Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 21 December 1928 — Page 1
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THE POST-DEMOCRAT
VOLUME VTII—NUMBER 49.
MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1928.
Price 5 Cents—$2.00 a Year
CRANOR AND RETZ PULL A FAST ONE ON LON
HURRIED EFFORT TO FREE ALLEGED ROBBERS
Prosecutor Davis Threatened With ConContempt and Jail By Judge Dearth When He Charges Criminal Lawyers With Crooked Work in Attempting to Thwart Justice.
The last days of Judge Dearth on the circuit court bench have been marked by a singular legal duel between the bench and the prosecutor in the attempt of the latter to prevent Dearth from finally adjudicating cases where two men were charged with highway robbery. One is the case in which Baker and Veneman are charged with stopping Hazel Green and Cash Couch on the public highway while they were driving in Miss Green’s automobile and at the point of a gun robbing them of considerable mone yand valuables. The other case was that in which Veneman was charged with sticking up John Sage, a grocer, with a gun, and relieving him of four hundred dollars. Van Ogle, attorney for the alleged highway robbers, is
PRAISE FROM A REPUBLICAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL
Admits That Post-Democrat
Articles Have Been Backed U|) With the Facts.
Editor Post-Democrat.
December 18, 1928. Muncie, Indiana.
De'ar Sir:
For several years, I have been an intermittent and more or less unapproving reader of your paper. Being a republican of the old school, I could not approve of your manner of handling your weekly publication. I say frankly that I do not now condone all that you have done and the manner in which you have done it. Nevertheless, you
making a desperate attempt to secure the release of the, have forced my respect for your
three men, through habeas corpus and other legal technicalities, while Dearth is still on the bench, and Prosecutor Davis is just as determined in his effort to hold the cases
in court until Dearth steps down the first of January and | warTare which you have chosen to
then try them on their merits before Judge-elect Lon
Guthrie.
Wednesday *morning there was a
paper and you, personally. You have had a terrific battle and you now stand in the position of 'a victor, regardless of the implements of
JESUS OF NAZARETH ‘•HE STIRRETH UP THE PEOPLE” (By the Editor.)
spirited till in court when Prosecu-
te release Baker and Veneman in
for Davis declared with heat that even when they concerned my own crooked criminal lawyers were try-ithe Sage and Green cases, Prose- nersona i friends, were backed with ing to put something over. Jciitor Davis, Monday, went before facts. And, more than that, it has The evidende in these cases had Dearth and moved to dismiss the been my observation that you were been originally gathered by the cases for lack of evidence, but had j ug f a s willing to criticise officials detective department and Prosecu- taken the precaution, before doing and members of your own party,
Nearly two thousand years agojthe twentieth century, who squeal Jesus Was born in a manger in BethMjfce a stuck pig every time some Lehem. bolshevist mentions Teapot Dome Untold millions are about to eele j ar Stephenson’s little black box. brate that great natal event. 1 Human nature hasn’t changed a At the age of thirty-two tfrp <particle in twenty centuries and money power of Jerusalem Rcnt; w j]i jj e running true to form a milhim to hip death. .Up 11 y ears Dom now. But something It is a base libel on the Jewish had to be done, so the Pharisees people that Jewry as a whole isjbribed one of the apostles to deheld responsible for the lynching liver the tormentor into their hand, of the greatest man that ever lived a hired mob, incited by th> He taught from Galilee to Jerusal- iJewish reactionaires, arrested em. He stood on soap boxes at! Jesus and he was given a kangaroo street corners and harangued. trial before Pilate, the Roman gov-
If a popular election had beeK^ernor of Jerusalem,
held, and Jesus had been a candi j “What’s the charge against th ! p
date for president of the Jewish j man?’’ asked Pilate,
people he would have been elected ! One of the Pharisees stepped
ten to one. forward and answered.
AVhat splemktl courage that \ There were no (jourt reporters in young fellow had. Imagine a youth.those days, but Matthew, Mark, of twenty-seven with nerve enough j Luke and John, the biographers of to scourge the money changers the man whom they followed from from the temple-in Jerusalem. (Galilee to Calvary, have chronicled But when he did it he signed his ‘ f he dialogue which took place in the
death warrant. The word was sent [court of Pilate.
