The Washington Post
April 25, 1929

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* — “APR 26 1923 = morning The only newspaper tn Washington with the Associated Press news every in the year. delivery call Main 4205. — tor home ©cis 26052 Washington va, — NO. 19,306. ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER POSTOFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C. WASHINGTON: THURSDAY, APRIL i z — 25. 1929. post. CIP SATA: PP ND i 5 RE A AR Re Ali IEE AS IE AN A —n— — — ) CENT ee es POST-SCRIPTS GEORGE ROTHWELL BROWN “*Tie the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, | And coming events cast their shad- ews before.” Fast-flying flapper breaks the world’s feminine record for going up in the air, which is going some! “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How | wonder what you are; Up above the world so high, Like a Lindbergh in the sky.” East Washington policeman im- : poses the death sentence on a boy im a prohibition case, and makes the Jones law seem considerably less drastic than we had thought. There's something about prohibi- tion that puts it in a class by itself, or shall we live to see the day when the Department of Justice enforces the Interstate Commerce Act by sheoting a railroad president? ‘Tom Heflin wears a white cotton suit to the Senate and encounters frost. Don’t rush the Mr. Heflin may drape his own ferm in Ku Klux Ketton, but he ean’t. make Jim Watson wear a sheet for @ toga. S * 7 The most interesting thing about the beer bottle that was thrown at Brockton is the disclosure of the fact that there are people in this ‘who think Senator Heflin be paid te talk. And — ates @ roving eye the front page, here’s Senator exponent of law enforce- ment, raising a roar because the Volstead Cutter Seneca used -a peaceful merchant ship for a target 50 miles at sea. Somebody in that ress ag — * Bt — Senator’ Brookhart raises the barnyard standard of revolt against the President, and flocks to it. ee. Os 8; * + “The Federal Dispensary-Tax Re- — demands liquor in the home; which raises the inter-. esting question, “isn’t the cellar home?” . _ The beet sugar industry wants Uncle Sam to sweeten the kitty. Representative Simmons gives 2 helpful boost to the proposed new d _ municipal center for the District + with a plan for making the money for a starter immediately available. The only discouraging thing about it is the reflection that the Govern- ment will now have to buy back on the Avenue near John Marshal! place some squares of land that it ence got for nothing and sold for a song. : ; California scientists have invented a 3,000,000-volt death spark that ean throw a ray almost as powerful as a dirty look. The next rahe aie York sends a delegation 6f Tammany men to a Democratic National Convention the folks will be able to look at ’em and know they’re Tammany men. Tammany throws ‘own Al Smith, but not as hard as it did in November. e ~ . — With a singular lack of his usually keen Gallic perceptions, George Bernard Pshaw says he won't come over to visit us because the Ameri- cans are réverting to the savagery of the Indians, which is a gross slander on the only law-abiding ele- ment in our — The pst techloned trader who used to start the bloodshed by sell- ing whisky to the Redskin now has - @ son who: confines his bootlegging to the white folks. The teutile strikes in North Caro- lina and Tennessee bear so much resembliince to the great steel strike of J919 as to lead io the wonder — ition Z. Foster can find time te Mr. and Mrs. : ‘| made WHITTEMORE BANDIT’S BROTHER, IS HELD AS BANK ROBBER 9 HANGED Confesses, Say Police in St. Louis, to Mary- land Holdup. TAKEN AS SPEEDERS, MONEY BETRAYS PAIR Marylander and Man in Car Have $3,574 in Their Pockets. WESTMINSTER BANK LOOT, SAY PRISONERS q Third Man Is -Implicated in Story; Baltimore Also Seeks Girl Aid. St. Louis, Mo., April 24 (A.P.).