The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-03
SARCASM FOR LYNCHERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL FILES A MOST
UNUsUAL DOCUMENT.
His Conclusion, from investigation, Is
that Levi and Others Really
Killed Themselves.

| tive statement obtained from Mr.. Ketcham
himself He was so surcharged with feel
ing in regard to the lynching prosecutions
| that he determined to make his official re-
! port to the Governor an avenue for venting
them. The situation is such,'' argued he,
that no ordinary report would be ada-
quate" So he dictated TO his stenographer
a document which is arousing all kinds of
comment. Said Mr.. Ketcham last night: 81
think this report sizes up the business
about right, don't your" The report is as
| follows:
II have the honor to submit the follow
ing report of my efforts during the last ten
days in endeavoring to ascertain the meth
| cd and manner of the killing of five citizens
night oS he 14tb and yr,arnng ~ a he OK I5tb nf
September last. ] ascertained the following
facts to be indisputably true, namely
L Some time prior to that time one
Wilder Levi had pawned at McCoy's store,
in Osgood, a forty-four caliber revolver.
y. That this revolver was in Mccoy S
store under pawn on the evening of the 14th
of September.
20. That neither Mccoy nor any en-
ploye of his on that evening had aught to
a. That Lyle Levi was killed OH the
night of the 14th or the morning of the 18th
with this Identical revolver, and was SUISSE
neighborhood of the jail
%. That of the four other inmates of the
Jail, two-Henry Schuter and William Jenk-
ins--were killed in jail and subsequently
hung with the other two who were not
killed in jail. on the same tree with Levi
IS. That the sheriff of the county, being
disabled and therefore, incapacitated from
attending to business during the night,
when wrongs might be perpetrated, was
particular night, and the two preceding
nights, although being conspicuously pres
emit. with his wife, at the Jail during the
day, when harm could not be expected to
come to the inmates.
u. That in the absence of the sheriff the
Jail was carefully and sedulously watched
had been selected by the sheriff for that
purpose.
armed with revoivers. some with shotguns
and some, apparently, with the weapons
that nature had conferred upon them and
efficient the load had been withdrawn from
the shotgun, so that, undoubtedly, In the
case of an emergency requiring action, a
sufficient charge could be placed in the
gun to deter any persons bent on crime
from approaching the body Of the jail
80 That no person whatever. either OF
the county or from any other place, par
ticipated either directly or indirectly, in the
killing of the five men, or any of them.
HE REACHES CONCLUSION.
CONAN Doyle, who has devoted great
thought and attention to the ferreting out
of crime and upon the principles upon
which discoveries in that line shall be made,
lays down the following axiom as a. car
dinal principle in detective work, namely:
That when you have excluded every other
possible hypothesis, the one remaining is
undoubtedly the correct one, however inn
probable or unreasonable that may seem.
This proposition commends itself to my
judgment and must, 1 submit, commend
itself to yours, and as every other possible
hypothesis is necessarily excluded by, the
foregoing statement of facts, which are
undoubtedly true, I submit that the follow
ing is the only correct and true solution Of
the killing of the men, namely:
THAT Lyle Levi, having been incarcerated
in the Jail, and not being satisfied with his
surroundings or associates, and knowing
that Wilder Lewis revolver was at Mccoy )
store in Osgood, broke jail-it's not impor-
tant in this connection to ascertain how he
broke jail-and went to Osgood-the manner
of his getting to Osgood is likewise imna-
terial-that he broke into McCoyS store,
stole Wilder Lewis revolver, returned to
Versailles, broke back into Jail, without the
knowledge of the guards, who apparently
were asleep at their post at this time, re-
turned to his cell, shot himself, then Killed
Schuter and Jenkins and with. a rope that
he had got hold of somehow-but the evil
dence does not disclose how, or in what
place he obtained it-hung the dead bodies
of Schuter and jenkins to the tree, put the
finishing touches to his crime by hanging
Andrews and Gordon, and then, in order
innocent men, finally hung himself. and his
nefarious conduct in attempting to distract
attention from citizens of Osgood, Ma
poleon, Milan and Versailles, all of whom
were in the habit of retiring to their beds.
and followed that habit on this particular
night, Immediately after II o'clock at night
the hour at which, under the law, saloons
are required to be clcsed-is the more repre-
hensible, as apparently nothing in his life
so became him as his leaving Of it.
DEAD LYNCHED THEMSELVES.
sit is clear that, except as to Levi, no.
body was abroad that night. 1t is clear
that everybody, especially in Versailles,
Osgood, Napoleon and Milan, condemns. in
the strongest language, the conduct of Levi
in thus summarily putting an end to the
lives of his companions in crime, imprison-
ment and death. Every one in the county
especially the men (other than Levi) sus-
pected Of the crime, the lawyers, the Off
Gals and the justices, condemns in un-
measured terms the unlawful taking of life.
know of no crime that they regard as
worse than that, unless it be the crimes of
which these five men We're suspected, and
on account of which they were incar-
cerated. 1t will doubtless be great relief
so your mind, as it is to mine, to know that
the pcntiment of Ripley county is unit,
outside Of the five men who We're hung
and had no opportunity to discover what
their sentiments on that subject were
against the commission of any such crimes
as the community outside of Ripley county
has heretofore, without any just cause,
charged upon the good citizens of the coun-
~. In this feeling the Methodist minister
in charge at Versailles meaSurably COIN
cides, but only within limits.
While opposed in the abstract to the kill
ing or prisoners confined in jail. the crimes
of which the men SO confined were accused
seemed to him to be the more heinous of
the two, and / sincerely trust that when
your mind is coerced to the conclusion, as
IT must be by this report that Levi, and
Levi alone, is guilty of the killing, and that
that Is simply one more crime added to the
long list of which he had been charged
and suspected, the good man, in his relief
at knowing that nobody else in Ripley coun-
~ except Levi was responsible for the kill
ing, Will feel at liberty to denounce this adj
ditional crime by Levi in the manner that
ii deserves, and that as a result of this
sad chapter in the history of the State all
criminals henceforth confined in county tails
will be deferred, from adding further to
their crimes, and permit their fellow-pris-
onerS to be hung decently and in order by
the constituted authorities under the laws,
OF the land, and not attempt to add to their
other crimes the killing of those who are
confined with them. and finish the story by
suicide. l have the honor to be, yours
very truly, WILLIAM A. KETCHANI,
Attorney General
"P. S-When you are at leisure I will
be glad to report further orally in the mat
ter, and, If there be any lingering doubts
in your mind as to the correctness of this
theory-which, 1 must admit, at the first
blush would seem to be somewhat unreal
sonable-to remove those doubts and con-
vince you that no other explanation is
either tenable or possible.
N-
TO DECATUR COUNTY.