Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 24 November 1922 — Page 1

THE ONLY DEMOCRATIC "NEWSPAPER IN-DELAW ARE COUNTY THE MUNCIE POST-DEMOCRAT

VOL. 2, NUMBER 42

MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24; 1922

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $2.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE

r\ Ip.

While Federal Prison Yawns Political Shysters Ride Roush-Shod in Muncie. But End’s i

District Attorney Who Shielded Cahill Must

Play Ball or be Held to Strict Accounting for His Acts in Protecting Muncie

Gangsters

Coe.ns, the latter being seated at the f'j desks v ^, Introducing himself Mr. Abbott stated his business and asking about the alleged Cahill hold-up. “Never heard anything about - it,” replied Benbow. -“Know anything about it Tra?” queried the chief, turning to

Captain‘ Coons.

“No report of that kind ever turned in here,” replied Coons, withoutlooking -up from a paper he was

: writ mg' -on.

.whitewashing of Cahill the, Post-' DempcTat if^lt irerfeetly justified , in I accusing >, the Umted States Attorney' cf 'pulling a crooked deal and the re- | actien f tojn. .the department of , jus- i tiee "emphasized the conclusion. »• District Attorney Elliott’s atten- j tSon being, drawn to the strictures-1 of the Post-Democrat he promptly Wrote a letter to the publisher, enclosing it in a government-franked envelope, -penalty $300 fine for private use, declaring that the state-

Waye last January and because, of "his exceptional ability as a studt-nt of criminology was commissioned gs special investigator by the depart-

ment of justice.

The evidence that he secured hpr?, by the way, was obtained, rot with the help of the'-'policed department, but in spite of the poligu. ' It had been reported to the -police that Cahill had arrested four youngmen, representing' himself to be a federal officer. The yoong men com

it, for it happened, and I am inform-, ed that the case \yqs reported right hero,” said Mr. Abbott. He Lhen left ^police- headquarters and •mad^’ an independent investigation, withoutthe aid of the police department, and found out that the,thing had really hapjxmed and that police headquaj--ters > knc-\v nil about it, despitp the assumed ignorance, cf Benbow and

Coons.

Mayor Quick‘Knows it

Mayhr Quick- knows all about this.

plained to Officer John Erdel, and 1 UeiiiA aware cf the efforts of his publican ticket_ was elected by stag-

Investigation Demanded of Political Whiskey Parties With Sheriff in Attendance at Protected Dives South of Railroad The federal grand jury has been in session at Indianapolis and considerable uneasiness has been manifested in Muncie among crooked officials who stand in perennial fear of Judge Anderson’s

court.

That only possible thing that can stand in the way of a federal investigation which would probably involve Sheriff Hoffman, Pro-

secutor Benadum and certain members of the -police - department „ .. ,. , , will be the disinclination of United States District. Attorney Will- I

iam G. Elliott to make trouble for the friends of his own political

friends and benefactors.

Elliott was named district attorney on the recommendation of Senator Harry New, and it is a pretty well established fact that Bill Cahill, boss klucker, who was arrested for posing as a federal officer, wa.s saved at Indianapolis through Washington intervention. On that occasion Wilbur Ryman, then third assistant United States district attorney for Indiana, was assigned by District Attorney Elliott to presecute the case against Cahill before the

United States Commissioner.

TWO PARTIES PLAN FIGHT ON THE KLAN T

Beth-CUD. P. and Denis, Seeing No asSOciatfo:1 with Repub - 1 crSl for Awhile, Gird Loins j Klan ballots proved th e weak

tor \y ar - S p 0 +. c; £ a iiiance, however. Im-

« physical combat in his office, where j Sf 1 ?- *" ?'“ IC ! “'mt nSe Taijf "cirho was .to bo found, he declared, fw culate<l them in Negro districts. With “from nine to five, six days in the y ,> T . d "?3„ - f 1 , ffw I the ballots went the word of an al-

be S! ns 10 “y liance between the Kian and the Re-

^ytheej^™ ■? <»d-P«Wi- publicans. It was a matter of comcontl, fotwl n y . d,s y t ! ) “ mint in Indianapolis that , the Negro n?,w?c* b . ryyy atS a,,l !„ R | e ' ^ fel > that some Demofirst and most vigorously the Ku ^ everthe - 1 . e - SS '- lfc was also ^eable

