The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-05-02
RUM KING IN JAIL While SOUGHT
BY COURT, RECORDS ESTABLISH
Convicted BootIegger Held
in County Cell for rs
Days.
CASE HIGHLY UNUSUAL
Bakers Name on Petition at
Same Time Barker Was
lnCarCerated.


lnCarCerated.
Incarceration this week of
Dell and Lee P. Barker, big
time prohibition era bootleg
gers, in the Indiana State
Prison at Michigan City, nine
years after they had been
convicted for violation of the
outlawed state dry act has led
to the unearthing CT an amaz-
ing chain of circumstances in
the history of the Marion
County Criminal Court.
The indianapolis Times, through
examination of official and private
papers, has established that Lee P.
Barker actually was a prisoner in
the Marion County Jail for 26 days
from Oct. 81, 1884 to Nov. So, 1884.
He was held on a contempt at
tachment out of Judge Frank P.
Bakers court, while Judge Baker
and Criminal Court attaches said
they we're looking for him to COM
NIT him to prison under the 1925
conviction.
The release of Lee P. Barker from
| the Marion County Jail on the
night of Nov. 26, 1884, was author
lied by a release order bearing the
name of Frank P. Baker, Criminal
Court judge.
! The release order was initiated
-. A. B." Those are the initials
of Joel A. Baker, who then was and
now is Criminal Court investigator
and probation officer.
Never Before Court, He Says
Search of the records fails to re-
veal that Lee P. Barker ever was
/ taken before the Criminal Court as
directed by the attachment on
which he was arrested and held IN
the County Jail.
Lee P. Barker told two repre-
sentatives of The Times he never
was brought into court TO answer
the contempt charge at any time
during the 70 days he was held in
the Jail.
When Lee P. Barker stepped from
the County Jail on the night of
Nov. 26. 1884, free on his own
recognizanse and with the 1925
conviction still pending, County Jail
attaches have told The Times that
Joel A. Baker and Herbert M.
Spencer, once attorney for the
Barker brothers, and now Marion
County Prosecutor, were in the jail
| er's office.
Unable TO Locate This Man
While Lee P. Barker was in Jail
the name of Judge Baker was signed
/ to a clemency petition for Lee P.
Barker who was seeking pardon
from the 1926 sentence.
Over the name of Frank P. Baker
was this statement: I'VE have been
unable to locate this man to sem
tence him or rather to commit him"
Not until April "a, 1885, when Dell
Barker, brother of Lee P. Barker.
was arrested on charges of trans
porting liquor without a state
license. was Lee P. Barker again
taken into custody on the old charge
and statements made to newspapers
that both brothers were wanted on
/ the nine-year- old charge.
April "a, 1885, the Barkers we're
brought manacled into the Marion
County Criminal Court. They we're
committed to the Indiana State
Prison under the original sentence
by Judge pro TEN. Clyde H. Karrer,
during MONDAY session held aft
er regular jury trial had been re-
cessed until afternoon and specta-
| tors had left the courtroom.
Illegal Enterprise Thrived
Before Federal prohibition, both
Dell and Lee Barker led simple lives
on their fathers farm at Acton.
Stories of the huge profits to be
reaped in manufacture of liquor
! reached their ears. They soon dis
! covered more money came into their
pockets from operating a small still
than from raising potatoes on the
ancestral farm.
Their illegal enterprise thrived.
and soon they moved to Indianapo-
lis. The Barker boys were among
the first to use airplanes with which
to bring liquor from Canada.
The April, 1885, commitment Of
the Barker brothers was published
in the daily newspapers.
+ Judge Pro Tenn. Karrer was quot
ed then as saying he could not un-
derstand why the men had not been
apprehended and committed before
that time.
Both in City, Lawyer Said
The Barker brothers attorney,
Ernest Owen, claimed both boys had
been in Indianapolis and used that
statement as basis for a leniency
plea in Criminal Court April "a, 1885.
Lee P. Barker's arrest in October.
1884, however, on the contempt Of
court charges, was not given pub
licity. Newspapers apparently were
unaware Of his arrest, although
proper entry of his imprisonment
had been made in the Marion
County Jail register.
The Barker brothers we're origi-
nally convicted before Criminal
Court Judge James A. Collins IN
Marion County Criminal Court
June Is, 1926, on a charge of trans
portation of liquor, under a state
law which since has been repealed.
They we're sentenced to serve
from one to two years. They APP
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