Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 84, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 August 1931 — Page 1

H S CKJ PPS-lio\VAKn\

NATURAL GAS PETITIONERS GETJETBACK Fail to Show Jurisdiction Over Plea Is Vested in Commission RESTRICTION IS. SNAG Service Only to Industries May Act as Bar to Utility Designation. BY DANIEL M. KIDNEY Counsel for the Indianapolis natural gas petitioners failed today cite a case upholding public sendee commission jurisdiction in permitting a corporation to be declared a public utility that holds out to serve a select class of consumers. Case after case was cited by Samuel D. Miller, attorney for the petitioners, in which courts have held that more than one company can enter a city, but in each instance the utility was ready to serve any citizen seeking the service in the territory involved. Territorial limitations have been approved by the courts, and Miller contended that such restriction will apply also to class service such as the Manufacturers Natural Gas Association, Inc., proposes to give in Indianapolis and Marion county. Restricted to Industry This service would be restricted Ito industrial users and, thus far, has been contracted for by twentysix large manufacturers. Commissioner Harry K. Cuthbertson, presiding at the hearing, questioned commission jurisdiction from the start, so arguments were arranged for today with all commissioners, except Chairman John W. McCardle, who is ill, attending. Attorneys for the city and the Citizens Gas Company were to support Cuthbertson’s jurisdictional contentions this afternoon, although they had not raised the question themselves in opposing the petition. Cuthbertson claims that the law Is such that the public service commission can not declare a corporation a public utility and thereby confer upon it the right of eminent domain if it does not hold out to serve the public generally in the territory, without class distinction. Seems Majority View That this viewpoint will prevail among the majority of the commissioners appeared likely today, although questions put to Miller by C mmissioners Howell Ellis and T ank Singleton, favored his cause. Near the close of his argument, Miller admitted: “If the public service commission law so is restricted that a corporation can not be termed a public utility that serves a certain class, then I will admit that this commission is without jurisdiction. But I hold that the law offers no such restrictions.’’ Miller emphasised the point that the Kentucky Natural Gas Company, sponsor of the local company, is and has been ready at all times to sell natural gas to the Citizens odS Company wholesale at the city limits, and will be willing to do so whenever the city takes over the Citizeps company, if it ever does. Practical View Urged Manufacturers here need the natural gas to meet competition in other cities where it can be obtained, he said, and urged the commission to take a practical and not a judicial view of the matter. “Our manufacturers form the industrial spine of this community,” Miller continued. “They want natural gas for their heat treating processes. This would not compete with coal used for fuel and they should be permitted to have it.” The twenty-six companies contracting for the gas employ 8.000 men, he pointed out. He cited Kansas City as an example of where natural gas has been permitted to enter and take the industrial field while the artificial company kept the domestic business. In closing, he charged the Citizens company and the city officials with a “dog-in-the-manger” policy regarding the introduction of natural gas here. •‘Their entire attitude is that they can not supply it and so the manufacturers should not be permitted to have it,” he declared. REVOLT FEARED IN INDIA Revival of Civil Disobedience Is Regarded Imminent By United Press BOMBASJNK, India, Aug. 17.—Serious threat of a revival of the civil disobedience 9ampaign against British rule in India was regarded imminent today. Leaders in the all-India congress, Nationalist body, were reported prepared to proceed with a renewal of the campaign which a year ago disrupted trade and caused disturbances throughout the country. WILKINS AT LAST STOP Nautilus Declared Ready for Perilous Trip Under Ice to Pole. By United Press ADVENT BAY. SPITZBERGEN, Aug. 17.—The submarine Nautilus, commanded by Sir Hubert Wilkins, explorer, was ready to depart today on its perilous dash toward the North Pole. Wilkins, who said he hoped to make part of the perilous journey under the polar ice, said all was In rd shape for the cruise, planned the rebuilt Nautilus.

Complete Wire Reports of UNITED PRESS, The Greatest World *Wide News Service

The Indianapolis Times Partly cloudy tonighl and Tuesday; not much change in temperature.

