Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 August 1940 — Page 11

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1940

The

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Indianapolis Times

Hoosier Vagabond

BROWN COUNTY. Ind.. Aug. 20.—Nashville is the county seat of Brown County. It is only an hour trom Indianapolis, and the road is like a pipe-line pouring intrusion in upon the solitude of the hills and the brush. And yet that is all nght too, for beauty would be worthless if it weren't available for seeing. Always the highways to Brown County are heavily traveled. But in the fall, when the leaves tun red and golden and yellow, Brown County seems to become a shrine for all the Midwest, and the local people have to stay home, for it is impossible for them to get anywhere. On autumn week-ends, cars stand lined motionless in traffic Jams for miles and miles—thev extend ull the way from the State Park a few miles away clear down Into Nashvilie, and they become an almost immovable mass, choking the streets.

On just one Sunday 18,000 people passed through the gates of Brown County State Park. Yet oddly enough they are all gone by 8 in tne evening, and Nashville regains its freedom and can breathe again. They are gone because all these visiting outlanders are afraid of the hills and of the darkness, and they want to flee before the night seizes and engulfs then. It makes us oid Brown Countyites snicker. Outsiders have never been too popular in Brown County. I don’t mean that you'll get the old cold dead-eyve that the Kentucky hills are famous for. You'll get courtesy and even friendliness, but still they won't like you unless you act rigit. Visitors have become unpopular for the same reason that you wouid become unpopular with me if you came into my house. stared bug-eyed at me as though I were some kind of freak. and then laughed in my face. That is the way visitors have gone te Brown County, and the wav a few of them stiil do today. = » »

A Word About Nashville

They stand on the street and laugh ai the courthouse, whith is certainly nothing to laugh at at all. They ask whether people can read and write. Thev are amazed to find there is a school here. They make fun of the girls. and rudeness is on their tongues. The people here tolerate a great deal in silence. But once in a while the younger ones break over into

Our Town

ANOTHER PLACE full of ghosts is the old Federal Building at the corner of Pennsylvania and Market Sts. It's the building now used by the American Bank people. The ghosts inhabit the sec-

ond floor—more specifically that part of the building where the old Federal Court Room used toc be.

The ghosts are those of Samuel J. Tilden. Daniel W. Vorhees, Thomas A. Hendricks, Richard W. Thompson, and Benjamin Harrison who fought some of their biggest batties in the cheerless. barn-like room—a room you wouldn't recognize today because of the way the bank people have it fixed up to accommodate their Trust Department. Among the distinguished ghosts are also those of the men who were sentenced in the court room. The old Federal Building was an architectural product, and a very nice one, too, of the James Buchanan Administration. Ground was broken for the structure in 1857 and four years later, on June 15, 1861, the building was dedicated. There's probably not another building in Indianapolis that shows its age Jess than this one. Mind you, it’s almost 80 years old NOW. tJ » =

The Master Counterfeiter

Among President Lincoln's first appointments was that of Caleb B. Smith as Judge for the District of Indiana. Judge Smith had previously been cailed to the portfolio of the Interior in President Lincoln's Cabinet and resigned to accept the Indianapolis job. He was the first Judge to move into the new building He held the position several years and died suddenly (heart attack) in his private room off the old ¢ourt room. Caleb Smith's mausoleuni. with his name carved 1 big letters on the facade. 1s one of the sights of Crown Hill. Strangely enouzh. however. he lies buried in Connersville or Cincinnati Ill let vou know soon as the mystery is cleared up The first definite judicial action ever taken in the eld Federal Court Room was the entry of an order

| By Ernie Pyle

an old, old custom known as “egging’—which means’ Just wnat you think it does. | Nashville has a population of around 400, and is the only settlement in the county that could properly! be called a town. | There 15 a popular misconception throughout the state that Brown County has no railroad. There is a railroad, running through Helmsburg, eight miles away. It does not touch Nashville. Yet broad black | roads make warping ribbons out of Nashville in all dircctions. | Nashville lies in the bottom of a valley. It is hot | in summer and cold in winter. Wooded hilltops and | farmed valleys radiate from it. Most of the town | streets are oiled, and big shade trees stand everywhere. | Nashviile has no movie. But it has an old, old hotel that has been modernized; it has a tavern and a| restaurant; an old log jail that is now a museun-| piece; a grocery and a hardware and a drug store: | it has many shops for the craft buyers; it has an ari] gaiiery. { Nashville still abides by the old custom, now passed | over in: most places, of taking up a public collection for people in distress.

