I mentioned
a few weeks ago the name of H. H. Dodd and his contribution to Rensselaer history. There are no accounts of this in Rensselaer newspapers because the copies of those newspapers no longer exist. (I think a fire set to cover up some wrong doing was involved.) However, a couple of contemporary accounts in other newspapers survive. In those days papers did not pretend to be non-partisan. They took a side and proclaimed it. The first account is from the Plymouth Weekly Democrat published on Thursday, September 24, 1863. It is the same article that was published in The Indiana State Sentinel in Indianapolis on September 21, 1863. (Both were found on the Hoosier State Chronicles website.)
Blogger does not handle very long pictures correctly. I had to split this up to make it display in a readable form and even then it is not the way I wanted it. The original can be seen
here.
As far as I know, there never was a person named Wesley Spitler in Jasper County.
Next time, the Republican view and a view of the disturbance many years later.
I very much appreciate this blog posting of this important newspaper clipping. Just for the record, a Wesley Spitler did live in Newton, Rensselaer, Jasper, In., from around 1840 to 1870. He was my Gt-gr uncle, born (1811) in Page Co., Va. and died (1904) in Effingham Il. He was the older brother of George Spitler who (as you say in another blog)"was the first school teacher in Rensselaer and served several terms as county clerk". I hope this helps.
ReplyDelete