Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 267, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 January 1936 — Page 1

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SNOW BRINGS SERIOUS PERIL TO MOTORISTS Highways Likely to Be Glare of Ice Tonight and Tomorrow. POLICE WARN DRIVERS Rise in Mercury to Be Followed by Freezing Temperatures. Indianapolis motorists this afternoon received warnings from the Weather Bureau and from the police department informing them that they would have to drive carefully tonight when a drop in temperatures Is expected to turn the heavy snowfall into a solid sheet of ice. The snowfall, which started during the night, continued intermittently through the day and late in the morning, the Weather Bureau predicted temperatures tonight of around 20. Freezing will make removal of the heavy snowfall difficult, officials say. Heavy traffic .on arterial highways is expected to pack the snow into an ice-like covering even before the mercury skids to low levels. Snow was falling also at Terre Haute and at some places in Illinois. The storm, however, is not well enough developed, and already is too far east, to attain "blizzard intensity, the Weather Bureau reported. Police today issued an appeal to all drivers to exercise extreme caution since the stop and go intersections in particular are certain to become glares of ice with the frequent friction of auto tires, through starting and stopping. 300 Men Clear Streets An offensive against the heavy sndw-blarket began early today when Claude E. Shover, city street commissi oner, sent 300 men and 50 trucks into the mile-square to clear streets and intersections. Several crews of “white-wings” placed salt at street intersections to reduce the traffic hazard while other crews began clearing the gutters of I drifts. Mr. Shover said that arterial high- J ways of the city would be cleared! after the “mile-square” has been: restored to normal traffic condition. | “If the snow continues we will j work all night tonight,” he said. He estimated that It would take 36 hours to clean up the city unless the heavy snowfall continues. Prepare Coasting Places The city recreation department is preparing coasting places for children in parks today, Walter Middlesworth announced. No streets are to be blocked as at the previous snowfall because the barricades were destroyed and $22 worth of red lanterns carried away, Capt. Lewis Johnson, head of the traffic said. Parks to be used are Garfield, Erookside, Christian. Riverside, Coffin Golf Course, Rhodius, Douglas and Ellenberger. The toboggan slide at Coffin also is being put in condition. No skating at Lake Sullivan is to be permitted until a time to be announced by the department. ALIBI TO BE DEFENSE IN JACOBY GANG CASE Karrer Gives Hint in Questions Put to Veniremen. An alibi defense was hinted today as prospective jurors were questioned today in the Criminal Court trial of Forrest Jacoby, A1 Head, John Head and Jerry Dukes, charged with the robbery of the William H. Roberts & Sons dairy last August. Clyde C. Karrer. defense attorney, hinted at the alibi in questioning the veniremen. Defense anef prosecuting attorneys are to go to Springfield, El., Saturday, to take depositions of witnesses, who are ill in a hospital. A venire of 50 reported for jury duty today. Evidence will not be heard before next week, it is believed. PROSECUTORS TO HOLD MEETING HERE JAN. 31 United States District Attorney to Address Annual State Gathering. The Indiana Association of Prosecuting Attorneys is to hold its second annual meeting at the Claypool on the evening of Jan. 31 as a preliminary feature of the annual midwinter meeting of the Indiana Bar Association, Cecil F. Whitehead, president, announced today. Val Nolan, United States District Attorney, is to speak. Fred C. Gause and Thomas C. Batchelor, president and secretary, respectively, of the Indiana State Bar Association, also are to talk. Officers of the association, in addition to Mr. Whitehead, who is Madison County prosecutor, are Raymond J. Kearns, first vice president, Terre Haute; Horace A. Foncannon, second vice president Vincennes; Fred A. Egan, secretary, Crown Point, and Herbert M. Spencer, treasurer, Indianapolis. G. H. MEAD IS ELECTED Manufacturer Heads Business Council for Commerce Department. By United Press WASHINGTON. Jan. 16,-George H. Mead, president of the Mead Corp., today was elected chairman of the Business Advisory Council for the Department of Commerce, succeeding H. P. Kendall, president Kendall Cos.