VOLUME 43—NUMBER 84

TEXAS OIL WELLS CLOSED BY TROOPS

Governor Ross Sterling

HOME FOR AGED C05T5J22.785 County to Raise Amount With Bond Issue. Cost of a temporary dormitory which commissioners will construct to relieve overcrowded conditions at the Marion county poor farm was estimated at $22,785 today by Donald Graham, architect. County commissioners will raise this amount with a bond issue, Harry Dunn, county auditor, stated. The new structure will provide room for 150 beds for aged' inmates now quartered in hallways, on straw beds and within exceedingly overcrowded rooms of the men’s building. Plans which Graham will have ready this week await approval of the state fire marshal and the state board of charities. Commissioner George Snider declared original plans had been altered to wipe out all possible fire hazards and meet the approval of Alfred M. Hogston, state fire marshal, who objected to construction of anew frame dormitory in close proximity to other decrepit buildings at the farm. Largest number of inmates ever care for by the county is expected at the infirmary this coming winter, according to Dunn. More than 500 aged folk are at the farm this summer. Razing of a dilapidated, five-story building at the farm will require SI,OOO of $22,785. M. I, WOHL IS DEM Stores’ President Passes in New York. Morris I. Wohl of New York, 52, president of the Miller-Wohl Company, operators of forty women’s ready-to-wear clothing stores, died Saturday morning in New York. Mr. Wohl had many business associates and friends in Indianapolis. He was well-known throughout Indiana. About twenty years ago he opened his first store in Gary. Now there are forty stores in the chain which extends throughout the middle v -:t and eastern states. The local store at 45 East Washington street was opened eight years ago. In respect to its founder, the Indianapolis branch will be closed between 11 and 2 o’clock today, Rudolph T. Miller, manager, announced.

CAUGHT WITH ALCOHOL; WOMAN FREED BY JUDGE

“What have you got in that bottle?” patrolman Harry Thayer demanded. "Alcohol, officer,” Mrs. Elizabeth Walker, Negro, 35, of 923 Muskingum street, answered. Thayer arrested her on a liquor law violation count and confiscated the half pint of liquor she carried in a milk bottle in a sack. Milton Siegel, attorney for Mrs. Walker, told Judge William H. Scheaffer in municipal court that the officer, not in possession of an arrest warrant, had no right to question Mrs. Walker and moved discharge of the defendant. Scheaffer upheld the motion, freeing Mrs. Walker. After convicting him of blind tiger, Sheaffer suspended a thirtyday sentence and a SIOO fine against Robert Thomas, Negro, 448 West Fifteenth street. Patrolman Plez

DAPPER BANDITS ROB CIRCLE THEATER OF $1,200 IN NIGHT STICKUP

MY only thought was to keep from fainting.” While three dapper young bandits looted the safe of the Circle theater of $1,200 Sunday night, Mrs. Grace Hilton, 2827 East Washington street, cashier, and one of the robbery victims, mustered all her strength to keep from losing consciousness. This effort stood out today in her mind as the high point of her participation in the robbery tljat took place during presentation of the last show of the evening at the theater.

Martial Law Is Proclaimed in Sealing Up Great Flush Field. By United Press AUSTIN, Tex., Aug. 17.—Ross Sterling, Governor of Texas, today proclaimed martial law in the great East Texas flush field. He ordered every well, both oil and gas, within the boundaries of Upshu, Rusk, Gregg and Smith counties shut down, and directed state militia, sent into the area during the night, to enforce his order. More than 1,600 well are .affected by the order. Last week these wells, in the face of a plea for a voluntary shutdown, produced 738,000 barrels of oil daily, to set an all-time record. Only one field in the world, the Kettleman Hills field in California, possesses a greater potential production. Asserting that he was invoking martial law to prevent waste and to put down a state of insurrection, tumult, riot and breach of peace in the fields. Governor Sterling joined forces with Governor W. H. Murray of Oklahoma in a battle against prevailing low crude prices. The reaction to the move is expected generally to be a drastic upward revision of prices, probably to $1 a barrel, the price demanded by Governor Murray when he proclaimed martial law a few days ago in every flush field in Oklahoma. The action of the Texas governor was not unexpected. Saturday he began the mustering of state troops, and Sunday he ordered them into the fields. Producers repeatedly had petitioned him to place a clamp upon the wells.

