Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 2 September 1926 — Page 1

THE POST-DEMOCRAT

VOLUME 6—NUMBER 32.

MUNCIE, INDIANA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1926.

Price 5 Cents a Copy—$2.00 a Year

JUDGE DEARTH REMOVES BOARD MEMBERS

Notice Served on Mayor and Others To Bring Suit To Recover Money Paid Out For Second Hand Truck

MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF DELAWARE CO. STARTS CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN; ACTION AGAINST MAYOR FOLLOWS SENSA TIONAL EXPOSURE AS MADE BY THE POST DEMOCRAT.

The Municipal League of Delaware county, a new organization formed for the purpose of cleaning out the crooks in Delaware county Tuesday through its attorney, Francis Shaw, served notice on the city to bring action against Clifton Cranor and Oliver Williams to recover the money paid for the second hand truck purchased last spring. This action followed the sensational exposure made by the PostDemocrat in its issue of August 19. Unless the city itself brings suit ^-jn action will be instituted by taxpayers in thirty days. The notice reads as follows: Muncie, Indiana, August 31, 1926 John C. Hampton, Mayor of the City of Muncie, Delaware county, Indiana. George H. Koons, Jr., City Attorney of the City of Muncie, Delaware county, Indiana, and the Common Council of the City of Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana. Gentlemen: Whereas by recent investigation made by The Municipal League of Delaware County, Indiana, through its members, officers and employees, of the books and record of the City of Muncie, Indiana, and records in the office Secretary of State, and by other evidence obtained, that one Clifton Cranor, a member of the Board of Public Works of the City of Muncie, Indiwas in© owner of a thi’ee ton ~ Wabash truck, engine No. 101,582A, serial No. 1210 , 9, 1922 model No. 52 which had been extensively used by him in his coal business for some two or three years, which was badly worn and of practically no value; that sometime during the month of March or April, 1926, the said Clifton Cranor conspired with the other two members of the Board of Public Works, and one Oliver J. Williams, an employee of the said Clifton Cranor, to make a sale of said truck to the City of Muncie, Indiana, and that pursuant to said conspiracy and as a part thereof the said Cranor made a pretended sale and transfer of said truck to the said Oliver J. Williams; that shortly thereafter the said parties all of them coh-

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spiring and confederating together made a pretended purchase of said truck from said Oliver J. Williams for the price of $2,600.00; that shortly thereafter, and on the 24th day of April, 1926, said Oliver J. Williams in pursuance of said conspiracy entered into to defraud the City of Muncie, filed his claim $950 in the clerk’s office of the City of Muncie, Indiana, in the sum of SSyCOO-OO, which claim was allowed by the Board of Public Works of said City of Muncie, Indiana, and a warrant thereafter drawn payable to said Oliver J. Williams for said sum of $2,600.00 and the said moneys paid thereon by the City Treasurer of the City of Muncie, Indiana, to the said Oliver J. Williams. That the said truck was of little or no value, and since the delivery of the same to the City of Muncie, the Board of Public Works of said city have been compelled to contract indebtedness for repairs on said truck, for the purchase of another motor, a new axle, and for new tires therefor to the amount of approximately $800.00, as the undersigned tax-payers are informed and verily believe; that by reaI niiMMfc! ml I I ■

A Hypocritical Newspaper.

A syndicated editorial in the Star league this week, seeks to speak in unbiased terms regarding the prosecution of John D. Williams, state highway director, and Earl Crawford, deposed member of the highway commission. The highway department is the one spot in the state administration which was not debauched, degraded and contaminated by the foul conspiracy hatched up by D. C. Stephenson, Jim Watson, Lawrence Orr, chief accountant of the state hoard of accounts and Clyde Walb, republican itate chairman to make a Ku Klux paradise out of the Hoosier state. John Williams and Earl Crawford are honorable and upright men. The plot was hatched up in Stephenson’s vile den to frame the highway department and make millions. The slimy renegade, vfllbur Ryman, was one of Stephenson’s lickspittles. Harry Hoffman was one of his messenger boys and was ta be dealt in. The board of accounts, owned by Stephenson, made a crooked report and a handy grand jury returned indictment. The Indianapolis Star was, and is yet, the mouthpiece of the conspirators. Every man connected with the rotten conspiracy should be sent to the penitentiary, and probably will be, iooner or later. The Star says it is bad form for anyone to make charges against those who were instrumental in framing up the indictments against the road officials. Considering the fact that marked copies of the Indianapolis Star, containing lying reports which sought to discredit Williams and Crawford, have at various times been sent all over the state, its present attitude of hypocritical, mealy, mouthed neutrality, turns the stomach of honest men. It is known that representatives of the Indianapolis Star were in close communion with D. C. Stephenson during the time the plot was formed to railroad honest officials to the penitentiary and fill the state highway department with thieves and porch climbers. John O. Shaffer, the pariah dog of newspaperdom, owns the Star League. Shaffer sold his hofor for a slice of the Teapot Dome pie which he extortecf from the big grafters by the blackmail route. Presumably he was to be cut in on the state highway melon. The dastardly plot will fail. ,

