Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 35, Number 39, Decatur, Adams County, 15 February 1937 — Page 1

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tHREE MEN KILLED IN TRAIN WRECK

■ttl e opens ■ POLICY OF ftiJST REFORM RiHi-cM'lt l’i"SpoJ <>' er sk Nation plan . ■ ■ ■■l-..:- iik->. * v ' debate. S '' ' ibOll! " !r " of - ■ -H pf.wrr' by courts. jpi" ■■ft- ..; SK': '---■•. d -- ' lb. of S' ha' - '.' :’h ■ r: :. ..... ui“ '.-' the dffliorracy work ’’ ■■?.. ic>l' over roan tocoasf '.roadeast Mt himself, ipeak tor.iitlr test!bant; :••! I’ostma.ster A ~.>Ol, t„ the cabinet. ha- intimation •;.■•■. early na.'l.-nal il-b.it- l.i annr ■■l Shern.an Minton. I).. Ind . on the air tonight in de- °* dl '‘ pt“siden:'- plan. ■B** ra "' ••’:•••' pi-c.. of HKnrorersy which stirs a na>*t* ’ onH^kt‘ ’0 ’:.<- argum- an opinion of New York's uneminsurance i;,w. I'nquali- ■; Roosevi-it policies be- ]■* - ■ authority ’-ii.!■ ■'.-■■ co-operate in social seciirny activities. U*ronrt will adc urn today for M* W! *» during which prenare is .... . j l)n llf t)1( , labor retail.,n< act. laibor t„ rpga ,. (l , ha , lpgirtla . - i'lmidarii. -..1 guarantee BBHj lllin!lini rights. The court’s the a. , in.-vita.ldy will 1 upon the course of legislation proposed by ox page FIVE) ■<! TRAFFIC ■WIN STATE .Jrain Wreck. Other | ■ Wiuents l ake Heavy 11 Toil Feb. 15 — (U.Ry — ■J ’ d * aths ' we added to In a J C ,011 today as r, ‘SUlt ■fcf,? accid «»t S which inBlWo'i]' 11 ' 1 Wr, ‘‘ k and ,wo trait’'■J** collisions. Bk< i-s Jn!l " S '” n ,rai 'tmen were Ktitt t, v th . ree otherß injured Kt the cab nn reiKht ,rain P ,un K ed Kt; a ? 8P ° f ano,he r train ■’•‘Mhatf n<ll " S snow otorni a .■Mare nf .»“<atur. The '■ Kevins, brakeman Khm?" trai, 'i J- 11. Karnes. i®»repc. u ' ne front train, and Stlie rea ", Conkey ' 3 5, fireman ■SiX loco ® otive ' MF <5, Chlca go. was kill- ■* »as r i d |„ automohl,p in which PaveJ. BkiddPd 0,1 snow■Hote* 6nt and rolled down ■K atiKnient near South ■^«r. r ßettv P r S ’ 35 ’ and Jean. 8. were B ON PAGE FQUR)

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

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Three railroad men from Huntington were killed in a collision of two freight trains east of Decatur on the Erie railroad at 10 o’clock Sunday morning. The badly mangled bodies of Brakeman J. E. Nevins deft, insebi and Conductor J. H. Karnes, (right, inset) were found in ie wrecked cajioose. Lawrence McConkey, fireman, died at the Ada ms county memorial hospital at 11 o’clock Sunday night of burns and injuries suffered in the collision. -Journal-Gazette photo.

