Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 253, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 March 1931 — Page 1

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HOUSE SLICES $212,000 FROM STATE BUDGET Governor Emergency Fund Is Cut in Half for Biennial Period. FURTHER SLASH DUE $500,000 More Expected to Be Lopped Off Before Final Passage. Upping $212,000 off the $76,000,000 biennial appropriation bill for state departments at its morning session as a committee of the whole, the house of representatives prei>arcd to cut off at least $500,000 more this afternoon. With but slight skirmishing the house adopted an amendment submitted by Representative Earl Crawford (Union and Wayne), Democratic caucus chairman, to cut 1 o $5,00 the $6,000 a year allotted the supreme court for equipment by the state budget committee. First setback in the pruning plans was received when the house rejected an amendment reducing annual appropriation of $13,000 allotted the attorney-general for anti-trust law enforcement to $5,000 a year.. In that instance, an amendment of Crawford’s was lost after Representative Sam J. Farrell (Blackford and Grant), Republican member of the state budget committee and spokesman for Governor Harry G. Leslie, set out that the attorneygeneral, through the exercise of ihis fund, brought revenues of more than $40,000 last year. Emergency Fund Halved Following plans outlined at a caucus before today's session, the Republican minority of twenty-five members, voted as a unit. The big battle came when Farrell attempted to halt slashing of the Governor's $200,000 annual emergency contingent fund appropriation to SIOO,OOO. He described as a necessity such v fund for emergencies. Quoting from The Times, Representative Fred Galloway (Deni., Marion) told how money from this fund had been used to purchase bric-a-brac and furnishings for the Governor's mansion, and Crawford pointed out that SIOO,OOO would be enough to take care of emergencies for two years. “Records reveal that a lot of things were pair for out of the emergency fund which could not at any time be construed to be emergencies,’’ Crawford said. “Emergencies in the past have been construed rather loosely,” declared Representative John M. Cantley <Dem., Cass.). “Thus 100 acres of land for an insane asylum were purchased out of this fund at large prices, when there was no emergency.” Mansion Money Debated The SIOO,OOO a year cut w'as accepted and then Galloway moved to amend the bill by cutting the mansion maintenance annual fund of SIO,OOO to $5,000. In debate it was pointed out that all previous executives had received but $2,400 a year, and there is no check as to how this fund may be spent. “If the Governor takes enough money from the emergency fund to furnish and keep up the mansion, then isn’t it true the annual SIO,OOO mansion maintenance fund is really . an increase in salary” asked Repre-, sentatives E. C. White (Dem., Marion). Farrell did not answer this question. but contented himself with declaring that the mansion was state property and should be kept in good condition. Committee Recessc.i • “When Marshall was Governor he refused to accept S9OO for house rent appropriation by the 1909 legislature," pointed out Representative Sam Benz (Dem., Crawford and Harrison), and the present Governor should set an example in economy.” The committee recessed until 2:30 p. m. To meet various emegencies, Increases totaling $62,495 will be recommended for various units by the committee. Reductions which were agreed upon and will be asked on the floor. include auto theft department capital outlay from $20,000 to $15,000; automobile license list appropriation from $20,000 to $500; state tax board salaries from $57,000 to $50,000; board of health personal service $170,000 to $160,000 and operating fund $70,000 to $60,000; oil inspection department $49,400 to $45,000: industrial board persona! service. $69,500 to $60,000; employment commission. SIB,OOO to $10,000; mines and mining salaries. (16.800 to $10,000: department es consevvaion administration and general, $234,000 o $220,000 and capital outlay. $150,000 to *75.000: public service commission rotary fund from $50,000 to $35,000: adjutantrcneral personal service. $59,000 to $40,100. and $20,000 annual appropriation for Indiana naval militia, abolished. FINDS LARGE METEORITE Discoverer Stakes Mining Claim to Obtain Legal Title. By Science Sercic.c LONDON, March 2.—The world's largest meteorite is reported found by a Johannesburg land surveyor in the Tanganyika region of Africa. It consists of a mass of iron and nickel weighing seventy to eighty tons and measuring neafly fourteen feet long. Its discoverer, W. H. Nott. staked a mining claim in order to obtain legal title to his discovery. The meteorite was found in open country about half way between Lake Nyasa )'nd Lake Tanganyika.