The Indianapolis Times FORECAST: Occasional snow probable tonight and tomorrow; somewhat colder tonight with lowest temperature between 20 to 25.

VOLUME 47—NUMBER 267

Key Words Yesterday the case of Miss Ruth Grant came up in Municipal Court and Miss Grant, although in jail, was not in court. Judge Charles Karabell ordered her brought in and Bailiff Joe Gibbons went after her. He returned in a few moments without her and announced he couldn’t get her. “Why not?” Judge Karabell asked. “Well, judge,” he said, "they’ve lost the keys to her cell.” Miss Grant’s attorney jumped to his feet and demanded that she be produced in court. A bondsman signed her bond and it was approved and still she was in jail. Finally they found the keys, which were in a matron’s smock pocket and locked m her locker, and Miss Grant was released. But court was over and the whole thing has to come up again.

HOME BURNS; LOSSSI6,OOO Flames Destroy Part of House and Valuable Furniture. A fire of undetermined origin early today destroyed the first floor, and four rooms on the second floor, of the residence of Mrs. Genevieve G. Denham, 3335 N. Pennsylvaniast early today. The loss has been estimated at $16,000, and is covered by insurance. Mrs. Denham was awakened by smoke at 3:30 a. m. but after investigating went back to bed. Two hours later she was aroused again and found the living room in flames. With her two daughters, Roberta and Patricia, and a house guest, Mrs. E. E. Gates, she fled to a neighboring house where the alarm was turned in. Two dogs also were saved from the burning structure. The furnishing destroyed included a $2500 grand piano. 15 oriental rugs, a large library, much valuable furniture and a collection of etchings. PROBERS STILL SEEK PUNE CRASH CAUSE Mechanical Defect May Have Been Responsible. (Photos on Page 14.) By United Press MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 16.—The little evidence available to investigators today indicated that mechanical failure may have sent the American Airlines’ luxury ship, the Southerner, crashing to earth at a cost of 17 lives. While sorrowing relatives identified and claimed their dead at a local morgue, Department of Commerce officials, headed by Eugene Vidal, chief of the Bureau of Air Commerce, pressed an investigation. The p'4,ne itself, torn to bits in a swarr.p, 45 miles west of here, offered few clews, and the few witnesses told stories indicating mechanical failure. A Senate subcommittee investigating plane crashes sent its investigator, Harold E. Hartney. The committee was appointed after the plane crash that took the live of Senator Bronson Cutting. The speed indicator had been (Turn to Page Fourteen) KIPLING IS WEAKER IN FIGHTFORLIFE Poet’s Condition 'Not Quite So Satisfactory.’ By United Press LONDON, Jan. 16.—Rudyard Kipling took a turn for the worse today in his sturdy fight against death. A bulletin issued at Middlesex Hospital said: “Mr. Kipling’s condition is not quite so satisfactory ami still gives cause for great anxiety.” The “Poet of the Empire” is suffering from the effects of a perforated gastric ulcer, for which he underwent an emergency operation. That the unfavorable turn was unexpected was shown by an earlier bulletin which said: “Mr. Kipling had a fairly quiet night. Improvement has been maintained.” As the result of improvement throughout yesterday, it was added his surgeon. Dr. A. E. Webb-John-son, was most optimistic. The unfavorable bulletin was issued after an examination by Dr. Webb-Johnson. Kipling's wife and daughter arrived at the hospital at 10 and stayed half an hour at the bedside. BETHLEHEM STRENGTH FEATURES STOCK MART Trading Quiets After Spurt in Early Dealings Today. By United Press NEW YORK. Jan. 16.—Strength in Bethlehem Steel issues and a rise in communications stock featured afternoon trading on the stock exchange today. Trading quieted after a spurt in the early dealings. In the communication division. International Telephone featured in activity and rose to a new high at 17 Bethlehem Steel common reached 5414, and its preferred reached 13214, anew high, other steels were firm. Rails were mixed, oils irregular and utilities and aviations steady.