Well, you p»opIe ought to knoiw, ments in the Post-Democrat were

‘just plain damned, lies,” and- inviting-

week

Ai* thus tfie Cahill case was disposeu of,- with this final blast of braggadocio from an official whose duty it is -to enforce the federal law

in Indiana. •

f the-recent election, the republican organization tied itself up with the Ku Klux gang and the entire re-

Ryman being an active member of part of the conspiracy to protect a

the Muncie Ku Klux Klan, the trial was a farce. . Dayton Abbott, a federal investigator, had spent several days in Muncie securing the evidence against Cahill. On leaving he informed a representative of the PostDemocrat" that he had all the evidence that would possibly be necessary to convict Cahill, yet, when the case was called before the commis

group of men whom Judge Anderson has had his eye upon for some time. Both of these men are acquainted with the crooked transactions of the Muncie gang and it Avould be unsafe to keep them in Inedana, hence their exportation. Mr. Abbott was sent here to in-

vestigate Cahill after Court Asher ‘‘that your chief of had complained to the department of . from here- up.

the affair was duly reported at head- town police department to protect Caquarters- j hill, the Ku Klux’ organizer, Mayor When Chief of Police Van-Benbow I Quick actively assisted- Mr. Abbott learned that Court Asher had made ! and placed- two loyal officers at his the complaint at Indianapolis, he be- disposal who werb afterwaref dis-

I charged

in the presence of witnesses, that I were unsatisfactory to the Ku Klux “That d——d Court Asher is squawk-j klan and the-gang that fears Judge

ing his head off down at Indianapolis i Anderson.

and I suppose we will be bothered j The mayor, being a klansman himhere now with a gang of federal of- self, was enabled to give to Mr. Ahficers. We don’t need any-federal ^ott the names of a number of promi-i

officers around here. We air* able to attend to our own business.”

“Dead From Here Up”

When Dayton Abbott arrived in Muncie he went immediately to police headquarters; -expecting the - cooperation of the department. He stayed but a few moments, however, and an expression made by him ■ a few minutes later to the publisher of the PosDDemocrat-.'fairly indicates his

opinion of the chief.

“I would ‘say,” remarked Mr, Abbott. with a dry smile," placing his forefinger, across his Adam’s apple,

police - is dead

sioner the most important witnesses, I justice at Indianapolis that Cahill,

whose names had been turned over to the department of justice by Mr. Abbott, were not called to testify. Cahill was turned loose through this fraudulent transaction on the part of the district attorney’s office, but because of the ill smelling deal Ryman lost his,job shortly after and is now reputed to be engaged with j Prosecutor Benadum in organizing"

Ku Klux klans in Ohio. Deported Good Officers

Dayton Abbott, the honest, conscientious operative who made the investigation here, has since been transferred to another state. Burt Wasson, postoffice inspector for this district, who is hated and feared by Benadum and the rest of the gang in Muncie. was also transported to a far western state, the removal being elfected, it is declared, through Harry Long, the Washington representative of the local gang. The removal of Abbott and Wasson to distant fields is no doubt a

Ku Klux leader, was also a deputy sheriff secretly appointed by Sheriff Hoffman, and that Cahill had unlawfully sat on a jury under orders from the klan to convict him, Asher, of a crime of which he was not guilty. Asher also informed the department of justice that Cahill, in addition, to , his other activities, had been posing !

here as a federal officer.