—Two men, arrgsted here last night for speed- ing, and held for further investigation when $3,574 in currency was found on their persons, confessed today, police said, that the m.nsy was part of $15,000 loot obtained March 5 in the robbery of the Farmers & Merchants Trust Co., of Westminster, Md. The men, according to police, in their corfession gave the names of Rawlings Whittemore, 25, of Baltimore, Md., and Robert Minners, 25. They told police ,.when first arrested they were Harry Miller and George Vaughn. More Money in Rooms. Police said that beside the money found in their possession when arrest- ed, an additional $1,718 was found in their rooms, us were three revolvers, Whittemore’s parole papers from the Maryland Houge of Correction also were found in the room. Officers said the two gave the name of a third man who participated in the bank robbery, but who separated from them later. They are being held pend- ing information from Maryland offi- clals. | | Baltimore, Md., ‘April : (AP.) — — pllapaadiag medinaenmne di eagecratey ing identification of their photographs as participants in the Westminster robbery, they said today, adding that they had received word the arrested pair had waived extradition and would be brought to Baltimore immediately. Brother of Hanged Man. Whittemore, who is a brother of Richard Reese Whittemore, notorious bandit who was hanged in the Mary- land Penitentiary in 1926, has a police record and at the time of the West- | minster robbery was at liberty from the house of correction on parole after serving four months of a one year sentence for receiving stolen goods. Minners also is known to Baltimore police, as is the third man of the group. A woman is also to be made a party to the robbery. She is said by police to have acted as lookout while the others entered the Westminster Bank, shut three men and a woman in the vault, scooped up all the available cash and made their escape in a stolen auto- mobile. Army Pilot Is Blamed For Crash by Jurors San Diego, Calif., April 24 (A.P.).— A coroner’s jury today held the late Lieut. Howard W. Keefer, Army air pilot, responsible for the mid-air crash last Sunday between Keefer’s pursuit Plane and a Maddux trimotored liner in which the Army flier and five per- sons in the passenger plane lost their lives. After hearing a ‘number of witnesses, several of whom testified the Army plane appeared to be “stunting” when it crashed into the Maddux liner, the jury found Keefer “criminally negli- gent” and had violated the rul of aviation when he followed and ap- proached the passenger plane. Schoolgirl Flier Wins Back Endurance Title Elinor Smith, 17,Remains Aloft 26 Hours and 21 1-2 Minutes. Roosevelt Field, N. Y., April 24 (U-P.). Elinor Smith, 17-year-old schoolgirl flier, today won back the airplane rec- ‘ord that she had watched two older women. aviators snatch from her—and now ake is likely to keep it for ↄ long time. — — ce ‘he ciittibed wearily from the cabin of a great Bellanca monoplane this JURORS CLEAR BELL AS SMITHS LAYER Baltimorean Is Exonerated in Death of Rich Cleveland Man Following Party. DENIES HE STRUCK BLOW New York, April 24 (A.P.)—A grand jury today exonerated Samuel E. Bell, Baltimore oil promoter, of any blame for the death of Arthur Morgen Smith, wealthy Cleveland business man whom he was accused of fatally striking after a fashionable Park avente party. After the grand jury’s finding, which was said to have been unanimous, the homicidg charge on which Bell had been held in $10,000 bail, was dismissed and he was freed. Smith died of a fractured skull suf- fered, according to information gath- ered by the police, when Bell resented an intrusion and struck him. Bell had taken Mrs. Robert Brown, of Lexington, Ky., to a party at the Park avenue apartment of Mrs. Robert Schuette. who inherited a Standard Oi] fortune from her first husband, Harry 8. Hark- hess. They met Smith there, a stranger to both of them, and left the building CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, COLUMN 1. Texas Tornado Kills Ten, Hurts Scores, Razes Homes / School Children Suffer » Brunt of Storm; List of Dead Growing. Palestine, Tex., April 24 (A.P.).— Windstorms that swept over sections of eastern Texas shortly after noon today left in their path at least ten dead, scores of injured and heavy damage to farm buildings and crops. Several per- sop; were reported missing as relief workers dug into debris. @ hamlet 18 miles south of Palestine, where at least ten persons were killed and many injured by a tornado which blew up with little warning. cutting a #. tornado of lesser intensity swept over the Janes cOmmunity 4 miles north of Center. near the Louisiana border. after the Slocum storm. No lives were Reported lost, pow woman was eeri- ously injured 75 residents homeless when houses were de- Searchers believed the number dead at Slocum would be increased to more ~a@ Ww The wind struck heaviest at Slocum, swath half a mile wide