Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 41, Number 88, 29 February 1916 — Page 1

AIXABIIJM ho:.ie edition VI I Nlfl QQ Palladium and Sun-Telegram VUL. ALL, INU. OO Conml Mated 107 - - RICHMOND, IND.. TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 29, 1916. SINGLE COPY, 2 CENTS fii(i Ml nn fMl IMl Y c-3 (0) Y JV

RICHMOMB

TO

HOME EDITION

A

A

j vyji&)u u uiyjuv

Ready

;

JEW SUBMARINE RAID AGAINST BRITISH SHIPS EFFECTIVE AT MIDNIGHT

BERLIN, Feb. 29. (Via Amsterdam) Germany's second and greatest submarine campaign will open at midnight. It will be directed against armed merchant ships of the entente powers.., Naval officials said it would be even more successful than the campaign which open" ed a year ago because the submarine commanders will not be handicapped by previous restrictions. Though about 600 allied ships were sunk in the first campaign, several German submarines were sunk by the guns mounted on British merchantmen, ostensibly for defense, but, in reality, German officials declare, for offense.

f Germany Defends Course. 4 '.' Though Berlin foresees difficulties tvilh America arising from the new submarine campaign, the hope was expressed in high quarters today that ihe Washington government would" in ;time come to see the justice of Gert muny's attitude in claiming that the Kinking of a merchantman is legal. There is no intention of departing from the laws of civilized warfare. Liners carrying passengers will not he sunk unless they open fire upon Germany's U-boats. ENGLAND DENIES CHARGE. Claim Guns to Be Use Only. for Defense WASHINGTON. Feb. 29. Great Britain will take sharp issue with the t Continued on Page Two DIRECTORS APPROVE ELECTION TO DECIDE - ON SI 00,000 SUBSIDY Unanimous approval was given by directors of the Commercial club to the project of Krcd A. Dolph, Chicago attorney, to call an election for the purpose of voting a $100,000 subsidy from Richmond and Wayne township for the proposed traction extension. A meeting of the Commercial club win be called fur the first of next week, probably Tuesday evening, when the club membership will be asked to take action on the subsidy. The proposition will then be placed before the commercial bodies of Union City and Fortland, where an additional $50,000 is asked. The directors took action because of the clean-cut proposition presented by Mr. Dolph at his conference Thursday when representatives from Union City. Portland. Huntington and Pennville were present. "Tlw proposition will be placed squarely up to the voters." said one member of the board of directors today. "Mr. Dolph's proposition . is to pay all the expenses of the election, and that, should the subsidy be granted, the money is not to be paid until the traction line is built and in operation." REV. SPECHT CONDUCTS INDIANAPOLIS MISSION The Rev. C. H. Specht, superintendent of the Wernle Orphans' Home, Is expected home from Fatrlcksburg. Ind., tomorrow. He was called to that city to officiate at a funeral. Besides his administrative work at the orphanage, the Rev. Mr. Specht has had active charge of a mission church at Indianapolis. He preaches there every Sunday.

for the March Fray

CHRISTIAN VESSEL DIES AFTER ILLNESS OF SHORT DURATION Christian J. Wessel, aged 50 years, a well-known employe of the T. H. I. & E. traction lines, died suddenly at his home 314 West Main street, this morning. Death was caused t;- heart trouble. In failing health for a few days only, the death-of Mr. Wessel came as a surprise and shock. The deceased who enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest employe in point of service of the T. II. I. & E. traction line out of Richmond, worked until a week ago. At that time Mr. Wessel complained of not feeling well and decided to take a brief rest. Yesterday afternoon he had attended a picture show and last night was feeling apparently the same as usual. A brother of Harry Wessel, former councilman and candidate for Republican nomination as recorder, the deceased was well known in this community. He leaves a "widow, three sons, one daughter, four brothers and one sister. He was a member of the Eagles and Moose lodges. The funeral will be held from the home Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o'clitk. Burial will be in the Earlham cemetery. Friends may view the body at the home, 314 West Main street, Wednesday afternoon and evening. WILD CONCERN SELLS $80,000 BOND ISSUE Monday morning the J. F. Wild Banking company of Indianapolis advertised for sale the $80,000 bond issue of the city of Richmond secured on a premium bid of $1,016, and by Monday afternoon the entire issue had been disposed of. . The issue was floated in connection with the purchase of the electric plant of the Light, Heat and Power company, matures in eighteen months and bears 44 per cent interest. Today City Controller MeMahan received a letter from the Wild company announcing that all the bonds had been disposed of in one day, and thanking the controller for the prompt delivery of the securities. "Must be some gilt on those securities to make them so popular," remarked President Bavis of the board today. "It shows, anyhow, that the city's credit is in a pretty healthy state."

