Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 25, Number 82, Decatur, Adams County, 6 April 1927 — Page 1

I Mostly ,onißh ‘- ! I cooler <• x ‘ r * " e S' “a portion.

DURBIN MAY KNOW FATE LATE TODAY

Chicago Elects Thompson Mayor By 83,000 Majority

■’BIB BILL" WINS BACK HIS POWER IN WINDY CIH Former Mayor Scores Smashing Victory Over Mayor Dever Tuesday “AMERICA FIRST” WINNER'S SLOGAN By Max Buckingham (V P. Staff Correspondent I Chicago. April 6.— (U. P.) William Half Thompson returned from political oblivion to become for the third time mayor of America’s second largest city. Under the slogan, “America first," Thompson and his republican co-workers descended upon Chicago's polls yesterday and came out with a smashing victory over Mayor William E. Dever, democratic candidate. Dr. John Dill Robertson. running as an Independent. a hopeless third. Thompson's return to a seat of power proved once again the uncertainty of political accord. Just four years ago he was an outcast from his party, a forlorn figure on the sidelines. His second administration had been so bitterly criticized that “Big Bill.” as he is familiarly known, did not even attempt the race for a third term. But while the democratic pofty under Mayor Dever was In power .for four years. Thompson rebuilt His fences, made new political alliances, won ba k the confidence of his old friends, and yesterday stampeded the polls for a plurality of 83.072 Complete returns gave: Thompson, 512,740. * Dever. 429.665. Robertson. 51,209. Wfryt ’• " ” " '■ ') ’ and most belli, ose in the city's history and brought out a record vote of 993.617. Despite this there were no major riots. Although there were spasmodic outbursts of bombing, machine gunning. and ballot tampering, the 5,000 Police mobilized for the occasion were able to control the situation. But if the election was without riot, the paens of victory sent up for ‘‘Big Bill'' last night were on the near riot stage. Ihrough the loop there was an outpouring of cheering thousands. Bands Played Merrymakers brought out every form of noise making instrument. Thompson's appearance in the joyous throng was an immediate' signal Mahouts of “Hurray Bill." “Big Bill uovriMKii on vage six* DATES SET FOR CLEAN-UP WEEK >* " eek Os May 2 Designated As Annual Clean-up Week In This City The city council has set the week of a > 2 as the dates for the annual f-ean-np campaign in Decatur. During at week,the city will be given a thorough renovating. The usual pi an w j|] ] )e f-n owe( ] j ur . elean-up week this year. All resip,'ts oi the city are requested t) haul a "ay thej r ashes and to place all tin atls and rubbish in boxer , cans or bars in the alleys where they can be p a . Sl <' up by men to htj employy .he city to haul them away to t ity during clean-up week, gatherthuke oua trip through every alley in f ( ty dming clean-up week, gath-’r-■ug up the rubbish. Reside.' s of the city ate requested the^ P<!r<Uf Wlth the clty oin ials i 1 m-up campaign by cleaning up lit i, r I ' reni,Bes an d placing the rub- , "heie ft can be obtained easily by the. truck drivers.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Vol. XXV. No. 82.

