Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 151, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 November 1928 — Page 1

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BLANK AUTO TITLE THEFTS ARECHARGED Rhoads Brands Exhibit as Fraud in Car Ring Case. FILES WERE OPEN Testimony Brought Out to Show Traugott’s Part. Blank certificates of title were stolen, probably with the aid of an inside confederate, from the automobile license division of the secretary of state’s office at the statehouse and used in the interstate traffic in stolen autos, for which fifteen persons are on trial in federal court. This was brought out by the government today at the trial of the fifteen, on conspiracy charges, through testimony of Mark W. Rhoads, head of the auto license division. Thirty-one government witnesses testified this morning. About twenty more government witnesses are to be heard. It is not believed the case will go to the jury before Friday night. So far no evidence has been presented definitely linking in the “hot” car traffic the name of Robert F. McNay and W. Lee Smith, former klan leaders, and Mr. and Mrs. William M. Jones, Wolf Sussman and William Laffey, other Indianapolis residents on trial. Fifty employes of his office and state police have access to the room where the blank certificates of title are kept, Rhoads testified in response to direct questioning of Judge Robert C. Baltzell. Shown the Indiana certificate of title made out to Jack Griffith, 2648 North Meridian avenue, for an Indianapolis stolen car in which Ted Baldwin, alleged to be one of the leaders of the ring, was arrested in Chicago, Rhoads said the certificate of title was on a genuine form. It was not made out in his office, however, because titles are filled out In his office on a typewriter with an indelible ribbon, he said. Police Pass Through Room In response to Judge Baltzell’s questions, Rhoads said the blank titles are kept in the title fileroom at the statehouse and that fifty persons have access to the room. Asked by the judge if the state motor police have access to the room he said he did not know, but said the state policemen could pass through the room. Further evidence intended to link Edward Traugott, who with Harry Sussman, his partner in the West Washington street clothing store mysteriously wrecked by an explosion Aug. 26, is one of the defendants, was introduced today by Albert S. Ward, United States district attorney. Testimony intending to involve Mortimer and Jacob Wohfeld, local furriers on trial, also was offered. Witnesses told how a Cadillac coupe was stolen from W. S. Hartman of Chicago, March 1, and recovered by Charles Bridges, state' policeman, at the home of Jacob Wohlfeld, 2819 Washington boulevard, in July. The car was sold to Mortimer Wohlfeld, son of Jacob, by Charles H. Medcalf, who gave his address as the Marott hotel, five days after its theft, according to the testimony. The government contends Medcalf !was Leo Baldwin, one of the alleged conspiracy leaders. Tells of Check James E. Pierce, secretary of the Railroadmen’s Building and Savings Association, testified that Mortimer Wohlfeld drew $l,lOO from his account with the association five days after the theft date, and that Wohlfeld received a check from the association for that amount. The cancelled check was returned with the indorsements of Wohlfeld, Medcalf and Edward Traugott, theevidence showed. Written on the face of the check was the notation “balance on Cadillac coupe paid in full.” Charles E. Herron, manager of the West Street branch of the Fletcher Savings and Trust Company, identified the check as one cashed at his bank on the same day, March 8. (Turn to Page 12)

