Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 August 1939 — Page 13

SDAY, AUGUST 16, 1939]

1oosier Vagabond ~~ By Erie Pyle red bbOSTATE, Ariz, Aug. 16—That bus accident

taff had another odd sequel for us. We read in the paper that one of the injured persons was

Miss Sylvia Berg of Juneau, Alaska.

TWo years ago in Alaska, way. out at Good News

. Bay on the Berilig Sea, I knew a Berg family. In fact, I stayed with them a couple of days. They had a very pretty daughter named Frances, and Frances had a sister who had been chosen Miss Alaska the year before. She wasn’t home, so I never got to see her. Now for all I knew, this Miss Sylvia Berg in the Flagstaff hospital might be Frances’ beautiful sister. My duty was plain. A man has no right to detour around such possibilities as this. So That Girl and I talked it over, and I said to her, Now if yeu were way up in Alaska and got hurt and didn’t know anybody, wouldn’t you enjoy seeing someone that knew somebody you knew, even indirectly?” She said, “No.” But we went up to the hospital anyway. . And it wasn’t Frances’ sister at all. However, Miss Sylvia Berg turned out to-be a very nice-looking girl in her own right. She looked! nice despite a broken nose and a black eye and a big| gash on her forehead. : [os

‘ » » He Makes Amends b= She was middling bewildered at a couple of strange people walking into her room and starting to rattle.

But after a little while we got it straightened out that we didn’t mean each other any harm, and we hit on

- | 2 ON | |

.a few people we both knew in Jupeau, such as Clar-

ence Wise and Alex Holden and Alec Dunham, and then everything was all right glad we came to see her. < After we left the hospital we were afraid we had upset Miss Berg so we decided to ‘make -amen is by getting her a little present. So we went to a hotel,

eo lined

and I think she was

It Seems to Me

aif | NEW YORK, Aug. 16--Much has been printed

i lately about a rising wave of-enthusiasm for John

“Nance Garner. It may be so, but in touring through several states I could not’ find this lost.rivér. On the surface, at any rate, the tide for the Texan was tepid. : Still there is the undeniable fact that Mr. Garner ranks high on the list in the printed research of Dr. Gallup, and I am convinced that the prognosticator does a scientific and impartial job. But he himself would be the first to admit that no scheme of. foretelling the future |can avoid the margin in error. After the electoral cyclone in 1936 Giovernor Landon was left clinging to nothing much, but thé straw vote of the Literary Digest, Jou it is my surmise that John Nance Garner is not really marching on but remains station-

ary as a Gallup poll sitter. {

In a speech a few weeks ago Dr. Gallup took | oc-

| casion to point out one way in which a list of Presi-

- acquaintances. He knows which side he is on.

dential - preferences might be wrong. He lamer ted the fact that nobody has yet been able to hit upon any surveying device for measuring intensity of opinion. This; I think, is peculiarly true in the case of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his rivals. When a man says that he is for Roosevelt he doesn’t mean “Yes” or “Maybe.” That ‘man hastbeen through a lof of knock-down and drag-out fights with friends nd

u ”

What Does He Stand For?

But the voter who writes “Garner” on a postdard

- or gives the name of Cactus Jack to an inquiring|re-

; carries too many irons . What do I want now?”

porter may merely indicate nothing more than |an opposition to the President and a willingness to note .down any conveniently remembered name as a saitisfactory club. Often he goes through no emotional process greater than that of a golfing duffer who and is content to say, “Caddy,

and asked if Mrs. Berg ing ‘there. " The clerk said, “Mrs. Berg? Mrs. Berg? No, I don’t think so.” And then he looked at his file and said, “Were -they in the bus accident” and we said yes, and then he looked rather official and said, “No, they're not here. Those people usually have reservations.” . 7 And I said, “You mean those people who are going to have bus accidents 12 miles west of Flagstaff at 7 o'clock on Tuesday mornings usually have reservations?” , ; . 8 s #

Some Obliging People

We found the Bergs in another hotel, and left the present. They hadn't made previous reservations there either. = : I think the: hotel guy must have been thinking about something else, for we have really found Flagstaff one of the most accommodating and friendly towns we've ever been in. Ta : After our desert trip, I had to send a gallon thermos jug back to the friend in Albuquerque from whom we had borrowed it. But the express company wouldn't accept it unless it was boxed up. So we took it to the big department store—Babbitt’s is the name—and asked them to wrap it up for us.

