Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 301, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 April 1928 — Page 17
Second Section
CRIMINAL AGE FOUND LOWER YEARBYYEAR Comparison of Figures for 1913 With 1927-28 Reveals Decline. AVERAGE IS BELOW 21 Leniency Usually Shown to First Offenders in Robbery Cases. Thin If the second of several articles upon the “youthful crime” situation In Indianapolis as disclosed In survey made by Morris Moore of The Indianapolis staff. By MORRIS MOORE "His hand was shaking so I thought the gun would go off any minute. Os course I gave him the money. He was only a boy, apparently his first job; got away in an j automobile.” Such is the story of the filling station operator, the grocery store proprietor or thfe citizen held up on, the street, when he relates the crime in the office of Prosecutor William H. Remy. “I have heard the story so muchthat I can tell just what happened almost before the victim goes into | details,” said Remy. He was dis- j cussing the survey of Criminal: Court records just finished by The I Indianapolis Times, which brings to light the fact, well known to law- j yers and judges, that the major crimes are committed by boys under 21 years of age. Figures Compared Remy compared The Times figures for 1927 and the first three ' months of 1928 with some of his own, for 1913, just before the war, and for ten years later, when Indiana was “sobering up.” The average age of men guilty of this list of offenses in 1913, 1923 and the present is shown in the following table. Remy compiled the first two columns, The Times the third. Crime— 1913 1923 1927-28 Robberv 29 21 24.1 Burglary 30 21 (Ist degree) 24.2 ... ... (2d degree) 22.9 Auto banditry ~ ~ 21.3 Grand larceny ... 32 23 21 2 Vehicle taking 17 21.5 Unlawful possess 18.7 Remy takes the position that the increasing age shown in the crimes of robbery and burglary can be explained. He is of the opinion that the comparison is not a true picture in these instances, and his stand is supported by Criminal Judge James A. Collins, whose records were examined. Ages Get Lower The prosecutor’s table was compiled of all men charged with these offenses. The Times’ figures came from the judgment docket. A great many boys charged with robbery ■ and grand larceny are sentenced only for grand larceny. It Is often the case that Judge Collins, who is a firm believer in a sensible system of parole and suspended sentences, finds a boy of extreme youth charged with robbery and grand larceny, but sentences only on the latter. In this way, the Judgment docket shows the conviction only on the grand larceny, the lesser of the two charges. Remy believes the average ages of robbery and burglary would be down to 20 or 21 if each case charging these offenses were considered. In the years Remy has been prosecuting attorney, and the years before that that he was deputy, he has studied the crime situation as it affects youth, and has compiled many statistics for his own information. He is of the opinion that the age is getting lower and lower each year. Conviction records for the last two years show more than half the j men sentenced under these counts are minors, and five out of every six are under 25. Show Minors Leniency Between 21 are the “most dangerous ages,” according to Remy. It Is here that the “second offender" faces the court. If leniency has been used in the first, through Collins’ probation system, none will be used the second. The Indiana law causes them to be sentenced for indeterminate periods. For robbery it is five to twenty-one years. Collins has sent thirty-five minors to the reformatory for that period in the last two years. Five years is the minimum. Judge Collins’ views on the suspended sentence and probation system for boys will be explained in tomorrow’s article of this series. He also will explain through The Times the way the law governing minors who are first offenders is working in Indiana. SWING TO CRAWFORD Withdrawal of Risk Strengthens Milton Candidate. By Times Special LAFAYETTE, Ind., April 13. James Kirby Risk’s withdrawal from the primary contest for the Democratic nomination for Governor today lent strength to the candidacy of Earl Crawford, of Milton, former highway commissioner. Risk is in a hospital here with an infected foot and may be confined to bed for several weeks. "Bryan Democrats, dry Democrats, friends of the primary, advocates of Wilson-Bryan progressiveness and those who seek constitutional reform in Indiana,” Risk said in a statement, “should swing to Earl Crawford who is a courageous, clean and outstanding exponent of those fundamentals.” Risk’s withdrawal leaves seven in the Democratic gubernatorial race.
