The Indiana attorney general was a Klan member and used the opportunity to bring a suit against the governor for embezzlement for which he was found not guilty.

He resigned from office after his conviction for mail fraud and served three years in federal prison before being paroled in 1927 and pardoned by President Herbert Hoover in 1930.

After completing high school in 1882 his father offered to send him to college, but the young McCray choose to instead remain working at the bank.

A devastating fire struck Kentland a few years later, and the county placed him in charge of overseeing several projects to rebuilding the town.

He gained a reputation for getting things done quickly and cost effectively, and ran for a seat on the town council the following year.

He traveled to Washington D.C. in 1901 to attend the inauguration of President William McKinley and came back convinced he should pursue politics.

The same year he was appointed by Governor Winfield T. Durbin as a trustee of the Northern Hospital for the Insane, serving as treasurer.

[7] McCray decided to run for governor in the 1916 Republican primary, but was defeated by the well connected former state party chairman, James P. Goodrich.

In 1922 he became Chairman of the Corn Belt Advisory Committee of the War Finance Corporation which sought government assistance for farmers.

McCray was also very involved with the Red Cross and led several fund raising drives to help the organization.

The charges proved ineffective, and McCray won the primary defeating his closest competitor by over 50,000 votes.

[8] McCray came to office and in his inaugural address he all but declared an end to the Progressive Era, stating that people demanded "a season of government economy and a period of legislative inaction and rest.

McCray began laying out plans for a grander state highway system to better accommodate the automobiles which were becoming commonplace.

Bank officials later claimed that they were coerced by the governor, who hinted that he would remove state deposits if they did not grant him the loans.

The Indiana attorney general brought McCray up on charges of embezzlement regarding the loan he took from the agricultural board.

While in prison, the Indiana Klan fell apart as their schemes were revealed by the Grand Dragon after he was convicted of the rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer.

When Republican party leaders informed U.S. President Herbert Hoover in 1930 of the Klan's role in McCray's conviction, he received a presidential pardon.