Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 November 1938 — Page 1
FORECAST: Considerable cloudiness tonight and tomorrow; not quite so cold tomorrow afternoon; lowest tonight about 24.
OME
EDITION
{Scripps —nowarnl| VOLUME 50—NUMBER 221
Si —
Sour “Saniel pajamas, the Dioune SAE ing at bedtime to offer thanks for blessings paivets Left to o Het: Aunties ¥venpe, Moric B Emilie and Cecile.
‘Roosevelt
» #
8
Appeals
For Oppressed as City Gives Thanks
Snow Brings Old-Fash-ioned Touch but Adds ~ To Traffic Hazards. TEMPERATURES 6a. m... 26 8a m.... %.a m.. 24 7 9 a ms (‘My Diary’ Page 17; Editoridl,
Cartoon, Clapper, Gen. Hugh Johnson and Broun, Page 18).
25 Re
Indianapolis greeted an old-fash-joned Thanksgiving today with a bountiful supply of everything, including a last minute present of snow. It has been 36 years since the ‘City has had as much snow at Thanksgiving time, with approximately four inches today compared to 2.2 inches in 1902 and 1.5 inches in 1930, according to the Weather ‘Bureau. The mercury dropped to 24 at 7 a. m. today, and then began a slow ascent. The Weather Bureau forecast considerable cloudiness tonight and tomorrow, with slightly warmer weather by tomorrow afternoon. Driving continued to be perilous with the low temperatures freezing the slushes of last night into ice. With the normal climb in temperatures during the day, the streets were expected to clear somewhat.
Care Decreases Mishaps
Few accidents were reported to police as automobile drivers were wont to drive carefully with the first siege of winter. A 55-year-old man died of a stroke following a traffic accident in which he was uninjured. The accidents, however, will come .Jater when motorists become slipshod in their driving habits and forget the risks of driving on ice and snow-covered thoroughfares, police warned. Many of the highways still were covered with snow although all paved roads were reported by State police as passable. Meanwhile, practically every Indianapolis church had services last night or was to hold services today. Special Thanksgiving meetings, topped in most cases by a turkey dinner, were being held by many Indiana organizations, A feature was a special service at the new Singing Tower of the Indiana School for the Blind at 7725 College Ave. The day was officially proclaimed as Thanksgiving by Governor Townsend. “There is no home, however humble, that has not received some blessing,” the Governor said in his proclamation. A little bit of historical research (Continued on Pag= Five)
87 ABOARD SHIP DISABLED IN GALE
LORIENT. France, Nov. 24 (U. P.).—The Finnish training ship Suomen Joutsen, with 60 cadets and a crew of 27 aboard, sent out an SOS call in the Bay of Biscay today. The ship was drifting disabled in a gale. A French warship was sent to the rescue.
TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES
Mrs. Ferguson 18 Obituaries ... 23 Pegler ........ Pyle.......... Questions . Radio ....... Mrs. Roosevelt 17 Scherrer Serial Story... 30
Books ess sss 17 Broun ......, 18 Clapper ,..... 18 Comics ...... 30 Crossword ... 31 Curious Wer 30
Forum 18 Grin, Bear I 30 In Inpls. 3 | Society
President at Warm Springs, Speaks Tonight Qver National Hookup. WARM SPRINGS, Ga, Nov. 24
(U. P.).—President Roosevelt today Ted America’s millions in observance]
of Thanksgiving—a ceremony -that
for him at least was tempered by deep consideration for the oppressed in other lands.
Mr. Roosevelt, who tonight will dine with the infantile paralysis patients of the Warm Springs Foundation as he has done in years past, spent his holiday awaiting further reaction to the Jewish refugee question after his formal statement last night. In that statement he said: “It is reported that the number of refugees to be permitted in to Palestine will be materially increased. And in particular that many children and young people will be given refuge there. I have no means of Snowing! the accuracy of this report but I hope that it is true.”
Looking to Britain?
Beyond that brief word from the Little, White = House atop Pine Mountain there was no further delineation of the Chief Executive's views on the subject nor were any further explanations available from his secretarial staff. However, observers here took it for granted that his expression was in the nature of an inferential hope that Britain would greatly increase the quota of Jewish immigrants to the Palestine homeland. Moreover, it was interpreted as a notice that in spite of his sympathetic interest in the refuge problem that there was no immediate hope that the Administration would sponsor any movement in the next Congress to remove present immigration quota restrictions.