They did so, very beautifully, and at considerable |

time and work. And then, when I went to pay them, they wouldn’t take a cent. They said they'd been wrapping up stuff for Flagstaff people for so long they finally decided it was just part of their life’s work, like getting up in the morning. : = : Another example: I had to buy some special thin typewriter paper. The clerk said it was eight sheets for a nickel. So we took 100 sheets. : When he got through he figured a long time, and said it was $1.25. "So I did some quick figuring in my head, and I got 63 cents. “O. K.,” said the man right off, “63 cents it is.” Just: took my word for it. It scared me so badly I got out my pencil and figured it up two or three different ways, to make sure I

wasn’t cheating him. It still came out 63 ‘cents, though. ’ -

By Heywood Broun

a It is held that Garner may get the nomination by remaining as inarticulate as a gooseneck putter and getting himself thrust into the hands of the public by some of his Congressional cronies on the first green. In that sense I am quite willing to admit that his nomination is in the bag. There have been cases in American political history where the voter was willing to take the word of the caddy rather than exercise his own judgment, hut those have occurred in elections where nothing much was at stake. But in this one John Q. Public is likely to demand the right to make the choice for himself. It is well to remember that less than a fraction of 1 per cent of the people of the United States know anything much about John Nance Garner. He is not heard on the air, in print or on the news reels. Just what does he stand for? Only his club mates in the cloak room know. 2 8 »

Maybe Lewis Was Right

At first I was inclined to believe that John IL. Lewis was guilty of a .political indiscretion in his famous outburst against the Vice President. Now I am not so sure. I still hold that certain irrelevant phrases crept into the denunciation. It is my belief and hope that a man could possibly both play poker and drink whisky and remain a friend of labor, But at the very least the remarks of Lewis did not spring out of any sudden impulse. There is a cadence in the words he uttered. The blame things scan. Silence may command respect up to a certain point, but the time comes when a man must speak out. : The phrases which Lewis uttered will not be forgotten. As a matter of fact, the president of the United Mine Workers of America is one of the most skilful phrase makers in American public life. It is true that his oratorical style is of a tradition which many regard as old-fashioned. But when he comes up to the plate John L. swings three bats. His stylistic models are Shakespeare, the Bible and Virgil. And there is still sufficient resiliency in such fiber to slam a slow ball over the fence. Particularly if the ball comes up to the plate without a thing on it and palpably showing all its ancient seams. (Anton Scherrer is on vacation)

American Roundup By Bruce Catton

| (First of a United PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 16.—If you want to find put . how the Republican Party aims to get back into

{ power, « it succeeds, you might which

f © HYDE PARK, Tuesday—In looking over sqme = clippings which were sent me, I see that Mr. Bruce

general political beliefs held in this group,

Think U. 8. Ripe for Change |

States Tour Series)

and what it is likely to do with that power if profitably study the group Governor Arthur H. James! of i for the nominaon.

This group may never ii

is booming

nate Governor James. . But| it has played such a very large part in the recent refinancing and revitalizing of the party’s national machinery that it is apt to have a great deal to say about wha is nominated and what he. does afterwards. - Dominant figure in the group is Joseph N. Pew Jr. of Philadelphia, wealthy vice president of AR OR the Sun Oil Co. Teamed with him is Col. Carl - James, Estes and Pew recently returned from a ' day Canadian fishing trip. The following day Estes announced at Harrisburg rthat he thought James “an ideal candidate,” ad ' James remarked that while he was not actively seek- | ing the nomination, “no man could refuse” the nomination if it were offered. . | | Neither Pew nor Estes does much talking. It is i| possible, however, to make a fair summary of the

10-

# » ”

# These rest largely on a firm belief that a thumping “business revival is just around the corner, but that it = will stay around the corner until Franklin Roosevelt leaves the White House. ‘It is the President’ gendral ~ personal attitude toward business and business’s n

“Barton takes me to task for having attributed some

remarks on housing to him and comparing them to a

“rather involved sentence quoted from A. P. Herbert.

