Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 306, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 April 1928 — Page 1

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JURY WILL GET SINCLAIR CASE BY SATURDAY Defense Rests Suddenly; Fall’s Deposition Is Not Used. ARGUMENTS ON FRIDAY Dozen Old Friends Describe Good Reputation of Oil Magnate. BY HERBERT LITTLE United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, April 19—The conspiracy case against Harry F. Sinclair will be in the hands of a jury sometime Saturday, and the oil multi-millionaire may hear the verdict before that day is over. Presentation of evidence was ended abruptly and unexpectedly today. Reliable reports that Sinclair had decided to take the stand were circulated in the court room up to the mid-morning recess, but instead Martin W. Littleton, Sinclair’s legal adviser, announced at 11:12 a. m., “the defense rests.” The Government then presenetc? perfunctory documentary evidence and sought to advise the jury of the existence of the deposition of former Secretary of Interior Albert B. Fall, who was originally charged jointly with Sinclair with conspiring to defraud the Government in the Teapot Dome lease. Withhold Fall’s Evidence The deposition was not offered by the defense as expected, and the prosecutors wanted to let the jury know of it, as they contend the story would not materially strengthen Sinclair’s case. Justice Jennings Bailey said he would rule early Friday on the ad- | missibility of the evidence that the deposition exists and is sealed in the court’s records. Justice Bailey immediately excused the jury until Friday when the closing arguments will begin. Each side will get three hours, it was understood. The jury of twelve men ranging in age from 22 to 58, seemed relieved at the prospect of a verdict in the next few days. This would enable them to return home from the guarded dormitory room on the third oor of the courthouse where they have been locked up since the trial started a week ago last Monday. Aided by Old Neighbors The closing feature of the defense was the glowing testimony of a dozen oil men, neighbors and associates of Sinclair, including Finley Peter Dunne, famous humorist, writer of the “Mr. Dooley,” that Sinclair’s reputation for honesty and fair dealing was “very good” up to May, 1925, when the conspiracy indictment was voted. The last defense witness before the close of the case was James F. Allen, New York broker. Allen said the oil man’s reputation was “good.” Men who were youths with the famous man when he was a drug store clerk in Independence, Kas., previously had testified for Sinclair. M. L. Trubee, partner with Sinclair in 1906 to 1908 in ownership of a professional ball earn, testified. Former Senator David Elkins of West Virginia testified he has known Sinclair for ten years and that his reputation was “good.” Reputation Excellent Albert Daingerfield of New York, secretary of the jockey club which manager New York racing, testified that the oil man’s reputation was “excellent.” Others were H. W. Famum, Chicago broker; Richard Henry Williams, New York coal man, and L. L. Humphrey of Independence, Kan. Sinclair sat impassive as the witnesses painted the attractive picture of his character. Patrick McGovern, one of Sinclair’s neighbors in exclusive Great Neck, Long Island, testified Sinclair’s reputation was “first class” among his acquaintances.

BILL CUTS MAIL RATES Senate Seeks Reduction to Level of 1920 Scale. By United Press WASHINGTON, April 19.—Rates on second class mail will be reduced to the 1920 level if Congress adopts a bill reported favorable late Wednesday by the Senate Postoffice Committee. As passed by the House, the bill provided for return to the 1921 rate schedule but the Senate committee voted further reduction. The committee also recommended that the service charge on parcel post be discontinued and the rate on third-class mail be reduced from IV2 cents to 1 cent per ounce. SIGN~PACT WITH ITALY Kellogg and Ambassador Affix Signatures to Treaty. By United Press WASHINGTON, April 19.—Secretary of State Kellogg and Italian Ambassador De Martino today affixed their signatures to an abritration treaty between the United States and Italy. The pact, the second of a series of eighteen being negotiated with various countries, is identical with the French abritration treaty signed here Feb. 6.

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The Indianapolis Times l 1 air and colder tonight with fiost, lowest temperature 30; Friday fair and slightly warmer.

