Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 June 1937 — Page 13
.
Vagabond
:
" many times.
From Indiana—tErnie Pyle
Alaskan Governor's Preference ls For Vagabonding, but Mr. Roosevelt Intervened to Keep Him at His Post.
UNEAU, Alaska, June 30.—There are two things about the Governor of Alaska that I was badly mixed up on. First, I had an idea he was a young man. He’s 69. Second, for some reason I had it in my head his name was Holt. It isn’t—it’s John W. Troy. I kept calling him Governor Holt all the time we were talking. I could have cut out my tongue every time, but like Old Man River those words just kept on rolling along. The Governor of Alaska is easy to see, and easy to talk with. I got in without a prearranged appointment, and we sat and chatted for two hours. Then he invited me out to the mansion to a 5 o'clock cocktail party. (I went, too, and had a good time.) . John Troy came to Alaska just 40 years ago, and has lived here nearly ever since. He came as a Seattle newspaper correspondent, to cover the gold rush. He never went in much for gold hunting himself, but he has done better than most of the early gold hunters. ; He is at heart a newspaperman, and that has been his career. After the gold fever of 98 subsided, he bought into a paper in Skagway. There he met a young Dane named Igvard Jensen who knew all about printing, and about business too, and knew how to save money. From that day to this, close on to 40 years now, John Troy and “Jenny” Jensen. have been fast friends. Today Jensen runs a printing house in Seattle. He is Governor Troy's closest friend. They make big plans together. They had it all arranged that as soon as Governor Troy’s term was up they would start around the world and just tramp for several years, seeing the things they'd never had time to see.
Plans Put Off
But President Roosevelt interrupted by reappointing Governor Troy for a second term, and now all vagabonding plans are off for another four years. ‘It was Jensen who put up the money for Troy when he moved to Juneau in 1913 and bought the Alaska Daily Empire. Jensen has put up the money “I've never been broke in my life,” Gov= ernor Troy laughs, “because Jensen always had some money.” . Governor Troy is far from broke now. He owns 75 per cent of The Daily Empire, and he turned. the other 25 per cent over to his son-in-law, Bob Bender, who edits the paper. Thousands of people in Alaska know Governor Troy. For 40 years they've known him as John, and
Mr. Pyle
' the fact that he’s now their Governor doesn’t make
any difference to them—or to him. I ‘some old-timer gets hard up and needs a loan he just goes and asks John for it. And gets it.
Eyes Hold Twinkle
~The Governor is a handsome man, with thin white hair, and he dresses meticulously. He talks rather slowly, and his voice is weak. But there is a twinkle in his eye, and always a hint of a sly smile on his lips. He has a sharp sense of humor, and he’s proud of having kept it through all the years. } Like nearly all Alaskans, he has no fear of airplanes. Five of his last six trips across the United States have been by air. He has flown over much of Alaska, but has never been to Point Barrow or the north coast. ‘There are two things he has wanted to do for 25 years—attend an annual meeting of the Associated Press directors, and see a Kentucky Derby, He has never done either. Troy doesn’t care But like all of us,
much for the job of Governor. he admits to a tinge of vanity, and he is proud of being reappointed because it is a recognition that he has done a good job. But he would rather go around the world with Jensen. The Government provides a fine Colonial-style home for the Governor, but he hates to go home at night. For there's nobody at home now. Mrs. Troy has sinus trouble and can’t stand it up here where it's so damp, so she stays in southern California (where she still ‘has sinus trouble).
Mrs.Roosevelt'sDay
By Eleanor Roosevelt First Lady Advises the President
On His 'Behavior' at Wedding Today.
