Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 103, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 September 1934 — Page 1

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LINER GOES DOWN N FILAMIES; DEATH TOLL IS MORE THAN 200

STATE PRISON SPY SYSTEM RESULTS IN MANY A DEATH Murders Behind Gray Walls at Michigan City Directly Traceable to Ominously Thorough “Grapevine.” An espionage system exists in Michigan City prison which makes the famed Russian Ogpu seem amateurish by comparison. The stool pigeon system in the prison is entirely justified, penal experts agree. Without it more daring escape plots would sitceed. Rewards for “squealing'’ consist of trivial concessions to

the “squealers.” It may l>e a little more tobacco or a softer job, depending on the importance of the information. ’And don't think the inmates don't know everything that goes on in here.” an inmate told The Times’ investigator. "If the ‘screws’ i guards) have a stool pigeon system, so do we.” the - old timer" whispered as he glanced from side to side to see whether fellow-prisoners were near enough to hear. ' For example.” said the prisoner, “every fellow here wonders why a certain guard stationed at the main gate when the Dillinger gang were making their break still is at his old post. When the ten convicts came up to the main gate, pushing the superintendent of the shirt shop before them, this man opened the gate and then ran and hid in a ceil which lies Just off the entrance. He had to be attended by a doctor for his nerves when it was all over. “I Got a Soft .lob" "So you see we know what’s going on in here.” the Michigan longtimer insisted as he grinned toothlessly at his interrogator. I got a soft job when I found a letter sent to one of the former officials in which it was intimated a prison break would take place. That was in 1931. That letter was red hot. It described money that was to be paid to rertain guards and mentioned that the money was being collected. The official knew about the plan almost as soon as it was made. It never came off. I guess they couldn't raise the money.” After that I didn't have to worry.” Prison murders are frequently traceable to "squealing.” this felon claimed. The convicts grapevine svstem of discovering prison secrets and passing the information on to the inmate population is responsible for many a cutting affray that ends in death in the prison or in gang feuds on the outside. • The killings are not always done by the fellows harmed by the squealing.” the reporter was told. • The way these tough fellows do it," the prisoner continued." is to poison the mind of some weak-minded inmate with fantastic stones about the convict whose death is desired. ’ Somebody Else Takes Kap "In this way the ringleaders—the fellows who have learned that some one squealed—get their revenge. They are safe. Someone else takes the rap if caught during or after the cutting.” Revenge for squealing is usually meted out by groups of weakminded felons fired with bitterness by others, prison officials agree. Sometimes the prisoner whose plans have been upset bv the convict informer gets bus own vengeance, but seldom. ' See that fellow over there." the loquacious convict said, nodding toward a fellow -convict seated across the room "That long scar on the right side of his face, starting at the ear and ending at the mouth, is the squealer's mark.’ That was put there by foreign convicts who practice daily with knives. They are expert in slashing a face from eare to mouth. They never fail." The convict shuffled off to his cell. Prisoners All at Work The reporter joined a sightseeing tour about to start out from the mam gate to view the prison. Guided bv a screw" in his blue uniform and brown sombrero—the uniform for guards—the party, consisting of a clergyman, a business man and ten young girls, went through the prison. In all parts of the twenty-three-acre yard, blue-clad prisoners were at work. In the shop where automobile licenses for 193 j are being manufactured, several hundred men labored like titans amid the clang of heavy machinery and hissing steam Hundreds more bent over intricate patterns in the rug shop; the shirt shop hummed with activity. The whole prison resembled a modern manufacturing plant working at peak capacity. The guard halted the party at the newest cellhouse. a model building, to point out the difficulties men Eight encounter who plotted escape, e demonstrated how every cell in # block opens only when a guard

