In Indiana

Grime, slush, and Ku Klux Klan "super-government" in Indiana failed to emerge last week from the stage of fantastic tales and snarling rumors. Three moves:

1) Newspaperman Thomas H. Adams, who threatened to "rock the state and shock the nation" with his investigations (TIME, Oct. 18), finally succeeded in having one time Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan, D. C. Stephenson, brought out of jail long enough to appear before a grand jury. Convict Stephenson had been whining for months to tell what he knew about Republican politics; but in the courtroom he suddenly became mute, said: "I desire to stand upon my constitutional rights and decline to answer any questions that may be propounded to me. Obviously, the intent is only that it is to be used to incriminate me and to humiliate and embarrass others."

Had Convict Stephenson been bluffing, or had some "friend" made his silence worth while?

2) Word flew about that wary investigator Senator James A. Reed and his Senate Campaign Funds Committee might delve into Indiana lore when they had finished their prodding in Chicago. Democratic hopes ran high; they predicted embarrassment for Senators James E. Watson and Arthur R. Robinson, Republican candidates for reelection.

3) Meanwhile, Clyde Walb, Republican State Chairman in Indiana, while casting about for some grime with which to accuse the Democratic candidates, produced the following announcement: "Secretary of Labor Davis took 'breakfast with me this morning, and we reviewed the Indiana situation completely, and we are absolutely convinced that the whole situation in Indiana hinges around Senator Watson, and Senator Robinson opposing the League of Nations and insisting that the foreign debt be paid. There is evidence everywhere that international bankers on Wall Street have their money in every precinct of the State in the hands of fakers who pretend to have something up their sleeves and are putting on a probe." Secretary Davis, wary, made no comment.