WILSON AND LANSING DISCUSS SITUATION

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing today held a lengthy conference at the White House over the international situation. Secretary Lansing went to the White House an hour before the time set for the cabinet meeting today. He took with him all the documents in his possession bearing on the armed merchantmen situation. MEDICAL SOCIETY MEETS Notices of the next session of the Wayne :: Cq noliiledical , s octet y . ha va been issued. - 'On the program which will be given at 2:30 o'clock in the Commercial dub rooms Wednesday afternoon, are papers by Dr. J. M. Thurston. Dr. G. R. Hayes and Dr. Charles Marvel.

HEAVY GERMAN CAHON SMASH CITY OF VERDUN

PARIS, Feb. 29. The city of Verdun is being battered to pieces by heavy German guns. Projectiles from the big siege howitzers of the Germans are smashing the historic twelfth century cathedral of Notre Dame and other historic buildings. Details received here today from the front show that the Germans have been shelling the city of Verdun since last Thursday and that many civilians have been killed. The remaining civilians have been ordered to leave. The heaviest fire came from the direction of Spincort, which is nearly 25 miles northeast of the city. The bombardment which began at dawn Thursday lasted until dawn on Friday without intermission. At least eight 12-inch and 15-inch shells fell in the city or in the suburbs every hour. Eighty-seven exploded in the street during the cannonade, tearing mighty excavations in the ground and shattering buildings into piles of wreckage. Up to Friday only 'twenty-one noncombatants were known to have been killed.

MATTHEWS INSTRUCTS! DEPUTY ASSESSORS County Assessor Matthews will meet the township assessors and their new-ly-apptffnted deputies in his office on the third floor of the court house Wednesday morning to distribute blank forms for recording the assessment of personal property and improvements to be copied on the duplicates for taxation purposes. A. O. Boyd, assessor of Wayne township, will meet the seventeen deputies he has appointed, tomorrow morning and will have the work ready for them to begin promptly. WAYNE TOWNSHIP WANTS SUPPERVISOR FOR AGRICULTURAL More than forty boys in Wayne township have signed the petition asking the township trustees to appoint an agricultural supervisor to have charge of agricultural classes. Sev eral applications have been received from graduates of Purdue university who desire the position. Appointment will probably be made within the next week or ten days, according to a statement of County Superintendent Williams today. A supervisor for Boston townshi'i will also be appointed. There can be no more than three appointments in one county in a year. The classes will be conducted through the summer months. 5

GREAT FRENCH LINER IS SUNK BY SUBMARINE PARIS, Feb. 29. The great French liner LaProvence, which was converted into an auxiliary cruiser by the French government, was sunk by a submarine Sunday. Only 120 men were rescued. No details as to any loss of life have been received. LaProvence was the largest and fastest French liner engaged in Trans-Atlantic passage before it became an auxiliary cruiser. It was capable of making 22y2 knots an hour and displaced 13,723 tons.

EXPLOSIVES LET GO; $50,000 EVAPORATES WO BURN. Mass., Feb. 29. Three huge vats of explosives in process of manufacture exploded here early today wrecking the two-story brick and concrete building of the New England Chemical company,, organized to fill explosive contracts for the allies, and seriously injured an assistant foreman. The loss is $50,000. Twelve men at work in the building were warned in time that the composition of the nitrates in one of the compounding vats was over-heating and escaped just as the second floor, roof and walls of the heavy building disintegrated with a crashing roar that was heard for miles. ;ot,onjywas theiMUdiugwEecdted but one of ihe bensol plants, another steel reinforced brick structure about fifty feet away was shattered. Practically every pane bf glass in the nineteen buildings of the explosives fac tory was blown out. LEAP YEAR COURTING STOPPED BY MAYOR: MAN FEARS RAZOR "Just, because this is leap year, don't think you have a right to follow this man about and try to force him to pay his attentions to you," warned Mayor Robbins in city court today, shaking a warning finger at Rhea Summie, colored. He then found Jim Cotton, colored, not guilty of a charge of assault and battery the jealous Rhea had preferred against him. Rhea said Jim took another girl to a show last Friday night and invited here to go also but refused to pay her way into the theatre. She bought her own ticket, she said, then Jim told her he was going to take her home". When they reached South Sixth street, she said, Jim gave her a beating and returned to the other woman waiting for him at the theatre. Cotton and the "other woman" both testified that Khea followed them -to the show, and finally left after Cotton refused to sit with her. It was also testified that before leaving the theatre Rhea swore that she was going to police headquarters and get Jim into trouble. Jim said he was getting mighty tired of having Rhea follow him about all the time, frequently threatening to work on him with a razor. SUES ON $250 ACCOUNT. Complaint on . account demanding1 $250 was filed by Joseph Bevis against I Fred Boetlichei m circuit court today.