NR WE DO OUR PART

VOLUME 46—NUMBER 103

pulls a lever. He pointed to the towers spaced at intervals around the high walls, bristling with weapons. Only the guards in the towers are armed.” he explained. “The guards inside don't take a chance on carrying weapons fearing that prisoners might att- mpl to snatch them.” Repeating His Lines In the combined dining room and kitchen, an enormous room capable of seating 3.000, long bare tables and small three-legged stools awaited the arrival of the prisoners for chow. A rheumy-eyed attendant opened the doors of giant refrigerators in which great sides of meat were hung. "Nine hundred pounds of beef liver for lunch, 1,200 pounds of sausage for dinner and 1.400 pounds of ham for Sunday dinner." intoned the attendant in a sing-song fashion as though he were repeating lines in a play. On all sides, as we walked through the prison, eyes hungrily followed the group of girls. Sad eyes, bewildered eyes, dumb eyes, good eyes, bright eyes, wicked eyes, moronic eyes bent over tasks, but looked up to follow the sightseeing party. Outside the workshops cool, green lawns bordered by bright red geraniums swept up to the various buildings. A fresh breeze sprang up from Lake Michigan and swayed the cherry trees around the walls, the branches beckoning like arms toward the vista of the lake front. But for these men there are no more horizons. Quite accidentally the reporter encountered one of the men he had interviewed as the sightseeing party walked back to the main gate. "Cook's tour?” grinned the prisoner, “you don't see nothin' this way. This is all the 'show-off' part.”

Monday's installment of this series of absorbing articles on Michigan City prison, will deal with the inside details of escapes and the unrest caused by the parole system. PASTOR SECRETARY OF FOREIGN OFFICERS UNIT The Rev. E. J. I'nruh Named to Succeed l)r. David M. Edwards. Appointment of the Rev. E. J. Unruh as executive secretary of the Indiana council on international relations was announced today. Mr. Unruh is pastor of the Central Universalist church. He succeeds Dr. David M. Edwards, who has assumed the presidency of Friends university. Wichita. Kan. Plans for the annual fall institute scheduled for Nov. 9 and 10 have been completed. A series of one-dav institutes atso have been planned for larger cities in Indiana. In the Air Weather conditions at 9 a. m.: North northeast wind. 4 miles an hour; barometric pressure. 29.99 at sea level; temperature. 61; general conditions, overcast, light fog; ceiling. estimated 500 feet: visibility, one mile.

TODAY’S THE DAY This Is the W eek a a a Today is the beginning of the “Annual Times Rental \\ eek,” Sept. Sth to loth If you are looking for an apartment, house, or desirable room, you should be able to find the right place through the many offers listed in The Times §very day this week. Turn to the Want Ad section now. The very place yoa want may be listed there today.

The Indianapolis Times

Unsettled tonight; tomorrow partly cloudy; little change in temperature.

A. F. of L. Head Summons All U. S. Unions to Throw Full Support to Textile Strikers

HUEY'S TROOPS PREPARED FOR INSTANT ACTION 3,000 Soldiers Confined to New Orleans Barracks; Outbreak Feared. RV L'nitrrt rrrxi NEW ORLEANS, Sept. B—The Louisiana national guard, mobilized here by Senator Huey P. Long, “dictator” of New Orleans, today was ordered to prepare itself for instant action. Leaves were canceled and 3.000 troops were rigtdly confined to Jackson barracks and stateowned dock buildings. City authorities, Long's bitter political enemies, obviously suspected some immediate move to enforce twenty-six new state laws that strip the municipal government of much of its power. Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley took secret precautions against immediate seizure of city offices by troops and against use of troops to sway the result of Tuesday's congressional primary in which three Long candidates are entered. He commanded a force of 1,300 regular and special policemen, as fully armed, if not as well trained, as the military. The city was quiet, Long was silent, but politicians on both sides were hysterical from a constant succession of rumor and half truth. Long's henchmen had no notion what the Kingfish planned. He trusts no lieutenant and rules his machine by fear. The old regulars, supporters of the local government, were fearful, but determined. They recalled the last election here controlled by the Kingfish’s election commissioners. The new orders to troops were issued soon after the supreme court ruled out the most important, from the viewpoint of the Long machine. of the laws recently passed by his subservient legislature. It empowered election commissioners, all Long men, to appoint as many special “guards" for polling places as they deemed necessary at $5 a day each, which the city would have to pay. Only Long knew the connection, if any, between the supreme court ruling and the order to troops and he was the only one who knew how soon or in what way the 3,000 soldiers he assembled here yesterday from every part of Louisiana would eventually play in the tense drama centering around the primary.