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VOLUME 40—NUMBER 151

Quiz in Ship Disaster Is to Be Held Survivors of 111-Fated Vestris Cared for by Company. B United Press NEW YORK, Nov. 14.—Official investigation of the cause of the sinking of the Lamport and Holt liner, Vestris, will be conducted as soon “as possible,” David Cook, vicepresident of Sanderson & Cos., agents for the line, said today. “When this inquiry will be conducted I cannot say definitely at this time,” Cook said. Cook inferred he would arrange to see the surviving officers of the Vestris Thursday before answering reported criticism by some passengers of the delay in sending out the SOS call and also the reported slumsy handling of the life boats by members of the crew. Cook was emphatic in his assurance that survivors of the disaster would be properly cared for, and added that passengers who arrived aboard the Berlin today had been given their choice of hotel accommodations. Later, he said, free passage would be provided to any destination for them. At the offices of the agency today two passengers who were in immediate need of funds were properly cared for. CAPTAINSTANDS AT PQSTTO END Radio Operator Drowns at Key. B.y United Press NEW YORK. Nov. 14.—Captain William J. Carey and Radio Operator Michael J. O’Loughlin remained at their posts as the ill-fated liner Vestris sank to her grave. They went down with their ship, passengers said. The skipper spent the final minute of his life standing silhouetted on the up-turned side of the Vestris. With life belts lying at his feet, he made no effort to strap' one about him. He stood there, scorning death, until a wave washed him into the depths below. O’Loughlin, so far as is known, never left his little radio shack from which he flashed the “S O S”. Apparently he drowned at his key. From the moment he ordered the radio operator to begin his series of frantic distress signals Carey knew his ship was doomed, survvors said. But he prevented a panic board the fast-sinking liner. He was in full view at all times and as the list carried the vessel over, he clung tenaciously to the rails, shouting orders to the boatmen and pointing out struggling passengers in the water. Then—the great vessel turned completely on its side, and just before it plunged to the bottom, Carey scrambled up and stood erect, still defiiant of death. CABINET UNSETTLED Hoover Not to Make Choice Until Return. Bn United Press PALO ALTO, Cal., Nov. 14. President-elect Hoover has given no consideration to cabinet appointments, and does not intend to consider the make up of his cabinet until he returns from his South American trip, it was said today on his behalf. The President-elect has been displeased with reports of his probable selection of this and that person for his cabinet so soon after his election, it was said. SEND BUREAU AUTCTTAG Special Indiana Plate Shipped to Good Roads Body. A special auto license plate carrying a black star and the number 025, was sent to the National Highway Association today by Mark W. Rhoads, chief of the automobile licensing department in the office of the secretary of state. Each year the organizatioh receives a similar plate from each state and territory. They are placed on a car which makes an annual tour of the country in the interest of good roads.

HER ANGELUS—HUSBAND’S CRY AS SHIP SINKS, HER BOAT MIGHT HAVE SAVED HIM

A man who had, up to that time, bravely obeyed the order “women, and children first,” standing on the side of a sinking ship screaming for help. . . . This is the last glimpse of her husband which Mrs. Earl Devore will carry to her grave .. . this, and the belief that had a Negro lifeboat even turned back a moment, Devore and others might have been saved, according to a United Press dispatch from New York today. Mrs. Devore and Mrs. Norman Batten, wives of two men who have made automobile racing history on the Indianftpolis Motor Speedway, were saved from the

LIVES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN SACRIFICED IN LEAKING LIFEBOATS, SAY SHIP SURVIVORS; DENOUNCE CAPTAIN FOR SOS CALL DELAY

Negro Members of Crew Fought to Prevent Escape of Passengers From Sinking Liner; Scene of Confusion. STORIES OF HEROISM ARE TOLD Sixty Persons Had Failed to Leave Vessel at Time of Final Plunge; Relate Tales of Horror After Disaster. BY LOUIS F. XEEMLE United Pres* Staff Correspondent NEW YORK, Nov. 14. —How the women and children of the lost steamer Vestris died was described today by 148 survivors brought to New York by the steamers American Shipper and the Berlin.

The sacrifice of lives was denounced by the surviving passengers, who blamed the ship’s officers for delaying the sending of an SOS call, for the condition of the lifeboats, which they described as uhseaworthy, and for the confusion and lack of disciplining when the ship went down.

