USA > Indiana > Lake County > The First Hundred Years (1938) > Part 25
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WHY BLAME MRS. HOLLEY ?
There is a lot of talk reported in the papers on this Dillinger fracas, and if I am any judge, Sheriff Lillian Holley had more sense and showed better business judgment than the rest of them did. She refused to let any of Dillinger's friends visit him. Judge William Murray, according to the papers, used his official position and compelled the sheriff to admit Dillinger's friends. Some of these friends were former brothers in crime and some of them were women companions of Dillinger and the gang, who probably were not there for any good purpose. Most likely these visits were a help in Dillinger's escape. As reported in the Chicago Tribune, a woman visited Dillinger several times. Guards at the Crown Point jail recalled that when the woman came in to see Dillinger, she attempted to get close to him, but was told to stand back. She then talked to him in a jargon which was probably a code. They said she interspersed her words with a series of num- bers until they ordered her to stop that kind of talk or they would terminate the interview. You see there were arrangements made for escape. These judges and prosecutors may try to lay it on to the sheriff, but I have more respect for her than I have for a good many others mixed up in this thing.
AN OPEN LETTER TO MRS. HOLLEY
Dear Mrs. Holley :
What you see in the papers about the "jail break" of Dil- linger is funny. They go around in a circle like a hen that just had its head cut off. Sam Cahoon, the poor turnkey, and Mr. Blunk have got "blunked" off from the payroll and may have Dillinger's cell to use and can whittle a nice little gun of their own and poke it into somebody's stomach and get out. If those fellows are good scholars they should get something out of Dil- linger's performance.
And now Baran, with all his power and eloquence, demands that Sheriff Lillian Holley must resign for the good of the Demo- cratic party. It may be that Baran is right and it might be a good thing for the Democratic party if Baran would resign, and we feel sure it would be a good thing for the party if Judge Mur- ray would resign.
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The worst thing that Sheriff Holley did was to let those vis- itors see Dillinger. This she was compelled to do by the de- mands of Judge Murray, after she made the rule that Dillinger should have no visitors.
If anybody is going to resign, why not Governor McNutt? He has more to answer for than Mrs. Holley and if there is go- ing to be any resigning done, let's begin at the top. It would be a good thing for the Democratic party if the Democratic officers would do something good for the country and not be putting in all their time thinking about their party. You know why the other fellows were given a vacation without pay and the people might do it again if you do not put in most of your time attend- ing to their business. The high cost of detaining, not keeping, Dillinger is not so funny-just for the guards $4896. By the time Estill gets his flying machine bill in-whoopee! The poor tax- payers.
AFTER THE DILLINGER ESCAPE
Here is a fellow getting red headed about the way our pub- lic business is done :
"A very inquisitive reader wants to know when, as and if great national hero, Dillinger, is caught (again), will the prose- cutor just hug him, like the last time, or will he hug and kiss him? And will the sheriff show her affection for the hero by doing likewise, or will she just present him with the keys to her institution (again) ? And the judge, who granted the long de- lay before the hero's trial, will he, too, embrace the hero before the camera? Surely all should have their chance and not only the prosecutor.
"The escape-proof prisons and jails of Indiana and the escape-proof criminal laws of the other states are startling ex- amples of the collapse of the methods of society to protect itself against the increasing number of dangerous criminals. Thus far the boys who steal pie and jam from the pantry are nearly always caught and are given very severe punishments-but a real men- ace to society goes free-if he so desires.
"A man could carry out the worst crime thinkable and, if he has a dollar, there can always be found a lawyer criminal to de- fend him and to lie for him. With such poison in society's cup progress is impossible.
"Let's scrap all criminal laws and procedure and build a scheme on honesty, sanity, and intelligence if possible .- Dis- gusted."