W ASHINGTON, Tuesday—Last night we had a very pleasant birthday party here for my brother. It is so long since I have had the pleasure of having him with us on his birthday, I cannot remember when it last occurred. However, that just made it pleasanter last evening. We observed all the usual family customs and I saw him counting his - candles and he looked distinctly pleased at having only 21. After dinner Elliott and Ruth showed us the colored movies which Elliott had taken of the fishing trip in Texas waters. The coloring was perfectly beautiful, and I don’t think I ever saw pictures which showed the fighting fish as well. The picture we saw afterward was “This Is My Affair.” It was very exciting and I would like to know if it really was true historically. Many historical personages, such as President McKinley, John Hay, Mr. Root and Theodore Roosevelt appear in it. The incident was most dramatic. I resented only one thing—namely, in the last scene it never seemed tec occur to President Roosevelt that he could have opened the letter addressed to President McKinley and judged something by its contents. Of course, if it was a hoax, he would have had to get Mr. Andrew’s corroboration, but it might have been sufficient evidence to have stayed execution for a short time at least. This morning Anna and John went off early, as they have a business engagement in Philadelphia before they go to Wilmington. Elliott and Ruth left a little later to go directly to Wilmington now that all the young people have gathered there. As usual, before any event of this kind, certain people are coming to light who have not received their invitations and I suppose there are others who may have been forgotten. I always.wish one could have some method which would be entirely proof against the ordinary mistakes which human beings make. I found a group of very serious-looking gentlemen gathered in the President’s room this morning. Among them was the Secretary of the Treasury, so I felt sure they were discussing some important financial questions. I was all prepared to retire when my hus- - band beckoned me and said: “The question under discussion is, what do I do tomorrow afternoon? I don’t think I had better stand in the line.” I wasn’t very helpful, but out of the experience of our own past, I murmured, “It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you don’t steal the show.”
"Walter O'Keefe —
y
™
F the home life of the du Ponts doesn’t quiet down pretty soon, the only way Hitler, Mussolini or John L. Lewis will get on the front page is to buy advertising space. Last Saturday the Second American Family opened a race track gown in Delaware and it must be wonderful to see horses coming down the homestretch all wrapped up in cellophane. Doubtless they'll have some pretty close races, but I'd love to see the “camera finish” in the race between the du Ponts and the tax ¢ollector. Of course there’s more than the usual gamble at this race track. You might pick up “incorporated” horse. He'd have to stop and hold a meeting with himself to decide whether it would be advisable for him to win the race. The winner of today’s stake will get a few thousand dollars and a slice of the wedding cake. Personally, I've given up following the bangtails. I just learned that the -horse I bet on yesterday starts getting his social security next week.
7
The Indianapolis
Second Section
By A. W. (Bigfoot) Davis
(As Told to Douglas Hicks)
laundry.
bones about his past.
“Urschel was nervous and scared when we were taking him out to the Shannon place,” Kelly said. “He
said to us: “you ought to think about my wife and family.’ “He said, ‘I've got $2000 on me 111 give you. Why not take it and turn me loose?’ ” “Machine Gun” Kelly laughed when he told what he said in reply. “I told Urschel, ‘Why, I've got more than that in my pocket for change right now.’” But I guess the joke was sort of on “Machine Gun,” for right then Urschel was noticing things which would put the finger on Kelly and finally cause his capture after Urschel was freed on payment of the ransom. 2 2 2 ELLY would say, “I-like to talk about old times. It brings back sweet memories. “I hope I get out some time. I will have some more good times.” I think he is being cured of violating the law, however, if he isn't already. “Machine Gun” once came over laughing about a ‘letter his wife, Katherine Kelly, had written to him. “She says, ‘George, darling, you thought I was tough. “ ‘You ought to see mama now. She’s tough as a boot and twice as tall since she got in this place (prison).’ ” The automatic snitch is quite a device. Every time you leave the cell house you go through one of the things. : Every time you leave the recreation yard to go into the bigger “enclosure where the work buildings are you go through another one. If you have any metal on you, the snitch gives you away. “Buzz, buzz,” says the snitch, and the guards shake you down and find out what kind of metal you have. Each snitch has two steel boxes about two and one-half feet apart. You walk between them. A hookup of magnetism and electricity sets off the buzzer when any metal comes along. It took them three days to get things lined up for me to go to work. ” ” ”
T= first of the three was my first dull day on “The Rock.” It began at 6:30 a. m, when the bell rang. It was 20 minutes until breakfast. In that time I washed up, dressed, made my bed, cleaned my cell. Breakfast that first day was at 6:50 a. m. We were out at 7:10 a. m. and I returned to my cell. I was there all day except for a trip to the hospital for a complete: physical examination and blood tests. A guard brought around a questionnaire which I filled out. The second day I got taken down to the issue room and I got my first real introduction to the warden. “If any of your clothes don’t fit, say so now,” he said. “You are the one who must wear them. “Your cell will be No. 355, and you will do laundry sorting work.”
