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STORY TOLD BY ALLEGED STOL EN BOY SHOWS HEINOUS CRIME COMMITTED, WAS BRUTALLY MISTREATED Defense Will Be That Boy Followed Tramp When He Left This City and Asked to Be Taken to a Brother at Toledo, O. (From Monday's Daily.) Trial of the case of the state against James Corbet for child steal ing’ was begun in the circuit court this morning before Judge Blair and a jury. Anticipating some sensa tional evidence, the court room was crowded early in the day. The crowd had not long to wait, either, for Harold Calbert, the boy alleged to have been stolen, stated shortly af ter he was placed in the witness box, that he was twice made the vic tim of the heinous crime of sodomy at the hands of the defendant during the time they were absent from this city during the earlier part of Oc tober. The crime as pictured by the boy was committed in the state of Ohio, first while they were riding in a box car on the way to Lima, O., from Dayton, O., and again as they were riding in a box car from Lima to Toledo, QO. At this latter place they were taken in charge by the po lice, the arrest resulting in the re turn of the boy to his home and of the defendant to the jail here to be tried for child-stealing. The boy’s story was quite lengthy as he recited in detail all the inci dents that occurred after he and the defendant left this city until after their return here. He took the stand shortly after ten ‘o'clock and after the state had finished was kept in the witness box for more than an hour,on the cross-examination. The cross-examination brought out the fact that he had been a pretty bad boy in some respects, but there was nothing shown to indicate that he was vicious in his tendencies. His admissions made it appear that he had been more venturous than most boys of his age. His statements showed a remarkable familiarity with the geography of railway life and he told of many occasions on which he had turned train hopper. Deputy Prosecutor Cheney for the state is being assisted by Attorney Elmer Bassett and Corbet’s defense is in the hands of Attorney Frank Wolf, who was named by the court as counsel for the accused man. The jurors are John Neuman, Gil bert Williams, James Reese, Louis Drager, Wesley Gathman, Samuel Thomas, J. H. Drake, Louis Wor land, Charles Newcomb, George Van Tue, Charles H. Clark, and Jacob Yarling. Corbet, who first appeared in this city under the title of “Hobo King, No. 2,” appeared rather nervous dur ing the time the Calbert boy was on the stand, and quite often he hid his ‘face from the crowd in the court room. He appeared smooth shaven, ‘thanks to the generosity of Bert Gil lespie, a local barber, who gave him a shave and haircuit at the jail Sun day without charge. The, the de fendant claims to be of excellent family connections, he is without funds. “He says he has not appealed to his relatives, as he does not wish them to know he is in trouble. He said they had always objected to his nomadic life and that he seldom communicated with them . _ Corbet asserts he is a graduate of Notre Dame college and that he was a classmate with State Senator Robert Proctor. Not long ago the latter wrote Attorney Wolf stating that Corbet was a bright fellow in school and that he was very sorry to hear he was in his present trouble. The senator indicated that he might come to the trial, but later he stated he found it impossible to do so. It is said that Corbet’s mother resides at 14739 north Marshfield avenue, Chi cago. Heis only thirty-two years old and insists he took to the road to study economic conditions and to rescue boys who were inclined to the hobo life. The present situation indicates he forgot his mission, temporarily, for everything in the present trouble shows he at least encouraged the Calbert boy to take to the road. The boy insists he was actually coaxed to leave his home. The opening statements for the prosecution were made by Mr. Cheney soon after the trial opened this morning. He said it would ‘be shown that the defendant came there as the “Hobo King” and that he managed during his stay in the city, to make the acquaintance of a ‘num ber” of the’ smaller boys of the city By : . the city ‘cemetery, 1d: Calbert, a. He said it would be shown that the defend ant told the Cathert boy of the great sights ‘the world afforded ‘and that he should see the best of them if he would leave his home and accom pany him and that he actually asked the boy to leave his home. He said it would be shown the defendant made similar ‘offers to other boys in this city. during the latter part of September and the earlier part of October and that the defendant and Harold Calbert were seen leaving the city the evening of October third. Mr. Cheney said full details would be given of, the extensive search made for the missing boy and of how even the railway companies were enlisted in the search. Mr. Cheney said it would be shown that the boy left here in short trousers and that the defendant at Cincinnati begged money of Father Finn, a priest in that city, and with part of the money bought long trousers for the lad and had him put them on in a toilet room in that city. He said it would be shown he told Father Finn he was engaged in the task of rescu ing boy hobos and that the boy he had with him was being returned to his home at Fitchburg, Mass. He said it would be shown that the cou ple then made their way from Cin cinnati to Dayton, O., later to Lima, O., and finally to Toledo, O. He said it would be shown that Corbet wrote from Toledo to the boy’s mother stating he had found the lad at Lima, O., and that they were return ing to this city by slow freight and for her not to worry, and for her to write him a letter so that he would get it in the general delivery at Cin cinnati under the name ‘Hobo King.”