VOLUME 39—NUMBER 306

Stutz Wins and Loses Long Races Black Hawk Is Forced Out of 24-Hour Event With Hispano. (Pictures on Page 2) The Hispano-Suiza, which won the twenty-four-hour endurance race against one Stutz Black Hawk this morning when the Indianapo-lis-made car was forced out of the race by a broken connecting rod, was defeated in a three-and-a-half-hour exhibition race by another Black Hawk at the Indiana Motor Speedway today. The Stutz won by three laps, having traveled 265 miles when the race ended at 1 p. m., at an average of 75.71 miles an hour. The French car had covered 257.5 miles at an average of 73.57. F. E. Moskovics, president of the Stutz Motor Car Company, who bet Charles T. Weyman, of Paris, France, owner and driver of the Hispano $25,000 the Stutz would win the twenty-four hour race conceded the event to the Hispano when the car went to the pits for the ninth time at 8:21 a. m. He arranged for the second race between another Black Hawk and the Hispano which was run from 9:30 to 1. The Hispano had made 1,357.5 miles and the Stutz only 732.5 miles when the big race was stopped. The Hispano averaged 70.14 miles an hour. The Stutz average, slashed by frequent engine trouble and long hours in the pits was only 38.69 miles an hour. Nine Hours in Pits During the nineteen hours the Stutz spent nine hours and twentythree minutes in the pits. The Stutz went in for the follow- j ing reasons: Twice for valve trou-! ble; once for anew valve spring, once for a cylinder head leak, twice | for connecting rod repairs and the j other times for tires, gas and oil. j The ninth and last trip was for the second broken connecting rod. In contrast with this are the fourteen pit trips of the Hispano. Most of these trips were made for con-! versational purposes and to send! telegrams to friends and motor | enthusiasts in this country, England and France. Weyman took the wheel of the foreign car shortly after day-break this morning from Bloch, who had driven since midnight. Claim Loss Due to Jinx The Hispano changed tires during the heavy thunderstorm late Wednesday night and after the track dried put on another set of tires. During the most severe stages of the storm, the Hispano retired to the pits for sixteen minutes. The foreign roadster had trouble with one of its lights this morning and was forced to take six minutes out. The Stutz in the second race was No. 6, which had been on exhibition in the infield Wednesday afternoon. The drivers stepped heavy on the accelerators at the start. The Stutz speeders were intent on proving that the car has speed and stamina and that the failure in the first race was of the jinx variety.

FORD PLM READY City Assembly Works Will Open in Three Weeks. Reopening of the Indianapolis assembly plant of the Ford Motor Company within three weeks was indicated today. Manager George Steinmetz said he could not give the exact date for the reopening. He said former employes will be hired before new labor is taken on. Workmen have been revamping equipment to handle the new models for several weeks. SEEKS~MARKET REPAIRS Prepare Council Appeal for Passage of $35,000 Bond Issue. Passage of a bond issue for about $35,000 to repair city market and Tomlinson Hall will be asked of the new city council by City Market Master Springsteen. Springsteen has urged repair of the market since he became marketmaster several months ago. The building has been neglected for years, the repair program having been shelved by numerous boards. Reroofing, painting of the inside of the market and repair of windows and doors will be recommended by Springsteen.

FIND ELOPERS’ MOTHER Wires From St. Louis After Search for Twin Daughters. Mrs. Margaret Parr, 524 W. New York St., who has been keeping Lucille and Henrietta Williamson, 14-year-old twins, who eloped with a neighbor boy last Friday while the parents have been searching for their daughters, received a wire from the mother today from St. Louis, Mo. The girls’ parents left by auto to hunt their daughters as soon as they learned of the elopement last Friday, and did not know the girls got only as far as Plainfield and were returned Saturday. Mrs. Parr immediately wired the mother that the girls are here.

