Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 December 1939 — Page 1

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‘The Indianapolis Times

FORECAST: Partly cloudy tonight and tomorrow; slightly colder tonight with lowest temperature about 25.

FINAL HOME

[scueps “mowaRpl VOLUME 51—NUMBER 243

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1939

at Postoffice,

Entered a3 Second-Clas Indianapolis,

tz Matter Ind.

PRICE THREE CENTS

WINTRY BLAST REVIVES CITY HOLIDAY SPIRIT

Mercury Drops 20 Degrees And Snow Gives Hope | Of White Christmas.

LOCAL TEMPERATURES

Sa nm ...33 11a.m ...30 a ...33 12 (Noon) .29 A ™.-...32 1pm 30

ah 35 Epon ...80 | |

8 9 9a wm ...30 An overnight drop in temperatures of about 20 degrees brought | snow flurries to Indianapolis, but) they do not necessarily promise a

white Christmas, the Weather Bu-

reau said.

The snow, the Bureau said, will

stop by nightfall. It will be slightly colder tonight, with the oe INQUIRY FUNDS

temperature around 25, the Bureau said. NEAR While. in various parts of Governor Told Emergency Doesn't Exist for Probe Of State Divisions.

the city gardeners reported blooming roses and other flowers, The new briskness in the weather brought out many shoppers today studying final Christmas lists as they hurried about the streets and through the stores. The snow flashes gave a seasonal touch to the city, and spurred the ordinary holiday activities that may have lagged during the last few

days of “spring” weather. | Governor M. Clifford Townsend

And Revealed BO

(Donors List, Page Four)

She Fainted—

eal Courage

| | | | Bright and early yesterday, she |came into the Clothe-A-Child headquarters, as she had been bidden. | Someone was going to give her warm clothes for the winter.

J. H. Armington, senior meteorologist here, said that children might as well leave their sleds in the basement, as far as this snow is concerned. He said the snow probably is general over Indiana north of here and that heavy falls were reported in northern Wisconsin and Michigan, shading oi rapidly te the south. The snow ‘comes, the northwest,

Wintry Area Covers Midwest and West

he said, from

CHICAGO, Dee. 20 (U. P).—Win-|

ter gained a foothold in most Midwestern and Western states today. temporarily smothering spring-like temperatures that had prevailed since the firct of the month. Clouds and wind brought temperatures down as much as 22 degrees in 24 hours in some sections. U. S. Weather Bureau officials attributed the change to a storm moving northeastward out of the Missouri Valley. Colder weather was forecast for

said today he will turn down a re-| She was a schoolgiri. No one at quest made by the Indiana House headquarters knew that she recently Investigating Committee for $10,000 had been sent home from City Hosfrom the Governor's contingency pital after an appendicitis operation fund to finance a probe of State and told to stay in bed for awhile. government activity. No one knew because she didn't tell The Governor explained that the that. fund can be used only for special No one knew, either, that she had emergencies and that a recent At- no breakfast—because there was no tormey General's opinion declared food in the house. She didn't tell the committee's creation during the that either, because it wasn't imlast Legislature was invalid. |portant. She needed warm clothes. | The request for funds was made In tie midst of shopping, this [in a letter to Governor Townsend little girl fainted. She fainted from by Rep. Paul 8. Brady (R. Muncie), general weakness, and frem lack of committee secretary. | food. |

Passed by G. 0. P. House 2 a The contingency fund is a special | Last night a Mother and her seven | appropriation of $75.000 authorized children came to headquarters. The | by the Legislature for use in emer- children were clothed and the gencies such as relief work, during mother waited, When the children floods or other disasters. The Gov- returned, the family group left {ernor’s legal advisers contended that headquarters and moved up the | the Governor could not legally al- street, Dearing heavy bundles. The] locate any of the money to the com- little girl, mn particular. was having | mittee because an emergency does a struggle. not exist. Someone in headquarters had an The resolution creating the in-

idea and followed. vestigating committee was passed by| “No,” said the mother, reluctantly, {the Republican-controlled House “we had no car fare.” and was not presented to the Sen-

SMITH ELECTION

BOARD NOMINEE:

By Vandivier; Ettinger Action Awaited.