Bank Audit At Bluffton Is Still In Progress Bluffton. April 6.—The audit by batik examiners of the affairs of the Studebaker Bank was resumed this morning. No further official statement! has been Issued by the bank examiners and probably will not be made until the first meeting of the stockholders, for which a notice was given some days ago. Plans looking to the opening of a new bank also are proceeding, but no further official statement has been authorized in that connection. DAYLIGHT SAVING PROPOSAL KILLED City Council Votes Unanimously Against Adoption Os Fast Time Here The proposal for adoption of daylight saving time in Decatur this summer was killed by the city council in session last evening. The judiciary committee to whom had been referred the petition of factory employes for establishing daylight saving time in this city reported that the petition be not granted" and the council voted unanimously in fitter of the adoption of the report. In a referendum or straw vote conducted by the Daily Democrat two weeks ago, residents of this city voted 249 against the adoption of the plan and 70 for it. As the council did not meet for three weeks no official action was taken on proposed plan until last evening. Councilmen stated that, in their opinion, they thought it would inconvenience too many people to adopt the daylight saving plan. Offer to sell ground Harry Fritzinger, administrator of the estate of his father. E. E. Fritizinger. who was killed when an Erie - .. tenth street crossing, ottered Id sell the city 500 feet of ground on the east side of North Second street, including the old stone quarry, which in now being used for a city dump, for $3,500 Mr. Fritzinger suggested that, after the old quarry was filled, that the ground could be sold for building lots OV <»*< <' TUHF.I'| REVIVAL AT 11. R. CHURCH CLUSES Decatur Church Increases Membership During ThreeWeek Campaign Tho reviva’. services a*, the T’nited Brethren church closed last night. The services have been in progress for more than three weeks and the local pastor did the preaching. This was Rev. Smith’s tenth week In revival meeting preaching, including las', year's meeting, in the Decatur church. During the first two weeks of the services this year. Den McGrew, of' Gibson City. Illinois; directed thp music and proved n great help in the services. His wife was in the services and rendered valuable help the second week. The local church appreciated their services and gave them a liberal and substantial offering. They made many friends while here and many hope they will be secured to assist at another time. Rev. and Mrs. Myers, of Cra'gville. assisted in the music this past week and brought great help. Much credit is due to the local choir, which was faithful in attendance and interest and with the members of the local church deserve much credit for the success of the meetings. The pastor spoke words o' appreciaton to the many visitors who came and helped in the services and the church fully appreciated the liberal space and position given the reports of the meetings as published by the Daily Democrat. The local church is strengthened (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE)

ON L Y DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

COUNCIL ADOPTS PLANS FOR MORE STREET LIGHTS Steps Taken To Place Ornamental Lights Monroe And Winchester Streets • COUNCIL DISPOSES OF OTHER BUSINESS Specifications for the installation of ! the ornamental street lights on Monroe street, west from the river bridge to the Pennsylvania railroad tracks, and on Wincluster street from Adams street to the Nickel Plate tracks were filed by Engineer Orval Harruff with the city council last evening, and approved. The plans call for 49 light posts on Monroe street and 26 on Winchester street. Bids for the furnishing of the posts will be received by the council on Tuesday. May 3. Contract for Sidewalk. Millard Baumgartner was awarded r the construct for constructing cement sidewalks and curb along Russell . street. He wan the low bidder and the improvement will be made this spring. Other Council Matters The petition of Harry Staley to cut the curb on Second street for a double driveway to the filling station which he is erecting at the corner of Second and Marshall sterets was referred to the street and sewer committee with power to act. Engineer Orval Harruff reported the completion of the Acker sewer improvement. The report was approved and the preliminary assessment roll adopted. Tuesday, May 3. was set as the date on which objections would be heard thereon. A resolution approving the electric light committees action in filing a petition with the Indiana Public service commission asking ’bat . the coni-. mCTc'l'al I’fgh’ rate in Decatur be I)--* iiii'< .1 onemanper k. . Tub".. . ed by the council. The city has asked that the net rate be reduced to 7%c per K.W.H., providing bills are paid by the twentieth of month, and that the gross rate be Stfcc per K.W.H. The council also petitioned that a new rate be established for cooking purposes, the proposed rate being 4 cents for the first 100 K.W.H. and 2% cents per K.W.H. for aU over that amount. Many people in Decatur have signified a willingness to install electric stoves, and the city deemed it advisable to reduce the rate and encourage the use of electricity for cooking purposes. The new rates will become effective May 1. of this year. The finance committee allowed bills and an executive session followed. MONROE WOMAN EXPIRES TODAY Mrs. .John McKean Dies Os Heart Trouble This Afternoon; 111 Two Years Mrs. John McKean. 57, died of heart trouble at 12:30 o'clock this afternoon, at her home, one mile west of Monroe. Mrs. McKean had been in ill health for the last two years. Mrs. McKean was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Brandyberry and was born in Adams county. February 7, 1870. She had spent her entire life in this county. Surviving are the husband and the following children: Harve McKean and Mrs. Mary Klopfenstine, of Bluffton: Mrs. Francis Lohsiger, of Decatur; Mrs. Margaret. Ross, of Monroe, and Mary, Alice and Harriett, at home. One rlstor and four brothers survive, also. They are Mrs. Phil Heffner, of Monroe; Millard and Enos Brandyberry, of Kansas: Amos and Dennis Brandyberry, of Monroe. Two sisters are deceased. Funeral arrangements have not been completed.

