Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 87, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 August 1929 — Page 1

• SCKJf'p.S HOWARD j

HINT MURDER IN DEATH OF COAST ACTOR Body of Leading Man Found in Light Weil of Apartment House. FRIEND IS QUESTIONED Sound of Fight and Man's Scream Is Heard by by Tenants. fiy United Press SAN FRANCISCO. Aug. 21. Robert Chapan, leading man in “Easy for Zee Zee.” was found dead today in a light well of an uptown apartment house. Tenants of the building told police they had heard sounds of a fight, a man’s scream and hurried footsteps on a stairway. The body was discovered by a Janitor. It lay below the kitchen window of the apartment of Allan Hoffman, playwright and friend of the actor. Hoffman told police he believed Chapman was thrown from the kitchen window by two men. The playwright, said he thought the men had been plotting for more than a week to kill the actor. Joined Drinking Party Hoffman said that after Thursday night’s performance of “Easy for Zee Zee,” Bohemia’s merriest play, he and Chapman joined a party at an actress’ apartment, had a few drinks and then went to Hoffman’s apartment. “Two men knocked at the door of my apartment,” Hoffman said. “They were the same men who called twice within the last week and demanded I serve them liquor.” The playwright said when he refused to serve the intruders he was knocked unconscious. “When I regained my senses,” he continued, ‘I went downstairs and met Paul Bernardo, the janitor. Bernardo said he had heard a “crash,” and that when he told Hoffman about it the latter eried: “It must be my friend falling out of a window.” Chapman’s body, clad in underclothing and shoes, was found in the light well. Hoffman Is Questioned Hoffman was taken to police headquarters for further questioning. Death of the 28-year-old actor, member of a family of prominent attorneys, climaxed a series of strange events that have marked the record-breaking run of the risque French burlesque. As leading man in the play, Chapman played opposite Nana Wortova. the star, who was said to have been friendly with Jerry Ferri. racketeer found murdered in his apartment more than a year ago. - Less than a week ago Miss Wortova fainted while visiting Frank Grupato at the city prison. She explained her violent illness was caused by an overdose of sleeping powders.* denying reports that she had taken poison. BLAMES PARENTS FOR DANCE HALL LAXITY Children’s Bureau Says Many Are Indifferent. Bu United Press WASHINGTON. Aug. 21. Parents are to blame for some of the undesirable conditions in commercial dance halls, according to Ella Gardner of the children’s bureau of the labor department. “In many cities it was reported lack of co-operation from the parents of minors found in the halls was the greatest handicap confronting the supervisors,” Miss Gardner said. “This lack of co-operation was due sometimes to ignorance of what their children were doing, sometimes to indifference and sometimes to the old belief that young people must sow* their wild oats.” POSTMASTER PRAISES PENS NOW IN USE Br>son Warns “Wise Crackers” to Use Some Discretion. Newspaper paragraphers and other persons who help to keep alive the tradition of impossible postofHce pens, today were warned to “lay off" in the future, by Postmaster Robert H. Bryson. “I don’t want to hear any more reporters making light of postofflee pens,” Bryson said. “This morning a woman who had been using a pen at one of the lobby desks hunted me up and said the pens were so good that she would like to buy some of them. She said they were the best she had ever found and she seemed quite disappointed when I told her they weren't for sale.” Delegates Chosen. Rti Time* Sn*einl CRAWFORDSVILLE. Ind., Aug. 21.—Wilbur Houk Jr. will represent the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the national convention at St Paul, Minn., late this month. Mrs. Houk will be the delegata from the local auxiliary post

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

The Indianapolis Times Partly cloudy tonight and Thursday; slightly warmer tonight.

VOLUME 41—NUMBER 87

Gets Pet and Coat of Tan

Wk \ IJM I| w q/Jcf j l j f \ rjgjbf / \ I I / \J ' In XS

“The ‘Crawdad’ Hunter.” This freckled little “underweight” has acquired a pet, a healthy coat of tan and anew interest in life frolicking in White Lick Creek, at the Marion County Tuberculosis Association nutrition camp near Bridgeport.

