The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-01-08
BY JOHN t. MoUTOUx

Times stan Correspondent
FRANKFORT, KY, Jan. "a
bad case OF official misconduct"
which should be brought to the
attention Of federal grand jury"
was the report of the Governors
commission in one of the many
cases of abuse it found in Harlan
county.
The case was that Of J. w. Free
man, 52-year-old miner and father
Of seven children, who reported his
home was raided at II one night for
literature, but that nothing was
found.
There we're eleven in the raiding
party, including the city judge, he
said. They took me out in the
yard. They had a searchlight.
THE policeman said, We have to
search him; he might have a gum
He searched me. There was a fellow
behind me. He snatched at my left
hand coat pocket.
Planted Marked" Money
HE missed the pocket and
dropped two 81 bills at my feet.
He claimed it was marked money
and that he got it off of me. l
didn't have a penny in my pocket.
They took me in a room and
chained me by both legs to a radi-
ator
THE next day oct y they took
me to Harlan. A justice OF the
peace bound me over for trial Oct.
81 before United States Commits
sioner Rollins at Pineville. Rollins
threw the case out of court,
The Governors commission COM
mented;
This is a bad case Of official
misconduct and should be brought
to the attention Of a federal grand
Jury and the officers indicted for
perjury. etc. If this mans state
ments are true, the law acts rather
unlawfully in Harlan county. The
witness impressed us as truthful"
Liquor Charge Faxed
A similar case found by the COM
mission was that Of l.. P. Fuson,
5l-year-old property owner, contrac-
tor. and father of seven children.
Nose Middleton (EvartS police
mani. Frank White, George Hay
wood and Elk Cox (deputies) came to
my house one night and raided 1t
for liquor" Fuson told the commits
SION
Q-Did they find any?
A-They found what they brought
with them. Frank White took
bottle out of his pocket. He said l
had thrown it out of the window.
That was not so. do not drink
LIQUOR and do not deal in it.
Q-What happened to you?
A-They took me to Harlan at
1890 at night and turned me over
to the jailer. The jailer wouldn't
put me in Jail. got car and went
to see United States Commissioner
Rollins at Pineville.
Q-What did he do?
Ale dismissed the case
O-Your belief is that your arrest
was made because you we're friendly
to the strikers?
Al am not a miner and did not
belong to the union, but I did go on
some bonds for some of the men.
Fuson is treasurer of the Baptist
church
Cause Wife's Relapse
Asked if he had anything more to
say he added;
AT the time the deputies came
my wife had been sick for more
than a year DR. Ramsey and DR..
Burns had beer treating her. They
advised me to keep her quiet. DR..
Burns said he thought within six
months the danger of high blood
pressure would be over.
Fifteen minutes after the depu
ties left, my wife had a stroke Of
paralysis, which DR.. Burns said was
caused wholly by the excitement of
the raid. She has not yet re-
covered. >"
The examining commissioner made
this comment:
This commissioner and Captain
Barrett examined and photographed
the window through which the liquor
was allegedly dumped. There was
no sign of any hole in the screen
or its removal; it is soldidly nailed
in and screened like the others. No
tice the growth of vines into the
screen
Sheriff in Michigan
The commission, in report which
accompanied the nine volumes of
testimony, called attention to the
Fuson case; also to that of a man
named Simpson, who was found
drunk in Evarts, arrested by Murl
and billiard Middleton, and put in
the lookup. Later, while Simpson
was on a couch in the Jail. he was
shot to death through the bars and
was found there the next morning.
1t is claimed no one knows who
committed this murder"
Next: Conditions Almost Too
Horrible for Belief" in Harlan
County.
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