HOLD ‘SLAYER’ IN HALL-MILLS MURDER CASE Wait Word From New Jersey Officials Checking Confession Details. KILLED PAIR FOR $5,000 Prisoner Charges Relative of Dead Woman Paid for Crime. BY DON A. HIGGINS United Press Staff Correspondent EL RENO, Okla., April 19.—A square-jawed, bushy-haired man of 29, who startled the country Wednesday with the sudden announcement that he was the slayer in the famous Hall-Mills murder case, was held incommunicado here today. Authorities, skeptical of Elwin F. Allen’s confession, awaited word from New Jersey officials, who are checking the details of the confession. Allen reopened the widely known murder mystery with a 2,000-word confession in which he described in detail how he purportedly was hired a dentist, a relative of Mrs. Eleanor Mills, to kill her and the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall near New Brunswick, N. J., the night of Sept. 14, 1922. Woman Was Accomplice The* relative ordered the killing because the family had been “disgraced,” Allen charged. A woman, whose name he could not reveal because of his love for her, helped him murder the couple, he said. The name of the dentist, a resident of Elizabeth, N. J., was withheld by authorities here until his story could be investigated. Sheriff T. C. Shacklett refused to allow any one to interview Allen The prisoner, an adventurer who has served penitentiary terms in Connecticut and Oklahoma, maintained he was the mysterious slayer, however, and said he would return willingly to Essex County, New Jersey, to face trial for murder. If his story proves to be a hoax, officers here will be at a loss to explain Allen’s motive. If he is sincere, they believe he was moved to ret>entance by religious fervor. “I'm tired of rambling and dodging the law,” he told them. “I want to unburden my conscience.” The story, as far as officers here could determine, tallied with the circumstances of the murder, for which Mrs. Hall and her brothers, Willie and Henry Stephens, twice were tried and acquitted. Paid $5,000 for Crime Allen received “$5,000 and a car,” for committing the crime, he said. The confession told of his first meeting with the Elizabeth dentist and of the offer; how Hall and Mrs. Mills were pointed out to him; how he and his woman companion followed the couple on the fatal night, forcing them from a motor car near Elizabeth; how he and the woman shot them and how he collected his money, gave his companion most of it, and fled the country. His efforts to hide carried him into Mexico, then back to the United States. Allen was brought here late in January to face a burglary charge. He has served two prison terms in Connecticut on ! similar charges and one in the McAlester, Okla., penitentiary for forgery. He made his confession to Sheriff Shacklett, County Attorney W. P. Morrison and William Hutchins, his jailer. Find Flaws in Story Bn United, Brest SOMERVILLE, N. J., April 19. While New Jersey authorities are inclined to place little credence in the statement of Elwin F. Allen that he killed the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall and Mrs. Eleanor Mills, they intend to make a thorough investigation. The New Jersey officials said there were several points of the statement in variance with the known facts of the case. Included among them were: That the murders occurred in 1921 instead of 1922. Rev. Mr. Hail and Mrs. Mills were seen walking in De Russy’s Lane shortly before they were found murdered, whereas the statement said they were in a motor car. No dentist is known at Elizabeth, N. J., who is a relative of either of the slain couple.

QUAKE AGAIN ROCKS STRICKEN BALKANS; FEAR HEAVY DEATH TOLL IN BULGARIA

By United Press BERLIN, April 19.—An earthquake of serious proportions rocked the Balkans during the night. Latest dispatches from Belgrade, Sofia, Bucharest and Athens indicates the earthquake centered in Philippopolis, Bulgaria, where, it was feared, there were many casualties. The earthquake was also felt in Jugo-Slavia, Rumania and Macedonia. Several houses in Bucharest were damaged.

INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY. APRIL 19,1928

Filling Facts By Times Special TERRE HAUTE, Ind., April 19.—1n the days before prohibition, there were 253 stomach filling stations here. There are now 153 auto tank filling stations. Police gathered the statistics after an unidentified person put this telephone query to headquarters: “Are there as many gasoline filling stations in Terre Haute now as there were saloons back in the wetter days?”

HEFLIN'S RAGE AGAINSTIRRED Report of Carolina Ban Is Hotly Denied. By United Brega WASHINGTON, April 19.—A newspaper report that county officials in North Carolina plan to keep Senator Heflin of Alabama from speaking there while Governor A1 Smith of New York is their vacation guest was called a “villainous and lying statement” by Heflin in a speech before the Senate today. “This statement was printed in the New York World under the signature of Frank L. Hopkins,” Heflin said. “I repudiate and spurn this newspaper man. I have not been invited to speak in Asheville, N. C., but I am going to Winston-Salem and Durham.” Senator Simmons (Dem.), North Carolina, agreed with Heflin that the newspaper report must be unfounded. He said the people of North Carolina, “most liberal in the world,” always had welcomed Heflin and undoubtedly would do so again. ASHEVILLE. N. C., April 19. Despite repeated assertions of Governor A1 Smith of New York that he is not interested in politics for the time being, his vacation here in the South each day is tinged with politics. Political leaders with telegrams, public notices of their support of the New York Governor for the Democratic presidential nomination and predictions of his election, have brought this into being.

