Ruins of St. Margaret's Catholic Church, 1910 - Lake Station / East Gary, Indiana : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Ruins of St. Margaret's Catholic Church, 1910 - Lake Station / East Gary, Indiana / Shook Photos
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| 説明 | Ruins of Catholic ChurchEast Gary, IndianaDate: 1910Source Type: PostcardPublisher, Printer, Photographer: August F. Haase (#4)Postmark: July 20, 1910, East Gary, IndianaCollection: Steven R. ShookRemark: This Catholic church was referred to as Church of St. Margaret's, and occasionally as Church at Lake. It was established in 1861 with a membership of twenty families, and a property valuation of $2,000. The church was abandoned as early as 1908.The following article, which concerns this church, was published in the May 21, 1908, edition of The Chesterton Tribune:LAKE COUNTY OFFICERS DRAG WESTCHESTER MAN INTO GRAVE MYSTERYSheriff Carter and Assistants Say That Frank VanDeusen, Wellknown [sic] Nurseryman, Can Tell Something of How Young Girl’s Body Research Abandoned Grave in Cemetery at Lake Station.Henry VanKuren and Mrs. VanDeusen Are Also Sought by Officers -- They Are Working on the Theory that Body Found is that of Mildred Stewart -- VanDeusen Says Young Woman is Still Alive in Canadian Town.Story of Many Matrimonial Alliances of Mrs. VanDeusen -- The History of “St. Margaret’s Parish,” as Told by an Indianapolis News Man -- Tribune Locates the Parties Desired by the Lake County Officers.Through the caprices of fate the Lake Station grave mystery, involving the finding of the headless body of old Joe Schneider, an abandoned grave in the cemetery of St. Margaret’s parish, and the disintegrating body of a young woman, has been brought home to Chesterton, and as a result the whereabouts of Frank Van Deusen, the well known Westchester township nurseryman, is being sought with all possible diligence by Sheriff Carter and other police officers of Lake county. Fate has not only seen to connect Mr. Van Deusen’s name with the mystery that shook the little hamlet across the county line, but also involved in its meshes the divorced wife of the latter, her daughter, Mildred Stewart, and Henry Van Kuren, with whom Mrs. Van Deusen resided for years as his wife, but between whom the sacred vows of wedlock were never spoken, and as equally desirous of finding this trio is Mr. Van Deusen, are the Lake county officials.Today The Tribune proposes to not only divulge the present whereabouts of the principals of the supposed solution of the grave mystery, but also to explode the theory upon which the Lake county authorities promised to solve the mystery surrounding the graveyard enigma.More than a quarter of a century ago there resided in London, Ont., a comely young miss of 17 years by the name of Mary Hobbs. The girl was pretty of figure and fair of face and was considered the belle of her home community. Adjoining the property of her step-father was a well-to-do farmer of past middle age who, attracted by the grace and beauty of little Mary Mobbs [Hobbs?], sought her hand in marriage. The girl found not in the aged suitor the ideal sweetheart of her girlhood dreams, but a stern parent forced her into an unwilling matrimonial alliance with the aged man and in the due course of time she became Mrs. Stewart. One child was born to this union, a daughter, christened Mildred. Shortly after the child-wife became a mother the aged husband and father died and for three years Mrs. Stewart wore widow’s weeds.Eventually a man named Fletcher met, wooed and won the pretty young widow and by this marriage a son was born. The happiness of the little home had been completely restored when one day, a woman came to the Stewart home and claimed she was the wife of Stewart by a marriage of several years prior. Fletcher admitted the claim and escaped prosecution through the generosity of Mrs. Stewart, No. 2. His departure from the hearthstone in the little Ontario town followed the discovery of his duplicity. After a time the abandoned wife left London and went to Detroit where she secured a position in a hotel and where she met Henry Van Kuren. A warm friendship grew up between the two and resulted in their departure from Detroit some weeks later. All trace of the couple is obliterated after their departure from Detroit until their arrival at Lake Station about nine or ten years ago where they and their family, then consisting f five children, resided for several months. From Lake Station the family oved to Hobart where Frank Van Deusen was drawn into the kaleidoscopic matrimonial career of the former pretty little Mary Hobbs. Through being a neighbor of the Van Kuren family, Van Deusen became intimately acquainted with their relations which, at that time, were more or less tempestious [sic]. By that time the daughter, Mildred Stewart, had grown to be a beautiful