Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1911 — Grand Jury Returned 166 Indictments in Michigan City. [ARTICLE]

Grand Jury Returned 166 Indictments in Michigan City.

Wide open Michigan City was given a big jolt by the report of the grand jury, which Friday Aled with the superior court 166 true bills. For years the old town, has gone along unmolested with front as well as back doors open seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. All manner of vices have gone unmolested and the city was fairly steeped in sin Grand juries were never called except for some specific purpose and they never interfered -with the wide open policy of the city. A saloonkeeper could keep a poor victim in his joint until he was so drunk that he could not walk and then kick him out into the arms of an officer, who would then take him to jail and when he sobered up he would be fined whatever he had left in his pockets, but the saloonkeeper was never molested even If the incident happended on Sunday or outside of legal hours. Such freedom of action gradually brought about a condition of revolt among the best people of Michigan City and the grand jury received considerable encourage ment in securing the indictments. The Michigan City News of Friday says: For two weeks the grand jury has occupied a stuffy little room on the third floor of the superior court house. During its sitting scarcely a saloonkeeper in the city has been missed. Bawdy house keepers, inmates, saloon bartenders, hangers-on, neighboring business men, frequenters, etc., have ascended the narrow passageway, and many came down with a much longer face than when they went up. In its work the Jury has been far reaching and the long arm of the law has gone out into the remotest corners. It has also gone down deep into the alleged deplorable conditions.