Entered as Second-class li'.i/ ter at Postoffice, Indlanapoli.
Spring and the Great Outdoors Call Em
ym III! ILL ni The call of the “ great grow in Indiana;” (center) J J||| On OK open spaces,” be they but a Mrs. John G. Saxon, 28.'+6 f ™ v % I fillll vacant lot, the back steps, X. Talbott St., in a fur coat, -4 - 'f- T*J or a twenty-by-twenty back I gathering dandelion greens V *-> 500-Room Hostelry to Risi yard garden, grips Indian- at Thirty-Fourth and Penn- * apolis once moi’e. Thus sylvania Sts., and “not car- l\ V-w <***£& 'M at Famous Northern we have (top) State En- ing who knows it;” Mayor 11 w s fj * Summer Resort. tomologist Frank N. Wal- L.Ert Slack (below) tuning lace, 8840 N. Capitol Ave., up his fishing rod while his i a■ onmuio .. v 1 ... BLAME LAID ON Stowaways DAM ENGINEER G ? e 2 ° T n hey T ' Disaster Held Result of Bad Hike North - r - LOS ANGELES, April 13.--WU- covered as stowaways on three ' j iam Mulholland, veteran construe- naval vessels, today announced vx " < TtT^ ; ;ion engineer, bore official responsi- they didn’t want to go back home reSPaßßlbfrMito-'. * lility today for the St. Francis dam and that they would hitch-hike to if-v lisaster. Philadelphia. ' Although no criminal prosecution The g i r i Si dressed in Navy ur.i- ■ —mm
The call of the “great open spaces,” be they but a vacant lot, the back steps, or a twenty-by-twenty back yard garden, grips Indianapolis once more. Thus we have (top) State Entomologist Frank N. Wallace, 8840 N. Capitol Ave., tinkering with flowers that “every one says will not
BLUE LAID ON DAMENBINEER Disaster Held Result of Bad Construction. Bn United Press LOS ANGELES, April 13.--WU-liam Mulholland, veteran construction engineer, bore official responsibility today for the St. Francis dam disaster. Although no criminal prosecution vas recommended, the coroner’s jury which investigated the collapse of the dam and the resulting loss of life found that Mulholland had used bad judgment in its construction. Mulholland is chief engineer for -the Los Angeles Water and Supply Department. The structure collapsed, the jury decided, because it was built upon an inferior rock structure and because the construction plans were faulty. Theories that the disaster might have been caused by dynamite or an earth movement were dismissed briefly. The jury, composed of engineers, criticised the water bureau for its laxity and censured State policies which permit one man to act entirely alone in the gigantic construction project. SCHOOL PLAY ACTOR DIES IN AUTO CRASH Youth Killed at Centerville on Trip for Coustumes. By United Presß RICHMOND, Ind., April 13. Preparations for a play to be given by pupils of Centerville high school ended in tragedy near here. Three members of the cast of “Pickles,” which was to have been given Thursday night, were driving to obtain costumes for the play when the automobile In which they rode skidded, struck a culvert, and overturned in a ditch. Robert Lane, 18, who was to have had the leading part in the show, was killed; Robert O’Melia, 16, sustained a fractured skull, and Russell Wambo escaped with minor bruises. All the boys were high school juniors. STORE GREETS VISITORS Hundreds See Spring Opening at Banner Furniture. Banner Furniture Company, 31 S. Meridian St., continued its “spring opening” today, entertaining hundreds of visitors at the store. Women inspecting the new spring furniture displays were presented with flowers. The event opened Wednesday and will continue until 9 p. m. Saturday. A special feature Is planned for 8:30 p. m. Saturday.
