Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 160, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 November 1934 — Page 1
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SHARP UPTURN DISCLOSED IN BUSINESS HERE Conditions Are Generally Better, City Leaders Say in Survey. BANK CLEARINGS HIKED Minority Feels Situation Is Worse: Election Effect Problematical. A decided upward trend in industrial. commercial and financial activity here was found today by The Indianapolis Times in an independent survey of some of the city's leading concerns. These facts stood out: 1. Monthly bank clearings are up sharply for the year, Indianapolis clearing house figures show, with a marked increase in the last three months as compared with those of last year. 2. Many Indianapolis firms report business increases over the period of the year and express optimism for the future, one reporting an increase of as much as 92 per cent in its business. 3. There is. at the same time, a decided minority which reports business no better, or in some cases, even worse than it was at this time a vear ago. Some of this group ha\e nothing but pessimism as they vie* the future. Lesser factors bore out the story of advance from depression told by manv of the business leaders. Savings Accounts Increase ~ Banks ’ reported'”grcatcr numbers of savings accounts —one had doubled its savings department patrons and Christmas savings account, to be distributed around Dec. 1. were up as much as 35 per cent in some. These annually provide a stimulus to holiday trade. Efforts to determine what effect the recent election results might have had on business were met. for the most part, with statements that not enough time had elapsed to establish that effect, if any. Many, however, expressed pleasure that the election was past. Some of those with bad reports and pessimistic views were inclined to lay the blame for the condition of their industries on administration policies. The table of bank clearings, showing a rise in every month this year, except February, over the corresponding month last year, follows: Rank Clearings 1934 1933 lanuarv ... $53,132,322 $48,526,729 February ... 39.486.242 42.266.899 March 45.247.481 24.610.715 April 46,577.294 34.157.767 Mav 53.665.716 39.643.140 June 50.242,018 39.618.874 July 57.648.122 47.817.627 August 50.298.675 40.459.375 September .. 49.269.903 40.663.898 October .... 58.229.549 44.747.405 November 45.017.712 December 42,714.943 Statements from Indianapolis roncerns and business men follow: Ford Motor Company—We are 92 per rent over last year in number of units sold. Our plans are for a 40 per cent further increase over thiyear in keeping with the national increase set as the goal by Henry Ford Naturally, we are optimistic, but we must let Mr. Ford's nationally read statement of last week speak for us. Employment Gains Noted Ch urolet Motor Corporation 1 E \v Berger. Zone Manager l —Sales have pimped bv leaps and bounds over last year, particularly in the last week or two. In the first ten da vs of November our sales showed a 66 2-3 per cent increase over those of the first ten days of October. We did more business in the first ten 'Turn to Page Four* FACULTY SQUABBLE IS FATAL TO PROFESSOR Former New York Dean Dios Suddenly After Stormy Meeting Kv t mlfd Press NEW YORK Nov. 14 —Dr. Daniel W. Redmond. 58. former dean of the College of the City of New York, died of heart disease aboard a street car late yesterday after a stormy faculty meeting that resulted in expulsion of twenty-one students for anti-Fascist rioting. Dr. Redmond s associates said excitement of tlie long and heated faculty discussion aggravated a chronic cardiac condition. The faculty disciplined thirty-seven students charged with inciting antiFascist riots in the great hall four weeks ago. Mae Arthur Temporarily Retained Ry f at led Press WASHINGTON. Nov. 14 —General Douglass Mae Arthur, whose term of office as chief of staff of the srmv expires Nov. 20. will be held on temporarily. at least until Dec 5. President Roosevelt indicated today. Times Index Page Auto News 10 Bridge 8 Broun 11 Comics 17 Crossword Puzzle 9 Cunous World 17 Editorial 12 Financial 13 Hickman—Theaters 10 PtSfc* 11 Radio 15 Sport* 14-15 State Hews 7 Woman a Pages 8- 9
The Indianapolis Times Fair weather with slowly rising temperature late tonight and tomorrow, lowest tonight about 29.