» =

| Helping Those in Need |

It has gradually fallen to one young woman to be | the town collector. She is in the hardware store with | her father, and when somebody dies the townspeople | automatically start dropping into the store next | morning, leaving anything from a quarter cn up. She estimates that mn the last six years she has coliected for 100 funerals. Nashville has no water system, and when a fire geis started it's apt to be bad. It has no bad-looking homes. and many a fine one. The courthouse lawn | is alwavs dotted with men sitting and talking. ‘Inder. one tree 1s a bench known as The Liars Bench | Nearly 15 vears ago Frank Hohenberger, the photographer, took a picture from behind of six men sitting on this bench talking. The picture became famous, and has been sold in every state in the Union. Today's beach is not the same one, but people still sit on it all day long. On Saturday nights—and some week nights. too, a bunch of the boys sit in front of Paul Percifield’s| auto repair shop. and sing. I have heard them, and I can say that there is nothing better in New York than the soft, low, professionally perfect narmony of the voices of Paul Percifield, Bob Bowden, Bill] McGrayel and Sandy McDonald. Why, even their| nanies are lyrical.

By Anton Scherrer

of injunction which enjoined a South Bend agricul: | tural implement factory from manufacturing a butter | bar for a harvester on which “one Silas Holmes of | Pittsburgh” held letters of patent. After that busi-| ness got to be a lot more exciting. It was in the little old court room, for instance, | that Pete McCartney, the slickest counterfeiter the world has ever seen, was brought before Judge) Gresham. Soon as the Judge got wind of the crook's | reputation. he ordered him kept at a hotel guarded every minute by a battalion of deputy U. S. marshals armed with loaded rifles. Judge Gresham said he didn't trust the little old Marion County Jail at the corner of Market and Alabama Sts.

” » ”

He Got the Limit

In the course of the trial it was revealed that back in 1876. before the Grand Army of the Republic was generally recognized in this section, that a re-| union of Civil War veterans was held in Indianapolis. | During the week of the reunion hundreds of veterans were imposed upon with $20 and $10 bills so carefully made as to render detection almost impossible. The Government tried everything and couldn't even run down the “shovers,” an early American euphemism to describe the members of the gang who actually passed the money. It remained for oid John Shafer, City Marshal of Richmond, to turn the trick. In the Pennsylvania | depot at Richmond one evening Mr. Shafer noticed a clerical looking gentleman eating his supper in the depot restaurant. When he paid his bill he tendered | a brand new $20 greenback. Shafer handcuffed the man immediately. He was sure he had the right] party because that very afternoon he had seen the same man do exactly the same thing in a drug store. | When the handcuffed man realized the fix he was in, he said: "Mr. Officer, you do not look like a} wealthy man. Suppose vou turn your back and I'll, slip you $1800. every cent of which is good money.” | Mr. Shafer would not be moved and Judge] Gresham felt the same way about #, with the result] that Pete McCartney got the limit. And ever since that day Mr. McCartney's ghost appears at the Rank Ruilding. It happens onc? a vear on Aug. 20 when the bell tolls the hour of midnight

second story window of what is now the American |,

Emma

Taming Floods

of the “cats” roars down the grade on the White River bank.

By Harry Morrison

THE “cats” and the “eucs” are grunting and straining along the east bank of the White River these days—moving 10 million pounds of dirt every day between Washington and 10th Sts. It's one of the biggest flood control projects in the state and one that is attracting the attention of thousands of motorists who go touring down the west drive every evening. It may not look very exciting from across the river. But if you rode one of those "“cats''—giant caterpillar tractors—er one of the huge "eucs’—I150-horsepower Euclid earth movers—you'd change your mind in a hurry. Flood control doesn’t explain all theyre doing along White River. It is really a five-point program: 1. They are building a floodproof channel six feet deep and 200-feet wide. 2. They are building a levee 20 feet wide from Washington to New York Sts., as high as the concrete levee on the west bank. 3. From New York to 10th Sts, they are building another levee 75

feet wide, on top of which the City can build a boulevard if it wants

Part of the job that's already done. The City Hospital chimneys are shown in the right background.

