Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette Fort Wayne, Indiana Saturday, April 06, 1918 Page 10

PETER FRANTZ DIES AT AGE OF EIGHTY-TWO

Pioneer of Wells County Succumbs; Bluffton Elks Install Officers; Other News Items.

BLUFFTON, Ind., April 5. Peter FRANTZ, aged 82, a revered pioneer of Liberty township, died yesterday at his home northwest of Liberty Center after a lingering illness. The development of pneumonia within the last fortnight was the immediate cause of his death.

Mr. Frantz was born in Ohio, and came to Wells County in 1853 (?). He was married in 1860 (?) to Mary Jane First and they lived together for fifty-five years, their union being broken by the death of the wife three years ago. They were the parents of nine children, all of whom are living, namely, Winfield, Jacob, George, John, Daniel, James and Charles FRANTZ, Mrs. Floyd Redding and Mrs. Rufus Stinson. Mr. Frantz served from 1861 to 1865 as a member of the first Indiana, and was a member of the Lew Dailey post G. A. R. of this city.

He was an estensive land owner and at one time held the title to 78_ (?) acres of the county's best farm land. At the time of his death, however, he owned only the home farm of 160 acres.

The funeral will be held at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon at the Liberty Union church at 2 o'clock and the interment will be in the Woodlawn cemetery, Warren.

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The Bluffton lodge of Elks last evening installed officers for the ensuing year as follows: George Mock, exalted ruler; Paul Palater, esteemed leading knight; Roy Stafford, esteemed loyal knight; Lloyd A. Sleppy, esteemed lecturing knight; F. R. Curtis, tyler; J. L. Snyder, trustee, and W. H. Eichhorn, delegate to grand lodge. The lodge also offered the use of the lodge room temporarily to the Moose, who were burned out in the fire at the Grand theatre yesterday.

A marriage license was issued here this afternoon to John W. Liddy, farmer, of Adams county, son of Fred Liddy, and Miss Grace Marie French, daughter of Eli French. The license was the first to be issued by Miss Loraine Markley, the new deputy county clerk.

The fire at the Grand theatre on Thursday resulted in a loss of over $10,000 (?) it was learned to-day, and this sum was only partially covered by insurance. The loss was as follows: Charles Westrock, Fort Wayne, $5,000; Gaiety Supply company, $4,000; Gaiety Theatre company, $1,600 (?); Bluffton lodge of Moose, $1,000. These figures do not include the destruction of ten reels of motion picture film of the picture "Intolerance." Mr. Westrick, the owner of the building, had $7,000 insurance, and he stated this morning that he will begin immediately to remodel the building. The Gaiety Theatre company will operate the remodeled structure and will install the newest equipment in the way of a lamp house and projecting machine. The Moose were fully protected by insurance and the loss of the Gaiety Theatre company was partially covered. The loss of the Gaiety Supply company was total as Mr. Joe Boomerschiem, the owner of the company, carried no insurance.

The Wells County Farmers' Co-operative association organized among the stock raisers of the county to pool their purchases of stock food through a purchasing agent, was launched in a meeting at the court house last evening with seventeen members. The rolls of the association are open to any farmer of the county and the scope of the organization will probably be extended to include the co-operative purchase of other commodities besides stock fee. W. H. Settle is chairman, Herman Lesh secretary, and Frank Markley purchasing agent.

F. Elfinger, a well known G. A. R. man submitted to an operation at St. Joseph's hospital at Fort Wayne this afternoon for the removal of a cataract from one eye. He has been at Fort Wayne for some time at the home of his son, Joe Elfinger, preparing for operation.

Mrs. Olive Lewis, of Richmond, will address the women of Wells County at the public library on next Wednesday under the auspices of the franchise league on "Patriotism and the Franchise."