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VOLUME 46—NUMBER 160
Cooling of 15-Year-Old Girl’s Love for Mate, 23, Brings Murder, Suicide
H*i Sprcifll MEDORA, Ind.. Nov. 14 —The body of Dorothy Weber Hunsucker, 15-vear-old Medora high school honor pupil, whose secret marriage to a truck driver eight years her senior pnded yesterday in her murder at his hands and in his suicide, todav was to be taken from this still horror-stricken village, quiet in the hills of Jackson county, and returned for burial to Buffalo. N. Y., whence she came three years ago.
Dorothy was shot down yesterday afternoon in view of scores of her schoolmates, not more than two feet from a horrified younger cousin, by Murle Hunsucker, 23, her estanged husband, a Medora truck driver. Hunsucker shot her in the back after she had wrenched herself away from him once. Then, he bent over her and fired another bullet from his 45-caliber revolver into the back of her head. As she lay dying, he straightened up and. in a melodramatic gesture, clicked his heels together as though saluting her. Then, he put the revolver to his forehead and pulled the trigger, slumping to his death at the feet of his dying wife. Town Marshal Cletus Smeed. a close friend of Hunsucker, found the girl dead and Hunsucker dying when he arrived at the scene. Hunsucker died without making any statement and before he could be treated. The bodies were carried together to the Hague mortuary here and lay there last night. The girl's was to be taken to Buffalo on thp crack National limited of the Baltimore ft Ohio railroad this afternoon. Services for Hunsucker have not yet been arranged. The story of their marriage, of parental interference, of the cooling of Dorothy's love and of
the desperate desire which drove Hunsucker to his actions yesterday were unfolded yesterday afternoon in an inquest held by Coroner William A Dickmeyer, who returned the verdicts of murder and suicide. There Christina Carr, 14. the cousin who was with Dorothy at the time of the tragedy, told how Hunsucker had driven up to where the two girls were standing, in front of the Christian church and just
opposite the high school, and had said: “Dorothy, 1 want to talk to you.’’ “I don’t want to talk to you,” the cousin quoted Dorothy as replying. “Dorothy.” raged Hunsucker. “you are trying to make a fool of me.” “I don't give a damn if I do,” Dorothy said defiantly, starting to walk away. It was then that Hunsucker seized Dorothy by the wrist, according to her cousin, and pulled her toward him. She screamed, jerked loose and started to run as he produced his revolver. She had gotten only a few steps when he fired the first shot. m * THE motive was demonstrated clearly in notes Hunsucker had written on a handkerchief which she had given him some time before their marriage in Louisville. Ky„ in September, 1933. “This is the first thing Dorothy ever gave me and I am returning it." he had written in one corner. “The wages of sin is death.” he wrote on another porton of the handkerchief, underlining this and writing beneath it: 'To her mother: You made a mistake but it is too late now. I can never forgive you. but I love Dorothy. Please take warning from this. Because I love her and cant have her. we will die together this Nov. 13. 1934.” Noble McKinney. 18. Medora. a friend of Hunsucker and an acquaintance of his child wife, added his testimony that he had been present on one occasion when Hunsucker had told Dorothy that he would kill her if he could not live with her. The marriage was discovered less than a month ago by the girl's parents when, apparently. Dorothy tired of Hunsucker's attentions. Their attachment had been so apparent, however, that Mrs. Carr had taken steps to break up what she believed was merely their friendship. * a a 'T'O effect this, she had sent A Dorothy east to visit a sister. Miss Louise Weber. 18. a student at Columbia university. It was after her return that Dorothy told her mother of her marriage and refused to see more of Hunsucker. Since that time he. according to his friends, had acted strangely and, on at least one occasion. had mentioned suicide. Mrs. Carr had gone to Marshal Smeed and asked his advice, as a friend of young Hunsucker. The peace officer had advised Mrs. Carr to let the young couple work out their own problem, but both the mother and the step-father had opposed the marriage. They had expressed themselves as believing that the girl was too young to be married and that she should finish her schooling. Dorothy was born in Buffalo Jan. 5. 1919. Her father died when she was an infant and her mother married Lewis Carr, Medora. in 1927. "Hiey moved to Medora three ye*ars ago. The murdered girl will be buried in Lutheran cemetery, where her father's body lies.
