Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 132, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 October 1934 — Page 1

$50,000 RANSOM PAID TO KIDNAPER

FOREIGN GOVERNMENT INVOLVED IN ASSASSINATION PLOT, FRENCH CHARGE; YUGOSLAVIAN MORS RIOT

Confessions Wrung 1 From Two Members of ‘Death Ring:,’ Is Assertion of Inspector; One Begs for Mercy. GANG FINANCED BY NATION, THEORY Probers Grill Suspects for Possible Connection With Murder of Chancellor Dollfuss During Austrian Nazis’ Revolt. iCopvricht. 1934. bv United Preset PARIS, Oct. 12.—Police announced tonight that they had obtained complete confessions from two of the men involved in the plot to assassinate King Alexander of Yugoslavia and that they believed some foreign government may have been involved. Inspector Rene Petit, conducting the examination at' Annemasse of the two suspects, Wladislas Benes and Nalis Stikomir (or Novak), said they had cracked completely under merciless cross-examination and admitted they had been ordered to kill Alexander in Paris if the Marseille attempt failed. Police contended that the thoroughness of the plot, the quantity of false passports and the fact that the men were

well supplied with money indi-1 cated they had been financed ; by some government. Renes broke down, Petit said, when he begged for protection for his wife and child in Yugoslavia, fearing that the Yugoslavs would take vengeance on them. Police believe Benes, who expressed regrets for his deeds, was merely a subordinate, but that Stikomir was one of the leaders. The latter, they said, had been identified as a redoubtable Yugoslavian terrorist, who had taken refuge in Hungary and long had been sought by Yugoslav authorities. Petit, a stubby police official with a goatee beard, captured the pair single-handed, awakening them in their darkened hotel room after first sending the hotel keeper in to stael their trousers. Informed sources believed the men who plotted the assassinations were trying to embroil France. Italy, Yugoslavia. Rumania and Czecho- ■ Slovakia in a mad scheme to ad-; vance the causo es Croatian inde- j pendence. Secret police, interrogating the I suspects at Annemasse, on the Swiss lrontier. sought to find a possible connection between the AlexanderBarthou assassinations and the assassination by Nazis of Chancellor Engelbert Doilfuss of Austria. Petit announced tonight that after the hours of ceaseless questioning the suspects confessed as follows: They are members of an international secret society whose name they would not give. With other ; members of the band they gathered j at Munich, Germany. Sent to Paris They went thence to Zurich. Switzerland. There they met a man whom they did not know who gave them money. He instructed them to go to Paris and meet another man. unknown to them, who had arrived from South America. They met him near the Eiffel Tower and received detailed instructions. These were that Kelemen should kill Alexander at Marseille. If he failed the others were to kill Alexander in Paris. This unknown man provided each with two automatic pistols whose clips held twenty bullets each and were unusually rapid firers with ma-chine-gun-like trigger action. They said their orders did not include killing Barthou. They attributed the wound which caused his death to a wild shot. Four Men Are Traced These suspects, police said, con- ; fessed that they belonged to an in- I temational secret organization and j sent to Paris bv their chief on n mission of which they knew ncUaing. Secret police told the United Press they had traced four men—the two under arrest; Petrus Kelemen. assassin of Alexander and Barthou; and a man now sought ’ y soldiers and policemen in the caves of Fontainebleau forest—almost to * the spot where the murders oc- j curred. They traced them from Marseille j back to Aix En Provence, nearby; back to Paris; thence to Switzerland; from there to Munich and finally to Hungary where, they said,! the plot of the Marseille assassinations was hatched. By means of assumed identities with countries viewed with suspicion by each other, it was suspected, the plotters hoped to cause international troubles through terrorism that mould involve half a dozen countries The motive seemed to be to advance the cause of independence for the Croats who live in sullen discontent in the war-enlarged kingdom of Yugoslavia, in their little home territory behind the Adriatic. False passports, false names, false nationalities were used by all the men so lax involved in the plow