GLACIER DEPOSIT SHOWS MAN’S PRESENCE IN AMERICA 50,000 YEARS AGO
Bn defence Service V WASHINGTON, April 13. Digging along the edge of a country club golf course at Melbourne, Fla., Dr. J. W. Gidley, paleonthologist of the United States National Museum has discovered new and important evidence that men inhabited America more than 50,000 years ago.
The Indianapolis Times
grow in Indiana ;” (center) Mrs. John G. Saxon, 2846 N. Talbott St., in a fur coat, gathering dandelion greens at Thirty-Fourth and Pennsylvania Sts., and “not caring who knows it;” Mayor L. Ert Slack (beloiv) tuning up his fishing rod while his dog, “Glad Queen Alice,” looks on.
Stowaways Girls Hide Out on Navy Vessels; Now They’ll Hike North.
TV/ United Press KEY WEST, Fla., April 13. Four New Orleans girls, discovered as stowaways on three naval vessels, today announced they didn’t want to go back home and that they would hitch-hike to Philadelphia. The girls, dressed in Navy uniforms, were brought ashore and given tickets to their home city. They had been discovered when the three Navy vessels were two days out of the gulf. “We wanted to have some fun,” one of the girls said, in explanation of the prank that will lead to three different Navy investigations. The girls are Rose McGuire, 16, and Billy Lacer, who were aboard the U. S. S. Concord; Flossie Rice, who was on the U. S. S. Sands, and Pamilda Avery, who was on the U. S. S. Dobbin. They said they boarded the vessel Sunday night. They claimed to have made arrangements for food for the long cruise of the fleet. All the vessels were en route to Northern ports after maneuvers in Cuban waters and had stopped at the Southern port merely for a day. The presence of the girl passengers was not discovered until the ships were well out at sea again on the homeward voyage. Details of their finding were not given in the brief official messages received at the Navy Department. FUNERAL SERVICES FOR WILLIAM SWAIN SET Pioneer Motion Picture Man Will Be Buried Saturday. Funeral services for William M. Swain, 70, pioneer motion picture man here, will be held at 3:30 p. m. Saturday at the home, 2537 E. Riverside Dr., where he died Thursday, after a short illness. Burial will be at Crown Hill cemetery. A native of Cincinnati, Mr. Swain came to this city thirty-eight years ago and had been active in business until his retirement four years ago. He was one of the first to operate neighborhood moving picture houses and to take moving pictures of the speedway race. He founded and operated the old Indianaoplis Calcium Light Company and was also a pioneer in the box lunch business. Surviving him are the widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Swain; two daughters, Mrs. Helen Weesner and Mrs. Ruth Roberts, and a son, George A. Swain, all of Indianapolis.
Dr. Gidley has just returned from Florida, bringing with him an arrt v point found four feet below the surface of the golf links, and twenty inches down in an undisturbed deposit of Pleistocene age. A few feet away, in the same layer of compact sand, were the scattered bones of mastodon, one
INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, APRIL 13,1928
SKYROCKET DEVICE RUNS GERMAN CAR
By United Press BERLIN, April 13.—A new automobile receiving motive power from a device based on the repercussion principle similar to Goddard’s skyrocket attained a speed of sixty-two and one-half miles an hour within eight seconds in tests at the Opel works today. A representative of the company said the device was the first successful step toward construction of skyrocket airplanes upon which the Opel concern is working. He expressed the conviction that an un-
SEARCH ITALY FOR TRACE OF BOMBERS
By United Press MILAN, Italy, April 13. The forces of law searched Italy today for the authors of a plot to assassinate King Victor Emmanuel wl.de the force of public opinion reassured the monarch of his subjects’ loyalty. The death toll resulting from the explosion Thursday of a powerful electrical grenade bomb, hidden in the base of a scrolled lamp post in the Piazza Giulio Cesare, reached twenty-three today, according to an unofficial announcement. Os the forty seriously injured, nine died in hospitals. Four women and three children were among the victims of the plot to assassinate the ruler, whose life was saved because of a delay of a few minutes in reaching the Milan fairgrounds. Among the first to renew his expression of loyalty to the King was Benito Mussolini, the administrative ruler of Italy. Today, retaining the same royal dignity for which he is known, King Victor Emmanuel decided to leave for Lecco to inaugurate a tuberculosis home. Then he will depart for Rome, the
of the great elephants generally supposed to have disappeared from this country long before man appeared on this side of the world. Careful study of the geologic features of the region has convinced Dr. Gridley that both the arrow head and the prehistoric elephant were deposited there in
manned aerial vehicle this year would be able to penetrate beyond the atmospheric envelope of this planet. The representative said tests, secretly conducted this year, indicated that vehicles driven by the new skyrocket device would be able to better all existing speed records. He said a test of the device soon would be made on a train in an attempt to better the train speed record held by the British. The flew device was constructed according to plans of the German engineer, Max Valier.
