Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 191, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 December 1927 — Page 1

SCRIPPS-HOW ARD

TWIN SISTER OF SUM GIRL IS GUARDED FROM THREAT OF DEATH BY KIDNAPER REND Sneering Note, Found on Fire Alarm Box, *■ Warns Against Further Revealing of Plans of “The Fox.” SIOO,OOO REWARD OUT FOR KILLER Combined Forces of 4,000 Trained Sleuths Fail to Find Tangible Clew in Sifting Region Hundreds of Miles. BY DAN CAMPBELL United Free* Staff Correspondent LOS ANGELES, Dec. 19.—With a reward of SIOO,OOO on his head and thousands of thoroughly enraged citizens joining the police hunt for him, the criminal who kidnaped and butchered Marion Parker, 12, not only continued to elude capture today but made a bold threat to murder the girl’s twin sister. Scores of suspects had been arrested, questioned and released. One woman was held this morning for further questioning, but the circumstantial evidence linking her to the murder was slight. “The Fox,” sly, cunning, brutal, presumably insane, dodged the giant man-hunt with the same agility which enabled him to kill Marian while police turned every effort to an attempt to save her.

The woman held was arrested with a man early today when police found footprints blood inside their home. Neighbors had told police that ah automobile dashed from the alley back of the house at hours roughly coinciding with times when “the Fox” was known to have been cruising the streets. The man was released, howover, and the woman was only cliarged with drunkenness so she could be held a little longer. Later police revealed that the woman had been wandering near the place the child’s mutilated body was returned to the father. She was shouting “I didn’t kill her, they did it,” it was said. Shortly before midnight a sneering, threatening note signed “The Fox” was laid atop a fire alarm box in Hollywood and the alarm sounded. The note was addressed to Perry Parker, bank executive and father of the girls, to whom Marion’s mutilated body was thrown after he had paid ransom of $1,500. The note said Marion’s sister, Marjorie,-would be found missing at 12 o’clock. The note, in the same handwriting as those received prior to the murder of Marion, promised a similar fate to Marjorie and in addition to the signature, “The Fox," the envelope in which It was found was marked with the word “Death” in Greek letters, as the others had Strong Guard A round Home “For the trouble you have caused. Marjorie Parker will be the next victim,” the note, which firemen found when they answered the alarm to the box, read: “Nothing can stop ‘the fox’ and those who try will know the penalty.” “If you warn any one of this second success, it will mean your neck.” The missive which police believe without a doubt was written by the maniac who multilated Marion, continued: “Try and get me. I am The Fox. You shall never know the rest of this first success. You will miss Marjorie at 12 o’clock.” The police guard around the Parker home immediately was increased. As the murderer failed to specify the date on which he intends to carry out his new threat, the guard will be maintained until all danger is passed. Three Persons In Killing Three persons, police believed, were involved in the kidnaping and murder of Marian—“-the Fox,” a woman and a middle-aged man. But the search centered on the young, debonair man of dark complexion who kidnaped Marian from her school Thursday and who apparently was responsible -for the telephone calls and letters which goaded the frantic parents of the girl. So far as police 1 could learn, there was no incentive for the murder of the girl except a lust for blood. The letters from “The Fox,” from the first one received Friday to the last, which was delivered by means of a fire alarm late last night, indicated the extreme cunning of a paranoiac, police said. They showed education and culture. Greek letters and piathematical symbols were used in them, and they were cleverly calculated to add little by little to the frenzy of the parents. Methods Are Simple The methods of the kidnaper were bafflingly simple. He abducted Marian by going to her school and telling her teacher the girl’s father had been injured in an automobile accident. The teacher WHERE HUNDREDS EAT DAILY. FLETCHER CAFETERIA, liasement Fletcher Trust Bldg. 10:30 a. m. to 7:30 p. m.—Advertisement.

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The Indianapolis Times Fair and continued cold tonight with lowest temperature 5 to 10; Tuesday fair with rising temperature Tuesday.

