The Murder of Hence Orme
Hence Orme joined our Rotary Club in 1917. He lived on a very large farm in Glenn’s Valley, which he
endeavored to make into a model for scientific farming. Hence was also known as the father of tennis in
Indianapolis. He played collegiate football at both Indiana University and Harvard College and was such
an advocate of amateur sports that he even objected to the practice of scouting one’s opponent.
On the night of November 16, 1922, Orme and his friend Nelle McCune took an automobile ride in the
vicinity of 56th Street and Arlington Avenue, a remote expanse of shadowy fields traversed only by North
Arlington. While Nelle and Hence were parked and talking, two men with drawn revolvers approached
their car and ordered them out. Nelle exited on one side and Hence on the other. As Nelle gave the
robbers her diamond ring, she heard a shot and Hence groaned “Why did you shoot me?” The robber
said “You’re not shot,” but Hence fell to the ground. The robbers fled and Nelle ran to a nearby house
for help, but the house was dark.
Nelle returned to the scene, placed Hence in the car, and he started driving toward the city. At 46th and
Arlington he had become so weak from blood loss he could no longer operate the car. When he came to
a halt, a local attorney passing by stopped to help and took him to the hospital.
A call for blood was issued with many Rotarians responding. Nevertheless Hence died the following
afternoon.
In 1946 a local newspaper reporter reviewed the case, still unsolved. At the time of the murder the head
of the local Bar Association had asserted that the murder demonstrated the need for a county patrol
system. The local sheriff had no enforcement ability, and the crime occurred outside the city’s
jurisdiction. Public opinion crystallized, a sheriff’s patrol was started and this was the final impetus to
the establishment of an Indiana State Police, the only silver lining in Hence Orme’s death.