Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 88, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 August 1934 — Page 1

ARREST DISCLOSES ALLEGED PLOT TO KILL BANK HEADS Suspect Also Threatened to Blow l p Bank in Letters Demanding: SIO,OOO, Authorities Claim. CAPTURE IS ACCOMPLISHED BY RUSE City I notogrrapher Admits Fantastic Scheme Agrainst PI etcher Trust Company Officers, Police Chargre. A fantastic scheme to extort SIO,OOO from directors of the Fletcher Company by threats to blow up the building and kill the directors was charged by police today with the arrest of an elderly amateur photographer, Edward B. Nicholson, .">O, of 2159 Pearson street.

Nicholson, held on vagrancy charges for federal authorities, has confessed, police say. A. C. (iarrigus, postal inspector. and detective sergeants Edward Tutt and Edward Rouls made the arrest. Late tn July the directors received ♦he first threatening note giving explicit directions to place a classified advertisement in a local newspaperstating. -Everything O- K. J- B Police and postal authorities were notified. The advertisement was inserted. Another note followed ordering the directors or their agents to place SIO,OOO in a package and meet a man on North Illinois street, who would carry further instructions, according to police. Inspector Garrigus and the detectives made a dummy package and met a cab driver with a note which instructed them to proceed north on Illinois street to Pearson street, where there would be a cardboaid aign with the letters “J- B- painted on it. according to their story. The officers followed orders and tied the package to a dog leash on 1 a fence near the sign- The leash i was attached by a string to a clump of bushes. Inspector Garrigus obtained a description of the alleged ext or- j ttoner from the taxicab driver and noted an elderly man sitting on the i porch at 2459 Pearson street, who answered the description. Discovering that the man was a ••crank” on photography. Inspector 1 Garrigus wrote him several fan j letters. When he received a reply handwriting experts compared it with the threatening letters. The arrest followed. COHN ATTORNEYS FILE MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL Wt Objection* Listed in Petition of Meycr-Kiser Official. Attorneys for Melville S. Cohn., former vice-president of the defunct . Mever-Kiser bank, convicted of embezzlement. filed a motion for new trial today in criminal court. Sixty-eight objections were listed, j The chief objection was against the admission of evidence against the pleas of the defendant. The suit charged that the verdict of the jury was not sustained by sufficient ;j actual evidence. 1 The attorneys are Jamps W. Noel, J Frank C Dailey, Allen W. Boyd and Paul Y. Davis. JOHNSON FORCED TO REHIRE OUSTED MAN NRA Chief Gets Some Tracking Down” Upon Himself. By I nitrtt Press WASHINGTON. Aug. 22—Genrial Hugh S. Johnson got a taste today of some cracking down” upon himself. The national labor relations board ( ordered him to reinstate John L. Donovan. NRA union president, w horn General Johnson personally had discharged for "inefficiency.” Gustav Peck, executive director of the labor advisory board in which section Donovan was employed, an- ; nounced Donovan would be given j back his position but that he would j have to “toe the mark.” Donovan was characterized as guilty of "provocative" conduct. CUBAN OFFICER SHOT: SUSPECTED AS TRAITOR Province Commandant Is Killed Resisting Arrest. By Unite* Press HAVANA. Aug 22.—Lieutenant-, Colonel Mario Alfonso Hernandez, j commandant of government troops in the province of Pinar del Rio. was shot and fatally wounded while t resisting arrest as a traitor today. 1 and the government rounded up, ether high officers charged with plotting anew revolution. KIDNAPING A HOAX. EVANGELIST ADMITS Framed Story to Get Needed Rest. He Says. By I milt 4 Press GOLDSBORO. N. C. Aug 22 The Rev R. H. Askew. 26. Four Square” evangelist, confessed to federal and state authorities today that his "kidnaping" was a hoax he perpetrated himself "because I needed a rest and had to get away.” Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 67 10 a. m 76 7a. m 69 11 a. m 78 8 a m 71 12 noon>.. 79 9 a. m 7$ 1 p. m 79

