Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 34, Number 156, Decatur, Adams County, 1 July 1936 — Page 1

Vol. XXXIV. No. 156.

BUSINESS WILL i BE SUSPENDED HERE SATURDAY Stores Os City To Observe Holiday; Legion Conference Here _____ Business generally will be sus I L pended in Decatur Saturday, July j I 4 Practically all retail establish i raents will close for the entire ’ day. Exceptions will be restaur ants, theaters, eigar stores, con tectioneries and garages. Business houses are expected to remain open until 9 p. in. or later I Friday evening to accomodate per i sons shopping for the double hoi: ! day. The same hours will be observ-1 I ed as on the double holiday for , Memorial Day Meat markets will Ihe open until 9 o'clock Saturday : morning. | The post office. First State Bank and all county and city offices will dose all day. There will be no t city nor rural mall deliveries, with Mie exception of special delivery. The annual fourth district conference of the American Legiop will feature public observance of: Indpendence Day Saturday. Thia conference annually brings , hundreds of strangers to Decatur and with a splendid program being arranged by Adarns post, this year should prove no exception. The' observance will open with a band concert late in the morn- ■ ing. The usual elaborate parade,, with bands and drum corps par-j ticipating, will be held early in the ' afternoon, followed by a brief • speaking program and the Amer- i iean Legion's Fourth of July ritualistic ceremonies. A spectacular tireworks display will be the public feature of the Legion celebration. This display' will be held at Niblick field, east of Decatur and will be started at 8:30 p. m. The pyrotechnic dis-! play will be of at least 45 minutes'l (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) LABOR-CAPITAL WAS TO EXTEND Labor Heads May Extend Efforts To Other Industries Washington. July 1 — (UP) — While federal officials admitted helplessness to avert “serious trouble" iu the steel imhistry, labor leaders today discussed spread of an organization drive to lhe rubber and textile industries. Dabor organizers pushing int i steel mill towns in half a dozen statee reported hostilities already Had begun with dismissal by steel ■ companies of employes suspected of i giving aid to committee of industrial organization agents. They accuse mill owners of initiating a campaign of guerilla wartare- Despite labor leadeis’ avowal of an Intended "bloodless" drive to organize the nation's 500,000 steel workers, they said they were “ready for whatever comes.” Department of labor officials frankly regard the situation as serious. They said reports from field workers of the department indicated the steel industry may become the battleground of one of the most stubborn labor-employer wars in many years. Edward F. McGrady, assistant secretary of labor. Is devoting almost his entire attention to situation. Daily reports from scores of lite assistants are placed on his desk. lAtbor department officials, admitting their hands have been tied by the open declarations of war by , labor and steel leaders, hopes to (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE» Distribute Food , Friday This Week J. M. Doan, Washington township trustee, announced today that food supplies to township families on relief will be distributed at his headquarters on Madison street Friday of this week, instea dos Saturday with the holiday falling on Saturday this week. io Special Meeting Os Red Men Tonight < The Improved Order of Red 1 Men will hold a special meeting 1 in the lodge hall tonighit at 7:30 * o'clock. All members are urged : * Io attend. Photographs of mem-. < ers in full costume dress will be , ’

