Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 August 1939 — Page 1
FORECAST: Partly cloudy tonight and tomorrow; little change in temperature. i
"FINAL HOME
| SCRIPPS — HOWARD §
VOLUME 51—NUMBER 133
MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1939
Entered - as al Postotfice,
Second-Class Matter Indianapolis, Ind.
PRICE THREE CENTS :
SL
Earless Man’ and Disgruntled Railroader Sought in Wreck
The wreck of a streamliner . . . a two-million dollar train becomes a mass of junk in the Humboldt River Canyon.
10-CENT RELIEF TAX RISE HINTED
Neal Expected to Ask $600,000 Increase in 1940 Budget.
A record welfare budget, expected to call for a 10-cent tax rate increase in 1940, was to be submitted to the County Auditor this afternoon by County Welfare Director Thomas Neal. The proposed welfare rate—24 cents on each $100 of taxables— ‘would top this year’s all?ime high of 14 cents if approved by the County Council, Tax Adjustment Board and the State Tax Board. Although Mr. Neal was not to release the official figures until this afternoon, it was learned reliably that the total welfare costs for 1940, including those defrayed by State and Federal aid, may total $4,000,000. This year’s expenditures were $3,400,357.
Chief Reasons Assigned
Principal reasons for the proposed increase are understood to be: 1. Old-age assistance costs have continued to rise with an increase of 2000 applicants this year. 2. The cost of providing aid to dependant - children has been mounting with the placing of more children in private homes and an increase in the number of applicants. If expected additional funds » are received from the Federal Government for this purpose, this item may be reduced later, it was understood. Seek ‘Working Balance’
3. The Welfare Department is asking a “working balance.” Heretofore, it has been forced to pay many January assistance costs in December, forcing it to use the money it had earmarked to pay the (Continued on Page Three)
MERCURY STARTS CLIMBING EARLY
LOCAL TEMPERATURES
6am... 671 10a. m a.m... 92 1am... 8a m.... 78 12 (noon). 9a. m... 8 1p m...
83 83 86 84
There will be little change in the temperature during partly cloudy weather tonightsand tomorrow, the Weather Bureau said today. The mercury began a steady climb early this morning and Meteorologist J. H. Armington said that the maxi- _ mum temperature today would probably be in the low 90s.
BEES’ STINGS FATAL
WALTON, Ind. Aug. 14 (U. P.).— Stings from a swarm of bumblebees disturbed in a woodshed at her farm home near here proved fatal yesterday to Mrs. Mary Collins, 74.
COY OPERATED UPON
Times Special + BALTIMORE, Aug. 14.—Wayne Coy, administrative assistant to Federal Security Administrator Paul V. McNutt, was opérated on for a kidney ailment at Marine Hospital here today. .It is expected he will remain at the hospital for three weeks and will not return to his washington office for six weeks. The operation was reported suc- - cessful.
"TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES
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9! Mrs. Ferguson 10 Comics 14|Obituaries ... Crossword ... 13|Pegler ....... Curious World 14/Pyle ........,
esos 10 Radio see 0ess Editorials 11|Mrs. Roosevelt
10|Serial Story.. 10 Society wt 3 S 1 sev0ecV, 418 ths
Books Broun Catton
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9 11 9 14 4
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Ol’ Apple Tree Crowding Alley Into City Hall
ORKS BOARD members were confronted today with the ‘problem of putting a trespassing alley in its place. With the help of an apple tree, the alley has been creeping up on W. M. Vaser’s property, 832 N. Leland Ave., at the rate of one foot a year for the past 10 years, Mr. Vaser told the Board. The alley was staying put and behaving itself until the tree started growing in its midsection. This made motorists swerve eastward to dedge the tree.’ \ Each year as the tree grew larger the motorists swerved a little farther. Now it has taken 10 feet off Mr. Vasér’s back yard. The Board members said the - only remedy was to cut down the tree and pave the alley. They gave residents 30 days to think the proposition over.