walls of which were plastered today with tri-colored placards: “Viva Sovera.” PLANS FOR DELAWARE APARTMENT PUSHED Zoning Board Grants Permit Over Protests of Residents. Erection of a five-story, fortyeight family apartment, is planned at 1434 N. Delaware St., by the Foster Engineering Company. City Board of Zoning Appeal granted permission to erect the apartment on second hearing. It was denied because of objections of property owners at the first hearing. Owners of several fine homes along Delaware St., protested the erection of apartments in the district. Works Board President Oren S. Hack and City Engineer A. H. Moore voted against the project. J. Friedman, who planned a theater at 2525 Shelby St., was denied a rehearing by the board. George Rinier was attorney for property owners protesting the project.
the Pleistocene period, in the age when northern America was in the icy grip of great glaciers. There is no possibility, he said, that the arrow could have found its way into this layer of sand, at a later time, without leaving traces in the layers of swampy soil lying above the Pleistocene layer.
STATE PLANS BIG HOTEL AT DIMS PARK 500-Room Hostelry to Rise at Famous Northern Summer Resort. FORMAL OPENING MAY 1 Six Recreation Centers Are Being Prepared for Visiting Throngs. Construction of a 500-room modern hotel at Dunes Park on Lake Michigan Is planned by the Indiana conservation department, it was learned today. Financial backing for the hotel, which ultimately will belong to the State, probably will be given by Chicago individuals interested in development of the beauty spot as an Indiana, hio and Illinois pleasure resort, it was learned. Arrangements are being made by the conservation department to erect bath Jiouses on Waverly beach for the thousands who frequent the dunes during the summer. During the three summer months
in 1927 that the Dunes Park was open the resort, with its limited hotel facilities, entertained more than 125,000 people. Expectations are that 200,000 will visit the park this year. All six of the State parks will be opened formally May 1 and work on repairs and additions is being rushed. Several thousand dollars’ worth of playground equipment will be installed in the parks and additional parking facilities arranged. Anew swimming pool will be built at McCormick’s Creek Canyon Park in Owen County. Additions are being constructed to the Clifty Falls Park Inn and arrangements have been made to handle twice the 91,000 who visited the park in 1927. More than one-half of the visitors at the State parks are out-of-State people, who have been attracted by the Nation-wide publicity given Indiana’s beautiful parks. Illness Held Suicide Causa By United Press WARSAW, Ind., Thomas Hendrickson, 57, formerly of Delphi, Ind., committed suicide here today, according to a police report. Despondency over ill health was believed to have been the motive.
ADVANCE REVENGE THEORY IN MURDER
By Times Special BLOOMINGTON, Ind., April 13. —Authorities are following anew clew in the mystery slaying near here early Sunday of Orville Wires, 20, called to the door of his father’s home and shot down. Young Wire and his father, Peter Wire, were arrested nearly four years ago in Lawrence County, following the death of Virgil Haft, Negro, and this clew has given basis for a theory that the slaying Sunday may be traced to vengeful friends or relatives of Hart. The Negro’s body was found in
TMMEDIATELY upon making the discovery, Dr. Gridley telegraphed to the Smithsonian Institution; and Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts Jr., of the Bureau of American Ethnology, hurried down to Melbourne to see the arrow before it was removed from the layer of sand.