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THE AIRMAIL
The country seems to be aroused over the situation. Up to date there are eleven army flyers who have gone to their death trying to carry the mail. Colonel Charles Lindbergh and Clar- ence Chamberlain, famous trans-Atlantic flyers, along with Col- onel Edward V. Rickenbacker, noted war ace, and Brigadier General Wm. V. Mitchell, are criticizing the government in no uncertain manner for the action they have taken in having the army flyers carry the mail. There seems to be a vast difference of opinion in regard to the matter, and there seems to be more than two sides to the matter. To call out the army men and put them on the routes without experience of traveling the routes was probably hasty. They should have been given more time to become familiar with what they had to do. But why should not the army men be able to carry the mails with practice ?
If we have not machines to do the job, it seems we should have, as the government has spent, according to reports, over two hundred million dollars for flying machines, and it seems there should be some of them that can fly. With all the training they are supposed to get, they should have men that know how to fly. If men and machines can't fly to carry the mails, what use would they be if they were called on to do some fighting? It seems to us that this little experience of the army carrying the mail is a mighty good thing. It has proven that with all of our time and money spent in this flying business, it still does not amount to much. This war business is supposed to kill people, and what we have found out, these eleven men have not died in vain. Why not have the army men carry the mail? It will give them practice so when we do have war, that so many say we are bound to have, they would be in practice to go out and do something.
Our law enforcement officers seem to be in about the same shape as our army fliers. We have a great body of them equip- ped with high powered autos and motorcycles, and they are rac- ing over the country and having their pictures taken in squads, as they did after the break at the Michigan City prison. But where do they bring home the bacon? Not in Indiana, but out in Arizona.
Someone writing claimed we should have trained low en- forcement officers. From some of our observations we might con- clude that the more they were trained the less use they were. I was told by one that knew that the farmer guards watching Dillinger took their position seriously and could be depended on, while the police officers that were sent from the north cities would lay down and go to sleep and could not be depended on for use- ful service. The great effort seems to be made in getting the of-
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fice and after it is gotten they do not exert themselves very stren- uously to try and earn their money, for the good of the public. This is not the first time that farmers have proved themselves superior to trained men. The time of the car bar bandits in Chi- cago, the police could not get them; and they came out here, southeast of Gary, and a bunch of farmers with rat spears, pitch forks, corn knives and shotguns surrounded them and took them prisoners. Where the farmers have organized for protection against thieves-as has been done here in this county-they have always got results. The thieves are more afraid of the farmers than they are of our trained officers. It may be on account of the farmer's superior weapons.
STRANGE MEEKNESS
It is surprising how meek and gentle these gentlemen are that used to be proclaiming from the housetops the great necessi- ty of protection for prosperity. Through their manipulation and by furnishing the campaign funds for the G. O. P., they got the tariff walls put up so high and the other countries to retaliate against us that it comparatively stopped business between the United States and other countries, so that a lot of our American business men and capital went to foreign countries and built factories and employed foreign workmen to such an extent that it is a serious menace to our American institutions. It is a fact that without the tariff wall the American manufacturer would have supplied the foreign market with our own products, made by our own workmen.
Arthur Evans, in the Chicago Tribune, shows that in 1932 there were 711 American companies with investments in foreign units. Their number of branch factories abroad was 1,819, and the total investment was $2,177,692,244. Estimates are that the number has now grown to more than two thousand factories and the investment to about three billion dollars. How does that look for the protection and prosperity of the American workman? In Canada, of the 524 American branch factories, valued at $540,- 593,000, six were automobile plants and thirty-two were auto- mobile accessories plants. Some fifty-five millions were invested in American electrical and telephone equipment, agricultural ma- chinery, rubber goods manufacturing plants, and many others. The manufacturers of this country got the big head and acted the hog, and now they are getting paid in their own coin.
President Roosevelt is asking and will probably be given by Congress the power to lower or raise the tariff fifty per cent eith- er way, so as to be able to make trade agreements with other
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countries. It is the only way to do it, as our national law makers are so narrow-minded that they can't look at this tariff question from a broad view of the whole country, but must get some ad- vantage for the district they represent, and will make trades with the other fellow who wants something, until they have the whole thing balled up and made a bad mess of the whole business, which has done more to put us where we are in this depression than any other one thing.
