Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 24, Number 102, Decatur, Adams County, 29 April 1926 — Page 1

Vol. XXIV. Number 102.

BEER GANG THREATENS ROBERT CROWE

BERNE STORE ROBBED: LOOT WORTHSI.OBO Sprunger, Lehman And Company’s Store Looted Os Valuable Merchandise LOOT CONSISTS OF GENTS’ FURNISHINGS Berne. Aprtl 2#.—(Special to Daily Democrat)—Merchandise valued at apprcxiniately SI,OOO was stolen from th. Sprunger, Lehman and company ,| ry goods and g( nts’ furnishing store here. Tuesday night. The robbers gained an entrance to the store through a furnace room window in he northwest corner of the building. The robbers f rst tried to enter through a rear door. A glass had been cut from the door with n glass cutter. After entering the basement, they found the door leading to the store room locked, so they cut a hole though the door and unlocked the door from the inside. Take Best Merchandise The thieves helped themselves to the best merchandise in the store, taking twenty-nine suits and overcoats. The empty coat hangers were strewn over the floor. The shoe department was visited, also, and many pairs of high priced shoes were stolen. Other merchandise missed by the proprietors yesterday were ties, sweaters and travelling bags. . Merchandise tn the women's department of the store was not molested. A few dollars in change was not removed from the cash register. The robbery was discovered yesI, relay morning by Dale Ellenberger. (CO.XTINI KI) OX PAGE THREE) Epworth League To Give Gospel Storv In Music The Epworth League of the Methodist ehutch will present the gospel story in music, Sunday evening, al 6 o'clock. Mrs. Harve Baker will be the leader. The program will be published later. o YOUNG PEOPLE TO HOLD MEETING Young People Os Decatur Presbyterian Church To Go To Elkhart Several Decatur young people will go to Elkhart tomorrow afternoon to attend the annual young peoples’ meeting of the Fort Wayne Presbytery of the Presbyterian church, being held in that city Friday and Saturday. Several Decatur young people are on the ptogram. Eleven members of the Christian Endeavor of Upj local church will present a pageant, “The Church Vietoriius Through Ixive.” The pageant was g'ven at the local church several weeks ago and was said to be one of the best ever presented here. The Decatur Christian Endeavor also will have a debate with the Columbia City Christian Endeavor team. Miss Mary Cathaiine Schug, Margaret Haley and Robert Frisolnger will compose the local team. The question is "Resolved That We Should Pity Our Grandchildren." The winner of the debate will represente the Fort Wayne Presbytery in the state contest. The Decatur delegation will leave here tomorrow afternoon, and will attend the banquet tomorrow night. They will return to this city Saturday evening. The Rev. and Mrs. 11. N. Covert will accompany the Decatur young people. Evansville To Have New 12-Story Office Building Evansville, Ind., April 29.—(United Press.)—Construction work will start May 1 on a 12-story office building at Fourth and Vine streets. The structure will cost $600,000 and will be the tallest building in the city.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Missing I 1 'lb f-Ji v: 1 ! j*® i a Jr ■ K : I l -i' 7 a i The disappearance of Capt. George H. Wilkins, Polar explorer, while enroute by airplane , from Fairbanks, Alaska to Point Barrow, from whichjre hoped to fly to the Pole, is worrying . members of his expedition. Searching parties have been or- • ganized. WARM WEATHER RETURNS TODAY Sunshine Sends Temperature Up Rapidly; Warmer Weather Friday Indianapolis, Ind., April 29 —(United Press) —Warm sunshine and rapidly rising temperature today brolight spring weather back to Indiana. The temperature in Indianapolis rose II degrees to the mark of 50 in Iwo hours early this morning. Warmer weather was predicted for Friday. Frost was heavy during the night at Lafayette and Vincennes and light at Terre Haute. Cloudy weather prevented frost in the central part of the state. o Searching For Bodies Os Drowned Game Wardens Terre Haute, Ind.. April 29—(United Presa) —Search for the bodies of William Nattkemper and William J. Peare game wardens, who drowned in the Wabash river Monday when their motor boat capsized near Tecumseh, continued today. Sheriff's deputies were reinforced by several friends, of Peaie's from Rockville and experienced river men. Peare was a former sheriff of Parke county. It is feared, the bodies had been swept far south by the strong current. o Farmer Hangs Self To Tree Near Bryant Bryant. Ind., April 29—Ambrose Longnecker, a farmer residing near here, was found hanging to a tree in a woods near his home. It is thought that despondency over ill health was the cause for the suicide. The widow and seven children survive. — o , Poe Quartet To Sing At Embalmers’ Meeting The Poe quartet, noted for its musical ability for many years, will sing several selections at the opening of the convention of the Eighth District Embalmers Association, in the Pythian Home here Friday. The quartet will sing at the commencement exercises at the Ossian high school Friday night, also. —■ o — Know Your Own State INDIANA has 247 national banks; 851 state banks, which include private banks and trust companies, with resources reaching beyond the billion dollar mark.

