Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1915 — CLIFTON CONVICTED OF AUTO THEFT [ARTICLE]

CLIFTON CONVICTED OF AUTO THEFT

Rev. Benjamin F. Clifton, Formerly Of Mt. Ayr, Must Serve One to Fourteen Years.

As the children of the public schools were singing Christmas carols around the municipal tree in front of the court house at Crawfoxdsville last Friday at 6 o’clock, a verdict in the case of the Rev. Benjamin F. Clifton, of Flora, was returned, finding the former Methodist minister guilty of the theft of an automobile. The machine was stolen from a revival tabernacle at Crawfordsville last spring. Clifton will be sentenced to one to fourteen years in the Indiana Reformatory. The trial lasted eleven days. Throughout the trial Miss Olcie Hesler, fiancee, of the preacher, remained in the court room. She is the daughter of a well to do Fountain county farmer. Clifton was first arrested last June for the theft of automobile light tanks and was tried far petit larceny at Covington last month. The case was discussed because of a technical error in the affidavit. Clifton, whose home is in Carroll county, has attended DePauw University and Wabash college. The preacher's defense was temporary insanity.