thirteen years, Taylor binds himself to give her "six months schooling, also a good cow and calf and a common good bed and bedding at the time that she becomes of age, towit, eighteen years old."" The boy Lot, then fifteen years of age, "is to faithfully serve and obey the said Brown in all his lawful commands." On his part Brown obligates himself to send the boy to school for nine months and "the said Brown doth bind himself to larn said Thornburgh to mold and lay up brick as far as the said Brown's own knowledge." The next indenture is dated December 11, 1838, apprenticing Charles Clemmons, "a poor boy aged six years and three months," to Abner Wolverton of Delaware township. There are two books of records of indentures, the second opening in February, 1866. Through the remainder of the '60s there are numerous indentures recorded, and quite a number during the '70s. During the '80s there are five. The last indenture bears date of February 6, 1892.

It is apparent that these "bound" boys did not always "stay put," as will be observed in the following advertisement found in the Muncie Journal of May 22, 1847: "One Cent Reward! Ran away from the subscriber in February last, Aaron R. Davis, an indented apprentice to the Farming Business, aged 15 years. All persons are forewarned from trusting or harboring him on my account, as I am determined to pay no debts of his contracting. The above reward, and no thanks, will be given to any person who will deliver said boy to me at my house. Henry Shafer." Those were "the good old days."

In The Days Of California Gold Excitement

In the review of the David Gharky diary presented elsewhere in this volume there is a terse entry as of October 1, 1849, simply stating that "Californians started." A prior entry, as of July 13 of that year, the same month in which a fresh outbreak of cholera was causing consternation in the community, points out that "California fever supersedes cholera." Evidently Delaware county was becoming greatly interested in the thrilling news of the discovery of gold in paying quantities in California and many were preparing to make the venture over the overland trail. In the Frederick E. Putnam diary, mentioned elsewhere, the entry as of that fateful October 1 has it that "J. H. Wysor, J. H. Jamison, Theophilus E. Burt, Stephen Hamilton, Sr., Arch Hamilton and company, including Thompson Walling, David B. Dowden, Samuel Martin and others, left for California." Names of other Delaware county men mentioned in other annals as having taken the California trip in quest of gold include those of Elisha Spear, Doctor Hathaway, James L. Russey, Charles McLaughlin, Samuel Martin, Crockett Ribble, Thomas R. Points, Charles Carter, William Adsit, Samuel Peck, Daniel Dilley, Doctor Davis, Reason Imes, James Hinton, John Sherry, George Carter, Thomas Beird, Peter Shideler, Benjamin Lewis, Wesley Carroll, Isaac Ferguson, William Green and another of the name of Woods who was known to have lost his life in the new Eldorado. There was another who never returned. This was James L. Russey, one of the best known men of the older Muncie. In his notable collection of reminiscences published in 1858, Oliver H. Smith pays the following tribute to Russey:

"The melancholy fate of my early friend, James L. Russey, of Muncie, prompts a word to his memory. Among the energetic, active and persevering men of the state he stood well with his neighbors and acquaintances. Soon after the fever for California gold broke out he became infected, like many others, left his young family and, taking his life in his hands, left for the gold region. He was a large, powerful man, in the morning of life, accustomed to out-door exer- tions, prepared for fatigue, and as brave a man as ever lived. After the usual incidents, dangers and trials of a journey to California at that early day, he arrived with his companions in the gold regions and commenced the operation of mining at a rich placer, with every prospect of success before him. The country at that time, among the diggings, was infested with small bands of Indians who were strolling through the country in search of plunder. Mr. Russey, it seems, left one day .on a gold-exploring expedition, intending to return in a few days. Time wore away; days, weeks, months, years passed, but James L. Russey never returned. His fate is yet uncertain, but still the better opinion is that he was killed and robbed by the Indians and his body concealed or destroyed. He added but another to the thousands who have fallen victims to a thirst for gold without realizing their anticipated treasure."

Confirmatory of the community "better opinion" regarding the fate of Mr. Russey expressed by the Smith reminiscence, a later narrative (the Helm chronicle, 1880), has it that Russey "was killed by the Indians in the winter of the same year (1849). Shortly after his arrival he left the camp in company with Captain Woods on a prospecting expedition and, as they did not return, a search was instituted and three weeks later their bodies were found washed up from the river. They appeared to have been killed by arrows and scalped. Mr. Woods was recognized by his long black beard, which had become fast to a rock by which the body was lying, while Mr. Russey was identified by his high cheek bones and other marks."

A Local Enoch Arden

This expedition of Delaware county Argonauts produced another story of deep human interest, though having a happier ending, which, under the head "A Modern Enoch Arden," was told by the Muncie News of date June 18, 1884, as follows: "Thomas Walling, one of the '49ers, married Susanna, daughter of George Shafer, in 1841, and lived for some time on a farm in this county. In the excitement of '49, with $500 loaned him by Volney Willson, he started in company with Henry Wysor, Stephen Hamilton, Jr., Theo. Burt, Elisha Spear, Doctor Hathaway, Charles Jemison, Charles McLaughlin, Samuel Martin and a number of people from along the Mississinewa, © for California. The company met with varying success and some of them returned with the start that proved the foundation for later fortune, but young Walling remained, as did poor Russey, who fell a victim to the red man's malignant hatred.

"Walling's fortunes varied. Year after year passed, and he was heard of as having a 'stake,' and anon as having lost his all, and at last came rumors that he had forsaken the mines and was meeting with varying success at the gambling tables, also that misfortune had led him to dissipation which, together with the determination not to return empty handed, kept him until 1852, when he made a 'stake' of $3,000 by a good mining investment and sent $500 home to his wife. Only part of these rumors were true, and all were probably greatly exaggerated. Meantime, his wife had given him up as dead, obtained a divorce, married twice and was twice left a widow, and since 1882 had lived on her forty-acre farm near Muncie.

"Never in all this time had she any word from the absent wanderer, nor had any one any hope of his existence save Volney Willson, his old-time friend, who, broken down by the rheumatism by this time, amused himself by sending numberless letters throughout the West in quest of him long since lost to his friends. At Weatherby, a village postoffice in Oregon, at the beginning of the present year (1884), the postmaster, Mr. Weatherby, for whom the village evidently had been named and who was himself a 'forty-niner' and had not seen his family for twenty years, became homesick and while he was absent on his long postponed mission a deputy postmaster distributed the mail. One day a postmark - Muncie, Ind. - startled him. He looked at the superscription. It was directed to the postmaster. As deputy he had a perfect right to open it. It was from his home. A sudden thrill pervaded his frame and with trembling fingers he broke the seal and perused the missive. It was a letter of inquiry from Mr. Willson as to himself. Emotions which he had not experienced, perhaps, for years came over him in a torrent, and, hastening to answer it, he wrote to Mr. Willson a long letter detailing his trials, his hardships and his despair of ever returning to his old home until at last he gave up hope and supposing all who were once dear to him had long since died, gave up to remain in his new home.

