Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-04-28
CORONER FAILS
TONVESTIGATE
JAIL BEATING
Records Show No Effort to
Find Out if Insane Man
Was Victim.
INDICTMENT IN CASE

ANA(A ~ Il AfA4@AAA eA4N &1AkJ4A
Lester Mitchell, a former cell boss
at the Marion county jail, is under
indictment for assault and battery
on Kirby L. Bowen, man who was
confined in the Jail, where the assault
is alleged to have taken place, and
who died shortly thereafter at the
Central Indiana Hospital for the
Insane.
Bowen, according TO the finding Of
Coroner Paul F. Robinson. died Of
'nitral stenosis, chronic, interstitial.7
which, in laymen's language means
chronic diseased condition of the heart
! No attempt by the coroner TO ascertain
whether Bowen's death was the result
! Of, or was contributed to, by the beat
ing he got in the Jail. is revealed by the
coroners report. on file with the county
! clerk.
| In the record of the autopsy made By
DR.. George +. Christian, it is stated that
outwardly the body appeared normal
/ The record shows that only two wit
nesses were called in the case.
| The first witness, F. J. CayIey, physt-
| clan at the Hospital for the Insane, tes-
| titled that Bowen was brought to the
| hospital March 3, 1920 in a semi-comatose
| condition, and that he died at l p. m.
March 5.
ATTENDANT SAYS
MAN NEVER RECOVERED.
The other witness, William Bennett, an
attendant at the Hospital for the In
= sane, testified that he had been In at
! tendance on Bowen from March 8, when
he was brought to the hospital uneon-
| scious, and that he did not regain con-
sciousless.
He testified that Bowen died at
p. m, March 3, after he had been at the
hospital about fOrty-fve hours.
/ Neither witness was asked concerning
/ evidence Of any outward injury to the
/ body of the man
/ Testimony was given in the hearing
/ In federal court to the erect that an
/ insane man was beaten by attendants
/ at the county jail so severely that ne
1t developed that the man referred to
was Bowen.
/ Coroner Robinson is a candidate for
/ the republican nomination, to succeed
I himself. He is opposed by Dr. Rieh-
4 ard A. Poole, and friends of Or. Poole
/ 90 not hesitate to declare that in the
/ Bowen case Robinson demonstrated his
unitness TO be retained in office
/ They say that had he made any effort
I TO ascertain the facts co,lected with tbs
+ death of Bowen he would have uncov-
! cred the scandal about the Jail long
( before It became necessary for the feG
eraI court TO interfere in the manner IA
which the Jail was conducted under
1 Sheriff Miller,
In another case. that of an insane.
negro who died at the county hospitai
for the insane at Julietta, the coroner
/ found that while there is no evidence
n blow was the direct eause OF deafh.
there is strong possibility thai treat
ment caused his leath."
! Nothing further was ever done about
! 1t, so far the records show.
This case was that of James Holder,
$50 West North street, who died at the
hospital Jan. u, 1919.
( The coroner found that death was
caused by dementia peretica. while the
/ immediate cause was cerebral apopIexy.
The statement concerning the possi-
bility Of the treatment received by the
man at the hospital being the cause OF
death follows the statements of these
causes.
SISTERS TELL OF
VISIT TO HOSPITAL.
/ Helen Romans, s14 Blake street, sis
I ter of Holder, testified that on January
/ 10, 1919 she and her two sisters. EIiz-
abeth Robinson and Polly England, saw
their brother at the hospital
] She said a blanket was thrown over
/ him. his feet and ankles were bandaged
and he had an abrasion on the left side
of his face.
She said al attendant had at first re-
3 II
/ see him.
Elizabeth Robinson testified that on the
occasion of their visit the patient was
/ held up by attendants and that he
groaned and kept his eyes shut most Of
/ the time.
Polly England's testimony was yir-
/ tually the same.
/ James Shelton, 516 North California
/ street, an undertaken, testified that there
/ was a bruise on the head, and another on
! the left side of the stomach, large dent
/ in the pit of the stomach, as if it had
/ been made by a blow from a blunt in
/ strument and fresh scar on the left leg.
I Loren A. Hyde superintendent of the
/ hospital, testified Holder attacked an at
/ tendant named Edney and that it had
required four or five men to hold him.
/ He said the patient was not assaulted.
/ RELIEVED MARKS
I CAUSED BY PATIENT.
| Mr. Hyde said he believed the marks
on the body were caused by the patient
/ himself
Joseph Seifert, a steam filter, who was
/ working at the hospital at the time, tes-
! titled that he saw an attendant repeated
/ ly kick Holder and that he was choked
/ to force him TO take medicine.
/ 1t is we'll recognized that 1t is the duty
! of the coroner to recommend a grand
4 Jury Investigation under such circum-
/ stances as these and that the coroner has
the ability to have persons held to the
grand jury for investigation in such
/ cases.
| There is no public record that ROBIN
son ever did anything of the kind. It is
a fact, well known to newspaper men.
that he irterfered with efforts to make
/ public the testimony in this case.
Another case which the coroner inves-
| tigated, but about which nothing was
| done was that of Lilly Fryman, 16 years
4 old. who died July 20, 1919.
The coroner's verdict shows that death
was due TO internal hemorrhage and ty
phoid fever.
Joe Fryman, father of the girl, testt
fed that he believed DR.. E. f. CahaI
! had called an ambulance to take his
daughter to the city hospital at noon
| July 20, and that the ambulance did not
arrive until D. m. and that ths girl died
at I As p. m.
Robert Preble, ambulance driver, test
fled he received the call at about Z p.
m. and that he answered it Immediately.
Helen Newport, telephone operator at
I