BY TOM NOONE

NOONE’S SELECTIONS FOR TODAY (Copyright, 1934. by United Press) Day’s Best—The Tetter. Best Long Shot—Grey Hip. Best Parlay—Longford and Royal Blunder.

At Detroit — One Best —The Fetter. 1. Grey Hip, Home Rule, Morris R. 2. Almas, Moon Son. Hermanita. 3. Memphis Lass, Stock Market, Grand Champion. 4. Chatterfol, Capitalist. Amazing. 5. Roval Blunder, Ladfield, Rock X. 6. The Petter, Bring Back, Billy Champ. 7. Red Vest, Double Dare, Electric Gaff. 8. Comstockery, Just Fun. Dr. Syntax. At Fair mount Park — One Best—Galahad 1. Squire, Fair Romance. Patapan. 2. Alamae, Benefit, Vladimir. 3. Chagrin. Tarpon. Screech 4. Judge Dixon, Vonnie, Magna Mater. 5. Heavy Sugar. Ellen D.. Goober. 6. Galahad, More Power. Baggataway. 7. Jack Murphy, Ogee, Boston Common. 8. Hold Hard, The Spaniard, Pal John. At Rockingham Park — One Best—Kai Finn. 1. Deadeye Dick, Teeter Totter, Mad Bull. 2. Lady Sable. Prosecutor, Palasa. 3. Kai Finn, Our Sallie, Playful Martha. 4. Gift of Roses, Isaiah, Crazy Jane. 5. Advising Anna, Roustabout. Bazaar. 6. Eertjohn. Zembla. Light Breeze. 7. Fabius, Way layer, Swatter. •

INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1934

SEEKS ‘WAR CHEST’

I I!

William F. Green

APPOINTMENTS MADE BV BISHOP BITTER Announcement Is Given by the Rev. Henry Dugan. New' appointments have been made in the Indianapolis diocese by Bishop Joseph E. Ritter, the Rev. Henry F. Dugan, chancellor of the diocese has announced. They 'are the Rt. Rev. Augustine J. Rawlinson, Ph. D„ pastor of St. Ambrose church at Soymoui-, to be rural dean of the North Vernon deanery: the Rev. James B. Delaney, pastor of St. Patrick’s church, Terre Haute, to be rural dean of the Terre Haute deanery, and the Rev. James H. Jansen, who has been stationed at the Gibault home, Terre Haute, as assistant pastor at Holy Trinity, New Albany, where the Rt. Rev. Joseph E. Hamill is pastor. Bishop Ritter will make a fall confirmation and visitation tour to cities and rural communities in the diocese from Sept. 30 to Oct. 24. OFFICERS TO BE ELECTED North Side Federation of Clubs to Meet on Tuesday. Officers wall be elected at the meeting of the North Side Federation of Clubs Tuesday night at the Marott. A. C. Sallee, city parks superintendent, will speak on the cleaning and beautifying of Fall creek.

RACE TRACK S elections

8. Plumage, Guiding Light, Rhodius. At Coney Island — One Best—Agreeable. 1. Pops Betty, Church Call, Johnny O. 2. Abdel, Simple Honors, Cayuga. 3. Agreeable, Peedeeque. Copain. 4. Occult. Grand Rock. Grimace. 5. Elwawa, Laird, Merry Go Round. 6. Paul TANARUS„ Transbird, Indian Red. 7. Why Mask, Deemster, Omel. At Belmont Park — One Best: Observant. 1. Longford, Scotch Gold. St. Stephens. 2. Tanaringo, Arc Light, Rock Lad. 3. Mock Turtle, Peradventure, Bird Flower. 4. Jamison. Oldfield, Creaky. 5. Observant, Good Goods, Collateral. 6. Nautch, Sir Beverley, Sun Idol. 7. Spanish Way, Aileen C., Revonah. At Lincoln — One Best —Chrysostom 1— Hamilton, Droit, Small Play. 2 Dove of Peace. Ross, Strickhandle. 3. Wanderoo. Monk's First, Monk's Bela. 4 Kissie. Even Play. Walkalong. 5 Carbon, Flying Justice, Fredrick. 6 Joe Macaw, Jacob's Ladder, Pnntemps. 7 Chrysostom, Even Up, Curb Bit. 8— Bob Weidel, Port OJPlay, Anita Ormonu

