Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 113, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 September 1931 — Page 1

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STATE COP TO MAKE PLEA IN MURDER CASE Carl Springmire Is Slated for Arraignment at Connersville. KILLED AUTO SUSPECT Four Visitors to Fair Saw Officer Shoot Down Fleeing Man. Bi / Tin'll Bprrinl CONNERSVILLE, Ind., Sept. 19. Carl Springmire of Greensburg, state policeman, arrested several weeks ago on a manslaughter charge in connection with fatal shooting of Staley Coomes of Economy, was to be arraigned in Fayette circuit court here today on a first degree murder charge. A secret indictment for first degree murder was returned against Springmire by the grand jury in session Tuesday night. However, since the state policeman was under bond on a manslaughter charge, no re-arrest was made. Tampering With Auto Coomes was shot by Springmire during a pursuit that originated, the state policeman has declared, when he found Coomes tampering with an automobile at the Fayette county fairgrounds, Friday night, 21. Springmire’s version of the shooting—an admission that he fired at the fleeing man. but believed none of his bullets took effect,—is contradicted by four Greensburg residents, who claim they saw Coomes slain. They are Mr. and Mrs. Ha lias Rrown and Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Beeson. Brown's story, an example of those of the others, is as follows: They were walking toward their auto to return home after spending the evening at the fair, when a distant shot, like a firecracker, attracted their attention. Officer in Pursuit Soon they saw a man running down the driveway in their direction, with a tiniformed officer in pursuit. The policeman was playing a flashlight on the fugitive. Again they heard a shot, but could not tell whether it was discharged in the air or in the direction of the running man, who did not stop. When the fugitive was within twenty or thirty feet of the Browns and Beesons, on the opposite side of the driveway with a flashlight still on him, Brown relates, there was a third shot, and Coomes pitched headlong to the ground, falling in front of a parked car. The man in the uniform walked up to the body, gazed at it for a brief time, and then crossed the driveway and disappeared in the trees. Soon a park policeman appeared, and asked Brown if a man had been shot. Brown told him the body lay across the driveway, and when the park policeman asked whether the fugitive had stolen something or attempted to steal something. Brown replied that he knew nothing of the case. Remains on Guard The policeman then walked to the body, where the state officer joined him in two or three minutes. Alter a short conversation the state policeman walked away, and the other remained to guard the body. “We never heard the officer pursuing Coomes order him to halt, and Coomes made no outcry when he fell." Brown asserts. “Neither officer asked us our names or addresses. The state officer must have known we were there, because my young nephew screamed, thinking he was going to be shot,” said Brown. Springmire. when told of Brown's story, denied having looked at the body and walked away. He reiterated his previous story, that he did not knew Coomes was shot, but told Larue Jenks, a special policeman detailed at the fairgrounds, of the chase, and admitted firing several shots. Springmire was charged Aug. 26 with voluntary manslaughter, and released under $2,000 bonds. Affidavit was filed against him by Raymond Shank, former employe of the dead man. State Police Chief Grover C. Garrett, has suspended Springmire pending outcome of the case. ASKED TO DRAFT BILL McNutt to Draw Up New Nonprofit Incorporation Act. Dean Paul V. McNutt of the Indiana university law school will draft anew nonprofit incorporation act for passage by the 1933 legislature. McNutt was requested to do this at a meeting of the incorporations committee appointed under the Jackson administration and representatives of the secretary of state's office at the Columbia Club Friday afternoon. McNutt is the author, with the commission, of the incorporation act passed in 1929. This dealt with profit-making corporations only. The nonprofit act is loosely drawn and easily abused, it was said. ZEP IS NEARING GOAL Graf Passes Over Canary Islands En Route to Pernambuco. Ft :/ United Prrui PAS PALMAS. Canary Islands. Sept. 19.—The Graf Zeppelin passed west of the Canary islands today en route to Pernambuco. A radio from the Zeppelin said the flight was progressing without incident.

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Xfee Indianapolis Times Partly cloudy, probably unsettled tonight and Sunday; rising temperature.

VOLUME 43—NUMBER 113

The Eyes Have \IV

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Fraulein Melly Pfutzig (above) of Berlin has an eye for beauty—in fact, two of them. She has had 135 proposals of marriage, seventeen from Englishmen. “I suppose it’s my eyes that mesmerize them,” she explained. What do you think?