—About Russia How men and women in Russia live, work, play, shop, get around; how the foreigner is treated in Russia —these and many other interesting sidelights on Russian life are told in a series which will start in The Times Tuesday. An interesting group of five articles has been written by Jack Howard, a Yale man of the 1932 class, who recently spent some time in the land of the Soviet. It is a series written from the viewpoint of a young man who is a keen observer—no politics; just good, human “copy.” Read the first of the series in The Times Tuesday.

WAGE HEARING SLATED Bus Operators, Street Car Men to Go Before Commission. Bus operators, as well as street Car men, will appear in the house of representatives Wednesday for hearing before the public service commission on petition to increase wages and improve working conditions of employes of the Indianapolis Street Railway Company, it was announced today by J. S. Fenstermacher, attorney for the petitioners. Commissioner Frank Singleton will conduct the hearing. FOUR MEN EXECUTED Pennsylvania’s Electric Chair Takes Lives of Gangsters. By United Press BELLEFONTE, Pa,, Aug. 17. Four men paid Pennsylvania’s death penalty in the electric chair today for killing Louis Hoffman of Adams township in 1928, during an alleged hijacking attempt. The four were Carl Crow, Joseph Parsi, Frank Cantilla, alias the “Ace of Spades,” and Frank Powell. Parsi pleaded guilty to the killing, the others were convicted by juries. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m.. 73 10 a. m 86 7 a. m,.... 75 11 a. m 88 Ba. m 82 12 (noon).. 88 9 a. m..... 84 1 p. m 91

Jones and Norval Bennett said they found a quantity of whisky when they raided Thomas’ home on a search warrant. Ellis Sawyer, 47, of 414 Chadwick street, was discharged on a blind tiger charge because police had no search warrant when they arrested him in a barn near his home. Alcohol was found in the raid, Sergeant Roy Conway told Sheaffer. Afted Ed Davis, 34, of 1441 Madison avenue, had smashed an alcohol bottle, Sergeant Arthur Hueber, Sunday arrested him on charge of blipd tiger, drunkenness and breaking glass in the street. Today Scheaffer disposed of the case in the following manner: Blind tiger, discharged; drunkenness, $lO fine and costs to be paid in six months; and breaking glass in the street, $1 and costs with the costs suspended.

"I wanted to faint, and all I thought of was that I shouldn’t,” she said. “I was afraid that if I did, some harm might come to the rest of the persons in the room.” The three bandits put guns on Mrs. Hilton and William Robinson, 1512 North Meridian street, treasurer, as they came to the mezzanine floor en route to Robinson’s office from the box office. u a a Mrs. anna veach, 550 North Oriental street, matron, had had-An automatic pis-

