Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 256, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 March 1929 — Page 1

scpipps-howard\

FRANKFORT, BEDFORD, GARY VICTORS

20,000 ARE TRAPPED ' BY FLOODS IN ALABAMA; FEAR HIGH DEATH TOLL

At Least 10,000 Believed Waiting Rescue on House Tops. TOWNS UNDER WATER One City of 4,000 Entirely Covered by Torrents From Two Streams. b\n United Press TROY, Ala., March 15. A major flood disaster with possibly heavy loss of life engulfed southeastern Alabama today. By noon only a few score of more than 20,000 persons marooned in the area had been rescued. The fate of the rest remained unknown. At least 10,000 men, women and children were believed trapped on housetops and in upper floors of buildings in a score of towns. The screams and moans of women and children at Elba (Ala.) spurred, rescue parties on from all directions. A telephone lineman penetrated to within a ha’f-mile of the inundated town and returned whitelipped with a tale of agonizing pleas for aid and a picture of huddled groups of rain-soaked figures on the tops of buildings. Many housetops were under water, he said, and the flood had reached the roofs of taller buildings, which were black with people. National Guard companies and volnteers numbering more than a thousand went into the area by boat. Airplanes whirred overhead to ascertain the extent of flood toll. Motor boats dared the dangerous overflow current of the Pia river in an effort to reach Elba with its 4,000 despairing inhabitants. Red Cross units mobilized on the fcdS” of tVio flooded district rrnnring to care for thousands of refugees rains, the cause oi tne disaster, continued to well rivers and streams, adding to the danger of life. Rescue Efforts Fail B TROy! Ala., March 15.— Marooned and facing possible death from rapidly rising waters of the Pea river and White Water creek, 4,000 persons, the entire population c-f Elba, thirty-two miles south of here, awaited rescuers today. Many of the residents of the flood swept town clung to house tops, the upper branches of tall trees or floated about on chunks of wreckage while waiting for aid which was being hastened to the rescue by boat and airplane. More than 800 men, including National Guards, strove to row across the swift torrents that cut Elba off from the world on three sides, only to have their boats capsize or forced back. Tales of heroism came out of the town almost simultaneously with. news that it was stricken. A brave telephone operator remained at her switchboard and sent out pleas for aid until water short-circuited the switchboard. Whether she was able to flee to safety was still a mystery. Her name was not learned, as she consumed all wire time broadcasting appeals for aid. A survivor who rowed for miles past housetops and treetops told of hearing cries for help while six miles away from Elba. Another who escaped from the town itself reached Dothan, his ears ringing with the memory of the shouted pleas of 350 children, marooned in a school building. Towns Under Water J?. ! / t w ited- Press , , _ MOBILE. Ala., March 15.—Critical flood conditions were reported in a group of southeastern Alabama towns and cities today. Breston and Geneva, Ala., were said to be under water with residents taking to upper floors to escape drowning. HOOVER GETS ‘PAY’ Check for $2,000 Handed President lor Services. By United Press WASHINGTON, March 15.—President Hoover today received his first pay check as President of the United States. The check for $2,083.33 was delivered to the executive offices by Mrs. Catherine Shea, special messenger of the treasury department, who has distributed the White House checks for years. Today's pay for President Hoover covered the period from March 4 to 15, inclusive. ... ,

Complete Wire Efforts of UNITED PRESS, The Greatest World-Wide News Service

The Indianapolis Times Colder with rain tonight, followed by fair Saturday; lowest temperature somewhat above freezing.

VOLUME 40—NUMBER 256

U. S. Floods at Glance

The normal flood situation at a glance: Pea river and White Water creek marooned 4,000 residents of Alba, Ala., thirty-two miles south of Troy. Twenty thousand reported marooned by floods in state. Rivers and creeks in lowa, Wisconsin and Illinois were out of their banks as a result of an unseasonable warm spell which melted ice and snow. # a The Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers are rising rapidly. 0 Lowlands in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi were inundated, with farmers moving their live stock to higher ground. n a a Rivers in the New England states and northern New York were rising, with conditions the most serious in lowlands around Albany, N. Y. The Connecticut, Housatonic, Agawam and Deerfield rivers steadily were rising.