Decatur. Indiana, Wednesday. April 6, 1927.

i Blackford County Superintendent Resigns W. E. lArsley, who luis been super |intendent of the Blackford county I schools for the last six years, has resigned ami his resignation has been accepted by the county board of education. The resignation becomes effective August 1. Mr. Pursely resigned on account of the low salary paid to superintendents. The present salary is $1,742 and on August 1 it will go to SI,BOO, the minimum provided by law. BOY SCOUT DRIVE MEETS SUCCESS Solicitors Meet Ready Response; Goal Likely To Be Reached Soon Fine success was being met <N>day by the various teams that were making the drive for S9OO with which to i put across the Boy Scout area coun- ’ cil plan in Adams county, according |to several reports made at noon to- ' day. The solicitors met a ready reI sponse at practically every stop, it is thought the goal can be reached without much difficulty. Clubs, societies and lodges are responding. to the call, it was announced today. Three of these organizations contributed to the Scout fund at their meetings last night. The Inions' club gave $25, the Tri Kappa sorority gave $5 and the Psi lota Xi sorority gave $5. o Fences Must Be Moved Along Monroe Road Soon The contract for the construction of the five miles between tills city and Monroe on state and federal highway No. 27 was let yesterday and the work will start immediately it is announced This means, of course, that the fences will have Io be moved as soon as convw *•*»►'... C ilistt':'' PWj’erlJ' “ ’"' ,l . Jl! 1 this morning said the stakes were being set now on the right of way ami that it would be appreciated if thos’ who can would move their fences at once. Several farmers along the route have mentioned the fact that they would like to do this now when work is slack and have it over with. NAMES ENTRANTS IN H. S. CONTESTS County Superintendent Announces Urogram And Entry List Today The complete program and list of entries for vocal musical numbers of the annual Adams county high school literary and music contests, to be hold in the Community Auditorium at Berne, Friday night of this week, was announced today by Clifton 9‘riker. county superintendent of schools. The fnstrumental musical numbers and the literary contests will be held at Berne Saturday night. ' The contests will start at 7 o'clock. , Following is the program and names of contestants: Bovs' Glee Club 1 “Till We Meet Again" Penn 1, Berne , 2. Decatur. Girl’s Solo "Gvnsv bovo Song" Herbert Pleasant Mi’ls. Onal Sherburne: Decatur. Isabel Cloud: Berne, Inez Lnginbill: Kirkland. Ductile Hen- , •chen: Genova. Ludella Lehman: Monmou'h. C”therine Weidler. Bov's So'o ■ “When Song is Sweet” Sans-Souci Genova. Lowell T-ong; Berne. Leslie Lehman' Kirkland. John CoverP| P o S ,ant Mills. Brice Daniels' Hart- ' ford, N n rman Zimmerman; Decatur. ! James Engler Girls’ Duet ■ “Amarvllls” Ghv’ Decatur —Bernadine Schraluka and Jennette Beery. 1 Geneva—Eleanor Mathieu and Flos- • sle Fenstermaker Monmouth — Della Boorger and Adela Berning. * (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE)