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The Indianapolis Times Generally fair tonight and Tuesday, slowly rising temperature; lowest tonight about 30.

VOLUME 42—NUMBER 253

SISTER OF ARLENE ON WITNESS STAND IN GIN DEATH CASE

Testimony Against Gary Youth Is Expected to End Today. BY CARLOS LANE Times StfT Correspondent VALPARAISO, Ind., March 2. Her voice choked with emotion, Miss Elsie Draves, Highland school teacher, today took the witness stand to identify clothing worn by her sister, Arlene, the night of her death, following a gin party at Gary, Nov. 28. Miss Draves, a surprise witness, appeared as one of the final witnesses before tlr state rests its case today against Virgil Kirkland, whom the prosecution seeks to send to the electric chair for the alleged murder of Arlene. The defense, with eight or nine witnesses to present, including Kirkland, may -lose late Wednesday or Thursday. Courtroom Is Packed Before a packed courtroom, Miss Draves identified stockings, dress, brassiere and stepins w'orn by her sister the night of her death and showed where they were torn. Her voice was choked with sobs as she described bruises on Arlene’s head, throat, arms and hands as she viewed the body next day in a morgue. In describing wounds on her sister’s body, Miss Draves said. “I noticed her hands. They were all scratched—like someone had clawed her.” Nick Christoff, owner of a hot dog stand who was on the stand Saturday, was recalled for crossexamination today. Oscar Thiel, defense attorney, asked Christoff if the day after the alleged murder Christoff had not told a man he did not know Kirkland. Christoff denied the conversation. He identified four photographs of the hot dog stand and said a street light in front of the stand burns all night. This line of questioning, it was believed, was to show that Arlene was not attacked in front of the hot dog stand, as the state charges, because of the light from the street lamp. Near the close of the morning session, Judge Grant Crumpacker ruled that the alleged confessions of Kirkland’s four companions, also charged with murder, could not be used against the defendant. “I Think She’s Dead” William Davidson, w r ho said he knew' Kirkland “by sight” and was called to the youth’s car by Kirkland after the latter had left the restaurant where he and his companions went for sandwiches, testified. “I saw him in the back scat of the auto,” Davidson told the jury. “He had the girl in his arms. Virgil called me over and said ‘My God, feel her pulse—l think she’s dead.’ “I didn't think she w-as dead, so I didn’t feel her pulse. I figured she had just passed out. I did feel her hands and face and they were cold. I told Kirkland to get her a cup of coffee. Virgil seemed scared and said she couldn’t drink anything.” The defense will attempt to show that the romantic yearnings of youth, the laxness of society today, the bootleg emporiums of Gary, Ind., were resopnsible for the crime, and not Kirkland's character. Although the defense, surprised the state with the announcement that Kirkland would take the stand in his own behalf, the prosecution in cross-examining him is expected to bolster its case by querrying him regarding his dismissal from the Gary high school for alleged sex delinquency.

In Strange Love Mixup

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Here are the principal characters in one of the most dramatic stories of tangled lives and loves you ever read. Gypsy Mcßride (above) was heart-broken because Alan Crosby dower left) the man she loved, had cast her aside. So Gypsy married James Wallace (upper right) an utter stranger, the day after she met him. You'll hear more about these three in “Mad Marriage,” a gripping new serial novel, which starts Wednesday in The Times. * . .'W") ... * '

Lost Aviatrix Found; Injured By United Press MONTEREY, Cal., March 2. —Edna May Cooper, joint holder of the world’s endurance flight record for women, who disappeared a week ago in Hollywood, was identified today as a patient in the Monterey hospital. Suffering from a lapse of memory apparently induced by a hard blow at the back of her head, Miss Cooper could give no explanation for her presence in Monterey. Besides the head wound — an ugly abrasian and swelling —the right side of the aviatrix’s body is black and blue, as though she had suffered a severe beating or had fallen heavily. Dr. Hugh Ormody, hospital psysician, was inclined to believe Miss Cooper had not been in an automobile accident.