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

* AERIAL VIEW* FEATURE * CENTENNIAL EDITION Aerial views, picturing Deca- 11 j tur as it looks from a mile j! | above the earth, will feature 11 I the Centennial Edition of the | , 11 Decatur Daily Democrat, to be j | ' I published July 27. The birds- i I eye illustrations are but one j1 I group of the many pictures |' j | that will portray in contrast- | • Ing scenes the Decatur of yes |' terday and the Decatur of to ,' ■ | day. Various feature articles j I j will reflect the life of the com- | i munity during the past one j | hundred years industrially, | commercially, and socially as i . | will the advertisements carried j , by the representative industries, | | professions and business hous- j | es. Both advertisements and | j news copy for the Centennial ] | Edition should reach the Demo- | | crat office as early as possible | | as it is necessary to print it | II in advance of the date of pub- i I j lication. Much material for the , | j unique edition is already in i I |] TO CENTENNIAL Invitations To Former Residents Are Being Mailed Today Members of the invitations committee today began addressing the first of the invitations to former residents requesting their presence in the city during the Decatur Ceni tennlal celebration from August 2 ! to 8. Mrs. R. D. Myers is chairman of !1 i the committee. Those who are as- ’ slating her are: Mrs. D. Lewton ! Mrs. H. B. Heller, Mrs. A. D. Suttles, Mrs. Earl Adams. Mrs. M. F. Worthman. Mrs. J. H. Schug, Mrs. Car! C. Pumphrey and Eleanor Pumphrey. More than 2,091) Invitations will} be mailed to the "Hoine-Towners.” An invitation will bJ sent to Dondon. one to Hawaii, one to South ’ America, and several to Canada, in ! addition to the hundreds to be mailj ed in the United States. The ladies are meeting in the city hall building to address the envel- ■ opes, and will send the letters by I first class mail. A four page invitation will be sent A personal letter of invitation is on the first page. The second and third pages are filled with (pictures of industries, historic scenes and other photo-; graphs of interest in Decatur and ■> Adams county. [, On the back page is a list of the . committees which are making plans to entertain the thousands of visitors expected for Decatur's 100th i birthday party. i The names of the former resid-! ents have been submitted by their < friends In Decatur, and others inter- < ested in the Centennial celebration ‘: o ] WEATHER I Local thundershowers to- l night or Thursday; some- < what warmer north tonight; cooler extreme northwest i Thursday. i SET RULES FOR i HORSE PULLING: Horse Fulling Contests t Last Two Days Os Centennial 1 1 Regulations for the horse, pulling £ con Leets, one of the feature events of the Decatur Centennial celebra- i tion from August 2 to 8, were set J up at a meeting of the committee Tuesday night. H. P. Schmitt, chairman, announced today. There will 'be two classes with prizes of S4O for first place, $25 for * second place, sls tor third place; c $lO for fourth place; $5 for fifth ■ ’ place and $5 for sixth place in each 1 class. The light teaems will pull Fri- * day. August 7 at 9 a. in. and the c heavy teams Saturday, August 8, at 9 a. m. ( This year only farm teams from Adams county will be eligible to enter. This will prevent teams trained for years, such as logging teams, j completing against all round farm teams. ( Another new rule this year is that team* may be made up by two own- f era, each submitting one animal- r The horse pulling contests held | during the Decatur free Street falr: o last year attracted crowds of city 1 a dwellers as well as farmers. Gt is' c expected that because of t the sizes i t of the prizes and the new /rules this : a year that many more horsfes will be . e entered. | I s

