Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 244, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 February 1934 — Page 1

EMBEZZLING CHARGED TO BANKHEADS Four Officials of Defunct Meyer-Kiser Firm Are Named.. THREE AFFIDAVITS FILED Bank Insolvent Since 1928, Is Claim; Casualty Company Sued. Three affidavits charging four former officials of the defunct Meyer-Kiser bank with criminal actions were signed by Thomas Garvin. bank receiver, in circuit court today. From circuit court, the affidavits were sent to criminal court, and eventually they reached the hands of Prosecutor Herbert E. Wilson, who indicated he thought the charges properly should be gone into by the grand jury, but promised to consider the affidavits in the next few days. The affidavits were submitted to Circuit Judge Earl R. Cox by Alvah J. Rucker, special investigator in affairs of banks in receivership, following the reading in court today of a lengthy partial report disclosing evidence obtained by Mr. Rucker in a five-months' probe into the bank's operations. Defendants named in the affidavits are Sol Meyer, president, and Julian J. Kiser, Melvin Chn and Ferd S. Meyer, vice-presidents. Casualty Company Sued The affidavits charge the former officials of the bank with conspiring to accept deposits in an insolvent institution, with accepting deposits in an insolvent institution, and with embezzling funds from the bank. Launching criminal action followed by a few hours a civil suit against the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, seeking to recover approximately $1,250,000 on bonds of the four former officials of the Meyer-Kiser bank. This suit was filed by the receiver under direction of Judge Cox. It charged the officers dissipated large sums of money through “dishonest acts" and failure to perform their duties as officers and directors for which they w’ere bonded. They were charged with making unauthorized loans, contributing the bank's funds to the Meyer-Kiser Bank Realty Company, and transferring $119,358 of the bank’s funds to the Meyer-Kiser bank of Miami, Fla. Other Banks Probed The court action is the result of five months' investigation of circumstances of the closing of the Meyer-Kiser bank, together with those of the Washington Bank and Trust Company. City Trust Company and State Savings and Trust Company. At the conclusion of the report, which Judge Cox interrupted frequently to ask questions and make pungent comments, the court instructed Mr. Garvin to sign the affidavits. then sent them to Criminal Judge Frank P. Baker, with the comment that now the investigation had passed from hands of circuit court into that of criminal court. “If our banking institutions are in bankruptcy because of the depression." said Judge Baker, when the matter was taken before him. “that is one thing, but if any of these banks have been looted, that is another matter." Urges Immediate Action He took the affidavits before Prosecutor Wilson, who commented he felt the bank case should be taken up by the grand jury. He agreed to study the matter for the next few days, with the view of signing the affidavits with Mr. Garvin. Mr. Rucker previously had stated that after spending five months times in preparing the evidence, he saw no reason for expending further time and money on a grand jury investigation. “We prepared the affidavits to avoid the waste of time that would be entailed in a grand jury investigation." he said. $2,357,521 Shrinkage Shown The report explains charges included in the affidavits and outlines an appraisal of assets of the bank, just completed by Albert E Uhl. John Roberts and Russell W. Lookabill. Indianapolis, and Harold Phipps and John Fox. Gary. Shrinkage of $2,357,521.97 in the assets of the bank is disclosed by the appraisal, it is alleged. It is pointed out that assets of the bank, carried at a book value of $3,004 - 003 82 by officers of the bank, have been appraised at only $646,511.85. leaving depositors small hope of salvaging a dividend. It is charged in the embezzlement affidavit prepared that bank officials took SIB,OOO of the bank's funds to pay dividends of a defunct subsidiary. Another of the affidavits sets out that the bank was insolvent since 1928, with knowledge of the defendants. The action in preparing affidavits is believed to have been based on the fact that the Marion county grand jury failed to return indictments when evidence in the Washington bank and the State Savings and Trust Company was submitted. Missouri Prisons Called “Barbaric" By United Preat ST. LOUIS. Feb. 20. Circuit Judge Mu G. Baron, after a tour of inspection of the state's penal institutions, today criticized the prisons as “barbaric," with few exceptions.