son of said transactions the City of Muncie, Indiana, has been defrauded of the sum of approximately $3,000.00, as the undersigned are informed and verily believe. That in addition to said truck transaction the undersigned are informed and verily believe that the said Clifton Cranor, a member of the oBard of Public Works of the City of Muncie, Indiana, in violation- of law, by and through his agent and employee said Oliver J. Williams, has filed and been allowed and paid divers other claims against said city for coal and other supplies furnished by said Cranor in violation of law, all of which will appear from examination of the records of said City of Muncie, Indiana, in the Clerk’s, Controller’s an dTreasurer’s office of said City of Muncie, Indiana. Now, therefore, the undersigned tax-payers of the City of Muncie, Indiana, for and on their own behalf, and for and on behalf of all other tax-payers of the City of Muncie, Indiana, hereby respectfully request and demand that you, and each of you, bring or cause to be brought and instituted an action or actions in the name of the City of Muncie, Delaware county, Indiana, against the said Clifton Cranor, Oliver J. Williams and all other persons implicated in said conspiracy to defraud the said City of Muncie, Indiana, and the taxpayers thereof out of said moneys by jeason of said frauds and fraudulent claim for the sale and purchase of said truck and for all moneys expended by reason thereof, )and for the recovery of all other moneys wrongfully and unlawfully paid to said Oliver J. Williams and to said Clifton Cranor by and through said Williams by ftieans of any and all false claims made against said city; and that you institute, or cause to be instilited any and all actions necessary for the recovery of all sums unlawfully, illegally and wrongfully paid out of the treasury of said city by reason of the facts herein set out. Very respectfully, Albert N. Shuttleworth, Elizabeth S. Swank. By Francis A. Shaw, Their Attorney. Pennville Girl Steps On Snake Pennville, Ind., Aug. 28—While taking pictures in a park at Indianapolis, Miss Vivian Waltz accidently stepped on a black snake, which measured four feet in length and eight inches around. It wrapped itself around Miss Waltz’s ankle, biting her twice. She was rushed to a physician’s office where she was given treatment. Herrin, Ilk, Raid Reveals Arsenal Herrin, 111., Aug. 28.—Renewal of the warfare that has kept “bloody Williamson county” in turmoil for the last three years was prevented yesterday by the confiscation of a small arsenal in the .Palace hotel. •Outbreaks have been in the making here since the shooting of Harry Walker and EVerett Smith, notorious gangsters, last week, near Marion. Yesterday’s raid, however, is believed to have checked plans for another disturbance.

Hoffman’s Statement

According to a local daily Harry Hoffman declares the second hand truck bought by the board of works, of which he is a member, would have cost $4,500 if purchased new. He says he didn’t know the truck belonged to Cliff Cranor, another member of the board of works. He says the city has had more service out of the truck than any other truck owned by the city. Wonder if Hoffman knows any other good ones to

tell?

Mr. Oliver, of the Delaware Trucking company, local agent for the Service truck, says the city could have bought a new truck of the same make and capacity for $2,200, and Mr. Oliver ought to be in a better position to know than Harry Hoffman. There can be no possible excuse offered for this rotten transaction. Hoffman should be compelled to give his explanation to a judge and jury. He has been flirting with the penitentiary for a long time and this latest transaction of his qualifies him for the stripes and close hair cut which would fit his particular style of beauty. • Mayor Hampton is too busy junketing around over the country in his new red wheeled Packard sport roadster to take any notice of the truck transaction. Apparently he is not interested. He says he did not sign the warrant for $2,600 that paid for the truck, as the Post-Democrat charged. This, apparently, is a plea of not guilty. The mayor must want it distinctly understood that he was not a party to the criminal act of his board of works. He wants to put the blame entirely on the shoulders of the three members of the board of works. It has not occurred to him that he appointed them to their jobs, is still keeping them there and is directly responsible to the citizens for their acts. Any automobile dealer, any automobile salesman or owner of an automobile knows how much money can honestly be realized out of a car that has been operated continuously for four years. Muncie and every other city of its size in the United States is filled to overflowing with second hand automobiles that can be bought for fifty dollars apiece. The statement by Hoffman that he was unaware of the fact that the truck belonged to Cranor before the title passed to the man 0. J. Williams, will hardly bear analysis. If Hoffman takes the witness stand in his own behalf when the criminal case comes up in court he will have to think up a better one than that. When the members of the board of works bought the truck they knew it was a second hand machine. If they were honest in the deal they would have investigated before spending $2,600 of the people’s money for a four year old truck. The records show that Williams cannot write his own name. He had to make his “mark” in applying for a title last spring, just before the purchase was made by the board of works, “in an alley,” as stated by Lon Thornburg, board member. Imagine a sane man, buying a second hand truck in an alley of an unknown man who couldn’t write his own name, without at least making some inquiry of

