Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1908 — ROBERT PARKER NOW IN THE PENITENTIARY [ARTICLE]

ROBERT PARKER NOW IN THE PENITENTIARY

Plead Guilty to Six Charges of Embezzlement and Fined and Sentenced on Each Inditctment. TO SERVE FROM 2 TO 14 YEARS Old Acquaintances Who Were Willing to Aid Him Had They Believed Him Honest Have Concluded That He Has Smuggled Money and Concealed t Property and the Feeling Against Him is Intense.

The end of the Robert Parker cases came unexpectedly this Wednesday morning, when the former Remington banker came to Rensselaer from Battle Ground and entered a plea of guilty to each of the six indictments that charged him with embezzlement At 9:55 he took the Monon train in the custody of Sheriff John O’Connor and went to Hammond,where a change of trains was made and he was taken from there to Michigan City to enter upon his sentence. j When Robert Parker was here last week his attorneys indicated that it was his intention to enter a plea of guilty when he returned, and the trial was set for Tuesday q} next week and he was not expected to return until that time. His appearance here this morning was, therefore, somewhat of a surprise, but he had evidently decided to avoid contact with the people that had lost money in his bank and he chose to come here in their absence to admit his guilt After he left here last week he went to Battle Ground, where "he visited his sister for a few days and then he returned to St Louis, where bis wife and daughter, Twonnette, are living with his daughter, Mrs. Mable Timmons. He returned to Battle Ground Tuesday and came on here on the milk train Wednesday morning. He was accompanied by Emery Sellers and Judge Palmer, who with Foltz & Spitler, of Rensselaer, have been his legal' advisers. They went at once to the clerks office In lifts court house and Judge Hanley was telphoned for. Judge Hanley responded at once and went to the court room, and shortly Mr. Parker entered with his attorneys and the case was called. Prosecuting Attorney Leo* pold represented the state, but there was—nothing -for htar to do. —Mr. Parker stepped up to the judge's desk and stood between Attorneys Sellers and Palmer. He did not utter a oound and showed little emotion, and as Attorney Sellers looked at each indictment and passed them over to Judge Palmer, Judge Hanley rendered a decision In a low but clear voice, and In each case fined the defendant in twice the amount embezzled and sentenced him to the penitentiary for from 2 to 14 years. Mr. Parker glanced at the judge when each sentence was pronounced and would then look down and hla forehead would be drawn into a mass of wrinkles and he would then catch a quick breath and resume an attitude of apparent thoughtlessness or indifference. There were only ten persons in the court room when the sentences were pronounced, including the editor of the Republican. As soon as the three indictments which were found by the February grand Jury had been plead guilty to, Attorney Sellers making the plea for the defendant, the three new Indictments, on which Mr. Parker had not yet been arrested, were brought up and Mr. Sellers acknowledged service for his client to Sheriff o*Coonor, and they were called and a plea of guilty to each one was entered, again by Attorney Sellers. As soon as the last one had been pronounced Judge Hanley committed the defendant into the hands of Sheriff O’Connor and Mr. Parker seated himself in a chair and remained there for about a half hour, when Sheriff O’Connor came in and told him It was time far* them to start for the train. They went to the depot in the bus and In just 2 hours and 24 minutes from the time that he arrived here on the milk train he started on another train for the penitentiary. Judge Palmer accompanied them to Michigan Cttg.

The decision to plead guilty to the indictments was not altogether voluntary on the part of Mr. Parker, and according to one of his counsel, it was decided to be the best proceeding by all his attorneys after they had held a conference, and when It became clear that the sentiment was so extremely bitter against him at Remington. The best that the defense could have hoped for would have been a postponement, as conviction was positive to follow sooner or later, and delay would be expensive to both the defense and the state. The Parker bank at Remington, which was named the Bank of Remington closed its doors the 19th of last December, and at first the closing was thought by the life long friends of Parker, to be .only temporary, but as soon as State Auditor Billheimer and Bank Examiner Hinshaw had made a careful examination into the affairs of the bank they found a condition that was appaling and that took the confidence in the former banker out of his old friends, who had planned to re-establish him in business and to again put the bank on its feet, if the methods employed by him were shown to be honest. * About the first thing that the examiner discovered was that Parker had kept |po sets of books, one exhibiting a part of the transaction of the ban? that looked to be all right and the other showing the transactions that seemed to be a little uncertain of passing the approval of the examiner when he came around. When he would make a report to the auditor of state he would only ■how such liabilities of the bank as seemed worth their face value Jib he was able to show sufficient assets to cover these ItabiTltte*. ~Buf It do veloped when the bank was that the deposits were much greater than he had showed In his report. It also developed that he had done many other crooked things, including the issuing of building and loan certificates in lieu of certificates of deposit, and that J in the closing days of the bank he had preferred a number of creditors, had disposed of almost all of his property, and had done many things that bore the stamp of dishonesty. His friends and acquaintances were reluctant to believe conditions ss bad as the examiner bad reported them and it waa thought tor some time that hla condition was more unfortunate than any thing else, and it waa believed that he had been led Into doing many of the acta of deceit In a desperate effort to save the bank from ruin, but as time went on and the crooked transactions of the banker were confirmed by the trustee, W. H. Cheadle, those who had had confidence in him began to change their minds and finally there was scarcely a men among those who had hoped that his affairs might show up better later on or at least hoped that they would find cause to justify their confidence In his honesty that was not compelled to give up end admit that there waa much that could not be explained. the day the bank closed Mr. Parker said to the editor of the Republican, over the telephone, “I have exhausted every resource in an effort to get money to meet the demand of depositors” By some this wss not regarded as a serious admission, but it seems to have been the csss The night before the bank dosed Mr. Parker transferred the stock of the Remington First National Bank to E. L. Hollingsworth, of Rensselaer, and the next day County Treasurer 8. R. Nichols, went to Remington and got the money hs had do.V+iwirr - ■ i

