The Wheat and the Check

Based on this brief summary, it sounds as if William Raschka did not get a fair shake, if he didn't at least get his $500 back.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Hobart Gazette 20 Jan. 1922.

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Elsewhere in the same issue of the Gazette, we find a "School Notes" column written by Wayne Nelson, the youngest of Lovisa Chester Nelson's children; and a spirited letter from "Canada":

The Short Lives of Lamp Posts

A lamp post built in Hobart has but a short time to live; it is set up, and is knocked down, like a bowling pin … and the car that knocked it down flees as it were a shadow.



I think Charles Gruel's meat market was located on Third Street, south side, about mid-block between Main and Center Streets, and the Beach jewelry store on the north side of Third.

Marshal Fred Rose, Sr. set about investigating this hit-and-run. Just a week later, the Gazette reported: "Marshal Rose has discovered the party who 'bumped down' the light post in front of Gruel's, and says the party has agreed to pay for the repairs, which he should do. It was purely a case of 'white mule' directing the arm at the steering wheel." That the party's name was not mentioned suggests to me that he might have been a person of some social standing.

But the knocking down of a lamp post was not unheard-of, as we can gather from the weary headline of the original story — "Another Lamp Post …" — and indeed, just as this case was solved, the town found itself facing a lawsuit based on a lamp post knocked down two months earlier:



(The "Pedersen corner" was the intersection of Main and Second Streets.)


Sources:
♦ "Another Lamp Post Bumped." Hobart Gazette 21 Jan. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 28 Jan. 1921.
♦ "Town of Hobart Sued." Hobart Gazette 28 Jan. 1921.

To Insure Domestic Tranquility

On the topic of Company K — all was not well with Capt. Charles Allen. Early in 1918, Freda Allen hired R.R. Peddicord to file an action for divorce from Charles, alleging desertion and non-support. They had two small daughters at the time.

Perhaps Charles was spending all his time and money on Company K.

However, by the time the divorce suit got into the newspaper (on Valentine's Day), the Allens had reached a "settlement of their differences." The divorce did not go through, and we find them still married in 1920.

In March, Charles resigned as captain of Company K, to the great regret of its members. The News' explanation seems to suggest that he did it to placate Freda: "Trouble outside of the company affairs came up, which, it is said, caused Mr. Allen's resignation."

Now First Lieutenant Charles W. Reeves automatically became the acting captain of Company K.

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R.R. Peddicord filed another suit in early 1918: Caroline Goodrich sought divorce from her husband Charles, after 33 years of marriage. Let's hope they make up their differences as well. It's stressful enough to have two sons in a wartime army without adding a divorce on top of that.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Capt. Allen Resigns." Hobart Gazette 29 Mar. 1918.
♦ "Capt. Chas. Allen of the Hobart Militia Co. Resigns." Hobart News 28 Mar. 1918.
♦ "Court Notes." Hobart News 14 Feb. 1918.

Don't Drink and Swap

The household of our veterinarian friend, Mike O'Hearn, included his older brother, Dennis, a bachelor who earned a living as a day laborer.

One autumn morning in 1914, Dennis awoke with a hangover and a troubling memory of having swapped his horse, which he valued at $150, for … well, for something that wasn't worth $150. In fact, a piano. He'd gotten drunk and swapped his horse for Jesse Long's piano. Could he even play the piano, I wonder? — because he had sold the piano right back to Jesse for $20.

Dennis wasn't happy. Even when his hangover wore off, he wasn't happy. He hired a lawyer and sued Jesse to get his horse back. Jesse, it turned out, had sold the horse to William Juhnke for $65. So William was dragged into the case as a defendant as well.

The matter came up for hearing before Justice of the Peace John Mathews on November 21, 1914. Dennis was represented by attorney D.P. Blake, the defendants by R.R. Peddicord. The substance of Dennis' case was that Jesse and William had conspired to get him drunk, and while his mind was befogged by spirits, they had induced him to make that lopsided trade. He was perfectly willing to return the $20 he'd made by selling the piano back to Jesse, and in fact had already tendered it to the court. Now he just wanted his horse back.