Sincere at First

The investigation was started in . good faith, but the intervention from ! Washington came later. Abbott was sent here by the department of jus- * tice to find out all the details of Ca- ’■ hill’s alleged posing as a federal officer and he secured all the evidence necessary for conviction, according to his own statement made in the presence of a representative of the PostDemocrat and three others. . Mr. Abbott is one of the best and most widely known officers in Indiana. He was chief of police of Fort Wayne for eight years. He resigned at Fort

On entering police headquarters Mr. Abbott approached the chief, who was conversing with Captain Ira

lent citizens who were pi'esent at a dan- meeting which the mayor at-'■ended.-at -which meeting Cahill, PrQstecutor Benadum and Wilbur Ryf’nan ordered him. in the name of the kkin,. to vemoye Officers John Moles, Jerry Curran and Albert Rees. At this meeting,- according to -Mayor Quickv .Cahill boasted that he was concealing his identity here as a klan leader bv telling the “suckers” he

was a federal officer.

The Post-Democrat knows the names of the iromincnt men who were at that klan meeting and who were reported to the department of

goring majorities.. .Among the most prominent members of the.klan were to be, foupd the republican candidates, for judge, prosecutor and sheriff. ' ...

Political Whisky Parties

i South of the -railroad there are three colored dives whei-e gambling goes on unmolested and poisonons liquor is dispensed, these places being especially pratected by the Ku Klux republican city and county “law

enforcing” agencies.

During the week before election, dranken ‘‘parties” were held in those places and Sheriff Hoffman attended at least one of these orgies. The white mule drank, at this “party” was brought in in fruit,jars, and several gallons were drunk. Many colored men participated in the free campaign whisky which was being supplied by Sheriff Hoffman and others of the,

republican, organization.

A colored band added to the joy qf the occasion and the republican county chairman', made a notable speech. Many who were -in attend-

justiee by Mr. Abbott as witnesses in ance could tell a story which would the Cahill case. These men were I directly involve the sheriff, who acnever called as witnesses. i tuglly attended, and the city adminChesty Dirtrict Attorney f istration which protected these politIn the face of these facts and the Continued on Page Two

most

Klux and all its works.

Within the last few days it has become known here that one of the most prominent D e mocratic senators is returning to Washington with determination to put the Democratic party on record. He demands the party reiterate its stand of the days of Know Nothingism. It is recalled what the Democratic party did speak th e n, and, incidentally, that the. Democrats captured the presidency in the

elections that followed. Leaders Are Warned

Democratic leaders have been* Miarned many times recently of the danger of the Ku Klux issue. Nationally, the party did nothing. The' problem was handled—to the • extent that it was considered-at all—by permitting. state leaders’ to treat with it. Th?r e was noticeable fear on the part of national leaders to renounce the Ku Klux vote: The national leaders are admitted to be very prac-

tical politicians.

The issue is just as troublesome

that candidates marked for defeat by the Klan were, as a rule, defeated regardless cf what party sponsored

them:

In Missouri and Kansas a somewhat similar story was written and the word is that even in Ohio and Illinois the Klan both helped and hurt Republican candidates. In Illinois the Klan is. now in an uproar because some enterprising publicity man in Chicago began publication •of a Sunday paper called Tolerance, which lists the nameft of Chicago Klansmen.

Bar Athletes’ Photos on Tobacco Firms Ads

Columbus, O., Nov. . 22—That there Can be obnoxious features to some of the fame Ohio State University has gathered in the last few years