CLEWS TO MURDER PIRATES COLLAPSE

She Pops Him By United Press CLEVELAND, Sept. 19.—Six times robbers visited Mrs. Sophie Raymond's grocery. Six times they carried away her earnings. Then, a seventh robber appeared. The gray-haired grandmother saw his gun before he raised it. She brought a pop bottle down on his head. The robber fled. “J was tired,” Mrs. Raymond said, “of being robbed.”

TWO ESCAPE IN RAID Still, Mash Confiscated in Speedway Residence. Two men are held and another is hunted in connection with seizure by police of a pint of whisky and an oriental rug in an automobile Friday night. Two other men are sought by deputy sheriffs who confiscated a fifty-gallon still in Speedway Friday night. When police saw Herman Chandjie park an auto in front of the apartment of Marcellas Bencoster, 32, at 805 North Illinois street. Apt. 12, they searched it. finding liquor and the rug, they report. They waited lor Chandjie to come out. but when Fred Chappell, 37 West Twentieth street, attempted to drive it away they arrested him. Chappell and Bencoster are held on vagrancy charges Chandjie disappeared from the apartment. Two men ran across a field and escaped when deputies raided a house in Speedway. Besides the still, the officers report they took 175 gallons of mash and a quart of whisky. *■

How the Market Opened

By United Press NEW YORK. Sept. 19.—Heavy selling continued on the Stock Exchange at the opening today. Steel common made anew low since 1921 at 77. off I2 point. Blocks of 1.000 to 10.000 shares came out, representing bunched orders. Lasses ranged from fractions to more than 2 points with dozens of issues making new lows for many years. peneral Motors opened 10,000 shares at 29 t, off M and anew low for the present shares. American Telephone dropped to anew low since 1926 at 145. off I’* points on a block of 5,000 shares. New lows for several years also were made by American Can 82K. off J 2: Atchison 108’ t , off l 1?; Western Union 95. off ": Consolidated Gas 79L. off •S: Erie 11. off Gold Dust 20 \i, off 4 ; Republic Steel 8-V off 3 S . and Allied Chemical 92. off 2L,. The decline followed another sharp break at London. A bright spot in the local market was National Cash Register which rose l’s, to 22'Ss. Buying was influenced by the company’s action in resuming dvidends on the stock at the rate of $1.50 annuually. The issue was on a $3 annual basis until last March when the 75 cent quarterly payment was omitted. Art Objects Burned ANDERSON, Ind., Sept. 19.—A check by the parent-teacher association reveals a loss of paintings and other art valued at $4,000 in a Are which destroyed the Washington school.

Widow Suffers Breakdown as Bay Crime Motive Is Sought. " BY SIDNEY B. WHIPPLE United Press Staff Correspondent HUNTINGTON, L. 1., Sept. 19. Every supposed clew to the “pirates” who killed Benjamin Collings, a seafaring civil engineer, and threw his body into Long Island sound, has led authorities into blind alleys, they admitted today. With collapse of the latest promise of “an immediate solution” to the murder mystery aboard Collings’ motorboat, the Penquin, a promise that led Alexander Blue, district attorney of Suffolf county, hastily to adjourn an inquest Friday, the prosecutor announced he would take "a week’s leave of absence” and leave the case in the hands nf his assistants. Meanwhile, in Stanford. Conn., where Mrs. Lillian Collings, the 28-year-old widow of the victim, was suffering a nervous breakdown that .prevented her attending the inquest, her attorneys issued further statements defending the truth of her story and, in effect, chiding the police for paying more attention to hunting discrepancies in her strange tale than in running down the murderers. It was intimated, however, that the “leave of absence” might carry him over Long Island sound in a new scouting expedition for additional facts in one of the strangest cries of recent years. Homer S Cummings. %ttorney for the Collings family, scoffed at the suggestion that Mrs Collings had a guilty kniwledge of her husband’s murder If a person who “had an interest” in her sought to commit such a crime, he pointed out, he would scarcely have gone aboard the penguin when both Mrs Collings and her daughter Barbara were aboard “That is unbelievable,” he said, adding that this fact gave additional weight to his own theory that a paranoiac was the killer In the Air Weather conditions at 9 a. m.: Southeast wind, 8 miles an hour; temperature, 68; barometric pressure. 30 03 at sea level; ceiling, broken clouds, lower, scattered clouds, smoky, unlimited; visibility, 4 miles; field good.