REVERSE ELECTION CASE Vigo County 1920 Contest Suit Ordered Tried Again. The Supreme Court today reversed the decision of the Vigo County Superior Court in the election case of Forest Kensinger vs. George A. Schaal. The case centered around the Vigo County treasurer’s election in 1920, when Kensinger received 16,979 votes, as compared with 17,044 for Schaal. Kensinger protested, but the Vigo court finally allowed Schaal to serve. This verdict was reversed today and Kensinger’s protest must now be tried again, despite the fact that the term of office ended in 1924. FLOOD BILL REVISED House Factions Send Draft to Coolidge. By United Brrgg WASHINGTON, April 19. A compromise Mississippi flood relief plan was drafted today at a conference of Republican House leaders and southern Mississippi Valley Congressmen. It will be presented later to President Coolidge for his approval. Those present declined to reveal the nature of the compromise agreement, stating publication might disrupt their plans. It will be presented to the President late today or Friday. LAY FARM BILL PLANS House Debate on Aid to Start Aftei Flood Measure Passes. By United Ureas WASHINGTON, April 19.—Plans for House consideration of the Haugen farm relief bill next week were prepared today by the House Rules Committee, which gave the measure right-of-way after the Mississippi flood control bill is passed. Twelve hours of general debate were allotted for the Haugen bill with the option of a night session in addition if necessary. The bill probably will be taken up Tuesday. Exchange Seat at Record Price By United Ureas NEW YORK, April 19.—Sale of a Stock Exchange seat has been arranged at $395,000, anew high record and an increase of $20,000 over the last previous sale, it was announced today.

Bulgaria, already suffering from an earthquake Saturday which took fifty lives, destroyed 3,000 homes and resulted in the injury of 200 persons, was hardest hit by the fresh tremors, which caused more than $1,000,000 damage. By United Brest SOFIA, Bulgaria, April 19.—The physical appearance of the terri-tory-between Haskovo and Givreso —where an earthquake did great damage last week—has been com-

BREMEN CREW TO START U. S. DASHSUNDAY Spare Parts and Propellor Are Being Rushed to Greenly Island. FRAULEIN GUIDES PLANS Miss Junkers Gives Up Idea of Making Flight to ‘Tip of Nowhere.’ BY CARL D. GROAT United Press Staff Correspondent MONTREAL, Quebec, AprU 19. Fraulein Herta Junkers, blonde daughter of the Rhineland and exponent of “German efficiency," told the United Press in an exclusive interview today sne hopes Baron Von Kuenefeld, Captain Koehl and their Irish companion, Maj. James Fitzmaurice, can fly from Greenly Island by the end of the week—“maybe Sunday.” She revealed, too, that she herself has practically abandoned any idea of making the perilous journey to the winter-wracked island in the Straits of Belle Isle, the “top of nowhere.” She is at Murray Bay directing relief plans. Miss Junkers said her talk with Maj. James Fitzmaurice, member of the Bremen’s crew, had convinced her the Bremen could be put in shape with the equipment now on the way. Fitzmaurice. she said, will return to Greenly Island in the plane that carries the propellor to the Bremen. She said she would return to New York to join in the welcome to the fliers. Winter is still in the northland. Montreal was visited by a snow storm today and conditions farther northeast toward the “tip of nowhere” are such as to make flying a real venture still. However, at Greenly Island preparations for the early takeoff for New York are going forward. A runway has been cleared and the Germans are ready for the ririval of their benzol and spare parts. Irish Flier to Return Bn United Ureas MURRAY BAY, Quebec, April 19. —Sunday may find the trans-At-lantic airplane Bremen winging down the American coast line toward New York, it became known today. Maj. James Fitzmaurice, the Irish Free State flier, told the United Press today he hoped to return to Greenly Island Friday with repairs for the Bremen and that the start to New York might be made Sunday. The Irish major reached this fringe of civilization at 3:29 py m. Wednesday, after having spent three days getting out of Greenly Island. In an airplane of the Canadian government, piloted by Duke Schiller, who braved a storm to fly onto Greenly Island, Sunday, Fitzmaurice arrived here after a short flight from Clarke City, Quebec. Immediately after arrival he conferred with Fraulein Herta Junkers over the best method of getting fuel and repair parts to the two Germans who now guard the transAtlantic craft.