The Indianapolis Times

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VOLUME 46—NUMBER 132

$50,000,000 IN STOCKS 'GIFT' Insulls and Halsey-Stuart Divided ‘Present,’ Says Ex-Controller. By United Press CHICAGO, Oct. 12.—Testimony that the Insull family and Halsey, Stuart <fc Cos., stock brokers, took "presents” of 1.000,000 shares each in the newly formed Corporation Securities Company was introduced today in the Insull mail fraud trial. The estimated market value of the 2.000.000 shares of stock was approximately $50,000,000. Van Lamont, Kendallville ilnd.) poultry farmer, who formerly acted as controller for the brokerage firm, concluded sensationally his testimony after vigorious crossexamination and re-examination The gaunt man who looked like a bookkeeper out of a Dickens story had been on the the stand three full days giving his slow, deliberate testimoney. He told how Halsey, Stuart and members of the Insull family turned in stocks and in return received the • presents.” The prosecution argued that the move was made to evade tax payments; the defense argued that tax payments simply had been “deferred.” WOMAN. 80. CLEARED IN STILL CASE APPEAL Evidence Too Circumstantial, Is High Court Ruling. An 80-year-old Shelbyville woman, charged with possession of liquor and a still, yesterday won a reversal of conviction from the supreme court. The aged woman. Mrs. Sarah B. Wood, was sentenced to one to five years in the woman's prison in 1931 when liquor and a still were found beneath a garage. She disclaimed knowledge of its presence there and the supreme court ruled her conviction was on too circumstantial evidence. Alleged Forger Is Held Robert Rucker, 21, of 1239 Sheppard street, was held to the grand jury under SI,OOO bond on forgery charges today by Municipal Judge Dewey Myers. The youth is accused by police of having forged the name of a former employer on a check cashed in a downtown department store.

Habeas Hearing to Prove Hauptmann Was Not Kidnaper, His Lawyer Says

fly t nited Pre* NEW YORK, Oct. 12—Bruno Richard Hauptmann will prove beyond doubt that he was not in New Jersey the night Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. was stolen lrom his parents' home at Hopewell. James M. Fawcett. Hauptmann's attorney, announced today. Mr. Fawcett promised to present this proof when he argues in supreme court Monday for a writ of habeas corpus that would prevent his client's extradition to Flemington. N. J., where he has been indicted for the baby s murder. The attorney for the German carpenter, who has been linked directly with the most notorious crime of the century by possess-on of more than *II.OOO of the Lindbergh ransom money, pledged the most vigor-

GETS REGENT POST

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A great-uncle of Peter IT, boy king of Yugoslavia, will serve as one of the three members of the regents’ council during the minority of the child monarch. He is Prince Paul, shown above, to whom Alexander I confided his fear of assassination before he left on his fatal journey to France.

2 KILLED, 12 HURT IN ICE PLANT BLAST Pedestrians Passing Scene Among Victims. By United Press CHICAGO, Oct. 12.—A gas explosion ripped through the Central Cold Storage Company plant today, kiling two men and injuring more than a dozen others. Many of the injured were pedestrians who were passing the building when the blast rocked the nearnorth side just across the Chicago river from the loop. The dead were: John Gunia, 43, cooler man in the storage plant. John Kilgora, who was passing at the time of the blast. TODAY'S WEATHER V Hourly Temperatures 6 a. m 54 10 a. m 61 7 a. m 54 11 a. m 62 8 a. m 56 12 (noon).. 64 9 e. m 58 1 p. m 65 Tomorrow’s sunrise, 5:54 a. m.; sunset, 5:09 p. m. , In the Air Weather conditions at 9 a. m. Northeast wind, thirteen miles an hour; barometric pressure, 30.02 at sea level; temperature, 59; general conditions, clear; ceiling, unlimited; visibility, fifteen miles. Union College Installs Head SCHENECTADY. N. Y.. Oct. 12. Dr. Dixon Ryan Fox was installed today as the twelfth president of Union college. Dr. Fox was former professor of history at Columbia university.

