Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 36, Number 250, Decatur, Adams County, 22 October 1938 — Page 1

\\\Vl. No. 250.

»g ACTION ®«MENED SfjfMSTCZECH Demands New |^K ( r jo S Negotiations .. fIM Hungarian along the lIK, ipeh.vak fiouti.-r |M. i hi .the army impatient and < he. k long. P K manded (hat . |^K,,... hinging I Hun- t hauler towns. Korni Munkacs and I and Ilungat- . .. It was that the Czech offers offer of 10 deK , |u per cent during . t uitless days a. I ai ding usually well informed, I gran' at ? . , tlie Hangar-1 K\ Hungary will negotiag —~~ ■on: May Soon Be At IF Peak Os Production <U.R> ■ men to jobs Hfefc few days bringing his e... highest level of tile trill'- a oi>servers said to-' .Vou work Kir : Fold's Iti'.er Rouge plant, . 10 Waid's automotive With final assembly 011 ! started. ■ I-'nid production I | ' with 85,000 I ■■ in peak production. ■Mnese Rocket S Hits U. S. Cruiser - ■i p: a fail of Canton struck . -uiser Augusta ■| s-uing f ie io an airplane{ cruiser's deck. flagship of the As-j ’■■•!. anchored in the river off Shanghai. was fired fr >m Poo-1 across the riv< 1 from one wing of the plane but no other damage {^K 'e \ ; was forwarded naval authorities. |i^H < — - 0 - [h 1 Youth Fatally ■ Burned Last Night • <U.R> Fire <l.-sii ny.,| a farm home near niulit burned Richard in. to death and crithis mother and brothy was a Fairmount high | student. Members of the '| ■phr were trapped in the burnmother, Mrs. Hrebert Mcand the brother. James, ii'.'.iiiihf m a Marion hospital. ■Mer Wheat Crop S > Estimate New High ‘'c o( , t 22—(UP)—The jB" 'H-il d-iiartnient today estiwinter wheat, production ' at an all time record of 1 bushels. '’siimate was an increase 1 bushels over a month ,iiuu.iiiiii i. us i le i s greater a year ago. S 0 H MPERATURe readings •mocrat thermometer m 52 10:00 a.m 61 a ' m 56 11:00 a.m 65 j M WEATHER ' neiJ ' | y fa ' r ton '9 ht and ’XI colder tonight except <HJ‘ reme southea st. Colder