posited there, and that was about the last transaction of the bank. A mortgage for $21,C00 had been executed to John Burger, a brother-in-law, against the Parker stock In the Reutenberg engine factory at Logansport, and many people believe that this mortgage was given to defraud the other creditors. Innumerable small transactions that were believed to be beneath the doing of the banker have Bince come to light, and all together they have a trend to indicate that he was not an unfortunate victim of circumstances, but that he had either deliberately set about to defraud his depositors or had become so distracted by the plight in which he found his business that he did not know and did not care what he did. If his creditors could have believed that he had honestly turned over every dollar that he had on earth and that he was keeping nothing back and that he was filled with honest remorse they would not have felt so bitter, but when the trustee, W. H. Cheadle, found that after all his investments, which Included a great many purchases of worthless mining stock, had been deducted and when all the expenditures shown on the banks books had been added and yet there was a shortage of actual cash of

about $150,000, there was little reason left for confidence, and many of those who had been hoping, not altogether for the restoration of their money, but for a proof that the man they had so long confided in, was not actually dishonest, gave up in despair and agreed that confidence had been misplaced. And many of these people believe today that Robert Parker, some place or other, has a large part of the money or its equivalent, and that when he gets out of the penitentiary, if he ever does, he will be a wealthy man. ' It is a marvelous case and passeth understanding. . Six months ago Robert Parker was considered the soul of honesty, and his word and his promise, backed up by a life of probity, would have passed any place where he was known. He had been the most public spirited man in Remington, and had so lived as to be considered above doing anything that was dishonest. And yet the records of the bank exhibit that for years and years he had been guilty of investing the money of depositors in questionable schemes, and that for years his bank had been insolvent, and yet he had gone on and on, and hiß bank had grown worse and worse. ( It is a tragedy that can not be fathomed. , Four months ago a highly respected banker and a leading man in the county, today a convict leaving at his old home the maledictions of those who had so implicitly trusted him. Robert Parker was a church man. ■For years TnrwaS ladder fmthe Christian church at Remington. He was a man of exemplary life and this helped the people to repose confidence in him. About twelve years ago he founded Fountain Park, the Chautauqua assembly that has been so popular for several years, and each year at the summer gathering of the assembly he has prepared a program that has brought some of the leading lecturers of the country to Remington. This is probably one of the investments that has helped to mire the affairs of the bank. And it may have cost him more than he cares to admit But as be has sealed his lips new it will probably be largely a matter of conjecture as to whether he is a criminal in intention or whether his eondlton and the misdoings of the last few months were the result of a dlsbordered brain, wrecked by the discovery of his insolvency, and that had caused him to grasp first at one straw, then at another, in the vain hope that something might rescue him. The indictments returned and on which Parker plead guilty were for embesslement from the followng persons and in the following amounts: James Hogan, $79; fine sl*B. Thomas Callaghan, S9O; fine SIBO. James Callaghan, $76; fine $l6O. 1L A. Grey. S2O; fine S4O. Andrew Eller, $26; fine S6O. Hattie Eller, $9; fine $lB. The total of the fine was s69B,which would entail the costs of the cases, but the fine was not paid and probably never will be. I While the sentence was from 2 to 14 years in each ease the sentenoe Is not accumulative, and all will be served at the same time, so that a conviction on one would hare been as effective as a conviction OB all six. Mr. Parker is 69 years of age, and should he be required to serve the maximum sentence he will be 7J

years old when released. It is hardly probable that he will have to serve the full time and it Is more than probable that an effort will be made to secure his release after he has been there a few years. A Remington citizen who called at the Republican offce this morning said that If he is released short of the full term other indictments will confront him and he will be prosecuted again. But a few years generally serves to mellow the spirit of revenge and It Is quite improbable that he will ever be triec|i on other indictments. If he is as guilty of intention as many now believe, the full sentence will be none too much; and If he has arrived at his present state through the misfortunes of business, he is better in the penitentiary than he would be behind the cashier’s desk in a bank. j The outcome Is very fortunate, for the trial would have been expensive to the county and the victims of the bank would have been placed to additional expense and great inconvenience to have been compelled to have come here or gone elsewhere to testify, and the outcome is a very satisfactory one. }