The Indianapolis Times

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VOLUME 46—NUMBER 88

500 IN CITY TO GET U. S. JOBS Work on $2,500,000 Slum Clearance Project to Start Jan.,l. More than 500 men will be given employment about Jan. 1 when the $2,500,000 Indianapolis slum-clear-ance project is started, Carl Ferguson. local manager of the federal emergency housing administration, announced today. First step in the program will be the filing of condemnation proceedings on the various properties which are located in the Negro area bounded by Indiana avenue and Blake, North and Locke streets. The properties cover an area of approximately twenty-two acres. In the place of the present buildings. twenty-five separate units of two, three, and four-story buildings will be erected. The structures will house 1.000 apartments of one, two and three-room capacity, which. Mr Ferguson said, will rent for about $8 50 a month for each room. The model apartment buildings will be managed by a local housing committee of twelve. Tentative membership is composed of: Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan; Joe Rand Beckett, attorney: Louis J. Borin - stein. Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce president; Charles W. Chase, Indianapolis Railways president: John E. Fredrick. president of the Continental Steel Company, Kokomo. Others chosen to serve are Hugh McK. Landon. Fletcher Trust Company vice-president; Charles Lutz, labor leader; Felix McWhirter, Peoples State bank president; Mrs John W. Kern, widow of the former senator: William H. Trimble. Trimble Realty Corporation vice-presi-dent : Samuel Walker, controller of the William H. Block Company, and F. E. DeFrantz. Negro Y. M. C. A. secretary. C HIC AGO ST RIKE ACT 10 N AGAIN FACES DELAY Ru* Union Secretary Fails to Reach Detroit. ft’l [ nitrd Press DETROIT Aug. 22 Postponement again delayed any possible action on a sympathetic strike of Chicago surface line employes when William Taber, Chicago Surface Lines Employes secretary, failed to arrive here for conference. W. D. Mahon. Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employes of America president, said that Taber was scheduled to again confer with leaders of the striking bus drivers in Chicago today. CAPONE INCARCERATED IN ALCATRAZ PRISON Ace Prohibition Gangster Moved to American Devil's Island. SAN FRANCISCO. Aug. 22.—A1 Capone, king of the prohibition era gangsters, entered Alcatraz prison today in company with fortv-two other federal prisoners classed as among the most dangerous convicts in the United States.

German Workers Battle Brown Shirts, Balk Raid First Open Opposition to Nazis Made by Laborers as Troops Start ‘Conversion’ Drive. By United Press BERLIN. Aug. 22.—Adolf Hitler rested at Obersalzburg today while his Brown Shirts set about the "conversion to Nazi ideals” of the more than four million who voted against Hitler’s assumption of the dictatorship. The Brown Shirts gave a clew to the "conversion" methods by visiting labor elements in the industrial sections of Berlin—and meeting with resistance i

The resistance was the first open opposition to the Nazis during the ' last year. Working men. believing their comrades were to be arrested and sent to concentration camps, fought with fists against the Storm Troopers and compelled them to await the arrival of ordinary policemen so that their rights might be safeguarded. Hitler's campaign to “convert” the millions who voted against him received a setback when a Nazi election analysis revealed that two million votes were recorded against him in Catholic districts, and at the

