Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 238, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 February 1929 — Page 1

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KIDNAPED GIRL BACK UNHURT WITH MOTHER Man Who Returns Child Says He Received Her as Wife's Daughter. TELLS UNIQUE STORY Hunt ‘Dark Man With Black Mustache' as Abductor of 4-Year-Old. BY RICHARD G. BALDWIN, United Press Staff Correspondent (Copyright. 1929. by United Press) SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22.—Little Doris Virginia Murphy, missing a week ago today, was back at home this tnonrng, safe and unharmed in her mother’s arms. “It’s her—my baby,” screamed the almost hysterical mother, making

a positive inlentification wher the child was returned to the Murphy home by representatives of the United Press and the San Francisco News. “Thank God she is safe,” sobbed the mother. The child was crying, although her tears, happy,

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Doris Virginia

to be back • home again after a week’s absence. The finding of the child was kept secret from the public until a positive identification. Only that of her mother could be considered as positive, and only a few persons were present at the happy reunion of the mother and child. These included Edward Sharp and his wife, who brought the child to the United Press offices early today, a few newspaper men and police officers. Tells Unusual Story Sharp told police and newspaper men a story unique in the annals of criminology. He said his w'.fe had received a mysterious note telling her that a child of hers, whom she had placed in an orphan’s home two years ago, would be returned to her if she would come to Vallejo, a city on San Francisco bay, near here. Sharp said h.'s wife had gone to Vallejo and had taken the child from a “dark man with a black mustache.” Believing that little Doris was her child, Mrs. Sharp returned to San Francisco and took the child on several shopping tours with her. Police and civilians had failed to recognize the missing child and Mrs. Sharp, herself, unaware that she had been taking a missing girl instead of her own daughter through the downtown streets of San Francisco. Pictures Cause Suspicion It was not until the husband had noticed the resemblance of his -daughter” to pictures printed in newspapers that the slightest question of doubt regarding identity of the child was raised, Sharp said. Sharp and his wife held a hurried consultation. Since the woman had not seen her daughter for more than a year, she was not positive that the little girl was hers, Sharp said. Sharp decided to ascertain if possible whether, the child was his or whether she was the girl reported missing since last Friday. She brought the child to the United Press office and told the strange story of the mysterious note and the journey to Vallejo. Reporters were inclined to discount the story until they talked to the child. Little Doris convinced them that she did not “belong” to her new found parents. The child readily identified newspaper photographs of the playground .from which she disappeared, the storekeepers in the neighborhood and her mother and father. Mother Collapses When told her daughter was believed found, Mrs. Murphy refused to believe the report and hysterically cried, “Oh, God, why torment me.” Suffering from the strain imposed upon her since Doris disappeared, she collapsed. Police planned to question the Sharps regarding their “daughter” and the mysterious obtaining of Doris in Vallejo. Despite the admission of the husband and wife that they had received the note and obtained the child from thr “dark complexioned man with the black mustache,” police were not satisfied with the solution of the case. It was pointed out that authorship of four mysterious, threatening notes signed “K. K." had not been established and that there were suspicious angles still unsolved.

Dumbly Wet By Times Special GARY, Ind.. Feb. 22.—The dumb waiter didn’t say a word, although it held wine and whisky when the restaurant of Milan Barach was raided here. He was arrested. The dumb waiter connected the restaurant with a basement.

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The Indianapolis Times Generally fair tonight and Saturday; not quite so cold Saturday.

VOLUME 40—NUMBER 238

ARMORY PROBE REPORT WILL DEMAND HALT ON CONSTRUCTION ABUSES

Why? Why? Why?

'Will the*committee of the state senate dare to submit a whitewash report on the building of armories, in face of the evidence given the members in that probe ? Will it dare to recommend that the state pay interest on about $1,600,000 bonds sold by a bank, which owned a construction compauy, when those members have evidence that these armories were not built according to specifications and that the cost was excessive? Today one member of that senate committee admitted to The Times that he had pr'oof that at the Franklin armory the contractor had received pay for building a concrete roadway, which would have cost about SBOO, but that this “roadway” is a cir.der path. Today one member of that senate committee admitted that he knew that the contractor had received pay for copper cornices on the same armory. Has any contractor in Indiana ever seen a painted copper cornice? The Franklin cornices are painted. The committee has received testimony from the trustees? that they acted merely as dummies, never had inspected a contract or a building, had signed their names to documents in what they thought was a patriotic enterprise. The committee has announced that it will not report to the senate the testimony which it sought and obtained, that on not only the Franklin armory, but on practically every other armory, the bonds issued show an excess of about 25 per cent over a decent cost for the construction. The members, strangely enough, no longer have any interest in that phase of. the matter. Is there one senator who dares, when the report is made, to demand that the investigators give the full report of their own activities? Will one sdhator ask why, if the committee had no power, it sought and obtained all information as to cost of construction and now says that it had no authority to make such inquiry? Is there one senator who dares to challenge these probers and ask for the evidence which they have as to proper cost ? Is there one senator who dares to rise in his seat and ask on what theory these probers say that the buyers of bonds must be protected, even if the state is forced to pay excessive costs? Just when and why did this committee cease its curiosity concerning the real facts behind this patriotic program illegally to bind the state for huge sums? If showed speed at the start. It slowed up. It stopped. Why?