FIVE PERSONS ARE KILLED AS BUS OVERTURNS Bus With 33 Passengers Overturns During Severe Rainstorm Natural Bridge, Va., July 1.. — (U.R> —A Greyhound bus, carrying 33 passengers through a wild rainstorm across historic Natural Bridge, skidded and overturned today a few feet from the brink of a sheer precipice 212 feet high. Five of the 33 people were killed. All of the 28 others were in- | jured, some seriously. Only a sign post advertising the wonders of natural bridge saved I the big bus and its human cargo from catapulting over that same natural bridge at its highest point. The bus started last night from Roanoke, Va.. bound for Washington, D. C., with veteran driver J. iJ. Olderson at the wheel. As the bus progressed storm clouds gathered. . The lights in the bus -were turned low. It was near midnight. As Olderson neared the top of ! the bridge he had to make a left turn to swing onto the bridge proper. Ahead the curve was sharp. The bus speed moderated as. it swung into the turn. The machine began to skid on the wet pavement. First Olderson swung into a wall at the left side of the road, apparently ready to make any sacrifice to slacken his speed enough so that he could come to |a stop before he reached the natural spat: and its precipitous drop. The bus grated against the wall and careened back to the other side of the road. Entirely out of control, the bus hit the ditch at the roadside and (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) 0 .— W. F. BEERY HEADS LIONS Rural Mail Carrier Elected President Os Decatur Lions W. F. Beery, rural snail carrier, was elected and installed as president of the Decatur Lions Clwb Tuesday night to succeed Lloyd Cowens. His nomination. May 27. was unopposed. Walter J. Kriak. superintendent of schools of Decatur, was named first vice-president. Other officers elected and installed Tuesday were: Alva Nichols, sec-| ond vice-president Ed Boknecht, | third vice-president; Dr. N. A Blx ler, treasurer; Roy Mumma, secretary; Harry Knapp, Clifford Saylors j and Herman Kruckeberg, members of the board of directors. Andrew Appelman and Ed. Bok-1 necht began their second years an members of the board of directors, both having been elected last year. Merle Ellenberger was named Lion tamer. George Morris was installed as tall twister. This was the only office for which there was opposition Robert Zwick and Dr. Ben Duke competed with htai for the honor. ' Preceding the installation services, two songs w'ere sung by He!-; en Haubold, music instructor in the Decatur schools, accompanied by Louise Haubold. These were: "By the Bend of the River” by Edwards and "Until" by Sanderson. _o Man Arrested For Child Desertion Clarence Mitchell was lodged in the Adams county jail this morning on a charge of child desertion. He was remanded to the jail upon failure to post a SSOO recognizance bond as ordered 'by the court. He is the father of three children, the oldest nine yeara of age. Claypool Man Is Burned To Death Claypool, Ind., July 1— (U.R) — Richard Cripe, 45, was burned to death here today in a $50,000 fire which destroyed the plant of the Claypool Machine Co. Cripe was foreman and part owner of the plant. The fire started when a tank of oil in which Cripe was immeralng a rod hot automobile axle exploded. Jay Cripe, 38, brothel of the victim, was knocked unconscious. An employe’s attempt to extinguish the blaze with water spread burning oil over the plant

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Wednesday, July I, 1936.

Comptroller’s Term Ends ; > C. 4 1 ’. ± I ' A- - jRKk z Here la an excellent new photo of John Raymond McCarl, whose , 15-year term as comptroller-general of the United States ended June 30. McCarl, a Republican, turns the office over to a Democrat.

>' STREET WORK IS CONTINUED 1 Thirty WPA Workers Start Improvement On Adams Street 'j t 1 1 Thirty WPA workers were transferred by the city today from Sixth . street to Adams street. The men. working under the di- , ' rection of Ralph E. Roop, civil works commissioner of Decatur, are carrying out a street improvement program in the city this summer. ■ Sixth street from Nuttman avenue i to Monroe street is the first to be completed- A stretch of 700 feet was •repaired. The men repaired > the sewer, cleaned the bricks, turn- 1 ' ed them, reset the grade and coverI ed the bricks with an asphalt! binder. The same procedure will be used • on Adams and the other streets in- ! eluded in the program. Traffic was ! shut off Adams street this morning from South Second to Third streets. Work will be done a block at a time. [ This covers a stretch of 3,800 feet , from Second to Thirteenth streets. Other streets to be improved, proi vidlng sufficient WPA labor is granted, are: Monroe street, west of the Pennsylvania railroad, 2,000 i feet, and Mercer Avenue from the rai'road crossing to Grant street 1 1 1,700 feet. Work will also be resumed on the i I extension of Thirteenth street from < Monroe to Dayton streets this fall. ; The extension will offer a direct i ' route from the west part of town to the Homewood addition and the i anna-Nuttman city park. 1 o , Regional Office Change Announced < Chicago July I—(UP1 —(UP) — Removal of regional offices of the resettle- 1 rasnt administration from Cham- s ! palgn 111., to Indianapolis was announced today by the Chicago office ’ I of the administrationI “Increased efficiency in opera- * I tlons and procedure are anticipated * l as a result of the move," the announcement said. The new address for the region 3 office after August 1 will be 342 ' Maehachusetts Avenue, Indiana- 1 polls.

