Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 136, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 October 1934 — Page 1

STOLL KIDNAP HIDEOUT FOUND HERE

PIERPONT PUT TO DEATH FOR LIMA KILLING

Dillinger Gunman Pays With His Life for Murder of Sarber. GOES TO END QUIETLY Utters Not a Single Word as Two Priests Lead Him to Chamber. By United Pr> * COLUMBUS. O, Oct. 17—An entry in Ohio penitentiary files recorded the last grim chapter of the violent story of the John Dillinger outlaws—electrocution of Harry Pierpont. The gangster, executed for his part in the slaying of Sheriff Jess Sarber at Lima. 0., a year ago, entered the execution chamber at 12:07 a. m. today. He was pronounced dead just eight minutes later. Catholic Fathers J. A. Sullivan, prison chaplain, and John Smith of Cleveland accompanied Pierpont to the electric chair. His lean jaws were set. He held a crucifix before him. litters No Word Not a word was uttered. Pierpont made a public gesture of acceptance of his Catholic faith. Gone was the profane defiance with which he entered the penitentiary last March, predicting that he would be freed by John Dillinger. his leader. A hush fell over the crowd. Pierpont’s jaws w r ere set. His face was sallow from weakening w’ounds he suffered when he and Charles Makley made a mad dash for freedom from death house last month. Makley was slain by guards in that futile break. A grave was prepared today for Pierpont near Leipsic. 0., close to that* of Makley. Death Mask Affixed Within three minutes electrodes were adjusted around Pierpont’s arms and legs, the death mask was affixed. A guard made a signal. A switch was thrown behind a screen. For tw'o minutes a light glowed red behind the awkward chair. The body stiffened. “It is death,” said Dr. Dan Bowers: It was 12:15 a. m. The chill of a misty night had entered the death chamber. The death warrant, signed when Miss Jessie Levy. Indianapolis, defense attorney, lost her appeal in Ohio supreme court, set Oct. 17 for Pierpont's death. Warden P. E. Thomas had started the execution after the tick of midnight, breaking a usual precedent of sunset executions here. Threatening letters for the warden and Governor White had caused the posting of extra guards. Anxiety still ruled officials, who counted the toll of the Dillinger gang in a dozen lives of officers and recalled sensational jail breaks of the gangsters—their escape from Michigan City tlnd > penitentiary; delivery of Dillinger from t*'2 Lima iO.) jail, the crime that cost a sheriff's life and led to Pierpont’s execution sentence; Dillinger's break from Crown Point ilnd.> jail, and the attempted break here. “He Was Resigned” Father Sullivan told the United Press that Pierpont embraced the church in his last hours. “He was like a child. He was resigned,” said the priest, who administered all the last sacraments of the church. ** The doomed man nibbled at a chicken dinner earlier, then pushed the dishes aside, staring vacantly. J. D. Purnell, Leipsic undertaker, took the body. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Pierpont and Mary Kinder, who told the warden she was Harry’ Pierpont's wife, visited him yesterday afternoon. He wept as they left. They waited in a dingy hotel for the news of the death to take the body for burial, which is expected to be private. Pierpont wrote a letter to Attorney Levy in his last hours, thanking her for her efforts for him. and asking that she keep secret details he had told her of the Michigan City break.

TODAY’S WEATHER

Hourly Temperatures 6a. m..... 60 10 a. m..... 68 7 a. m 61 11 a. m 72 Ba. m 63 12 (noon).. 73 9 a. m 66 1 p. m 76 IN THE AIR Weather conditions at 9 a. m.: Southwest wind, fourteen miles an hour; barometric pressure, 30.18 at sea level; temperature. 66; general conditions, high, thin, broken lower scattered clouds; ceiling, unlimited; visibility, twelve miles. Times Index Page Auto News .. 6 Beveridge on Police 15 Bridge 9 Broun 13 Comics 19 Financial 10 Hickman—Theaters 6 Pegler 13 Sports 16. 17 State News 15 Women’s Pages 8. 9