VOLUME 39—NUMBER 191

sent Marian away with the man. Her parents did not learn she was missing until she failed to arrive home for dinner. Then began the torture of “The Fox." He telephoned Parker, demanding ransom. Parker agreed. The kidnaper broke the connection without naming a place to deliver the money. Letters of similar import arrived. Parker was distraught before a letter and another telephone call finally instructed him where to deliver the money Saturday night. Parker went to the place An automobile drove up. A man in the cat showed Parker the face of his daughter and said she was asleep.Parker paid the money demanded, in S2O bills. The automobile started away, and the body of the girl, the limbs hacked, was thrown out while Parker watched. The father rushed to the spot. His agonized scream brought neighbors to the scene. Marion’s legs had been cut off just below the hips; her arms near the elbows; a piano wire was imbedded in the flesh around her neck and her eyelids had been sewed open. * Find Missing Parts of Body The most important events that have followed a thirty-six-hour search by a body of four thousand trained Investigators are summarized as follows: The missing- portions of Marion’s body were found strewn about Elysian Park by a pedestrian. Arms, legs and vital organs were discovered wrapped in newspapers in five separate packages and tied neatly with strips of cloth evidently tom from a woman’s dress. A Ford roadster found abandoned in Westlake Park, in the center of the city, was being carefull scrutnized for finger prints and its license checked. Chief of Detectives Herman Cline expressed the belief that it is the car used by the murderer. Quiz Doctor’s Sovi One of the suspects quizzed was said to be the son of a Los Angeles doctor. Police said he had a record of having been implicated in atacks upon children. A cordon of police extended to the International boundary line to the south along the California State line north and thousands of automobiles were stepped and searched by peace officers. The cheap hotel and apartment house district of the city was being hunted for the slayer. Because of the manner in which the body was cut up it was believed the man may have been a medical student or had knowledge of surgery. Police also were convinced that the murderer was'a man of some education. Airplanes of the California National Guard were offered for use In the search. Squads of motorcycle police patrolled alf roads within a radius of hundreds of miles north and south of the city. Ex-Terre Haute Man Held Bu United Press LAS VEGAS, Nev„ Dec. 18.— Search for the slayer of Marlon Parker, Los Angeles school girl, brought two district attorneys’ operatives here in an airplane from the California city tonight. On their recommendation, A. Wyatt, formerly of Terre Haute, Ind., who possessed a ticket from Los Angeles to St. Louis, was held for finger-print identification. The officers said they doubted Wyatt was the man sought although he tallied with the general description of the murderer. Two firemen Hart Bu United Press EVANSVILLE, Ind., Dec. 19. City Firemen Albert Hetherington and Grant Epperson were recovering today from cuts and bruises sustained when a trolley car crashed into the rear of a fire truck, Sunday night.

Body Sold for $1,500 by Maniac

The most recent photo of Marion Parker, 12, of Los Angeles, who was kidnaped by a maniac who murdered her and sold her mutilated body to the girl’s father, Perry M. Parker, for $1,500.

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LINDY’S MOTHER LANDS, HERE ON WAY TO MEXICO

Air Ace Sees Bull Fights, Is Cheered by 90,000 Union Men. BY G. F. FINE United Free* Staff Correspondent MEXICO CITY, Dec. 19.—With the acclaim of Mexico still unabated, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh today settled down to waiting through the few days until his mother files here to spend Christmas with him. Yesterday’s program Included two bull fights Instead of the one scheduled. A special fight was held after a labor parade in honor of Lindbergh dining which 92,000 workers took :. art. The chief event on today’s program was a luncheon by Gen. Alvaro Obregon at Xochimilco. Mrs. Evangeline Lindbergh wired President Calles from Detroit. The message read: “I deeply appreciate your message. I am grateful to the people of Mexico for their wonderful reception of my son.” Mrs. Lindbergs was expected at the Valbuena flying field late Wednesday. She will make two stops en route. Yesterday Lindbergh saw the two bull fights in spite of many telegrams of protest from humane societies In the United States. The filer witnessed the most significant demonstration In his honor when 92,000 workers, all members of Mexican unions, paraded past him yesterday morning. It took ninety minutes for the men to pass, eight or ten abreast. Lindbergh viewed the parade from the balcony of the National palace. GIRL FLIER TO ATLANTA Rath Elder Plans Visit to Home In Anniston, Ala. Bu United Press NEWARK, N. J., Dec. 19.—Ruth Elder, trans-Atlantic aviatrix, was en route to Atlanta today after finishing an engagement at a theater here. Miss Elder said she planned to fly from Atlanta to Anniston, Ala., her home. She Is scheduled to return to the vaudeville stage Saturday at Cleveland.

GAMBLING JOINTS CLOSED BY POLICE

Uniformed policemen were In command of two places known as the principal organized gambling joints of Indianapolis today. Upon orders of the board of safety to clean up organized gambling, police squads Saturday night broke down doors at 11714 N. Illinois'St., and another at 111 W. Maryland St.

