Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1908 — Dan Day Taken to Jeffersonville. [ARTICLE]

Dan Day Taken to Jeffersonville.

Deputy Sheriff Joseph O'Connor, in charge of Dan Day, sentenced to serve from 2 to 21 years in the reformatory at Jeffersonville for the murder of Daisy Maydell Phillips, left this Monday morning on the 4:49 train for that city, going by the way of Indianapolis. Dan was not hand-cuffed, as there was no possibility of his escape, and he seemed anxious to get started and has always been thoroughly docile and easily managed when in Joe’s hands. Attorney Williams had requested that either the sheriff himself or his son and deputy take the prisoner to the reformatory, on account of his condition.

In talking with the sheriff before he went away, Dan said that he will try to learn to read and write while in the reformatory and he hopes to be a better man when he gets out, which he confidently expects to do. And he volunteered that he will never’ touch the “damn booze’’ after he gets out, and he says that is what got him into the trouble. He left the jail feeling good and talked about some day coming back to Rensselaer a better man.

He is only 21 years old and If he is required to serve the maximum penalty he will be 42 years of age whne he gets out. The Jeffersonville reformatory is an ideal- institution and it is probable that when Dan’s native talents are given a chance under proper tutorship he will develop and improve. It is a grave outlook and if Dan does live to get out, it id hoped he will have taken advantage of the opportunities there and that his habits will be reformed and his mind strengthened.