CALLES TAKES REBEL CITY „i . . t Federal Troops Enter Durango. MEXICO CITY, March 15.—Federal forces under Plutarco Ellas Calles entered the city of Durango this morning and rebel forces under General Juan Gualberto Amayas fled, Colonel Ricardo Tapia, chief of the presidential staff announced here today. Calles was expected to establish headquarters in Durango by noon and then prepare to advance on Torreon, the announcement saidDurango is less thaiF 150 miles southwest of Torreon, where the rebel main force long has been reported to be entrenched. The announcement said that General Amaya’s forces supposedly retreated toward the north.

WAR ON ROAD “CZAR' Williams Denies Leslie Demands Resignation. First rumblings of the war to unseat John D. Williams, for years czar of the state highway department, as its director, were heard today with a report that Governor Harry G. Leslie had demanded Williams’ resignation. Williams declared: “That isn’t true.” Told that his own friends were discussing the reported incident and declaring that Governor Leslie had called in highway commission members Thursday and advised them he wanted to see his secretary, John J. Brown, named highway director, Williams answered: “Well I have nothing to say.” Leslie himself and members of the highway commission Thursday declined to discuss what had transpired while they were with Leslie Thursday. Williams’ friends declared that he intends to fight to hold his position. Asked about this, Williams hesitated a ft v moments and then said he would say “nothing at all.” Boy Rescued From Roof By Times Special . ~ „ . . WABASH. Ind., March 15.—Ralph Shepler, 14, was rescued by firemen from a perilous position on the roof of the Methodist church here. He had climbed to the roof seeking pigeons. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 55 Ha. m.... 60 7a. m.... 55 12 (noon).. 61 Ba. m.... 58 Ip. m.... 64 9 a. m.... 61

TIMES TO SPONSOR SAFETY SCHOOL FOR WOMAN AUTOMOBILE DRIVERS

READERS, meet Captain Art B. Hickox, famous race driver and aviator! If you don’t know him now, you will before he has left Indianapolis. because he will conduct a series of five night lecture on safety for women auto drivers of she city at the Hoosier Athletic Club starting April 1. “Efficiency in Automobile Driving” will be the keynote of the lectures to women. The course will contain valuable information

Thousands of Acres in Middle West Are Under Water. MISSISSIPPI IS RISING Property Damage Is High as Numerous Streams Leave Banks. By United Press CHICAGO, March 15. Thousands of acres of farm lands in the mid-west and Mississippi river basin states were under water today as rivers and streams, swollen to the flood stage, by melting snows and ice jams, continued to inundate sections of Illinois, central lowa and Wisconsin. A report from Cedar Rapids, la., today stated that the turbulent waters of the Prairie and Pratt creeks were out of their banks flooding farms and roadways and drowning hundreds of head of livestock. Oskaloosa, la., waj isolated by waters of the Skunk river, the report stated. Illinois Danger Subsides More than 100 basements in Des Moines, were flooded and business was at a standstill in some sections. The lowa river at lowa City piled huge cakes of ice into Randall highway tearing down bridges, fences and telegraph poles. Danger from the swollen Galena river at Galena, 111., was lessened today. Stores in the business district were open. Business had been suspended Wednesday as the flood waters made flowing streams of the streets. Fear still existed in southern Wisconsin today where the Pecatonica river raged beyond its banks, fifteen feet above its normal level. Predict More Rains Ralington, Wis., was reported to be under water in spots and much of the lower east side of Freeport, 111., was under water. Factories were compelled to suspend operations and families were reported seeking refuge in non-flooded areas. Scores of federal engineers xushed work of strengthening levees at Memphis, Tenn., today as reports came from northern areas of heavy rains and new overflows. F. W. Brist, meteorologist, declared that the present situation would result in a maximum crest at Memphis of forty feet early next week. Forecasts of additional rains in the basin of the Tennessee, Ohio and Cumberland rivers are expected to make record crests along the lower river until the rains are over. Mississippi Leaves Banks By United Press MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 15. Sluggish waters of the Mississippi rolled over lowlands in four states today as farmers in many sections moved their families and livestock back to higher ground in the face of the most serious flood menace since the disastrous overflow of 1927. Schools were closed in western Tennessee and highways were under from two to five feet water in some places. The only break thus far reported, 126-foot gap near the Mis-souri-Arkansas line, poured flood waters over the countryside and inundated highways. Water from the river was reported rising in the streets at Hickman, Ky., today, though no considerable damage hac been done, nor is any expected until the crest is several feet above the present stage. Glass Veteran Dies By Times Special SLWGOD, Ind., March 15.—Funeral services were held today for John Klummpp, 64, manager of the Mcßeth-Svans Glass Company, and world famous as a glass blower. He died of paralysis. He had been engaged in the glass industry more than fifty years.