“Best bull a man ever had to drive,” grins the driver. And all that means is that when it's waiting to go to work it's a cat and when it's hauling 60.000 pounds up a grade it's a bull. At the top of the grade, you can see the homes on the left that the levee will protect. On the right, 20 feet down, is the flattened bank of the river. The driver steers his machine along the narrow, 20-foot wide, levee, slows down and lets his load drop

calendar days. They think they'll be through about Dec. 1st. The “cats” pull trailers on short graded hauls. The trailers hold about 20 cubic yards of dirt, 60,000 pounds.

"A LL this, of course, is in the future. There is real drama right now on the water's edge where men and machines are changing the face and lines of a river. There are 100 men at work on the project. They are using four big cranes, four “cats,” and half a dozen “eucs.” A private company is doing the job under contract from the War Department. They've been at it now for fen weeks. Their contract is for 500

Thin Man

0. 4. The 10 million pounds of earth taken out each day is being dumped in a wasteland behind City Hospital, where someday there may be a playground or a park with trees in it. 5. Theyre putting in grassy plots down the side of the levee, for one thing to hold the levee and for another. to beautify it

N. D. ‘VICTORY’

” n 5

HERE is room for two persons on the seat of the “cat.” You can dust it off, but it won't do much good. The big engine towers above a man's head, idling with a lion's roar. When it goes into action, it feels like a minor earth tremor.

| | | | | |

~ BRING REGEIPT

And here's one of the “eucs.,”

Then comes the thrill! He turns the “cat” at right angles, and it rushes down the slope, bumping and swooping, driver and passenger bouncing around. When the “cat” stops, the driver grins cheerfully, “Who said anything about Riverside,” he wants to know, He does it just about 40 times a day. n ou 5 HE “eucs” are more like a truck. They are powered with 150-horsepower Diesels and their trailers carry 18 cubic yards, about 54,000 pounds of dirt. The “eucs” do longer hauls than the “cats.” They take the dirt from the edge of the river and haui it to the wasteland behind City Hospital. They have half a dozen speeds and the drivers get all they can out of each one When a “euc” hits the dumping ground, it's like sitting on a buck=mg horse. Coming back. you go faster. In high speed, a “euc” touches about 35 miles an hour, the trailer rolling along behind, its 5'z2-foot-high pneumatic-tired wheels pounding at vour ears, The trip takes about 10 minutes. An eight-hour shift handles about 100 loads. Everybody hurries. Two eighthour shifts are at work, the first from 4 in the morning to 12:30 and from that hour to 8:30 in the morning, the overlap taken care of some place in the middle. Each shift tries to outdo the other. Even the cranes, called “pore 'n' helpless” from the first letters of their trade name, look hurried. The four at work are kept busy digging out the river, loading the trucks, dragging the slopes and leveling off the wasteland Almost every one of the 100 men out there on the east bank of White River knows intimately every detail of the operations. Every one of them iz proud of the job he is doing They can see into the future,

$369 IS YOURS: Crooning Texas Governor's

Triumph Fools Politicians

Washington

WASHINGTON. Aug. 20. —We need some light from the Government upon the perilous vovage of the Army transport American Legion. We need particularly to know why the Government has insisted upon sending ber through dangerous mine fields at the risk of plunging the United States into war with Germany. As this dispatch is written the German Embassy here has just stated that the American Army

Skinny Burglar Enters | Through 1115-Inch Service Door.

