Indianapolis Times, Volume 44, Number 77, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 August 1932 — Page 1

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CHAOS FEARED IF $1.50 TAX UMJT HOLDS Unpaid Teachers, School Term of Five Months or Less Forecast. SEEK TO AVERT CRASH City and Education Heads Will Confer in Move to Halt Breakdown. Chaos in school city, civil city, county and township government in Marion county, with defaulted pay rolls and huge deficits, was forecast today by local officials, if the new $1.50 tax limitation law is enforced. Officials drew a picture of unpaid school teachers and other school, city and county employes, four or five months of school, inability to float temporary loans and other circumstances resembling the bankrupt condition of Chicago. Further conferences were to be held immediately by heads of ths. school city and the civil city, seeking a way to prevent a complete governmental breakdown. School board members, who will meet tonight, have held several conferences since the law was proposed. Would Cut School Term "We have figured out that without relief by the county board we can not run the schools longer than four or five months,” said Russell Willson, board president. "Taking into consideration the $100,000,000 Center township assessed valuation reduction, it is certain that the school city will not be entitled to more than a "50-cent levy, if that much.” Willson pointed out that teachers’ contracts, providing for a 5 per cent salary cut, already have been signed and are in effect. Operating the schools only four or five months, Willson said, the school city would be obliged to pay teachers for the full ten-months term, under their contracts. One Ray of Hope "We just will have to pay them what we can and let them obtain judgments against us for the rest, or else issue scrip, as has been done in Chicago,” he said. Strongest ray of hope of governmental heads lay in the provision of the law authorizing the newly set up county board of tax adjustment. It would be composed of the county auditor, three county counclimen and three persons to be named by the circuit judge, to permit emergency increases in the levy. Temporary loans would be impossible, because banks and individuals would refuse to purchase temporary loan certificates unless there was definite assurance thpt sufficient funds to retire the indebtedness would be received from taxes, it was said. "It is the most serious question W'e ever have faced. With valuations decreased 20 per cent, tljje county is in danger of bankruptcy this coming year," Timothy P. Sexton, county treasurer, declared. Sees $4 Tax Rate Charles A. Grossart, county auditor, predicted that to meet obliagtions and balance the huge decline in taxable property values, the county tax rate should be $4 in 1933. "There has been so much tax evasion and delinquency in payment of taxes that Marion county can not possibly get along on a $1.50 tax rate.” the treasurer said. Officials predict at least 25 cents of the $1.50 rate will be necessary to meet poor relief bills. City councilmen met with Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan Monday and discussed substantial reductions in the 1933 budget, but agreed that it is impossible to act on the budget intelligently until the legislature has adjourned. Reaffirm Pay Slash Decision to cut all city salaries substantially, including those fixed by statute, reached at a conference of city officials last spring, was reaffirmed. City officials were unable to forecast what steps would be taken to comply with the $1.50 maximum law r . Without relief, it was said, the law prrobably would force the temporary closing of several city departments. COP NAMED ASSAILANT BY MAN ON DEATH BED Wounded Doctor Succumbs to Injuries; Policeman Is Held. By United Press NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 9.—James H. Lindsey, a policeman, was held in jail without bond here today awaiting formal charge for the alleged fatal shooting of Dr. Clyde S. Roath, formerly of South Bend. Ind. Dr. Roath died of bullet wounds inflicted Saturday night. Before he died he accused Lindsey of shooting him. "He said 'You killed my brother and I'm going to kill you.’ I make this statement knowing I likely will not recover.” He died a few hours later. Dr. Roath was charged with the murder of Luther W. Lindsey, also a patrolman and brother of the accused slayer of the doctor. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Later the state supreme court set the sentence aside.