| Was S ‘Bigfoot’ Meets Automatic Snit
(Second of a Series)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1937
I MET “Machine Gun” Kelly and the automatic snitch the fourth day in Alcatraz. That was the day I took my place in the lockstep of the prison routine. It was the day I went to work in the
The man I had spotted in the dining room as Kelly was wrapping laundry a few feet from me. He is gray at the temples, 42 years old, laughing and talking all the time he can. . When he turned I got a look at a canvas belt he was wearing. It had “George Kelly” written on it in pencil. ‘He was easy to get acquainted with, didn’t make any He seemed to like to talk about some of the things he had done, particularly of the kidnaping of Charles F. Urschel, Oklahoma oil millionaire.
#
And then came the fourth day, the one I went to work. After breakfast, instead of falling out of line and going back to my cell, I marched out through the snitch into the recreation yard with the others. ‘We were lined up in six main lines, but some of the lines had several divisions. As soon as we stepped out of the building, until the whistle blew, we could smoke and talk. It had been four days since I had been able to talk to anybody but a guard or official; it seems nutty that a man would get a kick out of just talking, but I did.
” » ” NE division takes in the dock workers. They load and unload cargo at the docks, search the
laundry, haul the laundry to the laundry building. A second is the garbage detail. It picks up all trash and garbage from the different residences and kitchen. The cleanup gang takes care of the flowers, sweeps the streets, maintains cleanliness, does the “janitor work in the administration building. The mat shop workers make rubber mats from old auto tires for government use. . The laundry detail employs as many men as all the other jobs put together. It does all the laundry work on the island, the work for the army posts in San Francisco, for army transport ships, some of which bring us about 5000 pieces of work each time. The machine , or blacksmith
shop does iron work, ‘remodels ®
bars, repairs trucks. The model shop makes furniture, a good deal of it. The tailor shop makes prison uniforms. : " Those are the main work divisions. When the whistle blew, the line nearest the gate went out first. Every man called his number as he went out, and it was checked against a list. We went through a second snitch and marched into the building. We were turned over to a foreman, a man with the power of a guard but no uniform. Every 30 minutes the guards checked
us. # ” »
BOUT 11, or a little before, A we quit work, washed up, and at 11:15 began the march back. We went into our cells and at 11:30 we marched in to. dinner. It was over at 11:50, we rested in the cells until 12:30, were back on the job a few minutes later. The guards don’t go around with their heavy artillery just for fun, I found out. % Some of them can make a gun stand on its hind legs and beg. A boat floated into the forbidden zone, and a guard put a cluster of bullets into the water ahead of it. The men in the boat had: engine trouble, probably, or they wouldn't have got in where they were. They broke out a pair of oars and really bent their backs getting out. Then I saw the gun range down on a level with the laundry building. And after we had had supper and were back in our cells we could hear the guards, that night and others, firing, firing, firing. Sometimes the splutter and roll of the macinine guns, the crackle of the rifles and the pistol fire like hands clapped together .went on
Side Glances
By Clark
*
COPR. 1937 BY NEA SERVICE. INC. T. M. REG. U. 8. PAT.
"We'll have a sign shaped like a teapot, and right about where that horse is standing will be our cashier's stand," :
»
| the 1938 relief
ent to Alcatraz
ch, Finds Guards Shoot Straight
Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.
George (Machine Gun) Kelly, inset, kidnaper and badman, was one of the first
prisoners (Bigfoot) Davis met when he entered Alcatraz. ‘the laundry, where Davis worked, and the prison dining room.