Judge Mathews heard all the evidence and retired to consider the case. After several hours' deliberation, he decided in favor of the defendants. Dennis may well have been drunk when he made the trade, said the judge, but there was no evidence that Jesse and William had gotten him into that condition. So William could keep the horse, Jesse could keep the piano, and as for the $20, Attorney Peddicord immediately issued an attachment to hold it for payment of court costs. "The $20 will look pretty sick when the costs are all paid," said the Gazette.

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A couple months after this case, Judge Mathews announced his resignation as justice of the peace, a position he had held for 28 years continuously except for a four-year term when M.W. Jory served. Mathews, a Civil War veteran, was then 80 and "beginning to feel the weight of the years." Henceforward he intended to do only notarial work. His resignation left Hobart Township with only one justice of the peace, John Killigrew.

If any of his docket books ever reached the Hobart Historical Society, I haven't found them yet.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "Horse Case Settled." Hobart Gazette 27 Nov. 1914.
♦ "Justice John Mathews Retires After 28 Years of Service." Hobart News 11 Feb. 1915.
♦ "Resigns as Justice." Hobart Gazette 12 Feb. 1915.

Thy Will Be Undone

I said earlier that I had no evidence that Henry Chester was ever unkind to any of his own children. Well, now I do: he cut his eldest daughter, Mary Marchant, out of his will entirely.

As we know, Mary had died before her father, but she left at least one son, William Harvey Marchant. William thought the will unfair, so in November 1913 he filed suit in the Lake County superior court to contest it, seeking one-tenth of Henry Chester's estate — a good sum, since the estate totaled about $100,000 in real and personal property (and that's in 1913 dollars). According to the Hobart News, another plaintiff party to the suit was Martin Stroman, the son of Mrs. Etta Wood, who was the daughter of Henry Chester. This is the first I've heard of Henry's having a daughter named Etta, and I can find no mention of her in the census, Henry's biographical profile or any of the newspapers I've read thus far.

The News stated that Henry had made the will early in 1910. As we know, at that time he was already in failing health. William's suit alleged that the will was invalid because Henry had been "of unsound mind, and because the instrument was unduly executed and was procured by undue influence."

The suit was dismissed by the Lake County superior court on the grounds that the county circuit court (which had probated the will) had exclusive jurisdiction. William appealed that decision all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court, which in 1915 decided against him.

I don't know whether William ever got anything. On December 26, 1913, the Gazette announced: "The Henry Chester heirs on Wednesday satisfactorily closed the settlement of their remaining real estate interests and each received his and her respective share." That William was still appealing in 1915 suggests that the other heirs did not choose to allow him any part of the estate.

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Since Henry Chester's death, Chester news has been dominated by Jerome's antics. Let's look at what was going on among the more respectable Chesters.

In March 1911, the widowed Lovisa Nelson, who had been living in Chicago, rented a farm north of Ainsworth from her brother, Charles Chester. She moved her children there and operated the farm on shares. A couple years later, she bought out Charles' interest in the stock and equipment, thereafter operating the farm for herself and paying cash rent.

In the autumn of 1911, James Chester gave up farming. He rented out his farm, which sat along the county line north of Deep River; he sold off his livestock, wagons and farming equipment (along with 965 shocks of corn), and moved with his wife, Effie, to Water Street in Hobart. To the 1920 census taker, he would describe himself as a buyer and seller of stock (livestock, probably).

In May 1913, Charles and James bought out all the real estate holdings of their stepbrother John, consisting of 89 acres "east of the old homestead" as well as an interest in the original estate. I am not sure how John occupied himself after that. He apparently ran a feed mill at Ainsworth for a while, but Earl Blachly took over that in December. John also seems to have continued doing some farm work — in October he managed to get himself run over by a hay press, fortunately escaping without serious injury. ("John must have fallen asleep," joked the News. I have yet to account for the physical injuries described on John's World War I draft card.). John and Emma suffered a tragedy in September 1913 with the loss of their infant son, Otto.

Charles and Constance Chester continued farming. I get the impression that they were comfortable financially, and they seem to have recovered enough from the loss of their little daughter and infant son to be able to enjoy life. In August 1913 they set out in company with Sam Faulkner and his wife, Dr. Clara Faulkner, Mary Kipp and Bessie Banks on an extended auto tour to the east coast, Charles driving a Winton Six. Over three weeks they traveled to Niagara Falls, New York and other cities, and returned through the mountains of Pennsylvania — "a delightful trip."