The Indianapolis Times Somewhat unsettled tonight and Wednesday, with possibly local showers tonight; warmer Wednesday. „

VOLUME 44—NUMBER 77

LIFE BET ON SHOT; FAILS

Miracle Saves Man Lost in Jungle

By United Press NEW YORK, Aug. 9.—starved facing almost certain death, lost and alone, in thq unexplored Ecuadoran jungle, a young American fired his last hoarded bullet. So weak from hunger he hardly could stand, his only hope for food was the small bird at which he dispatched the bullet. For days—he could not remember how many—he had saved last cartridge, afraid to attempt to kill one of the tiny birds, the only game, for fear it would be wasted. But now, he had shot—and missed! He sank to the ground, weeping. It seemed the end. An hour passed and there was a slight rustle in the jungle. He looked up. A large, fat deer was standing only eight feet away. If he hadn't fired that last cartridge, here was food for many days to come. u * U THUS, part of a story of adventure and hardship unparalleled since the days when European adventurers starved and died in the American wilderness, was unfolded today against the prosaic background of New York skyscrapers and subways. It was told by Harold- Foard, 29, cf Bramwell, W. Va., who came home Monday on the Grace liner Santa Clara. In the jungle Foard nearly lost

JOHN D. COMES TO SISTER'S AID Mrs. McCormick Seriously III; Given Income. By United Press CHICAGO. Aug. 9.—Edith Rockefeller McCormick, daughter of John D. Rockefeller, and once one of the world’s richest women, lay seriously ill today in her Drake hotel apartment. Members of her family and intimate friends led her to believe her affliction was a bronchial ailment. But it authoritatively was learned that her relapse was caused by recurrence of a malady for which she underwent an operation two years ago. The sudden relapse came as a pathetic setback in the determined fight Mrs. McCormick had been making to win back her health and a portion of her dissipated fortune. John D. Rockefeller Jr., her brother, was in Chicago recently, and, it is reported, shouldered the burden of his sister’s business affairs. He is said to have established a fund to allow her an income of a little more than SI,OOO a day. Mrs. McCormick recently sold $18,000,000 worth of securities at a sacrifice, so investors would not lose their homes, but her plan will not be possible under the new arrangement, it was learned.

Fright Kills Aged Man; Daughter’s Suitor Held

Coroner Orders Sweetheart Held After Probing Sudden Death. Love affair of his daughter with a father of three children led to the death of fright Monday night of Robert Brake, 75, of 2524 College avenue. Benjamin H. Rhynearson, 34, one of the principals in the love affair, is held today on four charges, upon order of Dr. John A. Salb, deputy coroner. During a quarrel at the Brake home. Rhynearson is said to have threatened Brake, who ran to the home of a neighbor, where he fell dead. Dr. Salb said an attack of heart disease was the immediate cause of death, and that fright had brought the attack. Charges of vagrancy, resisting arrest, disorderly Conduct and drunkenness are faced by Rhynearson. On Oct. 10. 1931, Brake’s daughter, Mrs. Ida Bayne. 35, w'ho lives at the College avenue address, was fined $1 and sentenced to thirty days in jail after being convicted in juvenile court of contributing to neglect of Rhynearson's children. Sentence was withheld upon condition that she cease associating with Rhynearson, but when arrested he gave the College avenue address as his. A few months previously, in the

By Time# Sprtiai LIBERTYVILLE, HI., Aug. 9. Weeds grow where rare plants bloomed: sparrows chatter in forsaken bird sanctuaries; blooded herds are gone from broad fields, and the magnificent mansion which Samuel Insull reared on his "Dream Farm” is silent and deserted. Gone are the grandeur and glamour and lavish luxury of the baronial estate on which Insull poured out millions before his utility empire crashed down in utter ruin. Just south of this peaceful town, about thirty-five miles northwest of Chicago, Insull, in 1903, purchased the old Barr farm. It was a good farm, in a state of good

INSULL MANSION DESERTED; ‘DREAM FARM’ DAYS OF GRANDEUR GONE

INDIANAPOLS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1932

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Harold Foard his own life often; in a shallow grave dug with a hunting knife, he had buried his best friend and companion, Thomas Walsh Jr. of Chicago, who, less hardy, died from hardships. "The irony of missing that bird drove me off my head, I guess,” said Foard. “I don’t remember a thing until I woke up in a native hunter’s hut. “This hunter had been stalking

KLINCK GETS 1 TO 3 YEARS, FINED SIOO

ACTS IN ESTATE FIGHT Final Court Order Is Issued on $2,000,000 W. R. Meredith Property. By United Press WASHINGTON, Ind., Aug. 9. Final court action in the settlement of the $2,000,000 W. R. Meredith estate was taken Monday when Judge Hartis Clements. Mt. Vernon, ordered sale Sept. 20 of real estate appraised at $150,000. GERMANY SETS UP DEATH RULE Political Terrorism Grips Whole Nation. By United Press BERLIN, Aug. 9. Germany seethed with political terrorism, rioting and bombing today as the government issued two severe decrees, providing the death penalty for acts of violence, and establishing special summary courts to deal quickly with offenders. The decree is so drastic it provides execution of any person caught with a weapon in his hand in a crowd where someone has been killed, even though the holder of the weapon did not commit the murder.