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VOULME 45—NUMBER 244

ARMY SHOULD FLY MAIL INDEFINITELY, MITCHELL BELIEVES

By f nited Prn<t WASHINGTON. Feb. 20.—Gen. William Mitchell, former head of the army air corps, recommended to the house military affairs committee today that the government continue to fly the air mall indefinitely. 'T certainly believe the government should continue to fly the air mail. It would be done by the government on a more efficient basis and with much less expense than it was by private business. “This talk about the army not being able to fly the mail is a lot of propaganda," General Mitchell said. BROWN DENIES BLACK CHARGES No ‘Dividing Up’ of Air Mail Routes, Ex-Postal Head Shouts. By Vnitril Press WASHINGTON, Feb. 20. Charges of “preference" in the award of airmail contracts during the Hoover administration precipitated a bitter exchange today between former Postmaster-General Walter F. Brown and Chairman Hugo L. Black of the senate air mail investigating committee. Pounding the committee table with his fist, Senator Black made repeated charges that the nation's air line routes w r ere “divided up" at a “spoils conference” betw’een Mr. Brown and mail operators in the postoffice department in 1930. “There was no such thing as a •dividing up’ of those routes,” Mr. Brown shouted back, his face flushed. Senator Black earlier attempted to show that political considerations prompted Mr. Brown to arrange for airmail contracts to expire ir. April, 1936. “Is it not true,” asked Senator Black, “that the route certificates were drawn so that they would expire two months before the regular Republican convention in June, 1936?" Mr. Brown smiled and admitted the "coincidence,” but said: “I didn't have time to think about that. Sometimes I thought about the conventions, but not when I was busy running the postoffice.” ONE JUROR SEATED IN DR. WYNEKOOP'S CASE 63-Year-Old Woman Doctor in Better Health, She Says. CHICAGO. Feb. 20.—One juror was seated tentatively as the second trial of Dr. Alice Lindsay Wynekoop. charged with the "operating table” slaying of her daughter-in-law, Rheta. beautiful Indianapolis musician, was resumed today in criminal court. The 63-year-old physician, whose repeated collapses at the first trial last January caused Judge Joseph B. David to declare a mistrial, appeared in much better health. She took a keen interest in the selection of jurors. Edwin T. Brownley, 35, packing company employe, was tentatively accepted by both sides. TENOR DENIES ART TO ‘FREE PASS’ AUDIENCE Spaniard Stalks Off Stage, Ending Nice Opera Effort. By I'nited Pri ss NICE, France. Feb. 20. —The Spanish tenor, Villabolla. stalked off the stage during the second act of a gala performance of the opera "Barber of Seville," here Sunday. "Most of you are here on passes.” Villabolla shouted at the audience as he left. “Tenors can't live on papered houses.” The opera was halted and those who had paid for admission had their money refunded. AMERICAN NITRATE IS ORDERED BY FRANCE United States Producers Given $1,250,000 Business. By United Print PARIS. Feb. 20.—American producers of synthetic sodium nitrate rejoiced today over receipt of orders for 40.000 tons of nitrate, valued at $1,250,000 and one of the largest export proposals received by any American firms this year. The Atmospheric Nitrogen Corporation of Hopewell, Va., received the large order. France has thus given the United States the bulk of her import nitrate business.

Dillinger in Florida at Time of Slaying, Is Alibi

An alibi that he was in Florida at the time of the slaying of Detective Fatrick O'Malley in the holdup of an East Chicago bank will be attempted by John Dillmger in his trial March 6. it was learned today. Joseph Ryan, Indianapolis, attorney for Dillinger, intimated yesterday that he might make a trip to Florida for the purpose of obtaining witnesses who will testify that Dillinger was in the south at the time of the bank robbery. While Mr. Ryan conferred with his client in the jail at Crown Point yesterday, Louis Piquett, Chicago attorney, was halted late yesterday at the gates of the jail by Sheriff

The Indianapolis Times Increasing cloudiness tonight, followed by rain or snow tomorrow; rising temperature, lowest tonight 20 to 25.