'SvTtt.t’uJ e'S! ,#U - t by the . ptorls,e . s,s “0 .«>; «*'>! The charge made by tteTTO.
has justifie the means.
i am forced to admit that I have invariably found th'at your stories.
BORG-WARNER TO 1 TAKE IN DISC CO.
Plans For Consolidation Are Approval; To Call the Stockholders.
tor Davis. The ease against Vene-, so of filing new charges against man, charged with robbing Couch (them in the city court, and Miss Green, was tried a week Dearth at once sustained the moago TaM‘'•Monday. j lion of the prosecutor but before Deputy Prosecutor Paul Brady, | the prisoners could be turned out who had been ill at home with the of jail they were rearrested by influen/.a and who knew’ nothing;Chief of Detectives Pete Everson,
of the 5*letail3 of the case, was who with Detective Cunningham, _ _ forced to prosecute. Mr. Dpris way have been investigating the robber-! ways voted the ticket in the No- twentym^ne years of age.
snu -tiOi/P^Tsplerphiu vrbrk Tfi ~- - **. -
when they did wrong, as to criticise officials 'and members of my party. That fact was the thing which first impressed me with your true sin-
cerity of purpose.
When I say that I am a republican of the “old school,” I mean just that and nothing more. I have al-
Plans for the consolidation of the Galesburg-Coulter Disc Company with the Borg-W’arner Corporation, of whch the Warner Gear company of MSuncie is a division, were announced by Charles S. Davi(S, chairman of the board. Arrangements were completed Monday night at a meeting held in Chicago by directors of both corporations and will be the forerunner of several other acquisitions by the Borg-Warner in the automotijve industry, Mr. Davis said. ...
This report followed as a result t l ’ ng dawned upon him.
Let Contract for Sewer Engineerin gJob to Low Bidder and Thornburg Has a Fit of Heart Failure and Yumps His Job—Star Suddenly Wakes Up and Demands An
Investigation.
Just as everybody suspected, the sanitary sewer melon was too heavy a load for the city administration gang to shoulder without a bust up among the administration pro-
moters of the million dollar project.
Lon Thornburg, president of the board of works, resigned Tuesday when his colleagues, Harry Retz and Cliff
Cranor pulled a fast one on him.
It has been generally understood that the Chicago engineering firm of Pierce, Greely & Hansen were all set for the job of preparing plans and specifications, but suddenly, at the meeting of the works board Tuesday, Retz and Cranor brought a new boss out of the barn, the Edwin Hancock Engineering Company, also of Chicago; and before Thornburg could get his breath had awarded this firm the contract at a compensation of six percent of the estimated
cost of the sewer part of the project.
They Talked Fast
Thornburg simply gasped and °- — gargled when the full import of the ! to trade the junk back for the
Mr. Brady’s first day at the office i digging up details.
afte; > Ms own illness. | Attorney Van Ogle then became Mr. Brady appealed to Judge | bu sy, Tuesday morning filing In Dearth to set the case over until the circuit court a petition for a Prosecutor Davis was well enough | wr it of habeas corpus. Dearth set to try it, stating at the same time l the hearing for 3:30 o’clock Tues-
that he knew nothing at air about day afternoon.
1 he case himself, other than what j Prosecutor Davis met that situahe had read in the newspapers' tion at the hour of hearing by filAvhile he was ill at home. ! ing a motion for a change of judge The reply of Judge Dearth was on an affidavit by Sheriff Harry lhat he was extremely sorry over! McAuley, to whom the writ was the illness of the prosecutor and | directed, declaring that he could his deputy, hut that court proceed-1 not have a fair trial in that court, ings must not he delayed. “CalL The court announced that he the jury,” announced Dearth and j would decide the matter W'ednesIhe unprepared and convalescent! day morning at 9 o’clock. At the deputy prosecutor did the best he | hour set Dearth dismissed the hacould, and as he says himself, nat-i beas proceedings and instructed urally lost the case because of his | City Clerk Maynel Dalby, who was lack of preparation for the trial. j in the court room, to produce in Fearing lhat Dearth was about! (Continued to Page Five)
“WHO WILL BE THE GOAT?”