"The letter was answered, telling the story of waiting and of fond hopes blasted, and also of the living wife, twice the wife of others but again alone, and in return came a letter saying that in all the years the wanderer had known none who could take the place of Susanna, his early love. Whether he had yielded again to the tender passion did not transpire, but no ties, apparently, bound him to the West and a series of letters resulted in the determination to come back home and throw himself upon the mercy of his wife and renew old ties, if such might be. In pursuance of this design Mr. Walling arrived in the city Tuesday morning and visited Mr. Willson, his brother Marc and his old friends of the 'forty-niners' and before the day was half gone his son Jaseph, now a man grown, arrived with a buggy to take him home.

"Who can imagine his feelings as he drew nigh the home of her whom he took for better, for worse, forty-three years since and whom he had not seen for thirty-five years? We draw a veil over the meeting. Suffice it to say that it was affecting in the extreme and that the wife of '49 welcomed her recreant husband and that a portion, at least, of the old love was awakened. When a News man casually dropped in upon them, at a late hour that night, he found them rehearsing the incidents of thirty-five years."

It was during the early '70s that the notable "granger'" movement inaugurated by the Patrons of Husbandry swept over the country, particularly in the Midwest and in the Western states. This movement, of a co-operative or mutually beneficial character, was primarily a movement of the farmers, but it gradually became dominated by other interests whose motives not always were unselfish and after a decade or more the strength of the grange began to diminish. Though in some communities local granges of the Patrons of Husoandry still are maintained, the old-time movement long ago lost its primary force.

The charter of Albany Grange, No. 198, Patrons of Husbandry, was the first to be filed for record in Delaware county. This charter was filed on April 22, 1874, and the charter members of the grange were Arch Bargdoll, Asbery Evans, Eli A. Hobbs, James Marquell, Noah Bantz, Elisha Bartlett, J. M. Bartlett, Henry C. Whitehair, William J. Johnson, John Strong, Albert Brenner, Benjamin Bargdoll, E. R. Hobbs, James C. Friddel, M. S. Whitehair, Margaret Bargdoll, William T. Bartlett, Samuel Marquell, William Campbell, William H. Hobbs, E. R. Hobbs, Lewis McProud, Mary M. Hobbs, Amanda Bantz, Dorothy Whitehair, Eliza E. Friddel, Mary Bartlett, Catherine Marquell, Mary Bartlette, Mary Stoner and Catherine Jones. The next grange to file articles of association was Washington Grange No. 273, by Nathan Isenhour and Joseph Brown, trustees. This grange of the Patrons of Husbandry was constituted on December 9, 1875, "for the purposes set forth in the following principles, as declared to be the object of the order, towit: The ultimate object of this organization is for mutual instruction and protection, to lighten labor by diffusing a knowledge of its aims and purposes, expand the mind by tracing the beautiful laws the Great Creator has established in the universe, and to enlarge our views of creative wisdom and power."

On February 26, 1876, there was filed for record in the office of the county recorder the articles of association of "The Grangers Furnishing Co.," organized "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a store in the city of Muncie for the purpose of supplying the farming community with the necessary implements and seeds to till the soil and seed the same, and all other articles that may be profitable, practicable and of utility for the necessary daily consumption." The capital stock of this company was $20,000, divided into 4,000 shares of $5 each. The articles of association were indorsed by J. H. Jones, J. A. Tomlinson, George Carter, Eli Ogle and John M. Graham, directors, and attested by J. H. Jones, president, and Eli Ogle, secretary. The Grange was on its way and "Granger" stores were springing up over the land. When the Farmers Alliance came along in the succeeding decade it also had its selected stores in many places.

It also was in the early '70s that the building-and-loan idea began to take hold, a movement that was some years in getting itself firmly and safely grounded but which has grown to enormous proportions. The first such organization in Delaware county to file for record its articles of association and agreement was the "Muncie Building, Loan Fund and Savings Association, No. 1,'"' whose subscribers were organized on April 29, 1872. These articles, signed by Martin Shafer and seventy-four others, were filed for record on the following May 4. On the 20th of May of that same year a No. 2 association of the same name was organized, with A. J. Buckles and fifty-three other subscribers, and articles of association were filed for record on the 22d. The building and loan idea thus was getting a good start more than half a century ago.

Many have reason to recall the days, back in the '80s when '"'marriage aid" associations and similar organizations of insurance promise were attracting attention over the country. Delaware county did not escape. In October, 1881, there were filed for record in the office of the recorder of this county the articles of association of the '"Marriage Aid Association of Muncie." The announced purpose of this association was "to charitably aid one another of those who hold the certificates of this association issued by it to all unmarried persons of sound mind upon their lawful marriage or at the maturity of the certificates aforesaid." The incorporators of this enterprise were Robert C. Summers, Frederick G. McConnell, R. M. Semans, Benjamin F. Semans and John A. McConnell. In the following November there was filed for record a similar agreement of association of the "Home Mutual Marriage and Death Benefit Association of Albany," with R. A. Maxwell as president and James R. Stafford, secretary. The object of this association was 'to establish and encourage honorable wedlock and assist the indigent in the dark and trying hours of death." In the same month (November, 1881) the Delaware County Marriage Benefit Association of Muncie, Samuel S. White and others, filed similar articles. The marriage benefit associations were on their way. Other similar organizations in this county were the Selma O. K. Marriage Aid Association, Josiah Meeks, president; the Mississinewa Valley Young Men's Perpetual Aid Association of Sharon, George W. Jones, president; the Farmers Marriage Benefit Association of Royerton, James V. Abbott and others; the Muncie Wedlock Benefit Association, A. M. Klein and others, and the Bankers Wedlock Benefit Association of Muncie, A. J. Claypool and others. .

Marriage Record 1 in the office of the county clerk opens with the notation of license issued on November 27, 1827, to "any person legally authorized to solemnize marriage in Delaware county," authorizing the solemnization of a marriage between John Marsh and Arey Windsor, of the county of Delaware, "who are hereby licensed to be joined together in the holy bonds of matrimony," and witnessing, by the hand of William VanMatre, clerk, the seal of the court. This was followed by the record of marriage, as follows: 'And be it further remembered, that on the twenty-eighth day of November, 1827, solemnization of the above license returned as follows, towit: I, John E. Hodge, a justice of the peace in and for the county of Delaware, do hereby certify that John Marsh of the county of Delaware and Arey Windsor of the same county were legally joined in marriage by me on the 28th day of November in the year of our Lord 1827," with the signature of the officiating magistrate.

