Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 May 1939 — Page 1

VOLU

The Indianapolis Times

FORECAST: Generally fair and cooler tonight and tomorrow.

ME 51—-NUMBER 51

Pesky but Pretty Dandelions Back

The yellow peril-—the once again besets the keeper of lawn. The dandelion is the imp cording Horace E. Abbott, agent. But then again, the dand bad member of the garden fan

mischievous

County

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1939

DENIES SIGNING MONEY CLAIMS INFRAUD TRIAL

Former Kokomo Employee Testifies He Permitted Use of Name.

U. S. CHARGES FORGERY

Seeks to Prove Conspiracy To Divert Use of WPA Labor.

A man whose name allegedly was signed to several claims on the city of Kokomo, told a Federal Court

[jury today that the City never had

with

Times Photo. around it are pretty good with corn meal, seasoned with a little vinegar, they say. And well, a dandelion looks mighty pretty when a field of them sur« rounds a miss like Helen Galbraith (above), Shortridge High School senior, of 3720 N. Pennsylvania St. She is shown in a North Side crop.

dandelion— an otherwise fine of vegetation, acAgricultural | elion isn't such a ily. The greens |

HOPE OF MINE

TRUCE VOICED

Steelman Tells Reporter Conclave May End In Success.

NEW YORK, May 10 (U. P).— John R. Steelman, head of the U 8. Conciliation Service, said today he believed there was some hope the national soft coal suspension would be ended soon, He kept contract negotiators in constant session to act upon the demand of President Roosevelt that | they draft some formula by tonight | ander which coal mines can be reopened this week. A reporter asked, “Can we assure the country there is some chance of success?” “I think you can.” Mr replied. Negotiators Caucus Selves Mr. Steelman conferred with representatives of the United Mine Workers of America, half a million of whose members are idle, and negotiators for 2000 coal operators in the Appalachian area. At mid-day |

Steelman

them to caucus among themselves He indicated the conferees would meet again jointly later in the day In accordance with the Presi. dent's statements to the joint cone | ferees yesterdav,” Mr. Steelman! said. “my position in the conference | today is one of imperatively de-| manding a selution of this situa-| tion within the time limit as set” The President had asked the ne-| gotiators to present their answer by| tonight, - Mr, that his statement was nct to mterpreted as meaning he believed an immediate break in the situation was in sight. It was learned that

the negotiators had discussed vari-!

ous possible formulas for resuming operations but haa settled on any one,

not

Both Sides ‘Mum’ Spokesmen for neither side would! give any indication as to whether) there was any possibility they would be able to meet the President's request, The President's request was made vesterday afternoon at a private conference with operators and! miners in the White House. It was! reported in some quarters to have been virtually an ultimatum. One remark made by the President when he received, on his invitation, the 10 representatives of the two sides was taken as indi- | cating his probable ine of attack if the disagreement continues. That WAS an inquiry as to what his | visitors would think if he should take to the radio for a full public| exposition of his understanding of} the subject Among factors pushing toward| either an agreement or a break without much more delay are the

Mother and Police Save Stricken Tot

12 WILL STUDY PARKS SYSTEN

‘Mayor Appoints Group of

Artificial respiration by a mother and two police officers

today saved the life of 3-vear-old Geraldine Corden, 1411 Cruft St. who was affected by convulsions while suffering the mumps The child's mother, Mrs Cecil Corden, applied artificial respiration until a radio patrol car arrived. Officers Jacob Hudgins and Frank McDonald continued to work on the child. Within three minutes, they said, she was breathing normally.

NFEREES DISCUSS

WATER CO0.'S PRICE

‘Actual Negotiations Due to

Start Today.

: yw re | : Actual negotiations on a purchase apolis League of Womens’ VOUers, gay jn the trial have been introduced he excused the two groups to permit |price for the Indianapolis Water chairman; James C. Ahern of the by the Government.

| co were to be started this aiternoon | 12th District American Legion: Ar-|

at a conference between a committee of City officials and C. W. MeNear, representing the company's owners The conference was during a committee meeting v

arranged ester-

day at which the City's strategy in! vive

the negotiations was outlined

Civic Leaders After Patronage Attack.

