Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-12-01
ARREST AS DRUNK
GETS KILLER LIFE
Sammons Convicted as Ha-
bituaI Criminal for At
tempted $500 Bribery.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CROWN POINT, Ind, December l.
For the second time in his varied career
of crime James Gur) Sammons, killer
and Chicago public enemy, today faced
the prospect of spending the rest OF
his days in prison.
The sentence was the state Of In
dianas Thanksgiving day present" to
him and, unlike the first time that
Sammons went up for life 80 years ago
in Illinois after escaping the gallows
by a day for a murder, resulted from
a comparatively minor charge-at-
tempted bribery of an officer.
However. in convicting him OF that
the jury also found him guilty of be-
ing a habitual criminal, which carries
q mandatory life sentence in Indiana.
Just before sentence was passed last
night by Judge William j. Murray in
Circuit Court while deputy sheriffs
armed with shotguns and machine guns
guarded the corridors and outside of
the court house, SammonS asked to be
heard
If I'm sent up for life it will be
because the witnesses have lied me to
prison." he said.
Picked Up as Drunk.
After lodging Chicago officers who
wanted him for forfeiture of bond last
Summer in connection with robbery
case and evading extradition to Balti-
more on a similar charge at least three
times. SammonS fell into the arms of
the law in Indiana for intoxication.
He was picked up several weeks ago
at Cedar Lake by Deputy Sheriff John
Cook and was not identified until he
had haon r1laPp6 in a lQil cell Rllf
on the way to Jail Cook said the fugi-
tive attempted to bride him with an
offer of 5000 and it was upon that
that the States case was built.
The jury required almost five and
a half hours to reach verdict, but
said that only five preliminary ballots
were taken before agreement was
reached After sentence was passed
prosecutors said Summons would be
taken to the Michigan city prison as
soon as possible.
The killer has previously succeeded
on several occasions in evading extra
dition to Baltimore, where he was
wanted for robbery and had twice
forfeited bail in Chicago when charged
with major crimes. On both occasions
he escaped subsequent incarceration.
Sammons had been held in Jail here
since his arrest, although his attorneys
made several attempts to have bail
fixed.
His counsel Immediately took steps
to appeal the conviction.
Judgment was entered in the Lake
County clerks Office Is minutes after
sentence was pronounced, Immediately
closing any appeal to the Lake County
Court from the verdict. Court attaches
here said any appeal must be made to
a higher court.
Sammons will be taken to prison to
begin serving his sentence as soon as
it is convenient, it was announced at
the sheriff's office. This may be done,
it was said, within the next few days.
Plans for his transfer were closely
guarded to Illustrate any plans of Sam
mons associates TO llberate him Wy
force.
Baked Justice Consistently.
His record was such that the Chicago
Tribune said editorially, more than a
year ago.:
we cannot here examine the. legal
procedure of which this individual has
been subject and finally the beneficiary,
or attempt to fix responsibility for re-
suits. But the general picture is one
of Intellectually in the process OF JUS
tice somewhere along the line.
"A persistent male1actor, while sub
jected to inconvenience and expense,
has been able on the whole to evade
the more serious penalties and " Is not
surprising that his experience with the
him. has not yet resulted in discour-
aging him in his chosen way of life"
The prosecutors had described him as
the worst possible type OF criminal,
while the defense attorneys said he had
han
he came within the day of hanging.
Arrested some 30 times since 1928,
SammonS has spent "a of his so years
in prison. Sammons testified he was
too intoxicated to know what he was
doing in offering the bride.
This man." John Underwood, chief
deputy prosecutor, told the jury, has
been convicted as a rapist, robber, muir
derer OF a policeman and burglar. He
has lived from crime since he was 10
years old-35 years ago"
SammonS was sentenced to five ears
imprisonment in 1900 for attacking an
11-year-old girl with four others. He
was parOled February rs. 1903. Two
months later he was arrested for the
murder of saloon keeper and was con-
ylcted and sentenced 10 hang.
In 1904, the day before execution Of
sentence, Gov. Richard Yates COM
muted his sentence to life imprison-
ment. In 1917 he escaped, but was re-
captured few months later and identl-
fled as a drug store robber. In 1923
Gov. Len Small committed his SEN
tence.
Suspect in Murder.
Freed on parole in 1924, Sammon's
record became a series of arrests upon
various charges.
Among them were frequent arrests
for carrying weapons, suspect in the
Staying of Assistant States Attorney
William McSwiggan in 1926, Interna-
tional Harvester Co. hold-up of which
he was acquitted, although he forfeited
bail of $4,000 for appearance at trial,
and indictment in connection with the
Baltimore, Md, hold-up.
He was arrested three times as a
fugitive from justice for Baltimore, but
each time managed to wriggle free. In
1880 he was returned to Joliet to COM
plete his 1904 sentence for murder after
the Supreme Court ruled his parole had
been illegal
However. Sammons was released in
1882 by Judge Edward Shurtlef of
Woodstock on a habeaS corpus writ
Detainers filed by Baltimore at Joliet
went unheeded. He was arrested again
last Summer, but forfeited his bond
His name was frequently associated
with Al Capone