This coming week in Indiana’s history . . .
1865 – The Abraham Lincoln Funeral Train arrived in Indiana, stopping in Richmond and passing through Centerville, Cambridge City, Dublin, Lewisville and Greenfield before arriving in Indianapolis. The President lay in state in the rotunda of the old Capitol, where over 50,000 people passed by the bier.
1895 – Tenants were moving into the first upscale apartment building in Indianapolis. Built by General Lew Wallace, the structure was named “Blacherne” after the Byzantine palace in Constantinople, the setting for Wallace’s novel The Prince of India. Rent, considered steep at the time, topped out at $53 a month. The building still stands at the corner of Meridian and Vermont streets.
1908 – Albert Von Tilzer, from Indianapolis, published “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Legend has it that when he and lyricist Jack Norworth wrote the song, neither had ever been to a baseball game. Von Tilzer penned scores of tunes for Tin Pan Alley, including “I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time” and “The Moon Has His Eye on You.”
1924 – Indiana Governor Warren McCray resigned from office after being convicted of mail fraud. He was replaced by Lieutenant Governor Forrest Branch. McCray spent three years at the federal prison in Atlanta. President Herbert Hoover granted him a full pardon in 1930.
1969 – The Indianapolis News reported that over 1,800 state employees were earning more than $10,000 a year. The large salaries went to an average of one out of 13 persons employed. At the top of the list was the mental health commissioner, earning $35,000. Next was the Beatty Hospital Superintendent at $31,400. The governor was third with an annual pay of $31,000, which included a $4,000 expense allowance.
1996 – The Indiana High School Athletic Association voted to move to multi-class sports. The decision disappointed coaches, players and fans who had formed a group called “Friends of Hoosier Hysteria” in an effort to save the traditional single-class basketball tourney.