on motor and mechanical high lights of auto: obiles. Captain Hickox has appeared in many other cities in the interest of safety, before thousands of women drivers. In this city he will appear under auspices of The Indianapolis Times, with automobile and accessory dealers who are defraying cost of the safety school. #OO Admittance to the courses is by ticket only. They are printed five in a book and can be obtained free at The Times,

INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1929

Thrilling Basketball Action Snapped

V' r * :: &• ..vAJ'V. .x*.. 4% ? 'A ;V - •■. • .4, - #l®* *• • 44'. 4'^ ™ •' w-' ■-2^

—Photo by Virginia Edwards. Ximes Staff Photographer. This remarkable photograph shows a thrilling moment in the state high school basketball tournament game in which Horace Mann Os Gary eliminated Kokomo, 29 to 22, this morning. Note that four players weis caught in the air trying to prevent Kos, the Horace Mann star, from following in a shot. Kos is the man with the ball behind the Kokomo player. Part of the enormous crowd is shown in the background.

TODAY ALL ROADS LEAD TO—!

Indiana Basketball Mad —City Gay “Asylum”!

BY ARCH STEINEL BASKETBALL gripped Indiana today. Hopes and fears of thousands of “hardwood” fans centered on Butler fieldhouse as the annual state tourney opened before crowd of 14,000. At receiving sets in homes, in Indian; .polis business houses, near Sullivan coal camps and on Columbia City onion farms the eternal questions were “who won,” “who’s ahead now.” Fourteen thousand men, women, children—some in their rheumatic days—fosgot their breakfasts or snatched a cup of coffee at one of the lunch stands in the fieldhouse in order to get to their reserved seats in time to see the tip-off of the Kokomo-Horace Mann game. Motor cars from odd comers of the state lined Forty-ninth street from the fieldhouse to Illinois and for squares north and south of Forty-ninth at gametime. Seventy patrolmen in uniform

HOOVER NAMES AID Minnesota Congressman Is Picked as Secretary. Bv United Press WASHINGTON, March 15.—Appointment of Representative Walter H. Newton of Minnesota to be third secretary to President Herbert Hoover officially was announced at the White Houst today. Newton will relinquish his seat in congress immediately. He will act as administrative assistant of the President, ,1

the Hoosier Athletic Club, and from dealers to be named later. Persons without tickets are excluded. Many leading society women of Indianapolis are co-operating with The Times and Captain Hickox in the interests of the school. Several other interesting speakers have been obtained for the programs. Moving pictures made by the United States Chamber of Commerce bureau of mines and engineering will be shown for the first time in Indianapolis. A