INDIANAPOLIS, MONDAY, DEC. 19,1927

GOLD WILL CONTINUE Mercury to Drop Below 10 Above Zero. Temperatures will continue low tonight, reaching a low point of from 5 to 10 degrees above zero, but warmer weather Is predicted for Tuesday by Weather Man J. H. Armington. The low temperature mark of the season was equaled today when the weather bureau thermometer registered 6 above zero at 6, 7 and 8 a. m. By 1 p. m. it was 17. It was cold over the State, according to Armington, low temperatures of 4 degrees being registered at various northern points. The low mark along the Ohio River was 12 degrees. The low mark in the country last night was 30 below zero at Bismark, N. D., according to Armington. Hourly Temperatures 6 a. m 6 10 a. m...... 10 7 a. m 6 11 a. m 12 8 a. m 6 12 (noon) ... 14 9 a. m 8 1 p. m 17 BANDIT ALARM SOUNDS Police Surround Bank, Held Up Two Weeks Ago, to No Avail. This time the burglar alarm worked at the Madison Ave. State Bank, 1377 Madison Ave., Sunday night. The alarm, which failed to ring outside the bank when bandits held up the Institution two weeks ago, obtaining $5,900, suddenly started to ring because of a short circuit. Police surrounded the building, but found no one. Passenger Trains Crash Bu United Press BIG SPRING, Tjxas, Dec. 19. Two Texas & Pacific passenger trains crashed In the city limits of Big Spring today. Four,persons were injured seriously.

At the N. Illinois St. place officers arrested thirty-four men on vagrancy charges. At the Maryland St. place thirty-three were slated. “We are going to stamp out organized gambling and we will keep uniformed men at these two places until we are sure the operators take usat our word,” said Safety Board Jflkber Fred Connell.

—Copyright, NEA, 1927. By telephoto.

Given Welcome Luncheon by C. of C.; Trip From Detroit Made in 3 Hours. Upholding the family tradition for modesty by refusing to pose for photographs unless all her party were included Mrs. Evangeline Lodge Lindbergh, mother of the famous flier, landed in Indianapolis for luncheon at 12:18 this afternoon. Mrs. Lindbergh is flying from Detroit to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her son. She stopped off here only leng enough to attend an impromptu luncheon hastily arranged at the Chamber of Commerce. Mayor L. Ert Slack and Governor Ed Jackson, were among those who welcomed her at the luncheon. When chamber officials heard about 10 a. m. that Mrs. Lindbergh might stop in Indianapolis they began planning the welcome. Arrangements for her entertainment were rapidly completed and as rapidly executed. Three motorcycle policemen led two Lincoln automobiles from Indianapolis airport to the Chamber by way of Kentucky Ave. Welcomed at Air Port With sirens screaming the motorcycles and automobiles were going about fifty miles an hour when they struck the business district. Traffic policemen kept the way clear through the shopping center and the motorcade sped on to the Chamber through noon luncheon throngs. William H. Fortune, William H. Book and Paul H. Moore of the Chamber of Comerce and Capt. H. Weir Cook, National Guard flying instructor, welcomed Mrs. Lindbergh to the city at Indianapolis airport. With Mrs. Lindbergh in the trimotored Ford all metal six passenger, two-pilot plane, were W. B. Stout, head of the Ford-Stout airplane division, and Mrs. Stout; A. R. lajour, Mexico City Ford representative, Harry Brooks and Harry Russell, pilots. Trip in Three Hour* George Stelnmetz, manager of the Ford assembly plane here, awaited the plane’s arrivals with the Lincoln cars for the trip downtown. Several Stutz cars were sent from the Stutz factory. Stelnmetz and the Stutz representatives argued who should carry the hero’s mother to the city. Mrs. Lindbergh settled the argument. She said that inasmuch as the Ford plane was carrying her, the party should ride in the Lincolns. The plane made the trip from Detroit in three hours, fighting a thirty-flve-mile-an-hour headwind. The party took off early in the afternoon with St. Louis the next scheduled stop. Mrs. Lindbergh said she was warn and comfortable In the plane.

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NAVY RACES DEATH TO SAVE SIX MEN TRAPPED ON OCEAN FLOOR IN SUB Ships and Divers Brave Icy, Gale-Lashed Waters in Frenzied Attempt to Rescue Sailors From Poisonous Sea Tomb. EFFORT TO RAISE BY PUMPING FAILS Vessels Speed Pontoons to Scene of Disaster, as Last Hope of Buoying Stricken Craft and Bringing It to Surface.

