Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 104, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 September 1934 — Page 3
SEPT. 10,1931.
ARSON HINTED BY COMMANDER OF DEATH SHIP Incendiarism Is Suspected by Chief Officer of Morro Castle. 'Continued From Page Onr) hold the fire," Warm? said. That was at 3: lit a m." Was there a delay in sending the SOS?” Mr Hoover asked "He rame back in a minute, and 1 told him to send out a general SOS. Later I saw him at a phone. Then pretty soon he eame back and said the SOS had been sent.” Warms then told the inquiry board that he was led by the explosion In a writing room locker to believe the fire might have been started purposely. Advance* Two Point* The two points advanced by Warms to support his belief that the fire might have been incendiary were: 1. The explosion of oil or gasoline in a writing room locker. He said the oil could have been there only if placed by someone seeking to damage the ship. 2 The fact that a fire on the Morro Castle on Aug 27 appeared to him to be incendiary. Warm* strongly defended the crew, said discipline was good and that life boats were tested regularly. He said the motor boats were in good condition and the crew knew how to handle them. ' The men were absolutely competent," Warms said, but added that there was a heavy turnover in the steward department. The deck crew was of much longer experience, he said. "I heard there was a drinking party in the lounge on Friday night." Warms said. "I didn’t worry about It, nor did I personally investigate. Gave First Boat Order ‘•When the fire started and spread, 1 shouted orders along the decks to get passengers in the life boats and get life belts on passengers. I gave orders to lower boats after they were loaded. No boat was lowered before that order was given." Warms could not say whether one boat had put out with only seven of the crew and ten passengers in j it.
•‘I hollered to men and women 'for Gods sake Ret in the boats,’*’ Warms said. "They were excited. Many would not Ret into the boats. I saw a steward force some Rirls to Ret in one. I Ruess the women who had been. I was told, carried drunk to their cabins, were burned in their beds." Warms said fire pumps were started at once and that pressure was Rood on the three hoses he could see. He said evidence indicated all lights went out after the locker blast in the writing room. Power in the engine room ceased about 3:18 a m Warms worked the motors of the ship about twenty minutes after the Are was discovered, he said. Then the machinery ceased to function. Drop Anchor in 45 Fathoms *T told the crew to drop the starboard anchor after the enßines ceased. It dropped in forty-five fathoms. The ship then swung around into the wind.” Warms said there was no signal on the ships supposedly fool-proof Are alarm system until well after the blaze was under way. The door of the locker which "exploded" was locked and Warms said he did not know who had the key. Once when he looked in it some days before, he saw only some writing paper. "I can not account for the rapid spread of the Are. I believe it started in the writing room locker. It might have spread by burning rugs, curtains, furniture and so on. The ventilator system was not in operation at the time. At this point the hearing adjourned until 1:30 p. m.
DEPUTY SHERIFF LOSES HIS AUTO AND $2,000 Detroit Officer Stops for Drink; Car and Money Vanish. Hus thirst cost William Meadows, a deputy sheriff from Detroit. Mich., his automobile and $2,000 early today. He told police here that he stopped his car at 442 West Washington street to get a drink. When he came back the car with $2,000 hidden in it had vanished, together with a man from Texas. Meadows told police. FORT STAFF CHANGED Lieut. Dwight Adam* Named Aid to General Naylor. Lieutenant Dwight L. Adams today joined the staA of Brigadier-General William K. Naylor at Ft. Benjamin Harrison as aid. Lieutenant Adams. West Point class of 1917. is a son-in-law of General Naylor. Other changet in personnel at the fort include assignment of Laeuts. James R. Lindsay Jr. and Valentine R Smith to the Third Arid artillery. Lieutenant Robert C. Ross has been assigned to the Nineteenth Aeld artillery. 4 ENTER NORTHWESTERN John Townsend, Tech Athlete. Is Included in List. Four Inidanapolis students will enter the Northwestern university's liberal arts college, this semester, the university announced today. They are John Frederick Townsend. son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl C. Townsend. 6120 East Washington street, graduate of Tech high school: Kyarste Joan Fais. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gervais Fais. 343 Irvington avenue, also a Tech graduate: Janet Lucile Meditch. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dementer Meditch. 5139 Park avenue, graduate of Shortndge high school, and Mary Elizabeth Shannon, daughter of Mr and Mrs A. B Shannon. 914 East Fifteenth street, another Tech graduate. Restaurant Owners to Meet Plane for the stale convention of Indiana State Restaurant Association here Bept 19. will be made tonight at a meeting of Indianapolis chapter in the Bamboo Inn.