JOHN LEWIS TO PUSHPROGRAM Union Leader Considers Strike Settlement Union Victory Washington, Feb 15 — (UP) — J. L. Lewis returned to Washington toda to formulate an enlarged collective bargaining program tor his embattled committee for industrial organization. Heartened by what he considers a victory for organized labor in the general motors strike settlement, i the militant C. I. O. leader planned to confer immediately with his lieutenants in the drives for industrial unionization of the steel and coal industries. One of his first tasks will be to meet with the policy committee of his own union, the United Mine Workers of America, to crystalize demands for better working conditions and shorter hours in the Appalachian soft coal field. The demand will be presented to coal operators at a series of conferences opening in New York Wednesday. Existing contracts expire March 31, and a strike has been threatened unless union leaders and , operators reach amicable agree- ; ment before that date. Lewis'ehief demands in behalf of his coal miners will be for higher, wages and the 30hr week in the coal pits. Hired Detectives Washington, Feb. 15 — (UP) Harry W. Anderson, labor relations director for the general motors corporation, told the senate civil liberties committee today that all General Motors plant managers were given blanket authority to employ pri vate detectives. Anderson testified as chairma.r Robert M. LaFol'ette of the com-, mittee presented figures showing I General Motors paid $839,764 for services of private detective agencies from Jan. 1, 1934, to July 31, 1936. Anderson was called after testimony by Pinkerton detective officials that they had been paid $419,000 by G. M C- and its subsidiaries in a two years and seven months period. I The agency's representatives said , they had investigated sabtoage,, thefts, radicalism, and labor union (CONTINUED ON PAGE SIX) o Injured Youth Is Reported Better The condition of Jimmy Everett, young son of Mr and Mrs. James Everett, of Pleasant Mills, who was injured Friday when struck by an auto, was reported to be steadily improving by the attending physi-l cian today. j

THREE HUNTINGTON TRAINMEN KILLED HERE

Argument In Bentz Suit Heard Saturday Arguments on the motion to make I the cum plaim more specific, in the mandate suit brought by Ralph Bentz against the city of Decatur, i to restore him on the city payroll as a member of the fire departmen’ were heard Saturday afternoon in the Wells circuit court before judge John Decker. Judge Decker took the motion under advisement. FORMER BERNE WOMAN KILLED Mrs. Lena Hall Killed Sunday Night At Aurora. Illinois Mrs. Lena Dro-Hall, 47, former Berne resident, was instantly killed at 9 o'clock Sunday night when she was struck by an auto while crossing the street in Aurora, 111- . inois, according to word received here this morning. A brother, Ervin and his son, ■ Robert, left for Aurora this morning. Other details were not learned. The deceased was born in Berne ' 'on February 12, 1890, the daughter lof Emil and Pauline Gerber Dro. She was married to Richard Hall 16 years ago, moving to Aurora ! immediately after the marriage. Hher husband preceded her in death on March 18, 1934. Surviving arc a son, Richard, Jr., the mother in Berne, and a sister, Mrs. |t. a. Benton, of Chicago; two] I brothers, Ervin, of Berne and Emil,| !of California. Three brothers are deceased. Since funeral services were not announced it is not known whether the body will be returned to Berne for burial. o , Sentenced Man To h Prison Tuesday i i i Charlee Duer, sentenced last I week on a charge of grand lar- 1 1 ceny will be taken to Michigan < : City Tuesday to start serving a 1 I 1-10 year sentence in the state ’ ; prison. I Sheriff Dallas Brown will make i i the trip with the convicted thief. The trip was scheduled for today but was postponed because of the!’ funeral of Roy Dubach, former i special deputy sheriff. j t o- — —• « WEATHER Rain south and rain or snow ’ north portion probable tonight and Tuesday; colder extreme west, rising temperature extreme northeast portion tonight; colder Tuesday.