MORE DETAILS OF THE ALICE STOLL KIDNAP CASE WILL BE FOUND ON PAGES 3,4 AND SOF THIS EDITION

The Indianapolis Times

NRA V w to OUP PART

VOLUME 46—NUMBER 136

Edsel Ford Extortionist Admits Plot

Youth Confesses Writing Note Ordering $5,000 From Magnate. (Copyright. 1934. bv United Press) DETROIT, Oct. 17.—Trapped' by his own bravado, a dreamy, 20-year-old factory worker was held by. federal agents today as the author of a note threatening to kill Edsel Ford. Edward Lickwala, United States department of justice agents said, confessed ordering the millionaire manufacturer to pay him $5,000 under penalty of death. He will be brought before the grand jury as soon as jfassible. “I never meant to kill him,” Lickwala was reported as saying. “I just wanted to scare him. He’s got a lot of money and I wanted some of it.” Lickwala walked up to a car filled with department of justice officers last night. “I’ve got some information that might help you.” he said. He had intended, officers believed. to steer them aivay from the neighborhood where they had been conducting a close watch. William Larsen, head of the Detroit branch of the department's bureau of investigating, said he believed Lickwala thought the neighborhood was getting too “hot” for him. By exhibiting a brave front, he thought he might convince the officers they were wrong. However, the agents didn't wait for any explanation after Lickwala’s unexpected announcement. They bundled him into their car, took him to headquarters, and confronted him with what they knew of him and the case. In a short while. Lickwala broke down and confessed the entire plot, Larsen said Youth Is Trapped By United Press CHICAGO, Oct. 17.—Department of justice agents this afternoon announced the capture of an 18-year-old Italian youth, trapped as he sought to extort $3,000 from Isaac M. Hoagland. 52, general sales manager and vice-president of Armour &i Cos.

KIDNAPER GIVEN JOB BY KIN OF VICTIM ‘Gets Chance’ With Oil Man, Kidnaps His Relative. One of the most ironical features of the Stoll kidnaping case was the manner in which Thomas H. Robinson Jr. first became remotely connected with the family from whom he chose his victim. With a dementia praecox confinement record behind him. young Robinson was taken by his father to Charles C- Stoll, president of the Stoll Oil Refining Company, with a plea that, young Robinson "be given a chance.” Mr. Stoll, father-in-law of the kidnaped Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll, assented and gave Robinson a job running a filling station for the Stoll company. He kept it for almost a year. . Brooding and nursing what he termed in the ransom letter "a hatred for the rich,” young Robinson at first planned to kidnap his benefactor and then took his daughter-in-law as a substitute vici tim. BOSTON FINANCIER DIES James J. Phelan Was Prominent Catholic Layman. B u ini ted Press BOSTON, Oct, 17—James J. Phelan, 63, multimillionaire Beeton investment banker and prominent Roman Catholic layman, died suddenly of a heart ailment at his ' home late yesterday. Mr. Phelan was the first American to be decorated as a Knight of Malta by Pope Pius, and received, in 1931. the Laetare medal, awarded i annually by the University of Notre Dame. He was a partner in the banking firm of Hornblower & Weeks.

THE department of justice has scored again. Criminals can not hope to escape the federal men. Six days ago. we printed an open letter to the kidnaper of Mrs. Berry Stoll, warning him that he could not hope to escape. Today Thomas H. Robinson Jr., is being sought for the crime and his wife is in the hands of the authorities in Louisville. The Indianapolis Times was faced with a serious problem in handling this case. Forty-eight hours ago its own investigation disclosed Robinson’s name and considerable about his connection with the crime. The Times does not suppress news. Yet it felt that here was a situation in