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Robert Brake same court, Rhynearson appeared on a child neglect charge and was ordered to pay S2O a week support money. Mother of the children, Mrs. Lula Rhynearson, filed the charges in both cases. The children are Calvin, 18; Selma, 17, and Mary, 9.

farms —highly productive soil, with acre upon acre of dense woods. Here the utility giant laid out Hawthorn farm, which embraced 4.300 acres, and here he summoned experts of the landscape art—architects, engineers, foresters, and gardeners, many of whom had learned their professions in England and Scotland. nun HIGH spiked walls are built around the main part of the vast tract. In the northeast part of the estate. Insull erected a magnificent, home, in Italian Riviera architecture, costing $125,000. A hundred acres was set aside for the residence and the

the deer that I saw, and found me. He took me to his hut and nursed me until I got back my strength.” ana FOARD and Walsh, both chemists, were employed at a mine in Oroya, Peru, and when they were laid off in October, 1931, they decided to prospect for gold in the Paute region of Ecuador. They set out through the jungle to reach Monzon, their base. For many days they traveled up the Huallaga river, only to discover their maps were inaccurate, and were leading them deeper into wilderness. Finally, their canoe was smashed against a rock. They took to the jungle with such equipment as they could carry. Food was scarce. Walsh weakened rapidly. On July 29 they had been seven days without food. Wa4sh was near collapse. Foard shot a small bird and gave it to Walsh. When he returned, Walsh was on the ground, in delirium. nun FRANTICALLY, he worked over him, hugged him; tried to bring his mind back to reason. "But it was no use,” he said solemnly, "he died in a few minutes. I remained at the clearing two days, and scraped out a shallow grave with my knife. In it I buried my friend. I then-set out through the jungle.”

Ex-Klan Leader Taken to Court After 3-Day Wait in Jail. Appearing in criminal court today before Judge Thomas E. Garvin after a three-day wait in jail following his surrender Friday, Earl Klinck, former bodyguard to D. C. Stephenson, ex-Klan leader, was sentenced one to three years in Indiana state prison and fined SIOO. He was convicted four years ago for attesting a false affidavit. Ruling forfeiting Klinck’s $5,000 bond was revoked. Klinck surrendered Friday after Garvin had ordered his bond forfeited when he failed to appear Wednesday for sentencing. Klinck was questioned by Prosecutor Herbert E. Wilson about activities of Claude M. Worley, former police chief, who now is serving a six-year federal prison sentence. Revealed No Information Wilson said Klinck did not reveal any new information on Worley’s activities that brought his fortune to attention of federal authorities. Worley often was a guest at Stephenson’s home while the former was criminal court investigator several years ago. During his appearance in court, Klinck was jovial, laughing and talking with reporters and court attaches. “Everything’s all right and I have nothing to worry about,” he laughed. “This is politics—and you can’t win all the time.” He said he had been "flat on his back” in jail because of a spine injury received in an automobile accident near Brazil. Accompanied by Lawyer Klinck was accompanied in court by his attorney, Howard B. Phillips. In 1928, Klinck was found guilty in criminal court of taking part in preparation of the false affidavit directed at Boyd Gurley, editor of The Times, and the late Thomas Adams of Vincennes, who took leading parts in investigation of political corruption arising from Ku-Klux Klan rule in Indiana. Testimony of William Rogers, Indianapolis, during an investigation conducted before Senator James Reed, was refuted by the affidavit. Purportedly signed by Rogers, the affidavit alleged that Roger’s story was false and that he had been paid to testify. NAB KILLER SUSPECT Greenfield Police Hold Man for St. Louis Officers. By United Press GREENFIELD, Ind., Aug. 9. St. Louis police are en route here to take into custody James Otenwelder, 21, St. Louis, who has confessed participation in theft of an automobile from a St. Louis sales agency, in which Eldridge H. King, a salesman, was beaten to death, Sheriff Frank Stottlemeyer announced today. The salesman was killed on a “demonstration” ride.