WEATHER

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, February 15, 1937,

SUPPLY BILL IS APPROVED Departmental Supply Bill Approved By House Committee Washington, Feb. 15 —(U.R>~The house appropriations committee today reported favorably a departmenta.l supply bill calling for IL--500,955,151 in direct appropriations | for the treasury and poetoffice departments in the 1938 fiscal year, and providing $1,468,404,470 for public debt purposes. The measure was drawn after I hearings in which secretary of treasury Henry Morgenthau. Jr., emphasized that congress is directly responsible for balancing the federal budget. The bill called for an. appropriation of $718,485,790 for the treasury department and $782,469,361 for the postoffice department. In the latter case, the committee’s report emphasized that it would be necessary to continue the present three-cent postal rate. The most outstanding new appropriation item was $750,000 to make possible an early start of | trans-Atlantic air mail service. [ tentatively due to start in November on a schedule of three round (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) O POPE PIUS IS MUCH IMPROVED Walks For First Time In Space Os More Than Two Months Vatican City. Feb. 15 — (UP) — After taking his first halting stepe since he became ill more than two months ago, has begun to talk of his illness as a thing of Ute past, it was reported today. Vatican sources said that the Pope, overjoyed, regarded himself cured and several times in speaking to intimates referred to the painwracked weeks since early laat December as “the time when we were ill." Prof. Tminta Milani, the Vatican physician, said that he believed It would be possible for the Pope to make another teeste of his strength this week, but subject to the most stringent precautions to prevent s strain. The Pope was in his special wheel chair in the Salon adjoining his bedroom yesterday, with Prof Milani, his secretaries and a mal ® nurse. Always Impatient of his illness (CONTINUED ON PAGE SIX) i

Sam Bixler Is Taken From Local Hospital I Sam Bixler, of Linn Grove, who was injured Friday night in an auto accident that claimed the life of Roy Dubach, was dismissed today | from the Adams county memorial hospital, where lie had been confin- , ed since the crashFuneral services for Dubach, who died almoat instantly following the accident, were he.’d this afternoon. PROBE STARTED a | INTO ACCIDENT Erie Officials Launch Probe Into Fatal Train Crash ’j An intensive investigation into' the details of the rail crash tha.t i claimed three lives near here Sun-j i dav was onened this morning by I Erie officials, according to word . received from Huntington. Attesting to the fact that a/’cnr- . acy in the reconstruction of the i accident and not the speed of the f investigation was essential in . placing the blame. W. M. Sporled- - er. superintendent of the road, I sta/ed that “we are not rushing • to any conclusions.” Tn a statement to the press, Mr. Sporleder remarked, “in fairness to everyone we are not rushing to any conclusions. No conclusion can be reaches! at the present | time. The interstate commerce commission inspectors prnbajily i will be here late today to go over the facte as they develop them with us and reach an official con--1 elusion.” The superintendent, in answer j to a query, stated that the blind- : ing snowstorm might have caused the red block signal to be miseed, but since the fireman made no statement before he died and the I ■ ■ ■■ ■ (CONTTNTTEn ON PAGE SIX) o Company Executives And Fieldmen Meet A meeting of the fieldmen and executives of the Central Sugar and Central Soya companies was held here Saturday. The contracting for beet acreage is moving ahead rapidly and farmers have shown a very favorable acceptance of the new contract. It is expected that the acreage will greatly exceed the 1936 total. Attending the conferences and grqup meeting of the company executives were Dale W. McMillen, ! chairman of the board of the Central Sugar company and Roy Hall,! of Fort Wayne, president of the company. Mr. McMillen returned , last week from a six weeks’ cruise Ito South American countries. I

Erie Freight Train Rams Into Rear Os Other; Tivo Men Killed Instantly; Third Dies Os Burns