SALE OF LOTS UN NORTH SIDE NETSJ47.SOO Court Approves Action of Fletcher Trust Cos. as Trustee. 66 PARCELS INVOLVED All Are in Meridian Hills; Washington Bank Bond Holders Benefit. Sale of 66 Meridian Hills lots, averaging 100-foot frontage and 300-foot depth, was approved today by Probate Judge Smiley N. Chambers. The sale was made by the Fletcher Trust Cos., trustee for the Meridian Hills Realty Cos. and substitute trustee for trust bonds of the former Washington Bank and Trust Cos. 'how In liquidation in Probate Court. The Globe Investment Cos. was the buyer. The investment company was represented by the Paul L. McCord Cos. Although officials of the trust company and realty company would not comment on the sale price it was reported by Probate Court attaches that the lots brought $47,500. Three Dividends Paid Proceeds of the sale will result, according to Fletcher Trust officials, in another distribution of a substantial amount to holders of trust bonds of the Washington Bank and Trust Cos. The trust company has been liquidating collateral trust bonds, Series A, of the Washington bank for some time. Three liquidating dividends have been paid bond holders by the trust company. The sale includes 7000 feet of residential frontage on N. Meridian, Pennsylvania and Illinois-sts, at the edge of the city limits, and on 71st and 72d-sts. The area is near the Meridian Hills Country Club and in close proximity to many costly residences, realtors say. Buyer Believed Local Firm Twenty-two lots ..re in Meridian Hills, first section, and 44 lots in Meridian Hills, second section. Early development of Meridian Hills is seen by realty men as an outcome. Probate Court attaches and trust company officials said they did not know the home office of the purchaser* the Globe Investment Cos. The company is said to be an Indianapolis corporation. Mr. McCord, realty agent in the transaction, could not be reached. U. S. TO ASK DELAY IN AAA TAX RULING Attorney General Undecided About New Action. Val Nolan, United States district attorney, is to ask for a continuance in the hearing today before Federal Judge Robert C. Baltzell on the petition of Indiana processors for the return to them of $C,000,000 if. AAA taxes now in scorw, until the attorney general decides whether a rehearing will be asked before the Supreme Court on the entire recent AAA reversal. He made this plain as processors and millers argued before Judge Baltzell over who is entitled to the money now that the AAA has been declared unconstitutional and the taxes are found to have been illegally collected. On an intervening petition, the bakers have asked that the taxes be returned to them, since they paid them to the millers who merely acted, they say, as a collecting agency for the government and turned the money over to the government. Millers Dispute Point The millers contend that under the words of the Supreme Court's decree the money was deposited as a security to be returned and that therefore the money is not in the litigation. Judge Baltzell said that the whole question is whether the money is in litigation or whether it is a substitute for a bond on the part of the millers, pending the outcome of the suit they filed that eventually overthrew the act. There are about 75 lawyers and a like number of processors and millers in the courtroom. ELLSWORTH BELIEVED SIGHTED BY SEARCHERS Rescue Party Reports Seeing Man, Plane on Little America. By United Press LONDON, Jan. 16.— Discovery n, seeking Lincoln Ellsworth and his pilot, missing on a flight over the Antarctic, messaged its London committee today that it believed it had sighted a man and a plane on Little America. Ellsworth and his pilot, Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, have been missing since last Nov. 3, when they started their flight. Times Index Amusements 8-9 Births, Deaths 22 Bridge 12 Broun 17 Comics 25 Editorial 18 Financial 24 Merry-Go-Round 17 Mrs. Roosevelt 12 Pegler 17 Radio 4 Serial Story 13 Sports 20-21 i State •••••••• ••• 22

INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, .1936

Lion a Suicide By United Press DEARBORN, Mich., Jan. 16. —The police blotter carried a simple notation today It read: "Kitty—r.uicide by hanging.” Circumstances indicated the old story of the death of loved ones, brooding and despondency. Kitty, a lion cub presented to Chief Carl Brooks by Clyde Beatty, had a Doberman Pincher playmate, Pal. Pal died and Kitty developed a case of sulks. Later she transferred her affections to Nell, a spotted coach dog. Last week Nell died of pneumonia. Kitty again went into the doldrums. Police brought one dog after another. But Kitty would not accept them. Tuesday night the boys tied a rope around Kitty’s neck and fastened it to a bench. Kitty walked around the bench until the rope was taut, then lay down until she strangled. Her death was discovered just as Beatty had sent word that he was coming to Detroit with Kitty’s mother, Cleopatra, and that he believed a reunion would fix up.

TAXI MEASURE REVISEDAGAIN Changes by Committee to Delay Vote on Bill by City Council. BY TOM OCHILTREE Members of the City Council safety committee continued to perform major operations on the pending taxicab licensing ordinance today. This alteration work has been conducted so thoroughly that the city fathers will not be able to collect all the pieces and report the bill back to the council Monday night, Dr. Silas J. Carr, chairman, said. He indicated final action probably will be taken next month. A storm center since its introduction on Nov. 4, the measure, as drafted, was opposed by a majority of taxi owners and some drivers, a recent survey conducted by The Indianapolis Times revealed. The provision which would have prohibited taxis from cruising on streets served by trolley or bus lines has been rewritten, Dr. Carr said. The committee decided cabs could run on all streets, but could not stop and solicit pedestrians. As originally drawn, owners would have had to pay $2 to renew licenses on each car. The committee has sliced this down to 25 cents. Companies will not be allowed to charge a flat rate of 45 cents to transport passengers to all parts of the city, Dr. Carr said. Instead a regular meter rate at so much a mile has been substituted. Inserted into the measure is a provision that liability insurance and property damage policies must be carried by owners on each cab. “We have not been swayed by outside influence of any kind,” said Dr. Carr. It is our aim to get a measure that will be fair to the general public, the taxi industry and its legitimate competitors.” SENATE TO DERATE BONUS TOMORROW Bill Replacing United Front Gets Right-of-Way. By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. 16. The “baby bond 1 ’ bonus bill today was given legislative right-of-way in the Senate, with debate scheduled to begin tomorrow. Chairman Pat Harrison of the Senate Finance Committee presented his committee’s report which substituted the bond bill for the “United Front” bill passed last week by the House. * He then obtained unanimous consent to have the bill brought up for debate tomorrow. The Harrison bill would pay the 1945 value of the certificates at a cost to the government of more than $2,000,000,000. MINTON ASSAILS HIGH COURT IN SENATE TALK Speech Said to Strengthen Report He Would Accept Bench. (Story or Speed OB Page 22.) WASHINGTON. Jan. 16.—Fiery first speech of Senator Sherman Minton, assailing the Supreme Court AAA decision before the Senate today, was considered here as strengthening the report that he is a receptive candidate for the Federal bench. The speech pointed out that decisions upholding New Deal laws might well be given Within the Constitution. Senator Minton has been saying privately that what this country needs are young New Deal lawyers as judges in the Federal Courts. Several posts are open, including one on the Chicago appellate bench. lindysTmay LIVE IN ITALY, REPORT SAYS Flier Asks Information on Villa, News Agency Declares. By United Press ROME, Jan. 16.—The Tburist News Agency reported today that Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, now in Wales, might lease a villa at Alassio, on the western Italian Riviera, and stay there most of the year. Col. Lindbergh asked whether the owner would fell trees in a park of the villa in order that airplanes might land there, the agency said.