By P. D. Q. The French have a saying, that when a crime is committed, look for the woman in the case. In this country when a new law is proposed, it pays to look and see who will benefit by that new law. Some people are advocating a thirteen month year instead of a twelve month year as we have now. Chambers of Commerce all over the country are going to vote on the question and if a majority of the members vote for the change, there will be a bill introduced into the law makipg branches of our national government to add another month to the year. Let us see who would benefit by this proposed change. Most all workers work by the hour, so it would make no difference how many months there were in a year, they would only get paid for the hours they work. But take the landlords who rent houses to the workers by the month. They would be able to collect thirteen payments a year instead of twelve as they do now. That would mean that the worker who rents would have to pay one more month’s rent a year than he does now, and would be working for the same amount of wages as he gets now, as the proposed change does not increase the hours in a year. Another thing: the public utilities who have a monthly payment plan, such as the telephone company would collect another month’s rent with no added service. Users of electric power who have a flat rate payable monthly, would have to pay an added monthly payment without receiving the use of any more current. Users of water would be in the same boat, as also would be the user of gas. The only excuse the promoters of this change claim it would do is to bring Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving day on the same da&B each year. They might also add that it would bring Tuesdays and election days on the same date in the week and year. Before we allow this proposed change to be made, let us have a world’s-wide debate on the subject, and then let everybody vote on it, and not just a few like it was done when the fake prohibition amendment became glued to our constitution. V . " •
vember elections, and in the prim 'aries, I have always prided myself upon choosing my candidates without respect to any and all alliances which a candidate might or might not have, attempting to judge a man by his ability, qualifications for the office which he happened to be seeking, and his personal life. I can say with positive certainty that I have not been engaged in any “factional politics” and h’ave held to the opinion, rather stubbornly, that a small group of politicians could not possibly control a majority of the votes. But during the oast two campaigns, because of your agitation 'against the group of republicans which you called the Williams faction, I really investigated the conditions of the party, and, as usual, found that you had
the facts.
I found a gre'at deal of talk, entirely among the Williams followers, about “the other faction.” I investigated that matter and I am thoroughly convinced that there is actu'ally only_ one faction of the republican party in Delaware county, and it is not wholly a republican organization, but is bi-partisan, taking in a certain group of democrats. This faction is lined up against all the rest of the voters of the county, not against faction at all. even though called such by the (Williams group in an effort to “kid” the public. This mass of voters which is against the Willi'ams group, largely because of your expose, look to about three men as their leaders, accepting them as such temporarily and so long as they measure up to the standards of these voters. It is my sincere conviction that the party is in hon-
est h'ands.
I was greatly interested in your story of last week concerning an organization calling itself the Unity League. That story is the inspiration of this confession and disser-
priests and the rulers that Galilee jj geeSj as re i a ted by Luke, twenty had spawned a Red Communist i^j^j chapter, fifth verse, was as
who was sowing dissension in the follows ;
* an d- ‘He stirreth up the people, teachBut the common people held him j n g throughout all Jewry, beginning in such great affection that the (troni Galilee to this place.” Jewish magnates of that period. £< e £ tfiat, will you. Jesus stirred their lingers itching for his throat, ^j ie p eo pi e against the graft and hes'i ated for a long time betore, j n jq U j{j eg 0 f time and for this they struck. terrible crime, was fried wyjiout The Jewish rulers, (they were due process of law, yet was nevernot really rulers, for the Roman tlieless found not guilty by a weak Empire then held sway over all judge, who, not desiring to antaJewry, with Roman provincial gov- 'p on i ze the rich and infuential Pharernors administering for the state) Lsees, turned him over to t..e mob finally held a secret caucus and de- 4nt i permitted the gruesome lynch-
creed his death. Jesus was then ng to take place.