A comittee of 12 citizens to assist City officials in developing and improving the City's recreation pro-

van today

afternoon with the Mayor, A. C. Sallee, City Parks superintendent, and H.W. Middlesworth, recreation director, to begin formulating a program, Appointment of the committee to “streamline” park and playground programs for the summer followed considerable criticism of alleged | deficiencies in the summer personnel.

Committeemen Listed

The committee includes: Mrs. Thomas D. Sheerin, Indian-

thur R. Baxter, tormer Community

Fund head and civic leader; William Emrich, representing West Side |businessmen’s groups; John W ‘White, representing labor groups; Fred Hoke, vice president and trea{surer of Holcomb & Hoke; Joseph { McGowan, local businessman; . Charles Vawter of the Indianapolis Council of Women's Recrea-

gram was named by Mayor Sullii

Steelman later made it clear be |

“We just had a general discus-/tion Committee; Mrs. Meredith sion,” Mayor Sullivan said, “and|Nicholson Jr. of the Indianapolis then we called Fred Bates Johnson, Orphans’ Home; Mrs. Carl Manthei Mr. MeNear's loca: representative, of the School Board; Mrs. Joseph and arranged to have Mr. McNear Miner of the Girl Scouts, and Mrs. come over tomorrow.” {George Clark of the Indianapolis { The Mayor said the committee Parent-Teachers Association. vesterday discussed the company's| Formation of the Committee was financial setup, {requested by the League of Women

owed him any money.

The Government in the trial of | 11 persons, including nine former | WPA and Kokomo officials charged conspiring to defraud by diverting WPA labor to private use, is attempting to prove that signatures were forged on claims and warrants against the City of Kokomo, Warrants bearing the name of Roy Revolt, former emplovee in the] Kokomo City Engineer's office, have bee nintroduced as evidence by the Government, Mr. Revolt testified he had signed any claims on the City. Under cross-examination, Mr. Revolt sai dthat he had given George Mix, former assistant City Engineer and one of the defendants, permission to use his name,

not

Testifies on Signatures

Yesterday Mr. Revolt testified that Mr. Mix had signed his (Revolt’s) name on two claims. This was done with his permission, Mr. | Revolt testified, as Mr. Mix had told him the City owed Mr. Mix money and as a City official he could not present a private bill. The Government maintains that all of a quantity of crushed stone, allegedly processed by WPA labor, actually was the property of Mr. Mix and that claims for payment | were filed in other names “in order | to avoid suspicion.” | Clarence M. Neumann, who said he had worked on the Governor's

The committee was to meet thiss“ommission on Unemployment Re-

| lief with Joseph Tarkington, one of the defendants, testified yesterday and again today that he knew Mr. Tarkington's signature well and that | Mr Tarkington's name on several | | claims and warrants “certainly were (not signed by Mr. Tarkington.”

Sale Evidence Expected

Meanwhile, evidence designed to show that the City of Kokomo paid $4112 to a former official for the crushed stone was expected to be introduced later today by U. S. Dis{trict Attorney Val Nolan. | All witnesses to take the stand so

Judge J. Leroy Adair of Quincy, Ill, is presiding at the trial here | because Robert C. Baltzell disqualified himself at two defendants’ requests. Yesterday 13 WPA workers testified that they had een ordered to leave projects on which they were working and go to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. They testified they loaded bricks from demolished buildings into trucks. Those who testified were Alfred Johnson, Grover Arnold, Theodore R. Blake, Clyde Layton, Albert W. Sanders, Marvin J. Prather, Willis Wallace, {John F. Degier, Karl Baker, Raymond DeWitt, John A. Worden, William Hicks and Philip Ward. Darwin Middleton, present Kokomo City clerk, referred to City

at Postoffice,

‘Inhuman’ Italo-German Efficiency Challenges America, Howard Says

Cites Journalism’s Duty in Prevailing Upon Capital and Labor to Yield From Individually Selfish Aims In Interest of ‘All the People.’