The upper pictures show At lower left is an Al-
catraz cell, while at right Davis studies a picture of “The Rock” after his release.
for hour after hour until nearly midnight. It was hard to go to sleep with that going on. You knew they were practicing,
perfecting their aim, so if they had. to shoot at you the bullets would tear your life out. (Copyright, 1937, NEA Service, Inc.)
NEXT—Bigfoot gets acquainted
with Al Capone and tells of an
attempt on the life of the former
Chicago vice lord, who is, Bigfoot says, the most hated man in Alcatraz.
VanNuys and Minton Split Votes as Relief Measure
Senate Passes
By E. R. R. (Editorial, Page 14)
ASHINGTON, June 30.—Unchanged in any important respect, the Administration’s 1938 work-relief bill (HJR 361) passed the Senate, notwithstanding the defection of powerful Democratic chieftains including Majority Leader Robinson (D. Ark.). The bill now goes to conference with only minor Senate changes to be ironed out. The bill appropriates the round sum of $1,500,000,000 for WPA and all other agencies generally classed as work-relief, ang makes available for expenditure in the next fiscal year all unexpended or unobligated balances of previous relief appropriations, These balances are estimated to total about $233,000,000, so expenditure really will be $1,723,000,000 or thereabouts. A Senate economy group urged without success that the unexpended balances not be reappropriated, and that relief money be rigidly limited to the billion and a half. The Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended this procedure, but was out-voted on the floor, 25 yeas to 53 nays. Indiana’s Senators split on the proposal, VanNuys (D.) voting yea, Minton (D.), nay. ” " ” : HE most important test of Administration strength, however, came on later votes involving proposals that state and local governments be required to put up 25 per cent or 40 per cent of the cost of future WPA projects, unless they were willing to certify inability to pay. The appropriations committee approved an amendment by Senator Byrnes (D. S. C.) fixing at 40 per cent the proportion of WPA costs that would be required of state and local governments. Debate on the Byrnes proposal proceeded fast and furiously, when ‘economy” advo;ates were suddenly and unexpectedly strengthened by Democratic Leader Robinson, theretofore an always dependable backer of White House views. Senator Robinson proposed as a compromise that the 40 per cent requirement be shaved to 25 per cent. Many powerful Senate leaders, especially those from the Southern tier of states, joined with Senator Robinson, but he was unable to swing to his view Assistant Majority Leader Barkley (D. Ky.) nor was he
able to hold the votes of numerous |
Democratic first-termers from the South and elsewhere. His 25 per cent amendment to the Byrnes ameéndment was rejected, 34 yeas to 49 nays. Senator VanNuys again voted yea; Senator Minton, nay. ” ” ” ENATOR BY ™ES’ 40 per cent proposal was even more soundly defeated, the roll call showing 25 yeas and 52 nays. The nine Senators who switched their position thereby showing that they were willing to require a 25 per cent state and local contribution but not 40 per cent, were Capper, Caraway, Connally, Davis, Johnson of Colorado, McNary, Pittman, Robinson and Truman. : On this proposal likewise, Senator VanNuys voted yea, Senator Minton, nay. The Senate rejected, 30 yeas to 48 nays (Congressional Record, June 22, p. 7979). an amendment. to
&.
