June 23
In 1967, Hancock County Sheriff Bob Sebastian took three youths who were drunk on Main Street home in the wee hours of the morning instead of to jail as part of his recent decision to handle underage drinking this way. Sebastian said when he simply jailed youths and parents saw them in court, sober and contrite, parents didn’t always believe their children’s condition the night before. “Sebastian now believes the results will be better when parents see a child slobbering drunk and, perhaps, covered with vomit,” according to the June 23, 1967, edition of the Daily Reporter.
June 24
In 2002, a dedication service took place for a $2 million expansion at Mt. Comfort United Methodist Church.
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June 25
In 1902, a glass factory in Wilkinson was blown down by a cyclone. Brown’s Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church was destroyed. Charlottesville Methodist Episcopal Church suffered enough damage to cause the pastor and congregation to begin to plan a new building. Farmers in the area suffered the loss of crops.
June 26
In 1875, about 150 masked men stormed the jail in downtown Greenfield in the middle of the night, pulling the keys from the sheriff and removing prisoner William Keemer, a man described as of “mixed race” who was accused of raping a Blue River Township woman. They drove Keemer a few miles away in a wagon and hanged him. His remains were later buried at the Hancock County farm “unwept, unhonored and unsung,” according to John H. Binford’s 1882 “History of Hancock County, Indiana.”
In 1966, the first Mass was celebrated in the new St. Michael Catholic Church. The building is being renovated and expanded now, with completion expected in 2021.
June 27
In 1938, a two-hour parking limit took effect on Main and State streets in downtown Greenfield.
June 28
In 1927, residents were assured that 13-year-old twin girls who left their mother’s home in Mattoon, Illinois, had arrived safely to their father and stepmother in St. Joe. After the girls got off track and wound up in Greenfield, Sheriff Harry Comstock had received contributions from some local residents to send the girls on to their destination. The police chief in St. Joe sent him a letter notifying him that Henrietta and Lucile Walters had arrived safely.
June 29
In 2013, Greenfield’s Kyle Gibson made his debut pitching for Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins. He now is part of the Texas Rangers.
