Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 30 July 1925 — Page 1

THE POST-DEMOCRAT

VOLUME 5—Number 27.

MUNQIE, INDIANA, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1925.

TEN CENTS A COPY—$3.00 A YEAR

W.J.BryanDied Very Suddenly, Dayton, Tenn.

Crreat Commoner Passes Away While Taking Nap; Was Worn Out by Evolution Trial; Three Times Candidate for President; Served In Wilson’s Cabinet; Funeral Arrangements Not Made Bu* Burial May Be In Arlington Cemetery, Washington D. C.

Dayton, Tenn., July 27.—William Jennings Bryan was discovered •dead in bed here Sunday afternoon f)y a servant. He had retired to his room in the early afternoon for a nap and was found dead at 4:30 o’clock. Heart disease was given as the cause of death. He was in the best of spirits and expressed himself as “feeling fine'’ ■when he retired shortly after lunch about 1:30 o’clock. He had attended services at the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church before lunch. Following the services, the commoner was greeted by many members of the congregation. He then returned to his temporary home here, where he ate a heavy dinner, remarking that his travels of yesterday and the early morning had given him a hearty appetite. Shortly after 3 o’clock Mr. Bryan retired to his room to rest and Mrs. Bryan went to the back porch to attend to some correspondence. She was only fifteen feet away from his bed. Shook Mr. Bryan “About 4:30 I felt like Mr. Bryan had been asleep long enough so I sent Mr. McCartney (the chauffeur) to wake him,” Mrs. Bryan told friends. McCartney entered the room and shook Mr. Bryan. “He always was a heavy sleeper and was hard to wake,” he said, adding that when he shook the body a second time he noticed Mr. Bryan was not breathing. Dr. W. F. Thomason and Dr. A. C. Broyles were summoned immediately and A. B. Andrews also was called by McCartney, After an examination the physicians stated Mr. Bryan evidently had been dead between thirty and forty-five minutes.

“During the excitement Mrs. Bryan was the calmest person in the house,” Mr. Andrews said. “She took complete charge of affairs and showed more nerve than I have ever seen in a woman—and she is an invalid, too.” Colonel |n The War Several times, Mrs. Bryan said, the commoner expressed a desire to be buried in Arlington cemetery. “You know he was a colonel in the Spanish-American war and since it was his wish to rest in Arlington, we probably will place him there,” she continued. “But no definite decision will be reached until we hear from William Jennings Bryan, Jr.” Mrs. Bryan was preparing to leave Dayton in the next day or so for Idaho, where she expected to spend the summer with her son. Mr. Bryan was to leave Dayton, Tuesday, for Knoxville, where he wds to deliver two speeches, then go to Nashville for a similar engagement, before going to Florida. He expected to join Mrs. Bryan again in the fall. Mr. Bryan was in Chattanooga Saturday morning after having spent the night at the Ross Hotel, enroute to Winchester. He arrived Saturday evening at 6:30 from Winchester, where he had spoken twice during the day. His first speech Saturday was delivered at Jasper, followed by an address at noon to the Civitan Club in Winchester. Mr. Bryan came here and made arrangements to publish his speech and had expected to deliver it at Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville and Hartsville, the latter place being the home of Senator Butler, author of the state anti-evolution law. He was taken to Dayton, Sunday morning by A. W. Lessly, owner of the Ross hotel, and they reached there about 9:30 o’clock. Mr. Bryan stayed at home during-the morning and made arrangements for the speech to be delivered at the court house in Dayton tonight. Another engagement of importance was one at the Hotel Aqua today at 6:30, when he would meet with the Progressr y Dayton Club and lay plans for the Bryan college, a movement for which was to be definitely launched at the dinner tonight. (Continued to Page Two.)

