Indiana?!

That's why they call it Indian-a? Didn't you know that if you went west of NYC all was (cultural) wilderness? :) Cole Porter and everyone else who left their Midwestern small towns for the bright lights and sophistication in that era could testify to that. Of course in NYC it was the ticket sellers who might scalp you.

By the 30s it was gangsters that people were warned about. My father knew an Ohio woman who got off the train in Chicago for the Century of Progress Exposition in 1933, heard gunshots, got back on and never went there again. Similar to the Indians thing. :)

If you went west, you had to be prepared for anything. That was particularly true for people who went to California and worked in the movie industry! :) The unwary had his or her throat cut or was stabbed in the back, or both at the same time.