DEATH CLAIMS SPRINGSTEEN Ex-Postmaster, Councilman Succumbs at Hospital. Complications following a long illness early today caused the death of Robert E. Springsteen, 73, former postmaster and city councilman, at St. Vincent’s hospital. Mr. Springsteen was taken to the hospital Friday noon after he be--came seriously ili. He had been a resident of Indianapolis all his life, residing during recent years at the Dolly Madison apartments, 234 East Twelfth street. Funeral services will be held at 2 Wednesday afternoon at the Ragsdale & Price undertaking establishment, 1219 North Alabama street, followed by burial in Crown Hill cemetery. The body will lie in state Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Springsteen served as postmaster from 1913 to 1922. being appointed during the early part of the administration of the late President Woodrow Wilson. Prior to this he had been manager of the When Clothing Company and later operated a merchant tailoring establishment. During the Duvall and Slack city administrations, Mr. Springsteen served as city councilman. Survivors are a daughter, Mrs. John H. Ott Jr., Coral Gables, Fla.; a sister, Mrs. Anna Beerbaur, St. Louis, Mo., and a cousin, Harry Springsteen, 5255 North Illinois street, city market master.

U. S. Reaction Is A waited on Naval Accord

By United Press PARIS, March 2.—Reaction of the United States to the new naval limitations accord reached by France, Britain and Italy was awaited today with obvious anxiety in official circles. Attention of British, French and Italian officials centered on the reception of the new accord in Washington, where, it was suggested, there may be opposition to proposals for limitation of battleships to 25,000 tons.

INDIANAPOLIS, MONDAY, MARCH 2,1931

PROBERS SLAM JOHN! BROWN AS NEGLIGENT Branded Ignorant of Details in Methods to Get U. S. Road Aid. REPORT GIVEN SENATE Highway shies Called as Witness; Quiz Board Lists 'Faults.’ Drastic denunciation of Director John J. Brown and alleged unbusinesslike conduct of the present state highway commission marked the senate highway investigation committee’s report introduced in the senate today. The senate by a vote of 26 to 18 suspended the rules to permit Introduction of the minority report, upon urging of Senator Anderson Ketchum (Dem, Bartholomew, Decatur, Franklin, Union). The report bore the signature of Ketchum, who prepared it, and Senator Charles L. Strey (Rep., Wabash), probe committee chairman. The two are authors of the senate bill to abolish the existing highway commission setup. Three Fail to Sign The three members of the senate highway investigating commission who did not sign the report, but who expect to submit a majority report of their own, are Senators C. Oliver Holmes (Rep., Lake), Glenn R. Slenker (Rep., Carroll, Clinton, White) and William P. Dennigan (Dem., Daviess, Knox). The senate recessed before the minority report could be read. Findings of the committee were as follows: 1. That Director John J. Brown has no knowledge of the details of how federal aid is handled. 2. That ill will between the Indiana state highway department and the federal bureau of roads was brought about by the state extending construction contracts without proper advertisement and letting of bids. 2. That, despite to the contrary, no allocation of federal aid has been made for the Evansville bridge. Work Done Illegally 4. That this is the only department that put the state in debt by exceeding its budget, borrowing money, issuing certificates of indebtedness and letting contracts with promise of future payments, despite the fact that it has more money to spend than all other departments of state government combined. 5. That construction work continues to be done under the term “betterments” by the maintenance division, contrary to an opinion of the attorney-general declaring it illegal. 6. That the maintenance division construction program failed to collect $250,000 in' federal aid that could have been obtained in 1930. 7. That $2,247,000 was spent fer bridges in 1930 with no attempt made to collect federal aid, 8. That the purpose of the state highway department’s creation was the collection of federal aid and that in 1930, with more state revenues than any year in the department's history, less federal aid was collected than any time since 1923. Branded as Paper Plans 9. That the department made no effort in 1930 to co-operate with congress in securing additional federal aid for drought and unemployment relief and failed to collect $6,354,000 in normal and special federal aid allotments. 10. That the setup of the department whereby it claims that all federal aid balances will be exhausted in 1931 are largely paper plans and that actual contracts to absorb federal aid amount to but $1,462,000 at this time. In commenting upon the latter point the report set out: “Any reference made to amounts on which they testify they intend to obligate and place under contract in the future, can not at this time be construed as binding upon the commission, especially since in the early part of 1930, a similar condition prevailed and was immediately abandoned. Road Patronage Is Issue “From their own statements the state highway commission has either blindly entered into a program for the year 1931, which is impossible of completion, and which will bring financial difficulty of much greater magnitude and far-reaching effect than the difficulty of 1930, or that they have deliberately and systematically set about to deceive the public, the legislature, and if possible, the members of*, the investigating committee, as to what their actual program will be.” Following this charge the report warns members of the senate not to be surprised if the department fails to deliver “roads and improvements which have from time to time been suggested to them as included in this year’s program.” Senator Strey, chairman of the committee, has charged openly that road patronage is being used as a commission defense. Motorists and members of the general assembly should be resentful of the mismanagement of funds in 1930, the report declares. “Our conclusion is that the highway commission is guilty of one of three things; either lack of ability and comprehension of the job which confronts them, gross negligence, or that they had unconsciously proceeded into a financial difficulty from which they were unable to intelligently construct an avenue of escape.” .