young girl of 18 years. Upon being acquainted with the cross currents in the family circle, Van Duesen [sic] says he offered the daughter Mildred financial assistance to return to her grandmother in London, Ont. He claims she accepted the offer and one night in the spring of 1901 or 1902 she departed from Hobart for Valparaiso. In the latter place she spent two or three days, so says Van Deusen, before going to Milwaukee, where she resided for a few weeks when she left for her old Canadian home. According to Mr. Van Deusen she was latter married at Londan [sic] to a well-to-do farmer and at the present time is residing in the country near that place.Following the disappearance of Miss Stewart from Hobart, Van Kuren preferred [sic] a charge of adultery against his wife and Frank Van Deusen and their arrest on that charge followed. The case was venued to Porter county and came to trial in Judge H. B. Tuthill’s court in Valparaiso. Prior to the trial Mrs. Van Kuren and Van Deusen were married and at the hearing it was established that Van Kuren and the former Mary Hobbs were never married, notwithstanding the fact that they had resided together as man and wife for 15 years or so, during which time five children had been born to them. The jury, after hearing the facts, acquitted both Mr. and Mrs. Van Deusen on the charge of adultery, while the court scored Van Kuren unmercifully for exposing the fact that only a common law marriage had existed between him and the mother of his five children.Mr. and Mrs. Van Deusen resided together until three years ago when the latter sought a divorce in both the Porter and Lake county courts, but was refused in both counties. During last March Van Deusen applied for a divorce and was granted legal separation in the Porter superior court. Though Mrs. Van Deusen was not present at the hearing, her whereabouts was well known at that time, a well known and prominent Valparaiso lawyer having communicated with her relative to the divorce suit of her husband, she then being at Rochester, Mich.The Lake county authorities have been working on the theory that the body found in the abandoned grave in the cemetery of St. Margaret’s parish, Lake Station, is either that of Miss Mildred Stewart, or her mother, Mrs. Van Deusen, and it is for the purpose of throwing some light on this supposed solution that they may have been making a search for Van Deusen, his divorced wife, and Henry Van Kuren the past several days. The following dispatch from Crown Point gives the theory upon which Lake county officials are working:“Officials of Lake county this week began a search for Mr. and Mrs. Henry Van Kuren, formerly of Hobart, Ind., in an effort to solve one of the most baffling mysteries of years -- that of how the body of a young girl came to be in a grave which was believed to be empty but had once been occupied by the corpse of Philip Schneider of Lake Station. A similarity, which is believed to exist between the 18-year-old daughter of the Van Kurens and the body found in the grave, led to the search of the Lake county officials have been unsuccessful.The Van Kuren family was traced to Hobart from Lake Station, where they had lived prior to the disappearance of their daughter, and then to Whiting. No one in Whiting could tell where they had gone and for a time at least the trail has been lost.The search for the Van Kurens began when Sheriff Carter and Coroner Shankland learned of the strange resemblance between the body found in the supposedly deserted grave and that of Mrs. Van Kuren. Both the body and the girl were 5 feet 6 inches in height, both had auburn hair and other resemblances were traced.It was recalled that shortly before the Van Kurens left Lake Station in 1904 their daughter had not been seen around the house. It was found that they had gone to Hobart, Ind., but inquiries there developed that the girl had not accompanied them there.All other efforts to find traces of the Van Kuren girl have as yet failed to meet with any success.Coroner Shankland is also puzzled by another feature of the mystery -- the disappearance of a necklace which was grasped in the girl’s hand when the body was first discovered. This necklace seems to have been torn from the hand of the body, as a few beads from it remained in the rough box in which the body was buried.The circumstances which followed and preceded the discovery of the body have convinced Coroner Shankland, he says, that he is on the trace of a crime.“Everything connect with the finding of the body is strange,” he declared today. “The body was first discovered after the suicide of Joseph Schneider. The Schneider family owned a lot in the cemetery at Lake Station and they wanted to bury the decedent there. Joseph Schneider, a nephew, remembered that the grave which had formerly contained the body of Phillip Schneider, his father, had been opened six years ago and the body disinterred by relatives and buried elsewhere. He decided to bury his uncle in the grace of his father’s body had formerly occupied.”