LINDYS HOP FROM JAPAN ACROSS SEA TO CHINA

By I'nitcd Press NANKING. China, Sept, 19. Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh arrived here at 2:35 p, m. today. completing a 750-mile flight from Fukuoka, Japan, across the Eastern sea. The Lindberghs flew from Tokio to Nanking with only two stops. As their plane was sighted residents of the flooded city began to cheer. Refugees from the high waters of the Yangtze river, who are living on walls of the city, waved a greeting. Lindbergh decided to attempt a landing on the flooded Yangtze, after escort planes had indicated a landing place, and flew out of sight of the welcoming crowd, circling above them several times. The escort planes accompanied Lindbergh and returned within a few minutes. The pilots waved their

INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1931

HOOVER PULLS CURTAIN OVER BEER RAINBOW No Chance for Comeback of Legal Brew Is Word From White House. RIDDLE JOB ARGUMENT Brewing Industry, at Peak, EmpJoyed Only 75,000, Census Shows. BY RAYMOND CLAPPER United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Sept. 19.—Beer lovers might as well go back down into the cellar and work over their crocks, for the latest hopes of those who have been predicting that somehow President Hoover would restore the foaming beverage to legal status apparently have been dashed again. A White House official, asked what the chances for legalizing beer were, replied: “You know and I know they are pretty thin.” The White House has made public census statistics which answer assertions of beer advocates that restoration of brewing would give employment to a million or more men and stimulate industry. These figures show that at the peak of the brewing industry in 1914, just before prohibition began to gain ground, a total of 75,000 men were employed. This fell to 42,000 in 1919 -just before federal prohibition became effective. Pay rolls were $80,000,000 ip 1914 and $68,000,000 in 1919. To show that the entire business was not wiped out by prohibition, the White House obtained census figures of the near beer industry in 1929, which showed 6,400 men engaged, with a total pay roll of $12,000,000. As reported by the United Press ten days ago, President Hoover believes arguments for restoration of beer are illogical, and that it has no chance of coming back. But he has been reluctant to make any public statement, though the tide of propaganda has continued to rise in the form of provocative statements by beer advocates, rumors from every quarter, “inside tips” of every degree, and direct inquries, all to the general effect that Mr. Hoover would or should do something.

ROGERS RUSSIA ‘I Don’t Know How They’ll Take Me,’ Says Will. By United Press BEVERLY HILLS, Cal, Sept. 19. —Wil Rogers, unofficial ambassador at large, plans to visit England, and possibly Russia, again within a few months, he said today. “Don’t know how they'll take me in Russia,” the comedian said. “I wasn’t very good to ’em the last time. But things have changed there and I'm interested to see how they’re gettin’ on. Lady Nancy Astor, I guess, can fix it for me to get in.” Will is to be accompanied by Mrs. Rogers and their daughter, Mary. Young Bill Rogers will be attending Stanford university, and Jimmy, the youngest of the family, will be in military school in New Mexico. “It’s best for the kids to be away at school even when we’re home,” Will remarked with a grin. “We can’t learn ’em anything at home, especially manners.”

WHITE RIVER POWER PROJECT COMPLETED $12,000,000 Power and Light Plant Two Years Under Construction. Plans for formal opening of the $12,000,000 addition to electrical equipment of the Indianapolis Power and Light Company were being made today following test of a generator in the new Harding street plant Friday afternoon. Completion of the gigantic project, begun two years ago, will result in increasing the 80,000 kilowatts capacity of the company’s two older plants to 150.000 capacity. In addition to the new Harding street 70,000 kilowatt capacity plant, the company’s program, nearly completed, includes fifty miles of 132,000 volts cable extendnig around the city, four new substations and two distributing stations.

arms indicating a landing signal and it was assumed that Lindbergh had come down on the famous Lotus lake, two miles from the river and outside the city walls. A landing place had been prepared on the river front and a huge crowd had gathered to welcome the colonel and his wife. A four-day program of entertainment was arranged. Lindbergh explained that he landed on Lotus lake because the current of the swollen Yangtze did not appear safe for anchorage. “I am sorry we disappointed the crowd.” he said. Most of the crowd ran three and a half miles across the city toward Lotus lake and tied up traffic for an hour. Mrs. Lindbergh appeared fresh and chic in a white helmet, blue blouse and tan breeches. The colonel was sunburned and smiling.

