Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1918 — EVERYBODY FORGOT WHY HE WAS PUT IN JAIL [ARTICLE]

EVERYBODY FORGOT WHY HE WAS PUT IN JAIL

Fred Baker had been in the county jail at Elwood so long that nearly everybody had forgotten why he was put there, that is,* nearly everybody except Baker. He complained that he thought it was too long a period for a man to be detained as a witness when he was not charged with any offense, but was held only because it was feared he might run away before the trial of Elmer Schell, charged with the theft of automobile tires. Baker said he did not wish to be mean about the thing, but that he really would like to get ‘out of jail for a while,, after being in for about nine months without having done anything wrong that he could recall. Schell himself was released under >ond several months ago. Baker, on making his complaint, was released upder a recognizance bond of S2OO.