Marshal Robert Harper

And suddenly, out of blue, I find out that Ainsworth had a marshal! It would have been nice if someone had bothered to report on his election.

The only reason I know about this at all is because the Hobart News mentioned that "Marshal Robert Harper of Ainsworth" caught a couple of car thieves the night of May 29, 1917. Four men had stolen a "large Hudson car"; they ran it into a ditch west of Ainsworth; someone notified Robert; he came out and caught two of the men, and hauled them off to jail in Crown Point. (A third man was captured in Merrillville. The fourth got away.)


A 1917 Hudson automobile, which may or may not have been the model stolen by the thieves. (Click on image to enlarge)
Image credit: IMCDB.org.

Robert was then about 34, Pearl 38, and they had four children. (The oldest was 14 and so could not have been born of their 1911 marriage. I don't know what her story was.) With the help of one hired man, the Harpers operated a dairy farm on rented land.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Untitled social column. Hobart News 31 May 1917.