Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 287, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 April 1931 — Page 1

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CORONER GOES BEYOND LAW, PROBE SHOWS Oversteps His Authority in Embalming Bodies, 'ls Attorney’s Finding. —— / CLASHES WITH RELATIVE Deputy and Sister-in-Law of Accident Victim Have Verbal Battle. BY DICK MILLER In taking charge cf bodies and sending them to his own morgue, often to be embalmed, Coroner Fred W. Vehling has Overstepped the legal authority of his office, attorneys said today. Perusal of the Indiana statutes on the coroner’s duties and authority, discloses that Vehling has no right, under tha law, to take any action other than to inquire, after slewing the body of a victim of violence or casualty, and determine how and in what manner the person . died. Howard M Meyer, attorney, has prepared an opinion in which he states “the coroner is not the custodian of dead human bodies.” ‘After the coroner has viewed the remains and has inquired into the cause of death, he must report his doings to, and record the information he has obtained, with certain designated officers,” the opinion reads. “The coroner has no further duty to perform so far as the body Is concerned.” Law Is Clear Meyer not only considered the Indiana law in preparing his opinion, but also searched records for Indiana court decisions and other states. The •Indiana law reads: “Every coroner, as soon as he shall be notified that the dead body of any person suppdsed to have come to his death by violence os casualty is within his county, immediately shall proceed to inquire, upon view of the body, how and in what manner he came to his death.” However, in his opinion, Meyer states that if no friend or relative is present at the scene of death, the coroner may make temporary disposal of the body as a measure of decency. “If no friend or relative is present and no officer other than, or of! superior rank to, the coroner is present or known, the coroner would have the right to, as would any other officer, order such temporary decent disposition of the dead body as w'ould tend to protect the health and sensibilities of the community,” Meyer stated. Family Has First Right “But let it be understood definitely that when friends or relatives claim a body when- there is no cause for suspicion that death occurred from violence or casualty, or If death did occur by violence or casualty and an inquest has been held, such fr.ends or relatives have a superior right to designate the disposition of the body with respect to its proper care.” Applicable to Vehling’s recent activities is the excerpt from the opinion: “There is no statute authorising the coroner to contract for the care and burial of a dead body, and none would be inferred if any proper person was ready, able and willing to care for the body and decently dispose of it legally.” An instance in which Vehling’s authority was questioned was related today by Mrs. E. V. Massey, 1924 Bellefontaine street, who engaged in a verbal altercation with a deputy coroner following the death of her sister-in-law, Mrs. Daisy McCord, 434 Kauffman place. Bars Daughter’s Signature The accident in which Mrs. McCord was killed, occurred at New Jersey and South streets, and the body was taken to Engine House 30. A friend of Mrs. McCord's instructed firemen to tell Vehling to have the body sent to a certain undertaking establishment. While the friend and Mrs. McCord's 12-year-old daughter were at Mrs. Massey’s residence, an hour or so after the death, a deputy coroner arrived and refused to accept the daughter’s signature, as the nearest relative, for release of the body. The other nearest relative was a sister of Mrs. McCord, living in Cincinnati. “Well, we will leave the body then until morning, when the sister arrives," the deputy said, according to Mrs. McCord. Claims Embalming Right “Why do we have to leave that body until morning, when we all know where it will go?” Mrs. Massey said she asked. “ ‘lt will be all right,’ the deputy told me. ‘We've embalmed it and we can take care of it a“d carfy on the burial O. K.’ “'What right did you have to embalm that body?” Mrs. Massey said she asked him. “You are nothing but the coroner.” “Well, we embalmed the body and the fee will be $25,” the deputy stated. “Well, Vehling is not going to have charge of that funeral, because we have had the same undertaker several years,” Mrs. Massey said. “We don't know a thing about Vehling—he may be a blacksmith . for all we know.” “It's a shame an undertaker has to be the coroner.” Mrs. Massey told The Times. “All he wanted with that body was to make some money and we didn’t let him get away with it. He didn't even have any business embalming it, and he did it mighty quickly, tco, within two hours after she was killed*