ALO ALTO, Cal, May 10 (U. P.).—American democracy is challenged by the “inhuman and machine-like” economic efficency of the Italian and German dictatorships, not by the inefficiency of Russian Communism, Roy W. Howard, of the Scripps-Howard Newspapers, said that night in the Don Mellett Memorial Lecture on Journalism at Stanford University. The Don Mellett Memorial Lecture is delivered annually by a distinguished journalist in memory of the Canton, O., editor who was assassinated by a paid criminal July 16, 1926, in the hope of halting a reform campaign he was conducting in his newspaper, “In democracy’s struggle with challenging foreign ideologies,” Mr. Howard said, “American journalism will be called upon to play its greatest and probably its most difficult role. To the newspapers will fall the task of telling the shortsighted and the unimaginative in the ranks of both capital and labor that the interests of neither can continue paramount to the interests of the whole people. ” » “J ABOR cannot continue blind to the fact that wealth must be created before abundance can be widespread. Labor must see that except perhaps in the more arduous and health-taxing vocations, there must be a limit to the reduction of work hours, if American industry is to compete in world markets, as she must if living standards are not to be lowered. Even American efficiency cannot long expect a 30-hour week to meet the competition of a 60-hour work week. “On the other hand, capital must be made to understand that never again can the division of created wealth be on the old basis of the lush days. Also it must accept it as a fact, that in any sacrifices which readjustment may entail, those best able to do so will inevitably bear:;the greater weight of the burden. ” ” ” oy “POLITICIANS must be made to understand that breathing spells for consolidation of gains are practical necessities not to be denied, despite demagogic yammerings for a break-neck dash toward Utopia. “Coincidentally, capital and labor politics must realize that no political or economic system has ever changed

human nature or altered the glandular setup of the human (Continued on Page Two)

Britain Repeats Refusal Of War Pact With Soviets

By United Press The British Government dimmed prospects of close Russian cooperation in an antiaggression front today by repeating in the House of Commons its refusal to extend its military agreement with France

Roy W. Howard

” ” o

” ”

[to include Russia.

Russia feared that if she commits herself to defend eastern European nations, she may be leit “holding the bag” in a war in which Britain and France would stay aloof.

Prime Minister Chamberlain tried

Entered as Second-Ciass Matter Indianapoils,

FINAL HOME

PRICE THREE CENTS

Ind

BILL SETS ASIDE $5,000,000 FOR STATE FLOOD AID

Includes $200,000 Fall Creek Project Here and $1,211,500 for Ohio River Channel and Dam Construction.

WHITE RIVER LEVEE UNIT IS LISTED

Muncie, Brevoort, Tell City, Evansville and Lawrenceburg Needs Charted; Relief Earmarking Defeated.

Times Special WASHINGTON, May 10.—More than $5,000,000 would be spent in flood prevention work on Indiana rivers and streams next year under a War Department appropriation bill reported today by the House Appropriations Committee, Included is $200,000 for Fall Creek in Indianapolis. ————————— An additional $1,211,500 is included for Ohio River chane nel work and lock and dam | construction. | The $255,188,154 appropriation bill, which is to finance the civil functions of the War Department, provides $71,000,000 for river and harbor improvements and $110,000, | 000 for flood control.

Relief Earmarking Refused

MURDER RING'S TOLL MOUNTING

Competitive Death Guild Specializing in Homicide

The House economy bloc, by a vote

For Fee Reported. of 18 to 10 in the appropriations

PHILADELPHIA, May 10 (U. Pp.) .| committee, blocked an attempt to —Bodies of suspected victims of a | increase the fund by earmarking murder merchandising syndicate so|$50,000,000 of 1940 relief funds for

{that

clogged police laboratories today District Attorney Charles Kelley ordered extra shifts of analysts to day and night duty. As detectives turned in an increasing list of possible victims of America’s most amazing criminal band. exhumations were ordered by the dozen. Lanoratory workers fell far behind in their task of determining the scope of the murder merchants’ |operations. so extensive that police [now believe the victims may total 200, or certainly more than the 100 at first estimated.

Find Competitive Branch

Detectives also found evidence that the crime corporation's work was to an extent competitive, that it conducted two branches—one specializing in arsenic murder for insurance, the other murdering for a flat fee, payable in advance. Mr. Kelley's speed-up order came as he and his staff of assistants resumed questioning of a key mystery witness whose identity was guarded closely. This person, it was learned, has been in secret custody for several days and has given authorities information which will result in additional arrests. The prosecutor said bodies of possible victims were “piling up so fast” that the police laboratory had been unable to keep pace. He wanted all exhumations made immediately so that he can proceed with the trial of 24 persons already in custody.