HIGHWAY HEAD IN FAVOR OF PROBE

Special Session to Learn High Car Repair Bill Cause Probable. A special meeting of the Indiana highway commission to ascertain whether wasteful expenditures are continuing on the highway department’s motor equipment appeared certain today as commissioners met to hear delegations on highway petitions. “Because of the number of delegations which may come before us today, in regard to highway matters involving their respective communities, the commission quite probably will not have the time to look into the motor transport matter as thoroughly as it deserves today,” said Albert J. Wedeklng (Rep.) of Dale, commission chairman. “However, the maintenance and repair figures printed in The Times, together with other charges of mismanagement and inefficiency in the motor transport division, merit the closest scrutiny,” Wedeking continued. Declare for Inquiry "I am of the opinion, in which I believe the commission will concur, that a special meeting should be called soon, when the matter should be gone into detail, with a view of determining whether corrective measures have been instituted to prevent recurrence of excessive expenditures, if they are found to have existed. “Since John J. Brown became highway director last April, we have operated a policy of salvaging equipment on which repair costs would not be justified. The public, of course, is entitled to know that its dollars are being spent judiciously.” Commissioners Jess A. Murden (Rep.) of Peru and Robert Boren (Dem.) of Fountain City previously had declared the commission should Investigate the charges. The investigation will center on a report of the motor transport division detailing maintenance and repair expenditures on highway motor equipment for the fiscal year which ended Sept. 30, 1928. Omer S. Manlove, division chief, the director and commissioners assert economies have been effected since that time. Leslie Promises Probe Manlove probably will be asked to show cost figures thus far this year to prove that conditions have been remedied. The report showed maintenance and repair costs as high as SI,OOO in one year on a single Ford, as high as $1,871 on one old Dodge taming car, averages of $665 on nine Essex passenger cars, practically new at the start of the period of the report, averages of $713 on fortyeight Dodge passenger cars, and as

THE greatest story ever written about the World war—that’s the unanimous verdict of famous critics who have read “All Quiet on the Western Front,” by Erich Maria Remarque, which starts next Monday, Aug. 26, in The Tunes. This is a story you never can forget—painting in words of flame war in all its unbelievable horror. It tells in vivid, smashing phrases of the days when warfare’s whip turned human beings into beasts, and it will stir your soul’s depths.

high as $2,900 on some trucks and approximately $5,000 on some tractors. On a brief visit to his office Tuesday, Governor Harry G. Leslie promised investigation of the figures when he returns from his vacation at Dunes park. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 60 10 a. m 75 7a. m 62 11 a. m 81 Ba. m 66 12 a. m 82 9 a. m 71 lp.m 85

CITY MANAGER FOES DEFEATED IN CLEVELAND ELECTION BY CLOSE VOTE

‘Arson Ring’ of Five Boys Uncovered Five boys, from 9 to 13 years old, w r ere under arrest today, charged with being members of a northside juvenile “arson ring.” They were said to have confessed to fire department and fire prevention officials starting fires in twenty northside houses in the last year. The youths were taken into custody following a fire Tuesday noon in a vacant house* at 824 North Delaware street. Fire prevention officials found that a fire had been built on the rear porch of the house. Neighbors told firemen they had seen several boys around the house prior to the fire and gave descriptions of them. Captain Bernard Lynch and Inspector Fay Rugh of the fire prevention department, questioned six youths but permitted one to go when it was learned he was feebleminded. Fire Chief Harry E. Voshell and Prevention Chief Virgil T. Ferguson questioned the boys today and said confessions had been obtained. According to the department officials. the youths are said to have told them they did not start fires in occupied residences but only in vacant houses. Two of the boys were taken by the department officials to point locations of the alleged incendiary fires. Monticello Banker Dies Bu Times Special MONTICELLO, Ind., Aug. 21. John M. Turner, 84, president of the White Comity Loan, Trust and Savings Company, is dead after a long illness.