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The Indianapolis Times Fair tonight and Sunday; warmer Sunday

VOLUME 42—NUMBER 287

R oya l Honeymooners to Visit No Night Clubs

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Takamatsu, Chrysanthemum Facing Festivities in New York. BY H. ALLEN* SMITH United Press Staff Correspondent NEW YORK, April 11.—Japan’s young prince of the sea and his bride, who is caled Chrysanthemum, arose today to face a long program of occidental festivities, scheduled to begin at noon at New York’s city hail where Mayor James J. Walker was to extend the official hand of welcome. Prince Takamatsu, slim, unassuming brother of the Emperor Hirohito, and the Princess Kikuko, who was given the name of Chrysanthemum because that flower is Japan's symbol for the pale beauty of autumn, reached New York Friday on the liner Aquitania. They will spend about a month in the United States on their honeymoon tour of the world. The princess is possessed of a striking, ethereal beauty, and reporters who rode the Macom back to the battery scratched hasty notes of her costume. It blue—a soft, light- blue—and the coat carried trimming in a platinum gray fox. The prince sent commander Takeo Yamagata, maste rof ceremonies to the emperor, to the aft cabin to talk with reporters. The prince and the princess, said Commander Yamagata, do not intend to visit a night club In New York. They do not dance. Their only hobby is music, and the princess is adept at the piano. Does the prinecs smoke? Oh, goodness, no! Japenese women do not smoke, ever! They will be here until Wednesday morning, when they deport for Washington to be guests of President Hoover. BACK SPAIN’S KING Alfonso Holding Slight Edge for Sunday’s Election. By United Press MADRID, April 11.—The monarchist political factions, on which King Alfonso must depend in his battle against republicanism and revolutionaries in Spain, appeared today to be holding a slight edge preliminary to the nation-wide municipal elections Sunday. Count Romanones, the liberal monarchistic foreign minister, cheered the supporters of the king with a prediction that monarchical candidates would win control of the Madrid council by a small majority, and that the returns from the provinces would show a landslide for the throne.

MOVE TO AID POOR FARM; BUY PORTABLE BUILDINGS

Deplorable and crowded conditions at the Marion county infirmary caused county commissioners to proceed today to purchased ter discarded portable school buildings from the Indianapolis school board to relieve conditions. Because of the impractical heating and ventilating facilities of the portable buildings, the school board has been trying several years to rid

POLITICS WOOED YOUNG NICK FROM BELLES IN HORSE-BUGGY BEAU DAYS

' BY HERBERT LITTLE t’nltfd Press Staff Corrrtpotsfient WASHINGTON, April 11.— Forty years ago Nicholas Longworth came home from Harvard to Cincinnati and surveyed the world ahead. There were no airplanes, automobiles, radio, to divert his attention. Young men'of his station went into business or politics. His family had made a fortune, so “Young Nick’’ went into politics. It then was a glamorous profession—from the outside. In the absence of Babe Ruths. Lindberghs and prohibition, mar-ket-place discussions were of politics and the weather. Rrass band and torchlight parades gauged the strength of a political slate in the minds of many. The heroes of the young were political heroes. Mark Hanna was

Prince Takamatsu and Princess Kikuko

OOPS SET TRAP FOR KIDNAPERS Family Prepared to Pay Business Man’s Ransom. By United, Press MONROE, Wis., April 11. —Police of two states hunted today for Fred J. Plurner, wealthy near-beer manufacturer, while his wife and 20-year-old daughter sought to bargain secretly with kidnapers who held him for $150,000 ransom. The daughter, Marion, and her mother awaited the telephone call which the kidnapers had said they would take today. Authorities were reported to have "tapped” wires into the Blumer home and to be prepared for quick action in case relatives to obtain Blumer’s release without giving police a chance to apprehend the kidnapers. Blumer, 50, president of the Blumer products company, which formerly was a brewery and now manufactures soft drinks, was kidnaped Thursday night while on his way to a country club meeting.