INDIANAPOLIS, MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1931

LACK OF JOBS CAUSES CRIME, HOOVER TOLD ‘Prohibitory Laws’ Also Are Cited as Factors by Wickersham. CALL PROBE HOPELESS Henry W. Anderson Gives Dissenting Opinion in President’s Report. BY PAUL R. MALLON United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Aug. 17.—Un- ; employment and prohibitory laws were cited as repeated causes of crime in the latest Wickersham commission report to President Herbert Hoover. But the commission found in this thirteenth of its reports that its task was too great. A majority decided the commission could not determine specifically the causes of crime and neither could the commissioners prescribe remedies society might administer profitably to cure its crime illness. Two bulky volumes contain the commission’s report—about 250,000 words. All but a few paragraphs were written by six sociological experts, who investigated for the commission. Repeatedly, these investigators referred to “prohibitory laws” in their search for crime causes. Prohibition of alcoholic beverages was not mentioned specifically, except incidentally. Hopelessness Is Expressed In the paragraphs contributed to the report by the commission majority, there was no reference to either prohibitory laws or unemployment. These paragraphs simply expressed the hopelessness of discovering crime causes. Nine members signed the majority re- | port. • Judge W T illiam S. Kenyon did not sign and Henry W. Anderson wrote a dissenting opinion. Anderson referred to prohibitory laws which “impose undue and irritating restraints upon normal social and economic activities” or “produce discomfort, irritation and unrest which find natural expression in disrespect for government and in disregard for or resistance to law.” Criticises United States System “It can not be a soi ree of surprise” Anderson continued, “that these conditions produce among even the most social and law-abid-ing elements an attitude of bewilderment as to law, and hopelessness as to government; among the less law-abiding an attitude of antagism to law and contempt for government, and a reckless disregard of social and legal, restraint among youths who are least controlled by habit, or influenced by social routine.” Anderson criticised severely the American system of development which brouht exploitation of land resources to a point now near exhaustion, caused the widest spread between rich and poor, developed slums in the city and ignorance in the under-privileged country districts, and “made man a cog in a j relentless machine.” “The American people have ere- j ated,” he said, “the largest body of j laws and the most complex system; of government now in existence as restraints and controls upon indi-1 vidual and social conduct, but every stage in their development has been characterized by a large and ever-increasing degree of lawless-; ness and crime. Urges Sweeping Revision “They have engaged in at least one war in every generation. “No candid investigation can ignore those facts, or the conclusions which they naturally suggest.” Anderson recommended greater facilities for improving home and neighborhood environment; removal of slums and under-privileged areas —“a courageous re-examination of the principles and structures of our social, political, legal, and economic

systems.” Morris Plescome, a Sheldon fellow at Harvard university, found in his expert opinion that “the demoralization of more than one police department and to some extent other law-enforcing agencies is due to the attempt to enforce laws not completely sanctioned by coramununity opinion.” Plescome’s report contained the only direct reference to prohibition, as follows: “The activities of the bootlegging gangs, termed the greatest menace in organized crime by the Illinois crime survey, with their consequent toll of homicide, murder, and violence, would not be possible without the demand for intoxicating liquors and the tremendous profits to be made in supplying it.”

tol shoved against her back before Robinson and Mrs. Hilton reached the head of the stairs. “We closed the box office at 10 p. m.,” Mrs. Hilton related. “Mr. Robinson and I started to his office on the mezzanin floor. “I saw Mrs. Veach standing there and I thought, ‘Gee, I’m tired,’ and I waved at Mrs. Veach. “I noticed a young man sitting on the couch and then saw him getup and poke the matron in the back. I didn’t see the pistol, and thought he was kidding.

SACRIFICE BABY TO SPEED

Child's Life Is Toll Paid Out in Race

Youthful recklessness and incompetency to control an automobile in an emergency were steeds which death rode down a narrow street to claim the life of a 4-year-old girl, Lieutenant Frank Owen of the accident prevention bureau learned today, before he charged a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl with manslaughter.

Mary and a small companion were playing on the sidewalk and near the curb when the truck and a roadster

104

hurtled by—racing. There was a shout, the crash of wheels on a curbstone, the scream of smoking brakes and tires and Mary’s body hurtled through the air to fall crumpled in the street. An hour later, James Lynn, 17, of 315 Fulton street, appeared at police headquarters and identified himself as the driver of the truck. Today Lieutenant Owens arrested Miss Grace Perdue, 16, of 1008 East

LINDY RESTS ON WAYJOJOKIO Nemuro Takeoff Is Slated for Tuesday. By United Press PETROPAVLOVSK, Siberia, Aug. 17.—Hospitality of this little fishing settlement on Kamchatka peninsula and the need of rest held Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh here today after their flight from Karaginski and Alaska en route to Tokio. They planned probably to take off early Tuesday for Nemuro, last stop before reaching Tokio, where they are due Wednesday. After inspecting their plane with the typical Lindbergh attention to details and accepting the welcomes of Soviet officials, the fliers rested and wandered about the little settlement. Showing interest in the fishing craft which carry the men of the village into the northern icecluttered waters. From here the Russians, Japanese and Mongol residents wander into Siberia and around the coast, trading with the Eskimos and fishing. To this settlement come also the men from the gold mines in the back country and from the timber lands. After having planned an early departure, • Colonel Lindbergh announced he would remain another twenty-four hours, so they might have a full day of rest. They arrived Saturday from Karaginski, 1,500 miles from Nome, their last major stop.

