September 19, 1939 was the last date that John Beyer, a blacksmith employed through the WPA, was seen in Bloomington walking along the Jacksonville spur of the railroad. Almost two months later his body was found by a sewer worker, about 100 yards from where Beyer was last seen. It was assumed he was the victim of a hobo. But this hobo didn't bother to take his victim's tobacco pouch.
September 21, 1939 -- Merlyn C. Large was eating dinner at Grandma's Cafe at 1018 West Washington Street when a chatty stranger came in for a bottled beverage. Large was a little alarmed when the stranger left his half empty bottle and followed Large out of the cafe.
He was right to be alarmed. His new friend stuck a nickel plated revolver in Large's ribs and ordered him to get in the car and drive. They drove as far as Six Points, where Large was forced out of the car and into the woods. Large was bound and tied to a tree, and his abductor drove away in Large's car.
As Large struggled and shouted in the woods, police received a call of a single vehicle wreck at Funk's Grove. The car was overturned but no driver was present. The car was Large's vehicle. People at the crash site assumed that the driver was under the car and turned the car over. The only thing they found was a gun, several cakes of soap and a safety razor. It was assumed that a hobo had stolen the car.
Residents near Six Points heard a man yelling in the woods and called police, who released Large and received a detailed description of Large's abductor. His abductor was missing his front teeth on the left side! (photo above)
It was later discovered that this matched the description of Orbie Burton, an escaped convict from an Indiana jail, who was also wanted in Logan County for a series of safe jobs. The gun, it was later discovered, had belonged to John Beyer. It was identified by the serial number in the barrel and the records of a local gun store owner, linking Burton not only to kidnapping and grand theft auto, but murder.
The case was carefully built over a period of months and finally in March 1940 a grand jury was called to indict Burton. This was possibly one of the first grand juries formed of both men and women in McLean County. Illinois had recently passed a law requiring that the names of women appear on the list of all possible jurors. Once Burton was indicted, his attorneys challenged the indictment, arguing that the law only qualified women as petit jurors (trial jurors). Judge R C Radliff denied this motion stating that although until recently women were not thought to be capable jurors, the recent law made them eligible for all jury duty. It was thought that the case would go as far as the Illinois Supreme Court on appeal, but after Judge Radliff's ruling no further information regarding this case appeared in the Pantagraph. (I can't access WestLaw or Lexis, so if someone with access is curious, I am curious to know if any higher court ruled.)
Orbie Burton did go to prison, but only for the safe jobs in Logan County. He took part in a anti malaria study in the prison and was paroled early for this service in 1947. No mention of the McLean County murder and kidnapping indictments were made at any time after August 1940. Mr. Burton managed to stay out of the papers after his early parole.
This story touches on several interesting points about life in Bloomington in the earliest days of the Depression. Hoboes were blamed for everything, women didn't have the intelligence to serve on juries, and men still habitually carried guns (which in this case did not prevent John Beyer's murder). Also interesting is the fact that enough people were up and about in Funk's Grove to turn over a brand new 1940s sedan before the police arrived. It also suggests that the murder of a man so down on his luck as to qualify for WPA work was not considered worth the cost of obtaining the indictment of his murderer.