The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-01

molested. Later horse-thief detective assoc
Citations have made the detection of the thief
a part of their business, and one Of these,
the Warren township association. of Marion
county, has traced at least q dozen horses
to this same ''Laughery gang, not only re-
covering the horse, but capturing the thief
also, the latest case being only few
months ago.
Does not common sense dictate that the
State should take a vigorous hand in weed
ing out such an organization as this and not
leave it to be occasionally crippled by the
arrest now and then OF one of its least gull
~ members It's ramifications are too many
for mere local association to wrestle with.
Less than twenty-five years ago the Warren
township association became convinced that
a prominent business man in this city was
a member of the Laughery gang, but he
was reputably connected, owned great
deal of property, was prominent MEMBER
of a popular church and not suspected of
crime, and they did not feel competent TO
pursue the clew they had to conviction at
their own expense and on their own re-
sponsibiiity, though they could have fur
nished information to a state agency that
would have led to his conviction. AS our
laws now are it is nobody's business to hunt
a thief or murderer. We have in our city
a detective system which sometimes sue
ceeds in catching an offender. but it is mere
ly local and wholly inadequate to the neceS-
sity. Occasionally county commissioners
offer reward in very aggravated cases, Dut
in no case is a Skillful detective put on the
trail of a thief murderer to pursue him
until he is captured at the expense or UNI
der the authority of the State. This neglect
has given rise to local associations and to
the mammoth Pinkerton system, put all
these are maintained at private expense
while doing the work the State. as such
should do
It is different with the general govern
ment. If a five-dollar bill or five-cent
piece is lost through the mails under cir
cumstances which indicate a THEFT, speclal
mail agents are put on the track of the sup
posed offender and he is hunted down, ana
so successful is the detection generally that
the loss of money by mail IS almost IN
ct faxy nirkQlS
pear in the market and the detective so
soon finds the counterfeiter that counterfeit
coin is hardly known in commerce rec, or coun-
terfeit bank notes. Counterfeiting was
principal branch of this gang IN It's Garner
days, but the system of detection miro
duced during General Grants administra-
ton has entirely broken it up. Counterfeit
ing is almost lost art through the govern
ment's wel-ordered system of detection and
it's methods of dealing with criminals. Ihey
are not tried before a judge elected by the
criminals nor by a jury composed IN part
of the gang to which the accused belongs
and the other part afraid to convict lest per-
sonal injury be inflicted upon them. Does
any one believe that # seventy or even
twenty years ago the State had been as
persistent in hunting the Offenders as the
United States is and as Independent in con-
victing them those old Germans would have
been roasted as they We're to make them tell
where their money was? If even a few
months ago the State had as earnestly de-
termined to find the Offenders as the United
States was to ferret out the man In our
there would have been no lynching at Yer
sailles The State does nothing in that d.
rection-absolutey nothing. If individuals or
associations detect and swear out warrant
the State proSecuteS, employing a good
lawyer to defend if necessary. NO wonder
these honest Germans determined to make
short work of those men, for the mob con-
sisted almost wholly of Germans. They
knew no jury in Ripley county would dare
to convict them, hence they took the law
in their own hands. 1t was very wrong, of
course, to dc so, but in a county which
they do? One of the men who was hanged
received a large vote for marshal of Osgood
at the late election and was defeated by a
man who dareS not offend the gang, most OF
whom are known, all of whom are feared
Is it not time that the State was taking
in hand the detection of criminals and their
proper punishment? Why should their de-
lection be left to the sufferers and their
punishment be put in the hands of local
jury? The State, not the county, should be
the prosecutor. and the Governor and the
attorney general should have power where
local authorities are insufficient. and this
disgraceful acknowledgement to the state
which made it necessary more than to the
men who did what the State would not do
will not have been in vain If 1t leads TO Det-
ter laws 1t will cost something to organize
and operate a ubiquitous detective police,
but it will have to be adopted and with it
a judiciary farther removed from the con-
troll of the vicious class. We may not be
ready for it yet, but we will get ready. the
man who would have predicted hfty years
ago that there would be not only free
school for every child In the State, but that
the State would Appropriate a large sum Of
money to compel every child to attend II,
would have been called a crank. There will
be better laws on crime some day.
indianapolis. Sept so. u. l.. SEE.