Robert 8. was renominated as the Republican member of the County Eleciion Board by County Chairman Carl Vandivier. , in a letter to County Clerk Charles R. Ettinger, who makes the formal appointment, Mr. Vandivier hinted that he does not wish to take advantage of a loophole in the 1939 Central Ballot Counting law which conceivably might permit him to name 336 county vice com-=- | mitteemen. { The renomination of Hendricks Kenworthy, contractor, as the! Democratic member of the Board, was submitted to Mr. Ettinger more than a week ago by Democratic] Chairman Ira Haymaker, but the Clerk has not acted on it vet. The Clerk, by virtue of his office, is the, third member of the Board, |

Law Causes Concern |

Mr. Vandivier's letter accompany - ing the nomination was the first! official recognition of previously re-| ported fears by party workers that the new law could be operated to | perpetuate the two county chairmen | in power,

Renamed as G. 0. P. Choice

| | |

Smith, attornev, today

— mpd

INQUIRY OPENED | IN ARAUCA CASE

Distance of British Boat From Shore at Time of | Shot Vital Issue.

FT. LAUDERDALE. Fla, Dec. 20!

| rood

Times-Aeme Telephotos, Warfare at sea, with one matehless drama of action and suspense following the other, held the attention of today's war-mind-ed world. 1. Rather than surrender her to a hovering British man-o-war, the captain of the German luxury liner Columbus, set her afire.

2. Capt. Hans Langsdorff, commander of the scuttled Admiral Graf Spee, who appeared in such spirits after his arrival in Buenos Aires, ended his life in a hotel today. 3. The German freighter Arauca safely outdistanced a pursu-

SEITE

CREW OF LINER |

INN. Y. HARBOR

‘Reports Indicate 51 Lives May Have Been Lost in | Scuttling of Columbus. | NEW YORK. Dec. 20 (U. P.).

DIES TO SHARE IN DESTINY OF ‘BELOVED SHIP

‘Hitler's Orders Prevented Him From Meeting Death On His Own Bridge.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 20 (U. P.).—Tall, debonair Capt.

4 (Hans Langsdorff, commander

lof the scuttled Admiral Graf Spee-—shot himself to death today with a revolver. | Rigidly true to the harsh code of |the sea he had served as one of | Adolf Hitler's ablest naval come manders, Capt, Langsdorff wrote a letter in which he said that from the moment he followed out instruc= [tions to blow up his battleship off the Uruguayan Coast, he had ins tended to “share the destiny” of his vessel. He had delayed, he said in a lete ‘ter addressed to German Ambassae dor Dr. Edmund Freiheerr von Thera mann, only long enough to make sure that the thousand young sailors under his command were safe and (hat Herr Hitler's orders to destroy the Graf Spee, rather than let her fall into the hands of the British Navy, were carried out.

Tells Men Farewell

| Tt was disclosed that only yestere |day Capt. Langsdorff said farewell to {the men of his crew, | He asked authorities at the Hotel (de Immigrantes if he might have a {heart-to-heart talk with “my men.” | They granted his request, possibly | suspecting his purpose, and the ho. [tel grounds were cleared of all |except members of the crew and Argentine officials, The men who had stood with Capt. Langsdorfl on the decks of the Graf Spee formed a hollow square around their commander in tense silence. He spoke to them quietly but there was deep emotion [in every word as he gave his last | commands. : | The end came for the commander in his room at the hotel rather than on the shell-swept steel decks of the battleship that he had guided through three months of naval raid ing and through a battle with three British warships—one of which thes Graf Spee put out of action with (her big guns before being disabled and forced into Montevideo.