IT WAS A SKINNY burglar | who ransacked the apartment of |

HOUSTON, Tex., Aug. 20 (U. P)./with a varying demand for changes : ; —When flour salesman W. Lee in the state school system, he ape Money Was Paid in 1938, O’'Daniel, without political back- pointed a committee of 168 teachers ground, was asked by 50,000 radio and turned the problem over to And Treasurer Hopes to [fans to be a candidate for Governor them. “I don't want a survey and (of Texas in 1938, he turned his recommendation,” he said. “I want Repay It Soon. In the Marion County Treasure

“Hill Billy” flour program into a bills to present to the legislature.” campaign. He was swept into the He launched a state industrializaers office by an unprecedented vote. tion program and has tied it into “erroneous” fund, there's $369.91 merely caught a passing fancy. awaiting an unsuspecting OWNer mpi month the Texas Demo-. {who not only needn't have paid it cratic state executive committee

Army transport on its return from its rescue mission haz been ordered to take such a dangerous route and why this Government has refused to alter that route when warned of the mine fields in the path. The present course of the American Legion lies farther south than the direct route to New York.| When asked why the American Legion was not routed | further north, State Department spokesmen called at- SOUTH BEND, Ind, Aug. 20 u. | tention to the fact that a few weeks ago the Navy P.).—The University of Notre Department warned mariners that the waters around Dame today mourned the death of |

Iceland and the Faeroe Islahds were unsafe. the Rev. Fr. Michael J. Shea, co-|

Father Shea, Who Wrote Famous March Music in 1909, Mourned.

Miss Marie LaMar, 221 E. Michigan St., yesterday. The intruder entered an un- ! locked service door, the size of which was 11 and one-half inches square.

Most people then thought he had national defense.

‘BLEW OUT’ A LUNG,

transport is in grave danger and will be for the next 12 hours because it has persisted in taking a course through mine-infested waters north of Scotland. The United States Fovernment doesn't deny the danger but seeks to blame Germany for the consequences if the worst should happen. The Army transport is returning from a rescue mission. bearing 897 refugees. mostly Americans, pound from Finland to New York. Among the civilian passengers is Mrs. J. Borden Harriman. United States Minister ta Norway, and the wife and children of Frederick A. Sterling. American Minister to Sweden ” ” »

Danger Lies in Mines At this moment, one can only pray that the transzport with ner cargo of unoffending refugees will come safely through the mine-fields. She is conspicuously marked: brightly lighted at night and probably has nothing to fear from airplanes or submarines. The danger is that she will hit a mine. Peace possibly hangs just now on the luck of the transport Amer-

ican Legion. There is a good deal of mystery

My Day

HYDE PARK. Monday.—On my way up from New vork City on Saturday afternoon, like many other interested citizens, I listened to Mr. Wendell Willkie's speech. He has a good voice and speaks well over the radio.

as to why the

In the evening, some young people came to discuss the meeting of a group of young people. I was interested in their attitude toward the discussion of political questions in their groups. They thought it would be valuable, but one girl was afraid it would become just a political meeting and not a real discussion. They all questioned whether responsible people, in or out of office, would come to answer questions. I think that young people do not realize what potential strength and influence they have in community life and how Important it is for them to bring questions hefore their communities which are of interest to them. Later on, some of our neighbors held a dance on eur picnic grounds, using the platform which was put up for the piav the other night. 1 stayed with them for a time and evervore seemed to have fun under the light of the full moon. I could not help thinking

Presumably the British had mined them. : Meantime British waters have been mined under the new German attempt to blockade England, and! the American Legion was heading into that danger zone when Germany suggested that the course be changed. It may be that no safer course can be found. Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles said that the route chosen by the Army and Navy was considered

the safest one. 5

» » { - . | Inquiry Seems in Order | The controversy is being carried on through exchanges of diplomatic notes between Washington ani Berlin. and side exchanges through press conferences by both parties. Each side is trying to fix responsibility upon the other and is making a record for use if the tragedy should occur. But what about the 837 refugees aboard the American Legion? Why are their lives being risked in a bull-necked gesture of defiance? Defiance against what? Defiance of floating mines with the idea that if we have bad luck we'll blame it on Germany? Perhaps under the present cover of secrecy there are reasons to justify this reckless flirtation with disaster and war, Congressional committees should find out whether such justification exists