Roosevelt will do more in three days in adjusting the tariff than Congress would do in three years. Organized labor, with their talk of strikes and high wages, are showing mighty little sense at this time. It should be a question of getting something to do and get the machinery in motion so we can work out of this depression. If the American workman is not willing to do that -give an honest day's work for an honest dollar-they may be shipping Canada automobiles over here. We have had the big head long enough. We must get down to earth and go to work, and get something to eat, some clothes on our back, and not ex- pect the government to take care of us. We must take care of the government. Who furnished the brains to build up this big automobile industry? Who is giving the men work? Who have not enough brains to build up a great industry? Somebody has to be boss and be master of the situation-that is the only way big business ean be handled.
LAWYERS' INCOMES
Here is what a writer in the "Voice of the People" in the Chicago Tribune says :
"Now that the salaries of some banking executives, officers of public utilities organizations and what not have been exposed, when, O when, do the lawyers get theirs?
" 'Robbers within the law' is the correct title for many of them. In fact, many hundreds of them. So why not a little (or much) publicity for these leeches and parasites ?- E. H. Hay."
The number of people that are out of all patience in the man- agement of our courts is legion and I have letters to prove it.
THIS AND THAT
These young men and women who think there is no chance in this world for them now should look around and tackle some of the hard jobs where they can get big results, as the Rev. Charles E. Coughlin did. His bishop told him to start a new parish in a small Detroit suburb. He did and called it the "Shrine of the
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Little Flower." He had a little congregation, but now he talks to fifty million people over the radio. He gets one hundred thousand letters a week, and has eighty secretaries to help him with the morning mail. If there is any secret, he says, it is that he expresses himself in the language of the people and talks straight from the shoulder.
MR. LUTZ SEES THE LIGHT
Is it not wonderful that Attorney General Philip Lutz, Jr., of Indiana, has found out that Indiana needs a radical revision of its criminal code? From a newspaper we clip the following :
"Impressed by the speedy conviction of three John Dil- linger gang members on murder charges at Lima, Ohio, Attorney General Philip Lutz, Jr., today planned to recommend radical revision of the Indiana criminal code.
"Lutz returned from Lima late yesterday and said he would make the recommendations to Governor Paul V. McNutt for pre- sentation to the 1935 legislature."
To think that the Honorable Mr. Lutz had to go down to Lima, Ohio, to find that out. How could an ordinary man live in Indiana for the past fifty years and not see the crying need of a change of court procedure? To think that Mr. Lutz has risen to the important office of attorney general of the state, and has just found out that we need a change! If the truth was known, I expect the rumbling at home had more to do with his vision than the trip to Ohio; for the fact is, there is a regular epidemic of dissatisfaction with our laws governing court procedure. The Farm Bureau at Crown Point and Valparaiso passed strong reso- lutions condemning the present conditions in our courts, and rec- ommended a drastic change in procedure. The East Chicago Bar Association is seeing the signs of the times and recommend a change. An Indianapolis organization is demanding a change in our laws, making it possible for swifter justice.
One of the good judges of this county said, "It should be done. We need it, but the lawyers can't get together on any ac- tion." The truth of the matter is, they do not want swift justice. There is more in it for them the way it is. If the people want a change they have got to fight for it.
JURY REPORTS ON DILLINGER ESCAPE
The grand jury has finally made its report in the Dillinger escape fracas, and it has indicted Blunk and Cahoon. It has been a very laborious investigation, where they have gone to the
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bottom of things, and it is very similar to the mountain laboring and bringing forth a mouse.