They Took the Dining Table According to the local dailies the police Saturday night raided a private home where a number of young men were suspected of being engaged in aigambling game. Those present were arrested and the dining room table was confiscated. The cook stove and wash boiler were not bothered by the police, but after assidious search, the cover for the dining room table was found and taken to police headquarters. Instead of bothering private homes, and lugging away the household effects, the police might be more profitably engaged in raiding two or three of the elite lodge and club room poker games which are carried on continually in Muncie. If the chief of police does not know of these games and the hotel games for high stakes which are of nightly occurence in Muncie, he is about the only man about town in ignorance of the facts. There are plenty of open and flagrant violations of the law in Muncie for the police to deal with, without breaking into private homes and carrying away the dining room furt niture simply because the occupant of the house and a few visitors at his home were suspected of playing penny ante. It’s got to the point in Muncie where it depends a good deal upon whom you are. If you are without influence or do not belong to the Ku Klux klan or have nerve enough to declare yourself against this hypocritical crowd, look out for trouble. If you belong to the klan you are sitting pretty. If you don’t believe this ask the klansman who was reported drunk in his automobile, and unable to drive it on account of his maudlin condition, and was allowed to go home instead of being taken to jail. Later he paid a fine but his name was not published in the Star along with the other graduates from Judge Coons’ court. The Post-Democrat does not carry police court news. If it did the public would learn some surprising things which are covered up by the dailies. Laboring men who get drunk and go to jail are the only ones who have their disgrace made public.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

The stunning defeat administered to the democratic candidates in Delaware county on the seventh of this month, -ought to serve to show the democrats of Muncie and vicinity that victory can only .be attained through intelligent leadership. Despite the opposition of democrats who really had the interest of the party at heart, a few democratic precinct committeemen met with Billy Finan, who had secured a number of “proxies” of committeemen who could not be present-at the organization meeting, and Obed Kilgore was selected as county chairman. At this fixed and controlled meeting a resolution, prepared by Kilgore, denouncing the PosLDemocrat and paying the way for the starting of a rival democratic newspaper with Bob Parkinson as editor, was adopted by Finan’s proxies. A strenous effort was made by Kilgore and a few other soreheads to raise money to start the newspaper thab was .designed to put the Post-Democrat out of business. Kilgore wasted valuable time; which should-have been devoted to the campaign, in a futile attempt to injure the publisher of the Post-Democrat. The newspaper deal fell flat. Nobody with an ounce of brains would ever have attempted it in the first place, hut-Obadiah has never been accused of possessing an ever abundance of gray matter. Kilgore, it will be recalled, was acting city chairman in the last city campaign, and about three fourths of his time was given up to the task of trying to oust the publisherof the Post-Democrat from his office as democratic member of the city board of election commissioners. He failed in that as he does in every thing political he attempts* He was county chairman in 1920, the- presidential campaign, and the drubbing- received by the democrats in 1920, under his stupid' leadership, is a matter of local political history. In the city election of 1921, after sixteen- straight years of democratic rule, and following the 1917 election when the d-emocratic city ticket was elected two to one, the democrats went down to defeat, losing the city by over two thousand, under the “able” leadership of this same Kilgore. Kilgore’s idea of effective leadership in 1920 was to deliver tiresome speeches, himself, every night at democratic headquarters and to surround himself with relatives and friends on salaries, to use Mp'the meager funds, contributed by candidates and others. As to the quality of the service rendered by those who hung around headquarters during the campaign of 1920, One has only to refer to the poll books compiled by these people. They were practically useless and the. majority of the poll book holders in the various precincts had to get their information by peeking over the shoulders of the republican poll book holders. In the city election of 1921 Kilgore’s idea of a good time was to hire such fellows as Bill Daniels to write bum poetry and make speeches. In the recent campaign Kilgore was suspected of being a member of the Ku Klux klan and he was never able to relieve himself of the odium of this suspicion. He never put the party on record as being against the klan and never at any time did he make any public declaration against the invisible empire. Kilgore not only made a complete botch of the campaign, but succeeded also in leading a number of well meaning candidates into believing that his methods were effective. For instance, it was his idea, expressed to the candidates, 1 that there should be no open fight made against the republican party. His idea was a “gum shoe” contest and the result was that somcof the candidates on the democratic ticket was afraid to speak above a whisper and were licked for it two to one, or better. It is now Up to the democrats either to go to work intelligently or ask for the appointment of a receiver, in Delaware county and go out of business permanently. Unless something is done in the way of reorganization with such fellows as Kilgore completely eliminated, it will be impossible to find democrats who will permit their names to go on the ticket in coming campaigns. Thd real democrats of Delaware county had better get together and talk things over.