By Eleanor Roosevelt

how pleasant and fortunate it was for us that we did not have to worry when we heard an airplane flying overhead. I have had brought to my attention several times a publication called “Libros,” which is printed in this country in Spanish and sent every month to 10,000! selected readers in Latin-America. This publication! disseminates information about the best books pub-. lished here and is intended to develop better cultural relations and improve the understanding between the! Americas. | I am sure it does a valuable work, but the greatest difficulty that our books face in South America is the fact that they are very much more expensive than] German publications, which for years have been sold throughout South America at very low prices. This tends to make students buy a German book in prefer-| ence to one published in the United States. if they! are unable to spend a great deal. 1 forgot to tell you of a very delightful play which! I sttended on Friday night at a boys’ camp not far from here. Camp Ramapo is back of Rhinebeck, N.Y, hidden away in a delightful spot in the woods. I am| sure that its sponsors are accomplishing a great work for the boys, to whom they give not only an oppor-! tunity for health, but for development and education along many lines I motored down again to New York City this morning and hope to meet my son, Franklin Jr, later in the day. -

composer

{here were unable to give the reason sauce and ketchup.

of the schooi's famous| Postal savings certificates worth “Victory March,” which has sent the | $s Soere Teported missing from Fighting Irish into football battle | : | The

since 1909. | walked into the City Controller’s| Father Shea, who was 55, died last

————————— HARVARD SURGEONS office on April 9, 1938, and handed | night in Ossining, N. Y., Where he lover the money in payment on 100.000 votes. was pastor of St. Augustine's T0 WORK IN BRITAIN

Pleasant Run main sanitary inter- in a first election so usually a sec-| Church. CAMBRIDGE. Mass., Aug. 20 (U.|

ceptor sewer assessment. He composed the music to the idn't tice that the receipt 8 “Victory i and his orotier] He didn Ro p dates dropped. Twice O'Daniel has : : P).—A plan of Harvard Medical School specialists to study com-

he was given credited the payment been selected without a “run-off.” John composed the words. he municable diseases under wartime

to another man. A year ago, Elmer| Texans also require voters to piece. which became one of the W. Askren, an attorney, ran across have a poll tax receipt. In 1928, most famous college songs in Amer conditions in conjunction with es- the record of the payment and no-| Mr. ODaniel had taken so little ica, was first played at a Washing- tablishment of a hospital in ticed it had been paid unnecessarily part in politics, he couldn't vote.| ton's birthday ceremony on the England bv the American Red Cross was announced today by

since the property had not been This year he held a poll tax receipt | campus Feb, 22, 1909. President James B Conant of Hare

connected to the sewer. (and could vote. ; | The two brothers composed it He notified the Controller, whe!, JAdvocale of 8 Sransttions v3 after Father Shea had returned to vard University. handed the money over to the 3 De O'Daniel a 5n de- | the campus to teach after receiv-| A pre-fabricated 100-bed hospital County Treasurer for return to the PR and eAsion: ls 36: a ing his master’s degree. He was will he sent to England, Dr. Conant owner. The man whose name Was o.+1 in his pa term NOP Ree graduated from Notre Dame in 1904 and Chairman Norman H. Davis of on the Controller's copy of the re- : . y and his brother in 1908. the American Red Cross said in a ceipt said the money wasn't his, Father Shea directed the Notre joint statement. The non-profes- since he hadn't paid the assessment. Dame band in the “Victory March” sional staff and supplies will be pro-| Unable to locate the owner of the in 1936 at an Old Timers’ day foot- vided by the Red Cross, while sur- money personally, Mr. Askren sugball game with Northwestern Uni- geons and other technicians will be versity and was awarded a moho- assigned by the medical school. The plan was described by Dr.

gested to The Times that a story about the incident might cause the| Born in Ohio and reared in Kangram sweater from the athletic association. Conant as an unusual opportunity both for humanitarian service and

taxpayer to look over his receipts cas he is in his 50th vear. He is 0 and discover the error in the name.!ie first Governor from north of for the acquirement of medical MONON DISCONTINUES knowledge which might be of prac2 CHICAGO TRAINS

to be selected by a majority vote if the party normally has more than

with all but the highest two candi- |

Ten Commandments his platform. | This year he substituted a 10-plank state program. Social security and | school support were important parts |

of it. |

| Controller's records. cago, leaving here at 8 a. m. and) | University of Texas, the “Hill Billy" |