BRUNO ASKS HIGH COURT STAY; HOPE FOR LIFE DIM, SAYS WIFE; GOVERNOR MAY, MAY NOT ACT

Condemned Baby Slayer Continues Fight to Escape Chair. VISIT IS UNEMOTIONAL Anna Sees Husband for Perhaps Last Time at Prison. By United Press TRENTON, N. J., Jan. 16. —Bruno Richard Hauptmann fought for life today with all the resources commanded by shrewd lawyers, only to be told by his wife that she saw no hope. Seeing him for perhaps the last time before he goes to the electric chair in State Prison tomorrow night, she spoke the discouraging words to him through a, screen placed before his cell in death row, next door to the execution chamber. True, lawyers in Washington appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States to stay the execution and is view the conviction of the man found guilty of murdering the first-born of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes tersely granted them permission to “submit the papers.” Visit May Be Last But pale Anna Hauptmann knew there wasn't a chance in a thousand that the court would stop the state of New Jersey from putting her husband to death at 8 p. m. tomorrow. And despite a flood of rumors which surged about Trenton and New York, she apparently held little hope that Gov. Harold G. Hoffman would save him. During the visit that will be the last unless the Governor does act, she told Hauptmann .according to Col. Mark O. Kimberling, principal keeper of the prison, that “so far as she could see there was no definite promise of any further changes.” Then they talked of other things with no show pf emotiop* each concealing thoughts of the doom that awaits Hauptmann just through the heavy door that leads from death row. Hoffman Is Silent Gov. Hoffman, who previously had been so voluble in his discussion of the case, canceled all appointments and secluded himself to make what probably is the hardest decision he ever has faced. His secretary, William S. Conklin, said the young Governor still had an open mind on the question of Hauptmann’s guilt or innocence. That was the only positive s';atement that came from the* Governor’s office, which in days past had buzzed with statements of doubt about Hauptmann’s conviction and threats to arrest Dr. John F. (Jafsie) Condon, whose testimony was instrumental in dooming Hauptmann. The rest was all rumor, conjecture, and denial. Confession Rumor Denied One rumor was that the Governor had received a “confession.” Conklin promptly denied that, saying “the Governor has no knowledge of any confession.” Other rumors had it that Hoffman had talked to Mrs. Hauptmann this morning and that he was conferring with high Federal and state law enforcement officials. Mrs. Hauptmann said her husband continued to keep up his courage and that she had hopes of seeing him again, although she did not intend to take their baby, Mannfried, to the death house. It was cold outside the prison, de(Turn to Page Three) MURDER CONVICTION IS UPHELD BY HIGH COURT Walter Wolfe, Elkhart, Loses Appeal to Supreme Body. Conviction of Walter Wolfe, sentenced in 1933 to 2 to 21 years for a murder In Elkhart, has been affirmed by the Indiana Supreme Court. Wolfe first was sentenced in 1918 to life imprisonment, but petitioned for anew trial in 1933 on the grounds of newly 1 discovered evidence. He then received the 2-to=*2l sentence at a trial presided over by a special judge. Wolfe charged in his appeal to the high court that the special judge did not have jurisdiction. The Supreme Court, however, upheld the ruling of Elkhart Circuit Court that Wolfe had no grounds for appeal because he did not attack the special judge’s jurisdiction at the time of the trial. ‘FLOATING BAR’ CASE OPENS IN EVANSVILLE State Claims Jurisdiction Over “Tavern Boat” on Ohio. By United Press EVANSVILLE. Jan. 16.—A test of the state excise department’s jurisdiction over sale of liquor on a “floating bar” began today with the arrest of Lee Pfafflin, owner of a “tavern boat” at Cypress Beach, above Newburg. Ray Hinkle, chief of the excise enforcement division, said Pfafflin’s boat was the only one of its kind in ihdi&na. Although the boat was In the Ohio River, under Kentucky jurisdiction, it was tied to a tree on the Indiana shore tnd a gangpU nk led to the Indiana bank, making it subject to Indiana liquor laws, Hinkle claimed.