{

F |

| |

| those purposes.

The earmarking of relief funds was proposed by a subcommittee headed by Rep. J. Buell Snyder (D, Pa.) in charge of the bill. In the full committee, the econe omy bloc headed by Rep. Clifton A. | Woodrum (D. Va.) objected to such | procedure, and won the fight to |strike this provision from the bill. [The committee battled past the scheduled meeting time of the | House and forced an almost une [precedented 30-minute recess while members waited to debate the bill,

Budget Estimates Change

Because of the change in budget estimates for flood control after the committee completed hearings, it was unable to say exactly how the {lump sum appropriation for this | purpose would be spent. Tables in the hearings, however, indicated the flood control alloca= tions for Indiana would be substane tially as follows: Muncie, $200,000; Brevoort, $192,« 000; Tell City, $530,000; Evansville, ($800,000; Gill Township Levee Unit, ($35,000; Indianapolis, Fall Creek |section, $200,000; Cannelton, $326, {000; Lawrenceburg, $900,000; Jeffer« [sonville to Clarksville, Ind., $600,000: |New Albany, $500,000; Shoals Reser« | voir, $370,000; White River Levee Anderson,

Unit No. $127,000.

Carries Funds for Dams

The bill also carries $2,000,000 for continuing the hydroelectric plant at

8, $333,900;

Only two of the 24 have yet been tried.

Ft. Peck Dam, Mont., and $7,000,000 ; : 2 for Bonnevilla Dam’s power plant. Herman Petrillo, olive oil and Appropriations for the Civil Gove spaghetti salesman and a director ernment of the Panama Canal were of one of the syndicate's branches, |increased $15,524,799 to $24,774,924 in was convicted of first-degree mur-| order to speed national defense ine der, with the death penalty manda- stallations in the Canal Zone. For tory. : this purpose $14,700,000 was ape Mrs. Carvina Favato interrupted propriated to be made available ime

“We also talked about how much river water and how much well water is used ot present: how much it would cost to install a water softener in case we buy the company,” he said.

FAIR--AND COOLER--BUREAU'S PROMISE

Mercury Touches 70 (but It's Really Nothing).

LOCAL TEMPERATURES

3% am...

| Voters and other organizations several weeks ago. In petitioning Mayor Sullivan to allow a citizens’ group to take part | in developing a recreation pro-

records and testified that more than|

partly to dissuade these fears in a’

her murder trial with a confession

mediately.

$7000 in claims had been filed for ayment by the City for cleaned! brick. Charge Sale to City

gram, the League advocated the abandonment of political pressure

jon department heads in selecting

| employees for park jobs. Merit System Studied

The Committee, which will survey the present recreation setup and report their findings to officials, will | consider the advisibility of dis tributing summer playground jobs on a merit basis instead of by patronage. It was disclosed recently that officials, responding to the demands of women's groups for better playground personnel, had decided to

5 6 "

61 11am... 66 12 (noon) 70 I xm

The Weather Bureau was glad

| promise

select key playground employees on jmerit. The plan, which is a combetween the patronage | method and the merit system, (would distribute minor posts on a

conditions that would make it pos-|today to report that the outlook straight patronage basis with highly sible for the Lewis forces to break for tonight and tomorrow is gen-| trained employees filling important up the Appalachian conference by|erally fair and cooler.

offering individual district contracts |

The mercury was around 70 this

supervisory positions. Several women's organizations, which were re-

to operators willing to sign on the|morning, but the Bureau said the luctant to comment officially on this

Lewis terms. The Indiana and Illinois districts, particularly, are said to be hungry for the business they could get under these circumstances.

Troops will Be Sent to

Harlan Area Monday

FRANKFORT, Ky. May 10 (U P.) —Governor Chandler, announcing that he had prepared an order dispatching Kentucky National Guard troops to the fields next Monday. contended to-

| |

heat is just about what it should

be for this season.

plan, indicated that it was “at least {a step forward.”

