The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-05-15

This is the first of series of stories
on the life and activities of Governor
Paul V. McNutt.
BY ARCH STEINEL
Times staff Writer
THE day was breath-hot, shall
l. low, sultry.
It was July 49, 1891.
Hollyhocks sta ggered their
blooms near a vine wrapped cot
tage on the outskirts of Franklin,
Ind.
In town the prosecuting attor-
ney of johnson county hurried
through briefs. Law was forgot
ten for thoughts Of a life that
neared in the home framed in
hollyhockS.
Hurried footsteps and he was
beside a bed. A doctor stood
near. A woman fought for the
right of motherhood
At d p. m. a ga pound boy
screamed an infantile I'm here"
The father walked three-quarters
of mile to telegraph relatives of
the momentouSness Of the day.
But through the night he stood
beside the doctor to battle to save
the mother of his son.
They, the three of them, won.
TODAY the house of hollyhOcks
Il is painted green.
And today that babe is called
Child of destiny" by his father;
is remembered as loving fuzzy
cherry pie" by the mother, and
is a very handsome man" to his
wife
Today his enemies look upon
him as a prototype of Hitler, a
cross between a Medusa and
MuSsOlini, an eX-Off1cio lodestar
of the American Legion.
His friends say he's on the
White House express bound for
Washington
Today that babe is the SiX-foot-
two, white haired, brown skinned
man who drums his fingers on a
desk in an office in the Indiana
statehouse and answers phones to
the hail of-"Governor Paul V.
McNutt."
The years between amble like
an Alger tale.
Al student class president
yearbook editor college
and the John Barrymore of the
campus plays class president
=. law professor war bugles
. captain colonel act
ing brigadier- general peace
post commander of legion
e.. state commander =. national
commander dean of Indiana
university law Fidac .
Trips to Europe medals
decorations .. politics =. Gov
ernor of Indiana and
DUT the years were careful
- ones. 1891 to 1893. for Mr.. and
Mrs. John c. McNutt, parents of
the future Governor.
Paul wasn't very strong as a
boy. We had to watch him."
Mrs. McNutt of Martinsville, says
of her only child.
In 1893 the johnson county
prosecutor moved to Indianapolis
to become law librarian at the
StatehouSe.
The boy, Paul, took his
miniature garden rake and his
pop-gun to play around a home
near Twelfth street and College
avenue, or to sit at times in the
office of his father on weighty
law tones within a few staircases
of the office that became his own
in 1882.
The cute" sweet approval of
passing neighbor women foretold
the manniSh pulchritude of later
years. His lank legs heightened
into the first grade of an In
dianapolis school on Ashland
avenue
Then, in 1899 his father left the
dusty books of the law library to
hang out his shingle as barrister
in the resort for the ailing and
farm community of Martinsville.
"TITY-BOY" stamped Paul. He
~ learned that on his first day
in the second grade at Bucktown
school. at the north end of the
town.
It divided him from the coun-
try lads and tossed him into a
creek as a baptism for his airs.
Second graders have no respect
for mudholes and water and Paul
clambered out beSplattered and
angry
But we'd always taught him
not to fight. He hadn't been well.
Then one day they chased him
home from school. Paul came to
me and protested against not be-
ing allowed to battle for his
rights. I told him to go ahead
and protect himself" said his
mother a few days ago.
The next day Indiana'S COVER
nor came home with shredded
clothes and a broken umbrella.
He'd tried to whip the entire class
and his success left no doubt as
to his courage in the future.
Bucktown took him into its
Halloween tick-tackings. SWIM
ming hole meets, one-old-cat ball
games.
The multiplication tables and
the spelling bees brought Paul to
class leadership in knowledge.
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