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells—Here Comes Santa—The One and Only St Nicholas
DOWN from the North Pole. ■ the land of eternal snow and ice. comes an announcement through The Indianapolis Times that will electrify the citizens of Indianapolis. On Friday. Nov. 30. the one and only Santa Claus will appear in this city for a gigantic and spectacular parade that will eclipse anything this community has ever seen. Through special arrangements with The Times, which is spon-
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The Hunsuckers . . . Love died
GAS FRANCHISE ACTION DELAYED Hearing Postponed Until Dec. 7 to Allow Study by Mayor. Heeding the lequest of Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan for time in which to study the ability and background of the Users Gas Company, Inc., the Marion county commissioners today postponed to Dec. 7 a hearing on the company's petition for a county gas franchise. The petition on file with the county commissioners seeks an exclusive ■permit, franchise, right and privilege to lay pipe lines or sell gas for all purposes." In asking postponement of the hearing, Mayor Sullivan and Albert L. Rabb, attorney for the utility district, askpd opportunity to learn the status of the petitioning corporation and to ascertain whether or not its entry into Marion county might harm the Citizens Gas Company and the city's plan to purchase that utility. Mr. Rabb maintained that grant of the franchise would destroy the city's gas bargaining power. He also said that he had received no word of the petition until Monday although it was filed Oct. 25. This fact was affirmed by other city officials present. Clinton H Givan. former county attorney and representative of the Users Gas Company, which he described as incorporated for SSOO in Indiana, told the commissioners that his company can serve small gas consumers in the county for 60 to 65 cents for each 1.000 cubic feet, and large consumers for 35 to 40 cents. Mayor Sullivan observed that the consumers never before had been offered such a low rate although the companies could have afforded it and he questioned Mr. Givan's claim. Mr. Givan said the firm he represents is not trying to limit the Citizens Gas Company to service within the city limits. He said that the company wishes to serve only those county consumers who are not supplied by the Citizens company.
TODAY'S WEATHER
Hourly Temperatures 6a. m 26 10 a. m 32 7a. m 27 11 a. m 34 Ba. m 28 12 (noon).. 36 9 a. m 30 1 p. m 37 Tomorrows sunrise. 6:30 a. m.; sunset. 4:29 p. m In the Air Weather conditions at 9 a. m.: Northeast wind, fifteen miles an hour: barometric pressure. 30.45 at sea level; temperature, 30; general conditions, clear; ceiling, unlimited; visibility, two miles, south, smoky.