ous legal fight possible against extradition and an equally vigorous fight for acquittal if he is extradited and tried. Mr. Fawcett obtained a showcause order returnable Monday when New Jersey authorities presented extradition papers approved by Governor Herbert H. Lehman. If Mr. Fawcett is denied the writ, he will appeal to the appellate division and then to the court of appeals. If this fails, he will apply for a change of venue from Hunterdon county, where, he said. Hauptmann could not be given a fair trial because of prejudice of Lindbergh's neighbors* Meanwhile. Hauptmann will be held in Bronx county jail pending outcome of th° court Hattie over extradition which could be pro-,

Fair tonight and tomorrow; slightly cooler tonight.

INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY', OCTOBER 12, 1934

Mobs Run Wild in Sarajevo and Catholic Cathedral Is Damaged. POLICE ADD TO FORCES Shoot-to-Kill Orders Are Given by Officials to Halt Vandals. (Copyright, 1934, by United Press! BELGRADE, Oct. 12. Mounting rage at King Alexander’s murder, manifested in wild riots, kept police alert and authorities worried late this afternoon as young Peter II sped across Europe to claim his unhappy heritage. Concerned over public anger, the government was reported to have given police at Zagrab orders to shoot to kill if necessary to prevent a planned demonstration before the Italian consulate there.

Students planned the demonstration at a meeting last night. The resignation of Albert Sarraut, French minister of interior, responsible for police arrangements at Marseille, and the promised dismissals of two officials at the scene, made ar excellent impression and feeling against the French was calmer. Sarajevo, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914, was the scene of the latest violent demonstrations. Cathedral Is Damaged Townspeople, enraged at the death of their king, wrecked shops and houses, milled outside Roman Catholic churches, damaged the interior of the Roman Catholic cathedral, and bombed the postoffice. In these riots, Serbs selected as the object of their wrath people who failed to display crepe in mourning for Alexander. In earlier riots, mobs attacked the secretary of the Italian consulate at Laibach (Ljubljana) and demonstrated against Hungary in the villages of Esseg and Subotich, which are near the Hungarian frontier. The riots at Sarajevo last night assumed serious proportions. They broke out in the form of spontaneous demonstrations all over the city. Excitement Grows Rapidly Police patrols were strengthened at once, but excitement grew rapidly and the populace were inclined to attack all persons imagined to be enemies of Alexander. Police could not disperse vandals at the cathedral before heavy damage v-as done to the interior. A bomb was exploded inside the postoffice. One employe was wounded. The mobs began smashing windows and interiors of shops which failed to display crepe, and went about to Roman Catholic churches, venting wrath on priests who refused to fly the black flag. It was to a capital divided between rage, and sorrow that little King Peter was coming to receive the homage of his people. Peter Due Tomorrow Peter, his mother, Queen Marie, and his grandmother. Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania, were expected here tomorrow. His father’s funeral was set for Thursday. Until then there was a political truce. Afterward, with the regency headed by Prince Paul ruling for Peter, the cabinet was expected to resign—as it offered to do yesterday—and opposition political elements were expected to attack the government. Bad weather has delayed the naval funeral cortege of King Alexander, proceeding from Marseille to Split (Spaiato) on the Adriatic coast.

' longed for weeks if the writ is granted Monday. He now is held as a “fugitive from justice.” a charge that is not bailable, his bond of SIOO,OOO on.* the extortion indictment pending against him in Bronx county, having been vacated when the extortion trial was postponed indefinitely yesterday. After the New Jersey murder charge is disposed of. he will be tried on the extortion charge. Mr. Fawcett refused to say he believed his client innocent. He said he would be unable to state his views until his investigation is completed. At the hearing Monday, he will not only present witnesses I to prove his client was not in New Jersey the night the baby was stolen, but witnesses to attack the : credibility of witnesses New Jersey i will present to show that he was.

