Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 117, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 September 1924 — Page 1

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VOLUME 36—NUMBER 117

POST RATE INCREASE MAY COME Postmaster General Harry S, New Says Upward Revision Will Be Necessary if Work of Department Is Increased Materially, NATION'S LETTER MEN MEET IN CONVENTION Mail Branch About Breaking Even on Present Charges —No Intent to Make Money for Government, Cabinet Member Says, Increased postal rates were fore cast by Harry S. New, postmaster general of the United States, in his address before the annual convention of the National Association of Postmasters this afternoon at the Claypool. After predicting that for 1926 postal receipts practically will equal expenditures unless new obligations are placed upon the service, he said: If new obligations of major importance are created, considerations of just ordinary prudence suggest an upward readjustment of certain tates to at least approximately meet them. The present administration of the department has not insisted ♦ hat the service be made absolutely *, ls-sustaining. The Government of every other one of the great nations, so far as I have knowledge, seeks to make its postoft'if e a reve nue producer. There is none other conducted with the liberality shown by the department of the United States. It is only fair that rates charged should fairly approximate the expense incurred for service rendered. Growth of cities over wide areas because of the increased use of the automobile has put additional tasks upon the postoffice department, he said. "The mail earrier must go where the people are." he said. During the last three years postal receipts have increased $128,009,000 and last year aggregated $572,900.009. he said. New told interesting stories of the old day’s in Indianapolis when there was no mail delivery and every one called at the postoffee in person for the mail. Delivery service was established in 1869. Indianapolis being the twenty-second city of the United States to have it established, he said. President Frank J. Rock. Newark. N. J.. called the eonvnetion to order. The Rev. Allan B. Philputt. Cent *al Christian Church, gave the invocation. Governor Emmett F. Branch. Mayor Shank and Frank C. Riley ■ f the Chamber of Commerce were on the program for welcome ad besses. Committees were to be ippointed late in the afternoon. An informal reception will be held at the Claypool from 8 to 10 tonight.

WEATHER BLAMED FOR MANY COLDS V City Doctors Warn Citizens to Watch Sneezes. Watch your colds. An epidemic is reported from all parts of the city. Extreme weather changes from hot to cool coupled with wet weather were held responsible by Drs. Herman G. Morgan, city health officer, and Ft. V. Converse, police physician. Temperatures of more than, 100 decrees are common with some colds. Dr. Converse said. Weather extremes reduced the resistance and breed germs causing colds, physicians said. Watching the clothing to conform to weather conditions, and keeping proper ventilation at night are best preventive measures, they said. C. cT PERRY SINKING Condition of Utility Head Reported (•rave at Hospital. C. C. Perry.' president of the Indianapolis Eight and Heat Company, who has been confined at St. Vincent hospital for several weeks, was in a critical condition today, according to hospital attaches. Hospital attaches said that Perry suffered a relapse early Monday and has been slowly sinking. Perry was admitted to the hospital after a long illness, and has never fully recovered from an operation he underwent some time ago, it is said. HOI KEY TEMPERATERE 6 a. m 54 10 a. m 66 7 a. m 54 11 a. m...... 68 8 a. m 58 12 (noon) .... 68 0 a. m 61 1 p. m 68

The Indianapolis Times

PUSHMOBILE WANTED Who'll Help Make Crippled Theft Victim' a Happy Boy? mS THERE, in some attic in Indianapolis, a pushmobiie abandoned by a child grown too large for such toys? Or Is there, perhaps, someone who is willing to dig down into his pocket to buy a pushmobiie for a crippled boy? Five or six months ago, a neighbor bought a pushmobiie for Nick Matesick, 15. of 8940 E. TwentySixth St. Nick has had tuberculosis of the bone since he was a child. One leg Is in a plaster cast and the other in a brace. Nick had a wagon, but he couldn't ride in it comfortably. The pushmobiie was just right for him. Last Thursday night Nick went to a neighborhood movie with a friend. When he came out his pushmobiie. or "push automobile," as he calls it, was gone. Mr. and Mrs. William Bell, who have been “mother and father" to Nick since he was orphaned nine years ago, wish they could buy him another "push automobile.” But they cannot afford one, so they are hoping some kindhearted person will help them. Nick needs only one ’ push automobile." so any one who wishes to give him an old one or buy a new one is asked to call the city editor of The Indianapolis Times, Main 3500. to avoid duplication. There was a time when Mr. and Mrs. Bell would have been able to buy many pushmobiles, or other toys, for their beloved foster child. In England, before they came to America and Indianapolis sixteen years ago. Bell was a horse collar manufacturer. His products were used by Queen Victoria, the Vanderbilts and the Morgans. But automobiles grew popular and times became hard for the Bells.