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Young Negro Killer Admits Sixth Murder Chicago, Oct. 22.—flj.R>- Robert Nixon, lb, negro, confessed slayer ■ of live women, who is scheduled s to die in the electric chair next 1 week, ‘‘cleared his conscience" to-1 day by confessing a sixth murder, that of Mrs. Rose Valdez, 20, Los I Angeles housewife. Police Lieut. Thomas R. Bryan of Los Angeles announced Nixon had made his latest confession at the Cook county jail where he is held pending execution Friday for beating to death Mrs. Florence Johnson in her Chicago apartment last May 27. MINISTERSTO GIVEPROGRAMS Preachers To Conduct Chapel Programs In Rural Schools The of Adams county ministers at special chapel programs in the rural high schools were announced today by County Superintendent of Schools. Clifton E. Striker. They were arrambud in cooperation with the county miuistCflal association and are: Monroe Oct. 26—Rev. C. M, Prugh. Nov. 2 —Rev. C. A. Schmidt. Nov. 9 —Rev. N. J. Schmucker. Nov. 16 —Rev. C. H. Suckau. Nov. 23—Rev. G. O. Walton. Dec. 7 —Rev. Paul Brandyberry. Nov. 30—Rev. G. S. Lozier. Dec. 14—Rev. O. L. Fletcher. Dec. 21 —Rev. J. A. Weber. Monmouth Oct. 25 —Rev. C. M. Prugh. Nov. I—Rev. Claud M. Fawns. Nov. 15 —Rev. M. O. Herman. Nov. B—Rev.8 —Rev. C. H. Weiderker. Nov. 22 —Rev. Hart. Nov. 29—Rev. Alva Barr. Dec. 6—Rev. S. Hendricks. Dec. 13—Rev. E. V. Hartley. Dec. 20 —Rev. J. A. Weber. Jefferson Oct. 28—Rev. Paul Brandyberry. ' Nov. 4—Rev. G. O. Walton. Nov. 11—Rev. D. Grether. ■ Nov. 18 Bev. S. C. Cooper. Dec. 2—Rev. G. S. Lozier. Dec. 9—Rev. Hart. Dec. 16—Rev. C. M. Prugh. Dec. 23—Rev. Vernon Riley. Pleasant Mills Oct. 26—Rev. Geo. Holston. Nov. 2—Rev. O. L. Flesher. Nov. 9—Rev. B. F. Fulp. Dec. 16—Rev. C. H. Weiderker. I Nov. 23—Rev. Stacey Shaw. Nov. 30—Rev. R. W. Graham. Dec. 7—Rev. O. J. Gerig. Dec. 14—Rev. Homer Aspy. Dec. 21—Rev. N. J. Schmucker. | Hartford Oct. 27—Rev. S. Hendricks. Nov. 3—Rev. Alva Barr. Nov. 10—Rev. B. F. Fulp. Nov. 17—Rev. Stacey Shaw. Dec. I—Rev. C. H. Weiderker. Dec. B—Rev. R. W. Graham. Dec. 1^— Rev. Claud M Fawns. Dec. 22—Rev. George Holston Geneva Oct. 27—Rev. D. Grether. Nov. 3 — Rev. Homer Aspy. Nov. 10 —Rev. G. S. Lozier. Nov. 17—Rev. O. J. Gerig. Dec. I—Rev. G. O. Walton. Dec B—Rev. Paul Brandyberry. Dec. 15—Rev. C. A. Schmidt. Dec. 22-Rev. J. A. Weber. Kirkland Oct. 25 —Rev. E. V. Hartley. Nov. I—Rev. S. C. Cooper. Nov. B—Rev.8 —Rev. J. A. Weber. Nov 15 —Rev. Glen Marshall. Nov. 22—Rev. C. H. Weiderker. Nov. 29—Rev. B. Fulp. Pec 6—Rev. Paul Brandyberry. Dec. 13 —Rev. C. H. Suckau. Dec. 20—Rev. D. Grether. MOOSE TO MEET TUESDAY NIGHT Lodge To Celebrate Founding Os Mooseheart Home Members of Adams Lodge 1311. Loyal Order of Moose, are making final plans for a special meeting of the lodge Tuesday night, Gerald Cole. Moose dictator, announced today. The meeting is to be a celebration in commemoration of the silver anniversary of the founding of Mooseheart. French Quinn, local historian and speaker, will deliver the main address of the event, Mr. Cole stated. The ritualistic initiatory work will also be conferred on a class of candidates, which will be known as the Mooseheart silver anniversary class. The meeting will start at b o'clock. All members of the organization are urged to attend. A lunch will be served following the meeting.