In Legion Race

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Emmet O’Neal, above, of Louisville, has opened headquarters in Detroit in his campaign for election as national commander of the American Legion at its annual convention next week. Kentucky legionaires indorsed O’Neal at their state convention.

LESLIE, HOOVER TALKPOOR AID Governor Goes to Rapidan With President. BY PAUL R. MALLON United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Sept. 19.—Unemployment relief, tariff commission vacancies, and relations with the Press will receive the attention of President Hoover over the weekend. Guests who will take up phases of these three problems with him have been invited to accompany him on his regular week-end journey to Camp Rapidan his combined private workshop and play-ground. Governor Harry G. Leslie of Indiana and Senator Frederic C. Walcott (Rep., Conn.), will discuss with Mr. Hoover the unemployment situation. Leslie was one of the first Governors to reply favorably to the administration’s proposal that economic distress be cared for locally. The question of tariff commission vacancies was to be brought up by Chairman Henry P. Fletcher, who was scheduled to retire for private life Sept. 15. The press relations situation at the White House is understood to have been behind the calling of George Akerson, former press advisor to the President, and now a motion picture executive.

INDICT STATE AUDITOR Illinois Official and Bankers Held for Failure. By United Press CHICAGO, Sept. 19.—Oscar Nelson, state auditor of Illinois, and two former vice-presidents of the Waukegan State bank were under indictment today in connection with the bank's closing. The others named in indictments returned by the Lake county grand jury Friday were John Murray Connors and Milton E. Sith. Nelson was charged with failure to close the bank Oct. 24, when he should have known it was insolvent, and failure to order stockholders assessed. Smith was charged with fraudulently converting bank funds to his own use, and Murray with obtaining money false pretenses through personal loans from the bank.

SET RITES FOR PASTOR Minister, Who Served as Mission Head 23 Years, Succumbs. Last rites for the Rev. Guy D. Campbell, 54, of 718 Bates street, pastor of the Good Samaritan mission, 138 North Noble street, who died Thursday of blood poisoning, will be held at 9:30 Sunday morning. Burial will be in Centerton cemetery. Mr. Campbell has been pastor of the mission church twenty-three years. Surviving him are the widow, Mrs. Viola Campbell: a daughter, Mrs. Beatrice Laswell, and two sons, Lewis and Harry Campbell. BAR HONORS HOLMES Rewards U. S. Supreme Court Justice With Service Medal. By United Press ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. Injustice Oliver Wendell Holmes, senior member of the United States supreme court, today was awarded the gold medal given annually by the American Bar Asstciation to the individual w r ho has performed the most conspicuous service for the cause of American jurisdiction in the past year. URGES HEAVY WILL" TAX Senator Reed Wants Inheritance Levy Boosted High. By United Press zWASHINGTON, Sept. 19.—Senator David A. Reed (Rep., Pa.) whose sales tax proposal has been crticised widely by Democratic and western congressmen, favors a “very heavy” inheritance tax which would leave for widows and dependents only a living from great estates. Such taxes, taking most of the estates of rich men, would lighten tax burdens without discouraging private initiative, Reed told the United Press today. “A man should not be allowed to leave his son and other able-bodied relatives complete immunity from work,” he said. .