soring the appearance of Santa Claus here, the jovial old St. Nicholas will bring the reindeer that have been whisking him to all points of the globe each Christmas eve for so many hundred years. And with them will appear natives of other lands, beautiful features of ever>’ description, girls and boys in beautiful, colorful costumes and uniforms. A mammoth reception is being arranged in honor of the visit of
INDIANAPOLIS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1934
LANDIS LOSING HIS FIGHT FOR LIFE, IS FEAR Congressman-Elect Suffers Relapse: Relatives Are Called to Side. BROTHER IS SUMMONED Only Republican to Win in Election Sinking at Hospital. ! By I nilrd Prras LOGA-NSPORT, Ind., Nov. 14. i The condition of Frederick Landis, Logansport, Second district con- ; gressman-elect w-ho is seriously ill I with pneumonia, took a sudden turn for the worse today. Mr. Landis’ wife and children and his brother. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, high commissioner of baseball, were called to his bedside in Cass county hospital, indicating i that grave fear for his life was felt. Mr. Landis was the only Republican to be elected to congress from Indiana Nov. 6. He has been ill for several weeks and was unable to [ participate in the last part of hiS 1 campaign. Mr. Landis, a graduate of the Michigan law school, 1895, first entered politics in 1902 when he was elected to congress as a Republican. He served in the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth congresses until he was defeated for re-election in the fall of 1906. He then returned to Logansport to begin his writing career. He returned to public life in 1912 when he was one of the organizers of the Progressive party. He was temporary chairman of the party’s first state convention and the same year was defeated as the Pregressive candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana. He also was a delegate to the party's 1912 national convention. Mr. Landis is the author of “The Glory of His County,” “The Angel of Lonesome Hill” and “Days Gone Dry.” His plays include “The People Are Coming,” “The Copperhead.” co-author; “The Water Wagon” and “Montana.” TWO KILLED IN BLAST AT CHEMICAL PLANT ~ Third Man Seriously Injured in Valley Forge Explosion. By Uni led Press NORRISTOWN, Pa., Nov. 14. Two men were killed and a third was injured seriously this afternoon when an explosion followed by fire wrecked the Valley Forge Chemical Company plant at King-of-Prussia. The dead: Gilmour kirschner, 22, and Heinrich, 26. John B. Cleveland, 26. was blown partly through a wall of the twostory concrete block building. The explosion occurred during the lunch hour.' MASON MURDER TRIAL TO BE STARTED SOON Jones Slaying Suspect to Face Court Second Time. Retrial of William H. (Willie) Mason, one of the alleged slayers of Police Sergeant Lester Jones in the Peoples Motor Coach Company garage holdup two years ago, on a murder charge, will begin soon, Prosecutor Herbert E. Wilson announced today. Famous Author Is Dead By I II i led Per as ABERDEEN, Scotland. Nov. 14. | >fohn Joy Bell, world-famous author. ! playwright and humorist, died today at 63 after a brief illness.
Why has no one ever devised certain mental tests for dogs and then gone about it to select individuals which are superior to the general run of dogs, so that they can thus originate a breed, simply and solely on the basis of great mental ability? It
would be a great accomplishment. Every now and then we hear of dogs that possess unusual mental ability. There are those which learn commands with the greatest ease, and these dogs frequently do this so much easier than other dogs
that there is no comparison. Why hasn't someone mated such dogs and tried in every way to breed a strain which would be superior to anything ever before known in dogdom? Surely it would not be any
Santa Claus by the committee in charge in this city. All local clubs, churches, schools, women's organizations, bands, musical units, and individuals will be asked to co-operate in making the affair a success and citizens are urged to do their part, however small or large, when called upon by the committee. Let's all work together to make Friday. Nov. 30 a day long to be remembered.
Dr. Walter S. Athearn, Ex-President of Butler, Victim of Heart Disease
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Dr. Walter Athearn . . Heart disease
MORRISSEY DUE TO RETAIN POST Kern Otherwise Would Be Repudiating Campaign, Is Reasoning. Police Chief Mike Morrissey will be reappointed by Mayor-elect John W. Kern, it was reported reliably today in Democratic political circles. While Mayor-elect Kern repeatedly said during the campaign that he had made no promises on any appointments and has not indicated so far that he will reappoint Chief Morrissey, it is pointed out that failure to do so would amount practically to repudiation of his campaign. The mayor-elect did promise publicly in his campaign a continuation of the policies of Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan's administration. In view of Chief Morrissey’s record and his popularity with the business community and with influential civic groups, it is pointed out there would be no reason for his removal, even if Mayor-elect Kern were so minded. There are only two other candidates for the post who appear to be receiving any consideration. They are Captain John Mullin, who was a candidate for chief when Chief Morrissey was appointed, and Detective Chief Fied Simon. A report that Sheriff Charles (Buck) Sumner might be given the post, because of his activities for the party in the campaign, is discounted in informed Democratic quarters. Chief Simon is reported to have the backing of a group of GermanAmericans said to be somewhat irked by the preponderance of Irish appointees in the city administration. nralnefficiency laid TO GREED OF FACTIONS Recovery Act Author Raps Selfish Labor-Industrial Groups. By I nilrd Press SAGINAW, Mich., Nov. 14.—Labor and industry factions destroyed effectiveness of the NRA, Henry H. Heimann, executive manager of the National Association of Credit Men and an assistant in drafting the recovery act, said in an address here last night. Labor injured effectiveness of the act by seeking,to unionize the country. and industry by seeking pricefixing agreements to insure renumeration for depression losses, Mr. Heimann declared.