Poor Means! By I nited reran WASHINGTON. Sept. 23. The Federal Government today filed in the Supreme Court a tax lien against Gaston B. Means, star witness in the Senate Department of Justice investigation. amounting to $267,614.40 for alleged unpaid income taxes for years, 1921, 1922 and 1923. The lien assessed the unpaid t :xes at $214,991.52 and the penalty $53,522.88.

OBJECTIONS 10 TAX RATE FILED Zoercher and Bracken’s Statements Part of Record. Objections of Phillip Zoercher. member of the State tax board and Robert Bracken, auditor of State, to the State tax levy of 28 cents which was fixed Monday on their approval, were made a part of the board's record today. Bracken sent in a short statement, predicting that the State would be in debt over $2,000,000 Dec. 31, 1925. Zoercher included a statement in defense of the board’s action and ir\ support of its contention that it could made no levy for any amount other than what the Legislature specifically appropriated. Zoercher wanted a 27-cent levy. He admitted that the State was without working capital, but said that it was the duty the Legislature to provide it. Bracken's objections were based chiefly on the fact that the State has •io money on which to operate between Sept. 30 and Dec. 31 of each year. REPAIR FLIERS 7 PLANES World Aairmen Scheduled to Start for Santa Monica. Hi/ I nit eel I‘rexx SAN DIEGO, Cal.. Sept. 23—The Army round-the-world fliers, who arrived here Friday, probably will not hop off for Clover Field. Santa Monica, Cal., their next stop, before 1 p. m. today. Pacific Coast time. Capt. R. G. Ervine. engineering officer of Rockwell Field, here, said replacements to the motors cannot be finished before that time. MRS. WATSON'S FUNERAL Senator’s Mother to Be Buried at Winchester Wednesday. H i/ Timex Special WINCHESTER, Ind., Sept. 23. Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon for Mrs. Mary Watson, mother of Senator James E. Watson, who died Monday at the advanced age of 93. Services will be at the Methodist church. Sehator and his son James arrived here from Chicago Monday nigltt. OUGHT TO CHARGE RENT Alltert Jennings Sleeps in Court, Then in Jail. Abert Jennings, colored. 824 W. Twenty-Fifth St., was discharged in city court today after he was held in jail overnight for resting too easy in the courtroom Monday. Probation Officer Robert Dennis aroused Jennings from a nap and finally slated him on a vagrancy charge when he refused-to keep awake.

MEANS SAYS 'STATEMENT WAS TRICK l Star Witness of Senate Department of Justice Declares Evidence Before Committee True 'Repudiation 1 Was Trap, PROMISES TO MAKE STARTLING DISCLOSURES Prominent Washington Man, Who Figured in Teapot Dome, Wrote Document Which Harry Daugherty Made Public, Sleuth Avers, By l nitrd Pretn CONCORD, N. C., Sept. 23.—"1 opened the door and the whole crowd fell In." Gaston B. Means, international sleuth and star witness of the Senate investigation of the Department of Justice thus described today i his latest sensation —the "repudiaj tion" of his testimony before the ! committee. "I stand on every word I uttered before the committee, said Means, “and if given the opportunity, | I will make through documentary | evidence .startling revelations con , nected with this ‘repudiation’ state- | ment. Approached by Man "On July 8 a malt approached me | (Means gave the Aian's name! and said that if I would keep quiet and come through with a statement tliat ; my committee testimony was false I j would come out all i.tht and the real | people would look after me. "1 baited the crowd along for some time and then finally signed I the statement in a New York hotel. ; Harry Daugherty was registered at | the Waldorf Astoria the day I signed it. j "I didn't read it before 1 signed it ’I understand it was prepared by a prominent Washingtonian whose name figured in the Teapot Dome investigation. At any rate 1 defy any one to produce it now. It Is a physical impossibility.” Offered Everything Means said in interval between the time he was first approached and the time he signed the statement many officials and friends of the Ad | ministration saw him and "offered | me everything if I would retract my testimony." On one occasion, he said, he talked with the man who drew up the re- ! pudiation statement in the street In | front of the H St. house where Jess I Sniith once lived. During the conversation two high | officials of the present Adminstra ‘tion were supposed to he inside the house waiting to hear about the meeting. Means said he had st rtling evi j dence to submit to the committee and wanted a meeting called Immediately. PROBE SESSION CALLED Daugherty Will Be Witness in Effort to Sift Charges. By I' nitrd Prrne CAMP PERRY, Ohio, Sept. 23. Special session of the Senate committee investigating the Department of Justice will be called Immediately, Senator Smith W. Brookhart announced here today. Brookhart had just received a telegram from Senator Burton K. Wheeler authorizing the hearing. Harry M. Daugherty, former attorney general, is to he called be- | fore the reconvened session. Senator Brookhart said, in an attempt to sift the truth from the many rumors, charges and counter-charges resulting from Daugherty's open letter to John W. Davis and the alleged re pudiation statement of Gaston B. Means. DAHLIA SHOW SATURDAY Third Annual Event of Bankers Trust Company. Plans for the third annual amateur dahlia show and garden flowers exhibition at the Bankers Trust Com- | pany Saturday were announced today. Silver and bronze medals of the American Dahlia Society, the Bankers Trust Company 1924 dahlia trophy, membership in the dahlia society and other prizes are awarded for various classes of blooms.