Persistent

Bob Three times Bob Farrell asked Norma Kent to marry him and she refused. Farrell did not give up hope of winning her. When Norma eloped with handsome Mark Travers, instead of being resentful Farrell was among the first to wish her happiness. Later when Norma faced misfortunes it was Bob who came to the rescue. His devotion leads to important plot developments in “Guilty Lips,” the new serial by Laura Lou Brookman, which starts Wednesday in The Times

DEMPSEY ASKS DIVORCE Estelle Will Fight Case and File Suit Herself. By United Press RENO, Nev., Aug. 17. Jack Dempsey filed suit for divorce today charging his wife, Estelle Taylor Dempsey, with extreme cruelty. By United Press HOLLYWOOD, Cal., Aug. 17. Estelle Taylor, screen actress, will contest the divorce suit Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight champion, brought against her in Reno, she said today. Meantime, she, herself, will bring divorce action against him in the Los Angeles courts, she added.

“He kept pushing the matron, and then i saw another man had a gun pointed at Robinson. “There was no loud talk. Everything was quiet and the bandits were refined and well dressed. * m s “'T'HEY got us into the office X and lined us against the wall. Two of the men came inside while the third stod outside the door, which was not closed entirely. They took money we brought from the box office, an done told Robinson to open the safe. Robinson hesitated and the bandit

St. Clair street, who said she drove the roadster. “It is dad's car,” she told Lieutenant Owens. “Alberta, she’s my younger sister, and I were driving when we saw Jimmy near North street and Liberty street, I guess. “We talked there a little while, and then some boy—l don’t know him, got on Jimmy’s running board and said, ‘Why don’t you have a race?’ “We raced around for a while, and then we were going down Liberty street. I hit a manhole cover, and couldn’t hold the car. We swerved towards Jimmy, and he went over the curb. “Alberta and Jimmy picked the little girl ud and took her in our car. They went to the hospital. I waited for them to come back and we took Jim home and went to our house, but didn’t say anything about the accident until today.” Lynn and Miss Perdue are charged with manslaughter, and Lynn first was slated on charges of reckless driving and speeding.

Suit Filed on Capitol ‘Bath’Job — V Suit for SIO,OOO against each of the personal bonds of five state officials in connection with the contract for cleaning of the statehouse, was filed in superior court two today by Guy D. Sallee, Indianapolis contractor. Defendants in the litigation are Governor Harry G. Leslie, Frank Mayr Jr., secretary of state; Floyd E. Williamson, auditor; Frank Caylor, building and grounds superintendent, and William Storen, state treasurer. The suit seeks to have the contract for the $64,000 job declared unlawful, fraudulent and void. Sallee, who charged he was low bidder, contends the cleaning contract was let to the Cincinnati Building Cleaning Company for $57,475, plus another $7,325 contract for painting and varnishing. Fraud Is Charged He charges these contracts were allowed “secretly, clandestinely, fraudulently and unlawfully” by Governor Leslie and the other defendants in face of his own low bid, totaling $35,000 for all the work. Sallee also asks SIO,OOO damages from C. H. Norman, paint contractor, and from the Cincinnati Building and Cleaning Company. The suit petitions the court to restrain defendants from ‘proceeding further in performance of said contract, “and demands they cease paying out funds to the Cincinnati company. Use Ogden’s Opinion Charging the contract, let June 26, 1931, was “let wrongfully,” Fred E. Barrett and Thomas D. McGee attorneys for Sallee, will use an opinion of the attorney-general concerning the cleaning contract. Referring to it, Attorney-General James M. Ogden stated: “I do not think, the Governor’s emergency contingency fund can be used to make payments pursuant to an illegal contract.” Ogden, however, the attorneys stated, “will uphold the right of Leslie to use his emergency fund for the cleaning job.” CLOUDS TO CONTINUE Thundershowers Probable in 48 Hours, Forecast. Ninety degree temperature accompanied by partly cloudy weather will prevail in Indianapolis and Indiana today and Tuesday. Scattered thundershowers are probable in the state in the next forty-eight hours, J. H. Armington, weather bureau chief, predicted. The mercury climbed eleven degrees early today to reach 84 and will be in the early nineties this afternoon. Maximum temperature here Sunday was at 4 p. m., when readings showed 91.