m the Republican camp,- and there by reason of western conference were the same gum shoes political j championships is evidenced by recent tactics in_depling with it. Although j action taken bv counsel for the uni-

Tresident Harding intimated his op- ■ versity.

position to the Klan, Governor Allen ; Thi^ had to do with the use of a of Kansas denounced the Klan with- j photo of Dr. J. W. Wilce, football out stint and there was considerable ! coach, in a cigar advertisement. LTse Republican propaganda quietly dis- , of the .picture was entirely unauthortn’buted to link the Klan with the 1 ized, it was said at the university.. south and the south with the Dem- ;. University counsel immediately ocratic party, the Klan and Republi- ! prepared a suit against the tobacco can leaders in some states were j firm, an Ohio concern, but withheld clos e ly allied. j filing it when the company signed The alliance worked both success- j an agreement binding it from using ! fully and unsuccessfully. . the photo of any Ohio State athlete | How It Worked in Indiana or official for advertising purposes,

j The Klan- reaction in Indiana was ‘interesting.! There the forces of rej ligious bigotry were lined up with | the Republican party. The Klan

WEDDING RICE BLINDS Denver, Colo.—A handful of rice

thrown at Mr. and Mrs. Neil Tay-

W 1«'B. redding blinding the It!* end

she is under medical care.

citicsj The Klan issued sample ballots to urge Klansmen to vote for nearly ^ all Republican candidates.

The- Klan circulated propaganda HVVW

that the Democratic ballot bad a value of milk for children, thirty number of Catholics on it. There ; school pupils will be given a pint vi

was no mistaking the Klan was : milk daily for two months.

FREE MILK FOR “KIDDIES” Birmingham, Eng.—To test the

Wizard Clarke Case Comes Next The case of E. Y. Clarke, imperial wizard fo the Ku Klux charged with violation of the liquor law in Muncie, klan, is being considered by the federal grand jury, according to Indianapolis dispatches. Clarke’s handbag, containing a quart of “Old Irish Whisky”, an automatic revolver and five hundred dollars in cash, tumbled out of his automobile while he was making a klan talk on law and order and hundred per cent Americanism in McCulloch park last August. The handbag was found by a twelve year old boy named Manitoh Smith and turned oyer to the police. Some time between twelve and one o’clock that night Mayor Quick, former Night Captain John Moles, Detective Rees and Acting Detective Berg brought the handbag and contents to the home of the editor of the Post-Democrat. Detective Berg told how the handbag came into the possession of the police and the newspaper man asked the mayor and officers if Clarke had been arrested. Asked why Clarke was not arrested and arraigned like any other common criminal, Mayor Quick said he wanted to file the case directly in the federal court. “I have no confidence either in the prosecutor, Mr. Benadum, or City Judge Lance Coons,” declared the mayor. “They both belong to the Ku Klux klan, he continued, “and if we arrest Clarke and arraign him in the city court, the prosecutor and city judge will simply frame up and turn him loose.” The mayor and Detectives Rees and Berg than drove to Indianapolis where they submitted their evidence and the arrest of Clarke followed. Fears are entertained that Clarke, owing to his high office in the invisible empire, may fare as well in the departmest of justice as the mayor feared he would with the city court and local prosecutor. Those who recall the manner in which District Attorney Elliott helped whitewash in the grafter Cahill, can have very little confidence in the sincerity of those whose duty it now becomes to investigate Cahill’s master, the imperial hobgoblin. One thing is certain, however, and that is that sooner or later all those concerned-in the whitewashing of crooked klansmen will suffer the same fate that befell Wilbur Ryman, who lost his job at Indianapolis because of his connection with the Cahill case.