FLIES FOR RECORD Army Pilots Hop for N. Y. on West-East Try. By United Press BURBANK. Cal., April 11.—Capt. Ira Eaker, United States army pilot. took off from United airport at ) :39 a. mfl Pacific time today on a projected one-stop flight to New r York city. He hoped to break the west-east speed record of 12 hours 25 minutes 3 second, set by Frank Hawks Aug. 13, 1930. He expected to make the trip in ten hours. He will stop at Wichita. ENUMERATION STARTED All City Residents Between 6 and 21 to Be Listed for School. Annual school enumeration in Marion county, outside of Indianapolis. started Friday under direction cf the county board of education. All unmarried persons between 6 and 21 will be listed. The enumeration is to be completed April 30. Hourly Temperatures 6 a. m 47 8 a. m..... 52 7 a. m 48 9 a, m 56

the school system of this type of structure. The portables will serve as temporary quarters for residents of the county institution, it is said. “The present structures are being purachesd because we have decided on temporary relief instead of a permanent and extensive building program,” the majority faction of the board. George Snider and Dow W. Vorhies, declared.

laying plans to make ■ Presidents. Just 21, Longworth joined a Republican marching club. He marched as a file-closer during the famous free-silver campaign of '96. Better yet, he learned politics on the ground floor, as a precinct worker. * a TTE was an impatient young fellow, and rewards were slow a; first. He finished his law course at Cincinanti Law School, and was admitted to the bar. Nearly all politicians were lawyears in those days. In later years he was, fond of telling a moral tale of a great torch-light parade. He found to his indignation he was relegated to a place far back, marching with a graybeard. “I can’t even hear the band,” said the young {fellow.

INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1931

‘LOVE CULT’ IS LINKED WITH ‘WITCOEATH Young Mother, Graduate of Wellesley, Confesses Slaying Spinster. JEALOUSY IS BLAMED Neighbors Claim Radio Set, Sold by Husband, Caused Rift. By United Press WILKES-BARRE, Pa., April 11.— Another chapter in Luzerne county’s “witch craft” murder mystery was expected today when Mrs. Frances Tomsen, 29, Pittsburgh, graduate of Wellesley college and mother of three children, is arraigned for the slaying of Miss Minnie E. Dilley, 76-year-old spinsterrecluse of Forty Fort. Rested since she made her alleged confession to the crime in the same room where Miss Dilly was battered and hacked to death, Mrs. Thomsen awaited the court hearing with the same calm she displayed when arrested in Pittsburgh Wednesday night. She was visited in her cell by Attorney John Danda of this city, retained to defend her by friends and local graduates of Wellesley. Woman Lawyer to Aid Dando will be assisted by Miss Louise Mcßride, Pittsburgh woman lawyer, who has been retained by Wellesley women in the western part of the state. District Attorney Thomas M. Lewis has prepared an array of evidence to indicate that Mrs. Thomsen, who once lived across the street from the home In which she kiled the rich spinster, suspected Miss Dilley of attempting to form a love cult. In her first questioning after being arrested, Mrs. Thomsen accused Miss Dilley of having invited the prisoner’s husband to have been the head of this “cult.” Sent Threatening Letters It was this fear that her husband’s affections were being alienated that led Mrs. Thomsen to send Miss Dilley a series of threatening letters, the district atotrney’s office announced. The letters, it was understood, intimated taht the aged spinster had “witch” powers and that she had an occulate influence over Thomsen. Neighbors of Miss Dilley, however, contended today taht the cause of Mrs. Thomsen’s jealousy for the aged woman was a home-made radio set. Three years ago the Thomsens lived across the street from the large house where Miss Dilley resided. Mrs. Thomsen then was an English instructor in the Forty Fort Borough schools, while her husband made and sold radio sets. Aroused by Frequent Visits One of the sets was bought by Miss Dilley. On frequent occasions the rich spinster telephoned Thomsen to say that the radio needed adjustment. Thomsen’s frequent visits to the spinster’s home so aroused airs. Thomsen that domestic trouble developed in her own home. Noticeably a woman of culture and refinement, Mrs. Thomsen has amazed local police authorities by her iron will. Brought here from Pittsburgh Thursday night she was questioned for many hours at the district attornney’s office. She appeared fresh and composed when taken to the house where the murder had been committed exactly one week before. In her alleged confession the prisoner admitted she carried a breadknife concealed in her umbrella when she went to Miss Dilley’s home. Despite this, she insisted that she came from Pittsburgh to visit the spinster in order to make friends. Self Defense Is Claimed The prisoner declared that Miss Dilley resented the visit. “I killed her in self defense,” said Mrs. Thomsen, repeatedly. She failed to state definitely, however, l that Miss Dilley had first attacked I her. The prisoner felled the j spinsters with a ginger ale bottle j and cut her throat with the bread j knife. A pair of red glass beads found in ; the house was identified by the : prisoner as hers. She said they had j fallen off while grappling with the I victim.