NON-UNION AND UNION MEN GO BACK TO WORK More Than 8,000 Men Return To Work At Anderson Plants — Anderson. Ind., Feb. 15.—fU.R>~ Union and non-union workers! whose violent feud brought gunfire and martial law to this industrial city, returned to their jobs in the Guide Lamp and Delco-Remy factories today in perfect peace. While nearly 500 troops stood guard with rifles and sidearms, ",- ootl ilien filed through Delco-Remy’s dozen gates on Columbus and 26th streets at 7 a. in. CST. An equally peaceful scene v<js enacted at 25th I and 67th street where 1,800 men swarmeo through six gates into i Guide Lamp's 21 acres of factory j buildings. Except for the presence of national guardsmen, the scene appearj ed as peaceful as in normal times. ! Men strode down the streets singly ' and in groups, swinging lunch pails and putting after breakfast cigarettes, all seriously intent on reporting for their jobs on time. The guardsmen stood idly by, in ! groups stationed about 50 feet from each entrance. The guardsmen shivered in the. cold, restlessly shifted their rifles from shoulder to shoulder. A few found seats in national guard trucks stationed , at the curb of about half the gates. Company police swarmed around factory gates, inspecting each automobile as it drove up to deposit a worker or group of workers. There was no evidence of the i violent feeling which brought martial law to the 409 square miles of Madison county Saturday, on the heels of a sit-down strike sponsored by the United Automobile Workers union, eruptive clashes between union groups and non-union “vigilantes,” and a shooting in which two men were seriously wounded. Col. Albert H. Whitcomb, commauding officer, said there were no guardsmen in the plants. A few ’ will be stationed about factory entrances all day, as a precaution, | he said. "The Anderson police have the situation well under control,” Whitcomb said. “We are merely stand- 1 ing by to back them up.” Union workers agreed to return to their jobs last night under the military-enforced peace, but only after appealing directly to Presi- ( dent Roosevelt for his personal aid in restoring “human rights and social justice.” The telegram to the president was signed by Victor (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) o DEMOCRATS TO HOLD MEETING Young Democratic Club To Meet Here Wednesday Night A meeting of the Young Democratic Club of Adams county will be held in the city hall Wednesday night at 7:30 o’clock. Plans for the year will be made at this time The resignation of Robert Heller, president of the organization, will be acted upon. The resignation has been submitted because Mr. Heller is enrolled in the Indiana University Extension center tn Fort Wayne, and > s unable to attend night meetings in this city. A new president may be elected. Edwin Kauffman, who has served as acting president for the last several months, will preside over the meeting Wednesday. The matter of taking a e‘ate charter also will be considered at the meeting Wednesday. It is not believed .probable that further meeting will he held until possibly late in the fall or early winter, when a social affair may be sponsored by the club.

SPEED ACTION IN ASSEMBLY ON MEASURES Bills On Taxes And Highway Safety Are Advanced In legislature — Indianapolis. Feb. 15 — <U.R) — 1 i Administration bills on taxes and highway safety were advanced today as the Indiana legislature speeded action in the face of ad- ’ journment three weeks hence. | The house of representatives I received three new bills to tighten ■ tax exemption, and advanced the 1 nine highway safety bills to eni grossment. ’ The senate received the admini istration bill to repeal the 1921 i nepotism law. which Sen. William • E. Jenner. R., lower leader in the ' senate, claimed wae violated by I Gov. M. Clifford Townsend in appointing his son. Max. as livestock • licensing commissioner. . | Recommended by the state com- ' miesion created by the 1935 legisi lature, the bills to tighten tax - exemption laws would: 1. Require filing application for property tax exemption March 1 i by a.ll owners, including religious, t fraternal, benevolent and eduea- . tional institutions. .! 2. Prohibit property owners . from giving it to such organizai tions and living off the income I without paying state tax. | 3. Recodify all tax exemption . lawe. The tax study commission felt ’| those bills necessary if retailers I I are to be given a $3,000 exemption , I (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) WARSHIP BOMBS TWO SEAPORTS I I Valencia, Barcelona Are Bombarded By Rebel Warships | Valencia, Feb. 15. —KU.Rk —A nat- . ionalist warship has bombarded , the principal loyalist Mediterran--1 ean seaports within 24 hours, it was disclosed today. Last night, the warship poured shells into Valencia, the temporary capital, killing 14 persons and wounding 30. Saturday night, a warship bombarded the Casco area of Barcelona. Spain’s largest city, an official communique issued by the Catalan government there today disclosed. Authorities here said the casualty figures were "provisional.” Ruins of homes and buildings may reveal more. Six of those killed here were reported to be children. The insurgent warship fired 30 shots into the city from a point between the lighthouse, at the entrance to the harbor, and Arsena beach, farther out. Three British warships—the battleships Royal Oak and Ramillies, and the destroyer Bulldog — were in port during the bombardment but were not struck. Tt was the second raid from the sea here in two days. An insurgent ship bombarded a Valencia suburb on Friday night. Three shells fell last night in the Paseo de Colon on which the French and British embassies are situatd. One shell damaged the provisional hospital. Three others struck a building in the El Cabanal district. Ope hit a small house near the waterfront. o Dan Holthouse Is Page At Assembly Dan Holthouee, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur R. Holthouse, is acting as a page in the state legislature this week. He went to Indianapolis last night and will be on duty until j next Saturday.