Survey Shows Decatur Buying Power Is Above State Average

That business Is good in Decatur and local spending power is I above the per capita average in the state, is indicated in a survey, ; based on statistics secured from the United States department of commerce. The survey is made on retail sales only and the per capita is based on the 1930 census, when Decatur was credited with 6.156 population. Retail sales in Decatur average i $265.12 per capita, or $89.13 higher than the average in Indiana, I figured at $175.99. Decatur Is recognized as one of the best trading centers In Indiana, doing a total volume of retail business of more than $1,366,958.72. The annual turnover ■ would be several times that amount, when other lines are added. The survey shows that more

Woman Is Killed, Three Are Injured Madison, Ind., July 1 —(UP) — One woman was killed and three ! other persons were injured last ’ night when an automobile collided I with a truck at a highway inter- | section near here. Ada Shambers, 27, a stenograph- | er at Madison State Hospital, died i in a hospital soon after the crash. ' Mrs. Anna Arthur, 38, another em- ! ploye at the state hospital, and her daughter Catherine, 7, were injured seriously. Charles Eckstein, 30, driver of the ; truck suffere dminor injuries. o OUST ZIONCHECK FROM AIRPLANE Madcap Congressman Removed From Plane When Alone St. Paul. Minn., July I—(UP1 —(UP) — Madcap Marion A. Zioucheck, talkative once more, sped by fain from his congressional offices to his Seattle, Wash., home today protesting volubJy at being ousted from a transport plane because he was unaccompaniedThe Seattle playboy climbed aboard a northwest airlines transport; in Chicago last night, grinning. The plane rolled down the runway to a dark corner of the field and stopped. Zioncheck was removed and told there was no room for him —alone. “It was the most absurd and ridiculous and outrageous thing I ever heard of," he exploded. “It the government ever did a thing like that: everyone would be up in arms.” He suggested “maybe Jim Farley ordered the airline to do this.” airline officials merely explained that! “to protect the reputation of the line" they insisted Zioncheck be accompanied. They expected George Bishop, Capitol policeman,, to accompany the congressman. When Bishop took a train for Washington, they decided ndt to carry Zioncheck. The congressman had another version. "I paid cash for both myself and' Bishop, he said. “When they took me off the ship they told me they (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE)

• than $352,686 is spent for food--1 stuffs in a year in Decatur, or 1 $120,000 more than the average in , the state. It is estimated by the : statisticians that more than SSO,000 a year is spent for household I equipment and that purchase of i new automobiles total more than i $172,242. The latter figure applies i to Decatur sales only and includes new cars only. i Auto owners spend more than ■ $107,893 for gasoline, oil and fill- , ing station needs in a year, according to the report. The authenticity of the figures ■ is vouched for by the company ■ which compiled the totals for De- ■ catur. The outstanding fact is that ■ the buying power of Decatur people : is higher than the general per • raplta average in the state by $89.13 a year, or nearly a half, • million dollars in total.

