Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1909 — Case Against “Cigarette” Baker Nolled in Marion Court. [ARTICLE]

Case Against “Cigarette” Baker Nolled in Marion Court.

The bribery charge against Oscar A. Baker, of Marion, Ind., former representative of the Tobacco Trust, yras nolled on the motion of Prosecutor Hooton in the Criminal Court at Indianapolis Tuesday, but the proceeding placed Hooton little nearer to a solution as to what he should do with SIOO held by him as evidence. Baker said it did not belong to him. Ananias Baker, who was at the time of the giving of the alleged bribe of SIOO, a member of the state House of Representatives, took the SIOO from the accused Baker, as he said, to trap the tobacco lawyer, and later turned the amount over to the state. It was passed down to Hooton by the former prosecutor. Ananias Baker is how dead, and it was for this reason that the case was nolled, O. A. Baker being a fugitive until the death of the principal witness in the case. “It may be impertinent,” said Hooton, turning to Baker w'hen they stood before Judge Pritchard, “but I will say to you that if you will receipt for it as yours, you may have SIOO which I hold as evidence in this case.” “I disclaim all knowledge of the money,” said Baker. Hooton asked that the record of the case be made to show that Baker disclaimed ownership of the money. Judge Pritchard acquiesced. Afterward the prosecutor said he didn't know what he would do with the SIOO. He dec'ared the money was not his and would never be used by him. He said the heirs of Ananias Baker might desire to claim it, and if they did, the question of their right to it would be properly tested. Before his death Ananias Baker said that the money was not his. “So far as I am able to learn,” said the prosecutor, “there is no law which would govern the disposition of the SIOO. I don’t know what will come of it. I do know, however, that I am only the legal custodian of the money.” Oscar A. Baker returned to Indiana several weeks ago, soon after the death of Ananias Baker. He came to Indianapolis and gave bond for his appearance in court. Since then his case in the Criminal Court has been awaiting action by him. Tuesday he appeared with John W. Kern, his attorney, and asked that some disposition be made. The only thing remaining was to nolle the case, and this was done upon the motion of the prosecutor, who went through the formality of explaining that' Ananias Baker was dead. As charged in the indictment, O. A. Baker gave Ananias Baker five S2O bills on February 21, 1905, in an effort to Influence his vote on an anticigaret bill then pending. The scene when the late Ananias Baker arose daring a roll call in the House and opened an envelope was dramatic in the extreme. Largely through the influence of this incident the anticigaret bill tfecan% a law and was on the statute books for four years, being repealed as it applied to adults at the last session.

Farmers In Elkhart county are elated over the discovery of what they believe to be the certain destroyer of the potato bug. A bug with variegated rings in else slightly smaller than the potato bug has made Its appearance in the potato patches west of Goshen, and the new arrivals are waging a deadly war on the potato bug- Moving from one plant to another the new arrivals make short work of the potato bug, eating them quickly and not leaving a single one on the plant