Gordon Death Witness Believed to Be Found

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Cuban Girl, Said to Have Vital Information, Gives Up to Police. NEW YORK, March 2.—A girl, said to be a Cuban maid and masseuse, with information perhaps vital to solution of the Vivian Gordon slaying, surrendered today to police at Mt. Vernon, according to the Mt. Vernon Daily Argus. Mt. Vernon, adjoins New York c 1 is not far from the Gordon killing scene. She was said to have given the Gordon woman massage treatments daily, and to have ridden with two men in an auto the night Miss Gordon was strangled, apparently in a taxicab after which the body was thrown out into Van Cortland park on the edge of New York. The Cuban girl, according to the Argus, entered the car at Fortieth street in New York and rode to Mt. Vernon. Surrender Follows Tip The paper said that its reporters had discovered that _ two taxicab drivers and a patrolman, who chased a speeding taxicab containing a screaming woman Wednesday night, no longer were to be found in their customary haunts. Surrender of the Cuban girl followed a tip to police by a man friend, who said he noticed that the masseuse was highly nervous after the night on which Miss Gordon w'as killed. John E. C. Bischoff, divorce husband of the murdered woman, and Andrew J, McCloughlin, vice squad patrolman, w'ere questioned here Sunday and denied they had conspired to “frame” Miss Gordon on the vice charge for which she was sent to Bedford reformatory eight years ago. Each Claims Innocence Each insisted he knew nothing about w'hy she was strangled to death last week. Cassie Clayton, believed to have received the last letter ever written by Miss Gordan, arrived this morning from Erie, Pa., under escort of a process server for Referee Seabury. She was staken at once to Seabury.’s office and it was indicated /hat she will be kept out of the hands of police investigators in view of the fact that her story may be damaging to police against whom Miss Gordon w r as to have given evidence.

NORRIS MAY RESIGN IF SHOALS BILL IS SIGNED

By Scripps-Hoicard Tfetcspaper Alliance : WASHINGTON, March 2.—Because, he says. President Hoover and the Republican national committee have been so anxious to get rid of him, Senator George W. Norris has suggested to the President his willingness to resign from the senate after March 4. The proposal is contingent upon the President's approval of the Norris bill for operation of Muscle Shoals, which now ia at the White House awaiting approval or disapproval. The offer was made through a i mutual friend of the President and the senator. It stipulated that if the President would sign the bill and then appoint Norris and two men whom he would recommend as directors of the Muscle Shoals Corporation, which will operate the properties, Norris would resign from the senate. The Nebraskan will begin his fourth term in the senate Wednesday. A senator's salary is SIO,OOO a year. Directors of the Muscle Shoals j Corporation will receive a maximum 1 of $7,500 the first year and a maxi- '* I. v *'

