Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1912 — BEN KAHN ARRESTED. [ARTICLE]

BEN KAHN ARRESTED.

Former Remington Merchant Charged With a Serious Crime Ben Kahn, who a couple of years ago was associated in business in Remington with his father-in-law, Simon Cohen, and then burned out, was arrested in Chicago Saturday together with Ben Franklin, and is today in jail under $20,000 bonds awaiting trial for the charge of arson with the best of prospects for a good long penitentiary sentence. The specific occasion of which he is charged is the firing of the Farmer’s and Working Mens’ Clothing Company at South Bend on April 12 last, though there are any number of charges besides the Remington one that might be brought. Kahn, who is a Jew, burned out here in February, 1910, on a stock of goods worth perhaps $5,000 on which he held SIB,OOO insurance distributed in the different companies. He collected a bunch of this insurance, just how much is not known, and left, town. While it was morally certain that he burned the stock, yet the fact could not be proven and he went free. From here he went to Seattle, Wash., where he repeated the operation and again returned to the Hoosier state and located a plant at South Bend. This was burned last April while carrying SIB,OOO on a $5,000 stock. He offered to settle his claim for 50 cents on the dollar and the adjuster recommended such procedure. This is where the adjustor got his foot in the game and may be prosecuted also. The bail under which these men are held is said to be the heaviest ever known for the offense. On the day of the South Bend fire Fire Chief Wilfred Grant stated the explosion and blaze was by no means an accident and on his statement the police of South Bend immediately took up the trail, which eventually resulted in the arrest of the two men now in custody. From that time to the day that the South Bend store burned, the detectives have shadowed Kahn and Franklin, and for prac tically every hour of the time since last April 12 the two men- have been under surveilanceV Benjamin Kahn is a son-in-law of Simon Cohen, a wealthy South Bend merchant, but the latter is exonerated from all blame by the officials. Kahn and Cohen were in partnership in business in Remington, Ind., where a fire occurred in their store in February, 1910.—Remington Prt ps. : .