COURT RULING BRINGS APPEAL BY HAUPTMANN

Lindbergh Kidnaping Suspect Carries His Fight to Higher Bench. PROSECUTOR CONFIDENT Judge Denies Move for Writ of Habeas Corpus by Bruno’s Lawyer. By United Press NEW YORK, Oct. 17.—Bruno Richard Hauptmann carried his fight against extradition into the appellate court this afternoon coincident with hints that New Jersey was concealing important evidence linking him to the murder of the Lindbergh baby. New Jersey won a victory in the proceedings to extradite .Hauptmann on murder charges when Supreme Court Justice Ernest E. L. Hammer last night denied the request of the suspect’s counsel for a writ of habeas corpus, which would have nullified the extradition warrant. James M Fawcett, Hauptmann’s attorney, won a stay until 4 p. m. Friday to permit an appeal from the decision. The appeal probably will be argued in appellate court Friday and, if rejected, Hauptmann will be taken immediately to Flemington, Hunterdon county, N. J., and will be tried three or four weeks hence. Belief that Attorney-General David T. Wilentz of New Jersey, had kept “an ace in the hole” in the hearings before Justice Hammer was increased by the confident attitude of the dark, aggressive little prosecutor. Wears Confident Air Mr. Wilentz declined to confirm that he had undisclosed evidence, but he turned questions away with a smile and shrug and expressions of cohfidence that Hauptmann could be convicted if he was brought to trial in New Jersey. Mr. Faawcett, expressing disappointment, said he would use every means of fighting extradition and, if the appeal failed, even might carry the case to the United States supreme court. His attitude indicated that he had been forced to use virtually all the defense evidence in the hearing. Justice Hammer’s decision came last night after two days of testimony in which Hauptmann had depended chiefly upon his own emphatic denials that he was in New Jersey on the date of the crime; that he wrote the ransom notes; that he kidnaped the baby; that he killed the baby; that he had been seen near the Lindbergh home shortly before the kidnaping and that he knew “anything” about the crime. Branded Note Writer In oppostion to these defense contentions, supported chiefly by the testimony of Hauptmann’s wife, Anna, the New Jersey officials presented a handwriting expert to show the suspect’s writing was the same as that of the ransom notes; a neighbor of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh to swear that he Hauptmann near the scene of the crime; police and detectives to testify concerning the discovery of ransom money in Hauptmann's possession. Mr. Wilentz placed chief emphasis on the testimony* of Albert S. Osborne, handwriting expert, that Hauptmann wrote a ransom note saying the writer h%d been in the Lindbergh nursery—which the at-torney-general termed "an admission and, confession.” BYRD SLEDGE PARTY TO STUDY MOUNTAINS Geological Survey Expected to Occupy Three Months. LITTLE AMERICA. Antarctica, Oct. 15.—(Delayed—By Mackay Radio)—Spring sledging operations of the Byrd Antarctic expedition were started yesterday when a party under Paul A. Siple of Erie, Pa., left for the east to explore and map the mountainous area and undertake geological studies. The party expects to be gone three months

A 'CRIME IS SOLVED A Statement

which it couldn't print all it knew without jeopardizing Mrs. Stoll’s life. Instead, it turned its information over to the department of justice, which, as it developed, already was in possession of the facts about Robinson. Had this man’s name been made public yesterday morning it is doubtful that this atrocious crime could have been brought to such a happy conclusion. So we have no apologies to offer for failing to print this news. We merely offer this as an explanation and we hope our readers will agree that our judgment was sound. For those who may disagree, we only can point out that we have made every

Increasing cloudiness tonight and tomorrow; cooler.

INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1934

STOLL KIDNAP HIDEOUT FOUND IN NORTH SIDE APARTMENT

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A modest furnished apartment at 2735 North Meridian street held Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll while the nation was being searched for her. The quarters in which Thomas H. Robinson Jr., alleged kidnaper, and his wife lived with Mrs. Stoll for six days was on the lower floor and faced the court. The Robinsons under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kennedy mo ved into the apartment Sept. 22, nineteen days before the actual abduction. The arrow points to the window of the apartment.