There were visitors allowed to see Dillinger, only after Judge Murray gave his orders to Sheriff Holley to allow the visitors. She gave out strict orders to the effect that Dillinger was to have no visitors, and in all probability those visitors helped to arrange Dillinger's escape. Judge Murray seemed to be the one that prevented Dillinger from being taken to the Michigan City pen- itentiary. So why should not Judge Murray be indicted ?
The report further states that Sheriff Holley did not have the proper attendants in keeping a person of Dillinger's type in con- finement. According to the papers, there were thirty-five persons employed to guard the jail at a cost of $150 a day. Good heav- ens! Is not that enough for one man? Instead of a lot of monkey business up there with John Dillinger, they should have locked him in a cell for a day, tried him, killed him and buried him deep. and he would not have gotten away. They talk about inexperi- enced guards. We think the inexperienced guards were the best guards they had there, according to what we have heard.
Mr. Barce, representing the state, is not satisfied, and he is going to have the grand jury reconvene to make further in- quiries, which will take three or four weeks. "Happy days are here again" for the lawyers, and about the only word that ex- presses the situation is "Bunk."
A COMPLIMENT
Mr. V. C. Anderson, author of "Kernels Off the Cob," you are doing fine and growing every week, keeping pace with the growth of the Calumet Weekly News, which is growing better ev- ery day in every way. Especially when you tell "Mr. Voting American, you have absolutely no grounds for complaint. Your government is just what you as a voter make it. Crooked poli- tics cannot exist without crooked or disinterested voters. Re- member this if you forget all else I have written-an honest, virile, aroused voting public could clean up Lake county this year."
I put this in, because I want to have the public read it again. It can't be written or read too much and when it soaks in to the public hide they may quit blaming some one else and put them- selves right, and then we can expect good results in selecting our publie officers.
"You can't have an honest horse race until we have an hon- est human race."
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April, 1934
PETTY JUDICIAL TYRANNY
Here is an editorial from the Chicago Tribune which looks good to us :
"While the capture of Dillinger is not unnaturally the first concern of the public, other aspects of the remarkable drama of which he has the leading role are worthy of note. Among these is the citation of six members of the grand jury called to investi- gate the jail break on charges of contempt of court. This jury after the hearing of many witnesses included in its report criti- cism of Judge Murray which the latter held was couched in language not contemplated in the law, lacking in respect due courts of justice and judicial officers, and defamatory of the judge. The language reported in the press will not seem to lay- men deserving of this judicial interpretation. The jury was called to investigate all the circumstances of the escape and had both the right and the duty to express its opinion and conclusions from the evidence. When called before the judge the jurors dis- avowed intention to cast personal aspersions on the judge and were discharged. They would have rendered, we think, a better public service if they had asserted their right of judgment as jurors and forced the issue to adjudication on review. There was no question of personal criticism in the sense of the judge's private conduct, and what looks very like a case of petty judicial tyranny has been added to the other discreditable features of this affair. Neither the judge nor any other official connected with it has been free from blame, and it remains a deplorable chapter of misgovernment which nothing of importance has yet been done to mitigate."
MAY 8, 1934
This is election day. The candidates in Indiana from the top to the bottom have done their "stuff," and today the voters, in a manner, will do theirs. The results will determine how well they have done it. This government-the United States and the state of Indiana-is one of the biggest businesses in the world. Do the people as a whole feel the importance of being a citizen and give the time and attention to the question of government that they should, to be able to intelligently vote? That means to select men and women as public officers who are honest, and have enough brains to know right from wrong, and the courage to act according to their convictions. That is what we must have if we are to have a good government.
In this campaign, men have come to me wanting my vote. I would ask them: "If you are successful in getting the office you
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are seeking, what are you going to do for us?" They would an- swer : "What do you want?" My answer: "I am not telling you what I want. I want to know what ideas you have." In some cases they did not know and were not capable of knowing very much, being positively unfit for the office they were seeking. If they do not know enough to know that they are unfit for the posi- tion they seek, it certainly would be a calamity to elect them.
If some of these people who think we should have a change of government would make more intelligent investigation, and select good men for office, we would find that we would have a good government as it is.