I am sorry if I did Mr. Barton an injustice. I thought that {the paper I read attributed certain remarks to him and that I gave the gist of the remarks correctly. I apologize, however, if I was careless in my reading and [accepted what I thought I read without verification. | . However, I still want to make ‘the point that Mr. Herbert is right. Many of us today [say things in such an involved manner that they are hard to understand, or ‘we do not take the

; J irouble to face ourselves and make sure that we |are “rying

to give our true convictions when we speak Last night was almost cold and we sat up and lked much later than usual, for Mr. Donald Stephand two young women were here. The talk drifted reading

aloud.. Foete which I have not readifor:

Estes of Texas, another oil man.

which is chiefly objected to, rather than any specific New Deal measure. : ; Next there comes a firm belief that the country is ripe for a change—that the people are fed up with the New Deal and sorely disillusioned, that platforms will not matter very much, that the American people generally vote against someone rather than for someone, and that right now they are getting their mouths fixed to vote against Mr. Roosevelt. The group also tends to feel that it is time for the old system of party responsibility to be revived: that it should be the party, rather than the individual office holder, who shapes policies, the party to whom the voter’s loyalty should be directed. But if this is a business group, which is inclined to see perils in too much democracy, it is not a low-wage group. Quite the contrary, in fact.

# s 2

High Wages Held Essential

Not long ago a well-known aspirant for the Republican nomination suggested to a member of the group that there could be no recovery until wage rates had been driven down, as high wages caused high prices and high prices delayed recovery. He got a scorching answer. High wages, he was told, are essential to prosperity. Prices must come down, yes; but any attempt to reduce wages ought to be resisted to the utmost. On relief, the chances are that this group would favor returning control of direct relief to counties and townships, under state responsibility. n place of WPA, there is suggested a system much likel PWA—direct contracts for any construction work the government does, with full prevailing wages paid. This, it is admitted, would be an expensive way to handle the work relief program-—theoretically. Actually, it is argued, it would be much cheaper, for a business revival would immediately be touched off by this system and the relief rolls would dwindle rapidly.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

_meanings in the lines?’ One of the young girls said that she had heard someone trying to describe a Southern lady the other day and when I read that particular bit out of Benet’s “John Brown’s Body,” which is to my mind the best description of a lady some 50 years back almost anywhere in this country, she remarked: “How much better it would have been if that could have been read then.”

I noticed that Emily Post, in an article the other day, stressed the. value of formalities, using as an example the charm of the Queen of England. It is true that formalities add greatly to certain occasions, but I think they should be kept in their proper place, for if they creep in too often they tend to make people a little unnatural and self-conscious. The charm of most Americans is that they can forget formality when the occasion warrants it. We had a lady from South Africa, who: has been on a trip through eastern Canada and is on her way back to England, lunch with us today. She had many adventures in getting here, but she was impressed with . the kindliness of Americans when they met people in trouble. She is young and pretty and I am not at all surprised that everyone was willing to lend her a helping hand. on finally got our Hyde Park postmaster ‘to. deliver her at our cottage door, that he reassured her by

Tea

and her daughter were stay-| ”

‘truck driver,

Lepke Ruled By Threats Of Violence

From behind the scenes in the underworld Louis Buchalter; alias Lepke, is waging war on business and the law, a war costing vast sums of money. Fighting to retain his control ‘of rackets, he is at the same time charged with carrying on a campaign to kill witnesses against his organization. ' In a series of articles, of which this is the first, Jack Foster tells of the gang chief’s career and the search: now under way for the million-dollar fugitive.

By Jack Foster Times. Special Writer

NEW YORK, Aug. 16.— In Garfein’s Restaurant at No. 10 Avenue A 15 men were hunched over the large round table in the banquet room on the night of Sept. 13, 1934. . Some of them were ordinary businessmen. Some of them were tough babies —thugs, gunmen. All of them were speaking in low, angry voices.

The object of their wrath was a husky man in a tweed suit who was sitting with his back to the door. He was William Snyder, president” of the gangster-ridden Flour and Bakery Drivers’ Union, Local 138. He wasn’t going to play ball with the mob any longer. He was fed up. Fat Max Silverman, head of the gang-ster-created Flour Truckmen’s Association, sat there like a stuffed toad. A strike was brewing—and _ he, William Snyder, was not going to prevent it.