WHALE TO TOUR WEST FOR FOR MNUTT
Plans Visit to 1 to 15 States ’ Before Sept. 15.
Frank McHale, manager of Paul V. McNutt’s campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination, left today on a month’s tour of Western states to further the former Governor’s campaign. Mr. McHale is to visit 15 states, contacting state Democratic chair=men and other political leaders. He will have no speaking engagements. He is to return in time for the In-
diana Democratic Editorial Association meeting at French Lick Sept. 5 5
15. - States in Mr. McHale's itinerary are Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada and California. Mrs. McHale is to join him in San Francisco-at the termination of the swing.
AUTO TAG SALES SET ALL-TIME RECORD
An all-time record for the sale of automobile license plates has been set this year, the State Motor Vehicle Bureau reported today. Plates sold up to Aug. 1 totaled 969,096, an increase of 43,647 over
the number sold the same period last
year. The biggest single increase was in passenger tags. These totaled 775,245, an increase of 26,105. Drivers’ licenses so far this year totaled 1,225,569, an increase of 47,346. New car sales during the first seven months of this year totaled 84,703, an increase of 23,405. Used cars sold totaled 208,132, an increase of 17,386.
PUSH PLAN TO BRING AIR CENTER TO CITY
A plan to obtain the proposed $10,000,000 Governmental airplane experimental station for the Municiple Airport is to be discussed at a meeting at 4 p. m. today at the of-
| fice of Governor M. Clifford Town-
send. |The meeting is to be attendetl by the Governor, Mayor Reginald Sullivan, L J. Dienhart, Airport superintendent; Myron Green, secre-
tary of the industrial division of the
Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce; William H. Arnett, managing director of the Indiana Chamber of Com5/merce and William E. Sayer, state adjutant of the American Legion,
STOCKS UP ONE POINT
NEW- YORK, Aug. 14 (U, P)— Reacting from last week's sharp decline," the stock list gained frac-
tions to more than a point today. moderately. active.
OIL PRODUCTION
IN TEXAS HALTS §
Most of 87,000 Wells Are Closed in Protest Against Buyers’ Price.
DALLAS, Tex. Aug. 14 (U. P.)— Most of the 87,000 oil wells of Texas,
biggest oil producing state in the na-|
tion, were ordered today to shut
down in protest against the action: of the hig oil companies in reducing ;
the price they pay for crude oil, The Texas Railroad Commission
governing’ body In charge of oil i fields, met in Austin and ordered the;
shutdown for a 15-day - period.
Earlier the commissioners had con- | i
sidered a 30-day shutdown. The action was the first definite
move any of the ‘ofl producing
states have made since the cut in crude prices was initiated last week by Harry F. Sinclair's company. The entire Texas output will not be shut off, Commissioner Ernest O. Thompson said, because stripper wells that would suffer serious damage if closed down will be permitted to run. e Rodessa Field also was exempted, but Mr. Thompsop said it, too, would be ordered closed if Louisia authorities decided to stop. production and order the Louisiana area of the Rodessa Field closed. F. V. L. Patton, commission engineer, estimated that daily production probably would be about 120,000 barrels - under the reduction order. . The Interstate Oil Compact Commisison will meet in Oklahoma City tomorrow and Mr. Thompson said it was possible the entire midcontinent oil area might act in concert to reduce production.
HEAD INVESTIGATOR
IN WPA QUIZ AWAITED
Earle D. Chesney, head investigator in the Congressional . probe into the nation's WPA, was to arrive here today to confer with the staff which has set up headquarters in the Federal Building. Mr. Chesney is first administrative asssitant to Rep. Clifton A. Woodrum (D. Va.), chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee making the investigation into alleged irregularities in WPA projects in Indiana and. other states. ; The two probers here now are George J. Shillito and Matthew J. Connelly. - They said they expect to hire a “corps of stenographers” soon and will be here “several months from the looks of things.”