(Disaster Pictures on Page One, Section Two.) BY OTIS PEABODY SWIFT United Press Staff Correspondent PROVINCETOWN, Mass., Dec. 19. —The United States Navy, striving to save the six men still alive in the torpedo room of the sunken submarine S-4, fought a grim, disheartening fight today against the seas off Provincetown harbor. The condition of the wreck made unavailing attempts to lighten the sunken ship by I pumping it full of air. The same conditions prevent- : ed air being pumped into the torpedo room to supplement the fast-thinning supply the six jmen there may have, j The Navy turned then to more i orthodox methods of Coating the ship- -the methods which entail sinking air-filled pontoons around the vessel’s hull to buoy It—and there began a race from Brooklyn by two naval tugs towing three pontoons each. If tiiey could get there by afternoon, there still would be a chance. Ocean Has Upper Hand At 3:37 p. m. today, forty-eight hours will have elapsed since the S-4 went down. That was the limit of time which navy experts estimated the imprisoned men could live. So at 3:37 p. m. today the zero hour will have passed and after that the fight to save them will be only an outside chance that they may still be alive. But the stormy Atlantic, pitted against the Navy in an equal fight for the lives of the handful of survivors, had the upper hand. A gale was blowing off the tip of Cape Cod, where the S-4, rammed Saturday by the coast guard destroyer Paulding, lay 101 feet under the surface. At 7:30 a. m. the wind reached gale force, the Race Point coast guard station reporting a velocity of fifty miles. It was blowing west northwest. The icy blasts that swept Cape waters had driven the mercury down to 20 at that hour, and it seemed even colder. The sea was rough. Weather May Moderate Cloudy weather prevailed in the early morning, but it was expected to clear late in the day. The forecast was for moderating weather. The divers sent down yesterday from the rescue boats riding the tossing waters above the sunken submarine had communicated with the six men still living by tapping on the hull, and had learned that the air was becoming foul. It was doubtful if any of the others of the crew of forty remained alive. Thus, with adverse weather today, the Navy’s efforts at rescue became a gallant but heart-break-ing race against time, each precious minute that passed bringing nearer the time when the air in the S-4 would be too foul to sustain life. Mine Sweeper Leaves Depression settled on those aboard the half-dozen rescue ships when the mine-sweeper Falcon, carrying Rear Admiral Frank Bumby and the divers with their gear was'forced to leave the scene for Boston. jjhe Falcon carried L. S. Michael, a diver, first of the men who risked their lives in the rescue attemp to fall a victim to the sea. Michael had become caught in the wrecked conning tower of the S-4 while working on the air hose connection through which the Falcoh was pumping air into the submarine’s ballast tanks In an effort to start her toward the surface. He was rescued by Thomas Eadie, another diver, who, although he already had spent hoars under the chilly water and had been the first man to reach the S-4, and learn that life was aboard her, went down again to save his comrade. Eadie brought Michael to the surface and it was found he was in a serious condition. The Falcon decided to take him to the Naval Hospital in Boston and return. Pomp All Night The pumping was continued all night, in the rather slim hope that enough water could be forced out

Hurry! Hammer Taps Appeal of Trapped Men in Sub to Diver.