Second Section
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On Tick ’ Pawnshop Is End of Trail for Watch Sought Five Years by Police.
READERS of thrillers have heard of detectives trailing their man years and years. This is a story of how Indianapolis detectives trailed a stolen watch for five years and ten months, finally recovered it and restored it to its owner. When The Times was located in its old building at Meridian and Pearl Sts., five years and ten months ago, someone stole Elmer Van Horn’s watch from The Times’ mailing room. Van Horn, a Times’ mailer, lives at 6174 Crittenden Ave. Now it was a good watch and Van Horn missed its cheerful tick-tock, but many months ago he gave yp hopes of ever getting it back. He reckoned without the Indianapolis police force, however, which gets its watch, sometimes, even though it does take five years. A full description of the watch was listed in the stolen goods record at detective headquarters when it was purloined. u u
A FEW days ago detectives, checking over a pawnshop reports, discovered that Van Horn’s watch just had been pawned. The pawnshop proprietor was ordered to call police when the person who had pawned came to redeem it. In the meantime, the pawner' of the watch one evening had imbibed too much of the forbidden beverage and ventured forth in a public place to wind up in city prison on an intoxication charge. A professional bondsman demanded security when he sought bond and he promised the bondsman the watch. When the bondsman and the man went to the pawnshop to get the watch, Detectives Harley Reed and George Stewart were sent to the scene. Reed and Stewart turned the watch over to Van Horn and returned the man who had pawned it to jail on the intoxication charge, while they investigated his story that he bought the timepiece three years ago from a cousin, who found it. GIRL’S DEATH CHARGED TO TWO ELDERLY MEN Dwarf and Companion on Trial at English for Murder. By Times Special ENGLISH, Ind., April 13. Charged with the second degree murder of Miss Ruth J. Strother, 18, as a result of her death following a criminal operation, two elderly men are on trial in Crawford Circuit Court here. The accused Luther Sloan, 66, a dwarf, and George Bullington, 60. The girl was employed by Sloan as a ho’.isekeeper. Arrests were made in February after Miss Sloan’s body had been exhumed and an examination made. > LAUDS G. 0. P. RECORD
People of Indiana Sound, Fair In Judgement, Says Schortemeicr. By Times Special INDIANA HARBOR, Ind., April 13.—“ The Republican party is ready to go to the people in both State and Nation on the official record as made,” declared Frederick E. Schortemeier, secretary of State, and candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor, in an address here Thursday night. “The people of Indiana are sound and fair in their judgement,” he said: 1 “They do their ora thinking and reach their own conclusions, and this is at it should be.” FORDCHATSWITH KING Spends Two Hours at Tea With British Ruler. By United Press LONDON.. April 13.—Henry Ford took tea with King George and Queen Mary at Lady Astor’s house last night. The American-born member of parliament presented Ford to the King and Queen at her home in Cliveden, near Taplow, Buckinghamshire. Ford and the British royalty talked two hours. The automobile manufacturer Is spending the weekend at Cliveden.
the wreckage of an automobile which had plunged over an embankment near Donaldson cave. His body bore a wound which at that time was declared to have been inflicted with a blunt instrument. Peter Wire was not indicted in the Hart case. The son was charged with first degree murder, but on trial, a jury disagreed. Later the charge was dismissed on the State’s motion. The Wires were said to have been seen with the Negro shortly before his body was found.
Dr. Gridley states that his chief achievement In the expedition was the geologic study of the area which proves conclusively that the human skull which he found at Melbourne in 1925 was deposted there in Pleistocene times and could not have been intruded into the ancient layer at a later date.
