Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 74, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 August 1929 — Page 1

E SCRIPPS - HOWARD |

Politics Is Called iWorst Handicap in Dry Enforcement Mabel Walker Willebrandt Reveals Inside Story of Link Between Crooked Officials and Bootlegging Rings. (Politics and liquor, according to Mrs. Mabel W. Wllebrandt, former assistant united States attorney-general in charge of prohibition, are as inseparable as beer and pretrols and in this, the second articles of her series, she tells the sensational story of the quarter million dollars found in a dead senator’s safedeposit, the story of a bootlegger Icing who reached the ear of a president, and others who found powerful friends in Washington.) BY MABEL WALKER WILLEBRANDT fCepyright, 1929, by Current News Features. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world.) Politics. In that one word I best and most completely can describe the greatest handicap to the enforcement of the prohibition law. Politics and liquor apparently are as inseparable as beer and pretzels. But the combination is no new thing. It existed long before the eighteenth amendment was adopted. My memory is not so short that I do not recall the old alliances between the brewers, distillers and saloon keepers on the one hand, in the days before prohibition, and the professional politicians on the other. The liquor interests financed the city and state campaigns; they controlled city councils, county boards of commissioners, state legislatures. They “headed off” through their political allies early closing hour ordinances, Sunday closing laws applying to saloons; local or county option measures, and higher license ordinances and laws.

The saloonkeepers, the brewery owners, the whisky wholesalers, always were willing to “chip in ’’ to help elect a county or state’s attorney, a member of the legislature or the city council, who would be broadminded, as they termed it, on the liquor question. I will not confess yet to being old, but I do not expect to live long enough to witness a complete divorcement of politics and the liquor trade, legitimate or illegitimate. “Party” Inherits Fortune Let's see how politics and liquor maintain their alliance under prohibition Not so long ago a politician of national rank —a recognized leader of his party and for some years a senator—died, leaving in a safe deposit vault a quarter million dollars in cash. He had much other property, but the quarter million dollars did not go into his estate. Why? Because his heirs released the money to another politician, also of national rank. Certainly none of the politicians who handled the money profited personally by its possession. They were not of that type. Where did the quarter million dollars come from originally? Easily answered. The politician first mentioned —the man who died with a quarter million dollars in his safe deposit box which his heirs didn’t want practically controlled the government of an entire state in which prohibition enforcement had been and is most*lax. Law enforcement officers there danced when he pulled the string. Elections were just processions of his creatures into office. But elections mean political campaigns—electors must be "told,” and be made to like it. Political campaigns can not be run on oratory and spellbinding alone —even in that politi-cian-ridden commonwealth. Money, and gobs of it, is essential to do the trick. Boss Needed Money The big boss mentioned above neded money, it seems, with which to meet a campaign deficit. For that reason and others (partly to maintain his political control), he secured the appointment of a political friend of his as prohibition director. This man was wealthy and personally honest. He spent most of his time elsewhere and permitted two other men to direct "enforcement” efforts in his district. They managed affairs so efficiently that practically all those within the state who wanted permits for the manufacture, use. or sale of alcohol. and the operation of nearbeer breweries, were satisfied eminently. Their satisfaction was such that they were glad to contribute large sums, including the quarter million dollars which found its way into a safe-deposit vault. The influence of liquor in politics begins down in the city wards and country districts. But it extends. If it can. up to the cabinet a id the White House in Washington. Remus Near Freedom After the notorious “king of bootleggers.” George Remus, had been convicted, and successively lost his appeals to the circuit court and the supreme court of the United States, the rumor reached me that he never would serve a day in Atlanta prison, to which he had been sentenced. A few days later, a phone call came from the White House, stating that a respite of sixty days would be granted Remus if the attorney-general would send over the necessary papers to effect that result. Prominent politicians, including the then Senator Reed of Missouri, had intervened with the President to urge delay. The natural impulse when the White House phones to any department is to rush into acquiescence to the request. But Attorney-Gen-eral Stone viewed it as a duty to

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

The Indianapolis Times Thunderstorms tonight and possibly Wednesday morning, followed by fair; not much change in temperature.