FIFTEEN KILLED BY EXPLOSION IN AN OIL REFINERY Mysterious B’- s t Rocks Countryside At Parco, Wyo.; Fire Follows 23 MEN HURLED INTO AIR BY THE EXPLOSION Paco Wyo.. Apiil 6.—(United Press) —Fifteen charred bodies lay in an improvised morgue, at the producer.) and refiners coiporation plant here today, the death toll of an explosion which rocked tic countryside at 5:15 A M. Eight other woikmen are being treated for serious burns sustained in the blast. Two of them may die, phy sicians said. The 23 men. the “Graveyard shift" were working in front of two oil pro cess storage tanks when one myster iously exploded hurling oil in all directions. As details of the tragedy became known it was learned two high pressure stills exploded, igniting two oi; I process storage tanks, one of 1,000 bar-, rels and the other of 7.500 barrel capacity. Several persons were thrown out of bed by the force of the blast and went screaming from their houses tn scant attire. The entire electric lighting system was paralyzed. Twenty-three men working in the distillery were hurled in the air and the bodies crashed against a brick wall to the rear. Workmen 200 feet away from the scene of the explosion were injured Authorities gave three probable caused for the blast; Pressure in the tanks being too high or too low, or water flooded tanks. Italian’s W orld Flight Ended: Plane Destroyed r‘ ■ » _ TJ»«.. Roosevelt Lake. Arizona, April G.— (United Press) —The word flight of Commander Francisco De Pinedo, conqueror, of the uncharted air lanes, came to a halt here today when fire destroyed h:s twin motor monoplane No one was injured. De Pinedo was talking to newspaper men on the shore when a sudden blast was heard on the lake at the landing boux and the big ship was instantly a. mass cf flames. Mechanics who had been adjusting the motor in preparation for the next leg of the flight leaped overboard nd swam to safety while the plane burned furiously. TO MAKE PLANS FOR NEW PARK Committees To Meet Tonitrht To Discuss Plans For Assisting Council Plans for assisting the city council in converting the abandoned cemetery on Winchester street into a memorial park this summer will be discussed at a joint met ting of the committee.) from the American Legion, Industrial Association and city council, to be held in the industrial Association rooms, at 7:30 o'clqek The Industrial Association committee consistes of W. A. Klepper, S. E. Hite. Oscar Lankenau, A. 11. Ash--baucher and Harold Niblick. The city council has a limited apurposes this year and has planned to mount of money available for pa.-k use that money in completing improvements at the city water works park and starting the work of converting the old cemetery into a park, but the fund is too small to permit completion of the work on the new pa'lt this year. The American Legion recently brought forth the ide aof assisting the council in the work so that the park can be completed this summer.

Harry Sinclair To Be Sentenced Monday Washington, April 6. — (UP.) —Sentence is to be passed next Monday on Harry F. Sinclair, multi-millionaire oil producer convicted of contempt of the | U. S. senate. District Supreme Court Justice Hitz decided yesterday Sinclair was guilty of only one offense in refusing to answer four questions put to him by the senate oil lease investigating committee. The minimum sentence mandatory under the law is one month in the Distiict of Columbia jail. MOOSE LODGE NAMES OFFICERS Jesse Roop Elected Dictator At Annual Election Held Last Night Jesse B. Roop was elected dictator of the Decatur lodge. Loyal Order of Moose, at the annual election held at the lodge home on Third street last night. The other officers chosen were: I John Kiess, vice-dictator; 1). Dierkes, i prelate; Charles Heare, secretary; Jack Tester, treasurer; Charles Helm, trustee. Mat Breiner. retiring dictator, was elected delegate to the national convention of the lodge. Adam Schafer was named alternate delegate. The local lodge is enjoying a steady growth and is one of the active organizations in the city. o Radio Commission To Issue Temporary Licenses Washington, April G. — (U P.) — Temporary licenses for operating broadcasting stations will he issued by the federal radio commission when the 60-day extension of licenses by the commerce department expires at midnight April 24. it was announced * .1 The temporary will hold I until the commisjon takes final action on applications for licenses. FIFTH LENTEN SERMON GIVEN Rev. Girardot, Os Bluffton, Continues Series Os Sermons In This City Continuing his series of Lenten sermons, the Rev. Charles Girardot, of Bluffton, delivered his fifth sermon at St Mary's Catholic church, in this city, last evening. Rev. Girardot spoke on "The Impenitent Sinner on the Threshold of Eternity,” and said in part; “One of the very first things which we learned in the catechism was that God made us to know Him. love Him. and serve Him in this world, that we might be happy with Him forever in the next. “With him that feareth he Lord,” says the Book of Wisdom, "it shall go well in the latter end. and in the day of his death he shall be blessed." But how will the sinner fare who never gave thought to eternity. to whom “the worship of God was an abomination?” What will he do at that last moment when he stands between time and eternity? What *will all his worldly affairs and successes avail him when he has ■ failed to attend to the salvation of his soul? What assistance will he der've from the sinful deeds In • which he sought pleasure? > “St. John records in the Book of ; the Anocnlvpse that he heard a loud . voice in Heaven saying: "Woe to the , earth and to the sea. because the . devil is come down unto you. having r ereat wrn'h. knowing that he hath . but a short time.” Sinners like to . persuade thomselvvs that they are safe from death at least for a long ~ ‘rme to come. They avoid all thought t es death. “The devil, who during their lifetime exerted his flattery to | (roNTiNtnwn on pagh twoi