Hitler Decided Issue Friends said there was no question

| |

|The United States cruiser Tusca-| as to the fate he would have chosen {loosa nosed through a dense fog to-|for himself: that he would have pre-

The concern of party workers over

; : (U. P.).—Federal maritime authorthe situation is because the new i

ities tried to determine

ing British cruiser yesterday and

“How far do vou live.” | today in the Central States and the ate, where the Democrats were in anchored in the

| “About four miles.” Great Lakes region and for the Atlantic seaboard states tonight. Forecaster G. E. Dunn, Chicago, said the nation was due for another spell of mild weather starting by tomorrow.

HARTENFELD BOND IS SET AT $15,000

Federal Judge Robert C. Baltzell today set bond ef $15.000 for Edward J. Hartenfeld of Henderson. Ky., and Chicago while his appeal is pending. Hartenfeld has appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago from his conviction of using the mails to defraud nearly 200 Indiana investors of $640,000. Judge Baltzell sentenced him to serve 10 vears in prison and pay a $3000 fine. Although approving the motion for appeal bond, Judge Baltzell said that if “there ever were a case where I would he justified in denving bail, this would be it. This defendant denied his identity and escaped from the U. 8S. Marshal at one time. Now there is even more

[the majority, | So it was arranged that they had | Failure of the Senate to conenr transportation home. | lin the resolution leaves the com- (Continued on Page Three) | mittee without legal standing, the = = Attorney General ruled. | A statement issued by committee members said: “There are many {departments of State Government | that may have been mismanaged, [according to rumors, and we expec: to use every medium within our power to find out whether or not these rumors are true.

‘We Want Facts’

“This is to be an investigation (for the people and not a political whitewash, If ve find nothing wrong, we will say so, and if we find any corruption, abuse of power, graft, or betraval of the confidence of our citizens in any way, same will and must be exposed. We are not looking for any information from persons who have an ax to grind or who want to get even with Mich) said today.

someone; we want facts material “We need a chance to convalesce.”

to better operation of Stat y= ‘ ia TAMER!» pe : ate Go |Uhe potential Presidential candidate

: [wrote in an article entitled “The The statement was signed by Rep. orn y » § Herbert H. Evans (R. New Castle). New Deal Must Be Salvaged” in the

chairman, and other committee American Mercury,

VANDENBERG PLEADS

But Urges G. 0. P. Keep ~ Some New Deal Ideas.

{

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (U. P) — The next administration should preserve “certain social concepts” of the New Deal but should abandon “its restless and unquenchable propensity to try a new experiment on us guinea pigs every 20 minutes,” Sen- | ator Arthur H. Vandenberg (R.

incentive for him to run away.” | members.

AMERICANS ABOARD LINER IN COLLISION

U.S. GETS HALF OF THALBERG ESTATE

LONDON, Dec. 20 (U, P) The! 19.957-ton Cunard White Star Liner | Samaria, taking several hundred

passengers to the United States, has Norma Shearer Already Has returned to a British port after a ! bb Paid Two Millions.

collision which damaged several life-|

boats and its bridge, it was announced today. It was believed that numerous, HOLLYWOOD, Dee. 20 (U. P).— passengeis were Americans. |Unele Sam went about fifty-fifty There were no casualties aboard With Norma Shearer and her two the ship and all passengers were! children in dividing up the $4,470,913 taken back safely to the port which left by the actress’ late husband, the Samaria had left Saturday, it Irving G. Thalberg, it was revealed

“I perceive that we must go for-/ ward in social mindedness as dis=| tinguisned from sheer socialism; | but that wishbone altruism has got | [to give way to backbone practical-| ities, and that a bankrupt Utopia! has got to he rescued from fascism at the right and communism at the left.”

| He recommended alterations in! most New Deal laws. but said that if the Republicans win next year [they would find it necessary to continue Federal responsibility for unemployed relief, a continuation (of the theory that “the Government has a right and a duty to invest public money in behalf of agri [cultural parity and prosperity,” the rights of labor to bargain collectives | ly with employers, social security, |

was said. SUNK IN NORTH SEA LONDON, Dec. 20 (U. P.). — The Swedish steamship Marks, 1877 tons, registered out of Stockholm, was sunk by & mine in the North Sea today. Six members of the crew landed at an east coast port. They said they believed the rest of the crew also was rescued.

