Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1911 — JUDGE FINES ATTORNEY [ARTICLE]

JUDGE FINES ATTORNEY

Indianapolis Man in Fear Over Dynamiting Probe. Prosecutor Baker Forces a Dvtective for the Erectors’ Asscciationinto Court To Be Searched Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 22. —A plea that ’he had been under an intense nervous strain because he had been “shadowed by thugs and hirelings” of the National Erectors’ association and labor unions during the McNamara dynamiting investigation, did not avail County Prosecutor Frank P. Baker when he appeared tn criminal court to show why‘he should not be punished for contempt of court, Judge Joseph Markey fining him SSO. , Baker interrupted a murder trial the previous day when he forced Robert J Foster, a detective for the Erector’s association, into court and asked Judge Markey to protect him against interference by Foster. The court said the prosecutor’s action was irregular and unnecessary, but added that he would instruct the grand jury to inquire into the identity of persons who had been annoying the prosecutor. To indicate the mental stress under which he had labored, Baker told the court that a member of the presiding grand jury had become insane through consideration of the dynamiting plot and had imagined he was John J. McNamara on trial for his life. This man was not dismissed, the prosecutor said, because it was feared the pubic might misconstrue that action, so great was the interest in the investigation. That he knew Detective Foster had been armed with a magazine pistol was the excuse offered by Baker for his attempt to search Foster in court after the judge had ordered him out of the room. No gun was found in Foster’s possession by policemen who went through his pockets.