adjacent homes of caretakers and farmers. Then came a swimming pool, sunken gardens, flower beds, aisles of stately evergreens, and bird sanctuaries, with three artificial lagoons, stocked with goldfish, on which swans preened. Mrs. Insull was a great lover of birds and to please her Insull created two sanctuaries, stocked with fruit trees and berry bushes to feed the feathered residents, through which he scattered scores of bird houses and around which he placed guards. Martens, bluebirds, wrens, warblers, and robins came here by the thousands, but today sparrows, crows and bluejays hold sway,

FRANTIC HUNT IS BEGUN FOR NEWJEVENUE State Bankruptcy Is Seen in Passage of Tax Limitation Law. COMMITTEE AT WORK Income Levy Measure Is Approved by House; Now Up to Senate. Republican senate leaders, realizing today that their failure to recall the $1.50 property tax limitation bill puts the state in danger of bankruptcy, took steps toward seeking new revenues. Upon motion of Senator Alonzo H. Lindley (Rep.), Kingman, one of the backers of the $1.50 bill, a bi-partisan committee of four senators was appointed to consider ways and means of augmenting governmental funds to meet necessary budgets. The tax limit measure automatically became a law last midnight, when Governor Harry Leslie neither signed nor vetoed it. Lindley suggested that the committee draft “gross income or gross sales tax bills,” but scope of his motion was expanded by Senator C. Oliver Holmes (Rep.), Gary, to cover the entire taxation field.

Income Bill Passed The house already has passed an income tax measure, taxing both personal and corporate incomes. The bill now awaits senate action and likely will be referred to the special commitee. Members of the committee, appointed by Lieutenant Governor Edgar D. Bush, are Senators An-

derson Ketchum and J. Francis Lochard, Democrats, and Lindley and J. Clyde Hoffman, Republicans. Half hour was consumed by the senators in listening to Senator Lee J. Hartzell, Republican floor leader, present a resolution praising the senate for its conduct to date and urging that it not adjourn until the house had acted on its bills. Blamed on People Attempt of Representative John F. White (Dem.), Indianapolis, to bring about adjournment of the legislature Friday, failed when opponents gathered enough votes to drown out the voices of the backers of the early adjournment. The session officially ends at midnight Monday. "If the people had any sense, we would not be here,” Representative Miles J. Furnas (Rep.), Winchester, stated. "Did you ever see a legislature (Turn to Page 2)

LANCASTER TELLS OF ‘WILD PARTIES’

By United Press MIAMI, Fla., Aug. 9. Captain William N. Lancaster, tall, quiet, British flier, dramatically sketched his romance with Jessie M. KeithMiller today from the witness stand as he fought to free himself of the charge that he murdered young Haden Clarke, his rival for her affections. "We suffered a lot together,” he

Famed Defender of Poor Is on Trial for Murder

By United Press SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 9. Frank J. Egan is on trial for his life here today, seeming still the strong, confident superman of criminal law who won national fame as public defender of a great city’s underprivileged poor. Jointly accused with the selfmade attorney is Albert Tinnin, thin-faced ex-convict, who finished a term for the attempted choloro-

form murder of a Corning (Cal.) heiress, only two months before he, Egan and Albert Doran, another ex-convict, were charged with the brutal murder of Mrs. Jessie Scott Hughes. Mrs. Hughes, 67-year-old widow, was one of the hundreds who esteemed Egan as a great and com-

passionate man. To her, he was an heroic figure. Fondly, she called him "my son.”

On the estate is a greenhouse large enough to care for the needs of an entire town. Nearby is a nursery, as large as many commercial nurseries, stocked with thousands of native and imported trees and shrubs. Then, too, the government operated a post office on the estate, said to be the only postal station on a private farm in the country. THE farmer who tilled the fields on the vast estate formerly worked on salaries. Today, with the collapse of the Insull empire, they farm the broad acres on shares, wrest a living from the soil at depression prices for their crops.

