These century-old historical excerpts were selected from the Looking Backward feature of The Vidette-Messenger newspaper, which are part of the PoCo Muse Collection. Originally, these bits of information appeared as larger stories in the Valparaiso Daily Vidette and The Evening Messenger newspapers.
September 1, 1926
George W. Stimpson, a student at Valparaiso University from 1916 to 1921, and now associate editor of the “Pathfinder,” published at Washington, D.C., is visiting in Valparaiso for a few days. He is on his way to Kentucky, where he plans to write a series of articles for his publication on the natural and historical points of interest in that state. He recalled that while a student here he served as editor of several university publications, including “The Torch.” Stimpson belongs to the National Press Club at Washington and is well acquainted with Congressman Maurice E. Crumpacker, of Oregon, formerly of Valparaiso.
C. W. Boucher, veteran superintendent of Valparaiso’s city schools, this morning had the privilege and pleasure of introducing a former student of his—now head of Indiana’s public school system—to the teachers of Porter County gathered at Memorial Opera House for the third day’s session of the annual institute. Dr. Henry N. Sherwood, state superintendent of public instruction, was the man introduced, and Boucher recalled the day many years ago when, as head of the Marion Normal School, he received Henry N. Sherwood as a student under his charge. He briefly outlined Dr. Sherwood’s brilliant career during the following years and termed him one of the ablest public-school administrators in the United States.
September 2, 1926
Frank A. LePell and Son, funeral directors, are today moving from 357 South Franklin Avenue to 53 West Monroe Street in Valparaiso. The property on Monroe Street was purchased several months ago by LePell from Nellie Wilson, and since that time many improvements have been made. The lower floor has been transformed into a modern funeral home, while the second floor is to be used as a residence by LePell and family.
Between seventy-five and one-hundred members of the Valparaiso Lodge of Elks left Valparaiso this morning for Elkhart to attend the state convention of Elks and take part in the parade this afternoon. Thirty-five ladies, members of the Vivian Society, are also attending the convention.
September 3, 1926
Another bit of warning of what will happen to the Porter County dairy industry should the proposed “restricted area” plan for cattle tuberculosis eradication and control under a federal tester be turned down was given today when County Agent A. Z. Arehart received a letter from Yore Brothers’ Dairy of Chicago stating that information had reached them that there was some doubt about the appropriation for Porter County to carry on the T.B. test, and asserting that if it failed to go through it would be very bad for Porter County farmers. The Chicago firm stated it was receiving milk from 100 farms in Porter County and had arranged to take milk from twenty more. However, unless the county obtains the appropriation and keeps up its T.B. testing, the Yore firm said it would have to obtain milk from other counties where T.B. testing was in force.
Ben Fitch, of Detroit, Mich., a salesman for the Chicago Mica Company and Fibroc Insulation Company, was one of the nine killed in the interurban train wreck yesterday afternoon one mile north of Monroe, Mich., according to a telegram received here this morning by officials. Fitch was quite well known in Valparaiso and was a business visitor in this city only last week. For the past two years, Fitch has been in charge of the Michigan territory for the local concern.
September 4, 1926
Valparaiso University is and steadfastly has been opposed to the routing of State Road 2 over East Main Street as demanded by the Indiana State Highway Commission. Instead, university executives favor the routing over Garfield Avenue at LaPorte as desired by the Spooner administration. This surprising disclosure was made before the “closed conference” session of the city council held Friday evening at Valparaiso City Hall at the call of Mayor W. F. Spooner to make final consideration of the state highway commission’s ultimatum sent through Manager Sutter of the Chamber of Commerce that it was “East Main Street or nothing.”
Failure to have his fishing license with him has caused Prosecutor W. W. Bozarth much embarrassment. He was taken in tow last Sunday near Leiter’s Ford by deputy game wardens for fishing without a license. Friday he appeared in court at Rochester, and the case was certified to the Fulton County Circuit Court for trial in October.
September 5, 1926
According to a Gary report, Judge H. H. Loring of Valparaiso is assisting Tom Cannon, veteran Gary newspaper writer, in the compilation of the northern Indiana and Calumet district history. The work is outlined on broad lines, taking in everything vital from the Indian occupancy, with a historical narrative of the industrial growth of this region from the primitive industries to the present. The war work in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties will be recalled in the volume. It is estimated the publication will take place in about eight months.