Death’s Flaming Hand Stretches Out to the High Seas
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Aflame from stem to stern, the ill-fated Morro Castle, Ward liner destroyed by fire six miles from Asbury Park. N. J.. is shown in this unusual aerial view as a freighter moved to the rescue, with two other ships standing by to pick up survivors. Almost 200 of the 576 aboard are believed to have perished.
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Three of the ships which aided in rescuing survivors from the burning Morro Castle, Ward liner destroyed off the coast of New Jersey, are shown here. Top photo is of the Monarch of Bermuda, liner which brought seventy-two survivors to New York, several of them near death. Left below is the Andrea Luckenbach. which stood by to pick up a large number of survivors. Right below is the coast guard cutter Tampa, sent to aid in rescue and to tow the wreckage to shore.
JEWISH NEW YEAR IS OBSERVED HERE Special Services Conducted by Congregations. Special services of the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and other reformed groups celebrating the coming of the 5695th year on the Jewish calendar will close tonight, while orthodox congregations will continue the celebration until sundown Tuesday. Services at the Congregation Shara Tefilla began last night and were continued this morning. Rabbi Samuel A. Katz will preach at 6:30 Tuesday morning on "The Message of the Shofar.” Rabbi M. M. Feuerlicht spoke this morning to the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. Cantor Max Sacks officiated at the festivities of the Central Hebrew Congregation this morning and last night. SIX DIE IN FARM FIRE Mother. Five Children Burned to Death; Three Escape. Sjr I nih and Press SWAN RIVER. Man.. Sept. 10.— Pire swept an isolated farm house in the Big Woody district near here, taking the lives of a mother and her five children, ranging in ages from 2 to 14 years. John Walsh, the father, returned home when the fire was at its height broke through a door and carried two other children to safety. A third child leaped to safety from an upstairs window. Sullivan Man Killed Bf I nited Press SULLIVAN. Ind.. Sept. 10—William Bostwick, 28, Sullivan, was killed on highway 41. near Farmersburg. last night when his truck collided with an automobile.
3 DRUGSTORE ROBBERY SUSPECTS ARE GRILLED Detectives to Match Crowbar Marks in Probe. With three men held today in city prison on high bond on vagrancy charges, police were hopeful that they had the trio which has robbed drugstore after drugstore during the last few weeks. Detectives were to question the three men. arrested Saturday night, further today and were to attempt to match crowbar marks left in recent holdups with a crowbar seized in their car. Those held are Ray Hill. 40: Virgil Hart, 34. and William Ball. 33. MATHERS CASE OPENS OCT 8 AT LEBANON Youth Accused of Slaying Former Wabash Minister. Bn Initrd Press LEBAN. Ind.. Sept. 10.—Trial of Theodore Mathers. 19, on charge of slaying Gaylord V. Saunders, former Wabash minister, was set for Oct. 8 today in Boone circuit court. The case was brought here from Marion county on a change of venue. No date was set for the trial of Mrs. Naomi Saunders, 35. wife of the slain minister. She also is being held in Boone county jail. Masil Roe. 19. lifelong friend of Mathers, is being held in Indianapolis on charges of murder in connection with the case. BANDIT OBTAINS S2B Filling Station Attendant Locked in Lavatory After Robbery. "Let's have it.” a holdup man ordered Orville Hartman. 34. of 1312 North Euclid avenue, at the Standard Oil filling station at Brookville road and East Washington street today. After taking S2B. the bandit took Hartman to the washroom, where he left him with his hands taped behind him.
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
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A flaming death trap in which almost 200 perished, the Morro Castle, Ward liner, is shown here ablaze six miles off Asbury Park, N. J., as fire enveloped the doomed craft and huge billows of smoke poured out to sea. The unusual aerial broadside view was taken a short time after the alarm was sounded and the terrified passengers and crew started taking to the boats. The palatial liner was launched in 1930 and carried 318 passengers and a crew of 258. It was returning from Havana to New York when overtaken by disaster, origin of w'hich has not been determined.
ARTHUR BROWN TO HEAD CHEST DRIVE Banker Is Named Chairman for Campaign. Arthur V. Brown, president olf the Indiana National bank and of the Union Trust Company, today notified Almus G. Ruddell, Indianj apolis Community Fund president, I that he had accepted the chairmanship for the fifteenth annual campaign. No date has been set for the campaign. which will be held in the fall, nor has a goal been set. Last j year $705,000 was raised, with approximately 12.000 people contributI ing. Funds for thirty-six social agen- ; cies are raised during the campaign.
