600 Years in Jail

When $1,000,000 in bond forgeries were found in Kansas, when they were traced to Ronald Finney, son of Warren Wesley Finney, one of Emporia's leading citizens, when the elder Finney's banks were closed and when Tom Boyd, Kansas State Treasurer, was ousted no one at first suspected what a grapevine of financial crockery was about to be uncovered. Strong was Emporia's faith in the elder Finney's honesty. By last week all that had changed.

While gay Spendthrift Ronald Finney remained in jail, not apparently disturbed by the indictments piling up against him. his father was convicted of embezzling $63.000 from Emporia's Fidelity State & Savings Bank. Last week the elder Finney, long revered as (next to William Allen White) Emporia's leading citizen, was denied a new trial and sentenced to from three to 50 years imprisonment on each of twelve indictments, a staggering sentence of from 36 to 600 years in jail.

He promptly appealed but the next day a Federal grand jury in Topeka piled a Pelion of indictments upon the Ossa of his conviction. Indictments were returned against him for using the mails to defraud, for sending raised checks through the mail, for sending false telephone company statements through the mail, for misapplying $146,000 of a national bank's funds. Those indicted on various counts included not only Father Finney. Son Finney, Leland Caldwell (Son Finney's assistant) and Tom Boyd, ex-State Treasurer, but also Carl W. McKeen, president of the National Bank of Topeka and C. L. Cooke, president of Topeka's Prudential Investment Co.

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