September 6, 1926
Herd owners opposed to the $5,000 appropriation for the services of a federal veterinarian to test cattle in Porter County for tuberculosis have retained Attorney D. E. Kelly to represent them in an attack to be made before the Porter County Commissioners today on the contract that has served to carry on testing work in the county since 1922. This contract was drawn between the Porter County Farm Bureau and the state veterinarian, by which Porter County was to be given the services of a state veterinarian at a salary of $4,200 per year and mileage charge until the county was free from the infection. It is said that Attorney Kelly will demand observance of the existing contract and argue against centralization of authority in the state and federal veterinarian forces. This county is said to be ninety-one percent T.B. tested, and report is that the necessary 800 signatures have been received to make the proper demand on the county authorities for adoption of the new “restricted area” plan.
September 7, 1926
Another switch was taken in Chesterton’s celebrated election tangle, involving the seats of two town board members, Charles S. Kline and Arthur J. Rader, when Judge E. Miles Norton, of Lake Circuit Court at Crown Point, granted a change of venue to the contestees to the Jasper County Circuit Court at Rensselaer. The motion was filed by Attorney Charles W. Jensen, counsel for Kline and Rader. The case, brought by William Lundberg and Hyes Fisher, defeated candidates, has been in the courts for the last three months. They alleged that illegal votes were cast in the election. In a recount directed by Judge H. H. Loring in Porter Circuit Court, a number of votes were thrown out, but not sufficient to alter the election.
September 8, 1926
Porter County Farm Bureau-Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce joint measure passed today while another was placed in shadow of doubt. The Board of County Commissioners formally received the petition of some 200 taxpayers requesting that the issue of a county hospital be voted upon in the fall election. In the other, the county council heard proponents and opponents of the plan to establish the “restricted area” of tuberculosis control and eradication in Porter County. Opponents of the program, directed by Attorney D. E. Kelly, attacked the petitions signed by 874 owners of cattle on the ground that some 90 names were claimed to be invalid. Some did not represent cattle owners, some had signed twice, and others were nonresidents. The petitions were subjected to close scrutiny to determine if sufficient names were on the petitions to warrant the council in approving the $3,500 appropriation asked.
September 9, 1926
James O. Cox, owner of Beulah Heights Addition, in the north part of Valparaiso, has announced he will donate a site for the location of the proposed new county hospital if it is built. Meeting with the hospital committee today, Cox made his offer of a free site in the vicinity of his subdivision. He proposed the committee make its own selection. An opportunity for voters to express their opinion on the county hospital issue was given Wednesday when the county commissioners received and approved as legal the petition circulated by the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce and Porter County Farm Bureau asking that the voters be allowed to pass upon the question of appropriating a sum not to exceed $100,000, to be raised by taxation over a period of ten years, for the building of a hospital.
Bailiff E. M. Burns, of Porter Circuit Court, veteran of Civil War service, proved his war training today when he halted a fistfight between Ora L. Wildermuth and Harold Stiles, Gary attorneys. The battle was the outgrowth of bitter feelings engendered between the attorneys by reason of issues being made up before Judge H. H. Loring in the case involving the disbarment of Stiles on a charge of selling answers to questions submitted to applicants for bar admission to the Lake County bar last spring.
September 10, 1926
Declaring that it is “most unfortunate” that, due to misunderstanding of the situation, Porter County cattle owners stand divided in the face of what may result in a financially distressing situation, Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce officials today called attention to the much-overlooked and misinterpreted facts involved in the issue which must be decided at once—as to whether or not Porter County dairymen desire to retain their Chicago markets for milk and dairy supplies or are willing to give them up. This, according to Manager Sutter, of the Chamber of Commerce, is the one issue of immediate importance in the squabble over the adoption here of the “restricted area” plan of fighting and wiping out cattle tuberculosis. Opponents of the plan whereby a federal inspector is to be engaged at a salary of $3,500 for Porter County inspection service have many arguments against the program, which was temporarily set aside Wednesday by the county commissioners when petitions submitted by the tuberculosis adherents lacked sufficient signatures.
