Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 November 1947 — Page 1

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BT ‘ ~~ FORECAST: Cloudy and cold tonight; lowest temperature 24. Tomorrow somewhat warmer and cloudy.

| Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice ape

PRICE FIVE CENTS

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1947

Indianapolis, . Ind, Issued daily except Bunday

Employee Of City

rs Cowan] on YEAR—NUMBER TE Red Violence Spreads in France, Italy

Communists Riot In Streets; 6 Die

By UNITED PRESS Communist violence spread roday| In France and Italy. Red violence crippled: the port of Marseilles, terrorized the northern Italian industrial center of Milan and spread to Naples. Hundreds of Communists riofed mn the streets there. | A crowd of Communists burst into! the Galleria Umberto at Naples and’ stormed the headquarters of the, Natjonal Monarchist Party. Furni-| ture and files were tossed from the @ balcony to the square below and set 2% afire, Gallery guards finally drove off the demonstrators.

Authorities in both France and! Italy indicated mounting concer. The violence of the outbreaks grew in an apparently concerted plan wo! wreck the chances of the Marshal! European Retovery Plan and weaken the moderate governments

oe a nn

day by police and turned over Mary Lois Burney. yesterday. The three—held: ¢

and Bracie Merriweather, 50.

RR ENE 1 i i wy a ~~ In Ttaly, the street fighting WOMAN. TF a Tag rps tty throughout Northern Italy -was . SLAIN WOMAN The latest Tndiahapsits Stay compared 16 the violence which pre-| Victim, attractive Mrs. Mary Lois Burney, is shown in a ceded the nse of the Fascists and| shapshot taken by her husband.

CASED BADE tar Ser Pan see Le

Burney, as a web of circumstan Benito Mussolini's famous march on| him. Rome. The suspect, Six persons have been killed in three days’ fighting in Italy, A score of newspaper plants have been] bombed and burned, «+ Hundreds of persons have been injured. | Today, the trouble which previ-| ously had been confined -to north| Italy spread to the south. There, hundreds of Communist workers! downed tools and took to the, streets, demonstrating in the prin-| cipal plazas and burning right-wing| newstands and newspapers. Bloody “brawling ke out in Naples. > Troops were called out to guard; the Naples city hall from possible = mob attack, Police riot squads used | rifle butts, tear gas and clubs to + break up belligerent bands of Communists racing through the streets. Reds’ Winter Offensive Italy was grim, tense, divided, as ft awaited the government's reac- , tion to mounting political violence. The attacks were regarded generally as the Communists’ winter offensive against the regime of Pre-| mier Alcide de Gasperi. | Communist bangs rode trucks through the main thoroughfares of!

Naples. * They waved red flags and : gps moves, ein 0 ce mci: End Half Million “Down With Scelba"—the Christian!

Democrat minister of interior, Ma-|

rio Scelba. | Mr. Scelba was expected to speak 0 0 0d

to parliament today and make “lear whether the government was pre-|

DEATH SCENE—The bedside radio was still playing as. Mrs. Burney's body was found lying across this bed, her face mangled by a shotgun blast.

earlier in the day. ; Mrs. Burney was found d in 8558 N. Pennsylvania St.

which she kept for her prote ‘butcher knife was found nea body was: lying.

'tigators said overturned furn ‘had fled to her bedroom to get ‘She Fired She apparently fired one

SUSPECT—Robert Austin Watts, 25-year-old city tryck driver, who confessed an attempted attack in another North Side home yesterday, is being questioned in the Burney case.

“from her and fired pointblank!

pling back on the bed. Here is how totmty sheriff and, [dtate policé teams link Watts, of 2240 {Martindale Ave, to the slaying: | ONE: He confessed an attempted attack on Mrs. Harriet Stout, 7910] College Ave. shortly before noen| yesterday. Gaining entrance by re-| questing use of the telephone, he held a butcher knife at Mrs. Stout's throat and threatened her with death if she resisted. He fled when she broke loose and ran out a door.

VICTIM'S HOME—M rs, Burney met her death in her fashionable surburban home at 8558 N. Pennsylvania St.