~~ He has composed several. Among | ® ® also the train leaving Chicago for | Will ( [i m ax State S h Oo w band led 60,000 voices in singing it. |

All he has to do to get the money, the Mason and Dixon line that Mr. Askren said, is produce a re- meyxas has had since Reconstruction tical value in the United States. The Monon Railroad has discon- [them v 5 “Beaviiul, Seavifal tinued its daylight train for Chi- 5. yy Rt ; Indianapolis at 11:30 a. m. However, two trains still leave| Aside from a juicy steak, every- be a guest at the banquet.

ceipt identical to the one on the Days. 'Tomat d Steak’ Di oO a oO an eq inner inauguration in the stadium of the | here over the road for Chicago, one thing on the menu for a dinner at | Some of the best tomatoes grown | tive mansion.

at 5 a.m (tomatoes in one form or another. canners, growers, representatives of | : : |And even the relish for the steak grocers’ groups and others connect- er and the church. Attendance be- | Spokesmen at the railroad’s office will be made with tomatoes—chili ed with the tomato industry. Thelcame so |best specimens will be auctioned now is held on the porch and the lerowd occupies the lawn. A crowd was on the mansion too, on last election night.

for discontinuing the two trains,| The dinner, climax of the third after the dinner. saving the matter was handled by annual state tomato show sponsored | The week preceding the show has| the Chicago office. by the Indiana Tomato Tourna- been designated as “tomato week' lawn, ment, Inc., will start off with tomato and there will be displays in win- The Governor received returns | cocktail. Then there will be tomato dows of downtown stores and in there. From time to time, in shirt and celery relish, fried green groceries. |sleeves and loosened collar, he came | —Warren Grote, 13, of Chicago. tomatoes and sliced tomatoes. | Samuel B. Walker of the Wm. H. out and announced encouraging re- | drowned in Hudson Lake near here | Miss Leslie Shippey, who was Block Co. is president of the spon- ports to the cheering crowd. vesterday when a boat in which he crowned Indiana's tomato queen at soring group. Frank Langsenkamp| A showman, O'Daniel has surwas sailing with three companions | the recent festival in Elwood, will Jr, is chairman of the executive prised professional politicians by capsized. y greet visitors to the show and wili committee in charge of the show, !'his political sagacity, Confronted. ¥

BOY DROWNS IN LAKE LA PORTE. Ind. Aug. 20 (U. P)

ASKS COMPENSATION

Texas requires party candidates _clifford McClure, orchestra player, (claims he literally “blew out” a lung Few candidates win | tooting a trumpet in a dance band,

He filed suit in Common Pleas

jond or “run-off” election is held | sour today to compel the State Industrial Commission to pay him workmen's injury compensation be= cause while playing with the band

he his lung collapsed

Says

1—Which branch

Of Irish descent, he loves a song. 7—Did Al

As Governor he has regularly de-|1 livered a half-hour Sunday morn-|2—Damp. ing radio broadcast from the execu- | 3—Leonardo da Vincl. Sometimes he dis-|4—Thirty-five years, 5 p. m. and the other at 1:45 the Claypool Hotel Aug. 27 will be in Indiana will be displayed for | cusses state government and taxes. 5—By purchase from Russia. Sometimes he talks of home, moth- 6—Philadelphia, Denver and San

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

of the Army clothes and feeds the soldiers?

In his first race he made the 2—Does moss thrive in well-drained

or in damp soil?

3—Which great Italian painter was

also a sculptor, architect, musie cian, mechanician, engineer and natural philosopher?

4—-What is the minimum age for the

President of the U. S.?

5—How did the United States ace

quire Alaska?

6—In which cities are United States

coins minted? Smith or President Hoover receive the majority vote of New York in the Presidential election in 1928?

Answers —Quartermaster Corps.

Francisco.

large that the broadcast 7-—President Hoover,

ASK THE TIMES

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for ree ply when addressing any question of fact or (information to The Indianapolis Times Wash ington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St, N. WwW, Washington, D. C, Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended ree search be undertaken, »