Baby Born With Bones Broken Dies Science Loses Battle to Save Life of Tiny City Girl. Baby specialists at the James Whitcomb Riley hospital for children were to confer this afternon in an attempt to fix the cause of the death yesterday of Caroline Ruov Mercer, whose slightly more than three months of life were a continuous struggle to live despite the handicap of more than fifty broken bones. Baby Caroline, whose case at--1 traded the interest of pediatricians and bone specialists all over the country, was a hopeless case from the first, one Riley hospital surgeon said today. He described the fight that had been made to save her as a futile struggle against nature. Earlier, it has been said at the hospital that she died of anew development in her case and not because of the fractures. Private funeral services for the j infant, who was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hansel Mercer, 404 North Chester street, will be held in the Wald funeral home at 10 tomorrow. Burial will be in Greencastle. The baby was X-rayed three days after birth. May 16. in Methodist hospital, and doctors found bei tween fifty and sixty fractures. All : but two of these occurred before j birth. Dr. J. F. Riggs, 520 Banxers Trust building, broke one of her tiny thighs as he tenderly lifted one of her legs shortly after birth. The nurse broke the other when she gave the baby the customary oil bath. When Caroline was two weeks old. she was taken to Riley hospital and placed on a board framework. The baby was released from Riley hospital the midde of June. On Aug. 16 she was brought back to the hospital for treatment for fractures in her tiny legs received when she fell from an improvised bed on a cedar chest w'here her mother had placed her. Because of her apparent inability to move, her mother had thought her safe. The last breaks were said to be developing normally when anew development occurred which taxed baby Caroline's strength to the breaking point and she died. DOUG AND MARY MEET IN SECRET, IS REPORT Film Folk Speculate on Possible Reconciliation. By United Press HOLLYWOOD. Aug. 22—Reconciliation for America's No. 1 film couple became the topic of increasing speculation today following reliable reports that Mary Pickford and Douglas '’airbanks had met secretly and had a “human and understandable talk.” While both Doug and Mary, separated since June a year ago, maintained the utmost secrecy, there was confirmation the couple met a few hours after Fairbanks arrived bacqk in Hollywood yesterday. Not even their closest friends, however, pretended to know the answer to the possibility of reconciliation. TEMPERATURE DROP IS FORECAST FOR TONIGHT Cool Wave Sweeping in From Dakotas, Is Prediction. Cooler weather tonight, coming on j the heels of a slight rise today, is promised by the United States weather bureau, A high pressure area from the Dakotas, bringing with it a drop of from 10 to 12 degrees, is expected to reach here tonight and brii]£ unsettled conditions tomorrowL J. H. Armington. local meteorologist, said today. HOOSIER FARMERS TO TAKE DROUGHT CATTLE Western Stock to Be Cared for on State and County Farms. The first delivery of 4,145 drought cattle from western plains to be pastured and cared for by Indiana farmers is expected to arrive in the state within the next few days. Marion county farmers have agreed to take 185 head, the Governors commission on unemployment relief announced today. Farmers receive $1 a head a month for the cattle pastured and agree to provide salt, water and forage. Application for cattle may be made still with county work directors.

same time the official Catholic organ Official Catholic Bulletin issued a statement denouncing a pronunciamento by August Hoppe, Nazi youth leader. Hoppi urged Hitler youth “to summon all forces for a final battle against Christianity.” He urged the youth to free themselves from the "domination” of priests. The German race, he said, must free itself from the Jewish-Christian conception of compassion and loving your enemies.”

Fair and cooler tonight becoming unsettled tomorrow.

INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1934

WILLIE MASON ESCAPES JAIL AT NOBLESVILLE; 4 OTHERS IN BREAK

SCENE OF JAILBREAK AT NOBLESVILLE; WILLIE MASON LOOSE

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$427,950 GANG ELUDES POLICE ‘Master Mind’ Plotted Raid, Officers Say; Loot Largest Ever. By United Press NEW YORK. Aug. 22.—A search by air. land and sea today matched the w.ts and tenacity of metropolitan police against the theatrical cunning of the criminal band that seized $427,950 from an armored money truck yesterday in America's largest cash holdup. The outlaw raid in Brooklyn and flight to sea in speedboats dwarfed the imagination of any bandits in police history. Along the hazy eastern sea coast, grey patrol craft cruised in search of the dozen fugitives. Over thewater front and far out at sea, airplanes zig-zagged over every suspicious craft afloat, every possible avenue of escape. But if police had found any clews, save a possible discovery of empty money bags discarded by the gang, they concealed their information. Every indication was that the outlaws who raided the truck and fled by automobile and boat with the precision of actors in a well-re-hearsed drama had made such thorough plans that their trail already was cold.