the relief bill by Senator ‘Lodge (R. Mass.) setting up $20,000,000 for a An
census of the unemployment. amendment by Senator Bridges (R. N. H.) to reduce the relief appropriation to $1,000,000,000 was rejected without a record vote, and the same fate met the proposal of Senator Vandenberg (R. Mich.) to reduce the 000,000 and distribute the money
as direct grants to the states. The $1,500,000,000 bill was passed with-
out a record vote. (Congressional Record, June 22, p. 7983.) ” " ”
HE Senate resolutely rejected all efforts: to amend HJR 375,
which extends for two years (or until mid-1939) the 3-cent postage rate, the Federal gasoline tax and the sundry “nuisance” taxes originally enacted in 1932 and twice extended since that time. The resolution was passed as written by the House without a record Senate vote. (Congressional Record, June 24, p. 8185.) Prior to the final vote, several important amendments were rejected, notably one by the finance committee that the 3-cent postage rate and the nuisance taxes be extended for only one additional year instead of two. This proposal had the unanimous backing of Senate Republicans but was snowed under—26 yeas to 50 nays. (Congressional Record, June 24, p. 8169.) Both Senators VanNuys and Minton voted nay to the one-year extension proposal. . ” 2 2 ENATOR LA FOLLETTE (FP. Wis.) almost succeeded in tack-
sum of $1,250,-
surtaxes on net incomes over $6000 to- bring in an additional $248,000,000 annually in income taxes. This proposal actually passed the Senate, 35 yeas to 31 nays (Congressicnal Record, June 24, p. 8173) before the startled leadership could rally .its forces. After the roll call, however, Senator Connally (D. Texas) said the proposal had been twice voted on and defeated in . the Senate (in 1234 and 1935), and he expressed regret that the Senate should attempt now “to rewrite our whole income tax structure using the pretext of a little joint resolution.” The Senate hurriedly reconsidered its vote, 45 yeas to 26 nays (Congressional Record, June 24, p. 8183), and subsequently rejected the income tax rise, 29 yeas to 42 nays (Congressional Record, June 24, p. 8183). ? Senator Minton cast a yea vote with others defeated on the La Follette surtax increase, while no vote was recorded for Senator VanNuys. : :
The Senate shouted down another La Follette amendment which would
have reduced personal income tax exemptions for married persons from $2500 to $2000, and exemptions for single persons from $1000 to $800. He said this change would net $110,000,000 annually.
The Senate’s determination to meddle further with the income tax structure at this time was so strongly indicated that Senator Borah (R. Idaho) said he would not even offer an amendment applying the income tax to certain classes of tax-exempt secruities. He inserted his amendment in the Congressional Record,
ing on an amendment increasing | however. (June 24, p. 8184.)
A MAN MAY BE A ROMEO .ON A LOVE SEAT.
DOES HIS NECKING WHILE DRIVING... HE'S ONLY A N\TWIT /
S PEAKING OF SAFETY
" TAYLOR IN THE
5 2 1 7 2
'A DON JUAN ON'H
AND A ROBERT MOON LIGH T~~
National: Safety Council.
. monopoly.
PAGE 13
Qur Town
By Anton Scherrer
New Data on Old Round Table and The White Horse That Pulled Lincoln Is Brought Out by Checker-Uppers.
OTHING tweaks my attention as much as the recurrent discovery that a nums< ber of people around here check up on me every evening. : Thus, the other day I ran a piece about
| the art of conversation, in the course of
which I took infinite pains to point out that good talk, as a rule, originates at a round table. Indeed I went even further and cited the round table in Frank Arens’ Bismarck Cafe as a proof : of my thesis, leaving a lot of people to believe that the art of conversation was confined to the Bismarck. Well, that didn’t set right with some people, because hardly had the news of Mr. Arens’ table had time to get around when George Calvert notified me that I forgot to say anything about the round
table in the dining room of the
old New York Store. So I did. The dining room of the old New York Store, as I remember, occupied the greater part of the fifth floor, and, I guess, wag the first department store eating place in Indiane apolis. The rear part of the place was partitioned off and reserved for men. Just to the left of the entrance was the round table, and it was here that Volney T. Malott, Louis Eubank, Linton Cox, George Calvert and a lot of others met to take their noon« day meal and straighten out the affairs of the world,
Private Table for Lew
Lew Shank always took his lunch here, too, but he never sat at the round table. Sarah, the head Vhieesn always gave him a little table all to hime self. : Sarah, I guess, was the niftiest head waitress this town ever had. She started as an ordinary waitress at the New York Store, and proved so good finally that there was nothing left to do but let her run the whole place. Finally, too, Sarah proved too good for the New York Store, because the way things worked out, Sarah ended up running the City of Indianapolis. Sure, the head waitress of the old New York Store dining room was the same head waitress who married Lew Shank, the Mayor of Indianapolis who always referred to his administration as “Me and Sarah.” All of which leaves me room to record the remarks of another correspondent. He said he read my piece about the old horses of Indianapolis, and felt hurt that I didn’t say anything about “Frank.”