Vivian Gordon

BONUS SEEKERS JAM OFFICES Rush Increases.With Total of 8,000 at Noon. Rush of former service men applying for loans hi adjusted compensation certificates increased today with more than 2,000 veterans applying the first three hours after the United States Veterans’ bureau opened. A line of men two blocks long waited at the office entrance at the stream of applicants, which started Friday, following passage of the bonus law over President Hoover's veto, passed through. Total application at noon were estimated at more than 8,000 by John H. Ale, regional manager of the bureau. Clerks had paid about 700 loans and prepared to work overtime tonight on thousands of applications already filed. The office in the Test building is open from 8:30 a. m. to 4:30 p. m. to receive applications, Ale announced. ‘Postpone Real Job’ By United Press WASHINGTON, March 2.—Treasury officials explained today the March 15 financing was held to $1,400,000 instead of the $1,600,000 originally contemplated, because it is postponing the real job of financing the bonus in order not to burden the bond market too heavily at this time. .. Brigadier-General Frank T. Hines, administrator of veterans’ affairs, asked the treasury for $400,000,000 in March, but the toeasury said it will give him now only $200,000,0g0 in connection --with the March financing. It will borrow the other $200,000,000 this spring through an issue of short term bills. In June, the treasury revealed, it expects to borrow another $300,000,000 for the bonus, thus giving the veterans bureau a total of $700,000,000. Taxi Ordinance May Be Presented Ordinance providing a $25 license fee for taxicabs, licenses to be issued only after obtaining a certificate of convenience and necessity from the safety board, may be introduced before city council tonight.

mum of $5,000 the second year and thereafter. The bill contemplates the appointment of three directors, all of whom shall be in sympathy with the objects of the law.

Bandit Pays for Kisses

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SAN FRANCISCO, March 2.—The latest value placed on stolen kisses is three for sl. police reported today. The “petting market” quotation w'as given by an amorously inclined bandit who held up and robbed A1 Brown of $2.50 w'hile he was seated in an automobile with Miss Nina Wolfe, 23. “The bandit said to me, ‘Pretty sweet kid you got here; got any money to take her out with?’ ” Brown told police. “I told him he had taken all my money and then he kissed Miss Wolfe three times. Then he gave me back v

Entered as Second-Class Matter ijt Postoffice, Indianapolis. Ind.

VICTIM IN TORCH CAR WAS STABBED, FORMER DEPUTY CORONER SAYS ON STAND Instrument Was Plunged Into His Heart Before Death in Fire, Testimony of Dr. Lawrence A. Lewis. SCHROEDER SHOWS WEAR OF ORDEAL Defendant Pale as He Comes to Court for Fifth Day of Trial; Women Spectators Voice Sympathy. BY EDWARD C. FULKE" Teestimony that a death-dealing instrument was plunged into the chest of an unknown man before the charred body was found in Harold Herbert Schroeder’s flaming sedan on High School road, May 31, was unfolded before a criminal court jury today. Prosecutors played their high card against the Mobile garage man this morning when Dr. Lawrence A. Lewis, former deputy coroner, told the jury that Schroeder’s alleged victim died of stabbing. It was a breathless mob of spectators that listened eagerly to Dr. Lewis flash a grewsome picture of the legless, armless, flame-blackened torso before the jury.

Beginning the fifth day of his fight to escape the electric chair, Schroeder was pale and wan as he came into court this morning. Ordeal of a psychopathic examination over the w'eek-end at city hospital apparently taxed the strength of the Alabaman, for he faltered as he walked to the prisoners' ch' ir. Smiling feebly, he greeted relatives and hugged his sons, Harold Herbert Jr., 11, and Ernest, 9, while a chorus of sympathic “ahs” went up from women spectators. Alienist Test Important On the scientific findings of two alienists who made the examination may hang the fate of Schroeder, who claims to have inherited insanity. Dr. Lewis, a Negro, graduate of the Indiana university medical school and a physician more than eighteen years, spent the entire morning session relating results of an autopsy performed on the body two days after it was removed from the sedan near the intersection of the High School and Rockville roads. Preceding Dr. Lewis on the stand were Charles Bell, former deputy sheriff, and Earl Miller, 1902 North Meridian street, an embalmer. They were questioned on circumstances of the finding of the body. Identification Impossible . Dr. Lewis described the torso as that of a man between 25 and 35 years of age, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing about 140 pounds. Neither race nor color of the victim could be established, Dr. Lewis testified. “Every vestige of skin and all marks were burned away with the exception of a three-inch area at the base of the spine. The peak of the skull was burned away and the bones of the face had crumbled. The cranium contained one-half the normal amount of brains, and they were coagulated,” Dr. Lewis testified. “Only stumps of the legs and arms remained, burned away, as were the vital organs and the back. The upper portion of the chest suffered least, as parts of it had remained intact,” he testified. “The abdominal contents were reduced to a conglomerate mass, halfcharred, decayed and infested,” he continued. Photo Is Barred Attempt to introduce a photograph of the charred torso at this point by Prosecutor Herbert Wilson and Floyd Mattice, chief deputy, failed when Ira Holmes, defense attorney, objected, on the ground that it was not identified satisfactorily. Dr. Lewis continued testifying with the statement that the victim died after being stabbed. “Inspection of contents of the chest showed there had been a hemorrhage of considerable magnitude around the right lung, or the pleural cavity. In and around the other lung there were no indications of hemorrhage,” Lewis said. “When the right lung was lifted from the chest during the autopsy, a quantity of free blood, approximately three and one-half ounces, ran down to the base of the body cavity. “Search was made for a wound,” Dr. Lewis continued, “and a definite wound of the right lung was found, near the level of the sixth rib,