SHOPPING DAYS LE

“YIN skSthove LY

aed

today | Federal insurance for bank deposits, | ap TY [regulation of securities exchanges, | Joourt records showed that the... cement to export trade, “in| Federal Government collected ap- AY " proximately haif of the estate in in. the Hull aspiration but not in the 13 iE NY » (Hull technique,” and the Recon-| heritance taxes. struction Finance Corp | Miss Shearer already has paid ? about $2,000,000 in taxes, and an-|

Central Ballot Counting Law makes no provision for counting votes for precinct committeemen before those of other candidates in the primary. Another law provides ‘hat the]

cates after the election and then name one vice committeeman each. |

Action Is Withheld I? they fail to make their appointment by the deadline, the county chairman is authorized to appoint the vice committeemen. This would give the chairman a handpicked bloc of 336 votes in the party's county convention four days after the election, and this handpicked bloc, voting as a unit, probably would outvote the 336 elected committeemen because they would not be as well organized. | Because of the situation, Mr, Et-

tinger has declined to act on the Withesses were

| |

Bulletin |

(Continued on Page Three)

today | whether a British cruiser had en-| tered American territorial waters to

fire a shot at a German freighter. The master of the freighter, Capt.

this port, said it nad. He also charged that a warplane from the cruiser had flown over his ship while he was anchored just outside the harbor waiting for a pilot. | There seemed no doubt that the cruiser—identified as the Orion — had fired one shot at Capt. Steng-| ler's siip, the 4354<ton Arauca.! Witnesses ashore heard the concus-| sion, saw the shell kick up water in| the sea. Some said it occurred not farther than a mile off the coast. | Others said it was seven miles,

The question was important be- ing newspaper headlines told the

cause if the stories of some of the verified it would mean a violation of American ter-| ritorial waters—the three-mile limit —as distinguished from the Pan-| American neutrality zone whose le- | gality has been questioned by the

| which

| | STOP EXPERIMENTS, (committeemen must obtain certifi- Frederick Stengler, who outran the

of election within two days warship to reach the sanctuary of _

glades, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

4. The British cruiser Orion, supposedly fired a shot

across the Arauca’s bow, is shown |

as it hovered off the Florida coast,

ENGLAND JUBILANT AT LINER'S SUICIDE

Proves British Rule Sea, Press Declares.

LONDON, Dec. 20 (U. P.).—Blaz-

that the GerColumbus had

British public today man luxury liner

{gone to the bottom of the Atlantic. indicated |joining the pocket battleship Ad-| Baehne, master of the Columbus, mira! Graf Spee in a suicide death.

The scuttling of the big liner and the pocket battleship and the flight

WASHINGTON, Dee. 20 (U. p.) Delligerents. There is no question of jo Ft, Lauderdale, Fla, of the

Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring announced today that the Army soon would establish for the first time a unified command of air defenses, embracing defensive aviation, anti-aireraft artillery and air raid alarm units,

Bus Schedule Reeds Wrong

WABASH, Ind, Dec. 20 (U.P), =Bus drivers assigned to a new route from Wabash to Warsaw were looking today for the little town that isn't there. The schedule calls for a stop at | Reeds, but drivers have been unable to find Reeds. Big Four Railroad workers say a siding known as “Reeds” was abandoned | years ago.