;■ 'io, d'Y?d fo trMVe
Soldiers were sent to arrest hifti, a t least we have been told frequtmtbut refused to serve the warrant, i y f r0 m the pulpit that the crucifi-
of stock spurts in Chicago. Both GMesburg-Coulter and Borg-War-ner stock rose several points in expectation of the merger. The plan ifS for the stockholders of both corporations to exchange stock on a share for share basis. To Call Stockholders. Stockholders of both corporations will be called to meetings at a later date to approve the plan. The Borg-Warner stockholders will be asked to approve an increase in the authorized capitalization of from 500,000 to 1,500,000 shares of $10 par stock at a meeting on December 31. Galesburg has an authorized and outstanding issue of 100,000 shares of non-par common stock. The additional new stock will be used for the exchange of securitijes of several other companies, negotations for w'hich are about to be completed.
“I am president of the bo'ard and will not put the motion,” he ex-
claimed.
“All right. I’m the vice president, and if you don’t act, I will,” was the
response of Retz.
“I quit, I’m done, I resign,” yelled Thornburg. “You can’t pull this
with me on the board.”
“All right, use your pleasure.
money they paid out.
People would come before the
board and protest against improvements that were not wanted by the people to be assessed. If one member declared the street, or alley, or what not, should be improved, they
all believed the same way. When low bidders came in and
demanded the jobs, they all stood together 'and let the contracts to
You’re done, so here goes,” said jthe highest bidders, the higher the Retz. “All in favor of the motion better, for the bhys wanted to see say ‘Aye.’” Cranor said “Aye” and the contractors do well. Retz said “Yea,” 'and came very | it was almost pathetic the way near adding “Bearcats,” but re-'these three good union workers
strung along together. The Three
John, reporting the incident, says the soldiers returned to the Pharisees with the unserved warrant. “Never man spake like thi^s man” was their excuse. The cowardly, hypocritical Pharisees, who had lacked the courage to make the arrest themselves, then began to abuse the soldiers. “Are ye also deceived?” was their unctious complaint. “Have any qf the rulers or Pharisees believed on him? But this people, who knoweth not the law, are cursed.” This shows the contempt of the “rulers” for the common people. Only the elect were supposed to know the law and administer it. And, like today, the law was made for the common people to observe. Those who made the law were supposed to be beyond its reach. But one man of courage, a follower of Jesus, boldly crashed the door and broke up the miserable debate. Nicodemus looked over the yellow bunch of would-be murderers and asked one question: “Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, and know what
he doeth?”
Nicodemus is the kind of a fel-
low I like. He had something to say and said it at the proper time and the proper place. Thip broke up the convention. If there is any one thing that the Pharisees of yesterday and today despise, it is answer-
ing questions of that kind. They prefer to ask all of their
own questions and answer them themselves. The ignorant mulitude should be seen and not heard. If Jesus were on earth today in these United States saying the same things that he said two thousand years ago the voice of reaction would classify him as an undesirable alien and would send him to
cation accomplished that purpose. But did that tortured death on the cross change the system? Scan history from the time of the lynching of Christ up to the present day. Show me where his death is helping today to populate heaven, or where his pathety: end has curbed evil, except that his example of heroism has caused men of every gneration to protest against wick-
edness and oppression.
He stirreth up the people! Is there any organized support by the
Michael Carries Farquar Furnace
frained out of respect for the harrowed feelings of their late com-
rade.
The estimated cost of the entire project is a million dollars, but the estimate on the sewer alone is $450,000 so under the contract of the Edwin H'ancock Engineering company the plans and supervision will cost the city $27,000. Went to Low Bidder The bid for the vyor^, filed by piovrn, c*-o*lv _ & Harjsojl was $41,000, which is $14,000 more than the contract presented by the successful firm. Those who have been keeping track of the didoes of the board of works are not surprised at the sudden resignation of Lon Thornburg under such circumstances.