THE GREATEST WAR STORY STARTS NEXT MONDAY IN THE TIMES

It is a master story from a master pen, written beautifully, tersely, thrillingly. “All Quiet on the Western Front” has maintained its rank as a best seller almost from the day it was placed on sale. It is a book that should be in every library—one that you will read and re-read, for Its beauty, its truth, and its power. Here are the opinions of a few critics, who see in this book one of the greatest works of literature in history. , . ,i_.

INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 21, 1929

REDS MOVE ON CHINESE WITH ARMORED CARS Many Casualties Occur as Fighting on Border Is Continued. REPORT HEAVY LOSSES Tanks Are Used by Invaders to Take Railway Points. BY D. C. BESS United Press Staff Correspondent PEIPING, China, Aug. 21.—Widespread fighting continued along the borders of Manchuria today with heavy casualties. A stream of Chinese troops poured toward the border to resist the Russians. The Chinese government, while mobilizing troops on a large scale, appeared studiously to be trying to give the impression that Russia is the aggressor and that all Chinese moves are purely defensive. The news received here, most from Chinese sources, pictured the Russians as aggressors in all cases, and the Chinese as resisting successfully. Word from Manchuli said a strong Soviet force, with armored cars and tanks, appeared at Station 86, on the Chinese Eastern railway, near the border, Tuesday and advanced against the Chinese, defending the line. The Chinese shelled the Russians and heavy losses were reported on both sides. Six hundred “white Russians” were reported serving in the Chinese vanguard between Manchuli and Dalainor, the scene of the heaviest fighting. Changchun reported that 2,000 Kirin infantry passed through there today en route to Manchuli from the south. A dispatch from Dairen, near Port Arthur, confirmed the dynamiting of a train near Taipingling on Monday, with several killed. A group of suspected Soviet Russians was arrested, the Chinese claiming that Red terrorism is increasing. The Chinese were strengthening their defenses both at Manchuli, on the western border, and opposite Pogranitchinaya, near Valdivostok on the east.

Former Ohio Governor’s Proposal Is Whipped for Third Time, Bu United Press CLEVELAND. Aug. 21.—Unofficial count today showed that Cleveland had retained by a plurality of 3,195 votes the city manager plan of municipal government over the amendment to the charter proposing a return to the federal plan. A total of 97,155 votes was cast Tuesday of which 46,980 were “for” and 50,175 “against.” With the third defeat of his proposal, Harry L. Davis, former Governor, faded from the political picture. Organization of his supporters was ineffective this time. Davis blamed a limited campaign fund, opposition of the newspapers, and the “tremendous campaign fund against us” for his defeat. City Manager William R. Hopkins’ statement expressed gratitude at the outcome of the election. He predicted a bright future for Cleveland. “We will now go forward,” Chairman Clarence J. Neal of the progressive government committee said, “and carry out the second plank of our platform in presenting to the people a complete slate of competent men and women for council in November who will be in sympathy with the manager plan.”. Cleveland is the largest city in the country employing the city manager plan of municipal government. It has been in operation for the past five and a half years. SHERIFF BACK ON~ JOB Winkler Returns to Office After Several Weeks Absence. Sheriff George L. Winkler returned to his office in the court, jhouse today after a several weeks I absence due to an appendicitis ! operation.

I regard any mature reader who has a chance to read this book and does not, and who, having read it, does not pass it on among a dozen others, as a traitor to humanity. Christopher Morley in the Saturday Review of Literature. * * * A most remarkable book—truthful, terrible, and oddly universal. —Hugh Walpole. 0 0 0 The description of the detachment caught under the barrage