Brown Derby Leaders Play Possum, Refusing to Reveal Vote Strength

THE STANDINGS Fred W. Krueger 14,117 Dr. Paul Kernel 13,392 Dr. Will H. Smith, Jr 1.977 Dave Mitchell 12,381 Fred W. Steinsberger .... 11.725 Jim Clark 7,915 Clarence I. Baker 5,965 Walter Pritchard 3,855 Sid Easley 2,854 George Ritter 2,803 Added starters with more than 1.000 rotes and less than 2,803 follow: Frank tV. Quinn. Harry Gold. Jess McClure, Elias tV. Dulberger, Russell E. Clift, Jim Custard, Henry Ostrom. Brown Derby candidates all went fishing today. Suffering from “ballotitis,” an epidemic caused by rushing in undated votes, the ten leaders rested on their oars, topk out rod and reel, and fished, dreamed, and hoped for votes. Someone was waiting for some one else to start something and no one stepped on the starter. The "■Walgreen'' gang, fostering the candidacy of Fred W. Krueger, took a sleep potion from one of the drug store vials and succumbed to a sprite from some wonderland who told them that Krueger already was “IN” so why worry. Kernel Boys Get in Shape Dr. Paul Kernel's boys from the Hoosier Athletic Club had to take their calisthenics lessons and so they refused to muscle any ballots into the contest. Dr. Will H. Smith Jr. was fishing somewhere in Indiana. Indianapolis, or in someone's backyard goldfish pond. The butchers, bakers, and grocers were too busy ringing the cash register in the independent stores of the city to be of much aid to Fred W. Steinsberger. president of the Indianapolis Retail Meat and Grocers Association. And &U of the above says in brie!

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Lowell Driskell

These pictures show the scene and two of the principals in the daring jailbreak early today at Noblesville, Ind., which brought freedom to Willie Mason, one-legged rowdy, accused of the murder of Lester Jones, Indianapolis police sergeant. Mason is shown below at the left with, at the right. Lowell Driskell, Indianapolis, another of the five men who escaped. Above, state policeman Frank Zirkle is shown viewing the hole which Mason and his associates sawed in the metal bars and screening protecting the window, and, to his right, there is a closeup of the hole, together with a chain used by the fugitives in their twelvefoot drop to the ground and a three-and-a-half-foot bar used by the escaping men to silence a sixth prisoner.

STRIKE IS SANCTIONED 600,000 Workers Due to Walk Out Prior to Sept. 1. By United Press WASHINGTON, Aug. 22.—The American Federation of Labor today indorsed the strike plans of the textile workers union, whereby 600,000 workers would walk out before Sept. 1.

that the five leaders are scared by the mammoth Frankenstein of the race for the “most distinguished citizen”—how many votes has the other fellow got? But those on the lower brackets of the standings are warned that they can't coast between now and Saturday. For promptly at 4 p. m. on that day all candidates for the brown kelly with less than 5,000 ballots will be dropped from the race. Monday’s ballots must be in The Times office, or have a postal date

Winter Relief Program Being Drafted by U. S. Work for Which They Are Best Suited Proposed for Million; States Must Contribute More. By United Press WASHINGTON. Aug. 22.—A gigantic work relief program to provide employment during the winter for millions of destitute now on charity rolls, is under preparation by the government. Its success will depend upon increased state expenditures. Federal funds are low. The new program wall succeed the popular civil works administration.

Relief Administrator Harry L. Hopkins, returning from a European inspection tour, will discuss preliminary plans with the President this week. Relief officials were unanimous today in an opinion that direct relief was not the answer to distressing problems confronted by unemployed during cold winter months. CWA accomplished its major purpose last year, but Mr. Hopkins and his aids were disappointed. CWA, they explained, provided only one substantial form of employment—construction—work.