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The terrible strain of her unending fight to save Bruno Hauptmann from the electric chair is evident in eyery feature of-Mrs. Anna Hauptmann as she wearily plods down the stone steps of the New Jersey penitentiary at Trenton after a visit with her husband in the death house. She will see her husband for the last time today unless the condemned killer is granted a last-minute reprieve.

Hopewell Is Quiet on Eve of Hauptmann Execution Colonel’s Neighbors Reluctant to Discuss Case, Writer Soon Learns on Return Visit. BY FORREST DAVIS Times Special Writer HOPEWELL, N. J., Jan. 16. —Asa certain climax approaches in the four-year-old Lindbergh kidnaping, the one-time neighbors of the departed Lindberghs show a' sort of bashful unconcern.

Eighteen miles away, in the Trenton State Prison, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, occupant of deathhouse cell No. 9, still outwardly hopeful of a reprieve, awaits the climax in his way. In Hopewell, the one-street, whis-tle-stop which for 73 extraordinary days in 1932 was the news capital of the world, the folks talk reluctantly about Hauptmann’s decreed end or the flight of the Lindberghs overseas. If the Hopewell dwellers used the sort of Anglo-American cliches current in city cocktail lounges, they would express themselves as “fed up” with the bitingly sensational course of events which began upon Sourland the night of March 1, 1932. Being what they are, unadorned country folk, they remain noncommittal when questioned by a prying journalistic outsider. Town Almost Deserted I revisited Hopewell last night—--48 hours before Robert Elliott is slated to throw the switch at the ■frenton death house. In 1932, I passed six tense, racking weeks along the village’s main street, at Gebhart’s restaurant, the Hopewell House and in the Reading station. In those far-off days, the village had a 24-hour-a-day existence. A transient population of 500 newspaper men, news reel operators, radio technicians and assorted hangers-on churned Hopewell into a r eplica of Times Square on a presidential election night. Last night at 10 literally no one was abroad. An occasional motor car panted through Main-st. A lorn traveler awaited the gasoline local at the railway station. In 1932, travelers were robbed of their waiting room. Pine tables with typewriters and telegraph instruments usurped the public’s privileges. At 8 p. m. in the Hopewell House lobby, “Ma” Williamson chatted drowsily with Mr. Richie, the local tailor. “Pa” Williamson napped on a couch in the dining room. The Hopewell House once withstood hordes of hungry strangers, its lobby, bar and dining room jammed to the window sills. No one at the Hopwell House wished to comment on the approaching execution except Mr. Richie, who wholly in an academic spirit expressed some doubt that Hauptmann did the job alone. Garrett Man Burned Badly. GARRETT, Ind„ Jan. 16.—John Roos, 66, was in a critical condition here today as a result of burns received yesterday when a can of alcohol with which he was cleaning a water pump eamlodeC

BRUNO CLEARED BY NEW DATAJS CLAIM Former Defense Detective Predicts Reprieve. By United Press NEW YORK, Jan. 16.—Defense counsel of Bruno Richard Hauptmann has in its possession new evidence completely shattering the case on which the German carpenter was convicted of the kidnaping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, Harold C. Keyes, former chief of the defense investigation staff, said today. He predicted that Gov. Harold G. Hoffman would sign a reprieve. “The facts in the possession of Gov. Hoffman are such,” he said, “that I do not see how he could do otherwise.” Asked why this supposed evidence had not been produced in the various court hearings, the investigator said: “I believe it will be produced at the proper time. Os course there is still much to be done to reconstruct the crime and rid the picture of the distortions created by the New Jersey State Police. “I would not say now that Hauptmann can be shown to have been innocent of extortion, but I am absolutely certain that he had nothing to do with the kidnaping and death of that baby.” ‘CURFEW GIRL’ DENIED NEW TRIAL REQUEST Judge Rules New Evidence Insufficient to Upset Verdict. By United Press WISE, Va.. Jan. H. A. W. Skeen today denied Edith Maxwell anew trial on her conviction of a charge of beating her father, Trigg Maxwell, to death with a slipper when he threatened to attack her for staying out late at night with a boy friend. Judge Skeen ruled that new evidence was insufficient to upset the verdict which sentenced Edith to 25 years in prison. Defense counsel was granted 60 days to prepare and file a petition with the State Supreme Court of Appeals.