VOLUME 41—NUMBER 74

inform the President of facts. We prepared a brief summary of the actual facts, President Coolidge refused the respite, and shortly after that Remus took up his residence on “Millionaire’s Row” in Atlanta penitentiary, where, with other wealthy prisoners, he succeeded in bribing the warden to extend them special favors, for which the warden was in turn convicted and served a sentence in the institution he once had “managed.” While his case was before the supreme court of the United States on appeal, Remus figured in another case, turning on the use of politics by “liquor bandits.” It involved the Jack Daniel distillery in St. Louis. The Jury returned a verdict of guilty against twenty-three of the twenty-six men involved in the conspiracy. Among them w r ere a state senator, a former collector of internal revenue, a former circuit court clerk, a former deputy sheriff and a member of each of the city committees of the Democratic and Republican parties. The notorious Remus was the moving spirit in more ways than one. He devised the plan which succeeded in getting the whisky out of the distillery. First, he made a connection with both the Democratic and Republican politicians in St. Louis and obtained an introduction to the collector of internal revenue. The collector agreed to change gaugers at the distillery and to substitute for the old, honest, experienced man a man suggested by Remus and his political friends. The •collector did not accept a bribe. He simply did what the politicians told him to do. His job was dependent upon their continueo good will. After obtaining the removal of the old gauger, the conspirators had the whisky siphoned into a garage across the street and water was sub(Tum to Page Five) MOTORIST DROWNS Evansville Auto Man Dies in Ohio River. Bu United Press EVANSVILLE, Ind.. Aug. 6.—John L. Gaulich, president of an automobile sales company of Evansville, was drowned today when his machine plunged into the Ohio river from a ferry dock. The body was recovered by Chauncey Oriskey and Walter Troyer, fishermen, who said they saw the automobile dive into the waters. Graulich was en route to Henderson, Ky., it was said. The ferry had not started operations.

Hear This Talk A great radio hook-up will carry a message to all Indianapolis girls and their mothers Wednesday morning, when Martin J. Starr, of Physical Culture magazine, broadcasts the story of the national campaign to locate America’s most perfectly proportioned girl. The Times is co-operating with the MacFadden Publications in selecting Indianapolis’ representative in this great contest. Tempting prizes, with great future opportunities, are offered the winner, in addition to the SI,OOO award which *lll go to the mother for her story of how she reared her daughter to young womanhood. The broadcast will come over WEAF and the entire National Broadcasting Company chain, at 9:30 Indianapolis time. Tune in and hear this message. Then rush in your photograph to enter this contest.

SON, 42, MS AGED FAIHER FOR SPANKING ‘Strongest Man’ in Grafton, Vt., Is Killed in Family Row. PRISONER STAYS CALM Giant Members of Kent Tribe Have Curse of Murder. Bu United Press BELLOWS FALLS, Vt., Aug. B. The curse of murder that runs in the blood of the giant members of the Kent family has broken out again. This time over whether a 74-year-old man has the right to spank a 42-year-old son. George Kent, 42, sat in the county jail at Newfane, Monday night and confessed he killed his father, who, despite his extreme age, was known as the strongest man in the village of Grafton. It was the third murder in the family in seventeen years and the second case of patricide. Llewellyn Kent, the father, died Monday night. Claims Self Defense He was always beating me up,” the younger Kent said. “I was always afraid of him. He was ugly. The old man thought he could keep on licking me just the same as he always did when I was a boy.” The quarrel between father and son started over the disappearance of a few eggs from the former's chicken coop. Llewellyn Kent charged his daughter-in-law with stealing the eggs. During the argument George Kent entered the farmhouse where they all lived. Llewellyn Kent told his son to leave the farm and never come back, according to witnesses. George Kent said his father then attempted to beat him and that he ran into another room and got a .25-caliber pistol. They scuffled and witnesses said George pulled the trigger three times, the first bullet going wild and the second and third striking Llewellyn Kent in the head. A brother of the dead man was killed in Wardsboro, Vt., a few years ago by his son, Fred Kent, who stabbed his father to death with a fish spear. A son of Llewellyn Kent was hanged for the murder of Delia Conden, whom he chopped to death with a meat cleaver at Wallingford, Va.