Other WPA workers who have testified they had been ordered from other projects to the Pitts burgh Plate Glass Co. to haul stone were Orville O. Dalley, John T. Webb, William Bottoms, James L. Albaugh, Charles H. Clark, William E. Hall, Earl Powell, William Hicks, Walter Aspy, Charles A. McDorman, Philip Ward, Joseph Wheeler and William Nash.

The Government contends that the crushed stone and processed bricks cleaned by WPA workers were sold soon afterwards to the City of Kokomo and that claims were approved by the Board of Public Works.

KING HAS SMOOTH SAILING ABOARD S. S. EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA, En Route to Quebec, May 10 (U.P) —The Empress of Australia, bearing King George and Queen Elizabeth, plowed today {through a sea which was like that of vesterday-—tranquil. Their Majesties are due in Quebec May 15.

WASHINGTON, May 10 (U. P).—

| ¥ifely tale of inability to make both | This included

‘Monopoly Probers Hear Housewife Relate How Family Went Into Red

ers Counsel for the Agricultural Ad-

The National Monopoly inquiry to-|Justinent Administration. |day suspended its study of vast inHarlan coall/dustrial combines to hear a house-

“We had to borrow $510." The Belester family debt totaled | $4473 at the end of 1938, she said.| $478 for mortgage

day that the dispute between soft ends meet under present economic | payments and interest, a $510 loan,

coal operators and miners “is of no interest to the general public, al-| though society is seriously jeopar-| dized by the controversy.”

“DATE WITH DANGER"

The Times New Daily Serial Begins Today on Page 16.

| conditions.

1 | Mrs. Alice Belester, wife of a Chi-|

“a fairly accurate” household budget | of the mortgage on their home.

$96 for taxes, $52 for special assessments, $45 for doctor's care and the

cago carpenter, told how she'd kept remainder representing the principal | Living, complained her budget diffi

“I rented rooms in our home,” she said, explaining that she and her husband lived in the basement and slept in the attic so that other rooms could be rented. Mrs. Belester, chairman of an organization known as the United Conference Against the High Cost of

GETS 1 TO 5 YEARS AS DRUNK DRIVER

Pleads Guilty After Two Previous Convictions.

A 52-year-old carpenter was sentenced today to serve from one to five years in the Michigan State Prison for driving while drunk. The offender, Roy Wright, of 9041; Ft. Wavne Ave, had been convicted twice before on a similar offense. An act of the 1037 Legislature mandates the sentence which was imposed by Judge Dewey E. Myers in Criminal Court. “A man who has been convicted three times for drunken driving should be prohibited indefinitely from driving” the judge said, “but the law does not give me the power to invoke such a prohibition.” “I will not hesitate to give the maximum penalty on drunken driving offenses when the evidence proves the motorist guilty,” the judge said. “And I will convict on either circumstantial or direct evidence. “Erring motorists cannot expect to escape penalties imposed by the lower courts by an appeal to my court if they are guilty. the cases proper and immediate rehearing and unless the lower courts’ finding is faulty I will sustain their findings.” The defendant pleaded guilty. His case came into Criminal Court on a prosecutor's affidavit.

REPORT AMLIE DUE TO BE MURPHY AID

I will give]

| statement to the House of Com- | mons in which he said Russia would | be expected to aid victims of ag- | gression only in case Britain and | France went to war first to aid those victims. However, Mr. Chamberlain's | statement showed that Russia is holding out for an assurance of | British and French support if Germany tries to invade the Soviet Union through the Baltic countries.

Russia May Ease Demands

Since Britain guaranteed Poland and Rumania security and asked | {for Soviet help in case they are invaded, Russia suspected Britain is aiming at permitting Germany to {invade the Soviet Union through [Lithuania Latvia, Esthonia and (Finland. Russia, therefore, is anxious to plug this gap in the antiaggression front.

Mr. Chamberialn told Commons {that Lord Halifax, Foreign Secre- | tary, had assured Soviet Ambassador Ivan Maisky the Soviet | doubts would be removed. It was {not clear, however, whether he | meant Britain would guarantee the | Baltic states against aggression. R. A. Butler, Foreign Undersecretary, told Commons last week that Britain has no intention of doing S0. Mr. Chamberlain's statement nevertheless conveyed the impression that Russia would abandon the demand for a three-power military alliance if Britain and France plug the Baltic gap.