Angela Kelly returned home this morning from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, where she attended the seventh annual biennial convention of the International Federation of Catholic Alumnae. The South Bend Tribune of Thursday carried photographs of active federation members, among whom was Kelly, who served as governor of the Indiana chapter in 1919.
September 11, 1926
A Porter County jury early last evening, after deliberating for four hours on the issue involved in the proceedings brought by the Lake County Bar Association to disbar Attorney Harold Stiles, Valparaiso law school graduate, now a practicing attorney in Gary, because of alleged illegal conduct in selling answers to a bar examination test to those seeking admission, set at naught the first attempt made in this action to tighten up on the conduct of attorneys. The verdict of the jury was not guilty. The case was brilliantly fought by some of the leading lawyers of Lake County. Contending that Stiles should be disbarred from practice were Otto Bruce and George E. Hershman. Defending Stiles was Frank Gavit, veteran Hammond legal light, who asserted that even if his client violated professional ethics in not observing the limitations placed upon him as a “sworn friend of the court” under whose direction the examination in question was conducted, still he was not chargeable with any legal offense because any court order directing an educational test of applicants to the bar was unconstitutional and that it is no crime to violate an unconstitutional order.
September 12, 1926
A summary of the Porter County Cow Testing Association for the month of August shows the herd of Charles Koeppen to top the list with an average production of 30.84 pounds of butterfat. This was made on pasture, silage, alfalfa, and grain. Owen Kenworthy’s herd is in second place again with an average of 25.94 pounds of butterfat. Frank Fifield’s cow takes high honors with 55.4 pounds of fat, and Edward Anderson’s cow moves up to second place with 51.1 pounds. Hot weather, shortage of pasture, and flies caused a sharp drop in milk production of most herds, accompanied by a fall in average tests of one to five points, according to T. M. Miller, tester.
September 13, 1926
Reports from opposing factions in the restricted area-county cattle tuberculosis inspection appropriation were that its advocates, still smarting under the setback received last Wednesday when the petitions were withdrawn because it was found that they were not sufficient to make the required 51 percent total, are going to await the time they have a large margin of signers before again presenting their case before the county council, which will meet at the call of S. C. Billings, president. From the camp of the remonstrators, who met with Dr. A. M. Jacoby, the special inspector now on duty in Porter County, they are now satisfied that conditions require the county unit system and will not further contest the proposed project. It is probable that the new petitions will be ready for the county council’s inspection by next Monday.
September 14, 1926
Frank McErlane, notorious Chicago gangster, charged with the slaying of Attorney Thad S. Fancher, of Crown Point, in the Halfway House holdup near Cedar Lake in 1924, was turned over to Sheriff W. B. Forney yesterday by Lake County authorities. McErlane was granted a change of venue to Porter County. A sensation developed today when it was announced that Vincent McErlane, younger brother of Frank, had been arrested in Chicago as a suspect in the roundup being made to solve the $132,000 robbery last Friday of a Grand Trunk mail car. It is hinted the robbery was executed by young McErlane and other members of the gang to raise funds to defend their leader, Frank, now safely lodged in Michigan City prison awaiting call of his case to trial in the local court.
Plans for a big Boy Scout leaders’ training course were made this noon by the training committee of the Potawatomi Council at the Rumely Hotel, LaPorte. Dr. H. H. Martin, of LaPorte, is area chairman. Valparaiso was represented by W. C. Sutter and Michigan City by A. T. Gill. A Scout executive course to extend over a period of six weeks was outlined by E. O. Moyer. Plans are being made to give Valparaiso two new troops and to organize similar troops in Chesterton, Kouts, Hebron, and Boone Grove.
September 15, 1926
Valparaiso now has a chicken hatchery. The Geneva Hatchery Company is now installed in the old Nokomis restaurant building at 557 South College Avenue, with the hatchery occupying the entire main floor. J. D. Claudon is manager, and the capacity of the hatchery is 45,000 eggs. The incubators are of the new improved type and heated by electricity. The Geneva Hatchery Company was induced to locate here through the efforts of the Porter County Poultry Association and the Porter County Farm Bureau.