The primary is the more important of the two elections, as we can't elect a good candidate unless we get him nominated; and when we have it reduced to one on each ticket, it is much more simple to choose; but it cannot be done right without seri- ous study and consideration of facts. So if you think things are not going right in this country, don't blame any one else until you examine yourself and find that you are an intelligent, honest citizen and have done all you can for good government.
SOLUTION OF FARM PROBLEM KEY TO RECOVERY
Bernard M. Baruch, financier and adviser to presidents, is backing up our claims that the loss of the farmers buying power is the cause of the depression, and the only thing that will restore prosperity is the restoration of that power. Read what he said recently when a guest at the White House :
"The most important problem before the country is a just solution of the agricultural problem, as it has been for twenty years.
"The first thing is to establish the buying power of the farmer and the ownership of his farm. As soon as that is estab- lished many other problems will be solved. Without that nothing will be so solved."
DO IT YOURSELF OR OURSELVES
The commencement exercises at the Griffith school house last Friday evening was a grand success, something that the teachers, scholars and the public could be proud of. And the beauty of the whole thing was, it was all home production, which did every- body more good than would have been done if a foreign speaker had been brought in, and the graduates' only business was to sit back and look wise with their three-cornered hats on. The rule here is the same as in most of life: "If you want anything well done, do it yourself." And if the scholars are brought up to do
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things they will form the habit, and when they go out in the world will be able to go to it and take care of themselves. But if everything is done for them at a big expense they will be like a great many educated people at this time-they have the educa- tion, but can not put it to use, and sometimes it seems to be a handicap instead of a benefit.
At the baccalaureate services Sunday evening, May 20, it was the same : All home talent and everything was No. 1-music, the singing and the address or sermon. Mr. J. K. Woerner, pastor of the Griffith Christian Church, gave a solid, sensible, practical talk. If we are any judge, it was better than the speaker gave two years ago at the commencement exercises at a cost of $50. There are different women's clubs in this county. The more weal- thy ones are entertained by paid speakers, while others have a pot luck lunch and their program is carried on by the members of the club with papers and speeches and a forum. We are sat- isfied the ones that entertain themselves get the most lasting benefits out of it. The old-fashioned literary societies, where we had declamations, essays, debates, and songs by the community, were something worth-while-much better to make men and women than a lot of the entertainments we now have which we pay for. So many will say they can't go on a program for home entertainment when they would do well if they would only try. The reason must be that they are too bashful or actually lazy.
May, 1934
SEEING THINGS
In the words of Gen. Johnson: "Ain't seen anything yet." We begin to feel we are seeing something and getting mighty "skeered" over the sight, although we have felt that the right thing to do was to support Roosevelt in his efforts to get the ma- chinery of business going again after the crash. We have hoped that he was on the right road and his plans would work out all right for the good of the whole people; and the people as a whole have had great faith in President Roosevelt.
But with all this vast expenditure of money, this new declar- ation of seeing that everybody is furnished a home and old age pension, etc .- that is, the government is to be godfather to every- body and everything, whether or not the people themselves make an effort to take care of themselves-it is dangerous business and will encourage more loafers and more people who will depend up- on the government or charity to take care of them. When you destroy individual initiative and determination to care for one's self, you have destroyed the best there is in the human being. One of the great pet schemes, especially of Mrs. Roosevelt, is to get
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the helpless people out on the land. That may be all right for the city, but it will be a detriment to the farmers in more ways than one. It will increase agricultural production to some extent, but more particularly it will increase the number of children to edu- cate in our public schools. This is getting serious. Right here in Ross township, Merrillville and Independence Hill, a big percent- age of the population is people who have moved out of Gary, bringing many children to educate and very little taxable prop- erty to help pay for their education. This makes it doubly hard on the permanent taxpayers of the township. I am wondering if all these plans of the President and the "brain trust" are go- ing to work out practically.
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