Herman I. Michael of the Whitely Tin Shop, 925 E street, Whitely, has taken on the agency for the famous Farquar house heating furnace but still retains the agency for (he Homer Grand furnace which he has handled for several years. Regarding the Farquar furnace,
Mr. Michael says:
The “Farquar” type is' different, and the diuerence is elemental. All
church today for those who riski^ op ® urface ’ ; s eliminated. The
they- fortunes, their liberty .ndj a ™£ rid”e. tS I*" tieoolni StlHt a tnick.'ihey then lives foi stirnng up the l )eo ’if ue i.t) 0X j s elongated The first ac- bought it and called it a tiuck and
pie against the modern Pharisee? fir Ak « , ♦ 1 We haven’t noticed It. Many of the ‘ 1 ,° 1 t r * ,s -ot concentrated, Pharisees are wealthy church mem- b “ t , dl8t r lb,,te f ''•““''y *<> 1 > eatm f hers who endow colleges where'? la “ s ot Ere ‘* ., bre “ lltll ; k N ° c, ' owd -
mg begins until after the heat m-
Muskeeters h'ad nothing on Lon and Cliff and Harry. Tough on the Union And then Cliff and Harry pulled their fast one. We 'ask you, now, was that any way to treat a union
brother?
Mayor Hampton worked quick after the departure of Thornburg. Jim Fitch, who was licked for senator [iy Roy Frjedley and by nearly >T ’■lijiM.-i'Ae-u -Ji tran for lieutenant governor, was promptly appointed in Lon’s place, thus fulfilling the Post-Democrat’s prediction, made last June, that Jim’s lame duck badge would get him out of the trenches and in a new job before Christmas. And by. the way the people should
For the first time in the history | not take the bewailing of the Star of the hoard a contract was let to |too seriously. Up until Wednesday a low bidder. No wonder Thornburg morning it has been perfectly coftquit. He thought his coworkers on (tent with the conduct of the board, the board had gone crazy. j Although the truck deal smelled Up until the calamity Tuesday all to heaven and the complaints of three members of the works had oppressed property owners were been good, union workers. They |of everyday occurrence and the
tation upon the results of my own Leavenworth for ten years, at least,
i rvirocjTi ora r inn r\r rno o rr a i r» c? /-\r rnck 1 _
investigation of the affairs of the republican party in our county. I
clergymen are educated, These Pharisees would soon lose interest ijn churches, colleges and preachers if they were scourged from the temple as Jesus #)f Nazareth
scourged them.
POPULATION OF MUNOE, 51.134 40 Percent. Increase in Ten Years; 60,000 Live in and Near City; Work Good.
. .The population of Muncie on Jan. 1, _1929, nine .years after the last government .census, will be 51,134 compared to 36,524 in 1920, an increase of 40 per cent, according to the .survey .issued .by the News-
paper Feature Bureau.
The figures were made public Thursday by Lester C. Bush, managing secretary of the Muncie
stuck together. If one decided that the city ought to buy a scrap heap
swore it was not only a truck, but a good truck, and stuck to it until the Post-Democrat compelled them
evidence of a collusion of the board with the contractors’ trust was as plain as the nose on Abie’s face, the Star never raised a holler until the board accidentally let a contract to an engineering firm which (Continued to Page Five)
notice th'at you name several mem- , „ , . . , . liers of this League whom I know ot and s 6 " 1 t0 " le work
land Nicodemus would have been
fined ten dollars and costs for con *j Chamber of Commerce,
w. x^cx.ftixo „xxv,xxx x xwxvx„ , , Tlie population of llie city and to be faithful captains and lieuten-l *5 t . h,r * y d t y8 ‘ „ . , suburban territory is estimated to
But that bunch of Jerusalem jjg go 000
racketeers had no intention of let-i 4,778 Women Workers
ting the matter drop. They simply
|ants of the Williams group, which leads me to believe that, as usual, your story relates plain, unadulter-
ated facts. I am going to investigate ibeir time. For three more this Unity League thoroughly, and years Jesus fearlessly went on his
will write you of my findings.
Permit me to heartily congratulate you unon your victory. You have earned it. I trust you will keen the sw’ord sharpened and stand willing to protect your Jaurels, and T assure you that T 'am for you as. I believe, all good citizens should be. nrru
Yours for Clean Politics.
A Recent Convert.
way, Jambasting the gangsters and demanding a moral and religious
clean up.
Imagine the many conferences indulged ijn by the crooks who feared that the philosophy of the young Galilean w*as about to break up their play house of graft and
usury!
