Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 260, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 March 1929 — Page 1

M’DONALD IS CONVICTED IN HAAG KILLING Life Prison Term Penalty is Fixed by Murder Jury. VERDICT IN TWO HOURS Shows but Little Emotion; Sentenced Deferred Until Monday. Rupert McDonald shall spend the rest of his life in Indiana State Prison for the murder of Wilkinson Haag, Haag Drug Company official. This was the verdict returned in criminal court today against the 21-year-old Chicago youth who was only 18 when Haag was shot in a holdup attempt at the Green Mill barbecue on May 17, 1926. The jury reached its verdict after two hours’ deliberation Tuesday night. Sentence Is Deferred Eph Inman, defense attorney, informed Judge James A. Collins that a motion for anew trial preliminary to an appeal, probably will be filed. Sentencing was deferred until Monday. McDonald kept his head bowed as Prank Iriek, 4818 Central avenue, jury foreman, presented the verdict to the court and clerk William Kaiser read it. He seemed comparatively unmoved. His mother rushed to him and threw her arms about him. He kissed her and the mother, son, r id two daughters gathered in a group. Then McDonald was led back to county jail by Deputy Roland Snider. Ghere Awaits Trial His brother, Nelson Chittick, not in court when the verdict was read, smiled when he came into the courtroom and shook hinds with Inman. McDonald, Lawrence Ghere and Arthur McClelland planned the Haag holdup in an attempt to steal Haag’s $1,100 diamond ring, the state contended. Ghere, also waiting trial for the murder, is said to have fired the death shot. McClelland is in prison in Illinois. The first degree murder conviction against McDonald was obtained under the law which makes any participant in a holdup which results in death equally guilty with the slayer. Night Session of Court The McDonald case was turned over to the jury Tuesday at the first night session in criminal court since the trial of former Mayor John L. Duvall. Following five and one-half hours of arguments by Prosecutor Judson L. Stark, Inman and Paul Rhoadarmer, chief deputy prosecutor, the jury filed out to deliberate at 8:24 p. m. Before 10:30 p. m. it was reported that a verdict had been reached and sealed for presentation to the court this morning.

6 HURT IN OIL BLAST One Dead; Score of Homes Set on Fire. Bu United Press CAMDEN, N. J., March 20.—One man was killed, six others were burned, one probably fatally, and scores of homes were fired by flaming oil, when a huge still exploded early today at the Sun oil plant in Marcus Hook. The explosion rocked the countryside from Wilmington to Philadelphia. Virtually every resident in the area of more than a square mile became a volunteer fireman to save his home. FIRE 3 FOR SEX QUIZ Professors and Student Are Ousted From University. By United Press COLUMBIA, Mo., March 20—The executive board of curators of the University of Missouri today dismissed two professors and one student after an inquiry into the circulation of sex questionnaires among students of the university. Those dismissed are M. F. Meyer, professor of phychology; Professor H. O. Degraff, professor of sociology, and O. H. Mower, student assistant in psychology. STI MS ON KEEPS MUM New Secretary of State Declines to Comment on Post. OAN FRANCISCO, March 20. Other than declaring that the distribution of American news throughout the world had an important bearing on foreign relations, Henry L. Stimson, new secretary of state, declined to comment on his cabinet post when he arrived here today. FAILS AT KIDNAPING Hunt Man Who Tried to Lure Girls Into Auto. Police today are searching for a man who attempted tq lure two daughters of J. F. Manley, 617 North Tacoma avenue, into a motor car Tuesday at Oriental and Michigan streets. The girls, Mary, 8, and j Helen, 7, gave police the license

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The Indianapolis Times Far and wanner tonight; Thursday probably increasing cloudiness.

VOLUME 40—NUMBER 260

13 WORKMEN HURT, 2 MAY DIE, WHEN SCAFFOLD FALLS

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Where thirteen workmen were injured when a scaffold fell at the Tabernacle Presbyterian churoh, Thirty-fourth street and Central avenue, today. The workmen were on a platform twenty-five feet high inside the beautiful entrance, as shown by the upper cross. They landed in the heap of wreckage shown at the lower cross just inside the doorway.