Horse Gets Credit Due
“Frank,” it turns out, was the old white horse that belonged to Andy Wallace. He was the “wheel horse” that helped pull Abraham Lincoln at the time of his visit to Indianapolis on February 12, 1861. Four years later, he had fhe same job, except that this time it was Mr. Lincoln’s coffin. Between Mr. Lincoln’s first and last visit, “Frank” received every regiment going to or returning from the war. As a rule, either Col. James Blake or Mr. Wallace held the reins. : “Frank” died on January 14, 1881. It was a Friday, and the whole town went into mourning. A lot of other horsés died that winter, too. That was because of the epizootic that year, says my correspond ent. An epizootic, I don’t mind telling you, is the correlative of an epidemic as applied to human dis= eases. I know because I looked it up.
A Woman's View By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
Civilizations May Come and Go, but Feminine Life Aims Seem the Same.
“J \ON'T be too frank. Part of man’s love is curie osity. It is a thousand pities that the moment most women fall in love they are seized by an irre sistible desire to disclose every detail of their lives, past and present, to the object of their affections.” Sounds modern, doesn’t it? The paragraph happens to be copied from The Egyptian Mail, published daily in remote Alexandria, You'll find just about the same kind of writing in The Ceylon Independent, The Straits Echo of Penang and The Singapore Free Press. Catastrophe may be imminent. Civilization may be tottering on its last legs, and kings are probably a vanishing set, but the woman’s page is everlasting and everywhere. Thank Heaven for it, too! One gets a new confie dence, a fresh feeling of security in the thought that, come what may, women are still and will forever be interested in winning the notice of men. So long as the papers, foreign and domestic, are filled with advertisements about the fine qualities of soaps, the power of perfumes, with palate-tantalizing recipes and fashion snapshots, to say nothing of ex~cellent’ admonitions upon the subject of keeping the male well in hand, we'll hold on to hope a little longer. Something very like the modern woman’s page has always existed. Once it was the witch’s love potion, and then the fortune teller’s formula. Today it is the beauty column, the charm lesson and the cooking recipe, all of which have but one purpose—to hold man to woman and home. A thousand newer civiliza=tions may come and go—but this will remain. And isn’t that a comfort?
New Books Today
Public Library Presents—
A BIOGRAPHY in which the author’s grande - mother is the heroine, and a very intriguing heroine at that, is SUNS GO DOWN, by Flannery Lewis (Macmillan), Around this determined, valiant and admirable little lady Virginia City, Nev. grows up. And her grandson exhibits through her eyes the stages of its growth. Neighbors to mountains, she often went alone to the Divide for strength and come fort in sorrow or uncertainty. She seemed to reflect the imperturbableness of these mountains, ° She was so much a part of New England that the noisy, raucous West flowing in about her seemed almost an intrusion and is vastly more impressive by contrast. This same Virginia City is described in a book appearing simultaneously, “This Life I've Loved,” by a relative of R. L. S., who was born on California St. in Indianapolis. In it Virginia City is a child’s memory. In Suns Go Down it is the heart of a Big Bonanza, various, lusty, ruthless and surging, This is a faithful and arresting portrait of a phase in our national development that Flannery Lewis has painted. :
Mr. Scherrer
” ” ” HE process whereby every phase of our civilization has become dependent upon every other, is described by Harry A. Overstreet in A DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE (W. W. Norton). This ine terdependence of the farmer, the artisan, the business man, the professions, of government itself, he says, has come about unintentionally, gradually, but surely; and thus, he believes, our democracy, though based in theory on the indiviualistic ideals of Thomas Jefferson, has in reality become the tool of a few economic interests. The solution Mr. Overstreet?sug= gests is, first, public control of credit, utilities tind transportation; secondly, a strongly organized labor movement. There should remain, he thinks, enough individual enterprise to act as a check on publis I Mr. Overstreet is particularly good in dee scribing how our sentiments and attitudes have lagged far behind the material development of cur culture.
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El a RI Re
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