5- Year-Old Boy Saved From Death in Cistern

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Donald Woodruff, 5, and his grandfather, Harry Woodruff. Inset— Donald’s sister, Thelma, 4.

TWO concrete blocks, an empty iron oil drum and a wooden cover close a cistern today into which Donald Woodruff, 5, of 559 Lynn avenue, fell Monday, and was rescued by his grandfather, Harry Woodruff. The cistern, in the yard of a vacant house at 577 Lynn avenue, was closed with only the wood cover when Donald turned his attention to it. Tilting the cover, the child was plunged into water up to his chin. His sister, Thelma, 4, excited by his screams, closed the cover on the boy, then ran screaming along the street, “Donny fell in the cistern.” The grandfather ran to the cistern and lifted the cover. He and a passerby laid flat on their stomachs and Donald was pulled out. Fright was only ill effect he suffered.

testified when recalled to the stand today after adjournment cut short his story late Monday. Clarke, a Miami newspaper man, was shot to death in a sleeping porch he occupied with Lancaster in the Keith-Miller home here last April 21. Lancaster contends Clarke committed suicide. The state con(Tum to Page 2)

After twelve jurymen have been selected from the panel of 300 persons that was being examined Monday, the state will charge that Egan persuaded Tinnin and Doran to kill the •widow. She is alleged to have carried $12,000 in life insurance payable to the public defender on her death. Egan, an obscure young policeman, studied law at nights. He was elected public defender three times. His fame and influence grew as his amazing success as a criminal attorney increased. Then, abruptly, things changed. Mrs. Hughes was found dead. Egan disappeared, to be found later in a sanitarium, emaciated, weak, apparently suffering from shock. Selection of a jury was expected to require at least three days. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 66 10 a. m 79 7a. m 68 11 a. m 80 Ba. m 72 12 (noon).. 82 9 a. m 77 1 p. m 82

Egan

In its days of glory, the Insull estate carried more than sixty full-time employes. Now, besides the farmers, there are six caretakers. The costly furniture in the mansion has been sold or taken away by members of the family and the house has not been opened in recent months. Creditors of Insull also have taken over another ambitious project on which the utility magnate and his friends spent more than two millions dollars. That is the Mellody Farm Country Club, near Lake Forest, a property developed at great cost by J. Ogden Armour and sold by his widow to Insull and his associates.

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis

Joy Thief Big-Hearted Playboy, Who Gave SIOO Tips, Held as Embezzler.

By United Press NEW YORK, Aug. 9.—" Mother Machree,” with all the stops pulled out, was a sure method of night club singers to work a SI,OOO bill from that “big-hearted broker,” who wept real tears because of the beauty of the melody. George D. Phelan, a sioutish bachelor of 39, also had won himself somewhat of a Broadway reputation for frequent generous tips, often as much as SIOO. Monday, Playboy Phelan stood in general sessions court and pleaded that poverty prevented him from hiring a lawyer to defend himself against charges of having robbed Jules Bache & Cos. of more than $695,000. It was charged that Phelan, as a S6O-a-week clerk, financed his night club excursions by developing, in the last thirteen years, an intricate system of keeping accounts to cover up his thefts from the brokerage house. an tt TJHELAN was indicted specifically on a charge of abstracting $1,900 from the petty cash fund on last July 9. He was held on $20,000 bail on charges of first degree grand larceny. Bail was provided by a friend. Bache & Cos. customarily kept a million dollars in petty cash. Testimony in court was to the effect that Phelan admitted that he began taking small sums from the company funds thirteen years ago. These first thefts, he paid back out of his salary, which never was more than SIOO a week, and by means of money made in fortunate speculations. But the collapse of the stock market, and some unlucky trades, got Phelan in deeper and deeper, the testimony of a member of the firm and a cashier showed. Phelan had been working with authorities for the last few weeks, retracing the maze of figures, which he juggled to cover up the operations. Phelan’s reputation in Broadway’s "hot spots” was that of a big spender. He would order a basket full of wine with a careless wave of his hand, toss huge tips to the orchestra, and, when some singer with a sob in her voice turned loose on a sentimental ballad, he could be relied upon to shed tears, and open his wallet.