Men Are Giants Both Llewellyn Kent and his brother George were well over six feet tall. Both were known as strong men, the former the strongest in the farming country surrounding Grafton. Kent, arraigned Monday night, pleaded not guilty and waived examination and reading of the complaint and was held without bail for trial in the Windham county court. Kent seemed unperturbed over the killing. Rather, jail officials said, he continued to express his resentment at his father's treatment. State Detective Edwin C. Brown said: “All I can say now is there is evidence that the murder was the culmination of long bitterness between father and son. The egg-stealing episode was purely incidental, but it was just the spark to set off the tragedy.” Crippled Stepmother “The old man was always ugly.” Brown quoted the son as saying. “He drove a team over my stepmother, his second wife, and hurt her back so she became a cripple. She left him because he was so cruel, and always drinking, and she got a divorce ten years ago.” But the elder Kent, undismayed by the divorce, went to the home of his former wife and, according to the son, used his great physical strength to establish himself there. “He lived on her—a cripple—ever since,” Kent told Brown. “He seemed to think everything belonged to him, but it was hers. My wife and I went there to live last spring to take care of my stepmother.”

TONG J3UNS BARK War Despite U. S. Attorney's Deportation Threat. Bv United Press Tongmen’s guns have killed five persons and wounded three others in four cities in the last two days, despite threats of United States Attorney Charles Tuttle in New York to deport national tong leaders and any other Chinese unable to prove their right in this country. Two Hip Sing tongmen are dead; one shot at and missed, in Boston. One Chinese of undetermined tong membership is dead; Hip Sing restaurant owner and woman patron wounded in New York. One On Leong tongman is dead; another dangerously wounded in Chicago. One Chinese, kinsman of Hip Sing tongman killed in New York.

INDIANAPOLIS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 6. 3929

Bury in Trenches to Break Grave Strike

By United Fress NEW YORK, Aug. 6.—Three trenches were dug by strikebreakers in Calvary cemetery, Queens, today to receive corpses accumulating during a grave diggers’ strike W’hich has lasted a week. The trenches were in addition to one dug Saturday, in which more than thirty bodies were deposited. Meantime, Health Commissioner Wyne offered himself as mediator and expected to confer today with officers of the newly formed grave diggers union and heads of the Cavalry Cemetery Association. More than 300 grave diggers, funeral car chauffeurs and gatekeep-

SIX DRIVERS LOSE LICENSES FOR ONE YEAR First Revocations Made on Convictions of Drunken Car Operation. First license revocations under the new drivers’ license law were announced today by Otto G. Fifield, secretary of state. Letters were sent to six Indianapolis citizens Monday notifying them they are not to drive their cars, or any other, for a period of one year. John W. McCord, license revocation judge, sent the notices. Those whose licenses were revoked are Arthur E. Carr, R. R. 2, Box 302; Herman Whited, 1010 Harrison street; Harold Sheedy, R. R. G, Box 193; Andra J. Fender, 706 North Tremont street; Thomas Simmons, 33 West Forty-second street, and Leo A. Wiley, 854 North Tuxedo street. All had been convicted of driving while intoxicated. The law makes license revocation for one year mandatory for drunken motorists, McCord points out. In other instances, such as reckless driving and accidents, ten days’ notice must be served and hearings held. Other mandatory revocations provided under the new law are manslaughter, resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle; perjury or false affidavit in securing a driver's license; felony involving use of an autorpobile; conviction, or forfeiture of bail, on three r3ckless driving charges within twelve months, and conviction of failure to stop after an accident causing death or injury. McCord is the only judge functioning in license revocation cases. He is stationed at the statehouse. Fifield announced others will be appointed to conduct hearings throughout the state when necessary. At present he will depend for a time on local courts to make recommendation for revocations, he said.

‘Oh Shut Up!’ Salesman Charges Wife Threatened Life for Hitting Bumps.

BACKSEAT driving, backed up by threats to kill, are alleged in a divorce petition filed in superior court two today by Huber C. Moore, salesman, 624 North Alabama street against his wife, Mrs. Ollie R. Moore. Moore charged in his complaint his wife threatened to kill nim because he drove his machine across street car tracks in a rough manner. At another time, he alleged, she asked him to kill himself so she would be rid of him. The Moores were married Dec. 24, 1909, and separated March 15, 1929. Moore asks the custody of their only child, Jack, 9. MAINTAIN HIGHER DUTIES Finance Committee Adopts Schedules on Silk and Rayon. Bu United Press WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—lncreased duties on silk and rayon and their by-products, as provided in the house tariff bill, were generally maintained by Republican members of the finance committee when the

two schedules were adopted today.