Historian of
_ ‘One rail moved four inches .
city of San Francisco , Sus her glory that was
THREE TRAPPED ON DELPHI BRIDGE DIE
‘Mother and Two Daughters
Wabash Train Victims.
DELPHI, Ind., Aug. 14 (U.P.)—
ia bride of slightly more than a week died in a Lafayette hospital
and her two daughters by a former marriage | were killed today when they were struck by a Wabash Railroad righ train as they were walking across a railroad bridge near the city. The dead are Mrs. Theodore Fife, 50; Dora Mae Rader, 22, and Bertha Rader, 14. The three were walking to town about 9 a. m. and started across the bridge. The freight train roared own upon them as they were approximately half way over. Bertha Rader leaped from the bridge, but was killed by the fall. .Dora Mae was Killed by the train.
2 MORE INDICTED IN
LOUISIANA SCANDAL
NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 14 (U. P.). The Federal Grand Jury today indicted George Caldwell on charges of mail fraud and Eugene Barksdale, who briefly succeeded Caldwell as
Louisiana State University construction supervisor, on charges of diverting WPA labor and materials. Caldwell was accused of fraud in two indictments, ° Barksdale was named upon
charges filed by WPA Investigator Paul Hansen.
‘Our Town’
Says Au Revoir Till Fall
+ [rom persons seeking information |p
Column Will Wait Return of Anton Scherrer, Wife From Europe.
Anton Scherrer, conductor of the popular Times column, “Our Town,’ today left with Mrs. Scherrer for a vacation in Europe. | Mr. and Mrs. Scherrer will embark at New York for the Netherlands. Later they will visit Switzerland, France and other Continental countries. “Our Town” will not appear during Mr. Scherrer’s absence. It will be resumed when he returns to Indianapolis about Oct. 15. What: Indianapolis will do for an unofficial’ historian in the meantime is undecided. Accorded that
title by friends and readers, Mr.|
Scherrer receives scores of inquiries
about fh the Indianapolis. of an earlier
The four men of the crew, including two ace pilots, were dead; the remnants of the plane were so nearly consumed by flames that effective examination was difficult, and both survivors were Suffering from severe shock.
The plane, arriving on a flight, from Miami, Fla., to Buenos Aires, had circled normally for a landing in the harbor. People awaiting it at the airport, relatives and friends of passengers and Pan-American officials, saw it disappear behind the Marine Arsenal, as all planes do, preparing to alight. A few minutes later a message was received that the plane had crashed into the harbor in” flames. It had dropped suddenly, apparently ‘after an explosion. It had crashed against the top of a high drydock adjoining the arsenal. One of its two motors had remained dangling on the edge of the dock. The rest of the flaming plane plunged into the harbor, nose in the water, tail a blazing torch. One Dies at Hospital Three men were thrown clear. One died in hospital; the others were semi-conscious in hospital today. | One of the survivors, Mario Lyra, still dazed, said he believed one of the passengers, a Belgian diamond merchant named Emanuel Valenso, was carrying $100,000 in' diamonds with him. The diamonds and most of the plane’s mail were lost. The casualty list follows:.
Killed EDDY, MISS OR MRS. HENRIE MAY, Gainesville, Fla., a native of Denver. ; LANDMAN, ROBERT, New York City. PROF. ROGERS. CAPT. A. A. PERSON, Miami, the pilot, a ‘World War ace flier and a Pan-American veteran. . CO-PILOT GEORGE B. KING. JENKINS, RUSSELL, radio man. TRUJILLO, JULIO, steward. M. VALENSO. LEVIN, PABLO, boarded at Bahia. OLIVERIA, EDGARDO, boarded at Bahia. SANTOS, ALBERTO, boarded at Victoria, Brazil. SANTOS, LUCILIA, ‘boarded at Victoria. MIRANDA, EVARISTO, ‘boarded at Pernambuco, Brazil.
