Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-07-03


rain in little more than an hour. But
it soon warmed up again. There was
more rain that night-about one-third
of an inch. The sun is shining this
"wednesday morning, but the indi-
cations are that the rain is not over.
The picnic held near Oates on last
Saturday vas not very largely attend
ed, but what was lacking in nambers
was made up by the igting proclivi-
ties of the crowd. Some six or seven
fights werein progress at m time,
and it was with the greatest difficulty
that serious trouble was averted. On
ly one man was injured sufficiently to
require the calling of a physician. DR..
Shy tells as that it required nine
stitches to close up a wound inflicted
in the face apparently by some blunt
instrument. Several arrests were
made that day and we understand that
Sheriff Parks is in that neighborhood
now with warrants for the arrest of
fifteen or twenty men.-Centerville
Outlook.
The formal opening of the base
ment rooms of the Presbyterian
Church, which occurred Thursday
evening of last week, was we'll pat
ronized. Eight ladies of the Cleaners
gave a play entitled ga Cup of Cot
fee," each one taking her part in a
satisfactory manner. Mrs. Kellogg
rendered a fine selection on the violin,
and a reading by Miss Kendall was
enjoyed by all. Rev. Mitchell made
a short talk, in which he praised the
ladies of the Cleaners for the persist
ent manner in which they have work
ed to secure the money to build the
basement, which will be a great addi-
tion to the church ediice, by giving
the ladies, especially the young people
of the congregation a place to hold
their meetings and entertainments.
Ice Cream and Cake were served, and
1921. 80 the receipts. The Cleaners
wish to thank the friends who so
generously donated, and turned out
to aid them.
Several days ago Mrs. Pearl Wright,
wife of Emery Wright, who lives in
the west end of Iron county, near
Warren's Store, came to I%ronton, and
told Prosecuting Attorney Damron a
horrible story, charging her father,
William L. Cox, who is also a resident
of the west end of the county, with in
cest. Mrs. Wright was married last
January and is now fifteen years of
age. She alleged that her father de-
bauched her when she was but eleven
years old. The Missouri statute de-
fines intercourse with a female under
fourteen years of age as rape and a
warrant was issued charging rape and
incest. The warrant was given to
Constable Ben Blanton to serve, who
arrested Cox at his home last Friday,
brought him to Ironton, and placed
him in Jail. Monday afternoon he
was arraigned before Justice Rasche
for a preliminary hearing, but the
prosecuting witness would not tes-
tify, vas plainly greatly distressed
and agitated, sobbed. and finally said
there was no truth lin the story she
had told Mr.. Damron. The defend
ant, of course, was Immediately dis
charged. 1t was a strange and most
unusual proceeding. Cox is a man
probably 55 years old. He has lived
in the county a long while and has a
large family. A number of his friends
and neighbors were in attendance on
the trial and most of them seemed to
be of the opinion that he was not
guilty of the damnable charge made
against him.
Monday morning about ten O'Clock,
as Helen Todd, the twelve-year-old
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. l.. G. Todd,
of st. Louis, who are spending the
summer on Arcadia Heights, was rid
ing a pony up the hill on the road that
leads east from the Ironton station,
she was overtaken by a nan on horse
back who made an improper proposal
to her. The child, not understanding
his meaning, stopped to talk to him;
then he caught hold of the girl; this
frightened her and she whipped her
pony and got away. Then she went to
the south intending to ride up the hill
on the road leading from that direc-
ton. AS she neared the top of the
hill the man on horseback suddenly
made his appearance in the road in
front of her, advanced toward her,
and again attempted to engage her in
conversation. The girl, now thor
oughly frightened, started back down
the hill. Fortunately, she soon met
an old negro whom she knew, and
started back up the hill, but no where
could she see the man who had stop
ped her. He had disappeared. When
the girl reached the hotel she told
her mother what had happened, and
Mrs. Todd at once telephoned the Of
ficials in Ironton, who, after a hurried
investigation, became convinced that
the offender was one Jack Usher, who
had been camping on Knob creek,
east of the Ironton station, with a
bunch of horse traders, for several
days. A warrant charging assault
with intent tn. rane WAS issned. but