ARMY FLIER WHIPS GALE, LANDS MAIL Daring Aviator Laughs at ‘Hell’s Stretch,’ on Trip to Newark. THRILLS GALORE ON HOP Service Birdmen Defy Cold, Wind to Inaugurate New Duties. (I.ecal Airmail Picture* Page 4) By f iiili il Pri ss NEWARK. N. J., Feb. 20.—The first consignment of air mail to be flown to Newark airport by an army pilot arrived shortly before noon today, when Lieutenant Donald Wacknitz landed a twin-motored bomber on the snow-covered field. Due here at 10:45 from Chicago, the huge army plane encountered rough w'eather on its eastward flight from Ohio, and was almost tw-o hours late. The plane hopped through snow drifts on the field and taxied to the National Guard hangar, where its cargo was unloaded. Other army pilots, grounded by weather, cheered the Chicago plane as it swooped over the airport and landed. Lieutenant Wackwitz revealed that he brought the mail through safely despite sub-zero temperatures. low ceiling, and a radio that was “on the blink.” Laughed at “Hell’s Stretch” “When I left Cleveland the weather was clearing,” he said. “I flew at 8,000 or 10,000 feet over the Alleghanies and laughed at ‘Hell’s Stretch’. It was between 10 and 12 below zero. My hands were numb as I had a pair of thin glove on. “At reading, the ceiling closed in and I had to drop down to 1.000 feet and follow land marks. Just before I go to New' Brunswick I had to drop to 500 feet." The army flier said he thought the ground snow w T as a dense fog. and that he flew by compass after his radio failed. First certainty that he was headed directly for Newark came w'hen he spotted the four radio towers at Elizabeth. “I ducked a cross wind the entire W'av," Lieutenant Wackwitz said as he puffed a cigaret n the national guard hangar. “It was 90 degrees on the nose of my ship. My body was warm as toast, and I w'ore a new service suit along with the electrified iambs’ now being tested by the army air corps." Takeoff Is Spectacular During the flight from Cleveland. Sergeant Ball Gibson, co-pilot, was in the tail of the ship pumping gas, Lieutenant Wackwitz said. The first army plane to leave Newark airport with outbound mail took off at 12:28 p. m. for Cleveland and Chicago. Lieutenant G. R. Acheson. taking the first plane out, made a spectacular takeoff, “hopping" his ship almost vertically into the air from a three-foot snow drift. The flier ignored the regular runways. on w'hich enlisted men had worked for hours to shovel away the snow. He pushed his plane to the edge of a drift. After w r arming up his motor, he gave the order to pull the blocks, and then hurdled the drifts, circled the field, and headed west. Chief Takes Off on Tour By l nited Prrss WASHINGTON. Feb. 20.—Briga-dier-General Oscar Westover, head of the army air mail service, hopped off today on an inspection tour of air mail routes between here and Salt Lake City. Disregarding the bitter cold. General Westover boarded an open cockpit observation plane and scared westward toward Dayton, 0., his first stop. He will continue to Chicago. Cheyenne, Wyo., and Salt Lake City. Pacific Flights Start PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 20.—Airmail service from the Pacific northwest by the army was inaugurated today when Lieutenant R. C. Lindsay piloted the first ship east from Portland on schedule. There was some doubt whether he would reach Boise, however, as the flying conditions w'ere reported bad east of Pasco, Wash. Memphis ‘All Okey’ By I'nited Press MEMPHIS. Tenn.. Feb. 20.—Army airmail operation on the Cleve-land-Memphis-Fort Worth run was “all okey" the first night and morning. Lieutenant P. H. Baxter, control officer of the Memphis unit, said today. “Everybody checked in okay," he said.

Lillian Holley. The attorney, according to the sheriff, attempted to take a stranger into the jaii to confer with Dillinger. Mr. Piquett revealed that his companion was Mayer Booge, operator of a Chicago automobile tire and accessory shop, who claims to have talked with Dillinger in Florida on the day before the East Chicago slaying. Judge W. J. Murray of criminal court refused to issue a formal order to Mr. Piquett to be allowed to visit the gang leader, but gave the attorney a letter to the sheriff suggesting that the interview be granted.

