Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 April 1939 — Page 19

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From Indiana—Ernie Pyle

Prairies Set Afire, but Frenzied Mob Endured Even Worse Hardships In Race to Settle Cherokee Lands.

(OKLAHOMA CITY, April 28.—That gigantic scene at the start of the “run” into the Cherokee Outlet in 1893 was begun, and was ended, in a few fleet moments. Prairie schooners rocked across the plains

with their teams in a dead run. Light sulkys - bounced and jolted. There were cowboys riding steers. Men in striped shirts pumped and heaved ludicrously on bicycles. Slow-moving oxen plugged their tedious way under the hot September sun. : The cowboys on broncs quickly took the lead. And then, far out ahead, they would stop and set fire to the grass. But the grim home-hunters plunged on through. Many horses £5 were so badly burned they had to Eb > be destroyed. Others fell into R «.. ¥ 8% ravines, wrecking wagons, hurting x § men and horses alike. 3 “8 One man rode his horse to 8% qeath, and when it dropped he sat Mr. Pyle on its side, rifle across his knee, claiming the land his beloved horse had fallen on. It was a race for the strong and the long-winded. The Woodward Jeffersonian, which began publishing a week after that town was founded, reported the first to arrive there was David Jones, from the Texas Panhandle, “whose horse had more wind than the average newspaperman.” Grimmest of all, it seems to me, were the men on foot. They had left their families back home. They were too poor to buy horses or even bicycles. They ran on their own desperate legs against swift mustangs and puffing locomotives. There were lighter incidents too. One woman rode in black tights and skull cap. Another, on a fine horse, and wearing a beautiful blue dress, kept up with the train for miles. And in that 50-mile line of racers awaiting the was one woman in a sunbonnet and carrying an umbrella. The others made wisecracks about her outrunning the mustangs. But when the signal was fired, she ran pell-mell for 100 feet, sat down on the ground, planted her stake, snatched off her sunbonnet, raised her umbrella, and just sat there. That was her homestead, and it was just as good as any 20 miles away, too.

Trains Carried Thousands

Other thousands rode trains. The Santa Fe Railroad that day sold 80,000 tickets from Arkansas City to Kildare, 20 miles south in the Outlet. Thousands of them were sightseers, drawn by the fame of the previous runs. Almost every town in Oklahoma that day was depopulated. People even came from New York to take in the spectacle, and then unwittingly became a part of it themselves. Although the Army had burned the grass over much territory the day before to drive out “Sooners,” the racers found the country full of them. Some were shot in their tracks by more honest men. There were hangings. Darkness and distance of that first night veiled the murder of many a claimjumper. And then, to climax the violent and heartless day, came the prairie wind. For three days the biting dust lashed the thousands of new homesteaders. Those who had tents went inside and fastened the flaps. You couldnt see a hundred feet. In the new towns, carpenters just had to hit at where their fingers were, unable ‘ to see the nail. Many of the homesteaders gave up right at the start, and returned in disgust to their old homes. The winning of the West was hardy business. But it was wonderful while it lasted. What a pity the movie camera was not there to record the dramatic madness of that historic afternoon. It can never happen again in this country, or probably any other.

My Day

‘By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Girl Scout Work Draws Praise; Speaks for Women Voters’ Program.

ORCESTER, Mass, Thursday.—At noon yesterday, I went to the Girl Scout Practice House for lunch. Mrs. Arthur Choate of New York City, Mrs. Frederick Brooks of Washington, and many other Washington Girl Scout executives were there.

Certainly the home making group here is doing very well, for they served us with a perfect souffle, even though I saw them obliged to open the oven door and keep it open for the benefit of the photographers. I trembled for tige souilie’s success!

We talked over the new program of work and I was enormously interested in the comprehensive field from which these girls may choose. I like the idea that, after they reach the age of 14, they no longer work for badges, but to obtain a greater skill in any one of the fields which they have tried out and find especially enjoyable. When the King and Queen of England are over here, the Girl Scouts hope to have some part in their entertainment wherever they go, for the Royal Princesses are members of the Girl Guides. In the afternoon I received more than a thousand young people who will graduate from various Washington schools.

Storm Leaves Its Mark

In the evening I spoke for the National League of Women Voters, who are now holding their general council meeting in Washington. They are emphasizing a general program of expansion with the object of making democracy work by having each individual more conscious of his or her place in it. We took the midnight train to New York City and, after a brief time at our apartment, during which we had our breakfast, we started off on a drive through Connecticut and Massachusetts. It is a beautiful season te visit this countryside, but I am still reminded of last year’s storm when I see how many trees are missing along all these village streets. It takes so long to replace an old tree. It is a loss to more than a generation. We lunched with some friends, Miss Esther Lape and Miss Elizabeth Read, at Westbrook, Conn. and proceeded to Worcester, Mass., where I give a lecture tonight.