Port of Ever. |

'a nation's right to the control of | German freighter Arauca were held |

she Yatere within three miles of its 14 he clinching evidence that Brit- | st. C. P. Hogeboom, deputy collector {of customs of Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale’s port, inspected the | Arauea and found that she was not

(Continued on Page Three)

PORK GAINS AGAIN:

lain not only ruled the sea, despite German claims, but that merchant as well shipping was being driven rapidly oft it. The press cast doubt on the ability | of the American nations to enforce a safety zone around the Western Hemisphere and the Evening News| STOCKS IRREGULAR said that the Pan-American neutrality precautions were "a flop.” ET The Admiralty issued a brief comBy UNITED PRESS {munique on the Columbus: A gain of 35 cents was made at| rhe German liner Columbus. | Indianapolis today on hogs weigh-|32581 tons, on sighting one of His (ing more than 180 pounds. OUher ppajesty’s ships some 400 miles weights were steady to 15 cents jo thwards of Bermuda, set fire to ‘higher as demand increased OVer herself and her crew abandoned her. |the past few days. No further information is avail-

{day to the’ entrance of the New | York harbor with its cargo of Ger. [man sailors from the scuttled liner | Columbus. The 10.000-ton anchor temporarily off the Fire Island lightship and awaited the clearing of the fog which had re-

duced visibility in the harbor and

New York City to a few feet. Later {the Tuscaloosa was due to anchor off Ellis Island and transfer the Germans to the immigration department.

| The Tuscaloosa was conveniently |

close yesterday afternoon when British destroyer came boiling over [the horizon 480 miles off Cape Henry, Va.,, and bore down on the 32,000-ton Columbus, third largest

{ship in the German merchant ma- |

rine. Reports from the scene of the [newest war drama were sparse, but {American and British naval reports that Capt. Wilhelm

promptly ordered the sea cocks opened and the ship set on fire, His men took to 22 life boats and i (Continued on Page Three)

“uti SOVIET OPENS HUGE os KARELIAN ATTAG

250 Bombers, Tanks Re-

| ported in Assault.

BULLETIN

HELSINKI, Dee. 20 (U. P.)i= Russian troops, supported by hundreds of tanks and covered by massed squadrons of airplanes estimated, at 250 bombers, have made their heaviest attack of the

warship dropped |

cago to lead all grains lower.

Wheat dipped two cents at Chi-| New | York stocks advanced quietly with |

fraction of its year's high. London security prices were irregular,

other $90,000 still is to be collected by the State of California.

SLAYER FACES QUIZ

QIN SECOND DEATH A Son Will Brea

EW YORK, Dec. 20 (U, P= Ernest Kehler, heavyweight boxer (and a confessed slayer of Dr. Walter (Engelberg, First Secretary of the [German Consulate here, will be

questioned in connection with the

By JOE COLLIER In thin but clean clothing—the kind that would have meant suffering if the temperatures yvesters

The worker knew that this woman lived with her 8-yvear-old son in a house that was hard to heat. She knew that the woman's

|When it Snows Enough for Coasting, eak His Mother's Heart |

I could have kidded him out of it, maybe. But he asked for a sled and every boy ought to have |

able.” Typical of jubilant “banner lines” on first pages was

A. T. & T. gaining to within a that of the Daily Press: “'Sink-

My-Own=-Ships’ Adolf does it again.” Navy men defended the scuttling of the Columbus as a reasonable means of preventing the British from capturing and using it. But they maintained their first reaction from the Graf Spee scuttling--that the ship had met an “inglorious” end while it still possessed guns capable of firing back. It was noted that, in the bitterness of the war spirit, there was

ish submarine commander who re-

German liner Bremen, on its way from Russia to Germany, but did

newspaper

war during the last 48 hours on the Karelian front, it was announced today.