INDIANAPOLIS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1931

U. S. EXPENDITURES LESS THAN HALF OF ESTIMATE FOR YEAR

By United Press WASHINGTON, Feb. 20.—Government expenditures this fiscal year have crossed the $4,000,000,mark, less than half of the estimate set by President for the full year, treasury figures showed today. Total expenditures from July 1, last, to Feb. 17 amounted to $4,034.245,761, indicating that expenses up to June 30, next, must run around $1,500,000,000 monthly if the President's budget estimate of $10,560,006,967 is reached. AUSTRIAN NAZI THREATENS WAR ‘Armistice’ to End Feb. 28, Leader Warns, Defying Allies’ Edict. By United Press PARIS, Feb. 20.—Theo Habicht, German leader of Austrian Nazis, confronted European political leaders today with threat of an early, and grave, new crisis in the Austrian situation. In a wireless speech broadcast from Munich, not far from the Austrian border, Habicht assumed for himself the power of proclaiming peace or declaring war. He announced that the thousands of Austrian Nazis had been ordered to observe an “armistice” in the fight against Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss from noon today to noon Feb. 28. Provided Chancellor Dollfuss did not, during the “armistice" period, reach a “German" solution of the Nazi dispute, Austrian Nazis would renew their fight against him, Habicht said. The fact that the German government at once forbade newspapers to publish the speech, broadcast last night, did nothing to dissipate uneasiness. Not only was Habicht’s ultima-tum-like pronunciamento a defiance of the allies’ declaration in favor of Austrian independence, issued only Saturday, but Habicht is a German Nazi leader. JOHN J. M’GRAW IS REPORTED IMPROVED Hx-Manager of New York Giants Passes Comfortable Night. By United Press NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y., Feb. 20. —The condition of John J. McGraw, former manager of the New York Giants, “seems improved” today, according to a bulletin issued at New Rochelle hospital, where Mr. McGraw has been confined since Friday with uremia. The bulletin said: “Patient -assed comfortable night. Slept well, with occasional restless periods and is less stuporous. Signs of uremia less marked. General condition seems somewhat improved. Temperature 103, pulse 90, respiration 30.” The bulletin was signed by Dr. Louis B. Chapman and Dr. E. L. Kellogg. RUMOR PURDUE COACH TO GO TO OHIO STATE Report Noble Kizer Will Become Head Football Mentor. By United Press COLUMBUS. 0., Feb. 20.—Reports that Noble Kizer, football coach at Purdue university, will be head football coach at Ohio state, were received from reliable sources today. G. 0. P. TO HEAR GREGG McKinley Clb Session to Be Held Tomorrow' Night. Ralph Gregg will be the principal speaker at a meeting of the McKinley Club, 2217 East Michgan strett, at 8 tomorrow night. Mrs. Gregg will speak on organization. The club is composed of Republican men and women living on the east side of Indianapolis. Times Index Page Berg Cartoon 10 Bridge 7 Broun 9 Classified 13, 14 Comics 15 Crossworld Puzzle 16 Curious World 15 Editorial 10 Fnancial 11 Hickman—Theaters 9 Indiana Statesmen 9 Lippmann 11 Pegler 9 Radio 3 Sports 12, 13 State News 5 Unknown Blond 15 Woman's Pages 6, 7

HORRORS OF THE NEXT WORLD WAR Riots in France. Angry mobs battling in the Place de L'Opera. Socialist uprisings in Vienna with the very conditions of civil war. Government troops using artillery, airplanes directing the fire. War clouds over Europe and Asia. What will Hitler do? What will Russia do? W’hat will Japan do? In the cloakroom of the United States senate, so they say, senators are betting three to one that war will break out somewhere in the world by spring. What will the next world war be like? David Dietz, ScrippsHoward science editor, undertakes to tell you in a great series of articles on “The Horrors ot the Next World War.” He has based the series on what military experts, many of them men who directed the fighting forces in the last World war. have to say on the subject. It represents the opinion of the world s military strategists. Read what Dietz has to say about the bombing of cities in the next World war, the use of tanks, the use of poison gas, the developments of new types ot weapons, the possibility that disease germs may be used in the next World war. It starts Thursday in The Tiqies.

