St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 23, 1928

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— OMIC PAGE VEDNESDAY, UGUST 22, 1923, LookouT ALRIGHT! , Ped ; | x OFFICERS LAY : _ Suspected of Con- A of Attorney Clifford M. Hicks, April . re a » * wet = . > c 3 ‘ Re) Rive Fh eee ete i . - " al ae oe eee Oe oe Oe : 7 posed of Detective Lieutenant Car- _ Toll, Detectives | _ has driven a large automobile, and t 2 — had an appearance of prosper- 2. sub-machine gun were fired at ' and into Davis, who did not have He sank behind the bar, which was _ Wilintered with bullets. _ +» Two Men With Him Escape. - Two men who were with Davis » slatted to follow him | Buick. Tom Hayes, _ Miestioned by the police in con- 5 Wellston a few wteks ago. One of the men with Davis, the of- fleers say. | ot LOUIS POST- DISPATCH The Only Evening Newspaper it St. Louis With the Associated Press News Service SPORT FINAL Stock, Bond and Ourb Tables Se ae ——— ST. LOUIS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1928. —36 PAGES. PRICE 2 CENTS “HUE BY mM Cf | William F. Davis Shot at) 6255 St. Louis Av., Well- ston, a Soft Drink Bar, as | _HeTries to Draw Weapon eae IN WAIT FOR HIM ducting Extortion “‘Rack- a. — Two Men With Him Escape | in Auto. , ee. F. Davis, former convict ' and bootlegger, charged by a Coun- 4 ty Coroner's jury with being an accessory to the mysterious murder 30; 1927, was shot and killed by city detectives and county Deputy Sheriffs in a soft drink saioon at . $255 St. Louis avenue, Wellston, at 1:45 o'clock this afternoon. Shot as He Tries to Draw Pistol. Six officers waited for Davis in _ the rear room of the saloon, on in- formation that he was to visit the place to demand money from the proprietor, Philip Lapato, in con- nection with an extortion “‘racket.” He was sought, also, police say, for a safe robbery in the city. ‘When Davig’ walked into the ~ place, pol stepped out and gave a hands-up order. Davis, the police @ay, reached for his pistol, and the detectives and deputies fired on him. Twenty shots from revolvers and _ the chance to use his own weapon. - than automobile, and who had af into the | siloon, fled in the machine when f the shooting began. The officers ' fired several shots at the cat, a who was iestion- with the Russo-Longo gang killing, on a vacant lot in was The party of officers was com- O’Conne]!l and Forthman, and Deputy Sheriffs - Schoenbein, Thompson and ', Schmidt of St. Louis County. Since the mysterious murder of his friend, Hicks, Davis has built & stucco house, said to have cost _ $30,000, on Carson road, near * Evans avenue, in. the county. Tie | Both Davis, who served a prison _ term for counterfeiting, and Haycs, have been known to the police as Sssociates of the local Cuckoo ‘Bang, which has close connections [ ~ with Italian gang warfare and ex- - fortionist activities. ; Davis Accused by Coroner's Jury in F Hicks Murder Mystery. _ The murder of Hicks occurred - Apety 30, 1927. The body of the lawyer and Sunday school superin- » tendent, who had shady associates. Was found in a ditch near Webster oe % ohms riddled with bul- CKs carried $365,000 life > insurance. on The subsequent inquiry developed facts as to Hicks’ fellowship 4vith ee of doubtful character and Means taken to get his large rance, but it did not point = to the identity of the al ntity — Who was known to have used by Hicks in many per- *frands, and Glenn Hicks, , who was lary of the insurance gg hamed by the Coro- a8 accessories to the Se AS no Principal was named, they could hot be prosecuted suc- : Mra, Hicks Said she once asked ® busbang if Davis was not a Hicks tei4 character, but that Withers he had “stopved mt €xplaining his mtan- ae told the no- 4 = bat ua he sold gin in case ‘ots, a not :- lieve the estate will be settled with comparatively little loss to anyous,” SMITH’S PROGRAM BASED ON PROGRESSIVE THEORY; COVERS A WIDE RANGE Speech Marked by Forthrightness st For Public Ownership and Control of Water Power Sites. 7 BY CHARLES G. ROSS, Chief Washington Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. WASHINGTON, Aug. Gov. Alfred E. Smith in his ac- ceptance speech declared himself for an amendment of the Eighteenth Amendment, but against the return of the saloon: reiterated his pledge, if elected, to seek a solution of the farm prob- lem through a conference of farm leaders and economic business ex- perts; called for a foreign policy designed to undo the “evil effect” of the present administration's pol- icy with respect to Latin-America; asserted that the waterpower re- sources owned by the »ublic “must remain forever under public own- ership and control, “and, in general, announced a program based, as he said, on a “progressive not reac- tionary” theory of government. “I am entirely unwilling,” said Gov. Smith, “to accept the old order of things as the best, unless and until I become convinced that it cannot be made better.” Smith's address was slightly longer than the acceptance speccn by the Republican nominee and covered an even wider range of contentious issues. Like Hoover, the Democratic candidate, by the space allotted to the two topics, recognized prohibition and farm re- lief as paramount issues of the campaign. His attention to watcr- power and Latin-American policy was in contrast with his opponent's omission of those subjects. Hard-Hitting Campaign Document. The Smith speech was a good, hard-hitting campaign document, marked by the forthrightness that is proclaimed by the Governor's friends as one of his leading and most attractive characteristics. He refrained, as did Hoover, from personal attacks, declaring that he would endeavor to conduct his campaign on the high plane that befits the intelligence of our citi- zens.” In what plainly was meant to be an answer to insinuations based upon his religious beliefs and his wetness, Gov. Smith said: “I will not be influenced in ap- pointments by the question of a person’s wet or dry attitude, by whether he is rich or poor, whether he comes from the North, South, East or West, or by what church he attends in the worship of God. The sole standard of my appoint- ments will be the same as they have been in my governorship— integrity of the man or woman and his or her ability to give me the greatest poasible ald in devoted 9D. nm ow. service to the people.” Again he said, in language re- calling his words in the debate with Charles C. Marshall on religious and civic obligations: "I pledge a complete devotion to the welfare of our country and our people. I place that welfare above every other consideration and J] am satisfied that our party is in a position to promote it.’”’ The speech had a ring of sin- cerity. It will alienate no support- ers from Gov. Smith, It may win for him supporters among those who have been waiting to see the quality and extent of his progress- iveism. Probably he had this class of voters in mind when he charged the Republican’ party with being rule’ today by a “reactionary ele- ment” which is seeking to “vin- dicate the theory of benevolent oligarchy.” “T have fought this spirit in my own state,” he said. “I have had to fight it and beat it, in order to place upon the statute books ev- ery one of the progressive, humane laws for whose enactment I as- sumed responsibility in my legis- lative and executive career. I shall know how to fight it in the Nation. “It is a fallacy that there is in- consistency between progressive measures protecting the rights of the people, including the poor and the weak, and a just regard for the rights of legitimate business, great or small. Therefore, while I emphasize my belief that legiti- mat business promotes the national welfare, let me warn the forces > corruption and favoritism, tha Dmocratic victory means that they will be relegated to the rear and the front seats will be occupied by the friends of equal opportunity.” Greatest interest, of course, at- taches to what Smith said about prohibition. The subject is so im- portant that no voter should con- tent himself with a summary of his remarks, Views on Farm Problem. Turning to the farm question, Smith said that, in demanding re- lief for agriculture. he was “stat- ing a& proposition as vital to the welfare of business as agriculture.” He said that promises made by the Republicans had not been ful- filled, though they kad been in control of the Government for nearly eight years, NOTIFICATION CEREMONIES IN CAPITOL DUE TO RAIN Assembly Room Jammed While Drenched Throng Outside Hears Speech Through Amplifiers. FREQUENT APPLAUSE INTERRUPTS NOMINEE Governor Goes to New York to Discuss Arrange- ments for His Speech- making Campaign. Ey the Associated Press. ALBANY, N. ¥. Aug. 23.— Somewhat disappointed over the restricted manner in which his notification had to be conducted, but nevertheless happy over the way the crowd reacted to his ac- ceptance speech, Goy, Smith turned toward New York today to begin laying the foundation of his campaign for the presidency. Accompanied by Mrs. Smith, the Democratic presidential nominee rode in the private car St. Nicholas, belonging to his friend William F. Kenny. It was attached to a regu- lar train on the New York Central Railroad. He plans to visit Na- tional .Committee headquarters to discuss his speaking itinerary. Senator Joseph T. Robinson, the Democratic vice presidential norm- inee, and Mrs. Robinson, who at- tended the Governor's notification and were overnight guests at the executive mansion, left Albany on an earlier train for New York. Gov. Smith will stay at the’ Bilt. more Hotel tonight, and tomorrow will go to Sea Girt, N. J., where on Saturday he will review National Guard regiments and attend + Democrati¢ rally. He will spend the week-end at Spring Lake, ctoxe to Sea Girt. An uninterrupted light rain forced a last minute change of the preparations made for the notifi- cation ceremony. It had to be heid indoors—in the Assembly cham- ber where the nominee began his legislative career 25 years ago. Thanks Drenched While touched by the familiar scene, the Governor thought of the thousands outside on the lawn, and after running through the long outline of his stand on the issues of the day, including his advocacy of a modification of the dry laws, went out to the drenched but cheering crowds and thanked them from the bottom of his heart for standing by to the last to hear his message. Surrounded by members of his family, his running mate, Senator Robinson of Arkansas, and many party leaders and frienda, the nom- inee delivered his acceptance speech to a crowd of only « few thousand that jammed into the assembly chamber. An emergency radio hdokup, however, carried the message to the crowd outside and to every corner of the land. Family Hears Speech. Just below the gpeaker's rostrum was Mrs. Smith and members er the family—Emily with her hus- band, Maj. John A. Warner, su per - intendent of the State pol'ce; young “Al,” as his father calls hua, and his wife; Arthur and his wifs- rCatherine and her husband, Frar.- cis J. Quillinan of New York, and the youngest of the children, Wai- ter, just home from a boys’ carrp in the Adirondacks. To one side of Mra. Smith sat Kenny and Gov. Ritchie ef Maryland. Here and there, welgeu in the crowd, could be seen Demo- cratic leaderse—such Senators es Wagner and Cepeland of New York. Walsh of Massachusett« and Tydings of Maryland, and others, as Atlee Pomeiene of Ohio, | Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City. John Barnett of Colorado and ‘a host of othera. For in Dry Law. One of the items in the three- | fold relief program advocated by Herbert Hoover was resort to the tariff. Smith asserted that “the! tariff is ineffective on commodities | of which there is exportable _ The Governor pledged himstr io vigorous enforcement of the frro- | hibition law. but announced that he tavored a change in the eighte. oth amendment as well as the Voiset.cé law to give estates, by popular ref- Continued on Page 3, Column 6, Continued on Page 2, Colume 1. st Seo ET SS ee ere aes - NF a OL PAA EF oe PETE a PE TP ve Cee le ng ag tn Rae ig be ot Ate OS —o PE. 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