Reporters Surprised
The announcement of Mr. Roosevelt’s position came as a distinct surprise to correspondents attached to his party, particularly in view of the fact that no explanation of it was available or could be obtained. The President, meanwhile, went ahead with his Thanksgiving celebration plans. Early tonight he will motor with his wife from their home to Georgia Hall, the main assembly building on the Foundation, and join 500 other persons, patients and guests at dinner. Mr. Roosevelt will carve the turkey at his table. He is scheduled to deliver a 15minute address concerning, in the main, Warm Springs and its longrange objectives, but five minutes of the. talk’ will be broadcast on a national hookup at 7 p. m. (Indianapolis Time).
MNUTT DRIVE TOOPENJAN. 1
McHale Returns, Prepares To Start Work Before. Chief’s Arrival.
* (Photo, Page Five)
Prank McHale, Democratic na-| tional committeeman and manager:
of the McNutt-for-President cam-
, Started plans for opening nafonal headquarters. here. upon his return today from political conferences in Washington and New York. His conference with state Democratic chairmen and national committeemen from states east.of the Mississippi River “indicated Mr. McNutt will have many friends when the campaign gets under way,” he said. Mr. McHale said campaign headquarters will be opened in the Chamber of Commerce Building soon after Jan. 1 and that Mr. IMcNutt, now High Commissioner to the Philippines, will be in Indianapolis in Februdry to outline a program. “I am not prepared to state publicly' now the status of national sentiment in the campaign, but it appears Mr. McNutt will gain sup‘port steadily as a middie-of-the-road liberal,” he said. :
Full-Time Job for McHale
Organization of a headquarters staff will be started next week, he said. “All the national campaign work reaching into every state will be conducted from Indianapolis.” He said details of the headquarters program will be worked out in the next few weeks and that he intended to establish his personal offoes there and make a full-time job of it. He predicted that Democratic losses sufferéd in the elections this year will be offset by new support in the borderline states before 1940.
McHale Thinks Third Term
For Roosevelt Unlikely
By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON, Nov. 24.—Skeptical Washington correspondents had something besides Thanksgiving turkey to chew on today as the result of the visit here of Frank McHale, Democratic’ National Com-
mitteeman from Indiana and Paul]
V. McNutt’s 1940 Presidential campaign manager. For example, Mr. McHale handed them such delicacies as: : Mr. McNutt will return in February. The McNutt organization saved Indiana in the tight race this fall. * The High Commissioner will run as a “middle-of-the-road-liberal” and a Jeffersonian Democrat. If McNutt had been in the Hoosier campaign this year he would have won hands down. President Roosevelt probably will
(Continued on Page Five)
(Photo, Page Three)
Funeral services for Robert Malott Fletcher, Indiana National! Bank vice president and cashier, who died last night at his home, 26 Meridian Place, will be held at the Flanner b&z Buchanan Funeral Home at 2 p. m. Saturday. He was 66. Mr. Fletcher, member of a family long prominent in Indianapolis business, had been associated with the Indiana National Bank 42 years, becoming a member of the board of directors in 1924. He became vice president and cashier in 1930. He also was a director of Indianapolis Railways, Inc. and the Board of Governors of the Indianapolis Beard of Trade. Born in Indianapolis, Mr. Fletcher
Jane - Jordan. 17 | Sports ... 26, 27 _ Johnson 18 |State Deaths. 23 Wiggam
secs 4G
was the son of Stephen Keys Fletch
Rites Set Saturday for Robert Malott Fletcher
father was the son of Calvin Fletcher Sr. and his mother was a sister of Volney T. Malott, both prominent in early business here. "Mr. Fletcher was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia Club, Scottish Rite, the Sons of the Loyal Legion and the Indiana Society of Pioneers. He served in the U. S. Army during the Spanish American War. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Inez Raible Fletcher; a son, John R. Fletcher, Indianapolis; a brother, Maxwell K. Fletcher, Kansas City; a sister, Mrs. Horace T. Manlove, Kirkwood, Mo. and 3 aunt, Mee. Frank Chaplain, kiyn, XY. The Rev. George 8. Southworth, rector of Church of the
Episcopal Advent, will officiate at the funeral.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1938
Devout Dionnes Grateful for All That 1938 Has Meant
SR
Quins Well And Will Sec
Callers Soon
CALLANDER, Ontario, Nov. 24 (U. P.).—The Dionne quintuplets played in the grounds outside their Dafoe nursery home for a few minutes today for the first time since they underwent tonsilectomies Nov. 9. © “The regular “personal appearances” of the girls for the benefit of visitors “may > be resumed next week,” officials of the nursery advised.