Luella and Charles Olson remained in Fort Wayne, occasionally visiting back and forth with their Lake County relatives. Carrie and William Raschka were still pillars of the Ainsworth community.

And as for Mary E. Baird Chester, by November 1912 she had remarried. Her new husband was John A. McDaniel (or McDaniels; it appears both ways), and he is a mystery to me. I've not been able to find any record of the date or location of their marriage. Nor have I been able to find out where John came from or how they might have met.

Immediately after their marriage, they lived together in the old Chester house east of Ainsworth. In November 1913 they announced a public sale to be held there, at which they would sell "25 head of milch cows, a Holstein bull, 20 head of hogs, 10 head of work horses, 2,000 bushels of corn, about a hundred tons of baled hay, straw and fodder, farming tools and implements of every kind and nature, harnesses, gasoline engine, chickens and household and kitchen furniture." That sounded as if they intended to quit farming and move — and indeed, by August 1914 they were living on Devonshire Street in Hobart in a "large and commodious home."


(Click on image to enlarge)
Devonshire Street, from an undated postcard, but probably roughly the same era as the McDaniels' move. Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Such was the description used by the Gazette in reporting on a lavish wedding hosted in the McDaniels' home in August 1914. The bride was a Chicago relative of Mary's, the groom an assistant manager in the Chicago office of the Heinz Pickle Co. The Rev. W.A. Howard of the Congregational Church officiated.

Miss Tillie Kucaba, chief operator at the telephone exchange, appeared at the piano and during her skillful execution of Mendelssohn's march the wedding party … proceeded to the large bay window of the front room, the contracting couple standing beneath a [huge] bell covered on top with lilies of the valley and beneath with carnations and red roses. … The bride was handsomely gowned in white crepe de chine with [tulle] veil and carried a shower [bouquet] of white roses and lilies of the valley. … After the hearty congratulations by the guests, the wedding party autoed to the Naumann studio where several sittings were made. … A sumptuous wedding dinner served in courses was greatly enjoyed …. The evening was passed in social enjoyments and singing and later by dancing. The hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. McDaniel seemed unbounded and they proved charming entertainers throughout. The festivities continued late into the night and most of the out of town guests remained over Sunday.

It sounds splendid (although perhaps we should bear in mind that among the guests as A.J. Smith, the Gazette's editor). It also sounds to me quite a contrast to the seemingly harried life Mary had been leading over the last few years — what with her husband's increasing irritability, her sons' misbehavior, and the daily pressures of managing a large farm household that included numerous hired workers, not to mention that deluge of bereavement during the spring of 1910. When I said, back in May, that Mary would find consolation in a second marriage, I was speaking conventionally, but perhaps it was truer than I suspected.



Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 28 Mar. 1913; 9 May 1913; 26 Sept. 1913.
♦ "Big Wedding Celebration." Hobart Gazette 7 Aug. 1914.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 3 Mar. 1911; 8 Mar. 1912; 26 Dec. 1913.
♦ "Marchant et al. v. Olson et al." The Northeastern Reporter, Volume 110. St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1916.
♦ "Notice." Hobart Gazette 26 Dec. 1913.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 14 Nov. 1912; 21 Aug. 1913; 9 Oct. 1913.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart Gazette 27 Oct. 1911; 14 Nov. 1913.
♦ "Return From New York." Hobart Gazette 19 Sept. 1913.
♦ "The Henry Chester Estate Is In Court Once More." Hobart News 6 Nov. 1913.

The Costs of Justice, 1913

1913 JP fees
(Image courtesy of the Hobart History Society.)

I came across the above typewritten list in the docket book of A.B. Wyant, who was a Hobart Township justice of the peace in the late 1930s-early 1940s. In the various stories in this blog, when I say someone had to pay a fine plus costs, the latter would include some of this stuff.

Continuing on the topic of my vast ignorance, I have to admit that before I started this research, I never thought of a justice of the peace as doing anything but marrying people who didn't want a church ceremony. So it came as a surprise to me, as I began reading the old newspapers, that when someone thought someone else has wronged him or her, a justice of the peace would get involved.