Welcome Planned By United Press NEW YORK. April 19.—While spare parts and a propeller are being rushed to the crew of the German plane Bremen at Greenly Island, cities of the United States are preparing elaborate plans to welcome the trans-Atlantic fliers. New York is preparing its typical wild hero welcome, including great showers of ticker tape, a parade and ceremonies at the city hall. Washington plans a reception seldom paralleled. The fliers are expected there Thursday. President Coolidge will receive the three aviators at the White House shortly after their arrival. On the way from New York the plane will be met by an army aerial squadron. At the field the fliers will be received by Secretary of State Kellogg, Secretary of War Davis, the German ambassador and the Irish Fi’ee State minister. Meanwhile Mayor William Hale Thompson received word that the three aviators would reach Chicago, April 28. A committee pi 300 has been appointed to draw up celebration plans.

pletely altered as result of the temblors. Hundreds of springs have been started and some hot water springs, long dormant, have again become active. Cracks a yard wide have appeared. The earth disturbances continue and Tuesday there were fifteen shocks which destroyed the remaining houses at Givreso. A United Press correspondent has just returned from the area

QUEEN OF SKY LAND

Fraule in Junkers Child of Science

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Miss Herta Junkers and her pilot, Fred Melchior, are pictured at the left on a wing of the F-13, sister ship of the Bremen. Below, at the right, is a close-up of the famous airwoman; above is her brother, Erhardt Junkeds, a skilled mechanic and the third member of the rescue party.

OPEN DRIVE ON MAD 000 PERIL County and City Asked to Curb Rabies. Marion County and Indianapolis health authorities were asked in letters today by Dr. W. F. King, State health board secretary, to plan methods of preventing spread of rabies here. This action was taken on recommendation of the health board at its meeting Wednesday. Attention of the board was called to the biting of seven persons Friday by a dog whose brain, after laboratory inspection, revealed it was suffering from rabies. “Marion County has been suffering from a series of mad dog bites for the past year. I have held several conferences with city and county health authorities in an effort to effect a curb, but nothing definite seems to have been done by these health authorities,” Dr. King said. Responsibility for such outbreaks are placed directly upon local authorities by State law and local officials must protect the public from mad dogs. This can only be achieved. Dr. King said, by having every dog showing a tendency to bite, locked up for observation. ‘AWAKETOCROOKS' U. S. Ready for Political Revolt, Says Jim Reed. By United Ureas WASHINGTON, April 19.—“ The people are awake to political issues and are ready for just such a revolt against crooks nationally as they were against crooks locally in the recent Illinois primary,” Senator James A. Reed declared today upon his return from a three weeks’ campaign tour. Reed characterized as “ridiculous fiction” a story printed in a morning newspaper here that ho was dissatisfied with tactics of campaign leaders for Governor A1 Smith. He said he had returned to Washington in accordance with a schedule adopted three weeks ago, and that he would go to New York Friday night for a speech there.

and reported seeing the towns of Borisovgrad and Tchierpan in ruins. More than 3,000 houses were destroyed in the two places. Techpan was destroyed and thirteen neighboring villages were crushed. There are hundreds of needy victims of the disaster, many of whom now are living in tents. The minister of war personally is directing the relief measures while King Boris already has visited the district. v

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BY IIORTENSE SAUNDERS NEA Service Writer NEW YORK, April 19.—Tall, slender, nimble, as srhart in looks as in mind —that is Herta Junkers, aviatrix aeronautical engineer, and vice president, if you please, of the great Junkers Company of Germany. She is the daughter of Hugo Junkers, designer of the transAtlantic, airplane Bremen, and is in Canada today, directing rescue plans for the fliers who spanned the Atlantic. She probably knows more about aircraft, its construction and performance, theoretical and practical, than any other woman in the world. She is no stunt flier like Thea Rasche. She is no Ruth Elder, eager to have the wind of adventure blowing in her face. She is an airwoman of the scientific sort. # # SHE has the same easy familiarity that an expert horsewoman has with a horse. She looks much more like a rider, in her gray habit with the tan leather boots, than she does like a flier—until she pulls on her aviation cap and coat. She treats her big Junkers plane —the one that flew to the Bremen’s aid —as if it were a living mechanism. You feel she would coax it along understandingly if it got temperamental, and would handle it firmly if it became skittish. Even with Fred Melchior at the controls and her brother Erhardt in the cabin, you feel the plane is actually manned and directed by this very efficient German woman. She took off from Curtiss field, for Montreal, as casually as if she were going for a cross country ride. She paid no attention to the crowd. Her interest lay in getting aid to the stranded trans-Atlantic fliers, not in any sensation she might be creating herself. Half her life, and she Is now 30, she has been working with airplanes. During the war, she left her university and entered her lather’s factory. a a a “TTI7'E were short of help,” she W explained in a very musical voice, in excellent English. “The men were needed for service at the front. For six years I worked in the research department, testing wing contours in wind tunnels and studying problems of aerodynamics. “My father, you see, is both a metallurgist and an engineer. As a metallurgist it was his theory that whatever could be made of wood and fabric also could be made of metal. He conceived the idea of the metal plane when aviation was in its early stages. “The idea being new, every one laughed at us. Even the scientists called our machines ‘tin boxes.’ The German government scorned them. So we had to convince the scientific world that they were superior to wood and fabric planes.” Today, the Junkers experts can be pardoned for saying “I told you so.” Besides her highly scientific pursuits, Fraulein Junkers is an expert with an automobile. She was born in Dessau, Germany, and is one of nine children, most of whom are interested in aeronautics.

