The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-12-14
OMAN KILLER
TO HANG HERE
ON MARCH "a
Sentence Is Passed on
Barrett by Federal
Judge BaItzeII.
TOLD TRUTH, HE SAYS
Declines to Change Any of
His Testimony; Thanks
Judge for Lawyers.

Federal Judge Robert G. Baltzell
today sentenced George w. Barrett
to be hanged in the Marion County
Jail yard before sunrise, March "a.
Sunrise on that day is at $50 a. N.
The judge overruled a motion for
new trial.
The sentence is for the murder of
Nelson B. Klein, Federal Agent, shot
by Barrett Aug 16 at West College
Corner, Ind. Barrett was found
guilty by a Federal Court jury last
Saturday afternoon.
Edward Everett Rice, Hamilton,
O., Barrett's attorney during the
trial, did not appear in court. He
had written Judge Baltzell that his
client had been dissatisfied with
motion for new trial and that he
no longer represented him.
Judge Baltzell refused to pass
sentence until Barrett was repre-
sented in court, and he appointed
Fred G. Cause, president of the In
diana Bar Association, and Will H.
Thompson of the law firm of
Thompson, Rabb & Stevens, for that
purpose.
Proposed Appeal Studied
These attorneys, after the SEN
tence, gave Barrett proposed ap-
peal drawn to the United States
Circuit Court of Appeals for his
consideration. He has five days to
make up his mind and file an ap-
peal notice.
In the courtroom when sentence
was passed were several of Kleins
brother officers, District Attorney
Val Nolan and his assistants.
Barrett, who remained unmoved
when sentence was pronounced,
thanked the judge afterward for
having appointed the lawyers to
represent him.
Told Truth" He Says
When he was asked by the judge
whether he wished to change any
of his testimonial statements, he
said:
Your Honor, I told the truth"
A jury of nine farmers, two auto
statesmen and saw miller found
verdict of guilty with no recon-
mendation for mercy and the hang
ing is mandatory. The law under
which he was tried was passed by
Congress in May, 1884, as a part of
the national movement to stop in
terState crime.
The government said that Agent
Klein went to West College Corner,
Ind, on Aug. 16 to arrest Barrett on
charges of having transported
stolen cars across state lines.
Gunman Wounded in Legs
Barrett, trying to escape, opened
fire with a As caliber revolver and
killed Klein. The gunman was
wounded in the legs and was tried
while he sat in a wheel chair in
court.
Barrett, however, set up a defense
that he had fired on Agent Klein
thinking he was a Kentucky feud-
list. There was much testimony
that Barrett and his relatives had
been embroiled in a bloody feud in
Manchester, KY, in 1882.
He said that he frequently took
long trips to the Southwest in fear
of the feudists, but District Attor-
hey Val Nolan brought out that he
invariably returned. each time in a
stolen car.
Barrett explained that he re-
turned so quickly, though having
fled in mortal terror, because of his
love for his family, and Attorney
Nolan managed to ask him whether
it was the same love that he had
for his mother and sister Rachel
back in 1880 when he shot one to
death and beat the other to death.
This will be the first hanging in
Marion County since April 10, 1886,
when Robert Phillips, Negro, was
hanged for the murder of his wife.