In Indiana

In 1923, after refusing a $10,000 bribe to appoint someone else, Governor Warren T. McCray of Indiana appointed honest William H. Remy prosecuting attorney for Marion County. Governor McCray soon went to Atlanta penitentiary for using the U. S. mails to defraud, the prosecutor of the case being Governor McCray's own appointee, young Mr. Remy. The latter was pointed out on the streets of Indianapolis as "that rising young prosecutor." Before long he succeeded in sending David Curtis Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan and producer of votes for a consideration, to jail for the murder of a girl. In 1927 he obtained the indictments of Mayor John L. Duvall of Indianapolis and six councilmen for corrupt office-getting.

But Prosecutor Remy fried a bigger fish than these. Last week he brought Governor Ed Jackson of Indiana to trial, charged with conspiring to bribe. It was the same bribery to the failure of which Prosecutor Remy owed his original appointment.

The Conspiracy. It is charged that Ed Jackson, Dragon Stephenson and two minor politicians put their heads together in 1923, found that they needed 10.000 votes to swing the coming gubernatorial primary, decided that control of Marion county's prosecuting office would give them the votes, offered Governor McCray (then in mail trouble) $10,000 to let them name the prosecutor. Also they promised Governor McCray that no jury in Indiana would convict him of any crime. Governor McCray refused.

If Ed Jackson et al are found guilty, they may spend from 10 to 14 years in jail and be fined from $25 to $2,000.

Prosecutor Remy, aged 35, now has Indiana's crows in the palm of his hand. Jailbird Stephenson, vexed because friends have neglected to bend his bars, has turned over to Prosecutor Remy a large black box containing many Indiana secrets. One-time Governor McCray, now out of the penitentiary, wishing to re-establish a reputation as a gentleman-farmer and honest man, has announced his willingness to tell everything. Should Governor Jackson be hustled off to jail, people are wondering what kind of a governor Prosecutor Remy would make. Some also wonder whether he could end the Senatorial career of James E. Watson by succeeding him.

The Trial. Governor Jackson opened the trial last week with a plea of not guilty. Then followed the troublesome task of selecting the jurors. Prosecutor Remy wanted to make sure no Klansman was chosen. The defense objected to barbers, because barbers have a grievance against Governor Jackson for pocket vetoing a barbers' license bill. Specimen testimonies of rejected jurors:

"My age is against me and I'm nervous. Nothing serious--well, just jiminy fits, I guess."

"I got 20 cows and nobody to milk 'em. I'm a little deaf in the left ear." (This man also said that he did not know whether he could form an opinion.)

"I'm an undertaker, and besides my hearing is not very good."

The criminal trial of Indiana's Governor continued.