Duvall, who was found guilty of violating' the Corrupt Practi Act, has been fined $1,000 und] sentenced to 50 days imprisonment, A jury found the Mayor had made deni with Mr. Win, H. Armitage, a local politician, to allow him to name two members of the Board] of Public Works and the city eivill engineer, in exchange for $10,000] and his support at the polls in the 1925 election. The verdict carried, with it the added penalty that the guilty Mayor be debarred from! holding public office for four years from the date of the commission of the crime, The jury gave the accused the maximum fine, but, while they might by law have sent! him for a year in prison, they were] Jenient under that head.
This case naturally is being watched by all classes of officials throughout the country. A motion for a new trial, it is understood is to be the first move of the defence, Somewhat pale, but hiding his! emotions entirely, Mr. Duvall accept the jury's' verdict his eharneteristic calm manner, and curtly told the press that he had no statement to make. It is commonly agreed that the man must have been a fool to spoil his career for the sake of $10,000.
the first to be ti He developed by the Prosecutor's office "nnd the grand Jory, which for nearly a year had been investigating charges of poli cal corruption in Indiana. " The charges were firet aired by Mr. 'Thomas I. Adams, a publisher of Vincennes, following veecipt Tetters secreted from the prison call of Mr. D. ©. Stephenson, formerly Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Ju those letters, Stephenson sai that he could' give substantial evidence that high county and state of in_ political schemes with him a year prior to his conviction of murder in 1925, Governor Edward Jackson under indictment as a result of the investigation, and in a couple of days is to answer the charge of attempting to bribe former Governor }Warren. T. MeCray to name Joseph MeDonald as Marion County' Prosecutor in 1923, While Mr.
Duvall went on trial only on one charge, several other alleged sales of elfices were testified to by state ]witnesses. Mr. William H, Freeman Jsuid the Mayor had offered him a place on the Board of Public Works for $2,500, and another figure in coal polities raid the Mayor offered him the mastership of the city market for $3,000. The affairs of the Ku Klux Klan also were mixed up in the case, allegations being mind that several Klansmen were Hhand in glove with Duvall. Several knights of the order, however, both fat the call of the prosecution and fence, denied that Duvall had] signed an agreement to give them between 60 and 85 per cent. of his patronage in return for support in the 1925 election, which the prosecution alleged. Much dirty Jinen has been washed in this case, but we have not heard the last of it, It forms a miserable commentary on the state of polities in many parts lof the country,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.