Watts’ Police

VICTIM'S HUSBAND— Herschel Burney, wealthy Indianapolis food broker, who discovered his wife's

Close of Drive Less

Slaying Suspect, Charged

pared to employ its police forces in| bed an effort to restore order, | Than Week Away | o0Y. : . ® | Investigators said fingerprints, Charge Italian Government Goal... i wii $1,279,200 . 1 ape, ot ity Job found in the Stout home are tlre Both C i | led to Date +> Coal Bin Blues or face same as those on Watts’ criminal ommunists and. extreme| Collected to Date. .:.... 726,699 . : ; ; Heht-uing groups were involved in Perominge of Gaal... _ 63 __Colder Today | Officials Say They Did Not Investigate wd Alehe ued vis bs the Italian fighting. | Drive Closes ............ 10 [— ' : , a at 2 allan QpMES AE te wet Ce, I A OCAL of Say - | Why Was He Freed Watts’ Application for Patronage Post home where it had been dropped i C il i ’ : n Robert A. Watts, suspect in the slaying of Mrs. Mary, Lois Burney, IN the struggle. government of Premier De Casperi| With the close of the 28th annual} ‘ga.m..... 24 10am. .... 29 on pe ying Burney was conspiring with the rightists in/Community Fund campaign less, 7a. m..... % lam 32 Robert Austin Watts, 25, of 2340. 39liea for city employment Sept. n and was hired, despite the fact wo: ey far Nourse home plots to murder and attack Com- than a week away, Fermor 8. Can-| ga w..... 25 12 (Noon). 33 Martindale Ave, held as a suspect, 2, Was awaliing granc Jury aelion on a rape charge of Mrs. Burney, 8558 N. Pennsylmunists. |non, general chairman, told cams! 9a. m.....21 lp. m..... 33 in the “slaying of a North Side His application was indorsed by Hays Wilson, Republican 10th pre. vania St. is about a mile from the While Communist speakers in paign workers that more than ee woman yesterday, was released cinct committeeman of the 23d ward. Mr. Wilson said he recalls sign- Stout some. Coroner's InvestigaButton up that overcoat. | ing the reference but said he did not know Watts. He said he did it tlons indicate Mrs, Burney was

Milan called on the government to|half million dollars must be raised restore order they led their follow- if the goal is to be met. | The Weather Bureau predicts This .. year's percentage figure | Slightly colder temperatures today In the Italian parliament al/shows 56.8 as compared to the 47.8 with a high of only 42 expected. parallel Communist campaign was|at the same time last year, Mr. |- This forecast came on the heels underway in an effort to overthrow! Cannon pointed out, but the cur-| the De Gasperi government. |rent campaign is not actually ahead Season,

under $250 bond on a rape charge last Feb. 28, police records disclosed Loday. The bond was fixed by Judge Alex| : Clark of Municipal Court 4 upon! of the city's coldest night of the , eT and Ea The temperature dropped|regchied by the two arresting officers,

killed about 1 p. m, or within two hours after Watts’ attempted attack on Mrs, Stout. ‘Similarity’ in Fingerprints THREE: There is a “similarity” between fingerprints found in the

to do Watts “a good turn.” Mr. |= Wilson is a custodian in the Court House. The application also bore the signature “Paul: Boze, 3900 Central | Ave.” as 4 “character and ability”

Butler .University said it has no record of his enrollment. General Tire sald he was employed two weeks at 65 cents per hour but that he failed to report back because of

Palmiro Togliatti, Italian Com- of last year's drive. 24 degrees early this morning petectives Myron Partlow ani reference, slain woman's home ana those on munist leader, in a signed editorial “ . . .. We must remember that | and remained there for several nfichael Smiley. { Mr, Boze told The Times, how- his arrest on the “peeping Tom” Watts’ record,” city police techni-] today called on Italy “not to repeat last year's campaign failed by more [hours. The record shows that Watts was| Ver: that he never signed such an charge. The firm declined to rehire cians reported. State police also

him after this, spokesmen said, The City Hall personnel ‘iepartment said that no check was made

are studying sets of prints but tests are “incomplete.” Casts of footprints outside the bathroom win-

the mistake of 1921 and 1922 when than $100,000 in making its goal,” Weir Cook Municipal AIrport| arrested by the two officers Feb. 14 application and did not know Watts democracy failed to fight back.” he said. | weather station reported a mint- tay the complaint of a woman living ®XCéPt through In France the crisis center was The fifth report meeting was held mum of 20 degrees this morning. |i, an apartment in W. New York MOther-in-law.