and 4 miles long. CONTINUED ON PAGE §, COLUMN 1,) = Climbing the Clouds To The Coast The diary of a transconti- nental air trip over a route soon to be opened to the public. SUNDAY THE WASHINGTON POST Magazine Section > Elinor Smith, — —— — Long Island Aler, who established a new endurance mark for women aviators. afternoon—@® tired, slight figure in knickerbockers and leather helmet— dutifully ‘kissed her father and mother, and smiled wanly as an official an- nounced that she had bettered by more than four hours the solo endurance flight mark of Mrs. Louise McPhet- ridge’ Thaden, of California. The gitl.had flown for 26 hours, 31 minutes and 32 seconds—e performance CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, COLUMN 3. PILOT, MOTOR DEAD, GAAOHED: OAVES MAIL Stalled Over Alexandria, V. E. Treat Glides Across River to Blue Plains. HITS FENCE; IS UNHURT Verne E. Treat, 32 years old, Pit- cairn air mall pilot, saved his life and the mail at 12:10 o’clock this morning when the motor of _his dead over Alexandria, Va. Sending out a couple of flares, Treat succeeded in gliding -his plane over the river to land safely on the oppo- Site side, near the Home for the Aged, @t Blue Plains. A fence was in the way, however, and, though Treat escaped without a scratch, he reported, when the plane tore through the fence, the: plane was considerably’ damaged, wings and land- ing gear getting the worst of it. : ‘Treat left New York City last night at 9:40 o’clock on the regular run to Atlanta and Miami, Fla. Landing at Belling Field here at 12:02 o’clock, he left the Washington mail with J. G. Ray, operations manager for Pitcairn here, took on the Southern mail and hopped off at 12:07. Treat received his training in the war and has been flying since the armistice. He has flown for Pitcairn Aviation CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, COLUMN 5. Woman Is Slashed To Death in Street Portsmouth, Va., Resident Is Attacked by Man as She Passes Church. Portsmouth, Va., April 24 (A.P.).— Mrs. Mary E. Morris, of Portsmouth, was stabbed to death here this after- noon as she was passing Trinity Church by an unknown white man. The mur- der occurred directly opposite the. post- Office and within a few steps of the heart of the city. The woman's assail- ant escaped, leaving only a meager de- scription on which the police are work- ing. Police learned from a preliminary in- vestigation that Mrs. Morris was at- tacked from behind as she passed the churchyard. Her assailant, ‘tescribed us a tall young man, walked up beside her and began cutting her. As she turned tc face him he stabbed her severai times in the chest before she fell in a crum- pled heap on the sidewalk, witnesses said. « In answer to a telephone call, police went to the scene of the attack and. together with H. H. Matthews, sealer of weights and measures for the city. took the woman to Parrish Memorial Hos- pital. She was pronounced dead by physicians when they arrived. plane went. SENATORS Alot IN WRATH OVER LIQUOR oLAYING Two Policemen Held “On Duty” Pending Inquest in Fatal Shooting. ACT REPREHENSIBLE, COMMENT OF BLAINE Representatives Also Hit Killing of Man Driving Rum-Laden Auto. PROHIBITION IS HELD VIEWED AS MAIN LAW Sproul, Dry, Declares Smoke Screen Shows Attack — Is “Expected.” A chorus of condemnation arose on Capitol Hill yesterday, following the killing of Ottmer H. Fleming, 21-year- old rum-runner, by Policeman Clyde O. Rouse, of the Eleventh Precinct. Fleming was shot in the back of the costia In an automobile laden with liquor and belehing forth a smoke screen. Echoes of the shooting were heard on both sides of the Capitol, wet sena- tors and representatives heaping criti- cism on the policeman and the prohi- bition law, The drys for the most part, were silent. None of them, how- ever, condoned the killing. and Policeman B. R. Campbell, who was with him, were being held at the police station on a duty status, while Maj. Pratt. superintendent of police, was engaged in an investigation of the shooting. Inquest This Morning. Coroner J. Ramsay Nevitt has ordered an inquest for 11:30 o’clock this Morn- ing. Part of the evidence will be the bullet which, having pessed through Fleming’s head, — floor of the machine, | . Senator Blaine (Republican), of Wiss consin, declared that the act of the po- “Tf there is any law under which he could be prosecuted and sent to the electric chair, it should be