RAIL EMPLOYES CONTRIBUTE TO FACTORY DRIVE Pennsylvania Workers Make Voluntary Donation To Fund Employees of the Pennsylvania railroad today contributed sls to the Krick-Tyndall Tile Mill fund i in order that they might assist 1 100 other workmen find employ--1 meat. Rev. R. W. Graham, pub- ! llcity manager of the drive committee. announced today. This 1 contribution was turned in without solicitation. Part of this donation came from 1 the section hands on the railroad. I j who, the committee stated, know 1 I what a job means to an independ- ’ 1 ent American citizen. "Invest in your community and I I help a man get a job." the com- ' inittee asked today in an effort ; I to end the drive, which is nearing the $8,500 mark on the barometer. ; The campaign is one to raise SIO,OOO by th? community as part ! of the SIOO,OOO reconstruction cost ' of the factory, destroyed by fire I April 6. The $200,000 industry I would have a SIOO,OOO annual pay roll and would employ about 100 men. Because, when in operation, it is one of the best tile mills in the middle west, at least two other cities are openly bidding for it and others would fight for it, if it was believed there would be an opportunity for its change of location, the committee is especially desirous of finally settling the community's position by raising its goal. An appeal to those who have been asked but who have not yet made decisions on the campaign to give their donations or pledges at once, was again made today by the committee. Regular Legion Meeting Monday The regular meeting of Adams post number 43 of the American Legion will be held at the Legion home Monday evening at 8' o'clock. All members are urged 1 to be present. FORMER CAPONE GANGSTER SLAIN Bert Delaney Slain In Typical Chicago Gangland Fashion Chicago, Oct. 22 — (U.K) — Au assassin shot and killed Bert Delaney. 59. former superintendent j of Al Capone’s $20,000,000 bootleg brewing industry during prohibition. as he stepped out of his automobile last night. It was the 11th gang slaying in Chicago in four months. Police believed it had been motivated either by racketeerunion or gangland troubles. It bore the touch of the professional dry-eta killer. Delaney's sweetheart, Mrs. Ruth McAvoy, and her brother-in-law, Carl White, witnessed the slaying. They had driven up to Mrs. McAvoy's apartment with Delaney. They got out of the automobile and went to the building entrance. As they stood there, waiting for Delaney, the killer crept up behind him and fired three shots. Then, as Delaney lay on the sidewalk, the gunman pumped three more bullets into his back, fled down the street and jumped into an automobile driven by an accomplice. Mrs. McAvoy told police she and Delaney had been sweethearts for seven years and that, until repeal, he had been well supplied with money. Neither she nor White could describe the killer. Both said they knew of no motive for the slaying. Delaney was one of the men behind the Capone scene. Although important in the gang chief's enterprises, he seldom figured prominently in the news. He supervised brewing of beers that the syndicate placed on bars at prices that ranged as high as $1 a bottle. He was one of 78 men indicted with Capone In a government prohibition conspiracy case against the Capone syndicate. The case fell through with the end of prohibition. He was indicted for attempting to gain control of a scavengers' union but the charge was dismissed. He also had a minor police record. Police Lieut. John McCarthy ON PAGE SIX),

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Satur day, October 22, 1938.

“Perfect Husband” Is Acquitted ■ X MJ \ ■■ r * \ ®' 'Kb. Rudolph Sikora, called l>y his wife the "perfect husband," is pictured above listening to one of his attorneys shortly before a jury of 11 married men and one bachelor acquitted him of murdering the man who stole his wife's love. The jury deliberated only an hour and onehalf.

DEATH CLAIMS CLARA BURGER Union Township Woman Dies Friday; Funeral SundayMrs. Clara Ellen Burger, 82, widow of the late Frank Burger, died late Friday afternoon at the home of her son, Alva, in Union township. Death folowed complications resulting from a broken hig sustained in a fall two months aao. The deceased was born in Union township January 12. 1856, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David i Kern. She was a lifelong resident i of the county, and a member of the First Evangelical church ot this city. Surviving, besides the son. Alva, are a son. D Burger of Chelsea, Michigan; a daughter, Mrs. Molly Boch of Fort Wayne; two sisters, Mrs. James Stults of Fort Wayne I aiijJ Mrs. Ben Shilts of near the | state line in Ohio. Funeral services will be held Sunday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock at the home and at 2 o’clock at the Pleasant Grove church, with burial in the Pleasant Valley cemetery. Rev. Gilbert Eddy will officiate. ! ' The body will be taken to the home of the son from the S. E. Black funeral home this evening and may be viewed there until time for the funeral. o Harkless Condition Reported Improving The condition of D. James Harkless, bookkeeper at the Schafer store, who underwent a major operation at the Adams county memorial hospital Thursday, was reported slowly improving today by the attending physician. o VOTERS DEFEAT SCHOOL MERGER Monroe Township Voters Trounce Proposed School Merger Proposed consolidation of the Berne and Monroe township school systems was decisively defeated in a special election Friday when Monroe township residents voted more than 6 to 1 against the proposal. Residents of the township cast a total of 592 votes against the merger, as against 89 favoring the proposal. Berne voters favored the consolidation by nearly 5 to 1 but 240 fewer votes were cast in i Berne than in Monroe township/ The Berne vote was 355 favoring the proposal with only 76 in opposition. The proposed merger would have been effective at the opening of the 1939 school year, and provided for enlargement of the proposed new Berne junior-senior high school, and construction of an addition to the present Monroe school.

