An Exhibition of Ladies’ Limbs. . .

Friday, April 15th, 1881

The editor hoped the groundhog would never live to see his shadow again! Sunday was Easter and every little boy and girl in the land wanted to celebrate the time-honored event by having eggs colored in divers pretty colors. They would make it a point to celebrate the event by eating all the eggs they could. The editor remembered when he was a boy how fondly he looked forward to Easter as a day of rare sport and pleasure, and a hearty feast of eggs which were relished more on account of being colored some pretty hue.

The O&M depot in Lawrenceville was for sale; it being the intention of the O&M and D&SW to build a union depot at the junction of the two roads during the coming spring. Charlie Young succeeded in bagging 47 snipe on Allison Prairie. JA Crews had the only Percheron Norman stallion in Lawrence County at his residence South of town.

Some contemptible sneak thief broke into the residence of JK Dickerson Friday night and carried off about $50.00 worth of silverware, clothing etcetera. Ed Tracy engaged the services of Henry Moses of Vincennes, a first-class tinner, who would occupy the room formerly used for years by the post office as a tin shop this season. Another blacksmith has mysteriously disappeared. Henry Lacoste had been missing since Saturday and the anxiety of many increases tenfold each day of his absence. (In all probability he will be found somewhere accidentally shot in the neck.)

Sam Burgess, an O&M freight conductor, met with a distressing accident at Sandoval April 6th by which he lost a leg and received other injuries internally. Sam was a good conductor and was generally esteemed for the traveling public; he resided at Sumner. LH Broker of Duncanville Illinois has moved into the residence formerly occupied by ME Barnes and Intended to engage in wagon making as soon as a shop could be secured suitable for his business.  BL Cunningham moved his family to his farm 6 miles southeast of summer where he planned to engage in agricultural pursuits this season.  

A peculiar disposition to fight seems to have invaded the precincts of Sumner.  Last Wednesday Harry French was shot by Barnett Shoup and Kife Smith received several blows over the head with the poker in the hands of a young man by the name of Kendrics. French, the editor understood, was not seriously hurt and Smith would recover with a few scars over his pate. Sumner ‘tanglefoot’ is the cause of the racket. (‘Tanglefoot’= liquor)

Our place was visited by Deputy United States Marshall McCord, and for some time it was a matter of conjecture as to the purpose of his visit, but soon all was made clear by an explanation. His visit was for the arrest of James Haynes and James Carlyle, two citizens of Frog Eye (that’s them Lukin folks), charged with violating the revenue law by the sale of tobacco and liquor. They were given a hearing at Springfield Tuesday before the United States Commissioner that resulted in the honorable acquittal of both. There was no evidence in the charges brought against them in which to make a case, and McCord did the handsome thing by making them witness against each other thus entitling them to mileage and fees as witnesses sufficient for all expenses of railroad fare and a surplus $5.00 bill apiece.  The informant was believed to be a former section boss on the O&M railroad, and it was thought to be ‘spite work’.  The men arrived home Tuesday evening.

(Readers, this wedding was mentioned several times in both the Lawrenceville and Vincennes papers so I will print it here. Perhpas your ancestors attended?)  The long-awaited wedding of GJ Borden, our livery man, to Miss Laura Jones of Bond Township took place last Tuesday evening at the residence of the bride’s brother 5 miles South of Lawrenceville. Notwithstanding the very disagreeable weather, the almost impassable condition of the roads, by 6:00 the buggies and carriages began to roll up and by 7:30 the house seemed to be alive with human beings. The next 30 minutes were devoted to adjusting ties, fixing bangs, applying powder, by the girls I mean, each one endeavoring to look their prettiest. At 8:00 the bride and groom were ushered into the parlor where the marriage ceremony was performed by Reverend Hennessy and the happy couple were pronounced man and wife.

The bride was tastefully arrayed in blue mull, with a long square train, trimmed in point lace with orange blossoms and pearls. For the groom one can only say that he was very nicely dressed and with the exception of a slight loss of color in his face looked very natural. Next came the relatives and friends with their ‘much joy’, ‘best wishes’, ‘allow me to congratulate’, etcetera etcetera, during which time the bride and groom were seated near the middle of the room. The names being called, a procession was formed, headed by Reverend Hennessy and Miss Rose Tolls who steered directly for the dining room, where we found a table loaded with everything a person could well think of. We are at a loss to picture the scene.  To say that the supper was splendid would be indeed very tame, and we can only refer you to our friend K P Synder for a complete bill of fare. Any of our young friends contemplating matrimony, will do well to secure the services of Miss Maggie, to arrange the supper, and we will vouch for it being a success in every particular.

Among the guests present were Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury, Fritchey, Hollingsworth, Ham Jones, Houston, Mrs. Higgins, Miss Chenoweth, Hennessy, Waters, Tolls, Abernathy, Pinkstaff, Dollahan, Blackburn, Freeman Plummer, Watts, Snyder, Meserve Calvert, Hennessy, Blackburn, Went Dollahan, Elmer Dollahan, Ed Dollahan, Will Dollahan, Jim Roberts, Carey Roberts, Pikstaff, Haywith, Lewis, Allen, and Robinson. The newspaper editor returned thanks for the bountiful supply of delicious cake with the hope that the relations of the happy couple through this transitory life may ever be as delightfully sweet and happy as the wedding cake was good.

Deaths: Joseph B Garung of Lawrence Township, April 4, aged 32 years; Mary Ellen Stephens of Christy Township, March 27, aged 35 year. The little adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. JW McCleave died Monday evening and was to be buried in Lawrenceville cemetery.

Sand Barrens: Their school closed for the term, April 1. The Good Templars of St Francisville gave a supper in their Lodge room.

Charlottsville:  AF Highsmith purchased two dozen duck eggs and would go into the poultry business. The voters of Bond and Petty townships voted to build a bridge near Charlottesville.  

Sumner: Mr. Westall, a blacksmith, planned to build a new shop on the north side of the railroad where the old barracks formerly stood. The postmaster was having the post office enlarged and 60 more new boxes besides 20 new lock boxes would be placed within.

Russellville: Miss Bessie Patrick taught school at Danville Indiana. Joseph Albertson died of dropsy of the heart.  

There were several articles in both the Lawrenceville and Vincennes newspapers about the fashion styles for the spring. The Vincennes editor was quite upset and remarked that he was no prude but surely the scanty costumes of ladies were going beyond the boundaries of decency. “We shall soon have them naked and not ashamed. The modern ballroom offers simply an exhibition of ladies’ limbs. Formally, when a lady was of so generous a disposition as to be anxious to expose her charms to general observation, all she could do was to cut her dress lower than those of her neighbors, but now she is able to go beyond this. She can dispose altogether with sleeves, and exhibit to the admiring gaze of all men the vaccination marks of her infancy. In addition to this, her very low tight dress very much tied back, which impedes the freedom of her movements and defines the shape of her lower limbs as closely as a bathing dress. She has to drag behind her a long train of drapery and runs the risk of coming to grief with her high heeled boots.”  Shameful…..just disgraceful...