done,” Blaine said. “He had no moral right to take this life. Government by force and guns is wrong. Taking of life, ex- cept in self-defense, is murder.” Representative Sproul, bone-dry Re- publican, of Kansas, who is sponsoring a drastic prohibition act for Washing- ton, declared that, while he would not justify or excuse the killing, he felt that the wets always magnified such cases as that of yesterday morning. Sproul Sees Attack “Expected.” “There is no such hue and cry when a prohibition agent isshot,” Sproul said. “This rum runner had a smoke screen on his car. Does not that presuppose that he expected to be shot at?” Senator Blease (Democrat), of South Carolina, who admits that, while he takes a drink, he votes dry, said that he condemned the shooting with <ll the spirit he possessed. “The use of firearms in enforcing the liquor law,” Blease said “leads me to think that the police have forgotten all th laws except the prohibitior law.” Representative John Schafer, wet Re- publican, of Wisconsin, who, in the past, has defended the Washington po- lice force, detlared that the policemen should be prosecuted to.the full extent of the law. Schaf . Condemns Slaying. “This is another example of the chaos and lack of respect for life that has been bred by prohibition,” Schafer said. “Judging from the records of the police- men, they are both possessed with itchy trigger fingers. If they want target practice, why don’t they join the Army?” Senator King (Democrat), Utah, would not comment on the Fleming case, but he expressed the opinion that there is entirely too much indiscrim- inate shooting in the enforcement of the prohibition and customs laws. Representative Gibson (Republican). Vermont, who has been investigating the local Police Department, said that he would not condemn a policeman until he had all the facts before him. The shooting, the first here since the passage of the Jones “five and ten” act. took place shortly after 3 o'clock yes- terday morning. Fleming, who lived at 30C N street southwest, died at Casualty Hospital a few minutes before 4 o'clock. Companion Was Captured. John Stevens, 27 years old, aiso of the N street address, was riding ‘with Fleming and was captured after ne had stopped the machine and fled. He now is at the Eleventh Precinct station charged with using a smoke screen and possession and transportation of liquor According to the story told by Po- liceman Campbell, he and Rouse were at Nichols avenue and §S street south- east when the chase began. When Fleming failed to halt his machine at the intersection the two policemen gave chase in their machine. — When Fleming saw the uniforma he and Rouse were wearing, Campbell said. he tried to crowd the police machine CONTINUED ON PAGE 3, COLUMN 32. * head after he had sped through Ana- In the meantime, Policeman Rouse liceman was “extremely reprehensible.”. 7 , * 2* Diplomats slated for other posts. Giacomo de Martino, Italy. del, France. Harris ‘Upper Mett-—Ambessador Nobile. Upper right—Ambassador Paul Clau- Lower left—Dino Grandi, vice minister of foreign’ affairs of Italy, who it is reported will succeed Ambassador de ‘Martino, and Prince Albert de Ligne, Belgium. BADOKHART FIGHTS lowan. “Breaks” With Presi- dent, Asking “Real Bill” Be Passed Over Veto. HOUSE TO VOTE TODAY (United Press.) Senator Smith Wildman Brookhart, of Iowa, chief Hoover farm campaigner, “broke” yesterday with the President on agricultural relief in a Senate speech that possessed some of the fire the Iowa senator displayed when he first came to the Capitol five years ago promising to wear overalls. Brookhart never donned his. over- alls, and in recent months he had been ironically dubbed by his colleagues “the closest man” to the President be- cause of his ardent support of Mr. Hoover during the campaign. Pre- viously he had been a leader in the Western farm revolt against the Re-’ publican party. He reminded the Senate yesterday that he had made 200 campaign speeches for Mr. Hoover, but, he said in effect, the President has not carried out his campaign pledges to the farmer. The Iowa senator then went the whole route by urging that Congress disre- gard the President and prepare to pass “a real farm bill” over Mr. Hoover’s veto. The Iowa senator’s break with the President was the outstanding develop- ment of the day in Congress, both branches of which-were engaged with farm relief. The. strong Republican CONTINUED ON PAGE 