RICH, POOR IN LONG LINE AT BIEROF KING Sorrowing Thousands Wait Hours to Pay Tribute to Monarch. FINAL RITES THURSDAY All Nation Mourns Beloved Ruler; Leopold Ready to Take Throne. By United Press BRUSSELS, Feb. 20—Thousands upon sorrowing thousandsfßelgians ! passed today before the body of j King Albert as it lay in state on its catafalque in the Chappelle Ardente of the royal palace. Clad in a general’s uniform, the face bruised by a fatal fall from a mountain rock face, the hands clasping a crucifix, the dead king’s body lay in a setting of silver and black draperies and green foliage. Candles flickered eerily in the little palace chapel, near the grand ballroom in which only recently the king and queen had given a gala court ball. Grenadiers in khaki, with crepedraped swords, stood guard, as they had done all night while those first in line outside the royal palace were waiting, from midnight on, to pay homage to the monarch who had led them in war and peace. R-’igned for 24 Years War veterans, -war widows, children of war dead, men and women who could remember all of the twenty-four eventful years of his reign; top hatted men from the cities, peasants in rusty, creased black, waited in line to file slowly past the body and take a last look at the reposed face of a king who was remembered also as a soldier, a sportsman, a devoted husband and father, and a citizen. The dead king's body will lie in state tomorrow as well as today. The funeral will be held Thursday, with kings and princes in attendance. Crown Prince Leopold w r ill be proclaimed King Leopold 111 Friday after he takes, before a joint session of parliament, the simple oath of office that caused his father to defy the might of the German army in 1914. “I swear to observe the constitution and law of the people of Belgium and to maintain the national independence and territorial integrity.” Mourning to End Aug. 17 On Saturday, King Leopold and his consort, Astrid, new queen of the Belgians, will ride in state procession through the capital. The occasion of the oath taking and the state procession will bring the sole, brief breaks in the six months’ period of official mourning that ends Aug. 17. The coronation, the ceremonious confirmation of the new king’s accession, will be held after the period of mourning for King Albert is over. One of Leopold’s first acts will be tc convene a ministerial council and to prepare for early promulgation a crown declaration outlining the policies of his reign. King Albert’s body was taken to the royal palace from Laeken, where it had lain since he was discovered dead from a fall on the Marches Les Dames Sunday morning, in state procession last night. Communist Are Dispersed Torches carried by bearers flanking the gray gun carriage, drawn by black horses, on which the king’s coffin lay, flickered fitfully as the procession passed. Leopold and his younger brother, Prince Charles, marched behind the coffin. The coffin was taken to the Chapelle Ardente, to lie under guard until 8 a.m. today, when the doors of the palace were opened and the great crowd in the court outside began filling into the chapel. There was a communist demonstration in favor of a republic last night after the procession to the Brussels palace. Police dispersed it quietly. The usually gay city remained quiet. Most ordinary business was suspended pending the funeral. Cases opened last night, but without the customary music. SIGNS BONUS PETITION Representative Patman Adds Name to Document, By United Press WASHINGTON. Feb. 20.—Representative Wright Patman Dem., Tex.) leader of the soldier bonus fight two years ago, signed the $2,400,000,000 bonus petition in the house today, bringing to 130 the names on the document. A total of 145 signatures is necessary before the bill can be considered.

WHERE BELGIUM WILL MOURN KING

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Grief-stricken Belgium will pay its last tribute to its so’dier king, Albert I, in the ancient cathedral of St. Gudule, shown here, its imposing Gothic bulk rearing above surrounding buildings in the lower part of Brussels. Work of erecting this famous church, dedicated to the tutelary saint of Brussels, was begun in 1220.