(Continued to Pago Four)

Billy Williams Cracks Whip and Clarence Dearth Removes Those Who Were Investigating fCharges That Cripples Were Ejected from Infirmary—Shroyer Refused Admsision to Board of Charities and Corrections—“Looks Like Politics” Says ‘the Judge.

BULLETIN. Judge Clarence W. Dearth arrived home from his Canadian trip in time to save the face of the Republican machine gang which stands solidly behind Sherm Shroyer, the discredited infirmary superintendent. Without investigating the merits of the charges that were being investigated by the county board of charities and corrections, Judge Dearth ousted the four members who were pursuing the investigation and named four to take their places. The judge is quoted as saying that he believes the board members were actuated by political motives. Shroyer Wednesday afternoon refused to allow the four members of the board to enter the infirmary. — Billy Williams was noticed sneaking away from the infirmary as the four board members drove up. In refusing to allow the board to enter and of course the removal of the four members and the substitution of four “machinists” by Judge Dearth was through order of the postmaster bons. The four members discharged are: Mrs. F. A. Dpran, republican"; Mrs. R. M. Retherford, Mrs. Margaret Harrison and Rev. M. W. Butler, democrats. The four who were named to fake their places are: Mrs. Clifton Cranor and Rollie Cummins, of Muncie; Mrs. Ella Murray, of Selma, democrats, and Mrs. Cecil Clinger, of Muncie, republican. The action of Judge Dearth was indefensible. The board was making an honest investigation of a deplorable situation. His removal of the board is in line with his action in changing the personnel of the board of children’s guardians. There was no “politics” in the infirmary investigation. Two' poor crippled inmates who had been bruatally thrown out of the institution by Shroyer appealed to the board for help. Judge Dearth has once more displayed his true colors.

The county board of charities and corrections is making an investigation of the ejectment of two aged cripples from the county infirmary. Last Saturday Sherman J. Shroyer, infirmary superintendent, in a fit of anger, ordered of the inmates, H. N. Gallimore and Charles Harris to leave and they have since been without a home. » Mr. Galliifiore is badly crippled and can get around only by the use of crutches. Mr. Harris is a paralytic and is almost helpless. Both have been inmates at the infirmary for a number of years. Shroyer became incensed when one of the men made a remark about the failure of the superintendent to deliver to them the copy of the Post-Democrat which is mailed to them weekly.

A number of the inmates made up a small purse of two dollars and ordered the paper, but when It arrived at the poor farm it is always destroyed or thrown in a waste basket. A short time ago all of the July copies of the Post-Democrat were found in a pile of waste paper by one of the inmates. Arthur Carson, the infirmary janitor, overheard the remark concerning the Post-Democrat. He in-

formed Superintendent Shroyer and the latter approached the men in a great rage and inquired, it is said, “What in the hell are you trying to frame up on me?” The inmates, fearing punishment, denied the charge, whereupon, they say, Carson refuted their denial, calling them “G d d n liars.” “Get your clothes and get out of here,” Shroyer is reported as saying, and the two aged cripples (Continued to Page Four)

Time For Press To Curb Abuse

By R. lOharlton Wright, Publisher Columbia (S. C.) Record (By R. Charlton Wright) Publisher, Columbia (S. C.) Record. I would heartily approve a law requiring the hearing of contempt proceedings before some judge other than the judge affected or in another jurisdiction. So gross have been the abuses of the power in some recent cases that I am almost driven to the extreme view that such cases should he tried by juries. I do not sympathize with journalists who deliberately affront the dignity of courts, but there is a sharp distinction between contempt of some of the individual judges whose presence on the bench is a menace not only to the freedom of speech and of the press but to the liberties of the people as well. There should be some way to curb the arbitrary and now unbridled power that unscrupulous judges employ to punish political enemies, reward political henchmen, or satisfy personal grudges. The only effective weapon the press has, through which to bring about reform, is a continued course of education to the end that the public may eventually be aroused to a consciousness of the dangers inherent in the present situation.

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BETTER JUDGES NEED OF THE HOUR (By G. B. (Packer) Editorial Director, Scripps-Howard Newspapers.