2 More Vilkm

Before Teuton , On the Verdun

LONDON, Feb. 29. The German war offices today announced the capture of two more fortified villages on the Verdun front. In the great operations that have for their objective the surrounding of the mighty French fortresses on the Meuse, German troops have, taken Manheulles and Chantlon. The total of prisoners captured by the Germans in their campaign against Verdun has been increased to 223 officers and 16,575 men. German troops have captured Manheulles, a strongly fortified village in the Woevre plain, according to today's official French statement. The statement also admits a temporary success for the Germans in Lorraine. In the region to the north of Verdun, the Kaiser's forces last night renewed their attacks on the village of Douaumont. These were repulsed after hand to hand fighting. Swiss dispatches declare that the German attacks against Verdun are a mere feint and that the great bulk of the Kaiser's army is still concentrated for a real offensive between Noyon and St. Quentin, on a front only sixty miles from Paris. Attacks on all parts of this front are to be made simultaneously the dispatches add. Berlin dispatches state that forts at Verdun are being removed and taken to the rear of the French lines. These messages were regarded as corroboration of the predictions of Berlin military experts that the fall of Verdun was imminent. Evacuation of some of the inner forts on the eastern front at Verdun is also reported to have begun owing to the steady advance of the Germans down the east bank of the Meuse river. . While violent fighting rages around the heights of Douaumont the Germans are trying to drive home fresh attacks at two widely separated points in order to encircle Verdun and cut the lines of communication of the French. The German attack in Champagne in the sector of Navarin farm evidently was an attempt to gain control of the Rheims-Verdun railway, one of the chief supply lines feeding and arming the French forces in the garrison.

FEDERAL EXPERT TALKS ON ROADS A large audience is expected to attend the illustrated lecture which will be delivered by Lester E. Boykin of Washington, D, C., at 7:30 o'clock tonight at the high school auditorium. Boykin is a federal expert in the UnitLESTER E. BOYKIN. ed States department of roads and rural engineering. He speaks here under the auspices of the National Old Trails Road association. His lecture is a part of the campaign instituted by the Hoosier State Automobile association and the American Automobile association to secure better roads in Indiana. The public is invited to the lecture. No admission will be charged. SWEDISH SHIP SUNK GOTHENBURG, Feb. 29. The Swedish steamer Knippla, 498 tons, has been sunk by a mine. The crew of fifteen men and two women passengers were saved. The Norwegian steamer Voss, which recently sailed from Glasgow for New York, passed Fastnet today in tow putting back badly damaged. Weather Forecast United States Report Fair tonight. Wednesday increasing cloudiness. Probably followed by snow and warmer. Temperature. Noon 99 Yesterday. . Maximum Minimum 28 12 Local Forecast Fair tonight. Wednesday increasing cloudiness followed by snow or rain and warmer. General Conditions -The general storm reported yesterday over the western states now extends from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Although snow flurries have occurred in Indiana during the past 12 hours the main section of the storm has not arrived. It is still west of the Mississippi river and is moving slowly. . Temperature still higher Wednesday or Thursday as the storm approaches. Severe cold wave in southern Canada and is mov-.l ing east and down the St. Lawrence river. Fifty degrees below zero at Whiten ver, Canada. Another severe storm in Tennessee with snow seven inches on the level at Chattanooga. W. E. Moore, Weather Forecaster.