Os 326 passengers and crew aboard the Vestris, latest accounts today showed 210 rescued, eight known dead and 108 still unaccounted for. most of whom probably were lost. The reason why the lists of 210 rescued showed mostly the names of men, the majority of whom were members of the crew, and few women and children, was explained by the survivors. The women and children were loaded into the first two life boats, which broke from the davits while loaded and threw their human cargo into the water. All of Life Boats Leaked Survivors said they saw one of the boats turn completely over as it struck the water and another fall to pieces after it had been struck against the Vestris' side. A third life boat, containing many women and children,* sprang a leak and sank. An undetermined number of women and children were picked up by other life boats on the scene, but a large number fell into the water, went down and never again appeared, the survivors said. All of the life boats leaked, said some survivors. Some survivors charged that Negro members of the crew, heedless of discipline, seized life boats to save themselves and were unwilling to take passengers aboard. Most of the survivors believed about sixty persons had failed to get into boats when the Vestris sank. Within a moment after its final lunge, the survivors said, the vessel had disappeared from sight, leaving the remaining passengers floundering about in the water and calling to those in the life boats to save them. Drift for Hours in Sea The American Shipper brought 125 survivors, of whom eighty-four were members of the Vestris crew and forty-one were passengers. The American Shipper picked up five lifeboats. x The Berlin, which picked up one lifeboat, brought twenty-three survivors, eighteen of whom were members of the crew and five were passengers. Survivors described their sufferings in the lifeboats, drifting in a stormy sea for fourteen hours and more. They said they saw many persons swimming in the water, who gae up exhausted and went down as they watched. Sharks were in the water, swarming around the struggling swimmers, several passengers said. The tragedy of the disaster was lightened by several stories of heroism, notably that of Michael O’Loughlin, chief radio operator, and Archibald Banister, a Negro boatswain’s mate. O’Loughlin stuck to his post, sending out radio calls to the last and was believed to have gone down with the ship. Captain Down With Ship Banister swam to a lifeboat that had broken loose, and maneuvered it while twenty-two men jumped

wreck of the Vestris in the Atlantic. Stories of survivors indicate that Devore and Batten perished. tt a a MRS. DEVORE told a dramatic story of her rescue and what she believes was the death of her husband when she was brought into New York harbor today on the American Shipper, one of the rescue ships. Mrs. Batten was picked up by the Berlin, which also docked at New York. The two couples were sailing from New York to Buenos on the Vestris. Mrs. Devore said that the couples were huddled together on the deck when the crew and passengers started taking to the Ves-

INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 14, 1928

overboard from the Vestris and made their way to it. Captain William J. Carey apparently also went down with the ship. As the ship sank the captain was standing on the Vestris’ side. He wore an overcoat and had no life belt. He apparently made no effort to save himself, the passengers said. The radio operator, one passenger said, was never seen outside of his "shack.” The survivors believed he died within the shack from where he sent the stirring messages calling for relief. One of the last persons to see Carey alive was George Fantana, a third-class passenger from New York, who was standing with the captain on the sinking hull of the Vestris as the ship finally went Fantana. who cannot swim, was thrown into the water and sucked under. When he emerged he cried to three lifeboat crews to pick him up, but all of them, he said, shouted back: “Were too crowded.” Leaking Boat Swamped Only a piece of wreckage, which he seized, saved his he said. After floating for an hour he finally was rescued by one of the lifeboats. John J. Bowlen, chief surgeon of the American Shipper, said he had treated virtually all of the 125 survivors of that ship for exposure or shock, and that forty of them had been injured, twenty seriously. He amputated the hand of one man passenger and a finger of another. Most of the women, he said, were suffering from extreme shock or exposure. Paul A. Dana, a representative of the Radio Corporation of America, with a woman whose name he did not know, floated for many hours on a piece of wreckage after the lifeboat, in which they were bobbing about, had capsized. There were thirty-two persons, including several women, in the boat with them when it was lowered into the water. Almost immediately a leak was discovered, Dana said. Soon the boat began breaking apart and finally a , great wave swamped it, throwing the passengers out. Guess It’s All Over He saw only two of the other passengers afterwards. Dana continued: “After floating all night we (Dana and the unknown woman), clung to a spar and as dawn broke I turned to her and said: “ ‘Well I guess it’s all over.’ ‘“I guess so,’ she replied. “Just as we were about to slip into the water, we sighted the American Shipper and I removed my shirt and signaled the vessel. “In a short time the big rescue liner pulled alongside our little raft and took us aboard.” Captain Frederick Sorenson, another passenger brought in by the American Shipper, said he was convinced Captain Carey made no attempt to save himself. Sorenson is a master mariner. He charged that the large loss of life was due to “criminal neglect.” Sorenson said the passengers

tris’ lifeboats, according to the United Press account. a a > Negro members of the X crew commandeered one of the lifeboats and started to make away with it.” she said. “I shouted to them, ‘For God’s sake, take some of us in the boat.’ “They finally admitted me to the boat. As soon as I stepped over the side, believing Earl would follow, I held out my hands and took my fox terrier, Speedway Lady, in my arms. “Earl started to step in, but the Negroes shoved away. My husband and Mrs. Batten were on the sinking liner screaming for help.