Decatur Banker To Attend Conference I : Bloomington, Ind.. Oct. 22 —T. | F. Graliker, president of the First State Bank of Decatur, has regis- , tered for attendance at the IndiI ana banking conference to be held next week at Indiana University, according to the announcement made today at Bloomington. | The conference, which is spon- . sored by the Indiana Bankers i . association, the University, and ■ the Indiana department of finan-j i cial institutions, will be in the I • nature of a three-day short i course in current banking probi I lems with classes conducted by ; nationally known authorities. II o — JIMMY BRENNEN : TAKEN BY DEATH : Decatur Youth Dies This Morning After Long Illness James H. Brennen, 15, well I known Decatur youth, died at 7:30. : o’clock this morning at the home | of his parents, Joe and Genevieve | i Brennen, at 615 North Fifth street, i Jimmy, as he was popularly j ■ known, had been ill for several ’ months of Hodgkins disease and ‘ death had been expected. The youth was well known in ( this city, having appeared on numI erous entertainment program of : various natures as a featured tap dancer and vocalist. He was bom i# Decatur, June 15, 1923, and had ived in this city his ' entirel ife. He was a member of the St. Mary’s Catholic church and - the Children of Mary. The parents are the only sur- .. vivors. Funeral services will' be held at the St. Mary's Catholic church at • 9 o’clock' Tuesday morning, with Rev. Father Joseph J. Seimetz, : j pastor, officiating. Burial will be ' in the Catholic cemetery. The body will be removed from the Gillig & Doan funeral home i I Sunday morning and may be view-i ed as the residence until the hour ’ ot the funeral. Truck Driver Is Burned To Death Lansing, 111., Oct. 22—(UP)—Alex Moore, 30, Cincinnati, was burned to death and James Ballard. 29, ■ Covington, Ky., was injured ser- ' iously when the moving van in which they were riding swerved oft the road, overturned and caught 1 fire. Police said the truck’s gas line apparently had broken when the van overtimed. Motorists removed . ballard from the wreckage tut were unable to extricate Moore, v*ho was pinned behind the steering wheel. State Tax Board To Hold Hearing Here Adams County Auditor John W. Tyndall today received notice that the state tax board would hold a hearing on November 3 at 8:30 o’clock in the morning in the court house on additional appropriations for Adams county. It is believed this is for the $33,000 bond issue for the Adams county memorial hospital.