FRANCE’S REPLY EXPECTED TO BE RECEIVED TODAY Nation’s Answer To U. S. Demand For Better Debt Terms Expected FRENCH AMBASSADOR REMAINS SILENT Washington, April 29—(United Press.) —The American debt funding commission today announced an agreement for the settlement of France’s war debt by payment of a total of $6,847,900,000 over a long term. Washington. April 29 — (United Press)—A meeting of the American I debt funding commission was called for 2:30 p.m. today presumably to receive French Ambassador Henri! Berenger's reply to the United States’ demand for better terms to settle the French $4,377,000,000 war debt. Officials at the treasury department said they did not know whether Berenger would attend the conference. At the French embassy it was stated that the ambassador had not yet reeived instiuctious from his gove-n---met how to proceed with the negotiations. Washington, April 29—Negotiations for settling Fiance's $4,377,000,000 war debt are progressing ‘"as well as can be expected," and it is the hope of the American debt funding commission that an agreement be reachicostih ed on page five> Date Set For Clean-up Connersville. Ind., April 29. —(United Press.)—Mayor Carter designated the week of May 3 as clean up week and called on all citizens to aid in the campaign. GIRLS' CLUBS BEING FORMED Sewing Clubs Being Organized Among Adams County Farm Girls Sewing clubs for . girls between the ages of ten and eighteen years are being organized in Adams county as a part of the extensive program of club work, being conducted this year. Thus far, the organization of the girls for this work has been carried on through the township Home Economies Clubs. Rom township girls have completed (heir organization, while plans are under way to organize the St. Marys, Union and Kirkland township girls. In order to organize one of the tewing clubs at least five girls must enroll in the work. There are no restrictions as to the number who may take part. Each club will have at least two adult leaders who will meet with the girls and assist them in carrying out the schedule of w*ork as outlined bp the club department at Purdue. Each club elects its officers who will be in general charge of the work during the year. Miss Neva Stephenson, of the club departmet of Purdue, will conduct a meeting at the library in Decatur, to be held Wednesday, May 12. Leaders, girls who wish to take the work and their mothers, will attend the meeting and assist in determining the kind of work desired. The business men of Adams county who are this year financing the club work program have appropriated an amount to be used as premiums in the girls work. The exact amount can not be stated at this time since it is not known exactly how many girls will participate. Girls in any township or community who wish to organize a sewing chib should inquire of the County Agent for details of the work. It is not restricted to any particular part of the county and it is desired that each township be represented.

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, April 21), 1926.

Bandit (Jets 75-Year Sentence Within 12 Hours After Capture Cedar Rapids, lowa. April 29 (United Press) Twelve hours after he had been captured in a holdup in which his two accomplices were murdered, Thomas Gahan admitted 12 holdups and was sentenced to 75 in the prison today. lie will be taken to prison tonight — 24 hours after the holdup—to start serving his sentence. Ganah's pals. Louis Burns, ami Floyd Ralston, were killed when the trio was trapped by a police squad on a lonely road near the city. ——-—o SOUTHSIDE PUPILS STRIKE High School Pupils In Fort Wayne Protest Dismissal Os Grid Coach — 1 Fort Wayne, April 29. — (United Press.)—The pupils of South Side high school refused to go to school loday and formed a parade early this moi Ding. They marched through the streets to the city hall, where a committee of five interviewed the mayor in regard to recent action of the school board in ousting Lundy Welborn, popular South Side high school football mentor. The mayor promised an early meeting of the school board and told the students if they would go back to school the board would reconsider its action. Th? pupils returned to their studies this afternoon. The pupils and friends of Welborn claim that his dismissal was due to the personal dislike of one member of the school board for Coach Welborn and not to any incompetency. The trouble is said to have grown out of the action of Coach Welborn in withholding a certain athlete from the football game between South Side and Central last fall, because the player had disregarded all training rules and had not shown up for practice before the game. The player in question is being put through school by the member of the school board who brought about Welborn's dismissal. Sunday Blue Laws Are Likely In Monticello Monticello, Ind., April 29 — (United Press)—The good citizens league today pushed a campaign for observance of Sunday blue laws. R. A. Shobe, theater manager, was charged with violating the law because he ran a movie show on Sunday and was ordered to appear in court today. o Four Members Os Family Killed Bv Pennsy Train Felton, N. J., April 29. — (United Press.) —Four members of the family of William D. Friedel were dead today afte rtheir small car had been splintered by a Pennsylvania railroad passenger train near here. - o South Bend Young Man Held For Drunken Driving Cambridge, Mass., April 29—(United Press)—Norman H Feltes of South Bend. Ind., Harvard student, was under S3OO bond here today for his appearance in Middlesex superior court on a charge of operating an automobile while under the influence of liquor. Feltes has appealed from a month’s jail sentence imposed by Judge Arthur H. Stone of district court, o Injuries Sustained When Blown To Street Pavement Cause Death Indianapolis, Ind., April 29—(United Pres®), —Edwin Burkett, 89, died today from injuries received a week ago when he was blown to the pavement I by a strong wind. Weather Fair in south and somewhat unsettled in north portion tonight and Friday. Warmer tonight and in extreme south portion Friday.