From an 1878 book entitled The Statutes of the State of Indiana I find that justices of the peace had jurisdiction over actions in contract or tort where the debt or damage claimed was less than $100 (or $200 in cases of concurrent jurisdiction; and a defendant could confess judgment up to $300). Excepted from their jurisdiction were cases involving slander, malicious prosecution, land ownership, and where any party was related to the justice of the peace by blood or marriage. Matters not falling under a J.P.'s jurisdiction would go to the county circuit court.

(I didn't find in the 1878 book, nor am I otherwise at all clear, how and to what extent J.P.s got involved in criminal matters, so I'm not going to try to deal with that now.)

The J.P.'s court was a civil court on a small scale, somewhat like our small-claims courts except that parties could be represented by attorneys if they so chose. Someone would show up in the J.P.'s office and, under oath, would tell the J.P. how he believed the other party had wronged him. If the J.P. thought the alleged facts constituted a legal case, he would issue a summons, which he would give to a constable to serve upon the other party, either by reading it to him or by leaving a copy with him. The summons would tell the other party when to show up in the J.P.'s court for the case to be heard. (If the case involved a debtor who appeared to be about to flee, the J.P. could order his arrest.) The J.P. also had the power to subpoena witnesses.

The J.P. himself would try the case, unless either party requested a jury trial, in which case the J.P. would preside over the jury trial.

In the same docket book, I found what was probably a typical summons:
1940 Summons
(Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.)

And that's our legal lecture for today. Hope you enjoyed this edition of "The Blogger's Court."


Source: Davis, Edwin A., LL.B. (ed.). The Statutes of the State of Indiana. Indianapolis: Bingham & Co.; Merrill, Hubbard & Co., 1878.

Her Price Is Far Above Rubies

(Continued from part 3)

Actually, Fred had a plan for coming up with much more than $2,000, and I suspect that's why he apparently contested the divorce: he wanted to paint himself as an injured but still-loving husband because he had filed an alienation-of-affection lawsuit against Jerome Chester, seeking $10,000 in damages.

Now, $10,000 seems a high price to put on the affection of a woman who bestowed it so freely, but Fred probably figured Jerome could afford it, and when would another such money-making opportunity present itself?

The complaint Fred filed with the court stated that the affair between Jerome and Anna had begun as early as 1909. If Fred was informed at that time about Anna's behavior, it's astonishing he did nothing for so long. More likely, I think, is that investigation by law enforcement and his attorney brought out more details than Fred had previously known.

It was through this complaint that we learn of Jerome's courtship of his neighbor's wife — about the visits to the Yager house when Fred was away, about the walks in the woods, the buggy rides, the dances and shows. But the complaint got even more explicit, stating that "on or about the 1st of May, 1909, and on divers other times at the house of the plaintiff and on the 20th of May, 1911, at the Franklin Hotel, Valparaiso, and elsewhere, [Jerome Chester] wrongfully and carnally knew the said Anna Yager."

Fred's suit against Jerome and Anna's suit against Fred were both scheduled for hearing during the autumn term of court at Crown Point.

The first to come up was Anna's divorce case, in December 1911. The court devoted two days to hearing arguments and evidence, but — alas for the gossip-loving blogger! — the Gazette reported only the final decision: Anna's petition was denied. She left the courtroom as she had entered it, the legal wife of Fred Yager. Whether he still wanted her, I don't know, but at least he was off the hook for the $2,000 alimony she'd requested.

And even more sadly for the gossip-loving blogger, Fred's suit against Jerome never came up for hearing. The two men settled out of court, with Jerome reportedly paying Fred $2,000 — a nice sum for a working man, about $44,000 in today's dollars. So Fred definitely came out the winner in the whole mess, ending up with the furniture, the paycheck, the $2,000 … and the wife.

That seems to be the end of the reports, so far, but it's not the end of the story. The 1920 census shows Fred divorced and living alone on his little farm, and Jerome living in Chicago, married to a woman not named Anna. I hope the newspapers will tell me how they reached their respective conditions — and perhaps even what became of Anna, although I have little hope of that.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ CPI Inflation Calculator.
♦ "Divorce Is Refused." Hobart Gazette 1 Dec. 1911.
♦ "Get Big Damages." Hobart Gazette 16 Feb. 1912.