ROPER PREDICTS BETTER BUSINESS
Income of Nation Is Near Eight-Year Peak.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (U. P). —The country now is in a position to maintain a long-term business improvement, Secretary of Commerce Roper said today in a Thanksgiving Day statement. He declared the upward trend which began last summer has been so rapid that indications now point to a national ‘income (paid out) total of $65,000,000,000 this year, the highest since 1930 except for last vear when it was $69,000,000,000. “A year ago we -were in the midst of a recession in business activity, with all principal indices pointing downward, resulting in concern over the outlook,” Mr. Roper said. “Today the country is in a most favorable position to sustain an upward trend over a long term, of sufficient strength as not to be fundamentally affected by minor fluctuations.”
Industry Lightens Relief Rolls
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 24 (U.P). —Improved conditions in industry have taken 225,000 persons off the WPA relief rolls, WPA Deputy Administrator Aubrey Wiliams said today. Mr. Williams conferred here with administrators of 11 states on the mechanics of effecting reductions in relief lists of the South. “We will probably have to cut the rolls nationally 40,000 persons, and maybe a great deal more if Congress fails to give us an additional appropriation next month,” Mr! Williams said, but he added that he hoped the upturn of business would take additional workers off the rolls and that forced reductions would not be necessary.
COUNTY LEVIES GET STATE BOARD'S 0. K.
City Rates Held Up Pending - Further Study.
The State Tax Board today approved the 1939 tax levies and budget recommendations of the Marion County Tax Adjustment Board for all units in the County outside the Indianapolis Civil and School City rates. Action on the two City levies was deferred pending further study by the Board, which met yesterday. As approved by the State Tax Board, the Marion County rate is 48 cents on each $100 of taxable property. ‘The County jpoor relief levy was fixed at 14 cents for the
operation of the County Welfare|JIV:
Department, an increase of 0.7 cents over the present levy. The poor relief rate in Center Township was fixed at 19.9 cents, a 2.9 cents increase vver this year’s rate. In approving these rates, the Tax Board rejected the requests of Center, Wayne and Perry. townships
for restoration of their lw de-
mands for *
. | begins to mount, he declared.
ice, Inc.):
OCTOBER SOT AT 605 TONS
Indicates = Advances for
Abatement Agencies, Clinehens Says.
On every square mile of Indianapolis last month fell 1112 tons of soot which spread an unburned car‘bon carpgt over thé entire city weighing exactly 605% tons, J. W. Clinehens, City. combustion engineer, reported today. This was 126.81 tons less than October a year ago, Mr. Clinehens’ figures showed. Sootfall for October, 1937, was %32.03 tons. Mr. Clinehens attributed - this year’s decrease to the unseasonable warm weather during October, when comparatively little fuel was burned. ; “It also indicates that our smoke-
some headway,” he said. “However, we just began to measure sootfall in October, 1937. We'll have to compare this month’s fall with November a year ago to find out how much progress has been made.”
Dr. Morgan Cites Menace
To the average citizen, the sootfall was an occasional fleck of dirt on the face, on white curtains, or
a black smudge on the windowsill. To city combustion experts, it was the product of heating plants throughout the city which on the average are only 50 per cent efficient in burning soft coal, they said. To Dr. Herman G. Morgan, City Health Board secretary, it represented a potential menace to public health, especially at a time when the city’s respiratory disease rate
October’s soot tonnage has reached a peak on city combustion engineer’s charts, which show that sootfall has increased in an ‘ascending black line from August, when the fall was 437% tons. Mr. Clinehens said that cold weather, necessitating greater fuel consumption, would raise. the soot tonnage higher this month. In 1937, his figures showed, January was the peak month, when more than 1090 tons of soot descended on.the city. The sootfall, as recorded in tons at the City’s 12 soot-collecting stations, was divided over the city as follows: Location—Carbon (soot) per square mile ‘22d St. and College Ave. ............ 10.58 84th St. and Keystone Ave. 54th St. and College Ave. ... 38th St. and Meridian St. ....... W. 29th St. and Harding St. . Sheffield and Michigan Sts. Kentucky Ave. and Morris St. Shelby St. and Pleasant Run Blvd, 11.36 .10.81 16.36 .21.85
E. Wash. Sf. and Emerson Ave. .. Beville Ave. and E. New York St. Massachusef®s Ave. and Rural St.
JURY TO GET SPY CASE ON TUESDAY
- NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (U. P).— The Nazi espionage trial which has dragged on in Federal court for six weeks will be given on Tuesday to the jury which must decide whether two men and a womah were members of a widespread plot to steal the defense secrets of the United States and sell them to Germany. Counsel for both sides rested vesterday after several days of minor testimony and constant bickering.
termination of testimony, told the
“You have a real cause of Thanksgiving tomorrow.” 5
DECLARED FREE AGENTS CHICAGO, ‘Nov. 2¢ (U. P)—All members of the Easton Club of the Eastern Shore League were declared free agents. today by Baseball Commissioner K.
abatement campaign has made|
Entered as Second-Class
at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.