and plain clothes aided in parking problems and preserved the sanctity of basketball patrons’ pocketbooks. 00 0 r . A DRIZZLING rain that startfV ed with the opening of the Columbus-Frankfort game at 10 a. m. did not deter the crowd. Officials estimated at noon that every seat was occupied. Families in stair-step groups— Thad Houston, 61, Franklin, crippled and who came on crutches because he didn’t want to miss a game—were typical of the devotees who wore .out lungs in the fieldhouse for their favorites and never minded the accompanying hoarseness. Vivid blues, reds, purples and greens in sweaters and pennants blazoned the banks of stands as they sat sometimes in a fierce quietude awaiting a free throw shot or bursting into a tornado of yells at a successful shot caged from the center of the floor. The odor of hamburgers and hot dogs from the lunch stands below the ramps claimed priority over the yells between halves. 0 0 0 ALTHOUGH Horace Mann had the punishing power to quell the surge of the Kokomo “Wildcats” attack it was to three Wildcat yell-leaders that the strength of sound was due. Dressed in striped trousers of red, white and green with contrasting sweaters they made “Yea, Wildcats” a chant of victorious sportsmanship in defeat. “I’d give almost anything for a seat,” muttered one -disconsolate youth\vho came all the way from Michigan City. “You’d have to,” jeered a Terre Haute rooter waving his ggte pasteboard. • Itinerant sandwich merchants

short musical program also will be given. Twenty-six years ago, Captain Hickox choie automobile driving as his vocation. To become efficient in his line, he took up race driving, appearing in prominent dirt track events throughout the United States. In his early career of race driving he experienced plenty of thrills and chance-taking escapades. His experiences in the roaring bowl vested him with expert authority as a driver. The seasoned

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis

who pitched tents on private property near the fieldhouse In the hope to garner trade found themselves compelled to depend on the rests between morning and afternoon sessions for trade as gate guards would not permit those who had entered the fieldhouse? to leave unless they forfeited another stub from their ticket. 000 EVERY train, in ter urban and highway brought additional crowds from various sections of the state, today. Hotels turned transient guests away for want of rooms. Residents of the city who failed to buy tickets early have but one hope to see the games and that is for adherents of some defeated team to give away or sell their pasteboards. The annual basketball meet reaches its height Saturday night when the finalists clash. Each game is being broadcast by The Indianapolis Times over WFBM. SNOW MAROONS 22 Battle to Reach Tourists at Inn Three Days. B.U United Press LARAMIE, Wyo., ’March • 15. Road crews on the Lincoln highway between Cheyenne and Laraazte battled through snowdrifts today to reach Summit Inn., twelve miles east of here, where twenty-two tourists and motorists have been marooned for three days. The rescuers hoped to reach Ihe inn before night.

race driver is the most careful and considerate of drivers. He drives his automobii by strict rules and regulations. He must qualify with a perfect score under any contest board supervision. 000 DURING the World war he became interested in aviation, and through this activity he qualified in efficiency as an aviator. He was associated with three flying circuses that later* took up commercial passengercarrying operations.

COLUMBUS AND LQGANSPORT IN FIRST AFTERNOON CLASH ' OF STATE BASKET CLASSIC Kokomo, Martinsville and Columbia City Are Eliminated From Title Play in First Round of Tourney. TECH IS FAVORITE OVER VINCENNES Crowd of 14,000 Fans Cheers on Cagers at Annual Event at Butler Fieldhouse; Radio Broadcast Goes Big. BY DICK MILLER Frankfort, Bedford and Horace Mann of Gary survived the opening contests of the Indiana high school basketball tourney this morning. They will see action again Saturday morning in tlie quarter-final round. Columbus and Logansport were scheduled to clash at Butler university fieldhouse at 2 this afternoon, with Technical of Indianapolis and Vincennes ready to go on at 3 o’clock. Attica and South Side of Ft. Wayne tangle at 4 o’clock. Two more contests will be staged tonight.