CITY TAX RATE OF $1.09 UP TO COUNCIL TONIGHT

Tax rate for operation of the municipal government during 1932 was set at $1.09 today. Approved by Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan, the budget will be laid before the city council tonight for its approval and subsequent submission to the state tax board. The 1932 tentative tax rate is 1 cent less than that in force this year, and $545,000 was pared from the financial requests 'of department heads to bring about the reduction, Sullivan staged. Sullivan declared there will be no discharge of city employes due to

told hi mto “open up, or I’ll blow it.” “After the bandit had taken currency from the safe the other bandit told him ‘You didn’t get it aH.’ “The one who was robbing the safe said it was nothing but ‘a little change.”* Police were informed that nearly SBOO in silver was in the safe. None of this was taken. m * h~ TiiCRS. HILTON said the bar dits started wf Iking out the office when one noticed th

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffiee, Indianapolis. Ind.

A J|i|| .

Mary Ella Johnson

FOUR BANKS IN TOLEDO CLOSED 34 Branches Are Affected; $100,000,000 Resources. By United Press TOLEDO, 0., Aug. 17.—Four major Toledo banks and their fourteen branches, with combined resources of more than $100,000,000 and 150,000 acounts, were closed today by orders of the state banking department and directors. The institutions were the Ohio Savings Bank and Trust Company, the Commerce Guardian Trust and Savings bank, the Commercial Savings Bank and Trust Company and the American bank. Other banks remained open and announced they were prepared to withstand heavy withdrawals. The four closures were precipitated by the closing several weeks ago of the Security Home Trust Company, it was said. As notices were posted on the windows of the institutions, every available policeman in the city was ordered on duty, but there was only one instance of disorder. An irate citizen tossed a bottle through the window of a branch bank. Under a force of sixty men of the state banking department, augmented by six examiners of the federal reserve bank system from Cleveland, the task of liquidating the four suspended banks was immediately begun. As work of liquidation was started, crowds of anxious depositors thronged about the institutions, but there was no disorder. Traffic presented the greatest problem. Other local banks drew a steady stream of depositors, who withdrew their funds and dispersed. Withdrawals were being met promptly. By United Press LINCOLN, NEB, ’ Aug. 17.—Six state banks, having deposits estimated to aggregate $1,120,000, voluntarily closed their doors today. They include First State bank, Pleasantdale; Dwight State bank, Dwight; Brainard State bank, Brainard; Bruno State bank, Bruno; Butler County bank, David City; Leigh State bank, Leigh.

KING OF IAZZ TO WED Paul Whiteman, Margaret Livingston Leave for Denver. By United Press CHICAGO, Aug. 17.—Paul Whiteman, king of jazz, and his film actress bride-to-be, Margaret Livingston, left by train today for Denver, his home city, where they will be married in the Whiteman family home Tuesday. Brief announcement of the departure and wedding plans was made by the National Broadcasting Company.

the cut in operating expenditures. Department and board heads had presented financial statements that would have called for a levy of $1.14, it was said. The utility bills of the administration will be sliced $225,000, Sullivan stated. Other reductions in operation of the city government, included in the buget, follow: Public health, $15,000; parks, $50,000; recreation, $1,400; sanitary district, $45,000; track elevation, $33,000, and other operating expenses, $60,000.