“Young Schneider had the sexton of the cemetery started to dig and they had gone down less than three feet when they struck what they supposed was a coffin, but which appeared to be rather a strong box. This was broken open and in it was the body of the young woman.“I am convinced from all the evi-circumstances [sic] connected with the discovery of the body that the finding of it has led to the unearthing of a crime. The fact that the box containing the body was only three feet below the ground seems to indicate that the persons who buried it expected to find a coffin if they went deeper. They, evidently did not know that the body of Schneider had been removed from the grave and thought that they had covered their traces safely by putting the body of the girl where no one would look for it.”If the story told by Frank Van Deusen is true then the Lake county officials will be required to look to another quarter for the solution of the grave mystery. The truthfulness of Mr. Van Deusen’s statements can be easily determined by writing to the authorities at London, Ont., or Mrs. Mary Hobbs, of the same place, who is the grandmother of the supposed dead girl.W. H. Herschell, a special writer with the Indianapolis News, was sent to Lake Station by his paper and his story of the tragedies of the little hamlet is as follows:The Gunness tragedy at Laporte has revived interest in the mysteries and tragedies of the little parish of St. Margaret’s known on the railroad maps as Lake Station, a village of less than 200 inhabitants, lying here in the sand dunes, 35 miles east of Chicago.“The parish of St. Margaret’s is one of the oldest settlements in northern Indiana, having been established back in Indian trading-post days. The village was founded by French traders on the banks of Deep river, a winding stream that empties into the Calumet, which disposes of its waters in Lake Michigan. When the Michigan Central railroad was built through here the company gave the perish the name of Lake Station because of its proximity to Lake Michigan, a short distance to the north. The village is an agricultural community, quiet and unprogressive, but it has had enough tragedy and mystery to make it take rank with the most austere city. A few years ago the Catholics of the community joined their brethren in the town of Hebron, 14 miles south, and built a new church in Hobart. This meant the abandonment of the church of St. Margaret’s, a quaint old wooden structure that has stood on the southern side of the village for 70 years.Voices of the Dead Haunt the Parish.“The voice of the dead seems to haunt the old parish of St. Margaret’s. The stranger here is at once impressed with the atmosphere which welds yesterday to today. The history of the village is one of sorrow and tragedy. The sun shines brightly on Deep river, and its silver reflections glow on the white sands of the dunes, yet life is not bright here. The old church of St. Margaret’s stands in a corner of the graveyard and the shadow of its tall tower darkens moss-grown tombstones that stand above the heads of citizens departed scores of years ago. The old cemetery is a tangle of trees and vines, of shrubbery and wild flowers. From the broken windows of the decaying church one looks out upon the town and its old-fashioned homes and streets. The picture is one that tells of a long ago.Finding of Recluse’s Body.“A continuation of the tragedies of St. Margaret’s came a few weeks after a lull of several months. Joseph Schneider, one of the pioneer settlers of the community, known as a recluse and loiterer, was found dead on a sand dune a mile east of town. Conrad Peterson, a citizen, found the body on the dune while inspecting some scrub oak trees on the property, which he had bought a few days before. Peterson examined the body and found the Schneider had evidently been dead several days. The throat was cut from ear to ear. Schneider had not been missed from the village, for he was a man of strange habits and made his home in the deserted church of St. Margaret’s.“Schneider was an uncle of Philip Schneider, a young farmer living north east of Lake Station. The nephew had refused the old man a home because of his bad habits, but not until repeated efforts had been made by the nephew to make the old man be cleanly and of good deportment. Old Schneider was quarrelsome and fault-finding and the nephew finally had to tell him to seek another home. The separation between nephew and son [uncle?] came several months ago. The old man sullenly made his way to the deserted church in the graveyard, and there, behind the altar, made his nightly bed. From the good-hearted people of the community he got his daily bread.Broods Near Forsaken Altar.