Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Trouble for Harley Dailey - Part 1

When sitting with Grandma Leona Dailey Collins over ten years ago, she told me a story about people being shot in the front yard of a family member's house in Valeene, Indiana in the 1930's or 1940's. I was skeptical.  She couldn't give me a lot of details but she kept saying, "It's true, I tell you. They were dead in the front yard."  I asked her if the persons responsible went to jail, and she said, "No, not back then. It was justified. They didn't have to go to jail."  

This story kept rumbling around in my head, and I kept coming back to it in my notes. I decided it was time to find the real story.  I spent some time online searching for a murder that happened in Orange County around this time period with "Dailey" in the article.  Well, it didn't take long to find the details of the story.  In fact, I found it first in a newspaper in Utah, and then one in Ohio, and then Wisconsin, and then Louisiana.  This story went nation-wide because of the premise around what happened. 

My two times great grandfather, Jeremiah McCullough Dailey, had a brother named, Mort. Mort had a son named, Harley, and a daughter named, Edna.  The sensational murder story involves these siblings around  December of 1939, but first let's learn more about Harley. 





Harley had a history of being a nuisance and had run ins with the law starting at 18 years of age, and it seemed to continue throughout his life. At 18 years of age, there was a rather lengthy article in the Salem Democrat about him and a friend running around with two young girls and the father was extremely angry with them. 


Newspaper Article, Salem Democrat, 7 Oct 1907


He also had troubles with a farmer in 1915 and was taken to court for attempted murder at the age of 25. It appears Harley was shot at by a Jot Lamb, but Jot claimed it was self defense because Harley shot at him first with a revolver.

Court Announcement, Paoli Republican, 28 Jul 1915



To my surprise, I learned that Harley was also sentenced to Michigan State Prison on 22 Sept 1921 for the crime of "accessory after the fact to grand larceny".  According to www.legalmatch.com, this type of crime involves, "An accessory after the fact for someone who shelters, relieves, or assists a felon after a crime has already been committed (such as the driver of a getaway car). Assistance can take the form of financial, material, or even emotional support of the principal actor." In addition, grand larceny is defined as theft of something of larger value.

I found a few small Court docket records in the Paoli newspaper regarding this crime.  I could not find the details of exactly what happened, but it must have been serious enough for a prison sentence. I will add this to my list to research further the next time I am in Orange County. 

Here is the last entry in the Paoli newspaper for his sentencing and an entry about an escort to Michigan City Prison. 


State vs. Harley Dailey, Paoli Republican, 28 Sep 1921






Court News, Paoli Republican, 12 Oct 1921

One of my very favorite genealogy finds to-date is Harley's mug shot from Michigan City State Prison that I found at the Indiana State Archives!  It appears, from his mug shot, we can learn a few things about him.  He's 5 feet 11 inches tall and 173 1/2 pounds.  On a side note, apparently they take lots of other measurements when you go to the slammer, including the head length, cheek length, left foot and left forearm length, among other measurements.  Reading the back of his card, you can see he loved getting tattoos!  He had lots of them!  A woman's head, a snake, clasped hands, Indian head, broken dagger and the word, Mother, just to name a few. He also had a razor and shears tattoo, which I am speculating represented his occupation, which is stated as, barber.   





As I am wrapping up this blog past, I just found that Harley might have been dishonorably discharged from the military. Oh, boy, there's another tangent!  We haven't even gotten to the murder, and now there is another thing to research!  At the age of 49 and in 1939, Harley will be involved in the ultimate murder case.  More to come in the next post. 



Sources
Court Announcement, Paoli Republican, 28 Sept 1921, Page 4, Column 1, State vs. Harley Dailey.

Court Announcement, Paoli Republican, 12 Oct 1921, Page 4, Column 1, Charles Breeden.


DAILEY, HARLEY. Sentenced 1921/09/22 to the State Prison at Michigan City., 22 September 1921, DOC, Prisons, Mugshots, Corrections, ; Indiana State Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana; , Photo Box: 28, Photo Location: A 4043, Table #:6466.


Newspaper Article, Salem Democrat, 7 Oct 1907, Page 4, Column 1&2, Wages of Sin.


Court Announcement, Paoli Republican, 28 Jul 1915, Page 5, Column 4, Judge Baggerly.



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