TAX RETURNS SWAMP OFFICE

Today Last to File Income Payments. Indianapolis income taxpayers have until midnight tonight to file without paying an extra penalty of 25 per cent. Internal revenue offices were nearly swamped with last minute taxpayers today. Long lines of persons sat on benches or stood in the corridors. More than thirty clerks were assisting in filling out the returns. The office will be kept open until midnight, George L. Foote, collector, said. Heavy fines are provided, in addition to the 25 per cent penalty, for those who “wilfully” fail to make their tax return on time. Foote estimated that B<* per cent of the 85,000 returns expected in the state had been filled by Thursday night. Most of the remainder will be in tbffe mail before midnight, he said. Married persons with a joint net income of $3,500 and single persons with a net income of sl*soo are required to make returns. Only about 50 per cent of those making returns actually pay income tax, Foote said. 1,200 BUILDINGS ARE ON FIRE IN JAPANESE TOWN Troops Are Aiding in Fight on names; Wind Hampers. By United Press TOKIO, March 15.—Twelve hundred buildings at Ishioka, prefecture of Ibaragi, were on fire today, advices received here said. The postoffice was among the burning buildings and troops were aiding firemen in fighting the flames. A violent wind helped to spread the fire after it started last night. BANDrr HUNTED IN ~ MYSTERY JAIL BREAK Gang Leader Slips Through Three Locks and Two Doors. By United Press BALTIMORE, Md., March 15. Jack Hart, leader of the Norris gang bandits, escaped today from the penitentiary. He made his way mysteriously through three locks and two doors some time during the night, and this morning his cell was found empty. Penitentiary authorities contend he is still somewhere inside the prison, but police officials are convinced he is outside the penitentiary walls. Every underworld haunt ttfhere he probably would go is being watched.

So with the vast amount of experience in automobile racing and aviation, this man is well fitted and able to-hold an audience’s attention in conducting his lecture courses in efficiency In automobile driving. Captain Hoclfbx is a native of New York, spen* his early life in Buffalo. He was born fifteen miles from the famous Saratoga race track. Further announcements of the captain’s work will appear soon in The Times.

HOME

Outside Marion County S Cents

TWO CENTS

Horace Mann was the first team to s u rvive the final dash, defeating Kokomo in the opening clash of the morning. The team from the north was behind at the half, but presented a fine drive to emerge victorious. In a thrilling: .overtime game Bedford shook a jinx of years and sent the Martinsville team to defeat in the first upset, 31-29. Frankfort coasted through an easy game, winning over Columbia City with ease. 14,000 See Games Never in history has such a throng been on hand for the opening game. More than 11,000 watched the opening tossup and then the crowd grew gradually until 14,000 on hand to cheer the Artesians and the Stone city five to supreme efforts. It was just such a game as the vast throng expected when they trudged through the rain to reach the mammoth arena and the Stone Cutters were cheered wildly ias they overcome a seven point lead and dashed into the front only to be overtaken in the last seconds of the regular game. Thousands of parked automobiles lined streets for miles around the field, fiouse. A large police detail in charge o Major Lewis Johnson and Sergeant ■William Rowe directed the handling of the traffic as well as the parking systematically of the thousands of automobiles. Tech Rooters on Hand Hundreds of ushers were on hand early to see that every one got his reserved seat. Trucks carted thousands of “hot dpgs” and buns, bottles of milk, hundreds of pounds candy and thousands of pies. Those were to feed the vast throng by cafeteria style. The sides of the fieldhouse was lined with lunch counters. A large Technical following was on hand early this afternoon to cheer the first Indianapolis high school team ever to enter the final tournament wtih even an outside chance to win. They tore paper to bits and showered the air with confetti as the green team trotted on the floor. Once before a Technical team entered the finals, but lost in the first game. It was Vincennes that year that eliminated the locals. John Adams and his Vincennes five again are the opponents of the locals this year, .. Hundreds of Correspondents .. Tech win a one-point victory over the Alices in a regular season game a month ago, and because of that was a pre-game favorite. Adams had his team at the floor edge all morning watching play. Several hundred telegrams were received by *he Indianapolis Times broadcasting the games over WFB\f Fans all over the state who failed to get tickets sought nut the radio sets today to listen to the accurate accounts of the play by Blythe Hendricks and his staff of announcers. So great has the Indiana tournament grown that many out of state papers had special correspondent# in the press box getting ringside views for their readers. Hundreds of Indiana correspondents also were on hand. TWO SAILORS KILLED Frenchman Die as Shell Explodes in Target Practice. Bu United Pre ... L’ORIENT, France, March 15. Two seamen wer* killed when a sixinch shell exploded before the breach of a gun could be closed In target on board the Frenoh destroyer Smomali, it was learned here today.