the suspect's

Marseilles. lin the Central YMCA today, in| Bul the prospects are a little bet-igt ‘that a man posing as a. cleaner Mr. Boze said the mother-in-law into the records of applications of dow of the Burney home also are Port Is Paralyzed charge of Clifford Campbell, Albert ter for tomorrow. The forecaster | neq and raped her. had been in his family's employ a'this type being studied . Th wn the “Ted nal ‘of 8. Mendenhall and David Cook, all said he expected it to be slightly | First Held Under $2000 Bond number of years and that she was! There is no liaison office between YOUR: A eS HOF 2 tod ere, in the capiia |of the downtown division. {cloudy in Indianapolis and some-| rhe suspect was jailed on a tem- ® “Very fine person.” He said he City Hall and law enforcement ; a ou ie

ing an drive out of the Burney driveway yesterday afternpon. Detectives said traces found in the driveway indicated accar had been parked there some time. Watts was driving ‘an orangecolored truck when he was arrested as he checked back into the City asphalt plant about 2:45 p. m. He had been assigned to a resurfacing project on Bowman Ave, near University Heights as ‘a messenger from 7 a. m. yesterday until the time he checked in.

France,” dock workers, metal Work-| po Rt Rev. Msgr. Henry Dugan ers and seamen went on strike, par-\opancellor of the Catholic Archalyzing the port. The ‘action fol-|g4io0ese of Indianapolis, asked the lowed an invasion of the gity hall|; ooation. by Communist demonstrators yes-| The Community Pund Campaign | terday in which 16 persons—includ-| gin close with a report meeting ing - Mayor Michel Carini, a De wednesday.

Gaullist supporter—were wounded. | re sssvemm— 18 Adventurers Set Out

Mayor Carini said the men who seized and beat him shouted, “We are going to give him to the crows.”| LOS, ANGELES, Nov. 13 (UP)— Mobile guards armed with tommy | Eighteen adventurers were sailing guns patrolled the Marseilles today to colonize a Pacific isle. streets. | ~The group, nine adults and nine A general strike was not yet in| children, were headed for the jun-

what warmer. The mercury will porary vagrancy charge under $2000 had never, seen Watts but that he reach a low of 26 tonight, he sald. pong, once paid a $30 “peeping Tom” Meanwhile, residents in Minneap-| The next day, Peb. 15, Watts was fine for him through the motheriolis, Minn., were shivering from a arraigned in Judge Clark’s court on in-law tained the alleged signature of his low of 9 above zero last night while the yagrancy charge and the case In filing out his application at precinct committeemen to the aptemperatures ranged in the 70s and was continued two weeks to give the Ne personnel office ‘in City Hall, plication, it was sent to William | 80s in Miami yesterday. | detectives more time to investigate Watts listed his address at 2340 Bruce, superintendent of the City - — : | the evidence Martindale Ave, and answered “No” Asphalt Plant, 1725 West St. Actress Asks Divorce On Feb. 28 Watts was brought 0 She. question: “Have/ you ever -Mr. Bruce said today that when : back into couit and, according to : ! applications were properly indorse BR LIWOOR, Nov. 13 (UP)— Judge Clark, the two arresting Bo He also sald he was a fruck driver, and laborers were Prope: Ye a food e actress Gloria Grahame to- cers. Detectives Partlow and had served in the U. 8. Navy but cants : : ’ Pp day sued to divorce actor Stanley , De d Bmiley, gave To dates. Tuy ) nu were put to work, Clements ‘of ‘charges. ol’ CHINY, recommended that the vagrancy | ¥ Ss, had attended Butler We don't investigate these appliThey separated Nov. 3 for the charge be dismissed and a ra niverstty and. was ‘formerly em- cants for political jobs,” he said, J . | charge filed for action by the grand ployed by General Tire Co. at a Watts began: work Sept. 29 at a

agencies to determine if city employees have eriminal records On Sept. 29, after ‘Watts had ob-

able to sail and debarked their passengers.

North Side in the truck, “looking for a woman to attack.” He admitted being at 82d St where he “thought about” entering a house but decided not to because of children playing nearby. SIX: There were no signs of forced entry at the Burney home,

progress in Marseilles but the Gen-|gle-covered island of Chirote, 20|fourth time in two years of mar- salary of $5 . 4 “Lo , ” eral Confederation of Workers was| miles off the coast of Panama. Iriage, Both are 21. (Jury. - A 33 yer week. —— wage of 90 cents~hn hour. A king for Woman contemplating a call az) Judge Clark said he followed the B Right » | - PIVE: Sheriff Al Magenheimer : * ” ® | detectives’ recommendation and egs Kig to Pum {said Watts “admjtted freely” he Three passenger ships were un- Lt D S th D Si eo ; Reward Offered P { : dismissed the vagrancy charge. This of - {had be r ing around the . Dan Smi ies in Sleep sgrancy charg Backyard Oil Well [ht been toamine aro