$350 diamond ring she wore. “He hesitated and looked at the ring. He said: “Let’s see that ring,’ and twisted my arm. He took it off my hand and put it in his pocket. “It was than that I really wanted to faint." As the bandits left they closed the door and warned their victims to remain inside, threatening to k’ them if they gave warning pocketing their pistols, the bandits walked to the second balcony of the theater and fled through a fire exit

HOME

TWO CENTS

Outside Marion County * Cents

CONSTABLES IN COUNTY FACE RACKETPROBE Methods Used in Evicting Families to Be Sifted by Grand Jury. JUSTICE TO BE QUIZZED Warren Township Official and Bill Collector Will Be Targets. (This Is the first of a series of four stories dealing with aetiritles of "constables” in Marion count;.) BY CHARLES E. C.ARLL Alleged improper activities of purported constables who are evicting families for non-payment of rent, today were being probed by county prosecuting authorities, and the matter will be laid before the grand jury next month. Charges of evicted persons led to the investigation, with county officials already in possession of facts that will be used as tjie basis for the quiz. First shot in the investigation will be directed at Charles W. Freeman, bill collector and horsethief detective, who represents himself as a “constable.” Signs advertise his business at 136 North Delaware street. Coupled with activities of Freeman, the probe leaders have announced their intention of questioning T. S. Crutcher, justice of the peace in Warren township. Complaints Are Registered Freeman and several other “constables” have been operating from the office of Crutcher at 5448 % East Washington street. Indianapolis attorneys admit receiving complaints against the operations, as do the Better Business Bureau and the prosecutor’s office. Crutcher’s office books show that Freeman’s name has been entered hundreds of times since the first of the year as a “special constable” for eviction cases. For each of these Freeman receives $2. He had more than a hundred to his credit from Aug. 1 to 15 and during the winter months this is increased, last February showing nearly 300. Crutcher says about 100 of these get into his court. The rest, it Is presumed, consist of those that are paid in Freeman’s office. •Kangaroo Injustice’ Charged It also Is charged that “kangaroo” courts are being held and that tenants are threatened with eviction and forced to pay back rent and “costs” at the “constables’” offices. It is alleged that in some cases tenants do not have a bona fide hearing before a justice of peace. This practice has been “explained” in some instances, in which it is pointed out defendants rather would “appear” at the constable’s office than go to the court. Some Indianapolis real estate firms and owners of property are “silent” supporters of the “constables.” They turn over the business to them, and until their money is received in the real estate office, the activities of the “constables” are said to be unknown to their clients. The “constables” make their rounds daily to -the offices of real estate companies and to individuals, soliciting business, it is charged.

Protest Is Short-Lived Recently an attempt was made by other justices of the peace and elected constables in the county to demand cessation of the alleged “constable racket.” Support of the action waned suddenly on the eve of the demand. Since then, no moves have been made. Investigation has revealed that Crutcher distributed to Freeman summons forms for service on unknown defendants which are signed by Crutcher and which bear the seal of his office. These, as far as the defendant knows, legaily were issued at the court after a complaint had been filed against him. He doesn’t know that the “constable” has been carrying “thirty or forty” of the forms in his pockets

for days awaiting “business.” Crutcher admitted giving this number to Freeman at various times. Crutcher contends Freeman and his actions are without “blot” and declared Freeman is appointed in each case as a special constable as the law provides. Just for “Convenience” But when he is confronted with the question of why the “constable” should carry the signed and sealed bank forms with him, although he is supposed to appear in court for issuance of the "special constableship” in each case, Crutcher answers: It s just a matter of convenience.” Crutcher denies he is paid for the forms that he distributed for "convenience.” Financial payments of Crutcher into the office of the township trustee are being withheld pending report of a recent investigation into the court by the state accounts board. This probe resulted from charges if irregular activities made several months ago. Tuesday The Times will tell of “quick action” promised in eviction cases by “constables.” Block Falls, Injures Worker Building block that fell while being hoisted on a building at 28 East Maryland street this afternoon struck Hubert Elliott, Negro, 37, of 545 West Twenty-fifth street, workman, injuring him seriously. He was taken to city hospital suffering from head lacerations