Oh No! He Got Popped!

 I spent a lot of time googling with this one.  Bastardy is just what you'd think it was. I have had a lot of trouble finding anything about a popper. I do believe that it could solve our little gun problem though. 

This story is about a man named Solomon Wineinger. He is not a blood relative, but one of those marry-in types.  Anyway, here is the story from the newspaper from Jackson County, Indiana in 1883. Translation below graphic.

Outwitted and Outrun

Last Friday a warrant was issued by Justice W. L. Boyatt for the arrest of Solomon Wineinger, of Owen Township, who was wanted to answer to a charge of bastardy. It was placed in the hands of Constable George R. Hamilton, who found his game at Ewing and pounced down upon him. While escorting him up to town, Wineinger begged the Constable not to walk so fast, saying he had heart disease and several other ailments, and was liable to fall prostrate at any moment. the pace was therefore slackened until they reached the head of Walnut Street, when quick as lightning Wineinger darted around the corner and started down the old Stilwell ferry road. The Constable followed him and commanded him to stop, and then pulled his little popper and popped away, but heedless of the popping Wineinger flew along with the fleetness of a deer, soon leaving the officer hopelessly in the rear. Since then, nothing has been heard of Wineinger's whereabouts.

Now, in 1883 Solomon was about 35 years old. He had served in the Civil War as a young man. He was not married, so far as I've been able to find. It sounds like this incident is not his first rodeo. I have not found anything to say that he was caught in the end. I'll keep looking, but I know in 1888 he married a Louisa Jane Blythe. Not in Jackson County, by the way. He was next door in Lawrence County. He and Louisa had 8 children, as far as I could find in the neighboring county, but he was buried in Jackson County.

I have searched for a picture of a popper to no avail. I did find a clacker, a rattle and lots of whistles. Seems policing was noisy in that time period. It was also not deadly. Police were respected and respectful. I do think this article makes a case for Family DNA testing.

I bring a little light and truth to an old gangster movie line. 

"Hey boss, you want I should pop him?"

And you thought it meant something else. 

Source: 

*Newspapers.com; Jackson County Banner, Brownstown, Indiana; Thursday, July 5, 1883; Page 4.

*"United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917", FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NH8R-RML), Solomon Wineinger, 1886.

*Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129055936/solomon-wineinger), memorial page for Solomon Wineinger (4 May 1848–23 Jan 1943), Find a Grave Memorial ID 129055936, citing Mount Zion Cemetery, Medora, Jackson County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by Alicelth (contributor 47131242).