KINDNESS NETS

Frank Batter Befriends Swede Years Ago Wealthy Man Rewards Deed with Gold

PROLOGUE. Thirty-three years ago a young Swede, Nick Hocm, just arrived" in America,-securdJWploj'rnent;- a.s'aiTajfentke3tthe Gaar-Scott factory. Being a Swede he was not very popular with the German workmen. One day Hoem clumsily dropped a sharp edged tool and it almost severed the left hand of Frank Batter, one of the most popular mechanics in the factory. The workmen indignantly demanded that Hoem be discharged and, despite Batter's protests that his injury was purely accidental, the young Swede was "fired." He left Richmond and was soon forgotten.

LOCAL WATER RATES WILL BE INCREASED SAYS JUDGE DUNCAN INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 29.Judge Thomas Duncan, chairman of the public service commission today answered some of his critics when he briefly recited some of the things accomplished by the commission in the last year, at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon. He pointed out a saving of a half million dollars a year to the consumers of gas, electricity and water. He pointed out that Indianapolis gas consumers were paying $325,000 less each year; that the light consumers t were saving $233,000; that South Bend and Elkhart electricity consumers are paying $45,700 less; that Evansville caved $25,000 on gas, and Terre Haute $30,000 on water. Duncan said water rates in Richmond were fixed so low that they would have to be increased soon. He said that inspection of railroads had been so careful that 400 less trainmen were injured last year.

FAVOR LEGISLATION WARNING AGAINST USING ARMED SHIPS; SEND TELEGRAMS TO CONGRESS

Hundreds of telegrams indicating the sentiment of local citizens regarding the armed merchantmen controversy now causing a disagreement between President Wilson and congress, were sent to Congressman Gray and Senator Kern today. The telegrams favor legislation warning Americans to keep off armed vessels. Samples of the telegrams follow: "I favor legislation warning Americans, against traveling on armed vessels." "I solemnly urge you to support the effort- warning American citizens off armed vessels." Sentiment among German citizens is- that Americans should stay off armed merchantmen during the war period and to travel on unarmed and neutral boats." Leaders here assert, that citizens stay off street when ; a , lawless mob is shooting and committing' outrages. No one will . pass along on such a street, and assert he has a right to be there. Common sense tells him to stay out of the danger zone. On the same ground they argue that citizens ought to stay, out of the danger zone in European waters, knowing that it ic unsafe to travel there.

es Fa ll

Drive

Front GOLDEN REWARD Thirty-three Years Later. One evening the latter part of last week a stranger, wearing a costly fur overcoat and fastidiously groomed, called at the Batter home on South Eighth street. He informed Mrs. Batter that he would like to see her husband and was ushered into the living room, where Batter, .in shirt sleeves and slippers, was contentedly pulling away at his pipe. "Do you know me?" inquired the stranger. Batter gave a negative shake of his head at the same time extending his right hand in hospitable greeting. The stranger took Batter's extended hand then remarked. "No, that's not the one; let's see the other," Continued on Page Two EXPLOSION KILLS SIX ELKINS, West Va.. Feb. 29. Six men are dead and nin are still entombed in the Davis Coal and Coke company mine, No. 42, at Kempton. West V&., which was wrecked by a dust explosion at 6:30 o'clock this morning. Sixty-two men were caught in the mine by. a fall of slate and were brought out alive at 10:30 o'clock. Among those who sent telegrams ' are: A. Blickwedel. Henry Bode. Hans Koll. John Bayer. C. A. Kratz. B. A. Kennepohl. Harry Daub. Wm. Steinbrink. W. Lichtenfela. A. H. Schroeder. Chas. Wiehmeyer. Elmer. Weisbrod. J. W. Terry. H. Ahaus. F. Keblenbrink, Jr. If.- Hoff meister. Chas. Hackman. E. E. Brumfiel. If. Elstro. F. Libbert. Mat Von Pein. MV Grunzke. J.'Scbweizer. D. Bertsch. Will Schuette, F. J. Groves. Raymond Duning Fred Hackman. W. II. Duning. C. W. Jessup. Fred G. Mayer. Oscar Tauer, Sr. Oscar Tauer, Jr. Henry Eggert. A. . Kaupor. G. McConloug. J. E. Cooper. J. Smithmeyer. If. Metzdorff. . J. G. Kauch. R. Gwin. John Rotbert. ." A. F. Mayer. Henry Helmich. H. Habighorst. Fred Morgenroth, L. E. Bence. II. Smithmeyer. Chris Fulle. C. Addleman. George Mesker. Jchn X. Lantz. Adam Boes, Fred Noel ker. W. H. Cook. 7. C Lantz. II Wolbard. John Weist. 1 H. Hasecoster.j t