Wyant - Mrs. George - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

A special from Colfax says: “Mrs. George Wyant, residing in this city, attempted suicide last Friday afternoon by taking morphine. Prompt action in giving antidotes and the efforts of a physician saved her. After she had recovered, in explanation of her attempt to end her life, she told the family physician that she had a constant inclination toward self-destruction.”

Mrs. Wyant is a relative of Alfred Wells, whose mother was a Wyant. There is a streak of insanity in the family and it has cropped out many times, as in the cases of Wells, Wesley Price, and “Devil Ike” Wyant.

M. B. Waugh was, while a boy and a young man, well acquainted with “Devil Ike” Wyant, the great uncle of Wells. Said Mr. Waugh: “Ike was a terror in those times and parents used to frighten their children by telling them that “Devil Ike” would get them if they weren’t good. I can remember how when as little codgers we would scurry off into the bushes if we chanced to see him coming down the road. He was always hunting a fight and whenever he heard of a camp meeting—and there were many of them in the country in those days—he would be on hand the day it opened to try and get up a big row. He especially delighted in breaking up religious meetings. He was a powerful fellow and everyone was afraid of him, but he finally met his match in McLean County, Illinois. He went there on a visit and became involved in a quarrel with the clerk of the court, who shot his right arm off. Ike returned to Indiana much depressed, but with the devil still in him. He went to the home of his brother-in-law and taking a brand new wash tub from the house, hung it up on the side of the barn and painted the bottom of it like a target. Then he secured a revolver and began practicing shooting with his left hand. He became wonderfully proficient and a year from the time of his encounter with the clerk of McLean County he went back there and marching into the court house he simply riddled the body of his enemy with bullets. He was tried for murder and Abraham Lincoln succeeded in acquitting him on the plea of insanity. He was locked up in an Illinois mad house for several years and was finally released as cured. He came back here and was as wild as ever. One day his body was found in the woods near Michigantown partially eaten by the hogs. He had been murdered and his nephew was arrested for the crime. The young man’s father spent a fortune in his behalf and he was finally acquitted. Ike was a great trader and was one of the cleverest frauds that ever swindled people in Indiana. He could manipulate any steelyards so that they would weigh or under weigh to suit his purpose. If people doubted his steelyards he would use their own and cheat them before their own eyes. He was a great dealer in feathers and swindled everyone. He prepared a concoction which he would put on feathers and which could not be detected that made them weigh half as much again as they did. He was a thoroughly bad man and the community breathed easier when it was learned that he was out of the way for good.”