The next license issued was on February 7, 1828, to Daniel Cox and Pheba Scott, the ceremony being performed by John Scott, E. E., on the following February 10. Just a month later, March 7, 1828,

Charles A. Davis and Melinda Stewart were granted a license and were married on the following day by Harrod Newland, Esq. Another month passed without a marriage in the county, the next license issued being on April 8, to Jacob B. Coon and Juliann Vestal, who were married on May 3 by William Stanbury, J. P. The first book of marriage license records carries 852 pages and closes on October 26, 1841, with the license of James Johns and Sarah Richardson, Samuel W. Harlan then being clerk of the court. This marriage was solemnized by Rodham Graves, J. P., on October 28. The parties licensed just prior to this were William A. Long and Anna McLaughlin, licensed on October 23 and married five days later by John Battreall, a minister of the gospel. Since then many volumes of marriage license records have been filled, the current (1923) record book being No. 32.

When Muncie Was Under Martial Law

One of the most stirring incidents in the history of Muncie was the situation growing out of a strike of the street railway employes here fifteen years and more ago and which led to the city being placed under martial law for a period of two weeks. This strike was precipitated at 2:30 o'clock in the morning of January 1, 1908, when the Muncie local of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes ceased work in response to a vote of the union declaring against certain terms affecting conditions of their employment. George F. McCulloch then was chairman of the board of directors of the Union Traction Company, controlling the local street railway system, and he asked Sheriff Stafford B. Perdieu and Chief of Police Van Benbow to provide adequate measures for the protection of the street railway barns and other property of the company, although apparently on the face of the situation there had been no threats of violence. Preparatory to the strike, which had been brewing for some time, the traction company had brought in strike breakers and when these latter attempted to move the cars trouble broke out. The opening riot of a series of such disturbances occurred at Mulberry and Charles streets, in the vicinity of the traction station, on the morning of the first day of the strike, and nine persons were injured.

Mayor Guthrie took the matter up with Governor Hanly and or January 4, the local authorities in the meanwhile having come to the conclusion that the situation had grown out of their control, four companies of the Indiana National Guard were sent to Muncie and the city was placed under martial law. Reinforcements of troops followed and by Sunday, the 5th, no fewer than 600 soldiers were on the ground. Mr. McCulloch, speaking for the traction company, took the position that "there is nothing to arbitrate" and laid the blame for the strike on the employes of the company. On their part, the chiefs of the latter insisted that the acceptance of their proffer to submit the questions under dispute, affecting wages and other conditions of employment, to the arbitration of a distinterested committee would have averted the trouble.

With troops on the scene, public assemblage forbidden and street crowds scattered, the situation gradually quieted down and on the 9th three of the guard companies were withdrawn. On the 17th the remaining troops were withdrawn and Muncie settled down to normal conditions of living, though feeling keenly the humiliation of having been subjected for a fortnight to the rule of martial law, the first city in the state thus to have been stripped of its right to selfgovernment since the days of the Civil war. Newspaper blame generally was laid on the street car company for bringing in armed strike breakers and the Star's concluding editorial on the situation on the morning of the 18th declared that the incident which thus interrupted for a time the normal and orderly progress of the city "will cause those who interrupted and retarded this progress to hang their heads in shame."

When Muncie Was Under Quarantine Law

Fifteen years before the time of trouble thus recorded Muncie had undergone another season of restrictive regulation in many respects more serious than that which it later suffered under martial law. This was in the summer of 1893, that memorable "hard times" year when local bank troubles and industrial and commercial uncertainty were giving grave concern to all. To add to these troubles an epidemic of small pox broke out in Muncie, the disease making its first appearance on the Southside. This was about the middle of August. Within two weeks it was apparent that a serious situation faced the city and the local health board warned all against public congregation and insisted on vaccination. Churches and schools were suspended, a pest house was built in Congerville and neighboring towns declared a quarantine against Muncie, while the people of the county refused to come to town to trade. On September 11 the city board of health, prompted by the state board, established a quarantine on the people of the town.

For eight weeks this quarantine was maintained so rigidly that persons desiring to leave town on business or pleasure were required to present to the railway ticket agents a certificate from the city health officer that they had been vaccinated and that their clothes and baggage had been fumigated before presenting themselves for tickets. The towns of Randolph county, the city of Anderson and some of the other neighboring towns enforced the quarantine against the people of Muncie and untold inconvenience resulted. This was the summer of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago and in many instances Muncietonians desiring to attend the exposition found it difficult to get out of town on their way to the big world's fair. 'Dr. F. G. Jackson then was city health officer, Arthur W. Brady was mayor and A. W. Chapman was president of the board of police commissioners. In publishing their quarantine proclamation they pointed out that "the welfare of the city demands that these rules be strictly observed. At this time we depend upon the good sense and public. spirit of the citizens of Muncie to see that they are enforced. Compulsory measures of the most stringent nature will be taken by the state board of health and by the city and county boards of health unless the precautions advised are taken."

The small pox "scare" persisted until about the middle of October but the quarantine was not raised until November 4 and the schools were not opened until the 6th of that month. About 150 cases of small pox were reported during this period and there were twenty deaths from the disease. The lifting of the quarantine was the occasion for much local rejoicing, a general jollification being held in the streets that Saturday night, with the blowing of horns, the burning of red fire and the like. On Sunday the church bells called the faithfui again to worship, the next day the schools opened, the farmers again began to come to town to do their trading and a trying time of real depression was over, the News glorifying in the fact that "'the regular bustling, brisk business life of the peerless city of the gas belt will be resumed untrammeled and unrestrained . . . and Magic Muncie stands forth once more peerless among all the stars in the gas belt galaxy." Charles F. W. Neely then was editor of the News.

On November 25, 1919, Rollin H. Bunch, mayor of the city of Muncie, and Horace G. Murphy, prosecuting attorney for Delaware county, were sentenced in Federal court at Indianapolis to two years in the Federal prison on conviction of conspiracy to defraud by use of the mails in promoting alleged fraudulent Western land deals. There were more than twenty others involved in the case. Several of these also were sent to the Federal prison and others were fined or given jail sentences or both.

The notoriety arising ovt cf these trials and convictions and certain other unsavory local incidents that caused statewide comment about that time, prompted the Muncie Star (December 15, 1920) to print an editorial under the head "Making Muncie the Goat" in which it made a spirited defense of the city's good name, pointing out that "it is peculiar that every time some one in authority has something uncomplimentary to say about some city in the state Muncie always is the 'goat'. When Terre Haute lost its Donn Roberts (mayor sent: to Federal prison) for a few years the eyes of the would-be reformers seemed to be focused squarely upon Muncie, so much so that things that transpired in other cities went by entirely unnoticed. It is true that for a time it seemed that the entire underworld was flocking to Muncie, but with the prosecution of a few prominent city and county officials the members of the fraternity of law breakers, or at least a majority of them, sought new fields, but the eyes of the state were still trained upon Muncie.

"With the passing of the saloon and the enactment of the Volstead act, prohibition agents by the dozen took up their headquarters in Muncie. Then other agents were reported to be in the city nearly every day. Every single violation of consequence was brought to their attention, while our neighboring cities went quietly their way and little was heard of the many things that no doubt transpired there. There have been instances of law violations in surrounding cities that had they occurred in Muncie a whole battalion of agents of one kind or another would have been here the very next day. Muncie was not permitted to settle down and conduct its business in an orderly fashion. The Magic City was to be in the limelight and in the limelight it is. |

"But why all this notoriety about Muncie? Are the good, lawabiding forces of Muncie back of this great reform wave that has landed upon the Magic City? Are the people who have thousands of dollars invested in Muncie property calling upon the agents of the state to clean up their community?

