Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-01-16
A MYSTERIOUS CASE
A Charlton Business Man Cannot
Be Found.
HAS BEEN GONE FOR ABOUT A WEEK
Takes Wife on Visit to Her Mother,
Takes Jaunt on His Own Account
and Fails to Return-switchman Is
Killed.

Takes Jaunt on His Own Account
and Fails to Return--SWitchman Is
Killed.
Charlton, Jan. 13.-V. V. Shular, of
the grocery firm of Shular & Son,
mysteriously disappeared almost a
week ago and nothing has since been
heard of his whereabouts. He and his
wife were invited out for dinner and
he told her to remain with her moth
er over night as he was going to In
dianola and would not be back until
the next day. When Mrs. Shular re-
turned home in the morning she was
surprised to find all his clothing gone
and net a word from him. She began
an inquiry and found that he had TAX
en- all his insurance and other private
papers which he kept in the safe at
the store with him and that he had not
gone to Indianola but had gone west.
No cause can be assigned for his sud
den and mysterious disappearance as
his domestic relations seemed to be
the most cordial and his business af-
fairs in good shape. 1t is not known
whether he had any money with him
or not at the time of his departure.
Last fall he desired to go to Canada
to locate and gave it up on account Of
his wife and baby and it is thought by.
many that he has again been possess
ed of the Canada fever and will be
heard from in that section all right Ia
ter. While others advance the idea
that he was mentally unbalanced and
wandered away Efforts have been
made to trace him without results.
Switchrnan Killed.
John V. Mcneil a switchman in
the Charlton yards lost his life while
at work early Saturday morning. Just
how the accident happened is not pos
itively known but the superstition is
that he fell or was knocked off the
top of a box car and struck mis- head
on tie. He was last seen alive on
the end of a string of cars which they
were switching on No. 1 track near
where his dead body with his skull
crushed was found lying in pool of
blood. The fact that he was bruised
no place but the head and that he had
not been run over by the cars sustain
this theory. Mr.. Mcneil was about
thirty years old and had been switch
ing but about ten days, having been
formerly a passenger brakeman on the
Charlton and st. Joseph branch. He
was the son of Attorney Mcneil of In
dianoia and leaves wife who is sick
at home and whom he had been down
to attend to only about an hour before
the accident. He was jovial, pleasant
young man and had made many friends
who will mourn his untimely end. The
remains were taken to his old home in
Indianola for burial.
Assessors Meet.
The assessors of Lucas county met
in the court house Saturday afternoon
! in pursuance to the call issued by
County Auditor Becker There are
sixteen assessors in the county and
everyone was present The county
auditor read their instructions from
the, executive council of the state ex-
planning their duties and responsible
ties and made clear some disputed
fxSthe valuation of personal property
to be assessed throughout the county.
The assessors present were: J. G. Tay,
Tor, G. w. Evans, D. E. Daniels, A. F.
Williams, W. H. Elliott, A. R. Boyd,
". L.. f" Sl ", W. "A. oCONliiS, u. w. 4NOl
man, J. NJ. Minskell, G. A. Linstrom,
John Robinson, E, E. Loyachan, ]. Y.
Foster, S. B. Swift, S. D. Roddy.
Suffers With Broken Toes.
Harry Day of Lincoln township is
walking with decided limp from a
very sore foot which may cause him
much trouble. Some days ago he was
putting up ice and in some manner
the tongs slipped while he was carry.
ing a large chunk of ice of about $50
pounds and let it fall on his foot with
sufficient force to mash two of his
toes. To make the injury worse one
of the toes was recovering from a
former injury which had almost taken
the nail off.
County Funds in Good Shape.
Auditor ]. o. Becker has just com
plered his annual report to the board
of supervisors and it shows the coun
ty to be in better shape than at any
previous year in its history. The fees
collected by his Office are larger thar
yided as follows: For transfers
$257.25; redemptions, STATS; and mis-
cellaneous fees, $3S. The report shows
balance on hands in every fund OF
the county save the insane fund which
was fully used up until the sale OF
some bonds since the report was made
which now leaves balance there. The
county fund in which most of the tax