Full of Bad Whiskey
In Jail for Stealing $4.50 of Lard
1920 Gone! Yorktown Boys Disappear
Cummins, Corwin and Staggs, Howard
FROM OUR NEWSLETTER, “ONCE UPON A TIME”, JANUARY 2021.
While reading newspapers from 100 years ago, an intriguing headline caught my eye, “Yorktown Boys Disappear”. Originally, the only information that police had was that the boys were seen boarding a west-bound Interurban at a stop west of Yorktown. The article explained that on 1 October 1920, cards bearing the picture of two missing boys were mailed to cities throughout the state. The police asked for citizens to be on the lookout for the two teenage boys. The boys had been missing since September 25th. Parents were frantic!
The missing boys were Corwin Cummins (14), son of Rollins and Eva Andre Cummins, and his buddy, Howard Staggs (15), son of Perry and Verna Dunn Staggs. Soon after the pair left, they were found to have run away from home. The boys sent dispatches to their parents giving their location. The first dispatch said that they were in Milwaukee and they were going to Utah.
“We’ll be back in two years.”
Apparently, the boys had no intention of returning home any time soon!
What happened to the two young men was found in the 2 November 1920, Muncie Star Press after they had been missing for over five weeks. The ending was a hoot. See the original clipping below, learn a little about their families, and what happened to them when they grew up. ~Julie Musick Hillgrove
Look for their biographies for more information.
1837 Proposal of Mail Route to Yorktown
| NEW MAIL SERVICE The state of Indiana considers a proposal for a three day-a-week mail service from Indianapolis to Greenville, Ohio via Munceytown and Yorktown in 1837. Mail service had been established in Yorktown in 1836. Muncie had established service in 1828. Others came later—Daleville 1857, Cammack 1882, Reed 1876. This would be an increase in services. |
This clipping was used in the January 2021 newsletter
Cummins, Rollie Shortridge (1877-1935) and Emma Mae Andre Cummins (1874-1948)
Rollie Shortridge Cummins and Emma Mae Andre Cummins were the parents Andre (1901), Corwin (1905), James (1910, and Marion (1914). Rollie was the pricipal of of Daleville School and later became the president of the Yorktown State Bank. During WWI, Rollie worked as the government appeal agent for Delaware County. He travelled extensively.
Rollie Cummins divorced Emma Mae 27 June 1929. The newspaper went into detail quoting Rollie as saying that his wife had “a peculiar desire [for the children] to attend schools belonging to the church to which she belonged.” The family lived for a time in Battle Creek, moving to Yorktown in 1908. Battle Creek, Michigan was the headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church which was established there in 1863.
Son, James Flemming Cummins moved to Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, and worked for the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a the secretary-treasurer of the conference.
1929 Rollie and Mae Cummins Divorce
25 April 1929, Muncie Star Press, Muncie
1920 Farmers Meet to Discuss Meeting Schedule and Lack of Trucks to Transport Goods
5 Generations in Yorktown-Sears and Edmundson
Newspaper Clipping about 1965
Yorktown Baseball 1920
The Yorktown Baseball Team of 1920 had a very good season with 16 wins and 3 losses at the end of the season. The articles mention: Parkison, as shortstop: Barker, pitcher: McKibbean: Jones, pitcher.