Divorced Ten Years, Woman, 73, Says She Didn’t Know It

for more than I 3 ten years and never knew it! Such was the strange story told Superior Judge Sidney S. Miller, by Mrs. Elizabeth Hart, 73, of 2119 Park Ave. Judge Miller, set aside the divorce granted her husband, John Hart, April 7, 1913. Hart, a Civil War veteran, who died April 18, 1922, obtained a secret divorce from his wife by representing sh ; left the city

INDIANAPOLIS, TUESDAY, SEPT. 23, 1924

Kick in or Kick Out, Is Threat Made in Letter to Federal Workers Asking Funds for G. 0. P.

Republican Ways and Means Committee OF INDIANA HEAOQUART ERS ROOM 311 SEVERIN HOTEL INDIANAPOLIS mriLXJs b ove cmaiamaKOKOMO MAIN MM A T COX vCfc-CMA £A_ST CHICAGO September 6, 19£4 I am a .vara of your relationship with the Internal Revenue Service from the standpoint of Civil Service status. In further oonsideration s os the fact of your connection with the service in the present y administration ,1 deem it timely to suggest to you tnat your voluntary contribution to tne Republican State Central Committee i3 very much needed at this time. For your further consideration and information, will stats that the uniform amount of contribution from the Revenue Department is We are conducting the oampeign of the Republican Party this year on a very strict economical oasis and am sure that we will receive your hearty cooperation in assisting to discharge the expenses of \ the budget. Please forward your check to me, Room 311 Severin Hotel, at your earliest possible convenience. Sincerely ycurs, f\ I'U i-f.KQ fl Chairman C‘ +> Republican Jays and Lle&ns Committee of Indiana.

r S THE civil service , joke? Is there any real protection for Federal employes who wish to hold their jobs by the old-fashioned method of doing their work well instead of buying safety by campaign contributions? These are questions civil service employes In the revenue department at the Federal building, are asking each other following re ceipt of a- letter bearing the name of Willis B. Dye. chairman of the Republican Ways and M> ,ns Com mittee of Indiana, soliciting con tiibuttorv of SSO for the Repub lican State campaign. The letters were written on sta-

CONTRIB LIMIT IS $5 AT CITY HALL No Employe Should Give More, Says Shank, i'ontributions from cits employes to Republican or Democratic campaign funds will p<- limited to $5 and under. Mayor Shank announced today when it became known that the hat would l>e soon passed among police and firemen. "I don't care whether it's Republicans or Democrats, no one should give more than $5." said the mayor. He suggested $2 for the men In the ranks and $5 for superior officers. The mayor said no pressure would be brought on any employe to "come through." and ever yman was at liberty to give to any party of his choeci. The mayor will start his speaking campaign in of the Republican ticket at Hammond Monday night, under direction ~f the national committee of Chicago WEAVED AND SON SAY ‘NOT GUILTY’ Arc Arraigned Before Judge Collins, George A. Weaver and son. indicted by the county grand jury for presenting false claims and perjury in connection with the construction of the Julietta insane asylum, today pleaded not guilty when arraigned before Judge James A. Collins in Criminal Court, through their attorney, Merle N. A. Walker. Collins asked if they wanted a judge or jury trial. Walker was given several days in which to make a decision. No date for the trial has yet been set.

and could not be found to appear as defendant. "I have been a bona fide resident of Indianapolis all my life, and never left the city, but once, when I went to Lafayette for a funeral,” she said. According to the original divorce complaint filed by the veteran, the couple was married in 1900, and lived together three months. The aged plaintiff stated in his charges, which the widow declared to Judge Miller were' false, tlAt she “rendered their

tionery of committee. They frankly mate that the writer is “aware of your relationship to the internal revenue service from the standpoint of civil service status." The letter then reads: "In further consideration of the fact of your connection with the service in the present administration. I deem it timely to sugg st to you that your voluntary contribution to the Republican .State central committee is very much needed at this time. "For your further consideration and information, will state hat the uniform amount' of contribution from the revenue department is $50.”