Out of the Dark, Light, Strong Hands, Rescue!

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This graphic sketch by Joe King, staff artist for The Times and NEA Service, shows one of the most thrilling rescues in the annals of the seasurvivors of the ill-fated Vestris being taken aboard the S. S. American Shipper, first rescue ship to reach tne scene. Under the glare of powerful searchlights, men, women and children literally were snatched from death after having been adrift in lifeboats in a rough sea for hours.

asked Captain Carey several times during Sunday morning and night to send out an SOS, but that Care/ replied the Vestris was in no danger and would be able to “proceed presently.” Keep Out of Life Craft Captain Sorenson had been under medical treatment in New York and was on his way to Barbados for a rest. Captain Sorenson said the lifeboats were in no condition for use in an emergency. “We got into No. 8 boat," he continued, “forty or fifty of us, more than half of them women. There was a hole in the bow. We tried to plug it with a piece of tin, bailing water all the time. We couldn’t make it hold against the water that washed in constantly and it finally capsized, spilling everybody out into the sea. Many of the women went down in this boat. "We floated and swam about amidst the wyreckage. Finally another lifeboat came along. We called to the Negro members of the ere wtp put about for us. They went on. Sorenson said he found himself swimming alongside Herman Ruckert of Leipsig, Germany. Both men were to reach a lifeboat some distance away when Ruckert gasped, “My God, I can’t go on. I’m giving up.” Sorenson said he swam alongside Ruckert, encouraging him, and they succeeded in reaching the boat, with seventeen survivors. They put their boat about and picked up about twenty more. Doubt as to Cause There seemed to be doubt among the passengers concerning the cause of the sinking of the Vestris. Dana, who has been on many preCHARLEY’S RESTAURANT open for Sunday dinners, 5 to 9 p. m. 130 East Ohio St.—Advertisement.

“The water was full of drowning men. I begged the crew to go back to the assistance of those behind, but they refused. The last time I saw Earl he was standing on the edge of the ship, screaming for aid.” a a tt \ NOTHER passenger, Edwin J. Wilson, took up the story. He said he saw a man he believed was Devore jump into the waves and come up with one arm torn from his body. Wilson thought he might have been bitten by a shark. Captain Frederick Sorenson, another passenger brought in by

vious ocean journeys, believed that the water blown' into the ship by the gale smarted the listing of the vessels. “This was aggravated, I believe, by the shifting of the cargo,” Dana said. “The crew filled part of the hold with water in an attempt to right the vessel, but it was useless. “Then Is when the officers should have sent out their SOS—not twenty hours later.” Four youths, who were going to South America as representatives of the Standard Oil Company, figured in heroic rescue work, passengers said. They were Raymond L. Ricketts of Wirt, Okla.; Carl Pfaff of Marietta, Ohio; Arthur Jones of Ada, Okla., and Clyde Pirsful of .Wewoka, Okla. Rickets said he was in a lifeboat with Pirsful and one Negro seaman. Just as the ship was plunging under, he had to cut the rope fastening the boat to the Vestris to save the lifeboat. Heroiq Rescues “We had no oars, so I dived overboard, obtained two oars which were floating some distance away, returned to the boat and began picking up what few passengers still were In the water,” Ricketts said. , One of the most heroic performances was that of Lionel Licorish, a Barbados Negro acting as quartermaster. He is small, but powerfully built and an expert swimmer. When he sighted passengers struggling in the water, he dived from a lifeboat and rescued sixteen of them. Each rescue, the survivors said, was made individually. Licorish was forced to dive ten or twelve feet under the sea for some of the drowning men and women. E. A. Johnson, connected with the Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey, also rescued by the American Shipper, said there was no reason why any life should have been lost. “The captain should have

the American Shipper, said he took charge of a boat containing chiefly women and children. “While we were drifting, we went past another boat,” Sorenson said. “On that boat was a woman who, I later learned, waa Mrs. Earl S. Devore. “She later told me that the members of the crew who were in the boat with her refused to heed her pleas that she pick up her husband, whose cries she was able to distinguish. “Those men could have picked up Devore. They could have picked up others whom they passed by. “It was in the Gulf Stream and