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Willie Mason

NAB 4 IN GAMING RAID Police Arrest Negroes at Alleged Poker Game. Police raided an alleged poker game early today at 244 West Vermont street, Room 201, and arrested four Negroes. Abie Jennings, Negro, of the Vermont street address, was charged with keeping a gambling house.

of not later than 4 p. m. today. Yesterday’s ballots are due at 4 p. m. tomorrow while today's votes are thrown out after 4 p. m. Friday. Shortly the ten leading candidates will be measured for skull sizes and their photographs printed in the “darby gallery. Repeat as many times as you want to. Vote daily! Stuff! Cram! Beg! Buy! Steal ballots! You’ll find today's ballot for your favorite to win the silver plaque and speak at the Indiana state fair on Sept. 6 on Page 16.

The new program is divided into six classifications: 1. Planning. 2. Work on public property, including street and sewer improvements, highway construction and insect pest control. 3. Housing and demolition. 4. Production. 5. Education. 6. Health and recreation. The second of these six classifications is reminiscent of CWA. The remainder are expected to care for workers not accustomed to hard labor.

Entered hs Second-Class Matter at Postoffiee, Indianapolis, Ind.

Alleged Killer of Police Sergeant Lester Jones Leads in Cutting Bars With Hacksaw; Discover Delivery at Inspection. OUTSIDE AID GIVEN, SAYS SHERIFF Two Other Indianapolis Men Accompany; Murder Suspect in Flight From Nearby Indiana Town. BY HEZE CLARK Times Staff Writer NOBLESVILLE, Ind., Aug. 22.—Willie Mason, 34-year-old wooden-legged rowdy, accused of the machine gun murder of Sergeant Lester Jones of the Indianapolis police department, and four other prisoners who early today fled the Hamilton county jail, apparently had made good their escape this afternoon. Neither local authorities nor state police headquarters at Indianapolis were able to report any valid clews. Mason, over whose guilt or innocence a jury disagreed last September, was awaiting a second trial in the Hamilton county circuit court, where his case was moved a year ago last June in a change of venue from Marion county. The men who escaped with Mason, “king” of the cell block, were John Martin, 36, Negro, Indianapolis, who was to have been taken to the Michigan City state prison today to begin a one-to-ten-year sentence for stealing cars, harness and chickens; Lowell Drisktll, 22, Indianapolis, held on a vehicle theft charge; Frank Wallace, 50, Kokomo, held on a theft charge, and Paul McKinney, 20, k t. W ayne, under a three-to-ten-year sentence for housebreaking.

Monroe Vare, 68, Sheridan, held on an arson charge, also was in the jail, but made no attempt to leave with the other men, who threatened him with an iron bar torn from a loose section of metal flooring. The escape occurred some time between 11 last night and 5 a. m. today. Sheriff Frank Hatterv, resentful because, he said, repeated attempts jo have Mason transferred from his under-manned jail to the Pendleton reformatory had failed, believes the men may have worked all night to saw through the nine bars and to poke out the heavy iron mesh which also guards the window. They made a hole eighteen inches by eleven and one-eighth inches, state police measurements showed. The sheriff said he made a careful inspection of the jail last night. He believes the hacksaws and blades used to cut through the bars were not there then. Given Aid, Says Sheriff It is his theory that an accomplice outside the jail put the saws and blades on a string lowered by Mason or one of his fellow fugitives and that they then were drawn through a three-quarters inch open space at the bottom of the window. From then on, the sheriff admits, escape would be a comparatively easy matter. Two months ago, Hamilton county commissioners ordered the sheriff to discharge, for economy reasons. A. L. Walton, night jailer. Since then, the sheriff has had to trust to late night inspections and early morning risings to check on his prisoners and. notably, on Mason. The jail was built in 1879 and there is only one toilet in the cell block. This fact prevented Sheriff Hattery from locking the men in individual cells for the night. Together, they were able to plot and make effective their escape. The delivery was discovered at 5:20 a. m. when Sheriff Hattery and his son, Deputy Sheriff Alfred Hattery, went to get Martin to take him to Michigan City. Sheriff Hattery had just returned from a call to the Lehr farm, north of Noblesville, where he had gene at 3 a. m. on a complaint that a man and woman were stealing corn. At the farm, the sheriff had arrested C. F. Carson and Miss j