STARS FLEE AS FIRES SWEEP E ATES,
BLAST IGNITES $15,000 UNIT AT ARMOUR PLANT
One Burned Slightly as Rest Of Factory, 300 Cattle Are Threatened.
Fire which followed an explosion early today destroyed the fertilizer and tankage building at the Armour & Co. plant, 602 W. Ray St. Lives of two employees were endangered and the entire pla threatened. Firemen said the explosion may
have resulted from overheated tankage or from spontaneous igni-
on. : A north wind fanned the flames toward the car sheds and the wooden cattle pens, containing more than 300 head of cattle, but firemen saved these structures from damage. Wooden window frames in the nearby three-story brick lard rendering building were burned.
$15,000 Replacement Cost Company officials declined to esti-
mate the loss, but said it would cost
more than $15,000 to replace the wood and metal building. Extent of
been learned. The first alarm’ was: furned in
later Battalion Chief Harvey J.
coe McKinney also responded;
when’ the explosion occurred were
Trapped as the flames shot through the building, they climbed through a window and notified Herbert Martin, 1242 W. 31st’ St., a spe-
alarm. Burned Slightly
Mr. Turner was burned slightly on the hand. “I went out the top of the window and Bert (Turner) went out
the bottom,” Mr. Shaffer said. “We tried to go the other way, by the
fire had us shut off.” Although ordinarily there would have been about 150 employees working in the plant at that hour, there were only seven in the entire plant, because of the Thanksgiving holiday, it was said. Firemen poured tons of water on the fire. from eight lines of hose for two hours before bringing the blaze under control. The water, flooding the ice-coated ground and
firemen’s difficulties.
LAWYERS TO ARGUE VOTE GASE MOTION
Plea to Quash Indictments Up Tomorrow.
The first legal skirmish in the cases of 92 primary election workers, indicted on charges of violating the Indiana election laws, will open in Criminal Court tomorrow before Special Judge John W. Spencer Jr. of Evansville, Six defense attorneys will argue a motion to quash the indictments on the ground that the true bills failed to state facts sufficient to support charges of law violations. Edward Knight and Oscar Hagemeier, deputy prosecutors, will contend that the indictments set out sufficient evidence. that all 92 defendants certified false totals in the primary election returns. If the quash motion is overruled, the six defense attorneys said they
abatement. ‘The attorneys indicated they would
charge in the plea, if filed, that the
procedure in obtaining evidence for the Grand Jury was illegal.
damage to the machinery has not}. §
at 4:17 a. m- and seven minutes| Kappel sounded a second alarm, 3 bringing additi®nal apparatus. Chief |: Kennedy and Assistant Chief Ros-| 4 The only persons in the building )
Bert Turner, 19 W. Merrill' St, and | Frank Shaffer, 551 W. Wilkins St. |
cial police officer, who turned in the
west window, but we couldn’t. The
making it slippery, added to the|
will be prepared to file a plea in|
Matter
PRICE THREE CENTS
Madeleine Carroll ;
June Lang
Pupils Find Bride ‘Mary’ Is Classmate
TERRE HAUTE, Nov. 24 (U. P).—A 14-year-old girl, an eighth grade pupil, today was the bride of a 20-year-old WPA worker. The marriage was revealed when pupils at the Sarah Scott Junior High School here told their teachers ' they thought the “Mary Jackson” who had obtained a marriage . license was their classmate. She had been absent from school since Monday. Investigation disclosed, the authorities said, that she had married Orville Norris. Ag first the couple had been refused a license at the County Clerk’s office because of the youth’s age, it was reported. The couple returned to the office of County Clerk Catherine Fee with Mrs. Amy Adams, who said she was Norris’ mother. She gave consent for him to wed, it was said. Deputies did not question the age of the girl. Friends said Norris and his bride are residing with Mrs.. Adams. Mr. and Mrs. Harold, the girl’s parents, could not be
reached for comment. .