Hurled 25 Feet in Crash on Church Job; Skulls Fractured. BULLETIN Frank Rucker, me of the men injured in the sea field fall, died at city hospital at 1 p. m. Thirteen men werei njured, two probably fatally, this morning when scaffolding collapsed inside the new addition being built to the Tabernacle Presbyterian church, Central avenueand Thirty-fourth street. Some of the men were hurled twenty-five feet from the top of the wooden scaffolding, built up from the ground, and some were crushed beneath the debris of brick, stone and wood. The two. whom city hospital doctors thought likely would die from fractured skulls were Frank Rucker, 56, of Seymour, Ind., living at 921 Prospect street, a hod carrier, and Ed Pendleton, Negro, 2706 Indianapolis avenue, hod carrier. Scaffolding Gives Way The men were working on the inside brick and stone wall of the entrance to the new addition. Others injured were: J. W. Nunamaker, 48, of 4134 Rookwood avenue, brick contractor, for whom most of the injured were working, broken left arm and gash on head, taken to Robert Long hospital. John McCrimmon, 62, Negro, 2722 North Oxford street, hod carrier, possible fractured ribs. John Doyle, 50, of 952 Parker avenue, iron worker, possible broken foot. Millard Fultz, 60, 1040 North Illinois street, possible skull fracture. Fred Henderson, 31, of 2346 Winter avenue, stone mason, head gashed. Columbia Huddleston, 38, Negro, 954 West Walnut street, hod carrier, cut head and possible fractured hip. R. J. Pico, 52, of 40 North Senate avenue, carpenter, out head. John Britton, Negro, 1815 Boulevard place, hod carrier, head and side bruised. William Townsend, 31, Negro, 613 West Thirteenth street, arm cut. William Tucker, 46, Negio, 618 West Thirteenth street, hod carrier, face cut. John Turner, Negro, 732 West: Walnut street, cut face. All but Nunamaker were taken to city hospital. Some were released as soon as their injuries were dressed. Four Escape Injury Four other men working on the wall narrowly escaped injury. Roy Nunamaker, 23, of 2440 Pierson street, brother of the brick contractor, and Bert Gill, 441 Norch Denny street, and F. H. Robbins, 130 West Nineteenth street, had been working on the scaffolding, but had stepped to the top of the wall w hen the collapse came. Henry Carr. 522 West Forty-first! street, had one foot on the wall, one on the scaffold and a heavy stone in , his hand. He threw the stone away and jumped and clung to the wail as j the timbers fell.

VOTE ON IMPEACHMENT OF OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR EXPECTED BEFORE NIGHT

Two-Year Fight Over Chief and Secretary Near End. By United Press OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., March 20.—The two-year fight over Henry S. Johnston as Governor, Mrs. Mamie Hammonds as his confidential secretary, and their platonic politics may end today, A vote by the senate court of impeachment, acquitting or convicting Johnston of incompetency and corruption in an administration dominated by the presence of Mrs. Hammonds, was expected before nightfall. After six weeks of trial, during which Johnston fought at the counsel table and Mrs. Hammonds directed her part from the galleries, forty-four senators prepared to receive the case and deliberate. So interested have members of the senate court become at the end of the trial, climaxing a legislative revolt against Johnston and his “ewe lamb,” as he called Mrs. Hammonds, that many have cleared newspapers from their desk and put their feet on the floor. Their verdict will terminate rebellion started two years ago when Johnston refused to dismiss Mrs. Hammonds. While Johnston faces possible ouster on technical charges of incompetence and corruption, and despite the retirement of Mrs. Hammonds into the background at the start of his inquiry, the principal issue surrounds their political attachment. The trial even threatened to go into personal affairs of the Governor—a fatherly man nearing his sixties—and his chief secretary—a pretty housewife whom the public never guesses is forty and mother of two grown boys. Johnston spiked on the stand “salacious rumors." circulated by his opponents when it was learned the door to adjoining hotel suites occupied by the Johnston and Hammonds families once was unlocked while Mrs. Johnston and Mr. Hammonds were away. “We took care It never happened again,” the Governor explained. DONOVAN HOOVER GUEST Returns to Washington to Begin , Law Practice. Bn t’niterl Press WASHINGTON. March 20. Colonel William J. Donovan, former assistant to the attorney general, who recently refused the governor generalship of the Philippines* has returned to Washington from New Mexico to practice law. He was a luncheon guest at the White House yesterday. 1

INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20,1929

A. & P. WILL BAN STORES’ SALE OF MALT Order to Affect 17,000 Stores Throughout United States. HOME BREWING BLOW City Clerks Are Advising Customers of Stop on Supply. Sale of malt will be banned by the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in its nation-wide chain of 17,000 stores, The Times learned today. Supposition that some of its customers may be using malt in violation of the prohibition law has resulted in this policy, described in dispatches from New York as the “present intention” of the chain grocery firm. First inkling of the latest blow to the home brewer was given in Indianapolis when A. & P. clerks advised their customers of rumors that familiar malt cans soon were to disappear from the A. & P. shelves. Information to local offices at 209 West South street brought only the information that a statement could come only from J. A. Hartford, president of the company, in New York City. In response to telegraphic inquiries, a New York dispatch to The Times verified the ban. Hartford could not be reached at his offices, but “Mr. Wheeler,” who declined to give his official status at New York A. & P. headquarters admitted that the plans to stop the sale of malt are under consideration. A definite announcement may be made within a fortnight, he said. The A. & P. ban on the sale of malt will be the most significant retreat in the merchandising of home brew supplies since caps, cappers and beer-making utensils were swept off the counter of Kresge stores, from coast to coast. S. E. Kresge, their owner, accompanied the move with a large contribution to the Anti-Saloon League.

103 SUITS FILED IN DAY Record Broken in County Court on Tuesday. All records for filing suits in Marion county were broken Tuesday when 103 cases were filed, Louis Myers, county file clerk, announced today. Previous filings have averaged fifty a day. Os the number filed Tuesday, fifty-one were foreclosures of street improvement liens filed by the Columbia Construction Company. The liens were filed against property owners who recently filed petitions to escape assessments on an East Forty-second street sewer.

COPS SEEK ‘TRUDY’ Swimmer Ignores Summons for Speeding. By United Press NEW YORK, March 20.—Gertrude Ederle today ignored a speeding summons once too often and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. The English channel swimmer was to have appeared in traffic court today to answer a summons for speeding on Riverside drive last February. She had ignored the summons often before, and did so today. Magistrate Abraham Rosenbluth, tired of delays, turned to Policeman Frank O’Brien, who had issued the summons, handed him the warrant and told him to arrest Miss Ederle “on sight.” It was Miss Ederle’s second clash with the law. She pleaded guilty in Long Island City June 16, 1927, to having speeded at thirty-five miles an hour, but received a suspended sentence.

One Day Left to Solve Murder and Win Prize Only one more day to discover “Who killed Harry Borden and why?” The solution to the murder mystery is contained in “The Black Pigeon” serial story on Page 11. Borden, a stock broker, was found dead on the floor of his office. Police are baffled. No one knows who killed him. The Indianapolis Times is asking their readers to discover the murderer. Send in your answers after midnight Thursday and before midnight Sunday. Write on one side of tle paper. Makp your answers neat, logical and convincing. The same murderer named by Miss Anne Austin, the author, need not be the one named by you. Several cash prizes will be awarded to The Times reader who has the best solution to the mystery. Turn to Page 11 now and read “The Black Pigeon.” Then prepare your answers and send them to the "Black Pigeon” editor at The Times.

