Hendricks County, Indiana Part of The USGenWeb Project

Taswell Keys Murder Trial

transcribed by Karen Zach

source: Crawfordsville Review (Crawfordsville, Indiana) - issue of Friday, January 21, 1916:

If a plea in abatement filed by the defense is not granted before Monday March 6, the Taswell Keys murder trial will begin in the Montgomery County circuit court on that day. March 6 was decided upon by Judge West yesterday morning. Taswell Keys is charged with being acessory to the murder of Forest Miller, his nephew. Errol Keys, son of the defendent in the trial here, was convicted at Danville, Ind. for the murder of his cousin in a gravel pit feud in Hendricks Co. June 4. The younger Keys is now at the Indiana Reformatory at Jeffersonville, serving a term of 2 to 21 years for manslaughter. Keys' attorneys base their plea in abatement on the allegation that Edgar Blessing took part in the grand jury proceedings. They held that as special prosecutor employed by the Millers he had no right to be present during the grand jury probe. Arguments on the plea will probably be heard within the next week in the local court. Should the plea in abatement be denied the case will be one of great interest not only to western Indiana but the entire state. To those living in the vicinity of northwestern Hendricks Co. the trial is of special significance for it was in Eel River Twp. the fight took place between the four men; the wives of the two elder men in the feud are sisters. The state will have as its attorneys Henry Spaan, Indianapolis; Edgar M. Blessing, Indianapolis as special prosecutor and Walter H. Linn, prosecutor.