Two Victories for Russia

Mr. Chamberlain's statement sought to correct a Soviet impression that the aid by Russia was to be one-sided. The importance of the Russian position was illustrated by the re{port in Paris that the Pope's failure

| culties were increased by the lack of

to include the Soviet in his media-

last year but in spite of scrimping| “I am one of the typical American | and efforts to buy food and clothing | families,” said Mrs. Belester, a small | {at lowest prices the Belester family | woman wearing a purple dress and

jwound up the year $502 in the red.!a small black hat with white flowers.

She said income amounted to

$1140 and expenses were $1642. “How did you meet the deficit?" asked

Don Montgomery, Consum-

“My husband earned $600. Work was slack.” other $540 earned?

“How was the Mr. Mon

informative advertising and markings on goods she purchased in the stores, “In the last few years I have had to be very, very careful,” she said. “There are so many brands that I have found it difficult to find a brand to suit my needs.”

WASHINGTON, May 10 (U. P.) — tion proposals was a marked facThomas A. Amlie, whose nomination | tor in the coldness shown by Britain to the Interstate Commerce Com- and France to the Pope's suggestion. mission was withdrawn by Presi-| Russia gained two diplomatic vic dent Roosevelt, probably will be|tories in an. indication by Rumania named a special assistant to Attor-|that it is ready to accept a Russian ney General Murphy, Justice De-|security guarantee, a a report partment officials said today (Continued on Pode

—

of the arsenic slayings of her com-mon-law husband, her stepson and another man. From information obtained in their questioning of the new wit(Continued on Page Two)

0. K. IMPROVEMENT OF SENATE AVENUE

Board Votes Track Removal From Indiana to 16th.

INJURIES INFLICTED | BY BURGLAR FATAL

A 69-year-old night watchman died today of head injuries inflicted by a burglar, who slugged and robbed him two months ago. [ The victim was William Peterman, 1341 W. Court St. On March 11 while he was on duty at the Paul Middleton Coal Co. he was struck on the head by a man wielding some sort of blunt instrument, police said. Mr. Peterman failed to notify authorities immediately because he did not have any description of the prowler to guide them. The burglar {took his billfold containing $2.

F. D. R. SILENT ON ° M’NUTT SUCCESSOR

Permanent improvement of Senate Ave. from Indiana Ave. to the north property line of 16th St. was approved today by the Works Board. At the same time the Board announced that the City “is in the best position in years to undertake street and alley improvement.”

TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

Books Broun Comics Crossword ... Curious World Editorials .... Fashions Financial .... Flynn

The Senate Ave. improvement] WASHINGTON, May 10 (U. P.), car tracks and replacing them with clined comment on who would be concrete. The cost to the City will appointed to succeed Paul V. Mc« ————————————————— | High Commissioner to the Philip YOUNG DOCTOR’S HUG | bnes. Mr. McNutt, a Democratic the islands tonight. Among those mentioned prome ALEDO, Ill, May 10 (U. P.) —A | Sayre, assistant Secretary of State, young doctor-father and his wife for their 19-month-old daughter, Nancy Irene, who died from her Dr. C. O. McCreedy Janced a “flu abscess” on a patient in the ating instrument in the breast pocket of his coat.

will consist of removing the street- —President Roosevelt today de« be about $4526. Nutt, former Indiana Governor, as Presidential candidate, will leave FATAL TO DAUGHTER neni for the post is Francis B. today planned a small, quiet funeral father’s hug. country. Carefuly he put the operNancy Irene greeted him from

her crib when he returned home. 9 The young father swept the child to his shoulder. She snuggled against him, on“the side where the

infection-covered knife protruded.

Three) _ ‘form of

The instrument scratched her skin. Two nights later, Monday,

Forum In Indpls.ceee

+«oveee 101 Society ... 6, 3 Sports ....12, 13 14

9| State Deaths.

Nancy Irene died from a virulent streptococcic «

a“

Jane Jordan.. Johnson

10 Wiggap este