Mayor William F. Spooner today affixed his signature to the new celebrated order of the city council directing him to enter into a contract with the state highway commission for the construction of an eighteen-inch cement pavement on East Main Street to form the city’s eastern approach and exit on State Road 2 under the new routing plan. The chief executive has delayed signing the order pending receipt from state highway officials of an explanation of why it was that after the city had protested the East Main Street route and sent a committee composed of City Attorney William Daly and City Engineer A. R. Putnam to offer the Garfield Avenue junction point, they failed to come here for a conference.
September 16, 1926
Seferino Hermandez, aged Kouts sugar beet plantation Mexican charged with criminal assault on 15-year-old Anna Ordiz, daughter of Narcisto Ordiz, a fellow plantation worker, was acquitted by a jury in Porter Circuit Court last night. One of Hermandez’s defense witnesses, a girl who slept in the same room with Anna the night of the alleged attack, testified that the door of the room was locked. Hermandez, on the stand, said he was 97 years of age, but did not have a gray hair in his head. It is claimed that the case against Hermandez was filed by Ordiz for spite because of a truck deal between Hermandez and the girl’s father in which the latter is supposed to have received the worst of it.
Editorial note: The spellings of the names Seferino Hermandez, Anna Ordiz, and Narcisto Ordiz have been retained as they appeared in the newspaper, although no independent sources have been located to confirm their spellings.
W. F. Reinhart is in Chicago today attending a dinner and conference of the National Piano Technicians’ Association at the City Club. He will be the weekend guest of William Braid White, research engineer. Reinhart and White will visit the Yerkes Observatory to look through the big telescope.
September 17, 1926
Will Frank McErlane, Chicago gangster, beer baron and alleged killer, held for the murder of Attorney Thaddeus Fancher, of Crown Point, in a roadhouse tragedy nearly three years ago, enter a plea of guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the court when he faces trial for murder? This is the question that the prosecution, police officials, and others interested in the desperado’s conviction are asking themselves today. Before being taken to Michigan City prison for safekeeping, McErlane is reported to have told a newspaper reporter that he might as well plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the court, as the jig was up. McErlane is also said to have told an official that he was at the Halfway House at the time of the holdup but did not do the shooting. McErlane’s trial will be held in the Porter Superior Court.
Mabel Brummitt left for Detroit today on the first lap of a journey that is to take her around the world on a shopping expedition for the Oriental Gift Shop of Chicago. From Detroit, Brummitt goes to Washington, D.C., and will leave New York for England the last of the month. Brummitt returned from the Philippines in June, having been engaged in government service there for two years. Before returning home, she will visit China. The trip will take a year.
September 18, 1926
Valparaiso Boy Scouts are to be given an opportunity to compete with LaPorte and Michigan City Scouts in a hiking tournament, according to an announcement just made by the Potawatomi Council, which embraces the Scout organizations of the three cities. The troop hiking the greatest number of miles between October 1 and Thanksgiving Day will receive a prize. A prize will also be given to the troop hiking the next greatest distance.
Ernest Fehrman left this morning for Aurora, Ind., to visit his father, Charles H. Fehrman, after which he will leave for Colorado with a view of locating in the vicinity of Denver. Fehrman has been employed as linotype operator at the Evening Messenger office and is leaving for the West for the benefit of his health.
September 19, 1926
Alertness on the part of Police Officer Matthew Brown Saturday afternoon upset plans of escape formulated by Charles L. Schultz, age 60, of Chicago. This afternoon Schultz paid a fine of $100 and costs in LaPorte City Court, pleading guilty to having driven away from the scene of an accident in which he was the cause. Schultz was arrested at the corner of Lincolnway and Franklin in Valparaiso as he was headed for his home in Chicago. When his machine was searched, a small bottle of liquor was found. The victim of the mishap in which Schultz figured was W. Tibbs, of LaPorte. His machine was forced over the side of the road and upset because of the reckless driving of Schultz. Tibbs was badly injured. Schultz did not stop. Word was flashed to Valparaiso by LaPorte police, and Chief William Pennington and Policeman Brown drove to the east section of the city but found no trace of Schultz. Later Brown returned to traffic duty, and a short time later a truck came along Lincolnway, and Brown placed the driver under arrest.