SIKORA WINS ACQUITTAL ON MURDER CHARGE “Perfect Husband" Acquitted Os Killing Wife’s Lover Chicago, Oct. 22—(U.RF-Rudolph .Sikora, 31, the “perfect" husband, acquitted of murder last night for ' killing the man who won his wife's love, indicated today he would make no attempt to win her back. I “I can never feel the same toward her again,” he said, “and I don't suppose she can feel the same toward me.” He said he still loves her, but she mourns Edward Solomon, 35, an accountant — the man Sikora shot and killed on a street comer last August 22. A jury of 11 married men and a bachelor, after two hours deliberation. agreed unanimously on one ballot last night that Sikora was not guilty by reason of temporary insanity at the time of the slaying. In effect, they agreed with defense contentions that he had acted within provisions of the “unwritten" law when he fired the fatal shots. Russell F. Hornburg, the foreman, said he and his fellow jurors had felt Sikora was no criminal. “He acted in away that should protect the sanctity of the American home,” he said. Solomon, a university man, urbane, handsome, had attracted Sikora’s pretty wife, Margaret, 22, by reading her poetry and talking with her in side street rendezvous ! about culture and music, showing her a glamor Sikora never had. She was unrelenting in her attitude against her husband after the slaying and said she could never forgive him for destroying the “only man” she had ever loved, j She testified against him before a jury qualified to inflict a death J penalty. Calmly, and in a fnatter-of-fact voice, she said she had first fallen ; i» love with Solomon oue day last March when he kissed her in the office where both worked. She was : the first woman in Illinois history to testify against her husband in a major criminal trial. A law which had prohibited a wife from jeopardizing her husband was I amended last year. Her attitude and conception of j (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE) Adams Circuit Court Decision Sustained — The Indiana supreme court has i sustained a decision of the Adams | circuit court in the case of Walti ers vs Rowls et al. The plaintiff | was injured when struck by an auto whose driver, blinded by lights, failed to see a truck owned by the defendant, parked along the highway without lights. o Tom Hutson Urges New Deal Support Coalmont, Ind., Oct. 22.— (U.R> — Indiana’s laboring people have achieved the greatest progress under the leadership, of President Roosevelt and Gov. M. Clifford Townsend, Tom Hutson, state la- . bor commissioner, declared here , last ngiht. “Labor must now protect these i gains by voting for Democrats for I congress and the state legislature," : he said. o EDOUARD BENES VISITS LONDON Former Czech President Lands At London Airport Today London, Oct. 22.—(U.R) —Former President Edouard Benes of Czechoslovakia arrived at Croydon airport today. The former president, who resigned after the Munich agreement on Czechoslovakia in order to permit a new government to reorganize a “second Czechoslovakia," arrived by airplane at 11:55 a. m. (5:55. a. m. CST.) Benes was accompanied by his wife and a secretarial staff. The plane in which he arrived was a Czechoslovak one. Apparently every effort had been' made to keep the visit private and unofficial. Benes’s ultimate destination was not revealed, but It has been generally understood that he would make a visit to the United States eventually.

Japanese Troops Keep Up Advance On China Front

O GIVE RULINGS ON LABOR LAW 11 1 Wage-Hour Law Goes Into Effect Next Monday Morning Washington, Oct. 22 — (UP) — Wage hour administrator Elmer F. ( Andrews and his staff worked over ’ time today on rulings for the guidance of business men in hunning heir factories stores and offices , In accordance with a fair labor i standard act. The law. which establishes a min- • innim wag? of 25 cents an hour for i the estima'ed seven million workers I in interstate industries, does not ■ limit the work day or work week 1 when it goes into effect Monday. Andrews explained that employ • ers do not have to revamp theii 1 work schedule to go on a 44-hour week, but pay time and one-half for all work in excess of 44 hours in ' any week. Employes cannot accu- ' mulate overtime and be paid for it ' | in time off in a later week, he said. Large and small busine?# men engaged in interstate commerce are on the same basis under the law, which sets up minimum standards ' "to help inoculate our economic system against the virus of sweati shops,” Andrews said. Reports were received in Washington that a few firms, primarily in the south, had announced that they would shut down rather than comply. Andrews denounced a "small and scattered minority” of ; employers, who. he said, apparently are unwilling or Incapable of contributing to the common , good." NEAR MILLION BENEFITS PAID District Unemployment Payments Total Over $900,000 Fort Wayne, Oct. 22 —More than $900,000 has been paid in unemployment compensation benefits ’ in the Fort Wayne district in the last 25 weeks, it was announced I today. “Out of 74,963 checks paid to Fort Wayne district claimants, j totaling $907,657.70, there have ; been 15,596 payments valued at : $179,226.28 made in the last six I weeks to persons made eligible by the removal of the ‘slo clause’ ' I from the state unemployment compensation law,” E. F. Kixmiller, deputy in charge of unemployment compensation in this area, said. “Almost two-thirds of current payments are going to persons who had no insured earnings after March 31 this year, but whose : work for covered employers in . the previous year made them 1 eligible for benefits when the re- . peal took effect in August. Last j week there were 6,662 checks ! mailed in this district, valued at $75,383.92. of which 4,260 totaling I $47,939.42 were paid on 'slo | clause’ claims. Payments on I ‘regular’ claims numbered 2,402 j for $27,444.50. "Payments in Allen, Whitley, i Wells and northern Adams coun- : ties, which comprise this district, . i have ranged all the way from 8 : checks for sll9 in the last week I of April, to 6,918 payments total- ' ing <78.919.28 in the week ending ■ October 8. j “The number of claims result- : ing from current layoffs has been • ] at such low ebb in this district. and the state as a whole for the I last five weeks that the average i for that period has been below the previous single-week minimum. The average for this district for five weeks was 156 compared to the previous one-wedk low of 158 the first week In April. The new low was set at 131 in this district and 2,066 in the state last week. ‘Benefits paid in the state topp- • ed the $12,000,000 mark this week. At the end of the 25th week of payments last Saturday, .there had been 1,031.948 checks paid for an aggregate of $11,757,395.48. Last week's expenditures totaled $622,935 03 in 57.246 checks, of (CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE)