Bu United Press PROVINCETOWN, Mass., Dec. 19.—The dramatic dialogue between Diver Thomas Eadie and the six men trapped in the Submarine S-4, separated by a thin wall of steel, but worlds apart as far as personal contact goes, telling that life still existed on the sunken craft, was spelled out with hammer blows, Eadie, pressed against the hull, hearing them distinctly through the water. “Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—” went i Eadie's hammer, slowly spelling out the all-important question: “Is the gas bad?” “No,” came the response. “But the air—how long will you | be now?” Eadie, dreading to tell them the time he knew it would take to reach them, evaded the question. “How many are there?” he tapped back. “There are six. Please hurry.” Then again the half despairing question: “Will you be long now?” “We are doing everything posslble,” Eadie replied. to start the submarine to the surface. Meanwhile, the pontoons that raised the S-51 with her crew of dead after she went down off Block island in 1925, were being speeded here as fast as ships could drag them through the water and the first batch of three was expected this morning. The other three were en route, but were delayed when one pontoon broke from its tow line near New London. The terrible plight of the men still alive on the S-4 spurred the rescue workers to almost superhuman effort. It was thought the entire crew of forty men and officers had perished when the S-4 was rammed and sent to the bottom like a stone, but a diver, tapping on the steel hull in code with hammers, received a response that showed life still existed. Six in Torpedo Room Six men were in the torpedo room, with the water-tight doors shutting them off from the rest of the submarine. It was feared that the other thirty-four men aboard the badly crushed submersible were dead. Thomas Eadie, one of the Navy’s expert divers, was the first to descend to the S-4 after she was located. He crawled over the sunken craft, with a gaping hole amidships where the prow of the coast guard destroyer Paulding cut through it. He tapped constantly against the steel hull, listening for a response. When he reached the torpedo room, well up in the bow of the submarine, it came. Odds Against Rescue The Navy was doing everything possible, but the officers in charge of the work did not minimize the dire peril of the trapped men or the almost insurmountable task it would be to reach them before the fouling air became impossible to breathe. Navy men said it was possible they could stay alive for forty-eight hours, especially with the aid of the containers of extra oxygen believed to be in the torpedo room. Whether the submarine could be brought to the surface and opened within that time was a gamble with the odds in favor of the sea, fighting to keep the lives to which it had laid claim. Diver Eadie, reporting to Rear Admiral Brumby, said the conning tower had been wrecked and a gaping hole tom amidshlp. The control room was smashed and It was feared the officers of the submarine had been trapped in there with no chance for life. The compartment containing the oattery room and the crew quarters, which lies between the control room and the torpedo room in the bow, also was crushed. The stem also was damaged, Eadie said. It appeared that after

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the bow of the Paulding cut through amidships, the submarine scraped along the bottom of the destroyer before sinking and was twisted and torn. The damage was greater than that to the S-51, Eadie said. Others May Be Alive Once, Eadie said, he thought he heard a response to his signals from the stern, where the motor room lies, but he was far from certain. He was not definite enough to be able to guess that any more were alive aboard. The compartment where the six living men were trapped is the foremost in the submarine, next to the bow. At one end it is sealed by the torpedo tubes. At the other, water tight doors lead to the battery room and quarters. The torpedo room is a tiny compartment, not holding much air. Normally only about three men would be stationed there. It Is possible one or two others dived in there from the battery room. Names Imprisoned Men NEWPORT, R. 1., Dec. 19.—Roger L. Braley, until recently a member of the crew of the S-4, today told the United Press the names of three men he believes are among the six reported alive in the sunken submarine. Roger L. Short, .Booneville, Mo.; Frank Snizek, Ridgefield, N. J., and Russell A. Crabb, San Diego. Cal., and thought by Braley to be in the forward compartment awaiting rescue. “It is impossible to say who the other three men are. I would guess that one might be an officer and the other two members of the crew.” Asked what he thought the chances were of taking his former seamates out alive, Braley said: “I don’t think there is a chance, unless they can reach the trapped men very soon. It must be terribly cold down there and then, too, it is safe to say that the prisoners have nothing to eat. “Some of the compartments were equipped with emergency rations, but I am quite sure there was no food in the forward compartment.” Rescue Means Suggested Bu United Press MILFORD, Conn., Dec. 19.—Two possible methods for saying those trapped in the sunken submarine S-4 were suggested today by Simon Lake, submarine inventor. Under one plan, water would be kept from the submersible by air pressure rumped from above. Divers, carrying helmets and diving suits, would enter the craft through a holt to be cut in the bottom. According to Lake, the men In the S-4 then would be able to don the diver’s equipment and be pulled to the surface. The other plan would call for the raising of the submarine with derricks or pontoons. Lake believed the former method would be more likely to succeed. Coolidge Waits Word Bn United Press WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—President Coolidge awaited latest word from the scene of the sunken submarine S-4 today, with various means of communication keeping him in close touch with the situation. Information was relayed to him from the Navy Department and Secretary of the Navy Wilbur, using a private telephone, also kept him Informed. Wilbur worked late last night on orders sent to the Navy’s rescue craft. PASS HALF-WAY MARK IN AIR ENDURANCE TEST Aviators Fear “Gas” Will Not Last Long Enough to Set Record. Bu United Press SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Dec. I®. —The tri-motored “Spirit of California” had been in the air 28 hours at 10:23.38 a. m., Pacific time today, and a few minutes later passed the half-way mark in its attempt to set anew world’s endurance record. The plane seemed to be functioning excellently, but a radio message received during the morning had reported that Capt. Charles Kings-ford-Smlth, and Lieut. George Pond feared their gasoline supply would hot last long enough to break the record.

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