Price Two Cents,

DEFENSE SCORES POINTSINTRIAL AT LANSING, MICH. Trial Os F ormer Adams County Man On Murder Charge, Nearing Close DEFENDANT DENIES HE FIRED FATAL SHOT Lansing, April 6. — ( U. P.) — The ease of Harold Durbin, charged with the murder of Mrs. Mildred McQueen on January 24, was expected to go to the jury in circuit court here late today. Testimony brought out by the defense in cross-examination thus far included the fact that there were two cars in the block the night the McQueen woman was shot and also that the wound which Durbin supposedly inflicted upon himself was clean and left no powder marks. In establishing that the wound was clean, counsel for Durbin attempted to show that a bullet fired at close range would probably have shattered the brain. Following are excerpts from tho story of the trial that appeared in the lensing State Journal. Tuesday: “That the defense of Harold Durbin, 28. whose trial on a charge of murdering Mrs. Mildred McQueen. 22 pretty divorcee, and his former sweetheart opened before Judge Leland W. Carr of circuit court Tuesday, would contest the claim of the prosecution that Durbin shot the woman, was indicated by William Brown, local attorney who was appointed by the court to represent the respondent. George Ray, who was said to hav.i followed Durbin in Mrs. McQueen's affections, and the first witness for the prosecution, struck the opening blow at the defense in his testimony regarding the events following the shooting of the woman the morning of Jan. 24. while she was silting in an lof 11|.‘ Io ■■ ■"? T. 'j d!>. .' i: I rr >' a’ey, 825 S. Sycamore street. Mrs. McQueen was the mother of two children Rav Heard Shots Ray told the jury that he heard three shots while waiting for Mrs. McQueen to return from the automobile and on investigation later found Mrs. McQueen in the car apparently asleen and Durbin with his head in her lap. Durbin told him. Ray testified that he had been trying for two hours to awaken the woman without success. It was then that Mrs Prowdlev vas summoned and the body of tho woman was removed to the house. “Mrs. McQueen had been making her home at the I rowley residence for about a year and a half, it was brought (CONTINI ED ON PAGE THREE) O WAGASH CITIZEN ADDRESSES LIONS Thomas Chrisman Sneaks To Chih On “Boosting The Home Town" Thomas Chrisman, of Wabash, was the speaker at the weekly meeting of the Decatur Lions club, held last night at the Decatur Industrial rooms. Mr. Chrisman spoke on “Trading and Boosting the Home Town.” The speaker stressed the importance of home trading and he also showed that it was useless to have a large fund to secure factories for a town unless the employees kept the money ■ in the home town. The talk was greatly enjoyed by all present- , o Louis Edward Wagoner Dies At Continental, Ohio i ’ Louis Edward Wagoner, 53, son of ‘ John W'agoner. of North First street ' Decatur, died suddenly at his home in 1 Continental. Ohio, Monday evening. ? He is survived by a widow and four ’ children. His father is seriously ill at his home in this city. •

CLEAN UP AND PAINT UP