$20,000,000 War Chest May Be Raised to Back Walkout. (Copyright. 1934, bv United Press) WASHINGTON, Sept. B. The textile strike shaped today toward the mightiest test of the opposing forces of capital and labor the nation ever has seen. President William Green called on heads of unions marshalling 4,000,000 members to meet with him and throw full moral and financial support behind the cause of the textile strikers. Chairmah George A. Sloan of the Cotton Textile Institute said significantly: “They’ll need it.” All along the straggling 1.500-mile strike front new crises seemed to impend. Meeting Is Called Mr. Green asked the president of all international unions to meet with him here next week. He said there was no prospect of a general strike, but that the textile strike "must be carried to a successful conclusion.” A war chest of possibly $20,000,000 mav be placed at the disposal of strike leaders. Financial support is imperative because the United Textile workers went into the fray with less than $1,000,000 in their treasury. The presidential mediation board headed by Governor John G. Winant of New Hampshire, thus, found battle lines tightening as it settled clown for a rapid survey of the situation. Conferences today with Francis J. Gorman, strike leader, and technical experts of the department of labor were planned. Sloan who conferred until long after midnight with the board will return Monday with other members of the textile institute. No Proposal Submitted No peace proposal has yet been submitted Governor Winant and Sloan declared. The effort so far has been to obtain a picture of the situation in the industry before and after establishment of the NRA code. Today South Carolina appeared the principal danger area. Governor Ibra C. Blackwood of South Carolina issued a proclamation placing his state under partial marital law. Every national guardsman available is on duty to enforce the edict which has interpreted to ban picketing. First test of the law which commands “all persons taking part in unlawful assemblages to disperse and retire to their homes by noon Saturday” may come at tiny Honea Path where the funeral of five of the six workers shot down by special guards is scheduled today. Expect Long Strike The United Textile Workers of America today prepared for a long siege in their strike against the Indianapolis Bleaching Company, 900 West Wabash street, with the opening of strike relief headquarters in an unoccupied house at 857 West New York street. Charles Drake, business agent of U. T. W. A. Local No. 6029, announced that contributions of food from sympathizers had been received, along with a few cash donations. So far there have been no applications for aid from strikers. Mr. Drake and other union officials have conferred with federal emergency relief administration officials, however, and have planned to swell the union’s “war chest” with proceeds of a union picnic which the textile workers and a radio workers’ local will sponsor jointly in Columbia park tomorrow. The strike front remained quiet with the mill shut for its regular NRA off day. Pickets continued on duty, however, and three shifts of six policemen each guarded the plant day and night. This guard was doubled for a while yesterday afternoon when Henry Elliott, 23. of 1069 West Michigan street, reported to police he had been slugged near the plant after escorting his wife, Mrs. Helen Elliott, 19, to the plant while she sought work. Elliott, a night employe of an Indianapolis bakery, refused to accompany polic eto the picket lines to attempt to identify his assailant and said he would swear out no warrant. This morning was marked by another of the "pep” meetings which strike leaders are conducting regularly to keep up the spirit of their followers. The meetings are marked by exhortatory speeches and mass singing. Hourly Temperatures 6 a. m 60 8 a. m 60 2a. m..... 60 9a. m..... 63

