The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-28


Two constables have already informed the
defendants friends they will not take
Hughes to Jail II he be committed. The
state is not troubled about that. Means will
be found to carry cut Justice Craig's de-
cision If it be favorable to the State. If
Hughes be committed to Jail his attorneys
will begin habeas corpus proceedings, going
to the Supreme Court if necessary. Mr..
Ketcham will fight a writ of that char
acter. If it is not granted. the next step
would be to go before the grand jury and
secure an indictment. The grand jury pro-
ceedings will be conducted by Mr.. Ketcham,
who will be armed with typewriter tran
script OF every word of testimony taken be-
fore Justice Craig, and who will be in
position to call witnesses to testify who are
supposed to really know something. 1t is
significant that previous grand juries have
called only those witnesses who were
known to be ignorant Of the facts In the
eventsof Hughes being acquitted 1t is not
known what steps will next be pursued by
the State. Attorney General Ketcham is ret
icent on that score.
WARRANT FOR WRIGHT.
warrant has been issued for the arrest
of Arch" Wright, formerly of Osgood, but
who is now believed to be in Chicago. 1t
is not known whether there is evidence
against Wright as direct that of the boy
Kelly against Hughes, but it is presumed
that an affidavit for his arrest would not
have been made if the State had not had
in it's possession something tangible. Peo-
pie here seem to be dad Wright cannot be
found 1t is said that he has been drinking
heavily and it is fea red if the State once
gets him on the stand he might make dam
| 10
and tell all he knows There is something
rather mysterious about his leaving. 1t was
reported that friends of the murdered men
tried to assassinate Wright one night and
that he found it best to leave town. At
any rate, he left suddenly. Since the war
rant for his arrest it is being whispered
there were others besides the lynched mems
friends who would be glad if he went the
long journey. It seems most likely that
in the event Of Hughes being dismissed the
next step of the State will be to locate
Wright, extradite him, If necessary, and
begin preliminary hearing against him,
perhaps on the same line as that followed
in the Hughes case.
There is a growing fear here that the It
torney general has kept in reserve some of
| the most damaging information in his pos
| session, not caring to expose his entire CASE
| at the preliminary hearing, and that this
| will be produced when the proper time
comes, either in the defense of a habeas
| corpus proceeding or before the grand jury.
| Some believe that he determined to trust
| to a decision from the justice on the
| strength of young Kelly's evidence pre-
| ferring to take that hazard to exposing
his entire case to the lynchers' friends just
now. Nothing has been observed in any
| way connecting Arch Wright with the
| mob in the questions that have been asked
| the scores of witnesses. So far as is known,
| his name has not been mentioned once by
| any one. There must have been a DELHI
| crate design in not exposing a single theory
with regard to Wrights alleged connection
| with the affair. Everybody is talking about
the case, of course, and wondering what
| course will be taken by the State. There is
a unanimous expression of feeling that if
Hughes be committed no grand jury will
ever be found to indict him.
People here do not relish the amount of
questionable advertisement the county has
received in the last five months, and the
advent of newspaper man who may be
supposed to write of things just as he sees
them is received with frowns. This place
| is reached from Osgood over eighteen miles
one would expect to find in the Kiondike
regions. When the Journal correspondent
| arrived at Osgood the other day men dis
| couraged the idea of his going to Cross
| Plains
1t won't pay you'' said one "They are
not going to do anything there, and you
| VIII have YOUR trip for nothing I don't see
why the papers keep stirring things up here.
NOBODY is interested in our affairs, and we
are getting tired of the notoriety."
Here the feeling is about the same Fri
oay the Journal containing an account of
kelly's testimony the day before reached
here. One of the headlines said: Guilty
men have been on the stand and committed
| perjury" That night your correspondent
was Informed there was a consultation as
to whether he should be ordered out Of
| town, and yesterday he was asked whether
he was responsible for the publication, with
an intimation that If he were he had better
leave. An explanation that the headlines
were written in the Journal office by the
telegraph editor seemed to be doubted but
your correspondent was not molested. Most
| of the newspaper men left Saturday noon
to catch the trains home to stay over Sun
day. No one seemed sorry to see them 60
However, they were invited to come
again."
A REPORTERS OPPORTUNITY.
They are telling some stories here about
the reporters of the local papers that show
they We're lacking in enterprise the night
of the lynching, if they are true. One who
corresponds for a Cincinnati paper, in adj
dition TO looking after the reports of a pa
per in town not far away, almost admits
that he knew two or three days beforehand
the lynching was to occur, and had actually
prepared biographical sketches of the five
send it by mail to his paper marked Hold
till released" If he had done SO that Gin
cinnati paper would have had a special
train to Osgood, special relays of horses and
buggies to Versailles, scores of reporters
and artists and press telegraph operators,
and would have taken fiashlight photo
graphs of the men hanging on the little elm
tree down by Laughery creek and got the
entire story in the paper the next morning
with the biggest scoop of the decade on
But the biographies did not get into the
mail, and not paper knew of the lynching
and the country correspondent missed the
opportunity of his life. Other local news
paper men do not seem to care to say why
they did not send out stuff to their papers
I'm other cities the morning of Sept. Is last.
The lynching occurred in time.
This would be a good place to come to
revive the famous 'Know-nothing' party"