¥ automatically eliminated the orig-

BREAD SUPPLY PERILED On Police Force a Years "ne ofmeers 10 the court wu FOF Tayi Slayer

aah they did not have conclusive evi PARIS, Nov, 13 (UP)—Workers| Lt. Dan Smith, a member of the on dence against the defendant—tpat| ‘A $500 reward for information struck at 137 flour mills in and Indianapolis Police Department 21 the woman who made the charge leading to the conviction of slayaround Paris today for a 20 per cent years, died this morning in his y

| NEW PORT BEACH, Cal, Nov. 13| (UP)—William Tallman begged for court permission today to pump a well that is flooding his house, his

ros

AW,

yard, his neighbors’ yards and his

(Continued on Page 8—Column 4) ©r8 of Marion E. Pauley, taxi driver

wage increase, threatening the home, 7500 W. Washington St. He . . : street with $525 worth of o ery meager bread supply of Parisians. T here last Saturday night, has been fo wvery indicating the slayer might have ) was 54. Bab Size f H d posted by Red Cab, Inc., employers %2Y: ained entrance to the home b Lt. Smith was found dead about { y or a han of the victim.’ A city ordinance prohibits pump-| B#ined entran ne ee ing oil, but Mr. Tallman contended! "Use. such as Watts used earlier at

‘Has Slight Chance fo Live Mr. Pauley died in General HosLOS ANGELES, Nov. 13 (UP)—A Pital Bunday after he was badly |baby the size of & man's hand clung Peaten and robbed by bandits in lto life in a hospital incubator to-| 18 cab in the 1300 block, E. 25th

the Stout home.

Footprints Outside Window SEVEN: Footprints were found

6 a. m. by his wife, Mrs. Merle L. . ;

{Smith. The. examining doctor said 24 he had died of a heart attack. 4

Times Index

it didn’t apply to his well, formerly established and abandoned ih 1932. The state oil department recom-!

Amusements ..34 Ruth Millett,

AE AE

Eddie Ash ....28 Movies ........34| A native of Seymour, Lt. Smith ; i a | Whi 1 : : ¢ | mended he be permitted td collect! outside a bathroom window at the Bridge wwse+00.27| Obituaries ....16 had lived in Indianapolis most of § day. Doctors said the four‘months, A fourds suspect in’ th slay the 350 barrels : day because of the| Burney honte. Trates of water in Carnival ......21/Dr. O'Brien ....27 his life and was a member of the % } |premature girl, born Tuesday toi. oO . 5 ’ S1aying| eq for ofl. the tub indicated that Mrs. Burney| Marquis Childs 22 | F, C. Othman 21 Washington Street Presbyterian : {Mrs, Helen Wagner, 23, had a 10-day a d OF questioning Yes-| __ s——— | may have been bathing. The blinds Classified. . 35-38 Patterns ......25 Church. § 000-to-1 chance to live. It weighs wo a etectives were seeking were partially drawn, making it Soles wi PR 3 Radio en He was a member of Indianapolis : (less than a pound. she ANSI FOOTBALL FORECAST— possible that Mrs. Burney's slayer pn Mrs. sevelt 24 Lodge’ 669, F&AM; Royal Arch i . —_ :} i peeped through the window before Editorials .....22 Ruark ....... 21| Masons Chapter 138; Indianapolis} Struck Out Has a Kick Coming | @ Major Hoople and Oscar | tiamnting to gain entry. Forum ........22 Bide Glances...22 Council 2, F&AM; Oriental Com- | LANCASTER, O. Nov. 13 (UP)—| SOUTH BEND, Nov. 13 (UP)—| Fraley name thelr Winnets EIGHT: Watts has been ar-| Meta Given ...27 Society ....... 24 mandery, Knights Templar and. the |A petition by the twin villages of An Elkhart man knew today why | for the week-end: ‘grid rested once previously--on.a rape Hollywood ....21 Sports ..... 28-30 | Murat Shrine. | Basil arid Baltimore asked that they his arm had ached-since the Notre| ames in today’s Times. charge and convicted once on a

“peeping Tom” count, Officials also theorized that Watts

i be merged under the name of Base-|Dame-Army football game last Sat: pi was denied today by Judge urday.