LIGHTNING STRIKES SHIP DURING NIGHT, TURNS IT INTO BLAZING INFERNO

CREW FLEES FOR IMS US ERIE SPREADS Whole Passenger Section Cut Off by Growing Wall of Fire. BY JOSEPH S. WASNEY United Tress Staff Correspondent (Copvrleht. 1934. bv United Pressi SPRING LAKE, N. J„ Sept. B. Most of the 318 passengers aboard the Morro Castle were cut off from rescue by the flames and were burned to death, members of the ship's crew told the United Press today. Sailors described passengers with their heads out of port holes pathetically begging for help as the lifeboats pulled away from the burning ship. There was no possibility of saving them. They were cut off completely by the flames. The fire apparently started in the writing room forward and had gained much headway when discovered. The crew, quartered forward, was aroused by the bells sounding a general alarm. By the time they reached the scene, the flames were leaping many feet high. It was impossible to penetrate to the corridors leading to passenger quarters admidships and aft, the surviving seamen said. Few Passengers Survive The port side of the ship was one mass of flames from bow to stern within a few minutes. Only one life boat got over on the port side. Six, perhaps seven, were launched from the starboard side. Approximately all the survivors who appeared here were members of the crew, and it was believed that few of the pasengers survived. James York, an oiler, Brooklyn, told the United Press this story: “I was asleep in my bunk on C deck. I heard a bell about 3:30 a. m. which I thought was an alarm clock. Just then a sailor busted me one in my bunk and told me the ship was on fire. I rushed up to •B’ deck and found the passenger quarters in the amidships superstructure just about surrounded by fire. “I saw no passengers around at all. I don’t know where they were except they must have been on the other side of that terrible wall of fire. It would have been impossible to get to them. “We hooked up the hose lines and poured water on the fire, but it seemed to make it blaze higher. Finally there was nothing to do but break out the boats. We broke out one on the starboard side and managed to lower it.” Warned Into Silence CAt this point an official, apparently of the Ward line, warned York to talk no further.) Henry Harris, a sailor, Brooklyn, said: “I was too busy fighting the fire to think of passengers. We were ordered to the boats when the whole ship seemed ablaze. God only knows what hapepned to'the passengers.” “Some <sf us tried to get the passengers out, but it was virtually impossible to get them out,” said one sailor. We heard two girls screaming. I used a fire ax on the port of their stateroom and pulled them out. There was one boat left on the port side with flames all around. We put the two girls in it and several men passengers, I don’t know how many, but not many, and managed to lower it. Girls Are “Swell’ “The flames were so bad I was afraid they’d get to the boat ropes before we were launched. One of the ropes gave when we hit the water and its end fell down and hit the girl on the head. She didn't cry. She was swell. Neither did the other. No, not once. They were swell. “We pulled away and we could see passengers with their heads projecting out of the portholes of their staterooms. We could see some on deck, backed entirely by fire. “We yelled for them to jump and we'd pick them up. They wouldn’t jump, I don’t know why. Maybe some did. It was gray and rainy and hard to see. We looked around but didn't pick up anybody.” S4OO Bass Horn Stolen Theft of a bass horn, valued at S4OO. fro man automobile parked on Pennsylvania street south of Wabash street was reported to police early today by L. E. Grayson, R. R. 16, Box 34-D.

Entered as Seeond-Clas* Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, led.

Passengers, Asleep in Staterooms, Are Trapped as They Struggle to Escape From Burning Morro Castle. BY SANDOR S. KLEIN United Press Staff Correspondent ASBURY PARK, N. J., Sept. B.—’The Ward liner Morro Castle, with 558 passengers and crew aboard, was struck by lightning and destroyed by fire off the New Jersey coast today, with a possible death toll of more than 200. Passengers, asleep in their staterooms, met a blazing inferno when they struggled to escape. Os the twelve lifeboats carried by the holiday liner, only half were launched. A dozen rescue ships, called to the scene, only a few miles off the North Jersey shore, were able to pick up several score survivors, many of them members of the crew, while the great ship, out of control, lurched and swung crazily through the trough of the high seas. Rain squalls, heavy swells, and a high wind contributed to the horror. Survivors reached shore exhausted, burned and injured. Many of them were “forbidden to talk" by officials of the Ward line, who hastened to the nearest point of land where, one by one, surf boats were bringing the battered passengers to shore. Captain R. R. Willmot of the Morro Castle died of heart disease last night before the disaster overtook his ship. Ilis death was recorded at 8 o’clock, before the fire started. The first stories were incoherent and confused. Out of them came the general statement that “we were trapped like rats in our cabins—we had no time to get out." Members of the crew told of being awakened, shortly after midnight, by a general fire alarm. The lightning pre? sumably struck an oil tank, and within a lew minutes the entire ship was ablaze midships. The flames spread so rapidly that the narrow corridors became walls of fire, and passengers were unable to force their way to the decks from the interior. Seamen broke open stateroom windows looking out on the promenade deck and dragged frightened women out of their berths and through the narrow ports to the life boats. Many of the survivors were in flimsy night clothes when they reached the Jersey shore. So far, there were 126 known survivors, but there were believed to be more, not yet definitely accounted for. The first life boat, with fourteen aboard, landed south of Seagirt at 7a. m. , , . At 7:11 a. m. a boat with seventeen men and three women landed at the Monmouth hotel. Spring Lake. At 7:30 a boat with eighteen men reached the Monmouth hotel. At 7:45 a boat with four men landed at the same place. The Monarch of Bermuda reported rescuing sixty-five. The Andre F. Luckenbach had others aboard. The only boat to get off the port side contained the three women. Six boats were believed to have got off the starboard side.