"The Star is and always has been opposed to the liquor traffic. It is proud of the fact that it gave its assistance in driving the saloon out of Delaware county and the city of Muncie. It is opposed to violations of the law in any form and will gladly support any movement that tends for the upliftment of Muncie morally or otherwise. But the Star does not believe that Muncie is entitled to the notoriety that is now being handed it. Muncie is no worse than a dozen other cities in the state. Every day we read of a crime wave settling down upon some Indiana town, but there are only one or two cities in the state that seem to be in the focus of the investigating lights turned upon the state by agents of the various kinds. If Muncie has a 'filthy mess' it should be cleaned up and the same 'filthy mess' in other cities should also be cleaned up. Muncie may have a bad element but Muncie also has a good element, and the good men and women of Muncie who have been striving for a Greater and Better Muncie are entitled to less notoriety than they have received of recent years."

The term "Magic City' here used by the Star dates from the days of the gas "boom" back in the late '80s, when Muncie boomers intent on attracting the attention of the world to the industrial possibilities here opening at that time created the catch word and used it very effectively, so that "The Magic City" or "Magic Muncie" came to be widely known. In the spring of 1916 the Muncie Ad Club opened a competition for a suggestion for a new city slogan and out of 1,165 such suggestions made in this competition the committee adopted the new and meaningful slogan, ''"Muncie Offers More".

But gambling and the like, at the time here referred to, were no new features of Muncie life. Fifty years ago, and no doubt long before that, the newspapers were calling for a "clean up," as witness the following from the Muncie News (N. F. Ethell, editor) of January 24,1877: 'For several years it has been known that Muncie was harboring and was infested by a squad of resident and a number of traveling gamblers, and one would infer from their bull-dog tenacity and the hang-to which they give the business that it was proving somewhat remunerative to them; that a fine-haired young fellow made Muncie his rendezvous who claimed to be the boss pasteboard slinger; that he and others were very bold in their operations, etc.

"It has also been the question in the minds of a great many honest-living people how so many young fellows in these parts live so well and not do a lick of manual labor, and yet are known to be as poor as a wind-fed turkey. But the answer to their mysteries was brought out unmistakably last week by the arrest of several of these

. fellows and the incarceration of a considerable number, though only one, we believe, was convicted, the witnesses in two or three cases being 'bulldozed.' . . . It is unnecessary to give any names of gamblers or the victims, as almost everyone knows the parties. And some of the gamblers, we are sorry to say, all connected with respectable and well-to-do families of Muncie. Presto change! The police should keep the movement breezing."

Local Man Figures In National Scandal

In the spring of 1900 Muncie was given considerable newspaper notoriety throughout the country by reason of a scandal arising in connection with the discovery of frauds in the administration of Cuban affairs, the government of Cuba at that time, pending reconstruction following the Spanish-American war, being under an American directorate. Charles F. W. Neely, a former editor of the Muncie News and at the time head of a printing concern at Muncie, had received the appointment as chief of the finance department of the Cuban postoffice department. Perry S. Heath, also a native of Muncie and a former newspaper man there, was the first assistant postmaster general of the United States at the time but was said not to have been responsible for the Neely appointment, which it was said had come through the office of director of posts of Cuba. The coincidental connection of two Muncie men in the case served to give the Muncie newspapers something more than the traditional nine-days' sensation and the files of the papers for that period show that they made the most of the opportunity to stir up a local sensation.

Neely was arrested on a charge of wrongful conversion of something more than $45,000 and his case was taken to Cuba for trial. He was convicted, but on some technicality of law escaped imprisonment and located in New York, where he has since lived. Perry Heath has for many years been a resident of Washington, where he has newspaper interests.

The Bicycle, The Automobile And The Airplane

Beginning in the '80s and continuing on through the '90s and into the early years of the present century, or until the coming of the automobile turned the attention of the world to a new and novel method of transportation, the bicycle claimed more attention than any other article of commerce, even as the automobile now claims like attention, and the files of the newspapers for that period and the ordinance books of the city council carry faithful reflections of the time when "the world was awheel." According to the files of the News there were fifteen bicycle owners in Muncie in the summer of 1882. The bicycle was a convenience which all recognized and its general adoption as a mode of transportation filled the streets and highways with people awheel, so that special laws had to be enacted for the regulation of this new sort of traffic, even as new laws later were required to regulate the present amazing automobile traffic. Large local industries were built up around the bicycle and bicycle repair shops were the precursers of the present omnipresent automobile service stations and garages. The newspapers profited largely by the extensive advertising campaigns carried on by the bicycle dealers and special news features were provided for the information of the ardent wheelman, even as now the newspapers carry special features for the information of the automobile driver; an interesting development, or evolution, concerning which the advertising columns of the newspapers afford a faithful reflection.

And then, along in the middle '90s, came word of the invention of the "horseless carriage" and the successful test of these machines in various parts of the country, particularly a successful test in the Kokomo neighborhood on July 4, 1894, of a self-propelling vehicle designed by Elwood Haynes. The novelty of the thing was appealing and quickly led to newspaper prophecies based on the general development of the idea. On June 30, 1896, though the automobile had not yet made its appearance in Muncie, the Muncie Herald (Frank D. Haimbaugh then editor) said that "the past two or three years have seen some wonderful developments in the horseless carriage. Hundreds are already in use in various parts of the world and thousands are building. It is safe to predict that the next decade will see them in general use and that it will not be many years until the light traffic of cities will all be hauled by the horseless vehicle. Not only will traffic be carried on by this new means, but pleasure riding will be done without the use of horses." This prophecy certainly has been fulfilled to the letter. Will the prophecies concerning the coming equally common use of the airplane find equal fulfillment in their promised period of development?

The Immortal J. N.

To that generation of newspaper men in the Middle West now fast passing off the face of the earth mention of the name of the "Immortal J. N." will recall associations of other days in a very vivid fashion. The Immortal J. N., who died twenty years and more ago, was an Ohioan by birth and rearing but a sort of a citizen of the world by choice and inclination, whose wanderings began, like those of "Johnny Appleseed," in the days of his young manhood and continued until the time of his death when an old, broken man about 1901. There are several traditions concerning the motive behind the wanderings of J. N., but whatever started him going his harmless and self-imposed mission in life after he got going was to "remove the pressure and lift the veil'" - whatever that process might be, for in his rambling and most often incoherent utterances on the subject poor old J. N. never seemed able to bring his topic to a satisfactory conclusion and his audiences thus were left in doubt as to his mission in life. J. N. Free, for Free was his name, though to the world he preferred to be known as the Immortal J. N., was a man of somewhat imposing appearance, tall and straight, and in his old age his flowing white hair and mustache were sufficient to attract the attention of strangers passing him on the streets.