Zep Starts to U. S. Today; Derby ‘Sabotage’Probed; Hold Hope for Sea Fliers

‘Grooms’ of Women’s Planes Are Quizzed by Officials. STORM HALTS RACERS 16 Pilots Forced to Stay at El Paso After First Leg of Day’s Trip. Bu United Press SAN BERNARDINO, Cal., Aug. 21.—The district attorney’s office today questioned those who handled the airplanes of the competitors in the women’s air derby of the national air races in an attempt to learn whether some planes were tampered with during the first overnight stop. Clare Fahy. forced down at Calexico, contended acid had been placed on the struts of her plane, making it necessary for her to leave the race. Thea Rasche, German aviatrix, asserted dirt had been placed in her gasoline. She went down near Holtville, but re-entered the competition later. Sandstorm Halts Flight EL PASO, Tex., Aug, 21.—A typical southwestern sand storm caused postponement until tomorrow of today’s second hop In the women’s airplane race from Santa Monica, Cal., to Cleveland, O. The "Ladybirds” and their planes had arrived here from Douglas, Ariz., on the first stage of today’s flight to Midland, Tex., when the sandstorm began, making further flying today extremely hazardous. Miss Earhart landed here at 8:16 a. m., Blanche Noyes of Cleveland arrived two minutes later. The distance from Douglas, the overnight control, to El Paso, is 216 miles. Miss Earhart made the trip in one hour and forty-eight minutes. Mrs. Thaden Leads Mrs. Louise McPhetridge Thaden of Pittsburgh continued to hold the elapsed time lead for large planes as the flyers reached here. Her elapsed time between Santa Monica and El Paso was 6:48:31. Phoebe Omlie of Memphis led in the light class with 8:35:24. Bad luck, which has followed the flight since the start at Santa Monica, continued today. Gladys O’Donnell, Long Beach (Cal.) contestant, received a telegram here telling of the death of a close friend. Mrs. O’Donnell, who is second in elapsed time, broke into tears. She locked herself in the airport office and refused to give the name of the friend. “This race means nothing to me compared to the person who has passed away,” she cried. Mrs. Miller Resumes Flight Mrs. Keith Miller of New Zealand, temporarily forced out of the race n cactus land near Dougxas, Ariz., Tuesday, was back in the contest today. Mechanics labored all night to get her plane in shape for the takeoff. It was torn by the cactus when she was forced down for lack of fuel. She walked eighteen miles for gasoline.

NEW QLEWS ARE FOUND TO GENE ALGER’S REFUGE

State police today were working on two new leads as to the whereabouts of Gene Alger, 21-year-old state reformatory convict, and his young wife, against whom warrants have been issued for the $750 Paris Crossing state bank robbery last Thursday. George McHie, assistant state police chief, said descriptions of the couple have been sent to every sizable city in the United States and that Indiana police now are working. both in and out of the state, on information which, it is hoped, may

in a cemetery is more vivid and brutal than anything I know in other war books. There is throughout a fierceness and freedom of expression which may be unusual. This volume by Erich Maria Remarque stands as quite the most outspoken piece of writing now available to the public.—Heywood Broun. f * * Here you have the true hideousness of war. side by side with its finer manifestations, and it is well that the panorama should be

TRAGEDY, SUCCESS IN AVIATION EVENTS

By United Press TRAGEDY and success were intertwined today in reports of aviation feats the world over. Two young Swiss fliers—Kurt Luscher and Oskar Kaesar —were unreporteed forty hours after leaving Lisbon, Portugal, on an attempt to fly across the Atlantic. Nick Mamer and Art Walker arrived at Spokane, Wash., Tuesday night after flying 7,500 miles in their trans-continental nonstop round trip flight. The dirigible Graf Zeppelin was to leave from Tokio today on a flight across the Pacific to California. Seventeen women, saddened by the death of Marvel Crosson, started from Douglas, Ariz., for Midland, Tex., on the women’s race from Santa Monica, Cal. to Cleveland, O. There continued to be charges of sabotage. The dirigible Los Angeles succeeded, for the first time, in hooking a flying plane, carrying it for several minutes, and then releasing the craft successfully. Lieutenant Alford Williams had two near disasters in his attempts to test the speed of his Schneider cup racing plane today on the Severn river at Annapolis. Dieudonne Costes, who recently turned back on a trans-Atlantic flight, tested his radio apparatus at Lebourget field, Paris, today, and indicated all was in readiness for another trans-Atlantic attempt.