Chesterton Boosters defeated Michigan City Sunday at Chesterton, 1 to 0, in an eleven-inning battle. Buck Weaver, former Chicago White Sox star, broke up a pitchers’ battle in the eleventh when he tripled to bring home the winning run. Ray Knight, of Gary, pitched for the Boosters. This was the first of a series of three games between the two teams.
September 20, 1926
Three hundred persons attended the auction sale of lots held at Beulah Heights subdivision in the north part of Valparaiso. The sale lasted three hours and was cried by Col. Fred Reppert, nationally known auctioneer, and his associate, Col. Earl Grattin. A number of lots were sold to bidders at their own prices. James O. Cox, owner of the subdivision, promoted the sale.
September 21, 1926
With enrollment continuing, the total checkup on attendance in the Valparaiso city schools indicates there are 1,555 boys and girls now registered. This figure is slightly higher than last year and is divided as follows: Senior High, 385; Junior High, 224; Columbia, 249; Gardner, 292; Banta, 282; Old Library, 38; Kindergarten, 95.
September 22, 1926
Directors of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, meeting in regular weekly session today, drew up a plan of campaign by which they hope to rally interest and support for the proposed county hospital during the coming weeks of the November election. It is understood speakers will be drafted to go into the various towns of the county and the rural sections as well and present the issue. They will explain the need of such an institution—its relatively small cost and the new law by which the annual operating expense is limited.
Rev. Guy C. Williams, new pastor of the Valparaiso Nazarene Church, and his family were welcomed to his new charge last night when members of the church gathered at the home of Daniel and Mary Rossl, 710 North Franklin Avenue. The Williams family has been in the city for the last two weeks. Rev. Williams is not new to Valparaiso, for he occupied the local pulpit on several occasions before his coming here. He succeeds Rev. C. E. Nyhart, who has been assigned to the South Bend church.
September 23, 1926
Washington Township High School won first prize in the annual high school exhibit at the Porter County Fair. Valparaiso High School was the winner of the prize offered in the contest between Valparaiso and Chesterton. The north end school failed to make a distinct high school exhibit, uniting its displays in one of the attractive booths at the Westchester Township exhibit. C. W. Boucher, superintendent of Valparaiso city schools, was in charge of the exhibits.
Hebron’s Main Street, which for the past few weeks has been a patch of mud and ruts, is today the finest thoroughfare in the county. The new stretch of concrete pavement has been completed, and a big “Y” has been constructed connecting the main roadway with the depot. The road is now known as State Road 53 and will connect with Lincoln Highway to the west and DeMotte to the south. Work is now being pushed on the south link.
September 24, 1926
Porter County’s forty-ninth annual fair and agricultural exposition gave way today under the persistent charging of the elements. Wind and rain Thursday, scheduled to be the high point of the entire week’s showing, spoiled Valparaiso Day and inflicted hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage to exhibits and merchants’ displays, and continued today, forcing the complete abandonment of the racing card. Only one full afternoon’s card was carried through, that of Wednesday. Thus fair week, which opened so promisingly on Tuesday and went through Wednesday with good weather, was wrecked on the rocks of adversity.
Bernice Bassett, daughter of the late Thomas J. Bassett, pastor of the Valparaiso M.E. Church, is a guest of Rev. Frank and Gertrude Briggs. Bassett, who formerly taught in the Wheeler and Chesterton schools, is now engaged in missionary work in Japan. She was in Tokyo when the disastrous earthquake visited that city several years ago. Attired in Japanese garb, Bassett will occupy the pulpit at the Methodist church with Rev. F. R. Briggs Sunday night and tell some interesting things connected with her work abroad.
September 25, 1926
Dunes State Park will contain approximately 2,200 acres of duneland with a lake frontage of three miles when the State Board of Conservation gets through with its purchase of land, according to Commissioner E. P. Gardner, chairman of the purchasing committee, and Richard Liever, director of the State Department of Conservation, who have just concluded a conference held in the park region. The state now has taken title to a little more than 1,000 acres of land, and the purchasing committee is making satisfactory progress in the purchase of the Wells tract of 975 acres, the commissioner said.