Though not in any sense a member of that tribe of itinerants contemporary with his wanderings known as pilgrim printers, J. N.'s first calling place upon reaching town would be the newspaper office, where he would scribble an "item" of news announcing his arrival and setting out that he would address the populace at a certain hour and place, the latter preferably being the steps of the court house, if in a county-seat town, upon the all-important subject of lifting the veil and removing the pressure. It is not now recalled that this mysterious pressure was bearing down more immediately upon the body politic than upon things in general, for J. N. never was able to make himself clear on his self-absorbing topic. Often his appearance in a town would be preceded by a postal card addressed simply to "The Intelligent - -_ - - - - _,"' the dash standing for the name of the editor of the paper and the expressive "'intelligent'"' designed to differentiate the addressee from all others, divers or singular, of such name in the town; and, interesting to record, the postoffice chaps invariably got the card delivered to the person for whom it was intended. On this card J. N. would make announcement of his pending arrival and presently would follow his card by dropping in as per announcement.

Unlike the ordinary vagrant or harmless itinerant, the Immortal J. N. always was supplied with money for his needs and he never was a "pan-handler." Through some mysterious influence, variously though never wholly satisfactorily explained, he also for many years was kept supplied with annual passes over most of the railways running through the Midwest country and thus he always rode in state instead of following the humble path of the ordinary wayfarer. He would stop at first-class hotels and in many of them would receive free accommodations. If pressed for pay for his lodging, he would adroitly lead the proprietor to an admission that he would throw off half the charge in consideration of the guest's distinguished services and accomplishments, whereupon old J. N. would draw himself up proudly and with an air of great dignity exclaim: "Very well, sir; I will allow no one to exceed me in courtesy - I will throw off the other half," and with that would bow himself out, his bill, as usual, unpaid. J. N. was of good family and often would be importuned by his kinsfolk to cease his fruitless wanderings, but the wanderlust was on him and he kept going until within a few months of his death, his last days being spent in the pleasant home of a niece in Ohio - the "veil" still obscurant and the "pressure" still persisting, his mission unaccomplished. .

J. N. was for many years well known in the newspaper offices of this section of Indiana and in the files of the local papers there are numerous references to his visits to Muncie, perhaps the earliest of these references being that carried in the Free Press (J. F. Duckwall then editor) for April 11, 1861, where, under the heading "J. N. Free," the paper announced the early coming of J. N. as a "lecturer," with the comment that "this immortal orator, philosopher, satirist and philanthropist recently paid us a visit. The moment that he entered our sanctum we were impressed with the presence of a towering genius, and no sooner had he commenced touching on the sublime truths which it is his mission alone to enunciate to a world steeped in folly and error, than we were overpowered with the grandeur and sublimity of his theme, as well as his matchless eloquence. J. N. has no equal. As a satirist he scathes error as with a stroke of lightning, and when he speaks of the immortal truths which he inculcates his tongue burns with an eloquence unknown to the orator of ancient or modern times. . . . J. N. is not only an orator, infinitely surpassing Cicero and Demosthenes in the beauty and brilliancy of his periods, but he is a philosopher whose truth at once penetrates the darkest problems that intersperse the vast range of nature's common. As a satirist he has not, nor never had, a counterpart. His rebukes are terrible, withering and exterminating. J. N. has a mission to perform - broad as the earth and eternal as the hills. But in the spirit of a true philosopher and 'martyr' he combats every form of error, with a resolute determination that causes the enemies of progress to stand amazed and exclaim -

"Greece rejoiced in the renown of a Socrates and Leonidas. Rome in that of a Pliny and Romulus. But to the Western hemisphere it has been left to boast of the fame of one greater than either of them - one whose courage, more firm than the rock of Gibraltar, defies all opposition, and who spurns the hectic wisdom of the nineteenth century. J. N. is a host within himself. Like Venus among the myriads of gems that sparkle in the firmament, his brilliant light revels in unostentatious grandeur, whilst the sleepless sports of Pleiades and the evening zephyrs lull to rest the exuberance of his spirit."

In the above there is something so distinctly reminiscent of the style and character of the rambling and incoherent scribblings that J. N. was wont to contribute to the newspapers during the time of his wanderings, that it is not at all unlikely (indeed, the presumption is quite in favor of it) the story was written by J. N. himself and that the editor of the Free Press complaisantly "ran" it just as written. It at least is an interesting reminiscence of a quaint, somewhat mysterious and not altogether unlovable character that once was known wherever newspapers were printed throughout the Middle West. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that in this paper of 1861 the wanderer is not referred to as the "Immortal J. N.," the magnificent adjective prefix to the modest initials, which later became so familiar throughout this region, not having been assumed by the strange eccentric until some time after the close of the Civil war.

Historical Publishing Company

To the pioneers who laid the foundations of our city and county so broad and deep; to the old residents who builded so wisely and well thereon, and to their successors, who have enlarged, beautified and enjoyed the magnificent results, this volume of biography is dedicated, in the hope that it will assist in keeping green the memory of those whose names are enrolled herein in honor of their useful activities and worthy lives.