By LOUIS F. KEEMLE United Press Cable Editor A heavy snow storm swirled over northern Finland today and Finland | rejoiced. The two greatest allies of ‘Finns in their fight against Russian

the

|to defend than to attack.

| | The blinding snow, which reduced |

|some public criticism of the Brit Visibility to a few yards and piled {high in drifts, was reported to have

ported that he sighted the great halted the Russian advance in the

where the Finns had entirely out of the

Arctic area, been driven

the | invasion are the. weather and the wild, broken nature of their {ecountry, which makes it far easter

ferred to point the steel nose of the {Graf Spee out into the Atlantic and turn her weakened guns on the Brite | ish warships awaiting him there. Capt. Langsdorfl knew the rules by which naval commanders live and die in war and he would have | preferred to have followed them. But orders from Berlin—reportedly from Adolf Hitler himself--cde« cided his course and on Sunday eves ning he took the battleship out and touched off the blast that exe ploded her in flames. [| He saw all of the wounded men from the Graf Spee-—~which he had commanded since 1038-—safely ashore: he saw the dead buried and the remainder taken aboard rescue vessels and transported to Buenos Aires. He stood at atiention as the |Gral Spee burst into flames and ha [came ashore at the Argentine naval port with a grim smile on his lean face and a firm handshake for those who greeted him at the pier. Then he and his men were interned. | There were some hostile come ments, There were newspapers in Paris and London which wondered why Capt. Langsdorff had not gone down with his ship.

Retired Quietly | But the commander of the Graf Spee gave no indication that he knew of such comment and quiet (ly retired last night to his room a% {the hotel, which is a group of large [buildings directly back of the main customs house. He had reported to his superiors that the orders he received were carried out. He had foregone the satisfaction — dear to any naval commander of his type—of standing on the bridge of his ship while he pressed the button that blew her to pieces. This morning an aide found his body at 8:30 a. m. There was a let ter by his side, addressed to the Ame bassador. Later, the Embassy issued this statement: “The commander of the glorious cruiser Graf Spee, Capt. Langsdorff, sacrificed his life last night for the Fatherland by taking his [life voluntarily. [ “According to a letter he wrote | (Continued on Page Three)

TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

18 Johnson +... 18 17| Movies sasaae 13

‘Books Clapper Comics

Sana

ERR

a sled. “So I told him that the weather is £0 nice that there won't be any snow this winter anyway.” Sn gm She was about ready to have TWO CUT IN TRUCK CRASH [which runs from Petsamo to the Flynn her treatment, and started into | Raymond Reel, 25, of 444 Spruce railhead at Rovaniemi. | Forum the clinic room. St, and Harry FP. Pahud, 57, of They hope to be able to hold the Gallup Poll.. “I know it will snow sometime, [3403 Boulevard Place, received head Russians back for the remainder of Grin, Bear It. and I wonder what he'll think of |cuts today when light trucks they | the winter and prevent them from In Indpls..e.e me. I guess I'm a coward.” were driving colided at Cossell| reinforcing the Army which is try- | Inside Indpls. It started to show today, Drive and Floral Park Cemetery, (Continued on Page Three) Jane Jordan..

husband had left her, and that she was unable to work because of illness. “You know,” said the woman, “all Johnny and I have is the relief basket. And there won't be any Christmas.” She looked worried. “I hope it stays this way until | “But Johnny doesn’t realize, after Christmas. Then I dont | and he's asked for a sled. If | care how cold it gets.” "| he had asked for anything else, | \ x J y tl

x 4

{Killing a year ago of Dr. Max Morgenstern, well-known economist, | | District. Attorney Thomas E, Dewleyv’s office revealed. | | Dr. Morgenstern was found in his apartment beaten so badly he later (died in a hospital. Kehler was! brought in for questioning in the case hut managed at the time to) establish a satisfactory alibi, Mr.! Dewey's office said, 3 Na

day had been normal-—a frail lite tle woman attended the. outpatient clinic at City Hospital. While waiting her turn to con- | sult the doctor, she turned to a | social service worker she knew and who knew her history and said.

| Crossword

‘not torpedo it because that would coastal strip, “ have been a violation of interna-| The Russians had planned to Curious World (tional law, drive south along the Norwegian Editorials .... | border and the only Arctic highway, | Financial ....

seb

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SSSA ANARA

le EAAAAAANAAAAAD

BUY CHRISTMAS SEALS:

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