Aside from the four boats "listed above, tw'o others were seen making for shore, but the mist obscured their landing place. Representatives of the Ward line were here, making every effort to impede newspaper men and prevent them from talking to survivors. At 2:15 a. m. (Indianapolis time) today, the wireless operator of the Morro Castle, homeward bound from a vacation cruise, asked all stations to “stand by for an emergency.” At 2:19 a. m., he repeated the call, and the air was cleared of all radio traffic. Shortly before 3 a. m., the operator complained of atmospheric conditions, and said it w'as “difficult to maintain contact with shore.” S. O. S. Is Sent Out At 3 a. m. he sent out a general S. O. S., reporting that the ship was ablaze, and that the fire was directly beneath the radio room. Within the next sixty minutes, the freighter Andrea S. Luckenbach, the coastal steamer City of Savannah, the Furness liner Monarch of Bermuda, and life boats from New Jersey stations were on their way to the distressed vessel. Th radio operator of the Morro Castle reported his position as twenty miles south of Scotland Light. The flames could be seen from Asbury Park. At 4:13 a. m., the Luckenbach radioed she was two and one-half miles from the Morro Castle, and steaming at full speed. Simultaneously, it was announced from coast guard headquarters that the Tampa and Cahoone were on their way to the indicated position. At 4:15 a. m„ the coast guard station at Shark River inlet reported seeing the ship afire. At 4:30, the coastal stations at Sandy Hook and Mannesquan put motor lifeboats into the water to go to the rescue. At 5 a. m, the Monarch of Bermuda reported she was fifteen miles from the burning vessel, and proceeding at top speed. Lowers Boats Swiftly At 5:20, the Luckenbach reached the Morro Castle and dropped her hook near the blazing liner, rapidly lower her boat. At 5:25 the Luckenbach wirelessed she was “picking up survivors.” At 5:30, the City of Savannah and

EXTRA PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion County, 3 Cents

the President Cleveland arrived, almost simultaneously, and lowered their own life boats. At 6:30, the coast guard reported that surf boats sent out from the New Jersey coat, presumably from Mannesquan, had picked up thirty passengers. The Morro Castle was one of the luxury ships running out of New York. Launched in 1930 following an outlay of $5,000,000. she made her maiden voyage May 23, 1930. She was propelled by electric turbines and while her cruising speod was 21 knots a hour, she was capable of greater speed. She was 508 feet long, her tonnage was 11,520, and had modern quarters for 500 pasengers. Her public rooms equalled any o fthe giant liners in the North Atlantic trade. To Havana in 59 Hours On her first voyage she reached Havana in fifty-nine hours, not a record for the hun, but of the fcert for boats in the regular Havaa-New York Service. The Cunaj-der Mauretania, on a special cruise, established the record of less than fifty hours. The Morro Castle held the record for the Havana-to-New York run of fifty-eight hours. She was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and was considered the best of the Ward line. The entire no>-th New Jersey coast was aroused by the hlaze at sea, and crowds lined the seashore at Asbury Park. “The entire ship was ablaze from stem to stern,’’ a police official at Asbury Park reported. “In the darkness we could see the outlines of the vessel as though they were outlined in fire. I don't see hoy anybody could have escaped unless they lowered their boats in a hurry.” Every hospital along the north shore of New Jersey was notified to be in readiness to receive survivors, and ambulances were sent to all ports where lifeboats were expected. One group of five survivors was landed shortly before 8 a. m. at Neptune. They were taken to the Fitkm hospital at Neptune, and another group of nineteen were cared (Turn to Page Three!