Index

FRANK D. HAIMBAUGH, whose name adorns the title page of this work, a work in which he took much interest and for which he acted as editorial sponsor, passed away suddenly at his home in Muncie on the evening of January 2, 1924, he then being in his sixtyseventh year, and the community mourned the passing of a good man. The local newspapers well expressed this sense of common loss. The Evening Press said: "The great, generous heart of Frank D. Haimbaugh is stilled, but the good works he has done will live after him. In this community he has builded a monument for himself, not only by the things he has done for the material benefit of the citizens, but he has builded it in their love and respect. For him did not exist the ambition to attract wealth to his pockets, but rather to attract to himself the affectionate regard of his fellows - and he died rich. . . . . In all the affairs of life he was a gentleman, because he was a gentle man - and that covers nearly all the virtues. No greater encomium need be rendered. His day-by-day life was its own eulogy. Today his helping hands are taking the rest they so well deserve." The Morning Star said: "When a city loses a man like Frank D. Haimbaugh it suffers a great loss for Mr. Haimbaugh was a true community builder. He was a constructionist in every sense of the word .. . . and it is probable that no man in Muncie has had more to do with civic enterprises than he. . . ... Hewasa true optimist. Muncie has been made vastly richer through the thirty years that Frank Haimbaugh spent here, and his intimate friends will miss his great personality as time moves on." In many homes in Delaware county now are treasured what, in view of his unexpected passing, may be regarded as a farewell message from this cheery man. Just a few days before his passing, and with all his wonted cheer and robust vigor, Mr. Haimbaugh had distributed among his friends cards bearing an expression of his good will "For the Year 1924," saying: "My worthwhile wishes be with you throughout the New Year. I hope you will have three hundred and sixty-six days of unalloyed joy and happiness. May success attend your every worthy effort and achievement crown your labors. The memories of yesterday are in your keeping; treasure them. Meet the duties of each day with a glad heart and brave resolve. The hopes of tomorrow are in the offing; be ready to meet them with a smile and a spirit of service. May the satisfaction of tasks well done go with you every hour." And before the new year was two days old he was gone, his cheery heart, worn in patient service, having pulsed its last. But the good memory of him remains and long will be cherished here. For more than thirty years Frank Haimbaugh had been perhaps more intimately than any other man in town a vital personal factor in Muncie and Delaware county. His many years of newspaper work here had familiarized him with the community and its people and traditions. At the time of his death he was serving in his eighth year as postmaster of Muncie, this latter period of service accentuating his close personal contact with community affairs, so that it properly may be said that no man in Delaware county had a wider acquaintance than he. Nor was this acquaintance confined to the county in which he long ago had chosen to make his home. His many years of active and useful service in behalf of the Travelers Protective Association had given him a nation-wide acquaintance among traveling men. Few men in Indiana had a more intimate acquaintance in newspaper and political circles than he. During the sessions of the Indiana General Assembly for the years 1889 and 1891 he served as chief doorkeeper of the House of Representatives and the political friendships then gained were lasting. In 1893 he was elected secretary of the Indiana State Democratic Editorial Association and by successive re-elections for years occupied that position, later serving as president of the association, thus becoming one of the best known newspaper men in Indiana. Ten years and more ago he rendered a couple of years of public service as a field examiner for the Indiana state board of accounts, a service which further extended his acquaintance throughout the state. For ten years he served as secretary of the Muncie Commercial Club (present Chamber of Commerce) and later for two years as president of that organization, the first president thus honored by a two-year term. Beginning in 1907 he served a term of four years as a member of the board of police commissioners for the city of Muncie and when the board of park commissioners was created here he was made one of the first members of that body. It is commonly conceded that the establishment of the normal school here was due more largely to his untiring and unremitting personal efforts than to any other factor that entered into that movement back in the '90s, and he served as a member of the board of trustees of the normal and as secretary of the same until the board ceased to exist. During the time of this country's participation in the World war, in addition to carrying the extra burden of technical service automatically imposed upon the office of postmaster, he was asked to serve as Federal fuel administrator for Delaware county and this service he rendered with such fidelity that his work was cited by the state Federal fuel administrator for its special efficiency. It was in February, 1916, that Mr. Haimbaugh received his commission as postmaster at Muncie, a commission that was renewed at the end of four years for another four-year term and he thus was rounding out his eighth year of service in the local postoffice when his life's labors ceased, the best energies of his distinctive personality having been given to that important public service. During this period of service the Muncie postoffice became the supply office for five adjacent counties and the central accounting office for Delaware county. For thirty years Mr. Haimbaugh had been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. For many years he had been an active and forceful figure in the councils of the Travelers Protective Association in Indiana and for ten years was president of the local post of that association. He also was one of the organizers of the locally influential Exchange Club and was one of the early presidents of that body. He touched life on many angles and his vigorous personality made itself effective in many good ways. As the Press said, he "had become so much a part of the community, his life had become so wrapped up in that of the city, that it will seem strange to those having to do with public affairs not to be able to rely upon him in the future to do a man's share of the public's work." A worker and a student, public spirited and cosmopolitan in his view of life, Frank Haimbaugh counted the things that he did for his friends and the community he called his home as more worth while than self-centered selfishness or the plaudits of the thoughtless throng. It was his hope that he had learned the lesson of service and understood the creed of sacrifice and that he had been in a small measure helpful to his fellow man. It was his belief that men should learn to be heroes in peace in no less degree than heroes in war; that to each there is an appointed task and that to each will be given the guerdon of their sacrifice. Frank D. Haimbaugh was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, September 24, 1856, fourth in a family of six children, and was seven years of age when his parents, David and Margaret (Leonard) Haimbaugh, came with their family to Indiana in 1863 and settled on a farm in Fulton county. On that farm David Haimbaugh spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1898, a hardy tiller of the soil, he and his wife being God-fearing people, industrious, patient and honorable citizens, the kind of people to merit and command the respect of neighbors and friends. Frank Haimbaugh was wont to recall that the dearest memory of his mother was the fact that he never had heard her utter an uncomplimentary word concerning any one. Reared on that pioneer farm in Fulton county, Frank Haimbaugh completed his local schooling in the high school in the neighboring county town of Rochester and was graduated with the first class graduated from that school, that having been in the year 1878. Two years later he was graduated from the Northern Indiana Normal School (Valparaiso University). Meanwhile, he had been teaching school and upon leaving the normal school was made principal of the old village academy at Brookston, Ind., where he remained for four years or until his election, in 1885, to the office of county superintendent of schools of his home county (Fulton). For two years he served in that capacity and then took up life-insurance work, a vocation that occupied him a couple of years, or until in November, 1889, when he bought an interest in the Miami County Sentinel at Peru, Ind., and thus entered upon a career as a newspaper man that was to cover a considerable period of his life. In June, 1891, Mr. Haimbaugh disposed of his interest in the newspaper plant at Peru and moved to Muncie, where he purchased an interest in the Herald, as is set out elsewhere in this work. Upon the merger of that paper with the Times in 1905 to form the Press, he continued with the latter paper until in 1909, when he became engaged in the printing business and was thus engaged until in 1913, when he was appointed a field examiner for the state board of accounts and thus served until his appointment as postmaster at Muncie early in 1916. On May 14, 1890, at Warsaw, Ind., Frank D. Haimbaugh was united in marriage to Emma F. Elginfritz, of that city, who, together with their son, Paul A. Haimbaugh, survives him. There also are three surviving sisters, Mrs. Catherine McCarter, of Rochester, Ind.; Mrs. Arthur Lynch, of Chicago, and Mrs. Mary Fenstermaker, of Fulton, Ind. During the many years of Mr. Haimbaugh's newspaper work here, Mrs. Haimbaugh was a valued aid to her husband and did much writing for his papers. She has for years been an active factor in local woman's club work and during the recent time of war was a constant and valiant worker in the service of the Red Cross and also was Delaware county's official "war mother," a story of service that is told elsewhere in this work. Paul A. Haimbaugh, an alumnus of Indiana University, served in the