Judge John C. Knox, pleased by the caping with $1000
North Side
Yeggs struck today for the sixth time in recent months, battering open a safe at the Davis Grocery Co., Inc., 5905 College Ave. and es-
Police said they ‘believed the same gang of professional yeggs was responsible for the smashing of a safe two weeks ago at Scotten’s Cafeteria, 5373 College Ave., when $1000 in cash also was taken The holiday ny ‘was discovered by a merchant policeman, William Roome, at 4:50 a. m. A front
K. M. Landis who fined
Blate glass window was smashed|
, Said ho Sal was
le door jimmied. Earl Davis, | cloth
Yeggs Take $1 000 From
Grocery Safe
As in other local safe jobs, the yeggs wore gloves, preventing police from getting fingerprints. Other holiday crimes netted burglars $250. - They the apartment of Everett Myers, of 418 E. 15th St. and took jewelry and clothing valued at $220, police said. Strongarm bandits drove into a filling station at 2080 Kentucky Ave., slugged the ‘attendant, Walter Lampke, but failed to hold him up, he reported. Police gave Mr.
Madeleine Carroll's Home Among 600 Destroyed.
LOSS 3 MILLIONS |
Ritz Brothers, J une Lang, Billie Burke -. ~ Make Escape.
LOS ANGELES, Nov.24 (U. Pym Two forest fires that have already | destroyed between 600 and ‘700 homes, including the country es tates of several movie stars; raged out of control on Southern Calis
‘fornia hillsides today.
More than 2000 men were fgnting =o
- |the blazes.
Damage was estimated at more
{than three million dollars.
The palatial home of Madeleine Carroll, blond English actress, gl Las Flores Canyon, and the one million dollar Arrowhead Springs Hotel, owned by Joseph Schencls the film producer, were among the structures = destroyed. The : Ritg& brothers, movie comedians, and other guests fled as the flames crept to within a half mile of the hotel. Four hotel employees, including Tony Martin, the head gardener, were reported to have saved their lives by Jumping into a swimming pool. Miss Carroll was at work in . Hollywood studio when her butler telephoned that her estate was
‘threatened. Firemen said later that :
it had burned. ;
plo Saved ‘by Wind Changes
The homes of many other film stars, including Miriam Hopking |!
f land Richard Dix, were saved by «| § [shifts in the wind. : Rogers, widow of the famous: co=
4 ‘median, was said to have left ‘the | Rogers ranch.
Mrs. Will
Malibu Beach, famous shoreline colony of film stars, was threatened for a time. Many refugees and fire-fighters suffered burns but most of them needed only first aid treatment. A |
: gale reaching 50 miles an hour at
times whipped up flames 100 feet high, hindering the work of the
| fire-fighters.
A shift in the wind turned the more dangerous fire in the Santa Monica Mountains, near Los An= geles, away from the cifi Palisades district of wealthy homes. The other blaze burned telephone poles on the outskirts of San Bets nardino before it was turned back. ~The latter fire was burning on mountain slopes, headed toward the communities of Alpine and Crest= line. Almost 1000 residents ve.
: ordered to leave the area.
Hold Ranch Caretaker
‘Deputies - of the sheriff's arson . squad arrested David I. Trewitt, & | ranch caretaker, in their investiga= Ga tion of the origin of the fires. ; Officers .said Trewitt admitte that he accidentally started a bid in the Santa Monica area W emptying a pan of coal. Oliver Hardy, the comedian,
safety when the fire headed toy axe
: the Paramount ranch. Harry
don, June Lang, Billie Burke an Alice Brady were among the ste who fled. A later shift of v however, saved the ranch. a Thirteen costly homes in the ex= = clusive Casa Miramar subdi were burned. Th Red Cross’ officials set up a dis: aster relief organization and a ri gee camp was established in Santa Monica. : Three hundred persons
night in tents there. See Homes Consumed
Many of the mén, women : children huddled on the beach an watched their homes go up flames. Clouds of smoke, which dimmed the sun in Los Angeles, 15 miles away, made it difficult to learn the exact extent of the fire damage. Six hundred firemen and 100 trucks from Los Angeles aided. of hose were strung from’ city plugs up the mountain slopes. The driest conditions in ye were responsible for the fires.: San Bernardino the humidif) dropped to zero. The brushy h sides had not been wet since sprii The wind felled many trees acros the roads, hampering fire apparab Soldiers: from March Field help officers patrol the vicinity and back the thousands of curious.
. Residents Evacuated
Soldiers, police and sheriff's deps uties evacuated a residential ar of San Bernardino north of 40th where the fire danger was gros The residents were given e g housing downtown. City firemen with eight p trucks stopped the flames s into the north end of San nardino, Twenty suburban h and several within the city
driven from their homes spent the 3