This is the second installment of “The Story of Nicholas Longwortha narrative of political and personal achievement.

The band was at the head of the shouting marchers. The graybeard snorted. “Son, I've been marching for thirty-six years, and I’ve never heard the band yet.” Longworth was fond of recalling, too, a bit of campaign doggerel “the first poem I bver learned from those exciting days —an echo of the Tilden-Parker contest for the presidency: “If ’tis a sin to steal a pin, “How much more great to appropriate “The electoral vQte of a sovereign state."

Longworth Burial Scene

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Here is the l ongworth family lot in Spring Grove cemetery at Cincinnati. final resting place of the Speaker of the house. On the tall monument to the late congressman’s grandparents are inscribed the words: “Nicholas Longworth, born Jan. 16, 1783, died Feb. 10, 1863. Susan, his wife, died Sept. 28, 1865. The Speaker’s body will lie under the spreading elm shown above.

PRISON BOARD BARS LAWYER LOBBYISTS

Pleas Is Frowned On Fee Snatching for Parole at Pendleton, BY DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staff Correspondent PENDLETON, Ind., April 11.— Lawyer lobbists, who for high fees try to get paroles for prisoners, are taboo with Indiana state reformatory trustees. This fact was demonstrated vigorously at the quarterly pardon board meeting of trustees held in the o§ice of Superintendent A. F. Miles of the reformatory Friday night. While lawyers and politicians swarm the corridors at similar meetings of trustees at the Indiana state prison at Michigan City, only one lawyer and one politician were on hand for the trustees’ meeting here. Both were the same man—J. Glenn Harris, Gary, former powerful Republican member of the house of representatives, who still rates high with Governor Harry G. Leslie. All Pleas Denied He was cooling his heels in the outer corridors until nearly midnight and then a mesage was relayed to him by Gaylord Morton, Leslie’s secretary, that all pardon board cases in which he was interested had bey . denied.” One man was about to be paroled, when Miles told of an incident whereby he believes the prisoner passed a SIOO check out to a lawyer to bring the parole plea before the board. “This board is against these SIOO lawyer fees,” Paul Honan (Dem., Lebanon), board member, declared. “A lawyer can not do a prisoner any good before this board and should’nt be allowed to take the money.” One Member Irate Glenn W. Harrison (Rep., Attica), member of the board, was not present. His term expired March 22, and he is reported to be irate at Leslie’s failure to reappoint him or name a successor. Seventy cases were considered by the trustees, sitting as a pardon board. Continuances, denials, paroles and communtatlons of sentence were granted—all subject to the Governor’s approval. During the afternoon the board held Its monthly parole meeting for minimum sentence men, 110 bases being considered. Ninety-eight were paroled. Five parole violators were reported returned to the institution. Radio Stolen From School Search was being made today by police for thieves who removed a wire netting from a window in the physics laboratory of Cathedral high school and stole a $l5O radio manufactured by the school.

These years taught him. Longworth said, “that public life was a matter of infinite perseverance.” He persevered, and perhaps his affable smile and family weal'll and standing helped. 8 8 8 TN 1898, at the age of 29, he w*as made a member of the city board of education. He was in hearing distance of the band. Later on he was to lead it. A year later. Longworth was elected to the Ohio house of representatives. He did not take up arms in the Spanish-American war.