MASS FORCES IN HUNT FOR ‘PRETTY BOY’ Phantom Oklahoma Outlaw Is Reported Seen Fleeing Through Missouri. ONE OF PALS IS SHOT Companion of Floyd Hurt in Gun Battle at Mclntyre, lowa. By United Pres* MEXICO, Mo., Oct, 12.—Peace officers from eastern and central Missouri this afternoon concentrated along highways in this vicinity in an effort to halt the flight of Charles (Pretty Boy) Floyd. Floyd, phantom Oklahoma outlaw and named by the government as one of the nation’s most desperate criminals, was seen near here before noon and Moberly, Mo., reported seeing three armed desperadoes, thought to be Floyd and two aids, shortly after noon. Apparently in a desperate effort to gain the haven of his Oklahoma hideouts after a clash with officers in northeastern lowa late yesterday, Floyd and two companions attempted to take the car of a traveling salesman on the highway, five miles south of here. ‘We Want Your Car’

O. L. Blanchard, representative of the Western States Specialty Company of Kansas City, reported to officers here that he came upon two men attempting to crank a Ford V-8 sedan bearing an Illinois license tag. As he approached the stalled machine, the men flagged Blanchard down. “We want your car,” Blanchard quoted a man whom he identified as Floyd as commanding him. Blanchard protested that he had just had his automobile overhauled and that the mechanic had told him that the machine would fall to pieces if driven more than thirty miles an hour. “Well,” Blanchard quoted the man he said was Floyd as saying, “you can at least give us a push.” Prompted by an automatic pistol shoved in his back, Blanchard complied. He back his car around and shoved the stalled machine. ln a minutes the motor in the fugitives’ machine turned over and they left, Floyd warning Blanchard that he better go back to Mexico. Blanchard complied. One Believed Wounded The salesman said that a man was stretched out. in the rear seat of the fugitives’ automobile. He believed that this man had been wounded, perhaps in the gun battle late yesterday near Melntire, la. Floyd’s apparent route was in the direction of Columbia. Mo. At Boonville officers mounted a machine gun in a turret overlooking the Missouri river. The state highway patrol of-’ fleers were detailed to patrol the byroads, the usual routes taken by Floyd when in flight. Sheriffs and other officers guarded the main highways.

SPANISH REBELLION QUELLED, IS CLAIM Troops Capture Rebel City Without Resistance. By United Press MADRID, Oct. 12.—Government troops have occupied all points in the rebel city of Oviedo without resistance, Premier Alejandro Lerroux announced today. “The entrance of the troops into Oviedo clearly indicates the end of the rebellion,” he declared. Previously, government troops placed artillery on the surrounding hills and prepared to blast the rebels out with shells and bombs from airplanes if they did not surrender. Times Index Page Bridge 27 Broun 21 Comics 35 Crossword Puzzle 27 Curious World 35 Editorial 22 Financial 34 Food Pages 23, 24, 25 Hickman—Theaters 17 Let’s Go Fishing 31 Pegler 21 Radio 16 Sports 30, 31 State News 16 Vital Statistics 2 Woman's Pages 26, 27

MARKETS CLOSED The New York Stock Exchange was closed today in observance of Discovery day. The exchange will be open tomorrow for the usual Saturday half-day trading.

‘AWAITING FULFILLMENT OF PROMISES,’ MATE OF LOUISVILLE WOMAN SAYS

FEARS FOR WIFE

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His wife held prisoner by kidnapers, Berry V. Stoll, above, has broadcast notice that he is ready to pay $50,000 ransom.