FORD WONT DO! FIRE CHIEF’S GOTTA HAVE DIGNITY

IMAGINE the fire chief in his golden splendor flashingto to a three-alarm fire in a Ford. Just IMAGINE! For you’ll never see it! City council voted seven to one Monday night to trade in Fire Chief Harry E. Voshell's 1926 Marmon for anew seven-passenger car after long debate on dignity, economy, speed and speeding. Not that the Ford hadn’t council friends. But a fire chief’s a fire chief and we’ve got one of ’em, and no one around here ever met Queen Marie or Colonel Lindberg in a Ford, however fleet or fancy. Only Council President Edward B. Raub Sr. voted no, while his colleagues chimed “We Are Seven.” The new car will only hold seven comfortably, anyway. An ordinance, providing for competitive bids, provoked the discussion. "I don’t see how we can act on this; there’s no price mentioned for the new machine,” said

In Stepped Business; Out Walked Romance

' tJt y&J||fc>. I • filr HI js&oi jlg|B|B 1 ■ ap JHI Wwi - m ££B?i&gi

Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Gifford

Bu United Press _ . , RENO, Nev., Aug. 6.—Big Business, modern master of glorified serfs, is no respecter even of the homes of the energetic young men it makes its loyal slaves. a With its cat o’ nine tails of ambition, Big Business lashed Walter S. Gifford, 44, president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, from his own house and his family. How the commercial success of one of America's industrial giants led to the collapse of his domestic life was revealed today in the evidence by which Mrs. Florence Pittman Gifford obtained a Nevada divorce.

While Gifford was guiding the A. T. & T. toward its present position at the top gs American industries. with assets of well over two million dollars and enough stockholders to populate a city the size of Columbus, 0., his wife said she became unhappy with a husband who had no time for society and gave all his thought to the development of his business. Gifford ceased to think of his wife or his home during this period of commercial ascendency, according to testimony. As the affairs of the A. T. & TANARUS., which owns and operates the immense Bell Telephone system and most of the other lines of com-

SALARY RAISE TO NEW SCHOOL HEAD

County Superintendent Fred Gladden Given Boost by Trustees. Fred T. Gladden, newly elected county superintendent of schools, today confirmed reports that he had been granted a salary raise of $1,200 by the nine township trustees. Further confirmation of the pay boost came from Harry Dunn, county auditor, who declared that Gladden’s new yearly stipend of $4,800 had been included in the county school budget sent to him by the trustees late Monday. Gladden’s new salary of $4,800 is the maximum pay possible for his position. Lee A. Swails, whom Gladden succeeded in the office, was

paid the minimum of $3,600. Charles M. Dawson, Washington township trustee and secretary for the board of trustees, declared today that only two trustees had opposed the salary raise when the vote was taken.

Gladden was elected to his new

Meredith Nicholson. “How much do they want to spend?” Urging favorable action Safety Chairman Robert E. Springsteen, said prices had been obtained on Marmon, La Salle, Peerless and Chrysler cars.

“I think the Ford should be adopted as a standard,” Raub interjected. “There’s too many high-priced cars owned by the city now. This kind of expense is one reason for the change to city manager government! Why don’t they buy a car under $2,400. They

ers walked out a week ago when the association discharged James Daugherty, head of the chauffeurs’ union. n a boo THE pick and shovel men organized a union of their own and demanded a six-day week at $7 a day as a condition to returning to work. Two hundred strikebreakers were hired to dig gaves. but they could not do it fast enough to take care of all the bodies. Caskets on arriving at the cemetery were placed in vaults, and from there transferred to the common graves. When the difficulty is settled the bodies will be disinterred and reburied in separate plotg.

munication throughout the country, occupied more and more of the president’s time, married life became distasteful to him, Mrs. Gifford charged. Beyond that ironical touch reflecting the price of success in the business world, the case was devoid of sensations. Neither party attacked the other’s character in the divorce petition or the evidence. Their two children, Walter and Richard, were awarded to Mrs. Gifford, with the provision that their father shall look after them while they are attending school, Gifford has been with the A. T. & T. since he was 21.