6 INDUSTRIES ENTER INDIANA IN ONE WEEK
Columbus, Kokomo, Richmond and Ft. Wayne Benefited. 875 MINERS WILL WORK Wage Agreements Affect Clinton and Jasonville Residents. By CIIARLES C. STONE State Editor, The Times Indiana gained an average of one new industry for each business day of the week ended today, a survey of business and industrial conditions reveals. Three new industries have located In Columbus. They are R. J. Dickey & Sons, manufacturing window cleaning devices; L. A. Simons, old hickory furniture and novelties, and Ed Clark, cement brick and sewer tile. The Service Glass and Mirror Company is anew concern at Kokomo. it will manufacture plate glass products. Operations are to begin within ninety days by the Automotive Corporation of America at Richmond where it has bought holding of the George W. Davis Motor Car Company and will produce an eightcylinder automobile. $3,000,000 Concern in Deal Within thirty days the Ft. Wayne Rolling Mill, purchased at receiver’s sale by the Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Cos., Chicago, will be ready for resumption of operations. The new owners have assets of $3,000,000 as of Jan. 1 this year. Plant expansion programs noted during the week included that of the Showers Brothers Furniture Company, Bloomington, which will erect a SIOO,OOO experimental laboratory. A severe blow was dealt Brazil during the week by removal of the General Cigar Company plant to Bay City, Mich., but the Chamber or Commerce is engaged in efforts to obtain another cigar factory. The General plant employed 250 persons when on full production
Mines to Be Worked Wage agreements have been signed which will mean employment °L 87 ? ? oal miners - The agreements affect the Deering Mine, No. and, employing several men whose homes are in Clinton and two large mines of the Bon Ayre Coal Company, near Jasonville. Operations will bo resumed soon at the River Valley Coal Mining Company pit near Edwardsport, following repair of damage caused by fire Os tha men employed at the mine, about sixty live in Bicknell. Building operations noted during the week include the following: BLOOMINGTON— Award of con-, tract to the North Construction Company, Terre Haute, for erection here of SIOO,OOO building for the Indiana Be’i Telephone Company The Bloomington Limestone Company plans ereefion of a $75,000 office building, RISING SUN--A sixty-four room hotel and sanitarium will be built by the Hoosier State Mineral Hotel Company two miles south of here. ANDERSON—The J. C. Penney Company, chain store operator, has purchased real estate here as a site for anew store building, which it proposes to make one of the finest in its chain. Building will start within three weeks.
$200,000 Hrspital Nearer NEWCASTLE—Another step to- | ward building a $200,000 Henry ! County hospital here will be taken April 20 when the county council meets to authorize a SIOO,OOO bond issue, matching SIOO,OOO raised by public subscripiton, carrying out an agreement of last June. CRISMAN Plans are nearly completed for erection of anew $75,000 high school building here. EVANSVILLE The Evansville Ice and Cold Storage Company will build a cold storage plant at a cost of $40,000 to $50,000. MT. VERNON—Contracts have been awarded for erection of a $155,000 high school building. MICHIGAN CITY—The S. 8. Kresge Cos. store building is to be remodeled at a cost of $35,000 Other conditions in the State are noted as follows: COLUMBUS Despite prospects of Idleness in several Indiana canning factories during the comingseason, the Morgan Packing Company will operate its plants here and at Hope, officials announce. Contracts with * growers call for higher prices than paid last year. A large number of unfl'led orders are on the books of the Lewellen Manufacturing Company which has Just completed additions and re-ar-rangement of plant machinery and enlarged office space. $1,049 in Wages Daily GREENWOOD—The pay roll of the Noblitt-Sparks Industries plant has reached $1,049 daily. April production will set anew record, officials declare. MARION—The Case Radio Company this week booked an order for 1,500 radio sets. Arthur E. Case, general manager, predicts 1928 will be the best year in the company’s history. ALEXANDRIA Production has started in new Plant No. 2 of the Banner Rock Products Company. MUNClE—Production of automobile batteries will begin early in July in the old Durant automobile plant, recently bought by General Motors Corporation as Plant No 9 of the Delco-Remy Corporation, General Motors subsidiary.