United States army during the late war from May 11, 1917, to April 22,1919. A year and a half of this period was spent in France as a 'member of the American Expeditionary Force, serving with the 103d Field Artillery, 26th Division, and the 301st Battalion Tank Corps. JACOB D. MILTENBERGER, former representative in the Indiana General Assembly from Delaware county, president of the Realtors Investment Company of Muncie, president of the Indiana Association of Local Insurance Agents, past president and present vice president of the Muncie Real Estate Board and for years engaged in the general real estate and insurance business at Muncie, a member of the firm of Miltenberger & Leffler, is a native of the old Buckeye state, but has been a resident of Indiana and of Muncie for the past twenty years and more. Mr. Miltenberger was born at Franklin, in Warren county, Ohio, March 12, 1876, and is a son of George W. and Permelia M. (Dearth) Miltenberger, both of whom were born in that same county and whose last days were spent in Muncie. The late George W. Miltenberger was a son of Henry Miltenberger, a native of Pennsylvania, who became one of the pioneers of Warren eounty, Ohio, and Mrs. Permelia Miltenberger was a daughter of Jesse Dearth, who was born in that county and who was in his young manhood a music teacher, later becoming a farmer. He spent all his life in that county and lived to the great age of ninety-five years. George W. Miltenberger was for many years engaged in the mercan- 'tile business at Franklin and upon his retirement moved to Muncie, where he died in 1912, at the age of seventy-two years. His widow survived him until 1919, her death occurring when she was in her eighty-second year. They were the parents of four children, those besides the subject of this sketch being Mary Belle, who married L. A. Lawyer, of Muncie; Ella, deceased, and Ernest J. Miltenberger, of Muncie. Reared at Franklin, Ohio, Jacob D. Miltenberger received his schooling in the schools of that city and upon leaving the high school became engaged in newspaper work and for eight years published a newspaper there. On March 2, 1902, he located at Muncie and in association with Jerre Garrard became engaged in the real estate business. For several years Mr. Miltenberger maintained this form of association and then became associated in the same line with J. H. Leffler, former county clerk and present president of the Western Reserve Life Insurance Company, the firm since then 'doing a general real estate and insurance business under the name of Miltenberger & Leffler, with offices at 106 the Western Reserve 'Life building. Mr. Miltenberger is a stockholder and director in the

Western Reserve Life Insurance Company and is president of the Realtors Investment Company. In 1923 at the annual meeting of the Indiana Association of Local Insurance Agents he was elected president of that body. He is a past president of the local Fire Insurance Association and is the present vice president of the Muncie Real Estate Board and vice president of the Indiana State Real Estate Association. He is a York Rite (Knights Templar) and Scottish Rite (82°) Mason and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Miltenberger is a Republican and ever since taking up his residence in Muncie has made his presence felt in loca] political affairs. In 1916 he was elected to represent Delaware county in the lower house of the Indiana state legislature and was re-elected in 1918 and in 1920, thus serving three terms in the House, these including not only the three regular sessions of the Legislature during that period but the three special sessions which were found necessary during that period of special stress. Among the several measures of local importance which he was able to get through the Legislature was the one providing an appropriation for the taking over by the state of the old normal school plant at Muncie and the creation there of the Eastern Division of the Indiana State Normal School: Mr. Miltenberger has been twice married. In 1897 he married Maude Gable, of Middletown, Ohio, who died in 1916, leaving one child, a son, Mark D. Miltenberger, a veteran of the World war, who completed his schooling at Indiana University and is now engaged as a secretary to Congressman Albert H. Vestal of the Eighth Indiana district and "whip" of the House of Representatives at Washington. In 1917 Mr. Miltenberger married Mrs. Myrtle (Klapp) Downey, of Indianapolis, a granddaughter of the Rev. Henry Pritchard. Mr. and Mrs. Miltenberger are members of the First Presbyterian church.

THE REV. JOHN W. NICELY, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Muncie, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Shannon and Mary (Taylor) Nicely, both of Revolutionary stock and the former a veteran of the Civil war, who were the parents of three sons and one daughter. Doctor Nicely has a brother, Dr. William E. Nicely, a graduate of Princeton University and of the University of Pennsylvania, who is now engaged in medical practice at Waukausha, Wis. John W. Nicely completed his schooling at Wabash College and Princeton University, receiving his Bachelor and Master degrees from the latter institution, and completed his theological course in McCormick Theological Seminary at Chicago. Hanover College awarded him his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1910. Upon leaving the seminary, Doctor Nicely entered upon work in the mission field and was for some years a teacher in the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, Syria, professor of English and Political Economy. During his term of service in that interesting institution he served as treasurer of the college. He also gave a new turn to college athletics at this institution and it was he who instituted field day there. Upon his return from Beirut, Doctor Nicely became pastor of the Crerar Memorial Presbyterian church of Chicago. For eighteen years he rendered service in that relation, and then, in 1921, he was called to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church at Muncie, where he since has resided, with residence at 332 East Adams street. This pastorate is in succession to that of the Rev. Benjamin M. Nyce, D. D., who is now living at Lincoln, Nebr. During the period of his service at Chicago, Doctor Nicely served as Moderator of that Presbytery, and also rendered service as chairman of several important committees of Presbytery. One of the committees of which he was a member had to do with the creation of a board for the establishment of a Home for the Aged, the operations of this board resulting in the erection of an institution for such purposes at a cost of half a million dollars. In 1898, at Indianapolis, Ind., the Rev. John W. Nicely was united in marriage to Helen Nesbit, daughter of James A. and Catherine (Boyd) Mount. The late James A. Mount, twenty-fifth Governor of the state of Indiana and a veteran of the Civil war, was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, in 1848. He served as Governor of the state during the term 1897-1901 and died in the latter year, not long after his successor was inaugurated. Doctor and Mrs. Nicely have two sons, James Mount and Harold Elliott Nicely, both of whom were graduated from Ae University of Chicago. Harold Elliott Nicely is now a student m Princeton Theological Seminary. James M. Nicely, a veteran ot the World war, followed his graduation from the University of Chicago by attendance at the Law School of Harvard University and was graduated from the latter institution in 1923. He was winner of the Sears Scholarship and president of the Harvard Law Review board. He now is serving as secretary to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, of the Supreme Court of the United States. Harold E. Nicely, A. B. (University of Chicago), M. A. (Princeton University). after graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary, will study in Europe.