DEATH IS VICTOR IN MARSHAL FOCH’S GREATEST BATTLE

End Comes to Commander of World War Forces After Valiant Fight. Bv United Press PARIS, March 20.—Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch, supreme commander of the allied armies in the World war and probably the world’s most brilliant modem military strategist, died at his home here today. He was 77 years old. The mild little Frenchman who never before had known actual defeat, surrendered to death only after he had battled to the last ounce of strength in his slender, shrunken body. Heart trouble and complications which developed into uremia caused his death. Only a short time before his death a priest had been summoned to give him the last sacrament. Death came at 5:55 p. m. Earlier in the day it had been announced that the marshal passed a more comfortable night, but that his heart had proved troublesome after weakening considerably for some days.

Fought Death Valiantly The generalissimo of all the allied forces in the World war fought valiantly against the great adversary, death until the final moment. Not until all hope had finally been relinquished was the priest summoned to administer the last sacrament. Observers saw the priest enter the marshal’s home and leave again several minutes later. Simultaneously almost the announcement sped out to the waiting world which has for several months watched news dispatches anxiously for signs of improvement in the great soldier’s condition. Madame Foch, General Barretier, and Major Bugnet were at the bedside when the end came. The general and major had just called to pay their respects. The priest who had been summoned arrived and stood at the bedside for only two minutes. He turned and walked out, shaking his head. “It‘s too late,” he said. “He is dying.” Escaped Being German He had given absolution and then departed from the house. Born at Tarbes, Oct. 2, 1851, Foch narrow escaped—“by the grace of God,” he said—being a German. His father was a ciyil official of Tarbes and his mother the daughter of an officer of Napoleon’s army. He was educated at Metz, in Loria After the Franco-Prussian war, Lorraine was annexed to Germany, but young Foch immediately moved from his home to French territory. He lived to see Lorraine returned to France. Although he joined the army in the Franco-Prussian war, he did no fighting. He actually started his military career when hfe received his commission in the army in 1873 and joined an artillery group. His rise was rapid and soon he was working with the general staff of the army. In 1898 he became a lieutenant-colonel and professor of military history and strategy at the college. Then In 1905, he became commandant of the Ecole de Guerre and a corps commander in 1912.

Head Allied Forces He took command of the Twentieth corps the next year and when the World war broke out a year later, he led his men into the first conflict of a four-year struggle. Foch, an expert strategist, was in demand all along the front. After the battle of Ypres, he was put at the head of all the French armies in the north in 1915 and 1926. In the spring of 1917, Foch was sent south and to Italy to aid the allies there. Summer months forced his quick recal and he was placed in command of all the allied armies in France in April, 1918. Under his single command, the allied armies moved steadily forward until the armistice was signed. It was Foch who dictated the terms of the armistic to the German plenipotentiaries as they sat in a railroad car in the Compiegno forest in November, 1918. ‘“Gentlemen,” Marshal Foch told them, “you have seventy-two hours to make your reply.” Catholic Educator Dies By United Press BOSTON. Marhc 20. The Rev. Dr. Edmund T. Shanahan, 60, one time dean of the faculty at Catholic university, Washington, died at St. Elizabeth’s hospital here Wednesday night.

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THIEVES TAKE MARBLES Enter Drug Store by Cutting Partition, Steal Stamps. It must be spring. Burglars who entered the Albert Shrollenger drug store at 2766 Roosevelt avenue by carving their way through a partition from an adjoining restaurant with a butcher knife, Tuesday night stole marbles valued at $5. They also took s2l in stamps.

PROBERS TO MARK TIME AT SULLIVAN

Prosecutor Indicates No Special Call for Grand Jury Is Likely. BY CHARLES C, STONE State Editor. The Times SULLIVAN, Ind., March 20. Amid the maze of rumors and theories regarding Sullivan county’s tragic banking situation, there stand today the following facts: First, a statement of Prosecutor Jesse Bedwell that he sees no need for recalling the grand jury, recessed to April 15, at any earlier date. Second, Main street went shopping on Wall street and found that Sinclair oil stock was not a bargain. Third, Edgar D. Maple, vicepresident of the Peoples National Bank and Trust Company, found shot to death in the west entry here Jan. 13, last, was a suicide. Fourth, James Lang, 73, who was president of the now defunct Citizens Trust Company bank and who has returned here after being a fugitive more than a year, still holds the confidence of many Sullivan residents.