“There was something pathetic about the last days of the old man. He sought no company other than the old church and the tombstones in the graveyard. He walked among the stone as if they gave him communion with old friends that were dead. When the night came on he would steal through the creaking doors of St. Margaret’s and tramp down the plastered-covered floor to the altar. The wind whistled through the broken windows and sometimes grew so strong that it made the old bell in the belfry toll. This old bell, one of the sweetest toned in Indiana, is today the object of contention between the Catholics of St. Margaret’s and Hobart, the latter seeking it for the belfry of their new church. The parishoners [sic] of the old church cling to it, for it called them to worship for more than a half century. It was hauled across the sand dunes to St. Margaret’s on a wagon drawn by many oxen many years ago. The loving sentiment attaches the old parishioners of St. Margaret’s to it.“The decaying church that gave Schneider his last earthly home is built of huge ax-hewn timbers that seem to stand the storms with the same fortitude that its builders withstood hardship. The plastering, however, and the old altar is a wreck. A few images yet remain on it. Above it hang several ecclesiastical pictures that are entwined by a withered wreath. In this solemn spot “old man Schneider” spent his last days.“One morning early in April he was seen leaving the church by children on the way to school. They saw him turn to the east and follow a lane to the sand dunes along Deep river. That was the last seen of him alive. After the finding of the body Philip Schneider, the nephew, had it prepared for burial. Young Schneider remembered that [sic] his own father’s estate included the ownership of a lot in St. Margaret’s churchyard. His father had been buried in it years ago. Later the body had been removed to another lot in which other members of the family were buried. Young Schneider decided to give his uncle a grave in the place formerly occupied by his father. That decision brought to the parish of St. Margaret’s another mystery.Find “The Woman of the Rosary.”On the morning following the finding of the body of Joseph Schneider, two young men, Davy McMichael and Samuel Akers, went to St. Margaret’s churchyard to dig a grave for the suicide. They were digging away quite busily when suddenly young McMichael’s spade struck something that was hard. He called the attention of Akers to the incident and they carefully removed the earth from around the obstacle. To their utter amazement they covered a skull. Hurriedly summoning other citizens from the village as witnesses, the young men went on with the work and soon uncovered a skeleton that is now known in the parish as “The Woman of the Rosary.” Around the skull twined long strands of auburn hair. On the breast lay a rosary and a cross. The teeth of the cadaver were white and perfect, indicating that youth had been buried there.“The find mystified the village. Hundreds gathered to see the skeleton and to try to reason out its story. The only trace of a clew was offered by Albert Smith, a carpenter, who a few years before had built a fence around the churchyard. Part of the fence was of wire. Smith recalled that one morning while he was building the fence, he came to work to find that several strands had been cut. He thought it the work of mischievous boys and made repairs. A few hours later several school children playing in the cemetery found a part of a white dress covered with blood. Smith paid not attention to the find and finished his fence without reporting to the county authorities.“The finding of the skeleton leads many to believe that a murder has been committed near St. Margaret’s and that the perpetrators, familiar with the fact that the body of Philip Schneider’s father had been moved, threw the body into the grave and closed it. The work evidently was done quickly for the skeleton was lying in a half-crouched position. No marks on the skull or skeleton gave a clew to the cause of death. The young men soon replaced the body in the grave and covered it with board. Then they threw earth upon it and the mysterious “Woman of the Rosary” went back to sleep. The body has been placed there within the last seven years, for up to that time the body of Philip Schneider’s father had rested there. The coroner believes the boy to be that of Mrs. H. M. Van Deusen, who disappeared from Hobart, Ind., five years ago. Just before her disappearance she was married to Van Deusen, after she had been living with a man Van Kuren.The Queer Case of Thompson.“One of the most interesting of the tragedies in the parish of St. Margaret’s centers on George Thompson, known around here as ‘the meanest man that ever lived.’ Thompson, until a few months ago, owned a small farm adjoining Philip Schneider. He was of the hermit type and had no friends.On day about a year ago Thompson became sick. The neighbors, in their largeness of heart, went to him. He would have none of their help, but asked that a nurse be sent him. A nurse was obtained from a nearby town. Thompson thought he was going to die and deeded his farm to the nurse. He got better, however, and took the farm away from her. Soon he was sick again and a woman from Lake Station nursed him She pulled him through a long siege. During his illness he again deeded his farm to his nurse. This one was not so easy as the other nurse. She immediately had the deed recorded.“The loss of the farm angered Thompson. The woman offered it back if he would pay her for her services. He refused. The day following the recording of the deed Thompson went to Hobart and bought 200 half-galloon glass fruit jars. He also bought a large quantity of dynamite and dynamite caps. He then returned home and began making little engines of death to plant on the farm. He placed a quantity of dynamite in ach jar, together with some matched and paper. In the lid of each can he placed a dynamite cap and sealed the lid with beeswax. The 200 jars were then planted in the cornfields surrounding the place. The barn was literally mined with the explosive, as was also the house. Then Thompson poisoned his faithful old horse, ‘Prince.’ After seeing the animal die in great agony he went to the barn, set it on fire, cut his own throat and fell in a corner where he was found cremated after the fire. The neighbors, who had hurried to the place, where driven back by the explosion of the dynamite.“Philip Schneider bought the farm from the nurse to whom Thompson had deeded it. The purchase came near proving a sorrowful one. Schneider’s plow came into contact with one of the glass fruit jars one morning last fall and the explosion blinded him for a time. He has partially recovered his sight. Since that time Davy McMichael, who has been doing most of the plowing on the place, has plowed up 67 of the would-be death dealers. He takes no chances, however. The plow he uses is one of the riding type, but he does not ride. He has tied long ropes to the lines and walks fully 40 feet back of the plow. Every now and then the plow turns up a can, but the horses were not hurt. The farm is now known in the community as “The dynamite Farm.”Other Gloomy Mysteries.“Dynamite played a mysterious part in another bit of the parish history. Federick Kappleman was a local reformer. Lake Station has several saloons, and Kappleman went after them. He also made war on other evils that he thought the community should be rid of. One night Kappleman’s home was wrecked by dynamite. One end of it was blown out. Kappleman thought that was enough and moved to another city.“Not long ago Mrs. Frank Brock, the wife of a prominent and influential citizen, died in terrible agony, the result of an operation. Mrs. Brock’s husband became temporarily insane, and during a moment of deep grief, one morning last January, shot himself. He recovered, but is still grieving and his case is one that hold the pity of the community.During the past two weeks two bodies of unknown dead were found in the sand dunes and in Deep river, and their identity is still a mystery. While Oren Simon, a young man living her, was crossing one of the sand dunes he came upon the dead body of a man whose throat was cut. He had evidently been dead for days. The coroner has thus far failed to learn whose body it is.“Twenty-four hours after, William Kitzman saw the nude body of a man floating among the willows in Deep river. He pulled the body ashore, and called citizens of Lake Station to view it. Nobody could tell whose it was. The clothing was lying nearby under a tree, but no mark that would lead to identification was found. And the dead man’s name is still a mystery.”------OLD BURIAL GROUND IN EAST GARY IMPROVEDIn accordance with a petition presented to officials of the Catholic church by the East Gary town board through a special committee, improvements on an abandoned Catholic cemetery were started last week. The old burial plot is now assuming an appearance more in harmony with ts surroundings according to reports.The burial plot is on a site which was at one time adjacent to a Catholic church but the parish was absorbed into a Hobart parish and services are no longer held in East Gary, the committee explained.Sources:The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; May 21, 1908; Volume 25, Number 8, Page 1, Columns 3-4, and Page 6, Columns 1-5.The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; August 8, 1929; Volume 46, Number 22 Page 6, Column 1. Column titled "Old Burial Ground in East Gary Improved."Copyright 2019. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook. |
| 撮影日 | 2019-05-12 07:04:05 |
| 撮影者 | Shook Photos , Moscow, Idaho, USA |
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