Court Asher’s Charges

Court Asher, former bootlegger who operated here for a long time unmolested because of klan protection, but who later got in bad with those who gave him protection, and was prosecuted and convicted for transporting liquor, Wednesday filed a motion for •a new trial which contained sensational allegations, supported by affidavits made by one juror and three local attorneys. Court declares in his motion that two members of the klan state police, who would have been important witnesses to prove that he, Court, was in klan headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, on the date of the alleged offense, were threatened by Prosecutor Ogle with arrest for perjury if they testified and that they absented themselves from the trial because of the threat. Attorney Clarence Benadum supported the Asher motion with an affidavit declaring that Ogle made such an intimidating threat and Attorney Ed Templer in an affidavit states that Ogle told him personally that he would cause the arrest of Asher on a perjury charge in the event that a certain motion were made. An affidavit signed by Mrs. Collins, one of the jurors nvho convicted Asher, declares that she was intimidated into voting guilty, the charge being made that she was coerced by the others and that when one of the jurors suggested that her vote of guilty should not stand because of her belief in the innocence of the defendant, the foreman declared that her vote had been cast and that it would not be changed no matter what the juror believed concerning the guilt or innocence of the accused. Asher charges that Cola Danner, one of the jurors, while deliberating on the case, told his jurors that he once saw the defendant sell a quart of liquor and that other alleged offenses committed by the defendant were freely discussed and that jurors insisted that he should be convicted on general principles. It is also declared that one of the jurors, Jordan, while in the jury room deliberating on the case, stated that he had withdrawn from, membership in the Ku Klux Klan after seeing Asher take part in one of the parades of that great law and order organization. Attorney Tom Miller presented a supporting affidavit stating that two of the jurors, Danner and Hoppes, came out of the jury room and met him in the court law library, where they discussed the case with him. The charges made by Asher and the supporting affidavits can hardly be ignored. If these charges are true they certainly disclose an extraordinary state of affairs. Witnesses who have testified in court in a manner displeasing to Prosecutor Ogle have frequently been thrown in jail. Intimidation seems to be a part of Prosecutor Ogle’s stock in trade. If the affidavits made by Asher, Benadum and the juror Templer Collins are true, what chance would a defendant have, guilty or innocent, who happened to be caught in that kind of a trap? The Post-Democrat once charged that the processes of the law here were surrounded by Ku Klux influences and that a conspiracy between grand jurors, the sheriff, prosecutor and police existed and the editor was sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined one thousand dollars for contempt of court and the court’s officers. Time works wonders, and members of the klan themselves have begun to shed light on the situation.

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NEW PUN TO SEND SCOTT TOGALLOWS Illinois State’s Attorney Hires Experts To Test Alleged Slayer. Chicago, July 30.—The state Tuesday, laid its plans to send Russell Scott to the gallows. Scott, former Canadian financier, sentenced to death for killing a drug clerk in a holdup, has twice escaped the gallows in the past two weeks by a margin of a few hours. Next Monday a hearing to decide whether Scott has become insane since his conviction will be started. A stay of execution to provide for this hearing was granted last Friday four hours before Scott was to hang. Two Alienists Employed The state Tuesday, employed two

alienists to examine Scott and summoned for questioning all jail guards and newspaper men who have come in contact with Scott since he was incarcerated in the Cook county jail fifteen months ago. Meantime Scott’s wife, Mrs. Catherine Scott, has started a campaign in Detroit, to raise additional funds for his defense, and Scott’s mother also is expected to participate in this campaign. o Took Poison, Dies in Ambulance. Mrs. Erma Wolf, 19, died in an ambulance at Ft. Wayne last night, en route to a hospital, from taking poison with suicidal intent, after a quarrel with her husband.

Greb Given Decision. Harry Greb, middleweight champ, ion, was given newspaper decision in a fight last night at Wichita, Kan., against “Fighting Ralph” Brooks of Hennewell, in a ten-round exhibition.

Bryan Resolutions To Be Made Today Indianapolis, July 30—Resolutions on the death of William Jennings Bryan will be drafted today by a committee of Indiana Democrats, headed by Samuel M. Ralston, United States senator, and a committee from the Indiana Democratic Club, with Charles Remster as chairman, it was announced yesterday. The two committees will not meet jointly, however, but each will compose seperate resolutions which will be forwarded to Mrs. Bryan. At this time no official representatives of either the Democratic state committee or the Indiana Democratic Club will attend the funeral of the Commoner at Arlington cemetery, Washington, but it is possible that some Indiana Democrat now in the East will be designated as representative of both the state committee and the club, it was said.