THEODORE F. ROSE, who died in the fall of 1919, president of the old Union National Bank of Muncie and for many years a leader in the general commercial and industrial activities of this community, was born in the village of Fairfield, in Franklin county, Indiana, December 18, 1848, and was a son of Samuel and Jane (Harris) Rose, both of whom were born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, but who were married in Indiana, their respective parents having settled in this state in pioneer days. Both the Rose and Harris families are of English descent, the former taking American descent from Robert Rose, who came to this country in 1634, and settled at Watertown, Mass. Reared at Fairfield, Theodore F. Rose completed his local schooling in the Brookville Academy and for two years was engaged in teaching school. He then entered the University of Indiana at Bloomington and in 1875 was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science. During this period of schooling he had been giving close attention to the study of law and upon leaving the university came to Muncie to take a course of practical reading of law in the office of the late Judge Joseph S. Buckles, and in due time was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of law at Muncie in partnership with the late Josiah E. Mellett. After his marriage in the spring of 1880 Mr. Rose established his home in Muncie, where he spent the remainder of his life. He thus was on the ground when a new impetus was given to all phases of development in Delaware county by the opening of the natural gas field here in the late '80s, and, as is set out elsewhere, he become one of the active factors in that development, his growing interests in a business way gradually taking him away from his law office until in the early '90s he retired from practice and thereafter gave his whole time to the varied interests with which he had become identified along the lines of development work. When the Muncie Natural Gas Company was organized Mr. Rose was elected president and general manager of that concern and he also became actively associated with the late George F. McCulloch and the late A. L. Johnson in the general real estate business; was actively identified with the affairs of the historic Citizens Enterprise Company back in the days of the height of the gas "boom," and was later president of the Muncie Industrial Association, an organization designed to promote the development of the city's manufacturing interests. In 1900 Mr. Rose was elected president of the old Union National Bank, in succession to C. A. Spilker, and continued to serve in that capacity until his death on September 6, 1919, a period of nineteen years, and was succeeded in that office by his son, F. D. Rose. Not only was the late Theodore F. Rose active in the promotion of the general commercial and industrial interests of the town in which he had elected to make his home, but he was equally active and influential in helping to bring about a better standard in general community affairs. As a Republican he took a proper part in local political affairs and not long after entering upon the practice of law in Muncie was made deputy prosecuting attorney. He also served for some time as city attorney. Upon the organization of the Associated Charities at Muncie in 1899, he was elected president of that body and by successive re-elections served in that capacity until his death. He also was the chairman of the local chapter of the American Red Cross from the time of its organization until his death and during the period of this country's participation in the World war rendered valuable service in that behalf. For many years he was a member of the board of trustees of Indiana University and for some years was president of that board. He became a member of the board of trustees of the Muncie city schools in 1891 and in 1898 he succeeded Joseph A. Goddard as president of that board. His interest in the development of the schools and in the cause of modern school buildings was manifested in such a high degree that he remained active in this work until the erection of the Central high school building in 1914. For many years also he was the head of the public library board and was thus serving at the time the library building was erected in 1903. As a member of the old Commercial Club (the present Chamber of Commerce), Mr. Rose was for years an influential factor in that body and for some time served as president of the club. He was an active member of the First Presbyterian church, as is his widow, and for years served as a member of the board of trustees of that congregation. He was a Scottish Rite (32°) and York Rite Mason; a past eminent commander of the local commandery of Knights Templar. He was also affiliated with and for many years active in the work of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Twenty years and more ago when electric railway traction interests were beginning to be developed in Indiana, Mr. Rose took an active interest in such promotion plans and was one of the leading factors in the construction of the traction lines between Indianapolis and Connersville and between Indianapolis and Shelbyville. In 1905 he erected the Delaware hotel, southeast corner of Jackson and Mulberry streets, declared at that time to be "one of the most complete and modern hotel buildings in the state," and which remains one of the continuing monuments to his enterprise and public spirit. In many ways Theodore F. Rose impressed his personality upon the development of this community and at his passing he left a good memory. It was in 1880 that Theodore F. Rose was united in marriage to Margaret I. Dodds, daughter of Dr. James F. Dodds, of Bloomington, Ind., and to that union was born one child, a son, Frederick Dodds Rose, now president of the Merchants Trust and Savings Company of Muncie and concerning whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Rose has continued to make her home at Muncie and resides at 819 East Main street. GEORGE D. ROBERTS, head of the Muncie Hotel Corporation, proprietors of the Hotel Roberts at Muncie, and also head of the company operating that hotel, is a European by birth but has been a resident of this country since he was thirty years of age and of Muncie for the past fifteen years and more. Mr. Roberts was born in Warklau, in the province of Regal, Russia, August 15, 1874, and is a son of Meyer and Ethel Roberts, both of whom also were born in that country, where all their lives were spent, and who were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters. Reared in his native town, George D. Roberts received such schooling as the limitations of his circumstances would permit and served his term in the Russian army, a period of service covering two years and eight months. When twenty-five years of age he married and five years later he and his wife and a daughter who meanwhile had been born to them came to the United States with a view to taking an entirely new start in life. They landed at the port of New York and it is typical of the determination Mr. Roberts had arrived at in connection with his ambitions to '"'make good" in the new country that he filed his formal application for citizenship papers on the day after he landed, and there never has been any variation in his stanch Americanism since that moment. Three weeks after their arrival in New York the Robertses went to Boston, where Mr. Roberts was employed for about eight months, at the end of which time..in 1905, he came out into Indiana and located at Alexandria, where he became engaged in a general salvage business and as he prospered in that line became interested in oil development projects. In 1908, with a view to securing a more advantageous location for the extension of these growing oil interests, he moved to Muncie and has ever since resided here. Mr. Roberts's oil operations covered a wide field, including not only the Indiana fields but those in Kentucky, Texas and Oklahoma, and he did well, later extending his activities to include some considerable real estate investments. In December, 1919, he conceived the plan to erect in Muncie one of the finest hotels in Indiana and the Roberts Hotel with its two hundred guest rooms is the outcome of this plan. He organized the Muncie Hotel Corporation with himself as president and Alonzo C. Thornburg as vice president and manager, and Abram C. Lipsitz as secretary and treasurer, and the big hotel at the corner of Howard and High streets was erected in 1920 and was furnished and opened early in 1921. The hotel is now operated by the Muncie Hotel Operating Company, the officers of which are the same as above, Mr. Roberts being president both of the corporation and the company, the name of the hotel being a fitting testimonial to his energy and enterprise. The Robertses are affiliated with the congregation of the local Jewish temple and Mr. Roberts is a member of the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Modern Woodmen. It was in 1899, in Russia, that George D. Roberts was united in marriage to Sarah Plost, who also was born in that country, and to this union have been born four children, Fannie, who was born in Russia, and Louis, Bessie and Raymond, born in Indiana.

ARTHUR JAMES SMITH, superintendent of the Ft. Wayne division of the Nickle Plate railroad (Lake Erie & Western district), with headquarters at Muncie, was born near the pleasant village of Pine Village, in Warren county, Indiana, December 31, 1873, and is a son of James W. and Sarah E. (Farden) Smith, both of whom also were born in Indiana, members of pioneer families in the western part of the state. James W. Smith, a veteran of the Civil war and a farmer and carpenter, moved with his family from Pine Village to Montmorenci, in Tippecanoe county, in 1880, and has since resided in the latter village. Supplementing the schooling he received in the schools of Montmorenci by a course in a business college, Arthur J. Smith early became attracted to railroading and at the age of sixteen became engaged as a telegraph operator in the employ of the Lake Krie & Western Railroad Company, presently was advanced to the position of station agent and after valuable training along these lines at several different stations became employed in the survey department of the railroad. After two years of this latter form of employment he became connected with the bridge and building department and in 1914 was made roadmaster of the Middle Division of the road and on March 10, 1917, was promoted to the position of superintendent of the Ft. Wayne division, with headquarters at Muncie, where he has since made his home. On April 13, 1899, Arthur J. Smith was united in marriage to Jennie M. Hartman, of Tipton,