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ranging toward the back and downward,” Lewis testified. Schroeder claims that the victim died of a broken neck when he (Schroeder) fell asleep at the wheel west of Terre Haute, and the auto plunged into a ditch. “A search of the outer chest was made,” Dr. Lewis stated. “A wound corresponding with the one in the lung was found. Behind the lung, the back had been burned away. Wilson questioned Dr. Lewis on the dimensions of the wound. ‘‘lt was about one-half inch wide, entering the chest and piercing the lung,” Dr. Lewis said. Knife May Have Been Used Holmes and Mattice argued for several minutes at this point when Lewis was asked to state wha ! instrument might have caused the wound. Judge Frank P. Baker, on the bench, overruled Holmes, and Lewi3 state: “In my opinion the wound was inflicted by some such object as a knife or other small instrument. ‘‘Was, in your opinion, the wound sufficient to cause death?” the witness was asked. “In my opinion it was,” Lewis answered. “Did it cause the death of the man whose torso was found?” “I don’t know,” Lewis answered. Holmes Again Overruled “Was death cause by burning?" Mattice asked. Holmes objected to the question, and was overruled. “An examination of the bronchia! tubes did not disclose ashes or soot, as is common in persons who bum to death,” Lewis responded. “Was this person alive when he was set fire to?” “I would say that death had occurred before the fire, or that death was so imminent when the flame started that no breathing occurred,” Lewis answered. Trinkets Are Shown Mattice then asked a hypothetical question on circumstances of the crime, asking Dr. Lewis how long the man had been dead when the fire started. Holmes objected, and arguments ensued. Baker overruled Holmes “I couldn't tell that,” Dr. Lewis answered. * Grim reminders of the torch car i tragedy, trinklets found in the car, were introduced in evidence before Lewis took the stand. They include ed a small square compact found imbedded in the hip flesh of the torso, a rosary and some coins. Bell identified these as being taken from the torch car. State Again Scores When prosecutors attempted to have Bell identify a coat bearing the Initials “H. H. S.” found near the car, Holmes objected, but was overruled. Holmes based his objection on the theory that the state first should prove the corpus delicti. When Baker held that he would not “undertake to control the state’s order of proof,” prosecutors chalked up their second victory'. Holmes was given an exception when the objection was overruled, THOMPSON’S GUESTS UNWELCOME IN HOTEL Owner Fears Politicians, So ‘Bi* Bill’ Moves to New Quarters. By United Preaa MT. CIEMENS, Mich., March 2. —Mayor William H. Thompson of Chicago is taking his customary pre-election mineral baths here at the Park hotel instead of the Colonial hotel, his previous headquarters, because the proprietor of the latter house refused admission to Thompson’s proposed guests. Dr. Gustav Perssons, proprietor oU the Colonial, indicated the -mayos- and his present entourage of five Chicago political allies “might” have been welcome but for the fact that he feared that the hundreds of political workers who will visit Thompson before the week-end might not reach the standard of the hotel's discriminating clientele. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 24 10 a. m 31 7a. m 25 11 a. m 33 Ba. m 27 12 (noon*.. 34 Da. m.... 2$ lp. m 37