A Dog's Life
By Leon F. Whitney
; more costly than breeding one of I the established breeds and it ought I to be the simplest thing on earth to sell such puppies, because there i are millions of people who don’t care much about the appearance of their dogs as long as they have a high order of intelligence. Probably if someone did undertake such a thing, they would find i their best choosing for the original stock among the old fashioned! shepherd dogs which one still finds | among the farms of the country. I have known of many great dogs which have seemed mentally developed to an unusual degree and by far the greater number of them | have been these old dogs that most j people have forgotten all about. j Personally I doubt very much if 1 j there ever has been a breed of dog developed for general, rather than specific mental aptitudes, which measure up to these old dogs. They are not registered, and are : only pets, but what wonderful pets j { they make! You find them herding ! cattle, taking the children to school. ! and being generally useful. They are among the mast intelligent if not the most intelligent dogs in the world. If you follow these articles on color inheritance you will soon be able to tell what color puppies your bitch will whelp. Tomorrow there will be something more about this phase of breeding. Do tou have a do* problem 1 Address communications to Leon F Whitney care 1 The Indianapolis Times inclosing threecent stamped adressed entelooe ior replv. Fire Levels College Building HIRAM. 0., Nov. 14.—The main administration building of Hiram college was in ruins today following a fire which caused $125,000 dam--1 age. Records of the college were ■ saved. i
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Former City College Head Dies Suddenly in St. Louis. FUNERAL NOT YET SET Oklahoma City U. Leader Well-Known Here: Served 2 Years. Funeral arrangements for Dr. Walter Scott Athearn, 62, former j president of Butler university, who I died last night in a hotel room in I St. Louis, Mo., today awaited the j arrival of the widow from her home in Oklahoma City. Dr. Athearn, who was president of Oklahoma City university at the I time of his death, suffered an ati tack of heart disease that resulted | in his death. He had gone to St. Louis with I S. K. Ingram, president of the Oklahoma school's board of trustees, to confer with bondholders of that institution. Physicians were called, but reported his condition too grave to remove him to a hospital. Treatments were given him. but he failed to respond to the medical care and died at 9 last night. Mrs. Athearn was on her way to St. Louis at the time of his death. It is believed the body will be taken back to Oklahoma City for burial. City Friends Shocked Numerous Indianapolis friends, acquaintances, members of the Butler faculty and students expressed shock at his sudden death. “I'm sorry to hear of his death,” said Dr. J. W. Putnam, acting president of Butler university, where Dr. Athearn served as president for two years. “I had hoped,” continued Dr. Putnam, “that he would have a number of years as president of the Oklahoma university. He was a man of a good deal of ability. He was a man of ideals and persistent in carrying out those ideals.” Prior to comixig to Indianapolis in 1931, Dr. Athearn was dean of the school of religious education and social service at Boston university and professor of religious education at Drake university. Succeeds Dr. Aley Succeeding Dr. Robert J. Aley, retired, as head of Butler, Dr. Athearn centered his activities in this city toward an intramural system of athletics and aided in having the school reaccredited by the North Central Asociation of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Shortly before he came to Butler the school had been taken off the accredited list for alleged overemphasis of athletics. Dr. Athearn reorganized the college of education, enlarged the evening and extension courses, and created a graduate college of religion. A ten commandments for freshmen. which he wrote upon coming to Butler, created widespread comment. Former Baseball Star The rules were, “Make your col- j lege work your main business: Live within your income. Budget your time. Choose your intimate friends j with care. Guard your health. Be democratic. Acquire the marks of a cultivated man or woman. Write to your parents. Cultivate your religious life. Learn to act in a crowd in harmony with resolutions which you have made in your solitude.” Dr. Athearn left Indianapolis last June to head the Oklahoma City university. He was a star baseball player during his school days and later a second baseman in the Southern lowa League. He was author of the “Minister and the Religious Teacher,” a member of Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, the Columbia Club and the City Club, New York. Two children, Gertrude and Clarence Athearn, by his first wife, who died in June, 1917, survive besides the widow, Mrs. Frances Emily Athearn.
