FOOTSTEPS IN HISTORY



 

 

How well do you know White County history?

1) What does Booth Bell have to do with White County?

2) In August 1957, a peculiar object was found just south of the Springboro Bridge in the Tippecanoe River. Originally this item was in the Ransom Lumber Company in Frankfort. What was this item?

3) In 1846 the Mexican War erupted. Name one White County man that served during this war.

ANSWERS

1) Booth Bell solicited the public of White County to attend a séance in Monon in 1894. The highlight of the séance centered on making spirits magically appear and disappear. He charged admission and his wife was his assistant. Many of the well-respected residents of the county believed in this type of thing. The event came to the attention of two prominent men of the area. The men were James H. Turpie, the real estate tycoon, and Granville Ward, Civil War hero and former postmaster. The two men attended the séance and when a girl appeared from nowhere, Turpie blocked the door where she had appeared. When it was time for the girl to disappear, she ran right into the arms of Turpie. Turpie drug her back into the séance room and the Booth Bell’s deception was foiled. This totally debunked the whole show and Booth Bell never returned to White County. The girls in the article that were “taken advantage” of were 15 and 16 years old. Booth Bell was arrested, tried and convicted and spent five years in jail.

 

 

2) Three boys from Lafayette, while fishing on the Tippecanoe south of the Springboro Bridge, found a cash register that was reported stolen from the Ransom Lumber yard in Frankfort.

3) There were only three residents from White County that participated in this war. All three men were from Jackson Township. The men were William F. Ford, U.H. Steele and Beveridge McCormick. They joined Captain Tipton’s Company E of the United States Regiment of Mounted Rifles. They enlisted on June 6, 1846. Only William F. Ford survived the war. Ford lost his foot and had a Mexican bayonet shoved out his jaw. He probably shouldn’t have survived but did. At the end of the war he came back to White County where he died on March 5, 1893. Ford is buried in the old Monticello Cemetery. Ford claimed to have part of an epaulet that belonged to Santa Anna. He forever treasured this relic.

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