Earl D. Parker, who said he thought| X-rays showed. that a wild punt

Homemaking .25 | Teen Topics... 25! There are no immediate. survivors © ~~ Don Hoover. ...22 | Washington ..22 besides his wife. . SS nt Inside Indpls..21| Weather Map 3| Services will-be in the Jordan _ LT. SMITH DIES—Lt. Dan Mrs. Manners. 3| Wom. News 25-27| funeral home at a time yet to be Smith, veteran police officer, |some of the citizens would not like/during pre-game practice broke the Markets ....,..16/ Word-a-Day .21 announced. died at his home today. the name. arm of W. 8. Von Tilberg, _ Turn to Pages 20 and 30. 5,14 prominent South Side elib- * y . : T - b

. | J n Em — I ; « § : 2 ee — pl Tt i a Li Flea § : ,} fi ,

® Its an EXCLUSIVE sports feature of The Times EVERY THURSDAY.

Grilled In North Side Slaying

Ex-Convict Admits Attempted Attack Near Home of Mrs. Burney

Footprints Outside Bathroom Window Studied;

Bent Butcher Knife Found; Shotgun Missing : : BULLETIN Three more city employees were arrested at noon to-

to deputy sheriffs for ques-

tioning in connection with the slaying yesterday of Mrs. The sheriff's office said the truck they were riding in had been in the vicinity of the crime

yn” vagrancy charges—were

identified as Robert A. Parker, 39; Jesse Kinnebrew, 27,

Investigators today renewed grilling of a 25-year-old Teity. omploxes..n. suspect. in. the slaving of Mrs. Mary Lois about

tial evidence tightened

obert Austin Watts, had already confessed an attempted assault on another North Side woman

ead in her fashionable home when her husband returned

irom work at 6 p.m. yesterday. A side of the attractive 39-year-old brunet housewife's ‘face had been blown away by a shotgun blast and the gun,

ction, was missing. A bent r the bed across which the

The house showed signs of a terrific struggle. Invese

iture indicated Mrs. Burney the shotgun. One Shot shot at her assailant ag he

entered her bedroom. The shot went wide and lodged in a door. Her slayer apparently | ori ier subufvan home, 2508

thet wrested the gun away churchman Rd. on Halloween eve.

A check of the City Wngineei's

ls loffice, where Watts is employed, in her face, sending. her OP ehows he was working in the vii

ity of the Merrifield home at that

time, | In the front room of the Burney home a smoking stand was overs turned. Mrs. Burney's rose-cols ored slippers were found beside an overturned chair, where she ap= parently lost them .as she fled. Officials said they believed Mrs, Burney's assailant gained admite ance through a ruse. They believe she became frightened and fled to her bedroom where a 16-gauge shot gun was kept for her protection, She apparently reached the bede room far enough ahead of him to grab the shotgun and fire one shot. The shot which authorities believe she fired, fore away part of the bedroom door, Husband Finds Body The slayer then apparently wrested the gun away from her and fired point blank, : She was found there when her husband, Herschel Burney, 47, ownser of the Burney Brokerage Co. 221 W. Georgia St. returned home at ‘about 6:15 p. m. v He found the door ajar and all of the lights out. As he stepped into the hall, calling to his wife, he saw the furniture overturned. . He then hurried -to the only nearby home, the residence of Paul Ross, 8515 N. Pennsylvania St., director of the“ © Indiana Department of Commerce and Publie Relations. He and Mr. Ross returned to ine vestigate and found his wife lying across the bed. She was clad in a light nightgown and blue silk robe. Two red 16-gauge shotgun shells lay on the floor, Shotgun Missing A butcher knife, with the blade bent, was found near her body. The shotgun is missing. Dr. Roy B. Storms, Marion County Coroner, said," Mrs. Burney had not been criminally assaulted, Mr, Burney said his wife, who normally helps him at his office, had suffered severe headaches the last few weeks and had remained home. Investigators said a half grapefruit on a kitchen table indicated the slain woman had finished a late breakfast just before the slaying Expensive diamond rings and a watch belonging to Mrs. Burney were untouched, ruling out a robe bery motive, Meanwhile, as several teams of investigators checked fingerprints

(Continued on Page 8—~Column 2)

Busy Yule Wrapper Gets Locked in Store DETROIT, Nov. 13 (UP)-—Jo® Gibson, 49, became so wrapped up in his work of wrapping Christmas packages at the J. L. Hudson de= partment store that he failed to notice when the store closed up last night. Police = rescued him after he dangled a makeshift SOS sign from

(an eighth-floor window.

REECE PREDICTS $5 WHEAT NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 13 (UPY —Chairman B. Oarroll Reece of the Republican National Committes

may be implicated in the butcher|predigtéd here today that “wheat

knife slaying of Mrs. Mabel Merri-|will goto 85 or more if present gove continye®

ernment policies |