‘Till Death Do Us Part ’ Romance Born in School for Blind Is Ended 24 Years Later by Death.
By Times Special CHICAGO. Nov. 14.—Two burly policemen avoided each other's eyes and shuffled their No. 12 brogans abashedly. while a little lavender-and-old-lace woman prayed for the return of her husband. They waited at a modest home at 1926 South Albany avenue yesterday where they had gone to see Lucy Willett. They were surprised to find that she is blind. They
1-0 11I1U Uidt were waiting until she had finished breathing out her loneliness for Lawrence Willett, her sightless eyes glistening with unshed tears. Mrs. Willett is 76. Twenty-four years ago, romance flowered for her in a home for the blind when she met Lawrence, who then was 49 He, too. was blind, of course, but she knew the Braille system and he did not. That brought them together. They'd sit together in the evenings at the blind home, he listening while her tiny fingers sped over the raised letters and opened to him the world of books. a a a THUS romance came to them. A little late in life, perhaps, but just as precious to them as the tempestuous love of youth. They had little, but each other, but in so having, had all the more. It wasn't strange that they'd want a little place of their own and when failing health forced him to quit work in the broom factory at
Entered Second-Class Matter at Postoffice. Indianapolis. Ind.
BATTERED BODY OF SCHOOLGIRL FOUND IN GRAVE Nude Remains Positively Identified by Dentist as 6-Year-Old Nashville Girl, First Believed Kidnaped. VICTIM OF FIEND, OFFICIALS ASSERT Child’s Head Smashed by Blow, Rag- Stuffed in Mouth; Father Hurries Back From New York Ransom Trip. By l nilrd Press NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 14. The body of a child found in a shallow grave near here was identified positively this afternoon as that of Dorothy Ann Distelhurst, fi, who disappeared from a Nashville street Sept. 19. J. Carlton Loser, Davidson county attorney-general, announced the definite identification following Dr. Leonard F. Pogue's check of his records and examination of the body's dental work. Dr. Pogue, a Nashville dentist, who had worked on Dorothy’s teeth, vouched for the identification. He found that single filling in one of the body’s teeth checked identically with his record of Dorothy.
LA DUARDIA IN PLEA FOR IDLE New York Mayor Slams at •Relief Experts’ in Capital Parley. By I nilrd Press WASHINGTON, Nov. 14.—A ringing appeal for immediate action to combine relief proposals and unemployment insurance into an adequate program of security for America’s workers was made here this afternoon by Mayor Fiorello La Guavdia of New York. Mayor La Guardia, plunging his fiery personality into a staid and dignified gathering of experts at the national security conference, pleaded for .direct action rather than the temperate deliberations of experts and economists. “You can not separate relief from unemployment insurance,” he informed the somewhat startled conferees. “Any legislation that we get will not be written by experts. If we wait for the economists to do it we will never get anywhere. “We must have immediate action by congress.” RILEY PARROT DEAD: BURIED NEAR HOME 76-Year-Old Pet of Hoosier Poet Favored Ice Cream. Polly, last surviving pet of James Whitcomb Riley, Hoosier poet, is dead. She lies buried today beneath the bedroom window of the poet's old home on Lockerbie street. Polly, who stuffed herself on ice cream and meats, and who dunked her bread, but ignored regulation parrot food, was 76 years old when she died Monday night. Mr. and Mrs. Theodore M. Weiss, 2964 North Delaware street, took care of the bird from the time Mr. Riley died until its death. Mr. Weiss was a close friend of the poet. AGAIN HEADS W. C. T. U. Mrs. Ida B. Wise Smith Is ReElected at Cleveland. By I nilrd Pri as CLEVELAND, Nov. 14—Mrs. Ida B. Wise Smith, Evanston, 111., today was re-elected national president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, in convention here.