Died in Hospital AMMUNDSEN, ANTON, boarded
at Bahia. Survived SENOR LYRA. HIRTH, OSWALDO, boarded at
Pernambuco.
HOGS DROP. 10 CENTS _ A 10-cent decline in prices again ushed hogs down to the Brecyear low set Friday. The peak price was
5 quoted at $6. Vealers and Sheep were
Carlin . . . all around is desert.
Two Survivors May Hold Clue to Crash Fatal to 14
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 14 (U. P.)—Two wounded survivors and flame-twisted wreckage held today the clues by which authorities hope d| to solve the mystery of the crash of a Pan-American Ariways fying boat in which 14 persons died, including Prof. James Harvey Rogers, noted Yale economist and once a leading Roosevelt brain truster.
. ous.
Didn’t Have the Heart to Do It
OGAN, O.,, Aug. 14 (U, P)— - Hospital attaches said that George Nichols, 20, of New Plymouth, was alive today because his heart is in an abnormal position. Mr. Nichols told the hospital authorities that. he tried to end his life by firing a .22 caliber bullet into the leit side of his chest. An x-ray examination showed his heart to be abnormally to fhe right, saving it from the bullet, Mr. Nichols’ condition was seriHe was said to have been despondent over a love affair,
TWO ‘SPEED’ ZONES FOR CITY PROPOSED
20 M. P. H. Downtown, 30 Elsewhere Urged.
A plan to simplify speed limits on Indianapolis streets by dividing the city into two definite “speed” zones was to be submitted to the Safety Board today by the Citizens Safety Committee. The plan, if approved, would fix the speed limit at 20 miles an hour in the downtown district and _30 miles an hour in all other areas of the city. The downtown area in which the 20-mile limit would prevail would be bounded on the north by 16th St.; on the south by McCarty St.; on the east by Noble St., and College Ave. and on the west by Blake St., White River and Fall Creek. “This plan would eliminate all the confusion that now exists among motorists because of 20, 25
and 30-mile speed limits which are scattered throughout the city,” ex-| plained Rapert Scrogin, secretary of |
the Citizens Safety Committee. Approval ®f the plan seemed likely as both Leroy J. Keach,
today said they were in favor of it. Mr. Scrogin asserted that adoption of the plan would fit in well with the present safety eampaign of the Works and Safety Boards tc eliminate physical hazards at 14 of the city’s “worst” intersections.
POLISH STAR TO MARRY LONDON, Aug. 14 (U. P).—Nova Pilbeam, 19, movie actress, announced today her engagement to marry F. Penrose Tennyson, 27, who helped direct such, movie cess as “The Ci q
IN TRAIN
Times-Acme Telephotos.
. these cars contained 20 dead and 111 injured vies se twisted Hirdess) once were 2 bridge.
{20 DEAD, 111 HURT
DISASTER
Officials Convinced Saboteurs Are Respone sible; Robbery May Have Been Motive. :
BULLETIN RENO, Nev., Aug. 14 (U. P.).—Railroad police today arrested
a suspect in the wrecking of the
San Francisco. The suspect was
taken of a freight train near ‘here and detectives said he had
- 10 CARS... poh “a x
- 4 Fre “ay
TRAIN WRECK Bay via CARLIN, Nev., Aug. 14
| (U. P.).—Railroad officials
were convinced today that
saboteurs were responsible for the wreck of the fi2,000,000 streamliner City of San Francisco but they had yet to detere mine the identity of the men responsicle or the motive that
inspired them.
Twenty persons were killed in the tragedy Saturday
night and 111 were injured.
ARMY BOARD PROBE 6 HOOSIER DEATH
Seeks Cause of ‘Dud’ Shell Blast at Ft. Knox.