It was their wont to stand out on the street and pray, long and loud, to iprove their profound piety
Three tired young men parked and godliness and then retire in their car by the side of the road| sec r et caucus to cuss the agitator near Svlvia, N. C., 'and went to j and express sympathy for each sleep. They awakened to find their °^ er because some one had finally car in a creek bed, where it had ar * seri w ho had the grit to tell the
stopped after rolling down a flftv-
foot embankment and they did not know how or when the event happened.
truth about them.
The complaints they uttered were sifnilar, no doubt, to the -re-
An interesting feature of the survey is the occupational figures. Among the 42,263 persons 10 years of age or over living in Muncie, it is estimated that there are 22,610 workers for gain. Of this number 17,832 are males and 4,778 females. Comparative characteristics of city's population are: Males, in 1920, 18,551; 25,980; females, in 1920 17,967; 1929 25,154, and families in 1920, 9,529; in 1929 13,341. There was an excess of births over deaths since 1920 numbering 2,810, an increase of 25 per cent in the number of qualified voters, an increase of 30 per cent in youths of school age, and an increase of 60 per cent i ( u domestic water service
the survey shows. o
Ten thousand aifplane licenses
tensity is xargely reduced. The greatest crowding occurs in the bottom of the oval fire-box immersed in the coldest air which absorbs the last residue of heat. The “Farquar” fire-box is characterized not only by absence of the always defective top surface but also by the correct shape of ijts air passage surrounding the fire-box. The spaces are equalized. They conform to the curve of the fire-box. The air sweeps every inch of the metal in swift currents, absorbing the heat as it passes. Just within the outer casing are the curved radiators parallel with the surface of the U||re-box. They extract heat by radiation and impart it to the air. The radiation is effective because j it acts at right angles to both surfaces. All the heating surface is effect- j ive. The metal absorbs and imparts! heat at equalised rate. Overneating j is prevented and strains of expan-1 sion relieved. All the heat is utiliz-j ed. The benefits are durability, eco-' giomy, regularity, a wholesome at-! mosphere to live in, security against leakage, and—best of all—protect i|On. o TYLER MANUFACTURING CO. IS A GROWING CONCERN
have been issued by the department
pinings of the fattened vultures of of commerce.
The Tyler Manufacturing company is one of the fast-growing manufacturing concerns of Muncie. Beginning in a small way it has far exceeded in volume of business the expectations of Mr. Sowars, the head of the concern. The comp'any makes a specialty of the manufacture of kitchen utensils of all description. It would be interesting for Muncie people who have not visited this plant to do so at their earliest convenience. Devices of the most ingenious kind are being manufactured, such as the Ideal Fiber Cutter, supersieve rotary colanders, mince knives, cleavers, ice tools, fish scales, nut crumblers, etc.
The Canadian government, mapped 53,000 square miles of territory by aerial photography this year.
The Real Low Down
Since the Post-Democrat last week informed its readers about the new “Unity Republican Club,” we have discovered that there are wheels within wheels that are revolving rapidly in that eminent organization. There are some wily brains behind the scenes that are working overtime to prevent the so-called Faris crowd from naming the republican candidate for mayor next May. For the edification of the membership of the Unity crowd, the names of Clarence Retherford, Jim Fitch, Lon Thornburg, Hampton and a few others are ostensibly being considered, but it is far from the purpose of those who are really behind the organization to permit any one of these or any other ordinary politician to wear the crown. Right now in the fastnesses of the real high priests of the republican standpat oligarchy in Muncie, earnest consideration is being given to the problem of selecting a candidate next May. Ordinary politicians are excluded from those deliberations. “Big business,” so called, has taken hold. Big business knows that the republican party is in bad odor here because of the acts of republican officials, both in the city and county, so it has conceived the idea of selecting a candidate for mayor who has not been openly known in any of the transactions which have disgusted the voters during the past few years. Arthur Ball has been considered, and it is said, has been rejected as a possibility, but three others have been carefully appraised, Karl Oesterle of the Delaware County Bank, is one; Phil McAbee is another, and the third is Lloyd Kimbrough. Probably neither of»these would care very much to assume the load, but the high priests believe that when they annoint, the one selected must perforce permit the crown to be placed on his beetling brow. Something must be done to stop the Faris crowd from swinging into power in the city, as it did in the county. We await with great interest the dog fight that is to be pulled off here in the ensuing months.
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