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launched the boats long before he did," Johnson said. “When they wfere launched, they were lowered on the wrong side. That is to say, the upper or port side.” Leap as Ship Sinks E. M. Walcott, an Englishman, agreed that much loss of life could have been prevented . “I certainly think Carey should not have waited so long to send for help,” Walcott said. “I stayed on the Vestris and decided to take my chances, but finally the ship went over and I found myself on the side of the hull. In a moment there was a lurch and the ship went down. I was pulled along with the suction. I came back to the surface and I saw Captain Carey and a Negro stewardess. “Carey had on his overcoat and did not seem to have a life belt. He bobbed up and down on the water a few times and then disappeared. He made no effort to save himself, so far as I could see. I helped the stewardess to get hold of a plank.” Walcott said he was in the water about three-quarters of an hour and then swam up to a lifeboat. The Negro stewardess was with him. When the men in the lifeboat saw the woman was a Negro, Walcott went on; they told him he could come aboard, but that they had no room for the stewardess. Tiny Boat Is Wrecked • "I said ‘You take her aboard’.” Walcott continued. “I had to argue with them, almost fight them, but finally they agreed to take us aboard.” Jean Gladianes, pantry man on the Vestris, also was picked up by the American shipper, said he was in a boat with twenty-six women and children and four members of the crew. “A boom fell across the lifeboat just after it was launched,” he said,

there were sharks in the water. I saw one man whose arm had been bitten off by a shark.” V tt u MRS. DEVORE, a slight, blond, attractive woman of about 28, was almost in a state of collapse. She was extremely happy to hear that Mrs. Batten, who had fought against leaving her husband’s side, had been picked up from the water by a lifeboat and saved by the Berlin. But her happiness over her friend’s rescue was dimmed by that ineradicable picture of her husband, standing on the side of the sinking vessel, screaming for the help which did not come. ' >

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“and threw all the women and children into the water. “I saw a child floating In the water and reached out to get it when I found my arm had been broken. I grasped the child anyway and straddled a plank. “After floating for some time I saw the child w”.c dead and let it go. Soon alterward I was picked up.” William P. Adams, millionaire land owner of Oderbolt, lowa, was asked concerning conditions on the Vestris during the crisis. “If you knew what I do it would make your hair stand on end,” was all he would say. Crew Lost Their Heads “Several of us stood waiting on the deck while the boats were being filled/’ Carlos Quiros, chancellor of the Argentine embassy in Washington, said. "I personally saw that one boat had a hole In it. I saw the sailors trying frantically to nail a board across that hole, and I saw that boat sink 100 feet from the ship’s side, throwing sixty persons Into the sea. Quiros said the crew apparently had had no practice In loading and launching the lifeboats, and that if they had, they were so excited they were unable to execute their duties capably. “It was very clumsy,” he said. “They seemed to lose their heads. Only the chief officer and the second steward seemed really to accomplish anything.” Karl Schmidt, a passenger, floated in a life belt for sixteen hours. He refused to talk to reporters because he apparently was exhausted by his long exposure.

Adrift for Fourteen Hours Those in the lifeboat picked up by the Berlin were adrift for fourteen hours, without food except water and crackers, and suffering from cold. The lifeboat, survivors said, had no rudder, and they were unable to help themselves much beyond keeping the lifeboat headed into the waves, waiting for a rescue ship. Some of them swam alongside the sinking Vestris for nearly half an hour before they got aboard the lifeboat. ' O. L. Maxey of Richmond, Va., criticised the ship’s officers for not sending out an SOS Sunday night “Captain Carey seemed undecided and did not seem to know what to do,” the Virginia man said. "The lifeboats leaked. There were holes in every one of them, and we spent most of the time bailing out water. We had nothing in the boat except crackers and water.”

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