Times Special
FT. KNOX, Ky, Aug. 14—A
three-man board of inquiry was to
meet today to investigate the deaths of six Indiana National Guardsmen killed by explosion of a “dud” shell yesterday. The board is made up of Col. Ben Watts, Maj. Claude R. Crook and Capt. D. S. Shummatt, all of the 139th Field Artillery. Three other men were injured when a 42 smoke shell, picked up on an artillery range, exploded as it was being carried to a tent in the camp area. Those killed vere Corp. - Roy Maxey, 20, and his brother, Paul Maxey, 19, Corp. Charles Hendricks, 21, all of Oakland City; John R. Jones, 22, and Arthur McCarthy, 19, of Princeton, and Willis Snow, 19, of Evansville. ‘The injured are Sergt. William C. Hart, 43, and Morris Fitch, 20, both
,| of Princeton, and Ralph Carter, 21, ‘| of Ft. Branch. They were taken to
the Post Hospital suffering from flesh wounds. Sergt. Hart was released last night. Maj. Gen. Robert H. Tyndall of Indianapolis, commanding the 38th Division, National Guard. said the (Continued o on Page Thre Three)
CONTRACT AWARDED FOR TAX MACHINES
The International Business Machine Corp., New York, today was awarded a contract for furnishing electrical accounting machinery to the Marion County Auditor’s office for preparation of tax duplicates. Under the contract, the County
‘machines.
chairman of the Safety Board, and installed in a program of modernMichael Morrissey, chief of police, Zing the County's tax record ac-
must pay $1035 a month rental for
the equipment which consists prin-|
cipally of punch-card accounting The machinery is being
counting. The International Business Machine Corp. was the high bidder. The Remington-Rand Corp., the only other bidder, offered machines for a few dollars less per month. County Auditor Fabian Biemer explained the successful bidder had carried out extensive research for more than a year into the needs of the Auditor’s office and its accounting modernization program. Commissioners said this was the reason
: for R¥siding. the contract £° the |
Either robbery or revenge os some real or fancied of fense were the most likely mos ‘tives and officials leaned toward the revenge theory.
They pointed out that there was no evident attempt to hold up pase sengers after the streamliner roared at 50 miles an hour around the
curve where an ingenious trap had been set by removing spikes from a rail and covering the deadfall with tumbleweeds.
Judging by the cunning of the saboteurs they concluded that someone with an expert knowledge of railroading had a hand in the plot. They sought two men as suspects, one described as deformed and without ears, and the other a gisgruntled railroad worker. The “man without ears” was seen by several persons near the wreck: scene and was traced across Nevada as far as Fernley, about 250 miles west of Carlin. He was reported driving a dilapidated car. Nevada police: were asked to search the State’s highways for him. .
Tourists Hear Curses
Two Michigan~ tourists, whoss names police withheld, told San Francisco authorities they had heard a railroad worker cursing ths Southern Pacific, on whose tracks the streamliner was operating; and being told by a companion “keep your mouth shut.” He was believed to be the same man whom W. K. Fraed, Alta Luma, - Cal, told Souhterr Pacific police- ‘he saw near Hazen, Nev. a railroad stop between Carlin and Reno. That man too had a’ grudge against ‘ths railroad, Mr. Fraed said. " The man without ears was the first suspect of a search in which Federal Bureau of Investigation acents are expected to participate. This man was seen early yestér= day, soon after the wreck, peering down into Palisade Canyon, filled with the mangled dead and the miserable injured and the twisted steel of one of the world's finest trains, from the top of one of its high walls. William Judice,. a deputy sheriff, and a railroad dee tective, called to him and he ran.
Seen Twice Later
The man was seen again several hours later at Hazen. He was cov=ered with the alkali dust of this area. He was seen again at Fernley, further on toward Reno. He wa@® extremely nervous and asked frightened questions of motorists along the wreck. All who saw him were sbruck. by his distinguishing mark--his lack - of ears. There were mangled rudi(Continued on Page Three)
“MURDER ON BOARDWALK”
The Times New Daily Serial Begins Today en: Page 14.
THE