WATCH COAST FOR LOST SWISS PLANE

Possibility Bold Youngsters Landed Near Halifax Is Entertained. Bu United Press NEW YORK, Aug. 21.—Sixty hours after they started with high, hope on a westward crossing of the Atlantic, the fate of two adventurous young Swiss fliers was a mystery today. They were down somewhere, since their gasoline must have been exhausted long ago, but whether on land or sea, no one knew. The closest watch kept at airports, coast guard stations and other points along the coast, as well)

SCHNEIDER CUP PLANE NEAR DISASTER TWICE IN SPEED TEST ATTEMPTS

Mercury Has Two Narrow Escapes, Due to Boats on River. Bu United Press ANNAPOLIS, Md., Aug. 21. Lieutenant Alford Williams, navy speed pilot, narrowly escaped disaster twice today in an attempt to test the speed of his Mercury seaplane on the Severn river when swells from speedboats nearly upset the Schneider cup plane as it was taxiing between eight and ninety miles an hour, preparatory to a take-off. When he finally brought the seaplane under control Williams returned to the mother ship Sandpiper at the Naval Academy wharf and made another attempt immediately to take the racer into the air. On the second attempt Williams had another narrow escape. When he had reached a speed of 100 miles an hour and was ready to leave the water, several boats darted into his path. The navy pilot managed to cut

lead to the arrest of the alleged bandits. Alger and his wife, the former Josephine Miller, daughter of a Jeffersonville (Ind.) police sergeant, were seen driving a Chevrolet in Portsmouth, 0., last Saturday. Alger was paroled May 10 from the reformatory after serving two years of a two to twenty-one-year manslaughter sentence for the fatal shooting of John Buchanan, Negro, Indianapolis policeman. His release was recommended by prison trustees and approved by Governor Harry G. Leslie.

complete. I found in this book both beauty and grandeur. An interpretation and an indictment, it is also a work of art.—Ralph Straus in London Sunday Times. 000 “Nothing I have read gets on paper so successfully the intense Experience of the soldier in war. Not the German soldier only; with trivial alterations, the record, might stand as that of any trench soldier on either side.—London Evening Standard.

Entered as Second-Class Matter st Postoffice, Indianapolis

as by ships at sea, sassed to give the slightest clew to their fate. After passing over the Azores at 1 p. m. (E. S. TANARUS.) Monday they vanished. The fliers, Oskar Kaeser, 22, and Kurt Luscher, 21, left their starting point near Lisbon, Portugal, at 2 a. m. (E. S. TANARUS.) Monday. They had about 525 gallons of gasoline—enough, it was estimated, to keep their Gnome-Farman monoplane in the air forty-two hours. The fortytwo hours elapsed at 8 o’clock Tuesday night, and at 10 a. m. (E. S. TANARUS.) today they had been gone fifty-six hours. Heavy fog banks lay off Newfoundland and Halifax Tuesday. There was a chance the fliers had blundered through the fog and come down somewhere in that vicinity,

off his engine and swerve abruptly without turning over. Williams then climbed into a speed boat and rode around the shore, shouting through a megaphone to ask the small boats to keep out of his way. He said he would make a third attempt this afternoon. Cuba in Path of Hurricane; Florida Safe Bu Unitrd Press HAVANA, Cuba, Aug. 21.—A terrific hurricane which has been expected to strike this island for the last several days was reported by the national observatory today to be approaching the city of Santiago De Cuba. The observatory announced it would not be able to report until later today as to which direction the hurricane would take, thus increasing the alarm and anxiety here since the hard rains and extremely low thermometer began to presage the hurricane five days ago. Bu United Press MIAMI, Fla., Aug. 21.—Barometer readings at Key West Miami and West Palm Beach remained nearly stationary today, with no indications of a possible sweep in this direction of a hurricane now reported in the lower Caribbean. At Key West the barometer at 9 a. m. was 30.13, a reading that has for twelve hours. Hotel Erection Progresses. ANDERSON, Ind., Aug. 21.—The foundation is practically completed for the new Wenzel-Pick hotel at the southeast corner of Ninth and Meridian streets by contractor Arthur Baynham. The building will be eight stories high. One of Anderson’s oldest buildings was razed to make room for the new structure.