“You better be smart,” Silverman warned. “I don’t give a damn,” Snyder retorted.

As. he said this, his vice president, Wolfie Goldis, stamped out a cigaret. casually rose, crossed the floor, opened a casement window and stepped into the warm night.: From: the street into the room, a few. moments after he had disappeared, came his pastyface 24-year-old brother: who wears horned-rim glasses—Morris Goldis. © = :

Morris had a gun in his hand. Tip-toeing across the room, he pressed it against the back of the unsuspecting Snyder and, while 14 dived under the table he pulled the trigger. Snyder’ sprang up. Two other shots sent him writhing to the floor, and Morris Golds fled in a waiting automobile. = 2 = » Two days later Snyder died. 1 2 2

OUIS BUCHALTER—the noLv torious Lepke—had seen another enemy fall in his cold, methodical rise to leadership in the underworld along which he had carried his loud-mouth, unintelligent, - doggedly-devoted partner, Jacob Shapiro, alias Gurrah. Another had dared oppose his will, and had been struck down. For Lepke through Silverman was the Flour Truckmen’s Association and through Snyder he was partly at least in control of the union. In such a setup there can be no discordant voice. But why was it Morris Goldis— an unimpressive punk—a scrawny, scary youth, certainly not the killer type—who fired the shot? Possibly it was because he wanted a nod of approval from Lepke: in the underworld that means position. Possibly it was because the gunman hired for the job had faded out, and rather than face the terror of reporting failure to Lepke he had done the jobshimself. That’s how Lepke has ruled his manifold million-dollar rackets. By the promise of reward. By the threat of violence for failure or unfaithfulness. Today this Lepke—the extortioner, this clean-collared thug, this evil master of an empire of crime—is the object of an international search. Police, Federal Bureau ‘of Investigation agents, foreign detectives are following every clue that might lead to. his hiding place. A reward of $30,000

has been offered for information leading to his arrest. Why? Why is it: Lepke rather than some other racketeer who.is the goal of this vast network of concerted sleuthing? : Because it is realized, the more police and Government agents learn, that Louis Buchalter—alias Lepke—alias a dozen other names including The Judge—is the most powerful gangster in this country. . . 8 2 =» *

» Poe ATTORNEY 'THOMMSAS E. DEWEY’S in-

vestigators have found bis influence in a dozen industries—the tribute he has ‘exacted has run into millions—and he has relations with every sizable gang in

the country. ; As a matter of fact there is no mob in the country that would dare refuse Lepke refuge if he should ask for it. His name is power. Furthermore, Lepke has hired many gunmen from out of town to do some of his killings and they are under obligation to him : >

_ This has made the search for him doubly difficult. However, with the huge reward, with the sudden burst of newspaper - stories about him, .with the’ intensified detective work, Lepke has become .a “hot article,” and when a gangster becomes a “hot article” the mob either: shies from him or .does. away with him. Schultz, you wiil: remember, became a “hot article” when he was a fugitive; he was murdered when the ‘cops got .too close. ; Specifically Lepke is wanted: for crimes committed in the fur, garment, baking and trucking businesses and fer narcotics, smuggling. -He has already been tried with his pal, Gurrah, in fur cases conducted for the Government by John Harlan Amen. Gurrah was found guilty in the first trial, but the guilty verdict against Lepke ~was reversed on appeal. Before the second trial was called in July, 1937, both Gurrah and Lepke. skipped = their ridiculously low bonds, and: Lepke has been’ a fugitive since. tee On April 14, 1938, however, the slightly shrunken’ Gurrah, who had worked for a while as a

Wandering Tennessee Boy In Need Finds Friends

Because 13-year-old Charles Collins’ aimless footsteps led him in| the right direction, he is clean, clothed an

d comfortable today at. the

home of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Holmes on. 82d St. : <> Charles looked like something out of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” when he came to the Holmes’ door Monday. He was ragged and dirty and his shoes were worn through. ‘He hadn’t’ slept in a

bed for a week, and he scarcely had eaten in that time. Charles and his father, Jack Collins, had come up north from Harriman, Tenn., to pick tomatoes in Indiana. But Charles lost track of his father in Anderson. : Mrs. Holmes took the boy in, fed him and directed him to the bathtub. When Mr. Holmes arrived he immediately made arrangements for his young visitor to receive a haircut, new shoes and a new suit. Last night Charles wrote a letter to his mother in Tennessee, telling her where he was and that he was all right.