The Hurlburt Family

Let us now speak briefly of the Hurlburts. It will have to be briefly, because I don't know a lot about them. Unlike the Chesters and the Raschkas (of whom more later), the Hurlburt name generally appeared in the newspapers only in connection with such respectable activities as buying real estate, selling farm equipment, and dying from natural causes. The one exception was more amusing than scandalous, as we shall see.

The Hurlburt name shows up all over the Ainsworth area in the 1939 plat book:


(Click on image to enlarge)

From the bottom up, we see Milan Hurlburt holding a parcel of 70 acres (outlined in green), while C.S. and S.M. Hurlburt hold an adjacent parcel of 140 acres (outlined in pink). Further north, at the northeast corner of the Lincoln Highway and State Road 51, Jacob and Augusta A. Hurlburt hold 77 acres (outlined in yellow), where they ran a dairy farm.

Milan (or Milon; we encounter both spellings) was, I believe, a son of the pioneer Jacob Hurlburt who gave his name to the village of Hurlburt, which shows up in tiresome abundance in the newspaper archives when you are trying to find out something about the Ainsworth Hurlburts.

Milan was born in 1849. His 24th year must have been very happy for him: he married Mary Ann Guernsey, and bought a chunk of land in Section 29, Range 7 — probably part of the land we see him holding in 1939.

Milan was the father of Jacob (born 1874). I believe the "C.S." is Milan's other son, Chester (born 1880), and the "S.M." Chester's wife, Sidney. Milan also had a daughter, Jennie (born 1877), who became Mrs. Charles Stevens of Hobart. [Update — It was not Jennie but her sister Ethel who married Charles Stevens; see post of Nov. 25, 2013.]

Jacob and Augusta married around 1900. By 1906, they owned land in Ainsworth. By 1909 they had a son, Vernon, and around 1911 another son, Emery.

All the Hurlburts seem to have lived quiet and peaceful lives, and their sorrows, if any, were private — until 1932, when a family discord brought their name into the Vidette-Messenger.

82 YEAR OLD MAN CONVINCES JUDGE HE IS ALL RIGHT
CROWN POINT, Ind., June 1 — An 82-year-old defendant, represented by an 83-year-old attorney, soon convinced Judge E. Miles Norton that he still is mentally qualified to handle his own business affairs.

The octogenarian, Milan Hurlburt, owner of a 210 acre farm near Deep River, was termed mentally incompetent by his son, Jacob Hurlburt, who sought to have a [guardian] appointed for his father after the latter had tried to sell a part of his property.

* * *
He took the stand in his own defense. Attorney George Hershman, of Crown Point, representing the son, started to question him.

"How much money have you now?" Hershman asked the aged witness.

Hurlburt reflected a moment.

"Wa-a-ll," finally drawled the old man, in a firm voice, "there ain't anybody got very much now, and besides, it ain't proper to tell how much you have — it all depends on the crowd you're in."

Judge Norton looked up appreciatively.

"There's nothing wrong with your mind," he said. ["]Case is dismissed."

The 1939 plat book shows a 210-acre parcel divided between Milan and Chester, the good son. That may have been the proposed sale to which Jacob objected.

No further troubles came to light. Per a cite-less family tree I found on Ancestry.com, Milan died in 1936.

Jacob and Augusta remained in Ainsworth all their lives. After Jacob died in 1945, his sons, Vernon and Emery, continued farming his land. Augusta died in 1957. Vernon died in 1966, survived by his wife, Alice; two children; and his brother.

Two years later Uncle Chester died; I know nothing of Sidney, or their children, if any.

Emery quit farming in 1970 and sold all of his farm equipment at auction; in 1972 he and his wife announced they were moving and auctioned off all of their household goods. Emery died in 1990.


Sources:
♦ Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census; 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
♦ ———, Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.
♦ ———, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.
♦ ———, U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. National Archives and Records Administration Branch locations: National Archives and Records Administration Region Branches.
♦ Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), Jun. 28, 1906.
♦ Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), Jun. 1, 1932; Dec. 17, 1945; Oct. 8, 1957; Nov. 7, 1966; Mar. 22, 1968; Nov. 19, 1970; Aug. 10, 1972.
♦ Weston, Arthur Goodspeed, Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical (Chicago: F.A. Battey & Co., 1882).