Prosecutor Evades Issue Prosecutor Bedwell, commenting on a three weeks’ session of the grand jury, declared, “We got a lot of stuff,” but indicated in the same breath that there was little real evidence, remarking, “if we can find that a man who has violated the law and we can get sufficient evidence, we will prosecute.” The prosecutor said some evidence was qffered the grand jury that might form the basis of criminal action in a federal court. Maple’s bank holds a national charter, which would bring it within federal law. Bedwell. however, refused to become specific in reference to the evidnee. Despite the universal declaration here that Will H. Hays caused the buying of Sinclair oil stock, practically no one condemns him. Business men here declare that Hays lost money with other Sullivan county residents when the stock price slumped. Representative men of both Sullivan and Shelburn show no hesitancy in declaring that Maple took his own life. They point out that Maple and Jessup F. Bolinger, president of the'closed First State Bank of Shelburn were close friends, and that Maple discounted notes brought to his bank from Bolinger's until the amount became too heavy a load for the Peoples bank to carry. He Chose Suicide Maple, made desperate the situation, chose death as a way out, is the general explanation. Lang is being treated as one more sinned against than sinning. Good wishes and cigars are being showered upon him. He is a waiting trial on a charge of forging notes for £15,000.

Prosecutor Bedwell has not yet ahnounced when he intends to ask a trial in Lang’s case. Asked whether Lang would be called before the grand jury when it reconvenes April 15, Bedwell replied: “I am not yet ready to say.” With return of Lang, William Abbott, who formerly operated a sawmill near Hymera, Sullivan county, is pressing a claim against Lang’s bank for $60,000. A claim Lang asserts is lawless. Abbott declares that he bought $60,000 worth of Liberty bonds from Lang shortly before the bank was closed, but left them in the institution for safe keeping, but they were never returned to him. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 35 10 a. m— *5 7a. m..., 35 11 a. m.... 49 8 a. m 38 12 (noon).. 51 9a. m.... 42 Ip. m.... 55

MONON’S STOCKHOLDERS UNITE TO BATTLE B. & 0. MOVE TO ABSORB LINES

Plans Laid for Determined Fight at Annual Session of Directors Here; State Help Is Pledged. BIG LOSS FOR INDIANA IS CITED. Millions Now Spent With Hoosier Industries Might Be Taken Away if Control of Road Were Changed. Monon railroad directors and stockholders, in annual meeting here today, declared war on the plan of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to absorb their lines. The* B. & O. has pending before the interstate commerce commission a petition for merger of the Monon into the B. & O. system. The declaration of opposition by the Monon owners and officials indicated that another battle of the little fellow to avoid being swallowed by the big fellow, comparable to the successful battle of Chesapeake & Ohio stockholders |o block absorption by the Van Sweringen interests, might be in the making.

Slug Truck Driver; Flee State Farm Victim Knocked Senseless by Blows of Trio; Think Club Used. By United Press PUTNAMVILLE, Ind., March 20. —Three prisoners knocked an Indiana state farm truck driver senseless, stole his truck and escaped into the hills seven miles south of here Tuesday night. Officials believed they had several clews which might lead to recapture of the escaped men today. The fugitives are: George Smith, sentenced from Lake county for drawing deadly weapons; Ray Collins, Madison county, sentenced for false pretense and Halo Stagg, Monroe county, doing time for petit larceny. The men had been working in the willow factory. A truck driver, whose name was withheld by farm officials, stopped near the factory building. The trio slipped up to him, overpowered him and knocked him senseless with blows to the head. It was thought they used their fists or a wooden club. The men leaped into the truck and sped through the farm gates onto the National road before guards discovered what had happened. Squads of guards in motor cars started in pursuit, but had no tangible clews until the truck was found abandoned on a road seven miles south of the farm. Guards believe the prisoners picked up rides from motorists and continued on south into the hilly country which would afford them many opportunities to hide out by day and travel by night. . The fugitives were clad in regulation blue denim suits, duck coats and corduroy caps.