. He said it would be proved that the defendant put the boy to begging on the streets of Toledo and that this action resulted in their capture by the police of that city, af ter which both were returned to this city, the boy by his father and the defendant thru requisition papers, after he had been sentenced to thirty days in the Toledo work house for vagrancy. He said it would also be shown that the defendant gave the Toledo police a false name for the boy and told them he was taking the lad home after having found him at Lima, O. Mr. Cheney said the evidence as a whole would make it plain that the defendant enticed the boy away from home for the purpose of con cealing him from his parents and of using him as a beggar. He said it would also be shown that the de fendant, on October 16, ‘wrote the boy’s father a letter in which he ad mitted he took the lad with him from this city and that the letter contained a threat in reference to any prosecution that might follow in the case. Harold Calbert stated in taking the witness box that he was four teen years old the seventh day of December and that he was the son of Felix M. and Mary Ida Calbert, of west Pennsylvania street, this city. He said he knew Loren Mur phy, Hobson Courtney and TWloyd Wilson, other boys who had been on intimate terms with the defendant during the stay of the latter in the city. He said the man preferred to be addressed as the “Hobo King,” but that he had told him his name was James Amber at the time he first made his acquaintance. He said he knew Corbet one week before leaving the city and that the man slept part of the time in a boys’ club room over near Five Points. He said Corbet told him he would show him Washington, New York and California and many other places of interest in the world if he would leave the city with him, and told of various appointments with the tramp before they finished the ar rangements in regard to leaving the city. On the evening of the third of October he said he and the tramp met at Franklin and Pike streets as he was leaving the school house on east Franklin street, and that they left the city. on the six o’clock freight which he had explained to the tramp would carry them direct to Cincinnati. The boy said he and the tramp rode in a coal car and that the train took them only to Fernbank, fifteen miles from Cincinnati. He said they walked the rest of the way into the city and that to a policeman who stopped them the tramp stated the boy was from Indianapolis and that he was taking him to the working boys’ home at Cincinnati. The boy said the tramp went to Father Finn and received from the priest one dollar. This was at three o’clock in the morning. They spent the rest of the night, he said, in Fountain Square, then bought some thing to eat and that after that the tramp used forty cents of the money to buy long trousers for him. ‘The short ones, the boy said, were left in the ‘toilet room,where the exchange was made. He said they left Cincinnati that evening on a C., H. D. passenger train, riding between the bagcase part of the night in a cornfield and the rest in a barn.” The boy said he came near being killed in trying to hop a freight out of Winton Place and that they later caught a freight at Iverdale and went to Hamilton, n. Then they got in an empty box car and went to Dayton. He said some boys at Winton Place supplied them with food. In Dayton he said they spent fifteen cents, all the money they had, for food and then slept in a Chinese resort. From Dayton they took a box oar to Lima and from Lima they made their way in the same manner to To ledo. It was during this part of the trip and also on the way from Day ton to Lima that the boy was subs ected, according to his story, to uhe heinous treatment. The witness said that boys again came to their aid at Toledo when they arrived there at seven o’clock in the morning and that they were soon supplied with food. He said Corbet in the evening wrote a letter to his mother, but that he paid lit tle attention to it. Then they walked out to the C., H. D. freight yards, according to the boy’s states ments, and it was here that Corbet started him to begging. He said he approached a colored man and asked him for a dime and that the negro called a policeman. He said Corbat called to him at once to run and said the tramp’s exact words were, “Run, ‘Dutch,’ run.” The boy ex plained that ‘‘Dutch” was a nick neme that is often applied to him. He said they were captured behind bush after quite a lengthy chase and that he was taken to the detention home at Toledo and the tramp to the county jail. The boy said Corbet had told him a false name he should use in case of arrest, but that he had forgotten the name, tho he remembered that the address of his supposed home was to be Fitchburg, Mass. He said he gave his correct name and sd2 dress at the detention home. Their arrest occurred on Sunday night and the boy said the tramp was sen tenced to the workhouse the next day and that at the trial he gave the false name and address for the boy and said he had found him at Lima. The boy said his father ar rived the next Wednesday and that he was then returned to his home in this city. ‘Other witnesses used by the state today were Mr. and Mrs. Calbert, Mrs. Hatmaker, Mrs. Piper, Miss Piper, Chief of Police Manlove, Loren Murphy and Lloyd Wilson. Mr. and Mrs. Calbert stated the boy did not have their permission to leave home with the Hobo King, and they also told of the habits of the boy and of his disposition to obey their commands in regard to his daily life. The three ladies men« tioned were used by the state in the attempt to prove that Corbet and the boy left the city together, but the witnesses were not positive that the defendant was the man they had seen with the boy the evening of October 3, tho they thought he was the man. 14. Mr. Manlove’s testimony dealt with the part. he had e in the inci dent in his official capacity and: ‘added nothing of interest to the story. The Murphy and Wilson buys told of many times when they had hopped trains in company with the Calbert lad and the former stat ed that he and the Calbert boy had their clothes packed one day last July to leave the city because they had been caught hopping trains. Attorney Wolf made ®iy State ments for the defense thiid after noon. He said the defense of Mr Corbet would be that the boy fall lowed him from this city and that he refused to return after they had reached Cincinnati, and led the de fendant to consent to take him on to Toledo on the statement that he had a brother in that city in the em ploy of the Big Four Railway Com pany as a fireman. He said the evi dence would show that the boy left Corbet at Lima, O., wandered away with a negro and was later found by Corbet, who took him to Toledo. The general trend of Mr. Wolf's talk was that everything the boy had said would be denied by the de fense. He gave a history of Cor bet's life, said he spent eight years at Notre Dame and then attended a college of higher learning at Wash ington, and finally went on the road for the purpose of gaining informa tion for the writing of a book on the life of the hobo.
Newspaper Details
Shelbyville Shelby Democrat
Shelbyville, Indiana, US
Thu, Jan 04, 1912
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Cynthia F.
USA 22 Jun 2026
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