Day-by-Day Science

By Science Service ACH day hundreds of thousands of housewives throughout the land grab a can opener and warm up tasty carrots for dinner. How would you like to taste carrots canned over 115 years ago? British scientists have recently been doing it in an extensive study of the properties of canned foods carried on historic English expedition of more than a century ago which sought the famed Northwest Passage. Canned carrots were carried on the expedition of Capt. Parry which set out in 1819 with the ships Hecla and Griper. To decrease scurvy among officers and rew canned meats and vegetables from the firm of nkin, Hall & Gamble were carried. With come gkepticism the then-new foods were used but the testimony of John Edwards, surgeon of the expedition, praised the canned foods in comparison with the time-honored salted meats and the dried cakes of “portable” soup which previously had been used. From the Museum of the Royal United Services Institution scientists of the International Tin Research

and Development Council, headed by Prof. J. C.

3

Drummond, obtained carrots packed for Capt. Parry's

third expedition in 1824.

| With special apparatus they gingerly opened the cans, analyzed the contained gases chemically and | studied the food bacteriologically. The carrots, im- | mediately after opening. looked like fresh-cooked car- |

rots which had been allowed to cool. They were bright orange but turned quickly to a dull orange color with a brownish hue. , They smelled sweet and to the tongue tasted sweet with a slight metallic flavor _ from their long contact with the tin can lining.

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Vagabond

e Indianapolis

imes

Second Section

By Noble Reed A TINY dust particle on a man’s whisker may easily upset any streamlined “perfect crime” attempted in Indiana. Or a single hair, split to the 1000th of an inch, could trap the arch criminal, though he took advantage of the latest tricks of science in planning his crime. Records of an Indiana attack case in which a single dust particle proved to be the strongest link in the chain of evidence are on file at the Criminology Laboratories of the State Police Department. A woman was nearly choked to death with a blue, silk scarf and left tied up in an auto. A suspect was arrested and dust from his pockets was emptied into some test tubes while the prisoner told his alibis to detectives. Laboratory workers in the next room put the dust under a powerful microscope, bit by bit. A tiny particle of blue silk loomed up in the lens. A silk thread from the scarf found around the victim’s neck was placed under the lens. The dust particle and the thread were the same material. Conviction of the prisoner followed. = # ”

HE “dust detective” works the other way, too. Recently an Indianapolis motorist was arrested on suspicion of being a hit-and-run driver whose car killed a child. The description of the suspect’s car and other evidence pointed strongly to the prisoner. Lieut. Don Kooken of the State Police laboratories found a tiny fragment of cloth on the bumper of the suspect's car. It was placed under the microscope along with threads from the child’s clothing. “In a few minutes we determined that the thread found on the bumper was not from the child's clothing,” Lieut. Kooken said. Further investigation disclosed that the thread was from a rag the suspect had used to polish his car. The driver was released. 2 & =» VENTUALLY all matter tends to revert to dust and criminologists say that it is impossible for a criminal to handle objects without picking up some form of dust that can be identified. Merely rubbing against a door may leave an “invisible” but telltale clue in any murder case if the detectives are equipped to get + 1 At City Police laboratories, Roderick Rae, criminologist, has several strands of hair he hopes to use as an important link in the

=

FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1939

Science Joins the Police Force

Dust Particles Helping Indiana Officers Solve Major Crimes These Days

chain of evidence in a murder case soon.’ The hair found under the fingernails of the victim, is being compared microscopically with

hairs taken from the head of a suspect. ) Scientists have discovered that a person 20 years old loses about 70 hairs a day and a person 50 years old loses about 20 a day. So any criminal is likely to drop a hair or two at the scene of a crime. ; From one hair, the criminologist can determine the approximate age of the criminal, how long it had been since he had a hair cut, if it is curly or straight or whether it was from the head of a man or woman. The State Police laboratory is

‘equipped with a new device that

can split hair or any other object down to 1000th of an inch.