To Wed Mayor MRS. EVA FINLEY

M iyor Shank today would not discuss a report that h*’ is engaged to Mrs. Junes H. Kimlley, Kendallville, Ind., further than to say *'l guess it's about right." It was said that the marriage would not be set before Jan. 1. Mrs. Findley, a widow, is tire daughter of Dr. J. L. Gilbert, Kendallvillc physician. It ,s understood she met the mayor during his campaign for Republican nomination for Governor last spring. The report follows purchase by the mayor of anew $45,000 house in Golden Hill. Later in the day Shank said: "Mrs. Findley said she always wanted to live in Ft. Wayne or Indianapolis. Tt begins to look as if she would live in Indianapolis." Then Mrs. Finley verified {he report, saying the marriage probably would not occur before spring.

home a striking reality of the pictured ‘inferno’ of Dante, unbearable and unlivable,” to quote the old complaint. The divorce was granted by the then judge, John J. Rochford. as no one appeared to defend the wife. It remained on the order book unchallenged and Uncle Sam himself knew nothing of the divorce, granting Mrs. Hart a pension as the “lawful widow of a Civil War veteran.” On Aug. 10, 1923, however. Federal pension examiner broke the news.

Recipients of the letter construe it a-- a very thinly disguised threat to "get" their jobs if they don't “come across " They thought they were protected by civil service laws from forced campaign contributions, but now they are whispering around among each other, quietly, very quietly, for the official ax is heavy and sharp and the ways of politics dark and mysterious, that those who do not "voluntarily" contribute, SSO to the Republican State campaign fund will find themselves looking over the help wanted columns of the newspapers before snow flies.

DELEGATES ASK FOR PROTECTION Fight Over Pension in Carpenter's Convention, A group of delegates to the convention of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, meeting at the Athenaeum this week, today asked police for protection. The delegates said they favored an old age pension instead of establishment of a home for aged out of union members. They said they had not been given opportunity to say their say in the convention because the administartion favored the home C. J. Malc.ahy, Providence, R. 1., who said he was the leader of the pension faction, said he was beaten up in Monument PI. about midnight Monday night. Several delegates are wearing buttons inside their coats marked “I am for a pension only.” BOARD SQUEEZES PURSE Bids Rejected on Trucks for Sanitary Department. Strict economy necessitated by reductions in the 1925 budget caused the sanitary board to reject all bids today on two two-ton truck-tractors for use in garbage and ash collection. “We will continue to operate the department on an efficient basis as long as we have funds.’’ said Frank C. Lingenfelter, city engineer, and president of the board. “We need the trucks, but will have to get along without them we get more money." The board's appropriation next year was cut to the same amount as tliis year by Mayor Shank in his tax reducing program. Shed Entered George Stanos, 315 Ogden St., today caused the arrest of Max Riley. 17, of 410 N. Noble St., on charges of entering a house to commit a felony. Stanos said he watched Riley enter a shed in the rear of his home.

"Until his death he never told me. although we frequently met, but always made me believe, by conversation and in other Ways. I was his wife,” stated Mrs. Hart. “While he was, by reason of old age and idiosyncrasies separated from me, it was not my fault, and we met frequently during 1912 and 1913, and subsequently, on streets, in homes and elsewhere.” The old divorce jeopardized the pension, causing the plea to have the decree set asid*.

Entered as Second-class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis. Published Daily Except Sunday.