How the Market Opened

BY ELMER C. WALZER Failed Press Financier Editor NEW YORK, April 11.—Auburn Automobile set out to duplicate its performance of last Saturday when it rose 20 points. It opened today at 279, up 5 points and then movea up to anew high for the year at 284, up 10 points net. The remainder of the stock market was generally higher, but volume of trading continued light. A few issues slipped off fractionally. These included American and Foreign Fower, Union Carbide, Standard of New Jersey, TransAmerica, Standard of New York and National Biscuit, ali off fractions. Missouri Pacific preferred dipped a point to anew low for the. year at 75. The leading issues advanced. Steel common opened at 13714, unchanged, dipped to 137 and then rose above the previous close. American Can, American Smelting, General Motors, Mexican Seaboard and Consolidated Gas led their respective divisions. Transue & Williams rose lVj points, to 1514, to feature motor equipments. Union Pacific rose nearly 2 points, to 172, in a railroad group. Bethlehem and Vanadium advanced wita United States Steel. HUGHES 69 TODAY Observes Date by Work on Court Opinions, By United- press WASHINGTON, April 11.—Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes observed his birthday today in a manner befitting his 69 active years in public life. He spent the day, which beckons thousands to the countryside, closeted with his eight associate justices, whipping into shape a batch of complicated court opinions to be handed down Monday noon. IDEAL WEATHER IS ’WEEK-END’ FORECAST Weather Man’s Pledge Brings Joy to Outdoor Sport Devotees. Tidings of joy to the golfer, motorist, hiker, and other devotees of outdoor sport were issued from the United States weather bureau here today. They are: Simply that the sun will shine in Indianapolis and vicinity Sunday, with temperatures slightly higher than they will be today—an ideal April week-end.

After a two-year term, his Cincinnati ward friends came to his aid and elected him to the state senate. In the legislature he was an influential and active person, according to fragmentary reports. He wrote no memoirs. He was busy in committee, and politics and music were his engrossing occupations. 8 8 8 THOSE were the horse-and-buggy beau days, and the rich and rapidly mounting young legislator must have been the hope and target cf blushing young ladies wearing bustles and of their ambitions mamas. With his voice and his fondness for sentimental music, it is remarkable that he remained a bachelor until the age of 36. Longworth learned politics and legislation quickly, and his hero, from afar, Tt (odore Roosevelt of

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice. Indianapolis Ind.

LONGWORTH’S BODY BORNE TO MANSION IN CINCINNATI; WEEPING FRIENDS PASS BIER Speaker of House Lies in State at Rookwood While Widow Retires to Her Room With Little Paulina to Break News HOOVER’S ARRIVAL IS AWAITED Presidential Party to Leave for Washington Immediately After Services at Grave; Hundred Other Officials on Way BY HARRY W. SHARPE United Press Staff Correspondent CINCINNATI, April 11.—The body of Nicholas Longworth, late Speaker of the house, was brought back to the scene of his early triumphs today. The special southern train which left Aiken, S. C., with the body Friday, pulled into Central railway station here at 7 a. m. A hearse was waiting and the gray, metal casket containing the remains was lifted from its resting place in the special car, consigned to the hearse and sent immediately to Rookwood, the famous Longworth mansion As the casket was transferred, Mrs. Longworth and the host of relatives and intimate friends who accompanied heir and the body from Aiken, where Longworth died of pneumonia Thursday, got into waiting cars and were driven to Rookwood.

