Vermilion, Thomas - Putnam

Greencastle Jan 30 - The death last night at Mt. Merician in this county of Thomas Vermilion removes one of the best known men in the county, one who, although not among the most aged, seems to the younger generation of people as  a connecting link with the earlier Indiana history. This idea concerning him probably gained its foothold from the fact that Mr. Vermilion was owner of the famous Half-way House at Mt. Merdian, which, during the palmy days of the National Road, sheltered some of the most famous men of the country and Mr. Vermilion has a vast fund of reminiscences of these men and of pioneer incidents which he related to the many thousand people who have been guest of that hostelry.

However, Mr. Vermilion was not the proprietor of the Half-Way House during those most historic days, but he was a citizen at the town where it is located for 63 years and was "mine host" for the last 30 years of his life, and during that period entertained nearly every male student attendant on DePauw University. He was brought here a baby of three years, when his father nad mother came from Kentucky.  The first home was on a land claim entered by his father near Brick Chapel, this county.  He was born 67 years ago. 57 years of his life were spent in business at Mt. Meridian or in the Half-Way House. When he first went to Mt. Merdian he entered the business of general storekeeper, having a place on the National Road, where he sold goods to the vast crowds of people traveling over that thoroughfare from east to west. The farmers of the region sold almost all their products, including meat, grain, hay, leather and furs to these travelers through the general stores and the operation of such a mart of trade was a life of importance.

The latter years of Mr. Vermilion's life were spent in the charitable purpose of giving pleasure to the numerous parties of people, many of them students from DePauw University in this city, who would drive out to eat what is known as a "Half-Way House supper," and to spend the evening in the old-time rooms and before the big fireplaces of that tavern. Before the railroads were built one of the most  important sources of the income of at the Half-Way House was the traveling men, who is those days drove through on the National Road from Indianapolis to Terre Haute in buggies, stopping at all the small towns on the road, where a vast amount of business was trasacted, hyowever.

Mr. Vermilion's burial will take place Sunday afternoon within a short distance of the place where he spent the greater part of his life. The funeral will be attended by many of his friends from all over the county. - kbz