position June 3 and is scheduled to take office Aug. 16. While he was confirming the salary increase, Gladden also took occasion to emphatically deny reports that the dinner given in honor of the retirement of Swails from the county superintendency developed into a mourner’s meeting over the discussion of his pay boost. “The speeches all were of one kind,” Gladden said. “Every speaker devoted his time to eulogizing Swails and I did the same in my address. FRACTURES SKULL Shelbyville Man Struck Leaning From Car. Gale Pike, 30. Shelbyville, Indianapolis & Southeastern railroad freight conductor, suffered a fractured skull today when his head struck a garbage wagon as he leaned from a traction car at Oliver and Kentucky avenues. Pike was taken to city hospital. Hourly Temperatures 8 a. m 66 10 a. m 72 7a. m 66 II a, m 75 Ba. m 68 12 (noon).. 76 9 a. m 70 1 p. m 77

wouldn’t need council's consent for that.” “Fords won’t do; you can only make seventy miles an hour in them,” said Edward Harris, finance chairman, with marked sarcasm.

“I can’t see all this dignity!” remarked the venerable John F. White. “A less exensive machine would serve just as well. We've got too many fine cars idle most of the time. Then strolled in Fire Chief VosheU, greeting the city fathers

KinereU as Second Class Matter at I’ostoflice. Indianapolis

SIBERIA ILL GIVE ZEP lIS BIGGEST IEST

Tundra Wastes Are Greatest Danger on Around-the-World Trip. BY LYLE C. WILSON United Press Staff Correspondent

LAKEHURST, N. J., Aug. 6. Perils unknown to even such hardy adventurers as trans-Atlantic fliers await the Graf Zeppelin on its round-the-world flight, in the opinion of Dr. Hugo Eckener, commander of the dirigible. „ The long cruise is scheduled to start from here Wednesday at midnight and sixty men worked today at the job of refueling the great airship. They were filling her both with hydrogen, the lifting gas, and ethane, the fuel gas, and it was expected the work would not be finished before tomorrow evening. Dr. Eckener believes the most formidable obstacles in the way of realization of his dreams of an aerial circumnavigation of the world will be encountered in the silences over the Siberian tundra wastes, between Friedrichshafen and Tokio. Asia offers no radio protection to aerial navigations. There are not even adequate maps. For land marks Eckener must utilize the great rivers which twist through the Russo-Asiatic plains. Word of his coming may not have preceded him to the far places he must pass over. The Graf might be pot shotted by an anxious villager unaware of its peaceful mission. Germany’s great wireless stations at Nauen will keep in touch with the Graf. But Nauen will have no means of predicting weather conditions ahead of the dirigible. Always ahead will be the tundra horizon beckoning the craft forward to unknown danger. To land without destroying the ship probably would be impossible. Bringing such a craft to earth is an operation requiring ten men below for every man in the dirigible’s crew. The Pacific ocean apparently concerns Eckener but slightly. He will fly north of ship lanes, along the Aleutian island group to the vicinity of Seattle, Wash., where he will turn south to his first American stop at Los Angeles. Eckener might continue east to Birmingham, turning north along a course between the mountains and the Atlantic or he could fly northeast from Texas through Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to Lakehurst. Eckener said ar> effort would be made to enable as many American cities as possible to view the craft.

BULLET ENTERS HOME Lead Drops on Floor Near Sleeping Baby. A bullet fired Monday night in the vicinity of Alexander Dorman’s home, at 2124 English avenue, entered a bedroom in which a baby slep, and dropped on the floor where it was found this morning. Dorman told police he knew of no reason why any one would attempt to injure his family. SCHOOL BIDS ARE UP Board, to Confer on New High School Figures. Members of the Indianapolis school board will confer with the state tax board at 10 a. m. Wednesday regarding bids received on the Irvington high school and elementary school buildings and additions, it was announced today by Philip Zoercher, tax commissioner in

affably. Cincinnati, under city manager government, he explained, has three cars for the fire chief—one of them necessarily a seven-passenger model so that the safety board, secretary and mayor can be accommodated on inspection trips. "Where’s the mayor’s big Stutz,” asked Raub, still partial to fourcylinder economy. "He just goes with us,” Voshell replied. Then Albert F. Meurer pulled up his hook and ladder to the rescue. “Why can’t the fire chief have as good a car as the chief of police?” he asked. Police Chief Claude M. Worley has a LaSalle. “The fire chief is head of one of our principal departments,” Meurer reminded the group. Dignity was crowned victor. The safety board will obtain bids on various makes of “big-tonnage” cars and place a requisition with Joel A. Baker, city purchasing agent, Fred W. Connell, safety board president, said.