Japanese War on China; Capital of Manchuria Seized

ONE-TOWNSHIP PLAN ANGERS COUNTYCHIEFS City Merger Proposal Stirs Withering Blast From Commissioners. ‘BAH,’ GENERAL TENOR Just Bigger Plum for the Greedy Officials, Says John Shearer. Merging of all territory within the city into one township to put poor relief administration under one head, as proposed by the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, was dealt a broadsided attack today from county officials. “That would be a splendid way to waste the county’s money for it would just make the poor relief fund a bigger “plum” for greedy officials,” Commissioner John E. Shearer said. Shearer thus announced his unqualified opposition to the merging proposal that would cause Washington, Warren, Perry and Wayne townships to lose those parts of their areas now lying within the Indianapolis city limits. Vorhies Also Opposed The Chamber of Commerca proposes the consolidation as a method of equalizing the rapidly increasing poor relief tax burden by citing that Wayne’s rate is 23 cents on each SIOO while that in Washington is only cents. Commissioner Dow Vorhies renewed his opposition to the proposal by also pointing out that the city’s poor relief now is costing approximately $1,000,000 a year, an amount too large, he contends, for one relief administrator to spend. Although declaring “I’m not taking sides in this problem,” Walter Clark, attorney for the Center township trustee, said: “We have all the poor to take care of now that we want without being responsible for those in other townships.” Taxpayers from the townships which would loss much valuable property for assessment by such a merger contend the changing of boundary lines would bring about many difficulties. “Fight to Last Ditch” For instance, one taxpayer from Warren showed how the present Warren trustee would not even be living within his own township, should the merger take effect. He lives in Irvington, which is within the city limits. Supporting their plan as an economy in government move, officials of the Chamber of Commerce, contend a single township, virtually would create a department of public welfare for the city. Commissioner Vorhies declared: “It’s a move toward the county unit plan, and I’ll fight such a proposal to the last ditch.” LOST FLIERS ‘SILENT’ No Word Is Heard From Moyle and Alien on Tiny Island. By United Press TOKIO, Sept. 19.—The movements of Don Moyle and Cecil A. Allen, American ocean fliers, again were shrouded by the silence of the North Pacific today while radio operators attempted to contact them at tiny Navarian island, 1,600 miles north of here. The aviators had sent no direct word for twenty-four hours after reporting here over the radio of a Russian steamer that they intended to take off today for Nome and Seattle in continuation of their trans-Pacific flight.

HAY! HAY! HORSES DINE IN BILTMORE BALLROOM

By United Press NEW YORK, Sept. 19.—Like ancient turnpike taverns that used to advertise “entertainment for man and beast,” the Biltmore hotel gave refreshment to 425 friends of Joseph E. Widener, millionaire turfman, and hay to his horses, in the scarlet and gold banquet hall of its nineteenth floor, Friday night. In order that other guests of the hotel, not invited to the banquet, should not become alarmed at the presence of a score of stamping steeds in lobbies and halls, the horses were hoisted in freight elevators and conducted, with padded hoofs, through back passages to the banquet tables where their forage was waiting. The dinner, one of the most startling in its effects since the resplendent days of New York’s bizarre society in the festive nineties, was a tribute to Widener “for his efforts at elevating the sport of racing.”

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

China Calls for United War Front By United Press PEIPING, China, Sept. 19. —An urgent plea that northern and southern forces b? united into a solid stand against the Japanese was sent to the Canton government today. The northern government telegraphically advised Canton of the occupation of Mukden, Manchuria and urged the united front. Concern in Washington By United Press WASHINGTON, Sept. 19.—Officials here today viewed with concern reports of fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces at Mukden, Manchuria. The state department had received no official report of the capture of Mukden. The Chinese legation also was without information. It was recalled that for some time the military faction in Japan has been advocating a “strong hand” policy in China. Japanese resentment recently was stirred to a high pitch when an army officer, Captain Shintaro Nakamura, allegedly was executed by a Chinese firing squad in Manchuria. He was charged with being a spy. The outbreak in Mukden aroused speculation here as to whether the United States would invoke the Kellogg anti-war pact. Fear Shanghai Outbreak By United Press SHANGHAI, China, Sept. 19. Japanese occupation of Mukden created highest tension and great excitement here today. Japanese military officials were called into emergency session to plan protection for Japanese nationals in the event of retaliatory outbreaks. The central political council of the national government met at Nanking, but decided it was unable to act, pending further information from Mukden. The Japanese minister, M. Shigemitsu, said he could not issue a statement until he had received instructions from Tokio.

GET FLIGHT PERMIT Pangborn, Herndon Must Start Before Oct. 15. By United Press TOKIO, Sept. 19.—Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon Jr., American aviators, who recently were fined for photographing Japanese fortifications, received a government permit today to attempt a nonstop flight across the Pacific ocean. The permit was' awarded after a long delay, and a number of restrictions accompanied it. Aviation authorities specified that the takeoff must be made from Sabishiro beach before Oct. 15 and that in the event of their failure a second permit would not be issued. NAMED BAR GROUP HEAD Guy A. Thompson, St. Louis, Elected as National President. ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. 19. Guy A. Thompson of St. Louis toddy was elected president of the American Bar Association, succeeding Charles A. Boston of New York. Thompson, a Democrat, is a member of the assoication’s executive committee. Hourly Temperatures 6 a. m 59 8 a. m 65 7 a. m 60 9 a. m 70

