Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 273, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1919 — MUNCIE MEN FOUND GUILTY [ARTICLE]

MUNCIE MEN FOUND GUILTY

MAYOR BUNCH ONE OF THE 27 FOUND GUILTY—RIVALS TERRE HAUTE CASE. » Seven defendants in the so-called Muncie fraud case, including Mayor Bunch and Prosecutor Horace G. Murphy, of Delaware county, were found guilty in the federal court at Indianapolis Tuesday afternoon of conspiracy to defraud. The Jury was out one hour and seven minutes. The seven were part of a group of twenty-four men indicted in connection with the case which involved more than twenty alleged swindle cases and approximately >150,000, some of them having changed their pleas to guilty during the trial. = i = Sentence of the men convicted Tuesday will not take place for a week or possibly ten days, it was stated. The maximum penalty is >IO,OOO fine, two years’ imprisonment, or both fine and imprisonment • The defendants were charged with having lured prospective victims to Muncie on the pretext of selling them land at absurdly low prices and then persuading them to bet on fake prize fights. During these bouts, according to the testimony, one of the boxers would apparently be seriously injured and the victims would be warned to leave town at once to prevent their connection with the fight being learned by the police. In each case the money bet on the fight was that originally intended for use in the purchase of land. ~ * • • —— Muncie has breathed a sigh of relief with the conviction of the men and the better element feels that at last the city is to be cleaned up, as was Terre Haute a few years ago when Don Roberts and 116 others were sent to the federal penitentiary. Marion Jacks, of Monon, is one of the twenty-seven men convicted, as is Billy Schoeber, a professional wrestler, who used to put on bouts in this city.