NDER a powerful microscope, a hair appears to have scales like a snake and detectives can compare them with scales on hair pulled from a suspect’s head. About a year ago windows of several Indianapolis shops were broken out by stones hurled from a passing auto. 3 Detectives found a sling shot several blocks from the scene of the attack where it apparently had been tossed out of the car. Mr. Rae made a microscopic photo ¢f the freshly cut end of the wooden fork. Meanwhile, a suspect was arrested and in a drawer at his home was a small pen knife. . Using ‘the knife, Mr. Rae whittled on a piece of wood and put the cut end under the microscope. The same pattern of ridges appeared in the wood as were in the sling-shot wood. Conviction followed. Several convictions have been obtained through the use of chemicals. One of the most re-

cent developments is a special kind of acid that is used to read registration numbers: on the

metals of motors or guns after the figures have been filed off. ” » ”

HE acid, when rubbed on metal, reveals the outline of molecular “disturbances” far under the surface. Although the surface outline of motor numbers might be obliterated the chemical would show the outline of inner “disturbances” caused by the stamping of the numbers in the metal. Lieut. Kooken said several auto theft cases have been solved with this chemical. “It brings confessions in other cases by catching the suspect in a lie about the ownership of a gun or auto,” he said. Also infra-red photography

Entered as Second-Class Indianapolis, Ind.

Our Town

at Postoffice,

plays an important part in crime detection. Lieut. Kooken told of a murder case in which a woman had been choked to death. “There were no bruise marks shown on her throat and direct

evidence on the killing was lacking,” he said. “The infra-red photo showed that under the surface of the skin there was a bruise that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.” Time was when escape from a crime meant, chiefly, getting away unseen without leaving telltale finger prints. But in modern crime, a criminal can dispose of his weapons and conceal his finger prints but he can't keep his hair from falling out at the murder scene or part of his clothing from being rubbed to dust.

1. Standard equipment of every State patrolman is a camera that must be used first on every emergency call before any investigating is done. A patrolman is snapping a truck crash in which the vehicles had burst into flames. Photographs are filed with written reports in every case.

2. Robert Borkenstein, of the State Police laboratory, is kept busy daily checking the “invisible” things in crime. A split hair under his microscope looks as big as a ticker tape and provides the missing link in many a chain of evidence in murder cases.

3. This is the lie detector, considered a valuable instrument in examination of most witnesses. Officers say it is not always effective on “experienced liars” but that the indicator nearly always shows a lie when spoken by the ordinary witness,

4. This is an X-ray photograph of an ordinary pasteboard box that was received through the mail by a person who suspected it might be a bomb. Police were called and, handling it carefully, took an X-ray picture through the side of the box. The bottle was full of powder with wires attached to a battery and an alarm clock that was to have set it off.

5. Here are two highly magnified bullets fired from the same gun. Note the similarity in ridges in both. One of the bullets was extracted from the body of a murder victim and the other was fired by police from a gun that was found in possession of a suspect. This picture helped convict th slayer. .

Side Glances

SOPR. 1939 BY} INC. 7. M. REG. U.S. Pi

"And if you're a good girl all next wee § £1 /8: 0

the dentist an

k, mother will let you go to er tooth ouh'

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Why do farmers place tin cans on top of bean poles? 2—The flag of which country has a large white cross in the center? 3—Who discovered the South Pole? 4—In what country is the Peace River? : 5—What is the correct pronunciation of the word grimace? 6—Name the colors in the flag of Belgium. T—In which country are kangaroos native? 2 = =»

Answers

1—To keep birds from alight ing on the poles. 2—Switzerland. 3—Capt. Roald Amundsen. 4—Canada. 5—Gri-( as in ill)-mace’; not m’ ace

grim’ ace. 6—Black, yellow and red. T—Australia.

ASK THE TIMES

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St, N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended research be under-

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

"I'm-glad it's the Kempe's

baad)

Matter

PAGE 19 '

By Anton Scherrer

Ed Little Cleaned Up With Pair of Oxen Back in 1872 When Epizootic Put Horses/Mules Out of Business.

DRIFTING about this lavish town of ours, I ran across Ed Little the other day. He’s the 80-year-old grandson of John who started one of the earliest (1834) hotels in Indianapolis, the one still doing business at

the southeast corner of Washington and New Jersey Sts. This time Mr, Little told me about the epizootic of 1872, and the part he played in it. An epizootic is an epidemic except that it hasn't ‘anything to do with human diseases. t's a word specially thought up to describe a temporary prevalence of a disease among animals. Around here the disease was a kind of influenza " which put every horse in Indianapolis out of business. It got the mules, too, but for some reason it spared horned cattle. As a rule, the disease started with a sneezing and coughing spell on the part of the horse/mule, Mr. Scherrer after which there was no telling what would happen. Some veterinarians called it a gastro-erysipelatous disease, and some went the limit and diagnosed it as “hipporhinorrheathus.” ‘+ The fumes of burning tar and, sulphur were supposed to help. If they didn't, asafetida was tried and if that failed, the horse/mule was given quinine. Only as a last resort, however, After that, there wasn’t anything to do but count the hours. The epizootic broke out in Indianapolis on the Friday before Thanksgiving of 1872. It came here by way of the big towns on the Atlantic seaboard, The Atlantic seaboard got it by way of Devonshire, England, which is mighty interesting in the light of what isolationists are preaching now. Thanksgiving week things were so bad around here, says Mr. Little, that you couldn’t see a horse anywhere on the streets of Indianapolis. The 200 mules belonging to the street car company went out of business, and so did mest of the horses of the fire department. It was even worse than that. There wasn’t a horse in Schmidt's brewery fit to pull a wagon. And as for bread, Mr. Little remembers that Parrott & Nickum hitched men to their bakery wagons to keep the town from starving. Apparently, though, the town went thirsty.