THOMPSON LAD FAILS TO NAME I ANY SUSPECTS 7-Year-Old Boy Fails To Identify Any Os Murder Suspects Chicago, July 1. — <U.R) — Preco clous Jimmy Thompson, 7, stood before a lineup of suspects in the murder of his mother, Mrs. Flor ence Thompson Castle, thr?ce-di-vorceu night club hostess, today and eliminated them all. His act served to lift suspicion from everyone in the case but himself —for Police Captain Wil i Ham O'Brien insisted police have not yet discarded the possibility that the movie-wise youngster sought to liquidate a difficult home situation with a building brick. Late today Jimmy was to face further questioning regarding his J story that he awoke in his moth j : er’s hotel room to see a "big, dark man" bludgeoning his mother, that ; he calmly questioned the man, then i went back to sleep. Police have! 1 sought the assistance of psychiat ’ | rists to explain why Jimmy dress- . ed carefully, brushed his black hair, and washed his chubby face before he walked dowmstalrs to [ | give the alarm. Jimmy will be asked further dej tails of his reaction to the life his ( butterfly mother led and the pro- . i cession of lovers and third rate i show people who came to her room. The boy came Sunday to spend the summer with Mrs. Castle, although he preferred to re- ’ main with his paternal grandparents at Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Shortly after midnight Monday ’ his mother was killed by a blow with a brick. The boy, who is said to have the mind of a 12-year-old and an im- ' agination developed by frequent attendance at gangster movies, fiicod tile suspects wit 11 tllC SSLITIC ' ; cool assurance that has marked' ! his conduct throughout. He slept ► with a toy revolver under his pik low. One after another he scowled at ! the men, then shook his head. The i 1 only one who had been considered seriously by police was Sig-; , mund (Sid) Schaps, dour-faced ! night club master of ceremonies who was jealous of Mrs. Castle’s freedom with many men. Jimmy, j said, no, Schaps wasn’t the big, dark man he had talked with over • his mother's body. Police virtually abandoned any fleeting interest they may have (CONTINUED GN PAGE TWO) o Ladies Quartet To Give Program Here The ladies quartet from the An-1 derson college and theological seminary will present a program of sacred music at the Church of God Thursday at 7:30 p. m. The program will consist of solos, duets and quartet numbers. The public is invited to attend. No admission will be charged out a free will offering will be taken. 0 J. P. MORGAN , REPORTED ILL I Son Reports Financier’s Illness As Not Serious ——— Glen Cove, N. Y„ July I.—(U.R)— J. P. Morgan returned to his Baronial estate in an ambulance today. Stricken with neuritis while visiting his sister’s estate at West I Manchester, Mass., the financier ; arrived at Millneck, nearest sta-1 tion to his estate, in a private car drawn by a specially chartered locomotive, a few minutes before 1 8 a. m. He was carried in a wheel | chair to the station platform, and lifted to the ambulance that took him to his palace. Morgan arrived in New York! shortly before 5 a. m„ after an all night journey in the private car, - attached to the Quaker express of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad. Instead of waiting for the regu-, Jar express of the Long Island railroad. Morgan’s retainers hired a! special locomotive for the last stage of the rail Journey from his sister’s estate at West Manchester, Mass. The financier’s two sons, Junius Spencer Morgan and Henry S. Morgan, were at the Millneck station I to meet him. The sons sought to persuade news photographers to make no pictures of the stricken financier. I (CONTINUED. ON PAGE FlYB) i

Requests League Deny Recognition Os War Conquest

PLAN FIGHT ON GROSS INCOME Retailers Association To Fight For Gross Income Tax Repeal Indianapolis, July 1. — (U.R) —An uncompromising fight for repeal of the state gross Income tax law \ without making party commitments was outlined today by a spokesman for the Indiana Retail Grocers and Meat Dealers Association, militant opponent of the controversial measure. Campaign activities of the association will be limited to endorsement of legislative nominees of both major parties who favor re- ' peal of the tax and repudiation of those desiring its rention, said William H. Rathert, chairman of i the legislative committee. "We want to wipe the gross in-i come tax law off the books and | have our legislators consider a new plan which would make the burden more equitable,” Rathert said. "It is the duty of the state gross income tax division to budget from stateistics gathered during the three years operation of the law a more equitable distribution of the burden. “ Wewill not go before the legislature with a definite substitute proposal of our own, as that probably would serve only to becloud the issue — repeal of the present tax." The Democratic state platform (CONTINUED ON FaGE FIVE) — O BERNE TO SEEK NEW BUILDING Berne Seeks Federal Grant For New School Structure Application for a federal grant from the public works adminis- , i tration has been asked by the Berne town board and the Berne , school board for a new school , ; building in that town. Decision to make the applica- ' tion for a federal grant was announced Tuesday night following a joint meeting of the two administrative bodies. Cost of the new building ha,s been estimated at various times ■ at from $125,090 to $150,000. i The town of Berne has been in i need of a new school building for J several years, with the present < facilities inadequate for proper i housing of the students. The new building will be aI < combined high school and grade i [ school. Plans call for erection of the building in the Nussbaum addition, located on federal high-1 1 way 27. 11 Members of the school board are Chris Stengel, Hiram Liechty and Menno Burkhalter. The town board is composed of Chris Balsiger, Henry Winteregg and Paul Felber. ’ Additional Relief Promised In State Indlanapolte, Ind., July I—(TTP)1 —(TTP) Additional relief tor the state from an extended drought was promised : today in the prediction of local thundershowers. Southern counties, where crop ' damage caused by the drought had! been heavieat. fe’t the brunt of elec-1 trical and wind storms which swept I the state yesterday, but the northern -portions received the most rain. 1 Mrs. Walter Nolker Knigga. 31, Aurora, .was struck by lightning as she ' worked in the yard of her home. Although parched crops were ' beaefitted considerable by the rain, farmers said that additional preci- f pitation would be useful--1 ° Nominators Report Sent To Rooosevelt — I' There are 156 original Roosevelt i nominators In Adams county, ac- t cording to a report sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt today by < Nathan Nalson? county finanaial i 1 chairman for the affair. 1 The names of each of the nomina- ’ tors were sent on special forms. [Each was given a certificate.