Wiley West, Political Handyman, Continues as Referee in Construction of Highway in Which his Political Boss, Harry Hoffman, is Interested—Efforts of Dr. Botkin and Others to Get a Fair Deal Unavailing—Sheriff Hoffman Grows Rich on Illegal County Contracts.

Attorney General Gilliom has rendered an opinion which has gladdened the hearts of the county commissioners. In a letter to the county attorney the state officer rules that there can be no state inspection on the Samuel H. Dragoo road, west of the city. Dr. Botkin, it will be recalled, presented a petition to the commissioners demanding state inspection on the road. The contract had been let to Claude Hines and work had been in progress for some time, under the inspection of Wiley West, a political hanger-on of the Billy Williams machine. It is .a matter of common knowledge that Sheriff Hoffman is a partner of Contractor Claude Hines. Hoffman is chairman of the republican county central committee and Wiley West, the inspector named by the commissioners to see. that the work is completed according to plans and specifications, is one of Hoffman’s precinct committeemen and is one of the gang’s handy men who is always being selected for some minor public job. —o

Dollings’ Creditors May Be Paid Soon Indianapolis, July 30.—Judge Lynn C. Hay in Superior Court, Room 2, Wednesday afternoon instructed Bert McBride, as receiver for the R. L. Dollings Company of Indiana, to accept an offer which had been made by the receivers for the company in Ohio, for a settlement of claims between the Ohio and Indiana branches of the company. Harold C. Taylor, attorney for McBride, said the settlement means that the Indiana receivership will obtain about $800,000 in accounts. All debts owed in Indiana to the Ohio company receivership will be paid to McBride, instead of the receivers of Ohio. A report on the sale of the Millholland Company, one of the Dollings subsidiaries, showed a balance of $50,102 on hand, which is held by McBride awaitnig instructions from the court. o U. S. Airmen Delay Start. American aviators at Paris, who are to serve under the Sultan of Morocco against the rebellious tribesmen in north Africa, have delayed their departure for Morocco until next Monday. The group will aggregate probably seven men and it will be followed by eight other aviators later.

Hoffman has made no pretense of not being connected with the Dragoo road contract, He gives his personal attention to the work, regardless of the fact that the law makes it a felony for any county official to be connected either directly or indirectly with any county contract where payment is made by the county to the contractor. Everybody Knows It. Everybody, including the county commissioners, is aware of the sheriff’s participation in gravel lifting and road construction contracts with the county, yet he is not only unmolested by the law, but is allowed by the commissioners to designate one of his own political tools to inspect the work and draw a salary from the county for doing so. In the light of this astounding situation Dr. Botkin and others, realizing the gravity of a situation which seemed to have made no impression upon either the prosecuting attorney or the county commissioners, demanded the removal of West and the naming of a man from the state highway commission^io supervise the contract. The Indianapolis News Wednesday quotes a member of the state highway commission as saying: (Continued to Page Two)

BILLY AND NINY. Billy and Niny and Billy’s wife and Niny’s husband are off on a long automobile tour to astonish the natives of the bloomin’ east. The pilgrimage is being made in Billy’s specially contrived machine (not his political machine) about the size of a small box car, which is a sort of a combination coach, sleeper, kitchen and cafeteria. According to veracious newspaper accounts all of the leading cities of the east will be touched and if the mayor of New York will permit, Billy will run his boat from one end of Broadway to the other, bowing right and left to the applauding multitude. It is also darkly hinted that Washington will take a day off in honor of the arrival of the two leading lights of the Delaware county republican machine. Word has been sent to Swampscott that Billy and Niny are on the way and the Coolidges are going to keep a hired girl during their visit if it doesn’t cost too much. With Billy and Niny out of town for an indefinite period, republican politics will also take a vacation, for of course none of the faithful will dare to breathe during the absence of their peerless leader and leaderess, Billy and Niny. It is true that Mrs. Gill remains, which makes up some for the absence of the other two. But, alas, that pearl of political wisdom, deserted by the joy riders, must bear the heavy load alone. Billy gone, Niny gone, Bob Graves gone, Hugh Berry Gone—poor Mrs. Gill, poor John Hampton! All their nolitical cronies away enjoying themselves and nobody + o take orders from. It’s painful.