STOLL FAMILY IS UNDER GUARD Fear of Revenge by Suspect Results in Move to Aid Kin. BY HAROLD LA POLT Times Staff Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 17.—Fearing the mad rage of the fugitive kidnaper of Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll, the department of justice has placed a guard around each member of the Stoll family, it was revealed today by Harold Nathan, deprtment of justice investigator. Mr. Nathan traced the activities of Mrs. Robinson yesterday. The suspect’s wife came to the apartment early in the morning and had a terrific row with her husband over the disposal of Mrs. Stoll. Robiiison wanted to leave the city and let Mrs. Stoll fend for herself, but Mrs. Robinson decided to stay with the Louisville society matron. Robinson left the apartment and a few hours later Mrs. Stoll and Mi's. Robinson walked calmly to a nearby drug store, called a taxicab and drove to the Clegg parsonage. They were unnoticed and unrecognized while on the street and in the drug store. The ransom money was paid to Robinson’s father in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Mr. Nathan definitely established today. Mr. Nathan said he understood that Mrs. Robinson was in the apartment hideout this week and was in constant communication with her husband. Robinson once worked in Indianapolis and was familiar with the highways surrounding the Indiana capital, Mr. Nathan said. The department of justice still is puzzled for a real motive for the kidnaping, Mr. Nathan revealed, when he said that so far as he knew Robinson had no real grudge against the Stoll family, although he had (Turn to Page Four) TEACHERS TO HEAR SUBSISTENCE CHIEF Home Economics Section to Be Addressed by Clarence Pickett, Clarence E. Pickett, subsistence homestead division chief of the interior department, will address the home economics section of Indiana State Teachers’ Association at 10:15 tomorrow in the girls’ gymnasiumt>f Technical high school, and at 2 in the Travertine room of the Claypool. Mr. Pickett’s topic will be “The Social and Economic Implications of the Subsistence Homestead Movemovement.” He will be brought to Indianapolis by the Marion County Consumers’ council of which Mrs. Mrs. Frank Hatch Streightoff. 733 East Thirty-second sreet. is president.

effort to give The Times’ subscribers the fullest possible coverage on every other detail of the kidnaping. The Times was the only Indianapolis newspaper which covered the story with staff men. It was the first paper to print complete pictures of Mrs. Stoll and of the scene of the crime. It was the first newspaper in the United States to print the contents of the ransom note. It accurately predicted yesterday that Mrs. Stoll would be returned to her home before today. It also was the first newspaper to trace Mrs. Stoll to Indianapolis and to publish the information that department of Justice agents were centered here.

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Thomas H. Robinson Jr. Nationwide search, w r atching highways, trains and busses, wa<( instituted today by federal agents and police of the midwest for Thomas H. Robinson Jr., 27, former inmate of a Tennessee insane asylum, who has been named by department of justice agents as the kidnaper of Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll. Most of the $50,000 in ransom money paid for the safe return of Mrs. Stoll to her Louisville home, is believed in Robinson’s posession.

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Mrs. Thomas Robinson * Alleged to have aided her husband in the Alice Stoll kidnaping, Mrs. Robinson is held as a suspect in Louisville.

DEATH TOLL SET AT 38 IN PHILIPPINE TYPHOON Devastated Area Slowly Returning to Normal. By United Prest MANILA, Oct. 17.—Reports from press and official sources today set the death toll of a typhoon which

swept over Manila and adjoining provinces at thirty-eight. While the devastated area slowly was working its way back to normal, search was continued in isolated districts for the bodies of persons who may have been drowned by the high water which followed the wind and rain.