Tiie station was crowded with saddened friends. There were tears. Muffled murmurs passed through the throng as the casket was transferred. Most of the crowd was from the same station in life as the man who rested in the casket. Others were roughly dressed —torn sweaters overalls—dilapidated hats—side by side with tailored morning clothes. Longworth. who began his political career here —a son of wealth —had made friends in all walks of life. The sun was just rising when the train stopped. Mrs. Longworth and those with her —Archie and Kermit Roosevelt, brothers; Mrs. James F. Curtis, Washington, Mr. Longworth’s Aiken hostess, and Mrs, William Harrison, Cincinnati and Aiken—alighted as photographers’ flashlights boomed. Widow Dressed in Black Transfer of the casket which reposed in the private car of Charles Clark, Montana copper magnate, was supervised by Colonel Campbell Hodges, military aid to President Hoover, who also was aboard the train. Mrs. Longworth was dressed in black. A heavy veil concealed her face. She walked with Mrs. Harrison, hurrying directly to the waiting limousine. Archie and Kermit Roosevelt followed her. As the casket was taken from the train, a huge blanket of pink roses was placed over it. The casket bore the inscription “Longworth, 1931.” Inside the private car hundreds of floral offerings could be seen. Many of them were placed on the train as it sped northward from Aiken. Few Autos in Cortege Police fifeld back the bare-headed crowd which pushed forward as the casket was handed into the hearse. The doors closed, the hearse moved away and “Nick” Longworth began the last stage of his journey home. Only a few autos were in the cortege as it wound through the streets, out through Eden park, once a part of the immense Longworth estate, to Rookwood. The crowd dissolved as the last machine sped away. Only detectives remained to await the arrival of the congressional delegation, coming here for the funeral, a few hours later. At Rookwood the coffin was given into the hands of a detail of infantrymen from Ft. Thomas. Many Weep at Bier At 9 a. m. and continuing until 10:30 friends and relatives passed the bier. Some paused and murmured prayers, many wept. Only a wreath on the front door told of the grief within. Mrs. Longworth retired to her room with her daughter Paulina, 6, who had not yet been appraised of her father’s death. Paulina was

New York, was elevated to the White House when an assassin’s bullet felled McKinley. The Republican party was in its heyday in Ohio, and Longworth was a trusted lieutenant. a a a IN 1902, within a few days of his thirty-third birthday. Longworth was elected to the house of representatives in the fifty-eighth congress. He had attained a pinnacle of his chosen profession in thirteen years. A self-confident, but shy, young man, Longworth hurried to Washington to learn the ropes, to see how this greater legislative body worked, to make social contacts, the value of which he already knew. Moreover, he expected to meet personally his idol, the man on horseback who occupied the White House. > (To Be Continued)

NOON

Outside Marian Couaty S Cents

TWO CENTS

Paulina Told By United Press CINCINNATI, April 11.— Paulina Longworth, 6. learned for the first time today that her comrade and father, Nicholas Longworth, is dead. The sad news is said to have been broken to the child by her mother. Mrs. Buckner A. Wallingford. Longworth’s sister, said Paulina had been advised of her father’s death and is “bearing up well.” Paulina had not yet awakened when her father's body arrived horn. It was 8:30 before her mother disturbed her. Then she talked to her while Paulina ate breakfast.

brought here by her governess when Longworth went to Aiken and Mrs. Longworth remained in Washington. Meantime, preparations went forward for the reception shortly before noon of President and Mrs. Hoover, Vice-President Charles Curtis and the hundred others of official Washington who were en route by a special train. Await Presidential Party Police Chief William Copelan and Colonel E. W. Starling, Washington, head of the United States secret service, were at the railway station to meet the presidential party Mr. and Mrs. Hoover were to go direct to Rookwood. They were to remain there about fifteen minutes, then return to their train to await the funeral in Christ Episcopal church at 2 p. m. The presidential train then was to be shunted onto a track near Spring Grove cemetery where the late Speaker, last of the Longworths, was to be laid to rest. Immediately after the grave service Mr. Hoover was to return to Washington.

PORKERS OFF FRACTION AT CITY STOCKYARDS Slaughter Classes Hold Quotably Steady In Cattle Market. Swine were mostly 15 cents lower this morning at the Union Stockyards, the bulk, 140 to 300 pounds, selling at $7.35 to $7.95. Early top price paid was SB. Receipts were estimated at 3,000; holdovers, 229 Slaughter classes held quotably steady In the cattle market. Receipts numbered 50. Vealers were 50 cents lower at $7.50 down Receipts were 100. Not enough sheep were on hand to make a market. Receipts were 50. In the Air Weather conditions in the air at 9 a. m.: Northwest wind, 8 miles an hour; barometric pressure, 30.35 at sea level, temperature, 56; ceiling unlimited; visibility 8 miles; field good.

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