Mayor Threatens Ride Behind Mules for All Offenders

From The Indianapolis Star, Thursday, December 7, 1922: There has been a noticeable decrease in motor car accidents as a result of the five days’ war against speeders. The deaths of two women by speeding automobiles prompted the crackdown. Mayor Lew Shank has promised a ride to the city prison in a mule driven dump wagon as punishment for arrested “speed fiends” if current methods do not stop the mounting toll of automobile deaths and accidents. The mayor also will ask the legislature to increase the penalties for violators of automobile traffic laws and a city ordinance will be drafted to aid in curbing the speed-mad motorist. The city court has been quickly disposing of speeding cases and those found guilty paid $1 (2020: $16) a mile for the rate of speed at which the defendant was traveling when arrested.

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“Mayor Threatens Ride Behind Mules for All Offenders,” The Indianapolis Star, 7 December 1922, p. 1:6

City-Wide Police Drive Continues

From The Indianapolis News, Wednesday, November 29, 1922: In an effort to check a crime wave in the city, squads of detectives in automobiles, assisted by squads of plain clothes officers, continued the roundup today of “highjackers,” “bootleggers,” and suspicious characters that began yesterday following “cleanup” orders by Mayor Lew Shank and police chief Herman Rikhoff. Most of the poolrooms and dry drink places were deserted today, the loafers and “crooks” having scurried for cover when word of the police cleanup began circulating. Sixty suspected criminals taken into custody yesterday afternoon and night are being questioned at police headquarters, and several are suspected of being responsible for some of the recent holdups of rum runners and auto parties on the county roads. The mayor said the roundup would continue “until every darned bum and bojack in Indianapolis is under arrest.”

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“City-Wide Police Drive Continues,” The Indianapolis News, 29 November 1922, p. 1:6

Butler to Buy Fairview Park

From The Indianapolis Star, Wednesday, November 22, 1922: The Butler College board of directors, in a special meeting yesterday afternoon, unanimously decided to accept the site committee recommendations and exercise the option to buy Fairview Park from the Indianapolis Street Railway Co and move the college from Irvington to that location. A committee will immediately raise the $200,000 (2020: $3,144,483) to purchase the park grounds, and another committee will have charge of a campaign to raise an $800,000 (2020: $12,577,932) building fund. It will probably be two years before new buildings at Fairview will be ready for use, although an athletic facility will be in use before that time. Although deeply regretting the necessity for removal from Irvington, the 246 acres north of the city will permit expansion and growth of the college on the scale contemplated by college authorities.

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“Butler to Buy Fairview Park,” The Indianapolis Star, 22 November 1922, p. 1:7