3 KILLED, 13 HURTINWRECK Speeding Express Crashes Into Derailed Cars Near lowa City. By United Press lOWA CITY, la., Oct. 12.—Three persons were killed today and thirteen others injured, four critically, when a west-bound Chicago-to-Omaha express of the Rock Island lines crashed into three derailed cars on the Denver-Chicago eastbound flier. The dead are: Mrs. D. J. Roberts, Des Moines. Madeline Roberts, 12, her daughter, Sam Mason, Negro steward, Chicago. Two Pullman coaches and the club car on the Rock Island’s crack eastbound train were derailed on a curve, six miles east of here. Before the train crew could avert a crash, the west-bound train swung around the curve and struck the derailed coaches. All the dead and injured were in the two Pullmans and club car. It was the second major railroad accident in lowa within twentyfour hours. Four persons were killed and sixteen injured yesterday in a wreck on the Milwaukee road near Guttenburg. As in yesterday’s crash, a broken rail was believed responsible for today’s wreck. The eastbound Luxury Flier, one of the fastest trains operating between Denver and Chicago, had pulled out of lowa City and had just hit its top speed when the rail broke under the last three coaches. The two Pullmans and club car were thrown onto the other thoroughfare of the two-track line. Knowing the Omaha train was due momentarily, members of the eastbound crew tried to run up the track to post flares at the end of the curve, but the other train arrived before this precaution could be taken. Pullman passengers were asleep at the time of the accident, and panic prevailed for several minutes. The first report of the wreck did not reach here until nearly an hour after the crash. Passengers were jarred from their berths on both trains by the impact, and friction caused by the heavy steel coaches caused many to believe the cars had caught fire.

‘Daddy’Browning, of ‘Jazz Age’Fame, Dies at Home

By United Pret SCARSDALE. N. Y„ Oct. 12.—Edward West < Daddy) Browning, 60, whose life, loves and eccentricities wrote a unique chapter in America’s "jazz age,” died today of pneumonia at his Scarsdale home. Only one of the numerous women who figured prominently in his life Dorothy Browning Hood, his adopted daughter—was at the bedside at the death of the millionaire real estate operator and playboy. Browning was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage last June 23, and was removed to his home a month ago. Among the missing was Frances (Peaches) Heenan, whom “Daddy” married after a whirlwind courtship which culminated a meeting with

Entered Second-Cl*< Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

Anxious Family Moves to Speed Rescue of Wealthy Oil Man’s Wife; Fear For Life of 111 Victim. SUSPECT GRILLED IN CHARLESTON Blond Hair Found on Back Seat of Car Sold By Arrested Man to Second-Hand Dealer, Police Claim. BY TIPTON BIJSH Times Staff Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 12.—The $30,000 ransom apparently has been paid to the kidnaper of Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll. In a statement this afternoon. Berry V. Stoll, oil millionaire and her husband, said: “We have carefully followed instructions, met all ransom requirements and are waiting fulfillment of promises. The parties may act freely without hindrance.” Asked directly whether this meant the ransom had been paid, Mr. Stoll replied: “You may say anything you want to.” BY HAROLD LA TOLT Times Staff Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 12.—Louisville detectives this afternoon were prepared to leave at once for Charleston, S. C., after receiving word that a suspect had been arrested there today in the kidnaping of Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll, 26-year-old Louisville society leader. The suspect, who gave his name as Walter Childress, Charleston, was arrested after policemen there found tufts of blond hair on the seat of an automobile with Kentucky license plates. The car was discovered after Childress sold it to a second-hand auto firm in Charleston.