HOME

Outside Marlon County 3 Jetttf

TWO CENTS

STATE’S CASE IS RESTED IN SNOOK TRIAL ‘Third-Degree' to Obtain Confession Described to Jury. CALLED ‘DIRTY RAT’ Officers Cursed Professor, Branded Him ‘Yellow Dog’ in Quiz. BY MORRIS DE HAVEN TRACEY United Press Staff Correspondent COLUMBUS, 0., Aug. 6.—The state today rested its case against Dr. James Howard Snook, accused of the murder of Theora Hix. The questioning which led to the alleged confession was described in court today. Howard Lavely, detective, described the questioning, admitted it was acomplished by ‘rough words" and by the use of a “stool pigeon.” He had been called by the state to identify the hammer and knife with which Theora was killed. Snook didn’t listen to Lavely’s description of how he had found the hammer and knife. When Lavely walked over and exhibited them to the jury, pointing out blood stains, Snook had his back turned and was watching a bailiff bandage a sore thumb. On cross-examination the defense brought out admissions that Lavely j and others cursed Snook and called him “yellow dog” and “a rat” during the questioning which led to the purported confession of the professor. “Stool Pigeon” Used A side-light on police method was given when Lavely describee how he placed a forger whom hi had “done a favor” in Snook’s cet as a “stool pigeon.” Lavely testified that he found the hammer in a tool box in the basement of the Snook home. It was covered with other tools. The knife he found on a shelf in the basement. “I took them to Snook in the county jail,” Lavely said, “and asked Snook if I had the right ones. He said, ‘Yes, those were the right ones.’ I said. ‘You didn’t wash them off very well, doctor,’ and he said, ‘No, I just held them under a faucet.’ ” On cross-examination the defense went into the questioning of Snook after his arrest. “Did any one abuse, curse or threaten Snook?” Lavely was asked. “Not that I remember,” said Lavely. Worked in Relays Lavely told how police officers worked in relays in questioning Snook, first one and then another, conducting the examination. After brief questioning on previous days beginning with Snook’s arrest on Saturday, the former professor was taken on Wednesday afternoon to the office of chief of police. It was then that the long hours of questioning which culminated in the confession began. Q —What was Dr. Snook doing? A—Balancing back on his chair. Q —Were people smoking in that room? A—Yes. Q —Did he smoke A—No. Q —What did he think of the questioning? A—He thought it was a joke. Q —Did he have food? A—Yes; milk and sandwiches. Q —Did you curse him? A—Yes, I used some curse words and told him he was a dirty dog. Q —Did you call him a God damned rat? A—Yes, I told him if he was a man he would tell the truth. Q —Did the chief of police curse him? A—Yes. Q —What did he say? A—He said damn or something like that. The questioning, Lavely said, lasted to 5 a. m., when Snook was taken back to jail. Excepting for the milk Snook was given nothing to drink during the entire questioning. % Asked Many Questions Lavely revealed that he had arranged to have Charles Carrie ac- ! cused of forgery, made Snook's cell I mate, to observe “Snook’s reaction ; and see what he would tell.” “I had done Carrie a favor and he was willing to help me,” said Lavely. Carrie, he said, “would communicate with him when he had something to tell.” “But he told me very little that amounted to anything," Lavely added. On redirect examination Lavely testified that at 5 a. m. when quesi tioning was interrupted, “Chief of Police French said Dr. Snook looked better than any of us ” Lavely took a chair and rocked in it to show the jury how Snook sat during the questioning. “He asked us about as many questions as we asked him,” he said. “He was trying to out-think us all the time.” CANAL DEATH IS SIFTED Body of Man Is Found in Water at East Chicago. Bu T'nited Press EAST CHICAGO. Ind.. Aug. An investigation was opened today into the death of Ross Forsythe, 36, whose body was found in the Indiana Harbor canal here. The body, which had been in the water for two weeks, was identified through a notebook found in the clothing.