QUESTIONS RIGHT TO SUBMIT THREE FARM MEASURES Action of Agricultural Committee Is Challenged In House Today TINCHER BILL IS ATTACKED TODAY! Washington, April 29. • (United Press.) The right of the agriculture I committee to report simultaneously three farm bills bearing on the same subject and seeking the same end was challenged in (lie house today by Representative Cannon, democrat, Missouri. Rising to a question of privilege, Cannon presented a resolution providing for an investigation to determine the validity of the recent action by the agriculture committee. The committee has reported three widely divergent plans for farm relief. The Tinher farm relief bill is inadequate as compared with the Haugen farm relief bill, Chester Gray and Russell Bower, of the American farm federation bureau, told President Coolidge today. Washington. April 29 —A vote will be forced in congress on the corn belt’s own farm relief bill, it was disclosed today when the skillful maneuvering of the farm bloc came to light. It was discovered that the all important $250,000,000 surplus disposal measure drawn by the lowa committee of 48 had been tacked on to the inoffensive adin'inlsMaTion's <|>-i>p|rative ip'-vlr-i Iti 1 ' measure as an amendment by the senate agriculture committee. This gives the farm bloc members a parliamentary advantage which has made them jubilant over pros(CONTINUED OS PAGE FIVE! WORK OF PUPILS TO BE MEASURED Indiana’s Child Accounting System To Be Completed Soon Indianapolis, Ind., April 29 —(United Press) —Indiana’s child accounting system, the most thorough of its kind in the country, is nearing completion after five years of tireless work on the part of members of the state department of public instruction. The system, containing statistics on the educational progress of school age in Indiana, will go far toward putting Indiana schools near the top in the educational world, according to Miss Blanche Merry. Miss Merry, as state attendance officer, has had direct charge of installing the new system of tabulating educational strides of individual students. The names of 660.000 Indiana children between the ages of five and twenty-one are Included in the statistics of the system which is affording the state board actual figures on what is being accomplished in the schools of Indiana. The figures which this newtsystem is producing will mean a profit in dollars and cents to the taxpayers of Indiana, Miss Merry believes. The statistics will bring to light any serious cases of retardation and, (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) o Anderson Police Are Sued For $20,000 Damages Anderson, Ind.. April 29 —(United Press) —A suit for $20,000 damages was on file today In the Madison county circuit court against the anderson police department. The suit was brought by attorneys for Richard Downward, factory foreman, as the outcome of a search for liquor at the Downward home. No liquor was found and Downward claims he has been an abstainer for twenty years.