2 TROLLEY OPERATORS ARE HOLDUP VICTIMS Bandits Get SlB From One, $25 From Another. A bandit who held up and robbed Harold Hege. 34, of 1739 West Washington street, operator of a trackless trolley, of $lB at the end lof the South East car line last night, is being sought by police. Two masked bandits robbed Finley Monroe. 29. of 70 North Belle Vieu place, trackless trolley operator. of S2O in cash and $5 in tokens 1 early yesterday. The bandits were armed with revolvers. The holdup occurred at the end of the South Meridian car line. BUYS. FORGETS WHISKY Purchaser Leaves Case of Scotch Behind When He Leaves‘Store. I Bn L nited Press VANCOUVER. Wash., Sept. 10.— Candidate for the year's mo6t forgetful man—the Portlander who bought a case of high-priced Scotch whisky, then forgot to take It with him when he left the state liquor store. .
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Saved from death in a flaming ship, then from drowning, these survivors from the Morro Castle. Ward liner destroyed by fire off the New Jersey coast, are shown as they lined up at Spring Lake, N. J., after reaching shore, to sign their names in the check of the disasters toll. Most of them are only partially clad, escaping in the garments which they hurriedly donned when the alarm was sounded. At the left is Sonora Renee Mendez Capote, daughter of a former vice-president of Cuba, saved when a sailor dragged her through a window and rushed her to a lifeboat.
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A contrast story without words of • er tragedy and never-surrendered hope in a sea disaster —the lifeboat that worked and the lifeboat that didn’t—is told in this picture. At me right is shown a lifeboat hanging uselessly from its davits, aband ned in the mad rush to escape from the blazing Morro Castle, Ward liner destroyed off the Jersey coast by fire. At the left is shown another boat, heavily laden, tossing on the waves, safely on its way toward a rescue ship which brought its occupants to shore.
14 DENIED CLEMENCY Two Marion County. Men Refused Parole Pleas. Two Marion county men are among fourteen prisoners whose petitions for executive clemency have been denied by the state clemency commission. The Marion county pleas denied were those of Eddie Terry, sentenced in 1920 to life imprisonment for murder, and Richard A. Parker, sentenced in 1930 to ten years for a statutory offense. Boat Sinks; Eleven Drowned TEXARKANA. Arkansas. Sept. 10.—Firemen today dragged Old River at a point twenty-five miles east of here for additional victims of a baptismal boat accident which claimed the lives of at least eleven Negroes yesterday.
Chnreh to Hold Dance The young people of St. Anne's church. Mars Hill, will sponsor a dance Wednesday night at Walnut Gardens. Music will be furnished by Al, Andy and Doc, radio entertainers. Four Die in Plane Crash By United Pre** NORTH WILKESBORO, N. C. Sept. 10.—A pilot and three passengers were killed in an airplane crash yesterday. The plane, a fourplace Stinson piloted by Carl S. Coffey, plunged to earth when its motor failed. Lindberghs Start Trip By United Pren NEW YORK. Sept. 10—Colonel and Mrs. Charles Lindbergh left the Glenn Curtiss airport at North Beach, L. L, today for an unannounced destination. _ ■' "iP” ■ -
EAT ‘ACRES OF CORN’ Poor Crop Is Devoured at Single Meal by Couple. By United Prets PARIS, Mo.. Sept. 10.—C. H. Davis, Paris farmer, startled friends when he announced he and Mrs. Davis ate thirty-six acres of corn at a Sunday dinner. Asked for particulars, he said the entire harvest consisted of a single "mess'’ of poorly developed roasting ears. TWO INJURED IN BLAST Gasoline Stove Explodes; City Woman, Husband Burned. Two persons were injured severely today when a gasoline stove exploded in a truck-house at 1002 Carrollton avenue. Mrs. Ellen Dailey, 39, was burned seriously, and her husband. Clarence Dailey, 49, incurred 1 hand burns* . •5"
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Boy, 4. Burned by Coffee Nile Marks Jr., 4, of 1305 Bridge street, is in city hospital today as the result 6f bums suffered last night when he overturned a coffee pot in his home. 11l 3 Months, Ends Life Mrs. ROvsa Klare. 61. of 816 North Emerson avenue, ill three months, committed suicide yesterday by in haling gas. Girl, 4. Breaks Arm in Fall Sarah Biesel 4. of 1934 South Meridian street, fell from the rear porch of her home last night and suffered a broken arm. She was taken to city hospital. Plumbers’ Code to Be Talked Provisions of the plumbers’ code will be discussed at a meeting tomorrow night at the Athenaeum, I it was announced today by Joseph ,G. Hayes. Indiana Association of 1 Master numbers' president.