‘APPALLING’ VOTE FRAUD IN VARE PRIMARY BARED IN SENATE PROBE REPORT

Chances of Correct Count of Ballots One in Eight, Is Charge. Bv United Press . WASHINGTON, Feb. 22.—A weird tale of new and old devices for cheating in elections was told to the senate today in a report presented by the Reed committee concerning the Vare-Pepper-Pinchot senatorial primary of 1926. The report offered by Chairman James A. Reed of the investigating committee held Senator-Elect William S. Vare of Pennsylvania should be denied his seat, but made no recommendation about immediate action, saying only that “in view of the physical and mental condition of Vare it is for the senate to determine what action is proper in the premises. Voter Had One Chance in Eight Irregularities were known previously to have occurred in the primary, but the story of ballot stuffing, false registration, repeating, bad counting, and similar practices was not told before. Asa whole the 37,000 word detailed account comprised perhaps the most sensational story told in the history of the American election system. Concerning Philadelphia, the report stated in part: “The fraud pervading the actual count by the division election officers is appalling. In only 181 out of 1,500 election districts of Philadelphia was the senatorial vote correctly counted by the election officers. The average chance of a Philadelphia voter to have his vote counted correctly was less than 1 in 8.” The devices of fraud alluded to, included: No Records Kept No tally sheets of totals were kept 614 divisions, more than a third of the whole city, so no record is available that the votes ever were counted. In the Second ward alone, 110 persons voted whose names were not on the registration books; the total for the whole city being about 2,000, each instance involving, the committee said, a clear case of fraud on the part of election officials. In the whole city more votes were cast than there were voters registered. In all there were a total of 18.954 ballots printed and numbered but unaccounted for. Conditions in Pttsbargh were about the same.

An Editorial

‘Guard’ Lindy By United Press FT. MYERS, Fla., Feb. 22. Henry Ford believes that Miss Anne Morrow, when she becomes Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh, probably will keep her husband from flying. “I am very glad that Col. Lindbergh is to be married because that probably will keep him on the ground,” Ford said today. “Lindbergh is too valuable a man to continue risking his life in the air. He is needed by our government and aviation and I certainly hope that his bride will insist that he keep his feet on the ground.”

END RADIO HEARING 'Doggone Man' to Go Back on Air Pending Ruling. By United Press WASHINGTON, Feb. 22.—The “doggone man of radio” will be back on the ether in a few days. R. K. Henderson, wealthy owner of Station KWKH, Shreveport, La., whose pithy remarks have made him one of the most colorful persons in radio, prepared to leave for home today after contesting before the federal radio commission attempts by Station KVOO, Tulsa, Okla., to acquire his 850 kilocycle channel. The radio commission is expected to decide the case in several weeks.

WORLD’S WISE MEN DON’T KNOW ANYTHING YET, SAYS EDISON

The United Press herewith presents an unusual and exclusive interview with Thomas A. Edison. For the first time in many years of his interesting life. Edison has permitted an interview on an occasion other than his birthday. In the following article Edison, for the United Press, has given his views of machines of the future, plant life and colored motion pictures. (Copyright. 1929. by United Press! FT. MYERS, Fla., Feb. 22. Thomas A. Edison prophesied in an interview with the United Press today the next fifty years will bring far more startling scientific developments than the period his inventive genius has dominated. “The surface has not even been scratched,’* the 82-year-old inventor said.

INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1929

State Board of Accounts Will Be Asked to Check Private Books of Any Concern Involved. Without disclosing startling testimony in hearings on Indiana National Guard armory construction, the state senate armory probe committee’s report, to be delivefed today, will make Important recommendations designed to check abuses which the committee is led to believe exist, Senator Alonzo H. Lindley of Kingman, said. The committee will report that it does not believe it has the power to go into costs of construction of armories which the Ostrom Realty Company has built and for which the Peoples State Bank has handled financing for the state armory board. Therefore, the committee recommends that the state board of accounts be empowered specifically to go into the private books and records of any concern involved, Lindley said. Such an inquiry would take about six months, according to Lindley. Will Ask System Change At the same time the committee will recommend, according to Lindley, that the “closed corporation” plan of building armories as now operated by the armory board, the bank, and the realty company be stopped. Instead of the $350,000 annual appropriation for armory rentals asked by Adjutant General William H. Kershner, it will advocate that only $170,000 a year be appropriated for each of the next two years. There are outstanding about $1,700,000 in armory bonds. The $170,000 would provide the rentals out of which the armory holding companies could meet the payments on bonds now held by small banks and citizens throughout the state, but would not provide funds for further operation of the scheme, Lindley pointed out. Lindley indicated that the farthest the committee would go toward discussing some of the testimony about construction would be the simple statement that it “looks as though there have been some excess profits.” Legal Action Possible The recommendation that the state board of accounts be given power to investigate also will include recommendation that if any irregularities be found they be turned over to Attorney-General James M. Ogden for such legal action as he may deem proper. A change in the method of paying armory rentals will be recommended, according to the chairman. At present, Adjutant-General Kershner, as a member of the armory board, pays the rentals to himself as one of the armory trustee officials. This provides no check, Lindley said. The committee will recommend that Kershner draw a regular state voucher for the rentals to the regular trustees of the various armories, and that it go through the state auditor’s office like all regular statement expenditures. This, Lindley pointed out, would give the state board of accounts the right to keep a careful check on administration of the rental fund. Among details to be omitted from the report were such as that testimony that the contract on which the Ostrom Realty Company was paid $60,000 for construction of the armory at Franklin, Ind., called for a cement drive, whereas a cinder drive was provided, it'was learned. The committee also has been told, it was learned, that the contract called for copper cornices, but instead there appeared on the armory plain painted cornices.

HUNT TWO IN CANYON Naturalist and Ranger Feared Drowned in Colorado River. Bjt United Press GRAND CANYON, Ariz., Feb. 22. —The bodies of Glenn Studevant, Grand Canyon national park naturalist, and Fred Johnson, ranger, were sought today below Bright Angel where they were believed to have drowned when their boat overturned in the rapids of the Colorado river. Cyclone Damages Madagascar By United Press PARIS, Feb. 22.—Latest reports from Madagascar received today indicate that the cyclone which recently swept through the island caused damage estimated at approximately $2,500,000.

“They keep asking me What are the possibilities of machine, electric and scientific development in the next half century,” he went on with a modest air that seemed to belittle his own great discoveries. “The possibilities are unlimited. Asa matter of fact we do not know anything yet, and it is my opinion that the next twentyfive years will witness startling developments along scientific lines. m n a THE interview, one of the few ever granted by Edison, except on his birthday, took place in the new laboratory workshop where he putters with problems

HUNT AVENGER AS KEY MAN IN MASSACRE Chicago Police Search Is Centered on Ex-Member of Moran Mob. CHECK CAPONE CALL Telephone Message Went to Florida Shortly After Seven Were Killed. (Copyright, 1929, by United Press) CHICAGO, Feb. 22.—A1l theories as to who killed seven gangsters in a machine gun massacre here a week ago faded into the background of the beer war picture today as city and county authorities secretly concentrated all resources on finding one man they believe responsible for the entire affair. This man is known as a wanton killer and although police are trying to screen their activities behind statements dealing with irrelevant clues the United Press has learned on good authority that the search has narrowed down to one man. An old trick of gangland—“planting” murder evidence against their enemies—was believed to be responsible today for the presence of a dismantled “firing squad” automobile in the heart of “Scarface Al” Capone’s beer territory. In a north side garage police found an automobile believed to have been the one in which five gangsters escaped. A mysterious telephone call to Scarface Al Capone in Florida was placed at the Congress hotel here on St. Valentine’s day within twenty minutes after the massacre, federal authorities said they learned. Brewery Is Raided The car had been sawed and hacked apart. Someone had set fire to it and the smoke attracted the attention of police. After taking serial liumbers of the automobile and Its siren, police'arrested five men for questioning. Answers of the suspects was said to have turned up a theory that the automobile had been “planted” in the garage in an attempt to throw the blame for the massacre on the Capone gang. Behind the mass murders, according to high authority, appears the probability of dissension in . the ranks of the George (Bugs) Moran mob, running back to the days more than two years ago when federal authorities closed a west side brewery owned by Frankie Lake and Terry Druggan, former twin kings of the beer racket. The multimillionaire Lake-Drug-gan combine had a working agreement with the Moranites to furnish them with beer. When the brewery was raided, the individual who was running it was arrested. The Lakes, Druggans and Moranites agreed that he should “take the rap,” in other words that he should stand trial and if necessary go to prison for the sins of his fellows. This he did, with the usual promises from his superiors in the racket that he would be paid well for the lost time. Fails to Collect A little more than a month ago, the man who “took the rap,” was released from Leavenworth penitentiary. He came back to Chicago to collect the money he had been promised—s3o,ooo. He arrived at a time when the federal government was on the verge of cleanng out the whole north side organization which Moran heads. The Moran gang had been tipped as to what was coming and they were moving rapidly. Conditions when this man returned made it a poor time for a man who had “taken the rap” two years ago to try and collect $30,000 from Moran. He was put off several times, and according to present information decided upon revenge. Aided by Ex-Cops The ex-convict is said to have carried his lament to two former policemen, who, at about the same time the brewery was raided, had been indicted for violation of the prohibition law. They, too, had been promised protection by the north side man, but they were put off the same as was the brewer. Thus was formed by the man who had “taken the rap” and the two policemen an alliance of revenge which police now believe led to the massacre. •

