Evening star., 1942-10-05


try. This is his second OF a
series OF articles on election
prospects.
BY GOULD LINCOLN.
Star sta1 Writer.
DETROIT, Oct. 5.-The Re-
publicans of Michigan have
turned to a racket-buster fol
their senatorial candidate this
year, just as the Republicans OF
New York have picked another
racket-buster to run for Cover
nor of the Empire State.
Judge Homer Ferguson, GOF
nominee for Senator in Michigan
has seen life in the raw for the last
three years. It all started from the
day a girl was found dead in q
hotel room in Detroit-a suicide
leaving note for her policeman
lover. She had been a distributor
for the handbook racket. A little
digging in disclosed some strange
facts. Judge Ferguson, a member
of the Circuit Court, was picked to
handle the investigation. He be-
came known as the "one man grand
jury" The results of the investiga-
ton, handled entirely by the Judge
and his corps of investigators, were
the indictment and jailing of city
officials and former city officials,
policemen by the score.
So the candidate for Senator is
a glutton for facts. If he succeeds
in the November elections in de-
featipg Senator Pyentiss Brown,
Democrat, he will go to Washington
still glutton for facts. He has
pledged himself to aid the President
in the war effort of this country up
to the hilt. But he has also de-
clared he will be no rubber stamp.
He must know the facts, before he
supports any piece Of legislation, np
matter by whom it may be recon
A sturdy man in the early sos,
with a great shock of white hair, 4
smooth oval face, and eyeglasses,
Judge Ferguson does not appear the
prosecuting type. He is, however,
persistent and relentless in his
search, once he has started.
Says He's Not Reformer.
He is not, and this he will tell you
himself, a reformer. He believes,
however, in clean government and
the democratic process. The evil,
the great evil, he holds, comes when
gambling and vice, and their ope-
rators get a clutch on government.
If they can be segregated from gov
ernment-they will be compara-
lively easy to deal with. Crooked
politicians, hand-in-glove with the
underworld, with their fingers on
government officials, are his pet
hate.
Judge Ferguson is hard worker.
He always has been from his early
youth when he worked in mines and
| on the farm. He is native of
Pennsylvania. Put himself through
school and later through the law
school Of the University of Mich
igan, with the money he earned.
He taught school for time, to get
the money to go to college. The
year he was graduated from law
school, he married, moved to Detroit
and hung out his shingle. He and
Mrs. Ferguson lived in a furnished
room. He knew few people in the
city Of his adoption. He taught
again in school to help out until he
could get start in his law business.
That is the kind Of man he is today.
When he was selected to inquire
into the handbook racket and the
vice rackets in Detroit, he said to
his collaborators,
Put away your watches, gentle
men,"
1t was his way of saying they
would work overtime and all the
time. He discovered that witnesses
will talk better at highland more
than in the daytime. For some
reason their resistance is at a lower
ebb, or their consciences are more
active, around midnight than
around midday. So he questioned
hundreds of witnesses for long
hours, and in many instances he
won their confidence, particularly
when they came to realize he was
after the higher-ups rather than
the small fry. A case in point was
a hardened, brazen woman who for
40 years had been in the business
Of running brothels. After hours
Of questioning, with tears streaming
down her face, she broke down and
told her story to the judge.
Racket Probe Brought Fame.
tive never done this before" she
said. surprised that she was doing
so then.
Judge Ferguson won himself q
reputation naturally throughout the
State In handling this racket in
quiry. He was on the bench for .
number Of years before this job Of
cleaning up the mess in Detroit was
handed to him. He had been known
as an honest and impartial Judge.
The Republicans, casting around
for . candidate for the Senate this
year, turned to Judge Ferguson. He
was petitioned to run and he finally
agreed. He Is giving up . very large
salary to take the senatorial job In
Washington-f he can win it-at
$4,000 Z year. Money considera-
tionA however. have not meant
! much 70 him IA his careGe. - gava