Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 111, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1910 — PARKER’S PAROLE DID NOT MEET WITH APPROVAL. [ARTICLE]

PARKER’S PAROLE DID NOT MEET WITH APPROVAL.

Remington Editor Writes the Governor, Criticising the Action of Releasing Remington Banker. The Monday Indianapolis 'News states that the governor received his first notification of the release of Robert Parker, the Remington banker, from the Michigan City prison, through a letter written by J. R. McCullough, of the Remington Press. It seems that the board had made no official report to the governor of the action paroling Parker. r . Mr. McCullough expressed the sentiment of most people living in Rensselaer and Jasper county when he said that there was much criticism of the board because Parker had been released at the expiration of his mini-j mum sentence. • In reply to McCullough’s letter, the governor took occasion to point out how the prison board, under the indeterminate sentence law, operates in the matter of paroling prisoners. The law gives the parole board of both state prison and state reformatory the right to make rules for the release of prisoners under the indeterminate sentence act. Under these rules, a prisoner whose record, preceding the offense for which he was convicted, is clear, and whose record in prison is clear,< presents himself automatically before the board at the expiration of his minimum term for parole. Under the rules adopted, his parole generally follows, the board having consideration for the nature of the crime committed in addition to the prisoner's record. Governor Marshall has taken the stand, since assuming office, that the prisoner whose record is clear, should not, under the law, be hreld after the expiration of the minimum sentence. It was on this score that he and former Superintendent Whittaker, of the state reformatory, differed widely. While the Governor knew nothing personally of the case of Parker, he held that Parker should, under the law, have had his release at the time it was given, provided his prison record was clear. The Republican must admit its inability to appreciate tfip attitude of either the parole board or of the governor. Parker ‘pleaded guilty to six charges Of embezzlement and was sentenced to from 2 to 14 years on each charge. As a matter of fact he had been an embezzler for years, his bank having been insolvent unquestionably and consequently every time he had accepted a deposit he had been an embezzler. He has caused untold sorrow to every person who entrusted their money to his keeping, and performed acts of trickery and tleceit to cause his victims to believe that his bank was sound. As a consequence the competency which aged people had saved up for their declining years was swept away, aged men and women were sent to an early grave by the misfortune, young men who>rere getting a start in life were discouraged because of the losses they had sustained "and Robert Parker, the man responsible for their misfortune, refuses to tell them where their money has gone, but serves a short time in a prison, makes a good record for behavior, and is given his freedom, doubtless to live in ease, possibly in luxury, while the pangs of woe and misery are the companions of those whom he victimized. It is not justice; it is a travesty. It encourages crime and legalizes embezzlement. On this basis any bank in Jasper county could today close its doors. The officer of responsibility could tell his creditors that be had taken the money and hid it for future use, go before a judge, receive the maximum sentence under the law, which is from 2 to 14 years, serve his sentence and maintain obedience to the prison authorities, and be pardoned to spend the money he had stolen, thus mocking the men he bad robbed, and, entering a new community, pose as a model of fine citizenship. Robert Parker lived a life of apparent probity but he - was a s common thief, his churc~h relations and his charity were hypocritical, his life was a lie. While claiming to be interested in the spiritual welfare of mankind, be was planning to rob them of their

legal belongings and he leaves them to suffer While he has a rest, a twoyears’ rest as a model prisoner with light and heat and books to read and only sufficient employment to help pass the hours away. He had no punishment. He is a hero of finance, with the brand of perfect citizenship before and model obedience during his retention in the prison. He comes out younger than he entered, but gray hairs of worry have come to the heads of those who trusted him, parents who had saved money to send their sons and daughters to college, have seen their ambition ruined, the new homes that were to be built by victims of the bank have been postponed, and aged men and women who had saved for their declining days were forced back to the struggle over the bucksaw and the washtub. It is a crime that the hearts of men cannot pardon"; it is a crime that a phrdon board should not have the right to control. Suppose the night before the Parker Bank had closed its doors, Mr. Parker had gone to the bank and discovered that burglars were trying to break into his safe. He would have given an alarm and all of Remington and surrounding country would have responded w’ith pistols and shotguns in an effort to protect the bank of Robert Parker, and they would have used them too. Suppose the robbers had •been caught with the money. It would have been taken away from them; they would have been cast in jail and tried and sentenced for long terms, probably for life. They would have paid a dear penalty for having tried to rob Robert Parker. But for years Robert Parker was robbing the people of Remington. He did not appear with dynamite and a dark lantern, nor with a black mask over his eyes, but he wore a mask of righteousness, a smile of deception, a guaze of Christianity, and a poise of. good citizenship that was a lie, for he was a robber, a house breaker, a burglar, a home wrecker, a death hastener, all, as a part of his banking business. The burglar wlib would have robbed him on sudden impulse serves a life sentence in a dungeon at hard labor But he, systematically and premeditatedly a robber for years, serves two years in the prison library, attends the religious services of the institution, bends his knee and clasps his hands tn prayer and a pardon board rewards his devotion by giving him his freedom and a clean bill of health. Such farces of justice breed anarchy and it is a wonder that some one who was robbed did not get a gun and seek the robber just as they would have sought him had he come at night to dynamite the bank. Respect for law all but ceases and one feels that there is no justice. The pardoning of Robfert Parker is an outrage. It makes anarchy excusable; it makes embezzlement a virtue; it makes the law a joke. Freedom was not due to Robert Parker. Fourteen years would ha"e been a light sentence for his crime.