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BIRGER, GANG LEADER, DIES ONFLOWS Notorious Gunman Pays by Noose for Murder of < Illinois Mayor. HEAVY GUARD AT SCENE Throng Mills Around Jail as Criminal Goes to His Doom. By United Press BENTON. 111., April 19.—Charlie Birger, one of the most colorful gang leaders of southern Illinois, died on the gallows at 9:51 a. m. today, charged with conspiring the murder of Mayor Joe Adams of West City. “It’s a beautiful world,” Birger said as he walked alone up the thirteen steps of the gallows and looked out on the crowd. Just before Phil Hanna, the White County hangman, stepped up to adjust the noose and black head mask, Birger waved his hand to a man in the crowd and said: “Good by, Doc.” Then he asked: “Where is the hangman?" Hanna stepped up, and in his characteristic manner sought quietly to apologize to the doomed man for the duty he was about to perform. “That’s all right; you don’t have to apologize for anything. I have nothing against anyone in the world any more.” j A moment later Hanna rapidly | adjusted the noose, and at 9:51 the trap was sprung, sending Charley Birger to the fate he openly defied for years and then mocked when placed in prison. Thousands at Scene More than a thousand persons were gathered outside the county jail as Birger walked to the gallows —the last man to die in Illinois by that method. One hundred special deputy sheriffs—picked for their ability as marksmen—patrolled the street and mingled with the crowd as the hour for the hanging drew near. Birger, known as the machine gun gangster of the coal fields, was accused of plotting the death of Mayor Joe Adams of West City. Adams was shot down on the front porch of his home during one of the many bitter gangster wars of the area. With the solace of a Jewish rabbi who conferred with him in his cell and the roped-off Franklin County jail, Birger appeared in marked contrast to the profane man who disrupted his final legal appeal Tuesday, a sanity hearing. Forgives Everybody Birger was represented by Rabbi J. H. Mazur as being in “wonderful spiritual condition.” The rabbi added that Birger forgave all who | had participated in his prosecution. Throughout the night Birger refused to sleep, but sat up talking with county officials, jailers and newspaper men. At 2:30 he called for a glass of lemonade. Previously he had been shaved and given a hair-cut at his own request. He was supplied with anew, freshly pressed blue serge suit fo* the hanging. Only about 500 holders of tickets issued by Sheriff James S. Pritchard were permitted entrance to the fenced-off stockade. With his death less than an hour away, Birger sat in his cell, joking lightly with relatives and friends. Outside the jail the raucous voice of newsboys could be heard shouting “The life of Charley Birger, 25 cents.” An undertaker’s hearse, with a morgue slab for Birger’s body lying on the ground by its side, was parked outside the stockade. His nephew, Nathan Birger, said the body would be taken to St. I/>uis for burial. Convicted of Conspiracy Birger was convicted of conspiracy in the murder of Mayor Joe Adams of West City, 111., shot to death at the door of his home by two of Birger’s gangsters, Harry and Elmo Thomasson. Mayor Adams, it was said, had sided with the Shelton gang, rivals of the Birger gang. Twice during the last week, his jailers divulged today, Birger attempted to commit suicide, once by hanging and once by taking poison. In both instances he was discovered by guards. Until day before yesterday, when his sanity hearing ended, there had been hope of saving Birger’s life. His attorney, Robert E. Smith, who had appealed twice to the Supreme Court without success, had won the sanity hearing two days before the gang lord was to have been hanged on Friday, April 13. But after hearing only a few minutes of weak testimony from the only man the defense had called to prove its contention that Birger was insane, the jury retired and returned in twelve minutes with a verdict which closed the last avenue of legal appeal. It found no Indication of insanity. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m.... 41 10 a. m.... 46 7a. m.... 42 ll a. m.... 47 8 a. m.... 41 12 (noon).. 48 9 a. m.... 43 1 p. m.... 48