The best war book yet. The story is told with brutal frankness and with flashes of poetic grandeur. The tragedy and terror of war are here; so too, are the gross humor and rough good comradship. His soldiers talk and act as soldiers did talk and act. —London Daily Herald. o*o Don’t miss a word of this great book. It starts Monday, In The Time*. , A V

HOME

TWO CENTS

Eckener Hopes to Make 20,000-Mile Journey in 12 Days. THOUSANDS AT FIELD Japanese Naval Aviators to Escort Dirigible as Jaunt Begins. Bu United Press TOKIO, Aug. 21.—His goal a trip of 20,000 miles around the globe in twelve and a half days of actual flying time, Commander Hugo Eckener was to start in the Graf Zeppelin today at 4 a. m. (2 p. m. eastern standard time), across the Pacific to Los Angeles. Behind him lie 11,080 miles already covered from Lakehurst, N. J., to Tokio, across the Atlantic, Europe and Asia. It was acomplished in 6 days 13 hours 15 minutes. Ahead of him lie the vast stretch of the northern Pacific and the comparatively easy flight across the United States from its west coast back to Lakehurst. Thousands swarmed about the field at the Kasumigaura naval base, forty-one miles from here, to watch the start. The atmosphere was carnival-like. Japanese, Germans and a score of other nationalities camped all night long on the field. The beer halls, where German pilsener flowed, were swamped. Three new passengers were to be aboard on the flight to Los Angeles —Dofu Shirai, Nippon Dempo correspondent, who will leave the ship at Los Angeles; Major Shibata of the Japanese army and Lieutenant Commander Kusaka of the Japanese navy. * Navy planes will escort the Zeppelin to sea. The navy also ordered Ominato base to keep destroyers ready to aid the Zeppelin in case of necessity until it is beyond the Kuriles. GRAND RAPIDS MAN IS NAMED K. OF C. HEAD Martin H. Carmody and Other Incumbents Re-Elected. Bp United Press MILWAUKEE, Wis., Aug. 21. Martin H. Carmody of Grand Rapids, Mich., was re-elected supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus at the forty-seventh supreme convention of the Catholic organization here today. The four supreme directors and other incumbent officers of the order, whose terms expire this year, were re-elected with Carmody. Pope Pius XI today sent apostolic blessing to the delegates. LONE EAGLE’S MATE Mrs. Lindy Progresses in Learning Husband’s Profession. Bu United Press HICKSVILLE, N. Y„ Aug. 21. Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh has progressed to the flying stage in her attempt to learn her husband’s trade. Reporters were barred from the flying field today—where Linbergh is teaching the former Anne Morrow to fly—but they watched the plane from a nearby road and said that Mrs. Lindbergh handled the controls several times. Eight landings were made in the course of today’s instructions. SIO,OOO Alimony Sought. ffj / T*n e* Snrr.iaJ MUNCIE, Ind., Aug. 21.—Mrs. Louise Weyl asks SIO,OOO alimony in a divorce suit filed here against Adolph Weyl, charging cruelty. She alleges than on one occasion he attacked her, inflicting injuries which necessitated an eleven-day stay in a hospital. They were married nine years ago.

S6O in Fund With more than S6O already raised, contributions toward the $250 needed to send the winning city playground Kitten Ball team to Louisville, Ky„ to play the Louisville playground champions Friday, continued to come in today. An urgent appeal is being made to all Interested In the children on city playgrounds to held in this fund. Ringgold playground’s team, which won the championship, will be taken to Louisville by recreation directors. Mail contributions in care of The Playground Editor, The Times, or to the recreation department, city hall. Four winning playground baseball teams were to see the Indians play Milwaukee at Washington park this afternoon through courtesy of the Indiahapolis Baseball Club. *

Outside Marian County 3 Oat*