FINAL’ HOME PRICE THREE CENTS

New Motions Presented to Supreme Justices by Attorneys. APPEAL HIS SECOND Favorable Action Unlikely, Is Report as New Plea Is Made. By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. The fate of Bruno Richard Hauptmann today lay once again with the nine austere justices of the Supreme Court with the hour of his scheduled execution little more than 24 hours distant. For a second time attorneys for the German carpenter sentenced to die for kidnaping and murder of the infant child of Charles Augustus Lindbergh presented a petition asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the case. In asking a stay and a writ of habeas corpus, attorneys today raised three new charges: That vital letters between Hauptmann and Isador Fisch, his fur business partner, had been withheld by the prosecution. That vital testimony concerning the kidnap ladder had been similarly kept from the jury. That the jury itself was exposed to numerous outside “hostile” influences. The brief also contended that trial testimony asserted that the ransom note has never left the hand of Col. H. Norman Schwartzkopf while actually it had been given to a third person almost immediately after receipt. Atty. Gen. David T. Wilentz was charged with delivering an unfair summation in asking the jury at Flemington for Hauptmann’s conviction. Two Motions Filed Bruno’s lawyers made two motions. One was for permission to file an original writ of habeas corpus. The other was for a stay of execution pending the court’s decision on that motion. In view of the urgent nature of the proceedings it was believed the court might break precedent to act on the matter later today or at noon tomorrow. Action on the stay, at least, must be taken before Hauptmann’s execution scheduled at 8 p. m. tomorrow night. Favorable Action Unlikely If the Supreme Court move fails, virtually the only chance of Hauptmann for life will depend upon a reprieve by Gov. Harold Hoffman of New Jersey. Favorable action on the Hauptmann plea by the Supreme Court was regarded by those familiar with the couri as most unlikely. Only in rarest instances has the court intervened in such a situation. Courtroom attendants offered bets that Hauptmann's chance for Supreme Court intervention were hardly more than one in a thousand. LAVAL WINS CONFIDENCE IN DESPERATE GAMBLE Gains Debate Priority for Farm and Flood Relief Program. By United Press PARIS, Jan. 16.—Premier Pierre Laval, under violent attack from the left and in danger of overthrow in the midst of a delicate international and domestic situation, won a preliminary victory today in the Chamber of Debuties. The chamber voted confidence In the cabinet on a motion by Laval demanding priority of debate for the government’s agricultural and flood relief programs. Laval staked his government’s life on the motion. He thus gained time for a showdown when the debate on general policy starts and a motion is presented expressing lack of confidence in his foreign and domestic policies. STATE TOWNSENDITES SEE ELECTION SWEEP Kokomo Meeting Speakers Say They Will Name 12 Congressmen. By United Press KOKOMO, Jan. 16.—A campaign to pledge politicians to the Townsend old-age revolving pension plan was explained to more than 3000 supporters at a Fifth district rally here last night. Speakers predicted the increasing forces of Townsendites would elect 12 congressmen pledged to support the program in Indiana this fall. Charles Weiler, of Fort Wayne, gave an analysis of the movement. Dr. D. H Vass, of Lyons, outlined the organization plans. The meeting was the first of ft series of district rallies planned in Indiana BATES RESIGNS FROM STATE ARMORY BOARD Former Indiana Representative Quits Post on Group. Gov. McNutt accepted the resignation of Capt. Gerritt Bates. Indianapolis attorney, as a member of the State Armory Board today. Capt. Bates formerly was t member of the House of Representatives. -