Either new fair buildings or no fair. This was the ultimatum sounded today by Valparaiso business leaders who took count of the cost of the “Fair Fizzle,” caused entirely by the fact that the Porter County Fair Association, having no display quarters, had to subject all exhibitors to the mercy of the elements, and they were unkindly. The ultimatum was sounded without bitterness, even with regret, for the business leaders, without exception, had gone into this week’s fair showing on the most enthusiastic and extensive scale in years. They were out-and-out fair boosters, and are yet—provided the fair is given a chance, and this means a new building program, nothing else and nothing less.
September 26, 1926
Anderson Creighton, Gary, who killed Arthur Stone as the result of an argument over a fifty-cent gambling debt, today paid dearly for his crime when, pleading guilty to a charge of second-degree murder before Judge H. H. Loring, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Attorney Louis Holland, of Gary, appeared for Creighton. The killing occurred on April 27 last when the two men met in a gambling house and began an argument over the debt. Both were intoxicated. Creighton claimed he acted in self-defense in striking Stone with a knife.
Valparaiso experienced a daylight holdup at 6 o’clock this morning when two dapper bandits held up Arthur Conley, attendant at the Standard Oil Company filling station at the corner of Lincolnway and Morgan. The men purchased gasoline, and when Conley went to the safe to change a $5 bill, the men followed. Sticking a gun into Conley’s ribs, one of the bandits helped himself to the contents of the safe, containing around $300. After binding and gagging Conley, the two men drove away. Two Valparaiso University students, one of whom had just arrived here over the Grand Trunk, heard Conley’s muffled cries and liberated him.
September 27, 1926
A jury in Porter Superior Court this evening returned a verdict upholding the Thaddeus Forbes will, involving a 173-acre farm at Coburg and other property. The action was brought by A. J. Forbes, brother of the decedent, on behalf of Ross Forbes and Ruby J. Forbes, and a sister, Martha Malone. The will passed the farm to Emma and Lois Pinney, sisters of the testator’s deceased wife. This farm is to revert to the heirs at law at the death of the Misses Pinney. Other bequests were made to relatives and $1,500 to the Valparaiso Baptist Church.
September 28, 1926
Members of the Princess Stock Company, a show troupe, were left stranded here Saturday night when their manager, Harry Mack, and his wife “skipped” out. Mack came to Valparaiso three weeks ago representing himself as the head of the Princess Stock Company and engaged Memorial Opera House. He put on his show for two nights but did not pay any expenditures incurred. Later he tried to stage a show at the Tivoli Theatre, but this fell through. He then gave several shows at the Moose Hall. One of the members of the company got wind of Mack’s previous operations, where he pulled the same stunt of skipping out at Danville, N.Y., and threatened to expose him. Mack became scared and left the city with his wife. A benefit dance will be given at the Moose Hall for the show troupe left behind.
September 29, 1926
A trio of booze sellers, taken in raids by Porter County officials over Labor Day, were given fines of $500 each and sentences of thirty days in the county jail at hearings held today before Judge H. L. Crumpacker in Porter Superior Court. This was the final act of the raids staged in north Porter County.
Meeting at Hotel Lembke last evening, officers and directors of Lincolndale Country Club held their first annual business session. Directors were selected as follows: Frank James and D. L. Mitchell, three years; Paul Marks and Charles Mack, two years; Dr. Orris Booth, Charles J. Jeffrey, and S. E. Shideler, one year. About thirty attended the session, which was preceded by a 6:30 chicken dinner.
September 30, 1926
The three watchmen who have been maintained on the Pennsylvania Railroad Franklin Avenue crossing in Valparaiso for a month in order that school children especially could familiarize themselves with the newly installed crossing protection, the flasher system, will be removed from their posts of duty Saturday, according to railroad officials. The Napoleon Street watchman, however, will remain, as he controls the flashers when an engine is standing in the yards with an immediate approach.
Porter County, in all probability, will be selected as one of the two Indiana units in which a ten weeks’ night school course in instruction in marketing, chiefly cooperative, will be given. This was the word brought back by County Agent A. Z. Arehart, who attended the district meeting of the Farm Bureau held at Knox Wednesday. A committee of three, including L. K. Wyckoff, of Porter County; County Agent O. W. Mansfield, of LaPorte County; and C. R. Benjamin, of Lake County, was appointed to make this recommendation to state Farm Bureau headquarters. The sessions are to open the week of October 5 and continue five nights each week for ten weeks.