such as how to make rubber grow on American soil. . Edison talked of men and things in a rambling, friendly sort of way. Ho attacked scientific botanists for using too many “eight dollar words” as he called them. In his extensive rubber experiments, he said, he was accepting little assistance from plant experts. “These botanists give you a name a mile long and then explain that it means so and so, using another designation Just as difficult to digest ” Edison complained.

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis

HIGHWAY CHIEF SPENDS HUGE ‘REVOLVING FUND’ WITHOUT 0. K. OF STATE

GOLF IN GALOSHES!

Nibble With Niblick at Zero

VV apolis’ weather chart it's a 143 on the golf scoreboard of L. P. Gordon. 71, of 3307 Central avenue, retired auto accessory merchandiser. and C. S. Fishel, 70, of 2644 Sutherland avenue, retired wholesale grocer, as they trudge around the links of South Grove Gordon and Fishel play 10 holes They are shown in the accompanying photo < Gordon, left, and Fishel, right) driving for No. 5 today with the thermometer 12 Golf balls painted red—so they can be easily seen in the snowgaloshes. leather coats over sweaters, two pairs of socks and aviator caps form their frigid golfing parmmmmmlmmmmwti mnwir

DUVALL FILES PETITION, LAUNCHING COURT BATTLE FOR OUSTER OF SLACK

Quo Warranto Action to Force Mayor Out of Office Sought. Petition seeking to have quo warranto proceedings filed in circuit court to oust Mayor L. Ert Slack was filed by John L. Duvall, former mayor, with Prosecutor Judson L. Stark today. The petition is to be the basis of the proceedings, which, according to law, must be filed with.the prosecutor of the county in which the action is brought. Duvall said the petition carried some points contained in his $250,000 damage suit against the mayor and several city political leaders filed several days ago. He charges a plot to oust him before Slack succeeded him in 1927. The writ filed with Stark says members of the city council were threatened with indictments and that Slack called councilmen to his office and told them of this and that the only way to block the charges was to go “down the line with program” and vote him in mayor. The petition also charged that Slack made an agreement with Worley that he would appoint him police chief if he exerted his influence in “forcing and coercing the city council to vote for him as mayor.” Slack would not comment.

THE trouble with modem botanists, he said, “is that they do not look at the commercial side of plant life.” “Luther Burbank was about the only plant specialist I know of who looked at the economical side. When I started in this rubber experiihenting, I counted on him for much assistance and advice, but he died abour month after I got under way.” Colored moving pictures fascinate the partially deaf inventor. He expressed keen interest in anew color film process now being developed at Hollywood by Max Dupont. The genius who successfully masters the problem “will

WHEN it’s “zero” on Indianapolis’ weather chart it’s a 43 on the golf scoreboard of L. P. Gordon, 71, of 3307 Central avenue, retired auto accessory merchandiser. and C. S. Fishel, 70, of 2644 Sutherland avenue, retired wholesale grocer, as they trudge around the links of South Grove municipal golf course. Gordon and Fishel play 10 holes daily, snow, sleet or rain. They are shown in the accompanying photo (Gordon, left, and Fishel, right) driving for No. 5 today with the thermometer 12 above. Golf balls painted red—so they can be easily seen in the snow—galoshes, leather coats over sweaters, two pairs of socks and aviator caps form their frigid golfing paraphernalia.