A Bargain Is Struck

Well, while all this was going on, Ed Little, a resourceful little kid of 13, was living on a farm at Cumberland. Soon as he heard about the fix we were in, he hitched a pair of oxen to a wagon and drove to Indianapolis. By this time, the epizootic was at its height because, back in 1872, it took some time for news of Indianapolis to reach Cumberland. The oxen, says Mr. Little, looked more like calves but that didn’t keep him from doing a land office busi< ness. He hauled stuff from morning until night mostly for the express companies on S. Meridian St., cleaning up with every trip. At the end of a week, he had a hundred dollars in his pocket. He might have repeated the performance, except for something that happened at the corner of Washe ington and Pennsylvania Sts. Mr. Little said he was turning that corner one day when a man ran into the street and offered him a hundred dollars for his oxen. The team, said Mr. Little wasn’t worth more than $30 even in a bull market, but he turned the man down. Said he wanted $150, and not a cent less. That same day, Mr. Little happened to pass the same corner, and sure enough there was the same man, waiting for him or anybody else with a pair of oxen. Again he offered $100. This time Ed felt kind of sorry, said all right, and took the money. Ed says he’s often wondered what the man did with his oxen because right after he got them, the epizootic sude denly left Indianapolis. As suddenly as it came.

Jane Jordan—

Husband Should Help Mother, buf According to His Means, Wife Told,

EAR JANE JORDAN-—I have been married ale most two months and am very happy except for one thing: My husband’s family. His father cane not work, but there are two grown children at home who work but are not willing to keep up all the expenses. ° My husband has been working and helping since he was 12. Every time he goes home his mother will cry and say she has no money for coal and my husband buys it for her. She says that since he got married he has forgotten his family, but he hasn’t. Easter she said she didn’t have clothes enough to wear to church, but my husband says she has. She says all the neighbors are talking about how he has let them down since he has married, but they aren't. His mother has a good income and could manage on it if she wanted to. She gets as much or more than my mother and my mother manages to get by, and there are twice as many in our family. Last night my husband went to see them and when he came home he was down-hearted. He told me that his mother cried and said she didn’t have any coal or enough money to pay the rent. He is going tc give them money for coal and is trying to figure out a way to pay the rent. He really knows his mother’s circume stances and how unfriendly she was when we were married, but he can’t figure a way out of it. We would like your advice. What should we do? B. H.

» ” 2 Answer—Your husband sees through his mother but lacks the courage to hold out against her. His feeling of filial duty is so strong that it is hard for him to realize that their positions have been reversed, and that. she. has become the child in need of discipline, whereas he stands in the position of proe vider and parent. ‘ His mother, of course, has no idea that she has reverted to childhood. Nevertheless, she will respond to discipline if it is wisely administered. The first thing he must do is to decide on a policy and stick to it. If his mother needs help, let him decide upon a regular allowance which is within his means and never exceed it no matter how much she cries. In that way she will know what she has to depend on and when it dawns on her that she isn’t going to get any more, she will live within her means. The trouble with this method is that your huse band will suffer from guilty feelings and his mother will do everything in her power to make him feel like a scoundrel. Yet in the long run he will achieve more peace and contentment than he will if he lets her Jun him into debt. JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter to Ja J answer your questions in this column daily, ras: whe: wil 3

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

ERIL, not active and omnipotent, but shadowed and unforeseen as are our varying human rela= tions, evolves in Helen Hull's new novel FROST FLOWER (Coward-McCann). It is the story of the Joint effort of man and wife to attain a mental hare mony in opposition to thejr own individualities and to the effects of the past upon their present lives. Miss Hull shows herself adept with the problems a mother faces in dealing with her children, who are products of a new age. There is a probing into the manners, tradition} prejudices, and hidden springs of

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h complicate our current civilization. But end, as the fall aster blooms after an autumnal

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