Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1920 — STATE NEWS ITEMS [ARTICLE]

STATE NEWS ITEMS

The Doings of Hoosierdom Reported by Wire. PHONE COMPANY4JUITS FIGHT Officials Withdraw Petition Suddenly After Expert Charges Service Has Been Neglected to Bolster Plea. Indianapolis, June 25. —Hearings on the petition of the Indiana Bell Telephone company to the public service commission for Increased rates came to an abrupt end when the petition was withdrawn on motion of >he company. The action followed testimony of an expert employed by the service commission who accussed officials of the telephone company of studied efforts to demoralize telephone service in recent months. Dismissal of the petition was the climax of a three-day hearing before the commission. E. S. Wilson, a director of the Bell company and vice president of the American Telephone and Telegraph company, made the motion for withdrawal of the petition after M. D. Atwrttfr, director of service for the commission, testified that exceptionally poor service is being given by the company In Indianapolis and in other exchanges of the state. Mr. Wilson said that evidence Introduced before the commission indicated a belief among patrons that the company is not doing all in its power to give satisfactory service. He declared that the company desired to withdraw the petition and make an effort to restore public confidence in the organization. He added that the matter of raises would be held in abeyahce for at least 90 days to show the public the good faith of the company. Deliberate nbglect of telephone service in Indianapolis and at other exchanges of the company was charged by Mr. Atwater in his testimony. He declared that It would take years for service of the company to recover from the results of the damage done to the system. Mr. Atwater testified that he had been told by an official of the company that the policy would be to let the system run down until a rate increase was granted. Attempts on the part of counsel for the company to compel Mr. Atwater to disclose the course of his information were overruled by the commission.

Opposes Plea for Parole. Indianapolis, June I 25.—Clemency for Don McCammon, sentenced to the state prison for life for crimnal assault in 1910 from Greene county, was asked of the state board of pardons by Walter Wood, attorney of Sullivan Mr. Wood made no defense of the crime for which McCammon was convicted, but based his plea on the ground that McCammon has been punished sufficiently. The board refused to parole McCammon in December, 1912, and September, 1918. McCammon was found guilty of attacking a little girl, less than twelve years old, and it developed at the trial that he had attacked another young girl. The crimes were committed in Sullivan county and the trial held in Greene county on a change of venue. Maj D. C. Peyton, formerly superintendent of the Indiana reformatory, where McCammon was confined for a year before being transferred to the state prison some time ago filed a statement with the board vehemently protesting against the release of the man. —.— " Court Reverses Judgment. Indianapolis, June 25.—Telegraph messages which pass over lines outside of Indiana are not subject to the laws of the state concerning non-de-livery of telegrams, according to a decision of the appelate court. The court reversed the judgment of thg White circuit court In the case of Will S. Bushnell against the Western Union company in which damages were awarded the plaintiff on account of the failure of the company to deliver a message sent from Monticello to Gary. It was shown that the message was relayed through the Chicago office of the company and thus passed outside the state.

State Board Calls Halt on Work. Anderson, June 25. —The Indiana public service commission, in a letter to Mayor Black, has called a halt on the city board of works in the matter of awarding a contract for installing new boilers at the light plant to the Hatfield Electric company for $135,230, which was .$27,000 in excess of the figures of Charles Brossman, expert engineer, who estimated that the work could be done for $109,000. The commission, in its letter, fixes SIIO,OOO as the price at which the contract may be let. There was opposition to the contract when it was awarded to the Indianapolis firm Monday night Makes Attempt to Break Strike. Lafayette, June 25. —The Lafayette Consumers Ice company made its first attempt at delivering Ice since list Saturday, when a truck In charge of two men was sent into the business district. The union icemen went on strike last Monday when the company refused to meet their demands for an increase in wages. The strikebreakers had made but a few deljv- 7 eries when a delegation of union men Induced one of the men to abandon the job. Several hundred people collected about the Ice truck and police reserves dispersed the gathering.