TRUCK WARFARE IN MINNEAPOLIS ENDS Strikers Back at Work; Martial Law Lifted. By C nited Prest MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Aug. 22 Thirty-seven days of bloody riots and martial law were ended today by settlement of a strike of 6,000 truck drivers. Peace terms that ended one of the bitterest labor feuds since the Blue Eagle took wing were signed last night by union leaders, a few hours after they vere approved by employers. Representatives of both sides hailed the settlement as a victory. The union was granted the right to represent “inside” workers of twenty-two large market district firms, but was denied a wage increase. The dispute over union jurisdiction in negotiations affecting inside employes was the primary cause of the strike. National guardsmen who have ruled the city since July 26 were ordered to relinquish control at 7 a. m. Trucks Interned for weeks by military orders rumbled onto the ‘streets even before that hour. i

HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion County, 3 Cents

Vivian Ewing after finding approximately ten bags of corn stacked up and apparently ready for quick transportation. He noticed nothing untoward when he left the jail or when he returned and saw no car* which he was not able to account for today. Notifies State Police Despite this fact, Vare insisted that he heard an automobile pull away from the public square, in which the jail is situated, shortly after Mason and his accomplices clambered up four benches to th opened window' and slid approximately twelve feet down a length of chain, taken from a cot in the cell block, to freedom. The sheriff notified state police and nearby sheriffs immediately, and Charles Griffigan, Frank Zirkle and Loran Crimm speeded from the Pendleton state police barracks to join the chase after the desperados. Chances for catching at least some of the escaped men were viewed as good by those participating in the manhunt. Vare told Sheriff Hattery and state police a vivid story of the escape. He said he had been aware that the other five men in the cellblock with him—all the prisoners the antiquated jail held at the time—had been plotting something for several days, but that he had been unable to learn what they were planning. “Keep Laying There” ‘‘Get away, old man,” he quoted them as warning him. He added that he was ‘‘too old, anyway” to attempt an escape and that, having lived in Sheridan all his life, he felt he should not attempt it. He said he awakened this morning to find the four benches in the cellblock piled high against the wall underneath the window, which was nine feet above the floor, while one of the prisoners worked aw r ay with saws. Martin apparently was the first to notice that Vare had awakened. “Damn you, lay there and keep laying there,” Vare quoted the Negro as warning him. “I laid there,” he added, explaining that the iron bar with which Martin threatened him w r as approximately three and a half feet long. He described Martin as the cell block bully. The place where the bar had been ripped from the floor had been concealed so cleverly with false bolt heads, made from the rubber heels of one of tne prisoners’ shoes and stuck on with gum, that Sheriff Hattery had not noticed it was loose when he inspected the jail last night. Two Saws Are Left “I suppose they planned to use it on me if I walked in on their escape," Sheriff Hattery said grimly this morning. The men left two saws in their flight. One was new and apparently had not been used. The other showed the effects of its work on the hard iron bjtrs. ‘‘What’s the Use?” ‘‘What is the us of catching criminals if they stay in jail for months and then escape without trial and sentence?” the sheriff asked indignantly. “Mason has been in jail eighteen months, first at Marion county and then here since June a year ago.” The sheriff said that he had appealed to Governor Paul V. McNutt to have Mason moved to Pendleton as a safeguard against his escape and the Governor had explained a court order would be necessary. This. Sheriff Hattery declared, was refused by Circuit Judge F. E. Hines. Sergeant Jones was killed at the People's Motor Bus Company barns, Indianapolis, when his squad answered a report that there was a fight there. He and two patrolmen walked into the company’s office suspecting nothing worse than drV ka-ds and were met with a (Turn to Page Three)