THE purchasing syndicate, which included Insull and twenty-six others, planned to make the most magnificent golf course in the country. Armour’s Italian villa was to be the clubhouse, with a SIOO,OOO locker house as an annex. A fine golf course was laid out, but never used, and it is predicted here that it never will be. And so the glory that was Insull’s, leaving this little city sadder and poorer, for scores of its citizens and farmers hereabout invested their money in the enterprises of the owner of Hawthorn farm, only to see it swept away in the crash that laid the vast Insull structure low.

HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion County, 3 Cents

LIBBY, FREE ON BOND, IN HIDING AGAIN *— Waits Until Reporters Are Asleep, Vanishes From Hotel at 2:30 A. M. # $25,000 BAIL PROVIDED Torch Singer Is Believed on Way to Cincinnati to Await Trial. BY MORRIS DE HAVEN TRACY United Press Staff Correspondent WINSTON-SALEM, N. C.. Aug. 9. —Libby Holman Reynolds, freed on bond to await trial as the alleged slayer of her husband, suddenly changed from her black mourning garb to an attractive tan ensemble early today, and vanished—fled from the public whose adoration she once sought as a Broadway star. The widow indicted jointly with Ab Walker, young friend of her wealthy young husband, Smith Reynolds, had been cloistered in the little inn at Reidsville, about fortyeight miles from here. She had planned, it was said, to spend the night there. About 2:15 a,, m. today, a blond young man entered the lobby, looked around, approached the sleepy clerk and asked: Speed Away Northward "Any reporters in the lobby?” “They’re all in bed.” With that, the stranger hurried upstairs to Libby’s room, and a few moments later he came down with her, accompanied by a young man said to be her brother, and by her nurse. Libby, who had been heavily veiled, and dressed in black, wore a tan hat, tan sweater, tan skirt, white shoes and stockings. She also wore gold-rimmed spectacles such as she never wore on Broadway. The four hurried across the ! lobby, rushed outside, stepped into a waiting sedan, and sped away i northward. Father in Winston-Salem Libby’s father, meanwhile, slept | m the hotel here at WinstonSalem. When she entered court at Wentworth Monday afternoon to obtain her on bail, she raised the black veil only once. I hat was when she exposed one eye so she might see to sign her name upon the bond which won her freedom. She had surrendered in the cool living room of Mrs. Muna Reid's home, a room furnished with old furniture, a spinning wheel in the corner and neat with doilies and mats. She was a sepulchral, almost fearsome figure, garbed entirely in black. Crowd Fights Into Courtroom The crowd came with Libby, and fought to enter the courtroom. Judge A. M. Stack was ready to hear her. The accused Broadway singer sat low in her chair at the counsel table. Many in the courtroom never gained a glimpse of her. She rubbed her forehead through her veil nervously as her attorney extolled her as a brilliant woman, in love with her husband and now both a widow and an expectant mother. She bowed to the judge and accepted his proferred hand when led to the bench to sign her bond of $25,000. Then Libby bowed again and moved out of the courtroom into a heavily curtained car, which roared away to Reidsville with her. Trial Date Is Set At Reidsville she soon was in seclusion in her hotel. A nurse and a maid were with her and her father. In the evening he returned to Winston-Salem, saying he would take the first possible train today back to the Holman home in Cincinnati. There was general belief that Libby would join him on that train at some way station, and she, too, would go to Cincinnati, probably to the waiting comfort of her sister, Mrs. Myron Kahn. The date for the trial remained uncertain. Normally the case would come before a term of court here opening Oct. 3. It seemed probable, however, that a special term might be called for early September at which Libby and Ab Walker would be tried. Auto Injuries Cause Death By United Press BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Aug. 9. Injuries suffered by Mrs. Gertrude Stinburg in an auto accident here Saturday caused her death in a local hospital.

ROOM QUICKLY RENTED Mrs. A. F. Saulnier placed a two-line room ad in The Times. The ad appeared but a few days and she now has a permanent income from her once vacant room. To assure yourself of a cash return from your spare room, USE TIMES LOW COST ROOM ADS. RILEY 5551