Price Two Cents.

Three Huntington Men Killed As Two Erie Freight Trains (’rash East Os City. TWO INSTANTLY With a rumble that shattered ’ the usual quietude of a Sabbath j day in Decatur, two Erie freight trains crashed in the midst of a blinding enowstorm Sunday morning. to form one of the worst ra.il disasters in the history of the county. Three dead, another fighting for life in the local hospital and two ‘ others less seriously injured was ■, the toll today of the crash that occurred when a roaring west--1 bound Erie freight train plowed 1 into the caboose of another, that ‘ had stopped for water one and a ■ half miles east of the city. I The dead are: J. E. Neviue, 54. ■ of Huntington. a brakeman in the caboose, who was killed instantly. I J. H. Karnes. 67. of Huntington, ’ freight conductor in the caboose ’ | also killed instantly. Lawrence McConkey, 35. of ; j Huntington, a fireman on the seci ond train, who died last night ’ about 11 o’clock in the local hos- ’ pital. ■ The injured are: Charlee Patterson, 73, engineer, of Huntington. ’ who is in a serious condition in 1 the hospital with third degree • burns and cuts and bruises. Victor Carl Leatherman. 40, of Huntington. brakeman on the rear ’ train, who escaped with a broken ’ finger on the right hand when he ! leaped to safety from the speeding freight. 1 i W. P. Forster, of Huntington, brakeman, escaped with a slightly ( injured knee. [ | Resounding with a roar that ■jcould be heard for miles the train telescoped into the rear end of the caboose, carrying the two men, plowed through that and a coal car to come to a grinding stop at the foot of a 10 foot embankment, a mass of twfeted steel and wood. 1 With bursted boilers spraying ) white hot steam over, the entire i debris, the engine carried the 1 splintered caboose, with the bodies > of the two men, to the foot of the embankment. A coal car next to the caboose was split through the center from the force of the crash, whipping ’ chunks of coaj for yards distant. I The cab of the engine from J which the injured were taken, was , | sheered off at the height of the | train front and was twisted belyond recognition. II When passersby, sightseers and - ambulance workers arrived on the I scene, they found the bodies of i the two dead buried beneath feet of the weighted debris. Both bodies were horribly mangled and ■ burned. Nevius died with a two by four wood section driven through his . body from the collar bone to the ■ lower stomach. He was unrecog- . nizalble when pulled from the wreckage. Karnes was also badly scalded and battered. Rushed To Hospital , One of the injured men in the cab (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE) | Decatur Young Man Aids In Dragging I Fireman From Wreck j The first tale of heroism arising from the fatal train crash Sunday • gives credit to a young Decaturite, whose life environment has been built around the giant “iron horses.” Herb Banning, young son of Mr. and Mrs. L. N. Banning, of route 5 the former a veteran eection worker, with hie younger sister, Kathleen, were the first to reach The wrecked cans, according to reports. Oblivous of the fact that he might be burned by the hissing steam emitting from the cracked boilers of the crashed engine, Herb rushed to the aid of the ecalded fireman and helped drag the injured man from the engine. Helping the man aboard the engine. that transported him to the hospital, Herb returned to the wreckage to offer further assist- , ance-