PRETTY WIDOW ADMITS POISONING HUSBAND TO Hi LOVE OF MMSm Broken by Night of Grilling, Woman Confesses Administering Many Doses of Deadly Drug Given Her by Rev. Flight. SAYS DOUBLE MURDER PACT WAS SUGGESTION OF PASTOR ‘lt Was All a Terrible Mistake,” She Sobs—Signs Statement and Falls C; Asleep in Chair —Prosecutor WillAsk First Degree Indictments. BULLETIN Bit Vnitfd Prc** MOUNT 1 FIR NON, 111., Sept. 23.—Fearing possible mob violence although none was openly threatened, Sheriff Grant Holcomb today took Fllsie Sweetin ad Rev. Lawrence Hight out of the Jefferson County jail here and rushed them by automobile to another jail in some unnamed Illinois city. By l nited Prrnn MOl NI \ LRNON, Sept. 23.—Naming her pastor as her j traducer, FJsie Sweetin. -14, today confessed she poisoned her ! husband, \\ ill or el, so she could be free to love her pastor. Rev. Lawrence M. Ilight. Alter an all-night session of questioning in the Jefferson ( ounty jail, following her arrest as result of a confession Monday night by Hight implicating her. the pretty brunette told a full story accepting the crime as her own. Rev. Hight middle-aged Methodist Episcopal pastor of Ina, flic \illage in which she lived with her husband for manv years, loved her and she reciprocated the affection, she said.

Bhe did not love her husband. He neglected her. she declared. After dictating a complete confession. the woman, exhausted, fell into a deep sleep. The Rev. Hight. still pious, held in the same jail for the murder of his wife by arsenic, which he has confessed, prayed when told the woman had confessed. “I love her. She reciprocated my affection. It was all aterrible mistake.” Rev. Hight furnished the woman with the arsenic to poison her hus-

‘Lovers ’ Meet By United [‘res* MOUNT VERNON. 111.. Sept. 23.—A meeting with the Rev. Lawrence Hight, who a few hours before had charged her with poisoning her husband as part of a "murder compact” to set their loves free, failed to shake Mrs. Elsie Sweetin. At 5 a. m.. today the pastdV was brought into the room in which she had all night turned ■a deaf ear to the entreaties to confess. "Hello." she said cordially. “Hello. We're in a sad plight," Hight remarked. “Yes. we are.” Then the pastor was taken back to the cell in which he is held for poisoning his wife. It was not until an hour later that Elsie Sweetin confessed she poisoned her husband with arsenic given her by Hight.

band, which she administered in repeated doses until he died July 28. . Then Mrs. Anna Flight, wife of the circuit pastor for twenty-six years, fell sick, and the minister, keeping what he said was his end of the murder compact, gave her poison in her food until she died. Sept. 12. The woman's confession in full: ”1. Elsie Sweetin, of my own free will and without compulsion and after having been fully advised as to my rights and that what I may say may be used against me. and for the sole purpose of clearing my conscience, do make the following statement: “That the first time I noticed that Lawrence M. Hight had any feeling of affection for me was in April, 1924: that my husband had for some time treated me without affection: that Rev. Hight continued his advances and I finally discovered that I returned his affection. “That about three months ago Mr. Hight suggested he give me some poison to give to my husband ar.d he would do the same to his wife. “At first I was horrified, but he talked so plausibly and I had sucti confidence in him that it seemed to me to be right to do it. “We then finally agreed I was to administer the poison to my husband, Wilford Sweetin, and he was to administer poison to his wife, Anna Hight. "And then, a week or two before my husband, Wilford Sweetin. was (Tun to F’age 6)

Forecast FAIR tonight and Wednesday. Rising temperature anticipated Wednesday.

TWO CENTS

• 1 —TTTHTO IIHIBHI._Ii i

REV. MIGHT

GERMANS VOTE 10 JOIN LEAGUE Cabinet Decides on Step— To Ask for Guarantees, By United Pres* BERLIN, Sept. 23.—German cab inet today decided in favor of this country joining the League of Nations at the earliest possible moment. > The cabinet voted, however, to inquire cf the League council regarding guarantees to Germany's position before formally applying for admission.

•FI ST A FEW ADS FROM TODAY’S TIMES The complete list will be found on Page 10. 30 A1 TO Ml)! ?11 ,ES FOR SALE Attractive Buy > Buick, four-cylinder tquring: fully equipped; small mileage: '23 modei. Call Circle 6631. ON' -count of sickness will sell Ford sedan: good condition, with starter: $l5O total price. 1618 Blvd. PI Ken 10:>2. KG RD touring. 1022: runs and look* like new: starter, demouutab e rims, 5 new Diamond cord tires, stoplight] windshield wiper. cutout. battery. wheel lock: only $lO5. Randolph 2622. Crik.VROL.ET F. 8.. touring: a late 1022 model in fine condition Will sell st a bargain anil can use a smaller car talking machine or diamond in trade. Webster 1058. Get Wait Ad results at less cost. A 3-line ad run 3 days for 99 cents. To give an Ad Call Main 3500 , Ask for An Ad Taker