Price Two Cents

Possessing Canton, Japs Advance Within Thirty I Miles Os Hankow As Chinese Leave. DISCUSS PEACE Shanghai, Oct. 22 — (U.R) — A mass evacuation of Hankow was started today as the Japanese, fol- . lowing up their occupation ot Canton, reached point within 30 ' miles ot the emergency capital. Chinese authorities and scores ■ of thousands of the civilian popu- , latlon began leaving in the early hours of this morning and it was 1 understood that by dawn the city had been turned over entirely to the defending Chinese army. The evacuation extended to • I Hankow's sister “Wuhan” cities i —Hanyang and Wuchan—adjoin- ■ ing it at the junction of the Yang- . tse and Ilan rivers. Headquarters of the eighth route army, the former Chinese communist army, was removed. • Japanese reports were that f Chinese troops on the south bank ; river had begun to retreat to . Changsha. 200 miles south of Hankow on the Hankow-Canton railroad. i Japanese navy landing forces, i in cooperation with army infantry, were pressing up both banks i of the Yantse. ready to challenge . the Chinese defenders in a finish . fight. The Chinese government, which . has long anticipated Hankow’s • fall, already had established its administrative departments at [ Chungking, 700 miles up the L Yangtse by air line and 900 along ■ the winding river route. -, Chungking was to be the new .' capital to replace Hankow, as t Hankow had replaced Nanking, for a new phase of the war Sir A. Clarke Kerr. British ambassador to China, was expected to go to Chungking and there confer with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek on the possibilities of j British-German mediation, it was understood. Reliable sources said j that British and German repre- | sentatives already had advanced ! the idea of mediation at Tokyo. May Discuss Peace Hong Kong, Oct. 22 — (U.R) — Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek was said on high authority today to have arrived in Hong Kong, probably to meet the British ambassador and discuss peace between China and Japan. The military leader of all China was accompanied by his talented, American-educated wife; by Wang Chung-Hui, China's foreign minister, a Yale graduate, and by Wang Ching-Wei, president of the executive council until the wartime reorganization of the government. when he was stripped o£ all posts. Chinese credit him both with being a “peace at any price” man and the originator of the “scorched earth” policy of defense. The British ambassador, Sir A. Clarke Kerr, has said that he had no intention of mediating in the war. but reliable reports were received yesterday of a joint Brit-ish-German effort to persuade Japan and China to come to terms Chiang was in a difficult position, faced by dissension within the ranks of his own followers, and bitterness among the Chinese over the easy Japanese capture of Canton, almost without the firing of a shot. Eugene Chen, outstanding southern Chinese leader and formerly foreign minister, attacked Chiang's military ability and demanded a change in China's leadership. Bitterly commenting on tha fall of Canton, Chen said in a statement to the United Press: “Chiang Kai-Shek must remember the Cantonese, in every corner of the world who have contributed to the national defense. They will exact an accouni from those responsible for the Canton disaster. The persons responsible will not escape by going abroad.” Shortly before Chen made nis statement another Chinese leader ’ of world standing, who asked that his anonymity be preserved, blamed the fall of Canton on "criminal inefficiency.” In these and previous statei ments by outstanding leaders, the tenor was that the central gov- . ernmont, and specifically Generalissimo Chiang, the strong man of the country, had failed to send , trained troops to defend South China —which had sent its best mon mouths ago to aid him.