Price Two Cents.

Eden Asks League Refusal Os Recognition; Urges Dropping Os Sanctions Against Italy ADMIT FAILURE Geneva, July I—(U.R) —Anthony Eden, British foreign secretary, asked the assembly of the league of nations today to refuse to recognize Italy’s conquest of ! Ethiopia. At the same time, he urged the dropping of sanctions against Italy. Because of the failure of the league machinery to halt the war in Ethiopia. Eden suggested that a reform of the covenant might be considered usefully at the September assembly. Eden’s address followed one by I Premier Leon Blum of France, who, admitting the league’s faili ure in the Ethiopian affair, sugi gested that Europe has returned | to a situation similar to that of 1914. He asked for prompt action to preserve peace, and declared ominously that France would not remain passive If her soil or that of her allies is Invaded. Eden informed the assembly that Britain’s special Mediterranean obligations resulting from the Italian-Ethiopian war would not be discontinued with the dropping of sanctions until the “temporary uncertainty” is over. He referred to the mutual assistance agreements between Britain and various Mediterranean countries, except Italy. “The occasion is painful to us all,” Eden said. “It is more necessary to tl:c interests of every member of the league than to the league as an organization that the facts be squarely faced. Insofar as the application of sanctions in the Italian-Ethiopian situI ation is concerned, the members ' thought they could make them i effective by their own action. “Yet we are all conscious that ' these measures failed to fulfill their purpose. It is not that the measures themselves were ineffectual but the conditions in which they were expected to operate failed to be realized. “The course of military events and the local situation in Ethiopia brought us to a point at which the sanctions in force were incapable of reversing the order of events in that country.” o Four Highwaymen Rob Man Os $5,000 Kendallville, Ind., July 1.-<U.R> —Four highwaymen in a small sedan today waylaid L. W. Watson, an agent for the Defiance Baking Company, tour miles west of here and robbed him of $4,700 in cash and S3OO in checks. The robbery was reported by Indiana state police, who spread a net for the bandits by radio. 0 SEE INCREASE IN AID FUNDS Work • Relief Officials Foresee Appropriation By January (Copyright 1936 by United Press) Washington, July 1 — (U.R) — Work-relief officials predicted today that only a mass return of jobless to private payrolls by winter will forestall need of a new $500,000,000 congressional appropriation early next year to finance federal job-making a full 12 months. The prediction came on the first day of the new deal’s 19361937 program, a day featured by distribution of one-fourth the sl,425,000,000 recently voted to meet employment expenses during the whole fiscal period. It was based on these five facts: 1. 'Works progress administrator Harry L. Hopkins’ initial distribution of $350,000,000 will keep the 2,293,625 currently on WPA work rolls on their jobs for only the next six weeks. New allotments will be necessary by August 15. 2. Relief rolls, including needy on work-relief and local doles, still contain between 14,000.000 and 16,000,000 persons, a slight decline from last year. < 3. The midwestern droughi ad(CONTINUED. ON PAGE FIVEI