i-.utt-rvd as Second Class Mallei st Postoffiee. Indianapolis. Ind

ABDUCTOR, AID ARE HUNTED BY ARMY OF POLICE Delivery Boy Heard Another Man in City Apartment Where Society Woman Was Held Six Days, He Says. NASHVILLE SUSPECT ESCAPES NET Filling Station Operator Also Reports Confederate Seen in Car; Alleged ‘Snatcher’s’ Wife Held. By United Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Oct. 17. The search for Thomas Kennedy Robinson, named as the kidnaper of Mrs. Berry Stoll of Louisville, reached into Missouri today. Government agents, through the St. Louis police department, informed the state highway patrol that the fugitive “has expressed a desire to be a rancher” and may be headed “west.” Troopers were ordered over radio station WOS to watch for Robinson. By United Press PEORIA, 111., Oct. 17.—A general warning was sent out to police here today following receipt of a report that an automobile resembling that in which T. H. Robinson Jr. is fleeing was seen at Abingdon, 111. The car was reported headed east toward Peoria. Robinson is wanted as a suspect in the kidnaping of Mrs. Alice Stoll. A mysterious man, other than Thomas H. Robinson Jr., 27, alleged kidnaper of Mrs. Alice Speed Stoll, was in the north side apartment at least once during the six days she was held captive here, it was indicated today by new developments in the case. It was learned by The Times, but could not be confirmed by questioning of federal officials, that a delivery boy, taking a package of groceries to the north side hideout last week-end, heard another man inside the apartment talking to a woman when Robinson received the package at the door. Meivin H. Purvis, head of the Chicago bureau of the department of justice and the nemesis of desperado John Dillinger, would not affirm or deny that he and the squad of federal agents here seeking Robinson also are hunting one or more accomplices of Mrs. Stoll’s abductor. Such questions to Mr. Purvis were countered with a succint: “I can not say.” The delivery boy, Ed Rice, 18, Negro, 2636 Roeder street, is employed at Sam’s Subway, directly north of the kidnap hideout at 2735 North Meridian street. Last week-end, he told The Times, he delivered a package of groceries to the Robinson, or as it was known there, Kennedy apartment. Rice said when he delivered the package to the backdoor, Robinson snatched it quickly, said “Okay, pal,” and gave him a dime tip. Rice asserted positively that while the door was ajar he heard another man in the apartment talking to a woman. Waitresses at the subway delicatessen recalled today that when Rice returned from the delivery, he observed: “They must be going to have a party over there because the Kennedys got visitors/’ That Robinson may be accompanied in his flight by another man was confirmed to some extent today by police questioning of a filling station operator at Twenty-sixth and Harding streets. The filling station attendant, James S Kirby, told palice that Robinson and another man were in a Ford car that stopped at tfis station about 9 yesterday morning for gasoline and oil. Kirby positively identified pictures of Robinson as the passenger in the car, which was driven by a heavy and shorter man than Robinson. Kirby said he recognized the tired, wan man with piercing eyes as Robinson, and said he appeared to be ill. Once, according to Kirby, when the man he believes Is Robinson left the c&r, his heavier companion said. “Get back in the car. I’ll take care of you.” The car drove north on Harding street, Kirby said. Today a police broadcast directed all cars to pick up a Ford car with a Kentucky license with 322 the first three numbers.

While Mr. Purvis would not confirm reports that accomplices are sought, it was learned in Louisville that that angle was being checked by Harold Nathan, in charge of the federal investigation there. Directly challenging Mrs. Stoll's statement that she wished no harm to come to Mrs. Robinson, Mr. Nathan said that Mrs. Robinson was a participant in the crime. Employes in the Stoll household have bean exonerated completely from any connection with the abduction, Mr. Nathan revealed. Car Trailed 100 Miles Mr. Nathan refused to state why the federal agents trailed the returning car last night for 100 miles, saying that it would expose department of justice technique. It was disclosed for the first time today that Mrs. Stoll was not clad in a negligee when kidnaped, but was fully clothed and was returned last night in the same garments. One of the ransom bills has turned up in Louisville, but Mr. Nathan said that the same serial number may be on other gold and silver certificates not involved in the ransom payment. Today was the final press confer-

HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion Gountf i Cent*

ence, and investigation here will be turned ovqj- to E. J. Connelly, Cincinnati, department of justice division chief Mr. Nathan will return to Washington tomorrow. Mrs. Stoll, twice was threatened with death while she was held prisoner here in an apartment at 2735 North Meridian street by Robinson, her alleged kidnsper. This was learned today by The Times from an unimpeachable source while department of justice agents and police concentrated on capturing young Robinson, at large with $49 500 of the $50,000 ransom money on his person. The young Louisville society matron not only was threatened with death by Robinson, who apparently was cracking mentally under the strain of imminent capture Robinson also threatened to bnd her and lock he. in the closet of the north side apartment and was only dissuaded from this move, it was learned, by the protestations of Mrs. Robinson, who was Mrs. Stoll’s guard. A long distance telephone call iTurn to Page Three)