the blind home, the little place on Albany avenue became a dream come true. They got along quite nicely on their dollar-a-day blind pension. That is, they got along nicely until he fell and broke his leg. He told her not to worry, though, because he'd be back soon. She reassured him and said she wouldn't, but of course she did and that's the reason the two burly policemen found her praying when they came to see her yesterday. A bit astonished to find her blind, they waited respectfully until she'd finished her prayer asking that her husbanud be brougnt back to her. It was fortunate the police didn't know anything about that romance that flowered for Lawrence and Lucy Willett twentyfour years ago. It would have made their task all the harder, when she'd finished her prayer, to tell her that Lawrence was dead.
HOME EDITION PRICE TWO CENTS Outside Marion County. S Cent*
“The nude body of the girl found late yesterday in a shallow grave on the grounds of the Davidson county tuberculosis sanitarium is that of Dorothy Ann Distelhurst,” Mr. Loser said. “The child was murdered. I'he left side of her head crushed by a blow from a hammer. There was a rag stuffed in her mouth. Department of justice agents, state and county officers are working togethei to learn the motives behind the crime and and ascertain who perpetrated it.’’ Temporarily abandoning the theory that the child was kidnaped, officers began a thorough investigation of the murder theory and the possibility that a hit-and-run driver might have injured her fatally and buried the body. Fiend Slayer Hunted The father, A. E. Distelhurst, was en route to Nashville by airplane from New York where he had been attempting a contact with senders of notes demanding $5,000 ransom. In shelving the kidnap angle, with the conclusions that Dorothy's fate was similar to that of the Lindbergh baby, officers leaned to the theory that a fiend murdered the girl and hastily buried the body in the isolated spot on the state institution grounds where two Negro employes found it yesterday. The ransom notes, officers thought, were sent either by an eccentric or someone who believed they could capitalize on the child's disappearance. Ransom Notes Received The family had received a number of ransom demands since 'he child's disappearance. Manyofrhem immediately were proved bogus. The mother. Mrs. Distelhurst. broke under the two-months' strain when she received the news of the definite identification from her brother. Lonie Hamilton, at the lamily cottage in East Nashville. Dorothy, shortly after noon Sept. 19, started alone from kindergarten for the eight-block walk to her home. When she did not appear at home for the evening meal, the parents reported her missing. Officers and volunteers combed the area several times without finding any trace of the child or any definite clews with the exception of several blood stains on the pavement and in a brush spot. Federal Agents Busy Investigators were convinced that the murderer usesd an automobile, as the makeshift grave where the child's body was found is nearly sift miles from the vicinity of her home. Department of justice agents withdrew at the time when the father was attempting to meet demands of ransom notes, but actively renewed investigation today with discovery of the body. None of the officials indicated that an early arrest was expected. Mr. Distelhurst Is a moderate-sal-aried employe of the Methodist Publishing Company, a local concern. He went to New York City last Wednesday after receiving several notes demanding ransom. The father and a friend, who preceded him to the city, both carried out instructions of the messages, but made r o contact even after printing ads in ew York papers. Mr. Distelhurst said he was willing to pay the $5,000 for the daughter's safe return. STRANGER KILLED HERE IN AUTOMOBILE MISHAP Unidentified Man, About 60. ! Struck While Crossing Street. An unidentified man. apparently about 60 died this morning after being struck by an automobile driven by Clarence C. Bray, Bridgeport, Ind.. at Madison and Parkway avenues. Witnesses said that the victim, who was shabbily dressed and who hand a three or four-day growth of beard, had stepped in front of the on-coming car. He died in an ambulance while being taken to city hospital. „