GERMANS SHOW ENMITY TO HITLERITE BISHOP Open Revolt by Laity Manifested After Removal of Foe. By United Press MUNICH, Oct. 12.—Open revolt by the laity against Reichbishop Ludwig Mueller’s Evangelical church was manifested today after the removal of Bishop Hans Meiscr. It was announced officially that Meiser had been removed “because he refused to enforce the church laws.” Meiser defied the Reichbishop and preached last night in St. Matthew’s church to an overflow congregation. “Our church has been violated,” he declared. The crowd followed Meiser to the bishop's house, shouting “Heil Meiser.” They jammed the courtyard for more than an hour, chanting assurances of solidarity. Americans living in Munich said parts of the crowd were dispersed by storm troopers. wages~claimTaw is HELD AS ILLEGAL State Supreme Court Rules on Act of 1885. A law of 1885 which held that “manual or mechanical laborers’ ” wages were a preferred claim against distressed estates was held unconstitutional this afternoon by the Indiana supreme court, which ruled that the law violated the Fourteenth amendment of the federal Constitution and Section 1, Article 23. of the state Constitution. The case involved was that of William Taylor, a creditor seeking preference for a $l9O wages claim, against E. J. McErlane, trustee for creditors. The lower courts, reversed by Judge Michael Fansler, held the law constitutional. Dr. Benson Forum Speaker Dr. John G. Benson, Methodist on ‘We the People or Socializing an Institution,” at the meeting of the Economics Research Forum at 7:30 Monday night at the Cropsey auditorium, city library.

the plump, 15-year-old blond at a high school dance. There was no message from Adele Lowen, the secretary who married Browning in 1915 and was transported from an office to a magnificent penthouse which sported a forest of fruit and other trees. Dorothy Sunshine, who called Browning "Daddy” and meant it, came from her southern home when the millionaire first was stricken. She paid him daily visits when his condition permitted and told him, as she had when a child, that he was “the best daddy in the world.” His sixty years of living wefe dedicated to the bizarre, the childish, and always the spectacular. He married Peaches in an upstate garage and lavished upon her his wealth, attention, and eccentricities. Tbfca came a sensational divorce, with its revelations of their life together.

HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion Countj, 3 Cent*

Charleston police, who are* said to be questioning Childress intensively, reported to Louisville officials that he answered in a general way the description of the kidnaper furnished by Mrs. Fowler Woolet, 24-year-old maid in the luxurious Stoll home. News of his arrest came immediately after William S. Kammerer, attorney and close personal friend of Berry V. Stoll, oil millionaire husband of the kidnaped woman, had announced at a press conference in Harrods Creek, picturesque village near the Stoll estate, that the family had no desire except to regain Mrs. Stoll and that it had received no word from the kidnaper. Mr. Kammerer, who asked the cooperation of the newspapers in assuring Mrs. Stolls return, denied heatedly a persistent rumor that Mrs. Stoll already had been returned to her home and that the iact was being kept secret to allow the kidnapers to escape. He said that all automobiles had been withdrawn from the Stoll estate, making pursuit impossible if the kidnaper suddenly appeared there; that new telephone wires strung to the house yesterday were to assure the kidnaper he would be free from wire-tapping investigators; and that the family was ready to meet any demand it “humanly’* could meet. All Flanes Grounded Mr. Kammerer also gave authenticity to early reports that the kidnaper’s car might well have disappeared into Indiana. He said that a car resembling the kidnaper’s had been seen speeding over a Louisville bridge into southern Indiana half an hour after the kidnaping and that some attempt had been made to trace it. A moment later, .seemingly unaware of the inconsistency involved, he remarked: “We would back up on a trail rather than develop one. I want those kidnapers to be able to get hold of Berry Stoll. Every channel of communication is being made available.” A short time before, the press conference, every plane in Kentucky. except those of regular transport lines and including those at Ft. Knox, had been ordered grounded. It was explained that this wa3 to assure the kidnapers that no air search was being made. Activities of newspaper planes were said to be responsible for the order. Contact Attempt Broken Earlier in the morning, an apparent attempt to contact Mrs, Stoll's kidnaper was interrupted inadvertently when the writer and a United Press correspondent from Indianapolis stumbled onto William A. Stoll, brother-in-law of the kidnaped woman, as he apparently was waiting for a roadside signal from a passing car. Mr. Stoll, accompanied by two men, at least one of whom was armed, was waiting at the side of the main LouisviHe-CinetnnaU highway, about three-quarters of a mile from the luxurious Stoll estate, near Harrods Creek. He seemed startled and surprised to see newspaper men and offered two explanations for his presence, one that he and members of his (Turn to Page Three!