Worst Storm in Years Kills Seventeen in East

New York Completely Tied Up as Blizzard Sweeps In; Drifts Pile High. By United Press Anew cold wave rode down the northeastern states today on the heels of a driving blizzard causing seventeen known deaths and endangering traffic and shipping. Three boats were grounded off Massachusetts. Two of them were grounded, a fourth apparently was in distress in Long Island Sound. Fire during last night’s blizzard caused the death of ten bed-ridden women patients in the hospital cf the Memorial Home for the Aged at Brookville, Pa. Five other deaths were attributed to the storm in east and central Pennsylvania, including a boy who fell and broke his neck during a snow battle. A man and an unidentified woman died in Brooklyn of heart disease caused by exhaustion from struggling through snowdrifts to reach the subway. In New York an eight-inch snowfall was packed into drifts four feet deep by the wind, creating the worst traffic tieup in years, and affecting half a million commuters. The delay in transportation caused the Stock Echange and the Curb Exchange to postpone the opening an hour. In Connecticut the snowfall reached a depth of twenty to thirty inches. Western New York reported sub zero temperatures, with an unofficial reading of 14 below at Buffalo. Motorists reported drifts ten to fifteen feet high along the roads. NEW YORK. Feb. 20. The Metropolis of New York, usually a rowdy city of uneven temper and frantic routine, was chilled into unprecedented inactivity and snowy discomfort today by the worst blizzard of modem times. Seven millions persons felt the effects of the storm. Half a million commuters were stranded. Hundreds of thousands were hours late to w'ork. New York's central shopping district was snowbound, strangely quiet-swept by fierce flurries of snow. Trains crawled at a slow, jerking pace over elevated tracks, requiring two and three times the usual time necessary for normal runs. Long Island railroad service, on which many thousands depend, was entirely halted. Automobiles, festooned with deep layers of wet snow, ploughed slowly through drifts that were as high as their wheels. Telephone service throughout the suburbs was disrupted for several hours. Milk deliveries were hours late. Some schools were closed. All others announced that no one would be marked absent today.

50 Reformatory Inmates Will Go to State Prison

By United Prran MICHIGAN CITY Ind.. Feb. 20. Fifty ringleaders of recent disturbances at the Indiana state reformatory will be transferred to the state prison here either tomorrow or Thursday, W T arden Louis E. Kunkel, announced today. Order for the transfer came through the office of Governor Paul V. McNutt, Warden Kunkel said. “We were asked to take 150 of the reformatory prisoners, but fifty is all we can absorb,” Warden Kunkel explained. “We are confronted with the same idleness problem here as at the reformatory. Warden Kunktl said that no spe-

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis

NRA SUCCESS PROOF IS IMPROVED TRADE, RICHBERG DECLARES

By l nited Press CHICAGO. Feb. 20.—Donald R. Richberg, NRA counsel, today met its opponents with the declaration that “the unanswerable proof of the NRA’s success is found in the present remarkable improvement in nearly all trades and industries.” Mr. Richberg told the Inland Daily Press Association that: “Any one who examines the detailed reports of increased employment and wages and improved business conditions in the codified trades and industries will readily understand the indignation with which NRA reads the statements of its wilfully blind opponents who broadcast insupportable assertions that the NRA has been obstacle tt> recovery.”

RELIEF FROM COLD SNAP ARRIVES HERE Temperatures Above Freezing Are Forecast. Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 7 10 a. m 17 7a. m 8 11 a. m 19 Ba. m 10 12 (noon).. 20 9a. m 14 Ip. m 23 Welcome relief from the cold snap which enveloped the city yesterday and early today began to arrive today, and temperatures slightly above freezing were forecast for the city tomorrow. Axis of the cold area has passed this section and a warm area now over the upper Mississippi valley should reach the city late today or ! tonight, according to J. H. Arming- ! ton, local meteorologist. Temperature tonight was not expected to drop lower than 20 or 25 degrees, he said. i A heavy smog which blanketed : the city added to perils of motor- ; ists as they sought to operate their \ cars on the icy pavements early to- ' day. | Standing at 7 degrees at 6a. m. | today, the same as yesterday’s reading at the same hour, the mercury } today had climbed to 14 above zero by 9 a. m- 4 degrees higher than the | same hour yesterday. By noon to- ; day, the mercury had climbed to 20. The warmer weather tomorrow was expected to produce either rain I or snow, depending on the proximity ; to the freezing point, Mr. Arming--1 ton said.

cial preparations for the convicts are being made and that they will be permitted to mingle with the prisoners here immediately. “We anticipate no trouble." he declared. “If these newcomers start agitation here, it will be our job to handle them." The men being transferred were said to have been responsible for a recent strike at the reformatory 7 and a disturbance last Sunday which required the assistance of state police to get the men back to their cells. Idleness due to the closing of prison industries was blsmed for the unrest. W

HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marlon County, 3 Cents

TEN WOMEN DIE IN BLAZE AT HOSPITAL Aged Victims, All Survivors of Civil War Veterans, Perish Silently. FIREMEN ARE HELPLESS Only Five of Fifteen Are Brought to Safety From Building. By United Press BROOKVILLE. Pa., Feb. 20.—Ten aged women survivors of Civil war veterans were burned lodeath in their hospital beds when defective wiring started a fire which destroyed the frame structure within an hour. The victims died silently, apparently suffocated by smoke which billowed through the hospital of the Pennsylvania Memorial hall, driving off would-be rescuers and firemen. AH entrances to the little frame building were blocked by the time the whistles summoned the volunteer Brookville fire department at 12:30 a. m. and rescuers were able to save only five of the fifteen inmates. Zero temperatures and the smoke hampered the volunteer firemen, who found themselves useless except to prevent the flames from spreading. Residents of the neighborhood said they heard a scream shortly before the whistles. They paid no attention, however, thinking it was a neighbor’s child crying. “Right after I heard the whistles. I ran to the home,” one man, who refused to give his name, said. “There were several young fellows there, and they had brought two old ladies out. “We broke a window, but the smoke was so dense you couldn't see ; a thing. We finally found one wom!an and brought her out. She wasn’t ! crying or anything. She just said I ‘Where was I.’ Heard No Noise “No one in the building was makj ' n K any noise. There wasn't any screaming or anything. To tell the truth, the smoke was so dense, I think they were all gone before the fire got to them. “We tried to get in another waybut the smoke was too dense. Ail the entrances were blocked. I guess they were blocked before the firemen even got there. The firemen didn't have a chance. The place just burnd like tinder, and an hour later there wasn't a thing but ruins.’* The home was maintained for the dependent wives and daughters of Civil war veterans. Besides the fifteen inmates in the small wooden hospital, there were twenty-five aged women in the main brick building, thirty feet away, it did not catch fire. Report Hearing Explosion Some witnesses reported hearing an explosion as the fire raged, but its cause was not determined. Brookville, a small borough which is the county seat of Jefferson county, was prostrated by the tragedy. Residents gathered in Western avenue, in the Longview district, to | stare at the ruins while rescue workers pried through the blackened rubbish to remove the bodies of the dead. The list of dead, all survivors of Civil war veterans: Miss Christies Bobst, 64, Reading, Pa., daughter. Mrs. Mary Gannon, 80, Sunbury, widow. Miss Mary Marvin, 81, Verona, sister. Miss Margaret Perry, 76, Grove City, daughter. Miss Martha Moore, 74, Baxter, daughter. Mrs. Jennie Showers, 94, Reynj oldsville, widow. Miss Mida Crompton, 65, Scranton, daughter. Mrs. Clara Roberts, 84, Pleasantvilie, widow. Mrs. Helene Setley, 75, Tionesta, widow. Mrs. Elizabeth Loveland, 76, Moscow, widow. The five saved were: Miss Mary Gresh, Lipitz <Lancaster county); Mi.ss Rebecca Gauld, Cool Springs 'Jefferson county); Miss Cora Bruce, blind, Dubois; Mrs. Levina McGroty, Reynoldsville, badly burned, and Mrs. Diantha McFarland, Clarion. $2,349 IS FOUND IN DEAD WOMAN'S DRESS Currency. Gold Discovered in Wedding Gown of Hoosier, 93. By United Prrss ATTICA. Ind.. Feb. 20.—Currency and gold totaling $2,349 were found in the clothing of Mrs. Augusta Covey, 93, after her death here. The money was hidden in the folds of Mrs. Covey's wedding garments which had been carefully preserved and stored in a dresser drawer. It is believed part of the money which she and her late sister, Mrs. Amanda Adams, saved from taking in washings. Mrs. Covey also left a modest fortune in bonds and farm property. ■/COMMITTEE IS WARNED House Is Urged to Guard Against *Spread-the-Work Movement.’ | By f, nited Prrss WASHINGTON. Feb. 20. A warning to guard against enactment of legislation leading to a “glorified spread-the-work movement” was given to the house labor committee today by CWA Administrator Harry L. Hopkins, testifying on the Connery thirty-hour week bill.