GIVE TEACHER $30,000 Chicago Woman Retires at 71; Pupils Present Gift. By United Press CHICAGO, Feb. 22.—After teaching school in west Chicago for fifty years, Miss Carrie Roundy, 71, now is on her way to Europe to enjoy a long vacation. Miss Roundy, who is credited with teaching more than half of the 4,000 residents of west Chicago their A, B, C’s, was presented with $30,000 when she retired. LIGGETT WAITS FATE Jury Still Out After Day of Deliberation. B,V United Press NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 22. After deliberating since shortly after noon Thursday, the Jury considering the fate of Walter L. Liggett, who killed Turney M. Cunningham last October, reported at 9:45 a. m. today that no agreement had been reached. Presiding Judge Chester K. Hart ordered the jurors to continue balloting. While the Jury deliberated Robert L. Graham, state highway bridge inspector, filed suit for divorce against his wife, Mrs. Leonora Collins Graham, charging adultery and naming Liggett as co-respondent.

achieve something really great,” Edison said. I was interested in color films and had one man working on them for sixteen years, but he died with the problem unsolved,” he revealed. n u tt EDISON disclaimed any real part in the experiments to do away with bushings for automobiles, as Henry Ford stated ir an interview several days ago, was one of the problems he and Edison are working on . “That’s what Ford is trying to do,” Edison chuckled. “But Henry is the man to do that. I don’t think I would be much good at it.”

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Thousands Paid Road Help by Williams, Ignoring Voucher Formality. DEPOSITS IN HIS NAME Records Show as Much as $75,000 Monthly Has Been Drawn. BY BEN STERN Existence of a huge “revolving fund,’’ out of which John D. Williams, director of the state highway commission, has for some time been paying state, highway labor by checks signed with his own name without going through the statutory regulations that every state payment must be made on cait*fully itemized voucher, through the state auditor’s office, was discovered today. Attaches of Williams’ office admitted that the procedure was used, and records in the state auditor’s office substantiated the report. Records indicated that Williams draws as much as $75,000 a month from the state auditor on a blanket warrant, deposits it in his own name, as highway director, in the Bankers Trust Company bank here and then writes the checks to pay the workers. His office says he draws these checks in accordance with payrolls which sub-department heads submit. No Authorization Found Attorney-General James M. Ogden said he had searched the statutes and found no authorization for a “revolving fund” for the highway department. It was recalled that former Governor Warren T. McCray asked for and immediately obtained the resignation of L. A. Wright as highway director early in his administration in 1922 when it was discovered that Wright was using a “revolving fund.” Asa result of the “revolving fund” plan, it was learned, the state general fund has not been receiving the interest on the $75,000 or other monthly amount turned over to Williams. Instead, the interest has been going to the highway fund, despite a ruling of the attorney-general, Dec. 21, 1927, that the interest from the highway department’s share of the various tax and fee moneys it receives shall go to the general fund. This was for the purpose of keeping the highway department within the budget limits set by the state legislature. Williams was out of the city today and could not be reached for a statement, but it was expected that he would offer as his authority for the “revolving fund” a provision of the general appropriation act of 1927 that provides for “working capital”. for designated departments. Attempt to Avoid Situation However, Attorney-General Ogden declared that this provision applies only to those departments and institutions specifically authorized by the legislature to have “revolving funds’* and the highway department is not so designated. State accountants say that the situation boils down to the conclusion that millions may be spent in one year out or the revolving fund, the state’s only assurance that it was expended legally being the word of John D. Williams. The general assembly has attempted to avoid N such situations with this provision in the law: “Disbursements . . . shall be by voucher, specifically itemizing in every particular the different purposes for which the treasury warrant is authorized. . . . These vouchers shall not be approved by any officer or officers authorized to approve same unless so itemized, giving minutia of detail, and when vouchers are presented to the auditor of state for warrants, they shall be accompanied by said itemized accounts and statements.” Williams, it was learned, has been bundling the canceled checks received back from the “laborers” or others to whom payments are made on his ‘‘revolving fund” account and sending them to the state auditor, with a warrant calling for the lump sum to cover them all. Then he deposits this lump sum and repeats the process the next month. Attorney-General Ogden says that the law intends that here thall be a separate voucher for each expenditure—that a voucher shall be drawn for each laborer paid and that such voucher clearly shall set out what the payment is for. According to attaches of Williams' office, the pay rolls upon which Williams writes the checks are kept in Williams’ office. One attache said that so far as he knew these pay rolls are not sworn to by the department heads, who submits them to Williams.