MISSISSIPPI IS RISING North Illinois Is Flooded; River at Record Height. By United Brens QUINCY, 111., March 20.—With the Mississippi river here reaching its highest stage in twenty-six years, flood conditions in this vicinity became critical today. AU north and south trains into Quincy were running late, and the lines of the M. K. & T. railroad were covered with twenty-two inches of water in the vicinity of Alexandria, Mo., twenty miles north of here. autcTcrash nearly STARTS MOB FIGHT Arrest Two, Break Up Crowd of Angry Negroes. An automobile accident in which an aleged drunken driver was involved. almost precipitated a mob fight at Pratt and Brook streets. Serious trouble was averted by motor policemen Frank Giblin and George Baker. No one was injured in the crash, in which a car driven by Dan Hauser, 26, of 1812 College avenue, hit one driven by Charles Brown, Negro, 756 Indiana avenue. Hauser and his companion, Fred Thomas, 30. of 1714 Bellefontaine street, are said to have threatned Brown, and a crowd of angry Negroes assembled. Hauser and Tomas were arrested, the former on a charge of driving while intoxicated, and Thomas on charges of drunkenness.

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Shortly after the stockholders ’ meeting at the Monon office's, 114 Monument Circle, Commissioner John \V. McCardle of the Indiana public service commission assured President H. K. Kurrie of the Monon and E. P. Cockrell, general passenger agent, that the commission will stand with tho Monon against the B. & O. The call to arms is sounded in a resolution in which the stockholders declare that assumption of control by the B. & O. will not be m the public interest and calling upon all stockholders and directors to combat such absorption and giving the directors and executive committee full authority to fight.

Lines Show Profit At the same time, the directors read the 1928 annual report, which showed that the railroad was making more money than in 1927, and that it paid to the state of Indiana $1,065,876 in taxes in 1928, an increase of $163,646 over 1927. Directors also announced that $750,000 would be spent in 1929 for additions and betterments to the line. This includes new buildings and bridges. The railroad in 1928 paid 7 per cent on its common stock and 4 per cent on the preferred stock and the outlook for 1929 is even better, Kurrie said. Big Loss Might Result Kurrie declared that the B. & O. petition is made in line with the declared policy of eastern - lroads to consolidate the railroads of the country into a few large systems. “The Monon is a part of the combined Southern Railway-Louisville & Nashville systems, through joint control of its stock by these companies, so in its present situation the Monon really is a part of a large system of railroads- “ Absorption of the Monon by the B. & 0., would mean a loss on the pay roll in Indiana of more than $2,000,000 a year. This is a natural step, as the same occurred when the C. I. & W. was acquired by the B. & 0., the repair plants in Indiana were closed and the heavy repair work taken to the east.

‘‘When the Lake Erie & Western ! was acquired by the Nickel Plate, the general organization was transferred to Cleveland. In the case of the Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern, acquired by the Milwaukee, the locomotive repair plant at Bedford was closed and the plant at Terre Haute greatly reduced. Pays Millions for Material “At the present time, the Monon pays approximately $2,000,000 a year for materials and supplies purchased in Indiana and used in operation of the railroad. In 1928 purchases were made in sixty different cities along the line. It is our policy to buy from producers along the line. “In a large system such as the B. <fc 0., where purchases are made In Baltimore, it would be natural for the purchasing agent to buy from producers for the entire system, and Indiana, being so far away from the point of purchase, would have little chance of enjoying the business it no£ obtains from the Monon.” Kurrie said. “There are but three so-cal£d independent north and south lines operating now. They' are: The Monon, C. & E.. and Illinois Central. TeriJs North Side Lines “The petition filed with the interstate commerce commission seeks to make the C. & E. I. a part of the Van Sweringen system of east and west lines, and the Monon a part of the B. & O: making the Illinois Central the only independent north and south line, and leaving the L. & N. and Southern railroads without a direct connection that is friendly to the encouragement of north and south business. "The Mcnon is indispensable It these great systems are to serve their most useful purpose in developing the north, south, and middlewest, and the public should , participate in the fight.”