STEERS FLEE TRUCK: 2 SHOT BY POLICE “First there were three steers, |

now there is one. pe This happened when the

jumped from 8 truck at Pershing

Ave. and 16th St.

Police captured one, who was

carted on to the Union Stockyards,| :

which was the destination ; ‘Haven Loveless, Sh

FBI PROBES GIRLS

‘STORY OF KIDNAPING|

_ SHELBYVILLE, Ind., Aug. 16 (U. P.)—State ‘and Federal authorities today investigated - the story told by two Georgia girls that they were kidnaped at gunpoint by. two men and two women; at-

tacked by the men, brought tof

Shelbyville in ‘a cattle truck and abandoned on a street here. The girls, one 16, and the other,

15, both of Egan, Ga., were returned

to their homes yesterday.

They told officers that one of

| the women drew a gun and forced

into the truck at Egan. They * captive ta truck

5{ reached Shelbville, they. said.

~Duteh -

- yverman and Samuel Schorr,

laborer in. the Berkshires, the first honest work he ever did in his life, surrendered to the Gov-

ernment. He wept at the trial in

which he was found guilty.

“I'm getting railroaded for my name,” he blubbered:

He is now cracking rocks at the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa. , £8 : : Meanwhile Mr. Dewey’s office painstakingly has interviewed hundreds of witnesses, examined thousands. of business records, checked scores of telephofie calls in piecing together evidence that has resulted in sweeping indict-ments-in the garment, baking and trucking cases. The Federal Government, too, has obtained 10 indictments charging narcotics smuggling against him. These indictments allege that a total of 1052 kilograms of pure heroin seized by customs agents actually were meant for Lepke. At $1400 a kilogram, which is the current underworld pri®, Lepke stood in a position to sell this stuff for $1,472,800—a paltry sum for him. If our fugitive gangster—the big businessman of crime — is found guilty on every count.of every indictment, he will have to be reincarnated at least 20 times to serve all the time the judges will give him. rt But despite this ominous prospect Lepke is not remaining idle in his hiding place. There is plenty of evidence that he actually is conducting some of his business from wherever he is, and the Government is checking the books of certain business houses for a possible clue to his lair. At the same time he is directing a war of extermination against those who

~ know too much and might become

dangerous, just as it is believed he directed the gun that killed Billy

Snyder on that September night

five years ago—a deed, by the way, fer which the Goldis brothers, Sila union official present at the meeting, have been charged with murder. : » 2 a8 EPKE never ordered a murder merely because of anger. Un=-

less’ a death has meant the re-

moval of competition and, there-

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—In which State is Abraham Lincoln National Park?” 2—Name. the science which treats of the celestial bodies. 3—What is. meant by the flag of a newspaper? : : 4—What'is the name of the British possession = nearest . Spain? 5—Who was-the youngest President ‘of the :U. 8.2 : 6—What is" the - correct pronunciation. of the: word attache? x 7—In which ocean are the Horse Latitudes? . 8—With what sport is the name of Don! Meade associated? ona Answers 1—Kentucky.’ - 2—Astronomy. 3—It refers to’ the title plate of the paper: on the first page. 4—Gibraltar. - - = . 5—Theodore Rooseveit. 6—At-ta-shay’. 7—North Atlantic. ‘8—Horse racing. Le NeTe : ASK THE TIMES ‘Inclose a 3-cent siamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or ition fo The India

Thomas E. Dewey (upper, left) sketched as he outlined his war on Lepke, and above a police circular, soon to be supplemented by many thousands throughout the country, describing the wanted mob leader.

~Pusiness career.

fore, greater profits. for him, Lepke has not been interested. Money is his god, and the men who have stood in the way of his grabbing more of it are the men who, by his business logic, eventually must die. isu "It is. as simple as ‘all that: While the Monk Eastmans and the Peg Leg Lonergans of the past gloried in their murders, Lepke has shunned all public show, taking. his satisfaction out of the knowledge that with each ‘new assault, clubbing or acid-throw-ing his might as a man of affairs has been extended. There is no recent record of his having carried a gun himself. He shoots by proxy now. According to the story you hear when cops start fanning at headquarters, the last ™me he—or possibly it was his partner Gurrah—was near the scene of a.crime was when their old pal, Curley Holtz, departed this life.