Wins Primary iSST”’””" L fv /Am | I * ** * COL FKfATTK 1. Colonel Frank L. Smith, opponent of (he World Court, is reported to have won the Republican primary nomination lor United States Senator in Illinois from Senator William B. McKinley, by a large ma jori ty. clintongM DIES WEDNESDAY Pioneer Os Adams County Dies At Home Here At Age Os 72 Years Clinton Grim. 72. pioneer resident of Adams county. dictf-nt hltr hrwie tin Fifteenth street. Decatur, at 2:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Death was dtle to kidney trouble. Mr. Grim had been ill for about a year. Clinton Grim was born on a farm mar Decatur. He farmed for many years, but retired several years ago. He is survived by bis widow; two sons. Lase Grim, and Francis Grim, both of Decatur; two step-daughters, Mis. Grace Tricker, of Decatur, and Mrs. Beatrice Wihle, of Bluffton; one step-son. Harry Coffelt, of Decatur: one sister, Mrs. Wash Pyle, of Deca tur: two brothers, Girod Grint, of Williams, and Owen Grim, whose address is unknown. > Funeral services will be held from the United Brethren church in this city at 1 o’clock Friday afternoon, the Rev. Mr. Elzey, of Ossian officiating. Burial will be made in the Decatur cemetery. o Bridge Goes Down On Highway Near Bluffton Bluffton, April 29 —The Hoosier highway was closed at a point near the GUtnsil gardens, south of the city, Tuesday night when a heavy truck broke a bridge over a small creek. The bridge had been in a weakened conditions for several days, and warnings were issued to truck drivers. The bridge gave way just as the truck crossed in safety, and it is said the truck did not stop. Highway Commissioner Hide could give no definite information as to when repairs would he completed. O r Capt, William English, State Senator, Is 111 Indianapolis, Ind., April 29. —(United Press.) —Capt. William W. English, republican, politician, is critically ill today following an attack of influenza. Captain English is a republican state senator and author of several proposed amendments to the state constitution which will be voted upon in the November election. o Police Searching For Young Woman Bandit Indianapolis, Ind., April 29 —(United Press) —Police today were hunting for a young woman bandit who aided a male companion In robbing E. M. Martie. 25. Martie was slugged and left unconscious tn the rear seat of his auto after a small amount of money had been taken from his pockets.

Price Two Cents.

NOTED ATTORNEY | RECEIVES LETTER FROM GANGSTERS ! States Attorney Crowe, Who Is Probing Machine Gun Rule, Is Warned NOTE TURNED OVER TO POSTAL AUTHORITIES Chicago. April 29. (United Press) Stales Attorney Robert E. Crowe, who is vigorously pushing investigation into the machine gun rule of the Chicago beer gangs, today was warned by an anonymous letter that he would be the next victim of the gang’s guns. “You will he the next to go because we are going to get your scalp,” the letter warned. It was written April 28 and was mailed from a Chicago postoffice district. It was turned over to postal authorities for investigation. The letter apparently was mailed Shortly after the murders of Assistant Attorney William MeSwiggin and two boor runners; Jimmy Dohpr|ty and Tom Duffey, late Tuesday. A'.l three were killed by machine gun marksmen. Chicago, April 29.—A grim death I foil of 92 lives as result of the "machine gun rule” of the beer industry. today confronted police as they sought a solution to the assaslnation of a popular assistant state’s attorney and two notorious beer runners. Twuntp-five of the victims have fallen in four months of this year. 1 With these figures staring at them 1 500 law officers today prepared (o answer the challenge of the underworld. which was given when a roaring machine gun rained death labeled bullets on “Death Demanding” William MeSwiggin. Jimmy Doherty and Tom Duffy Tuesday night. The answer to the underworld chai(CONTINI ED ON PAGE FIVE: O YOUNG GIRL IS HELD HOSTAGE Parents Os 12-Year-Old Girl Asked For S6OO For Her Release Charleston, W. Va.. April 29 —(United Press) —Armed deputies today prepared to penetrate the mountain fastness of Summers county to take, hy force, if necessary, a 12 year-old girl, whose mother. Mrs. Mary Burrell, asserts she is being held as hostage for n S6OO debt. The little girl, Edna Smith Burrell, has been living with her mountaineer guardian—a mother and four sons in a rustic mountain cabin for three years and it was not until her mother sought to recover her that she discovered the child was being he'd in virtual captivity. o . Two Girls Hurt When Struck Bv Automobile Indianapolis, Ind., April 29 —(United Press) —Two girls, Hazel Ringo, 15, and Mary Gibbons, 15, were seriously injured last night when they steped in front of an automobile and were run down. The driver of the car was not held. o . Standard Oil Company Is Sued For SIOO,OOO Indianapolis, Ind., April 29 —(United Press)—A suit tor $190,000 damages was filed in circuit court here today, against the Stanrard Oil Company of Indiana, by Lyman Chakley, a former • chemist in th" company’s laboratories - at Whiting. Ind. > Chakley alleges the company vio- ; lated a state law requiring employers to provide masks to protect workers .- from gases. While mnk'ng experia ments in the manufacture of gasoline I his health was permanently injured became he had no mask, he said.