5, COLUMN 2. |French, ™ e ty . — * Takoma Park Polideman Ar· rests Suspect After 2-Mile Foot Race. VICTIMS DECLINE’ HELP Reluctance on the part of . victims of an alleged blackmailing “racket,” uncovered yesterday in Takoms. Pars, |; Md., to testify against an arrested man, last night balked efforts of Montgom- ery County police to bring -charges against their prisoner. The scheme, according to police and complainants, was to appfoach suto- mobiles parked on the dafk roads at night and to demand moflity ot the occupants, on threat of exposure. if money was not forthcodiing. In one case reported to police tHe cocupants of a machine were threatened the next day, and a payment of 8600 was de- manded for secrecy. - Complaints about the ‘Tacket” re- sulted in the arrest Tu y night of Everett D. Weakley, teamster, of Stan- ley. Va.. who has recently been em- ployed at Luray, Va. Weakley was ar- rested by Montgomery County Police- man Charles Barnes after a two-mule chase on foot across country, and an ensuing fist fight. Barnes, taking a woman assistant with him, went Tuesday night to the area from which recurrent complaints have been received and parked there in his automobile. Soon after parking. he saw three men approaching through the grass. Barnes jumped out and CONTINUED ON PAGE 3, COLUMN 2. Selling of District Building May Aid Municipal Center REPRESENTATIVE R. G. SIMMONS. Simmons Requests Mellon to Indorse Purchase to Speed City Budget. Establishment here of a municipal center, a group of handsome buildings for the use of the District government, May come much sooner than was éx- pected, it appeared yesterday follow- ing a conference between Representa- tives Simmons (Republican), of Ne- braska, and Secretary Of the Treasury Mellon. They discussed a olan,’ spon- sored by Simmons, whereby the mu- nicipal center program might be speeded up and building operations started in the near future. Mellon was said to look with favor on the plan Representative Simmons, who is chairman of the District subcommittee of the House appropriations commit- tee, suggested that the Federal Gov- ernment purchase the present District Building and so make available enough money to start erecting the new mu- nicipal buildings in the proposed cen- ter south of Judictary Square. In the CONTINUED ON PAGE 3, COLUMN 1.| 12-17-18— oe will be forced either. to —— lon-Berenger agreement, which has ¢n- · countered eared, Vigeteleagpesttian avai ais — it was negotiated, or else she cuuet ar 4 known, will be replaced by Dino Grand, — vice minister of fdreign affairs of Italy. Only. the latter's inability to learn the English language more rapidly has kept” the Italian envoy at his post up ‘te the present time. The recall of Am- bassador de Martino was long ago ‘de- cided upon. His failure te regulate the immigration question satisfactorily with the American Government was thea» tensible reason. At first Premier Musa- solini was determined to appoint the Italian representative in Argentina, who has satisfactorily negotiated -tnfs migration problems with that in Nobile de Martino’s stead, but tatet Signor Grandi was selected. Grandi Learning English. = tL This last-nameq diplomat, highip placed in Pascisti circles and an ifit!- mate friend of the premier. is learning English, for he declines to come to the United States until he can speak “the language correctly. As soon as Ai English course is completed he will take over Ambassador de Martino’s du- ties. Signor Grandi has enjoyed..& meteoric diplomatic career and recent- ly was given credit for helping to bring. about the signing of the concordat bee tween the Quirinal and the Vatican. Signor Grandi, it will be remembered, was one of the three “Black Shirts” — — — Index to Today's lassue. Pages. 1—Whittemore Held as Bandit. Jurors Clear Oil Man. Ten Die in Texas Tornado. Mail Plane Pilot Safe in Fall. Three. Envoys Here to Retire. Brookhart Opposes Hoover. 2—Senate Cold: to Heflin Plea. = FPietcher to Get Rome Post.” 3—Hardy Court Calls Aimee. , Two Cleveland Gangsters Silaig, 4—Oil Men Accept Federal Plan. 5—Score Saved in’ Flood. 6—Editorial. 7—Society. 8—Weather and Vital Statistics. 9—Rites for Dr. A. C. Trye. “gs Behind the Screens, . 10—Return of Old King Brady. 1i—Magazine Features. Radio News and 12—Daily. Legal Record. cial. 13-14-15—Sports. 16—The Post’s Comics. 19—Classified Advertisements, 20—Pratt Asks No New Laws, Trafic Survey Proposed.