Curley, according to the story, had been sent by Lepke in 1931 to Europe with a large sum to buy narcotics. He spent only a fraction of this sum on the drugs and had pocketed the rest. When he returned he let the word get out that there were narcotics aboard, and these were seized, it being

" Curley’s' hope that the seizure

would . cover . up- his faithlessness. ‘But Lepke read about the seizure in the papers, noted that the estimated value was far less than the sum he had given Curley, and he had one of his thugs bring him into his presence. :

A gun, says the story, was thrust down Curley’s throat. Now Curley, it is believed, lies in a cement block under the murky waters of the East River.

Lepke was born 42 years ago in Essex St., one of 11 children. His mother had had four children by a previous marriage and his father had had four, too, and so there was not always a great deal to eat. oN ! §

His father had sold lumber in Russia, and, coming to this country in the 1890s because of the pogroms, had entered upon an industrious, productive, worthwhile All of the children, with the exception of Lepke and one other, have pursued respectable lives. 2 # R=usma to go to high school. Lepke ' joined up with his pal in the neighborhood, Jacob Shapiro, whose mother declares he was born in this country but who some believe was born in Russia. Together they would cross the Williamsburg Bridge and torment the pushcart peddlers in the Brownsyille section of Brooklyn. 2 That’s where Shapiro got his .nick-name, Gurrah. ‘The immigrant pushcart peddlers would plead with him, “Guarrahere Jake,” meaning “Get out of here, Jake.” ' Whereupon Jake would smash one of them in the face, turn over his cart and give ‘his

place to another peddler from whom Lepke had received tribute. They were in their early ‘teens then—gaining experience, learning how far they could go, making underworld acquaintances that would help them in. their rise to power. It was at that time, police believe, that they first met Joe Adonis, who was to become with : them .in a quarter. century one of the Big Six of crime and who, it is said, has aided Lepke in his | present flight from justice.

# o o

B® the time he was 16 Lepke, with his partner, Gurrah, had given up the comparatively unremunerative business of beating up pushcart men, and -like Jack -Diamond, had become a package thief,

‘He would knock packages from

wagons on the East Side and sell the contents to fences. In September of 1915 he was arrested for the first time for assault growing out of these activities, but the case was dismissed. This was the beginning of a long series of 13 arrests that preceded his Federal indictments. In only three

‘cases—once in Bridgeport, Conn.

and twice before Judge Nott in General Sessions Court—he was found guilty and given sentences. Seven. times he was discharged by magistrates in Manhattan. These brushes with the law made Lepke canny,. taught him that it was wisest. to hire others to commit his crimes while he remained far from the scene, impressed him with the necessity of organizing himself as a great corporation of crime. He had decided by 1920—

‘when he was barely 21—that he _

would become the ‘city’s greatest underworld power. : All that was needed, he decided, was to be smart, unsentimental, ruthless — and to accumulate money. Plenty of money! With money he could defy anybody or anything — the law, the underworld, the government itself. : He began by studying the gangster ‘technique of the past. They were too gaudy, too spectacular, too obviously designed to invite personal glory. They always ended ° in destruction, and Lepke wanted to avoid destruction; for he has, like most gangsters, a morbid fear of death. ; There was tremendous business activity after the wax and with it came increased labor unrest. Lep- . ke would take advantage of this, ; He began by muscling in on the leather business and by sending out feelers to the garment, trucking, fur businesses. All the time, ! however, he was keeping his eye on other racketeers who were be- i ginning, likewise, to operate in the i industrial fields. He never crossed : their paths in such a way as to court disaster, yet he never failed | to take advantage of their bloody . mishaps. : By 1931—when: they disposed of the important Curley—Levke was

the biggest figure in Ainerican

crime, and Gurrah was his yesman.

NEXT-—How Lepke operated

in industrial racketeering. :

$y ed

Noyes \ | 37,

Everyday Movies—By Wortman |

Poi 3 = EY