What it cost, which was plenty, and who paid for it, w r ere secrets today. Mr. Widener was said to have been surprised, and therefore could not have read Friday’s newspapers, which gave details of the affair in advance. The guests sat at large tables in a setting that transplanted Belmont Park, the track in which Widener is vastly interested, directly to the ballroom. Among the guests were A1 Jolson, John F. Curry, acting mayor Joseph V. McKee, Gene Tunney, Grover Whalen, Earl Carroll (who is interested in horse flesh as well as in the Vanities), and Walter Chrysler. Around the hall were stalls, highly decorated with the Widener racing colors. The horses’ menu consisted largely of oats, hay, corn, and, in the case of one voracious steed, a dash of ice cream. The repast for the human diners w'as more sumptuous.

NOON

TWO CENTS

BATTLE RAGES OVER MUKDEN; SCORESKILLED Tokio Rushes Soldiers to Scene of Hostilities; Thousands Engaged. BOMBARD WALLED CITY; Execution of Nipponese Officer at Base of Trouble. BY MILES W. VAUGHN United Press Staff Correspondent TOKIO, Sept. 19. —Fierce fighting between Japanese and Chinese *in the Mukden area, with many casualties, was reported to the war office today. Japanese detachments were meeting strong opposition in their attempts to occupy Chinese military posts, the advices said. Reports to Tokio said ten Japanese had been killed and forty wounded in the efforts, to capture the posts. Chinese casualties were reported heavy in an engagement near the north peak of Kirin. Eight hundred Japanese w’ere attempting to occupy the peak and reportedly have surrounded it. Recaptured by Chinese According to the advices here, 10,000 Chinese appear to have recaptured the eastern barracks at Mukden. The Japanese 29th regiment of 900 men is reattacking the barracks and considerable casualties were reported there. At Changchun more casualties 4vere reported in occupation of the south peak. Kirin troops were reinforced by Chinese defending Kuang Cheng Tsu and Nanking. Heavy fighting was reported and Japanese reinforcements were en route from Kung Ohu Ling. Japanese soldiers imprisoned 350 Chinese troops during the morning bombardment of the walled city. They were transported in motor trucks to a temporary detention camp behind the Chinese gendarmerie headquarters. Each Blames Other Twenty Chinese policemen and the son of an unnamed Chinese general were arrested and questioned by the Japanese. Later, part of a Japanese regiment at Heijo was reported entraining for Korea. According to reports from Mukden it was difficult to determine who started the fighting. The Japanese claimed that their railway guards heard an explosion and rushed to investigate, encountering Chinese soldiers who opened fire. The Chinese claimed that the Japanese fired first. In view of the tense situation since the execution of Captain Shintaro Nakamura, Japanese officer, by Chinese on Aug. 17, the Japanese staff in Manchuria was prepared to carry out occupation of strategic positions. Nonresistance by the Chinese was believed to have prevented extensive casualties.

Japanese in Control By United Press MUKDEN, Manchuria, Sept. 19— Japanese troops were in complete possession of the walled city of Mukden, ancient Manchurian capital today, after sharp fighting with Chinese troops which began late Friday. The forces of occupation controlled the entire capital. Japanese held all lines of communication. Chinese were disarmed. Obeying orders from Peiping, they offered no resistance after Japanese entered the capital. Heaviest fighting occurred at military barracks outside the city. Several street clashes took place within the capital proper. The main body of 5,000 Chinese troops retreated to an unknown position. Dynamiting of an iron bridge on the main -line of the South Manchurian railway, attributed to Chinese, and an alleged attack by 300 Chinese troops on headquarters of Japanese railway guards at Peitaying, three miles north of Mukden, precipitated the fighting, Japanese officials said. A Japanese military communique issued at 6:25 a. m. said that the Twenty-ninth regiment attacked the walled city of Mukden, the first and second battalions occupying the eastern gate and the northern and eastern Chinese barracks. Th# northeastern arsenal was occcupied at 5 a. m. and the wireless station half an hour later. The airdrome was occupied soon after, giving the Japanese full control of communications. De facto military law was established in Mukden and adjacent areas. Censorship was established, but Japanese press messages to Tokio were transmitted rapidly. Japanese troops were on guard at banks and public buildings and barbed wire entanglements were erected at strategic positions.

Marlon County S Cent*