Evening star. [volume], January 13, 1936, Page B-1, Image 17

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Washington News Society and General
* •* L——————————— HIM I
* __, * • /• :;-^r .- ~ - ' . • i w i H^’^UKSUH''- . * . • ’ -
~ ' • __ 1 f ■_WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 193ft*** PAGE B—1
CRIPPLE OK 111
FOR KILLING SON. 5;
INSANITY DEFENSE
Mothers Excused From Jury
Service as Selection
Is Begun.
DEFENDANT IN COURT
IN ROLLING CHAIR
Heant to Kill Self by Gas, Too,
He Told Coroner, bat Did
I Hot Succeed.
David L. Ashcraft, 45, destitute
Cripple, who confessed killing his only
son, David, jr„ 5, last September 12.
went on trial on a charge of first
degree murder this morning before
Justice Daniel W. O’Donoghue In
District Supreme Court.
The jury had not*been completed
at noon.
Because of the nature of the case.
Justice O’Donoghue excused from
service all women who said they had
" children and might be influenced in
their verdict by their maternal feel
ing.
Attorney Fred J. Icenhower. rep
resenting Ashcraft, said the defense
would be based on insanity and the
contention that Ashcraft was moti
vated by an irresistible impulse. As
sistant United States Attorney Samuel
Beach has been assigned as prosecu
tor.
Has Been in Jail Hospital.
Ashcraft was brought into the court
room in a pillowed rolling chair. Since
the slaying he has been held in the
District Jail Hospital, receiving con
stant medical attention.
It was because his physical condi
tion made it necessary for him to
enter Gallinger Hospital the next day,
. Ashcraft explained several months ago,
that he held his son over a gas jet
in their basement home at 227 Third
street.
^ - The cripple told a coroner's jury
that his wife Josephine was unfaith
ful to him and he feared to intrust
young David to her care,
v “He was all I had,” Ashcraft said
brokenly at the Inquest. “I made up
my mind I might as well end us both.”
The gas. however, failed to kill the
man. although his physical condition
was greatly weakened by disease.
Associated with Icenhower in the
defense are William Teepe and Fred
McConnel.
Illness Wrecked Livelihood.
At the time of his arrest, Ashcraft,
tohose illness and frequent trips to the
hospital prevented him from earning
a living selling newspapers, told police
he was suffering from paralysis and
i tuberculosis.
The cripple said he despaired of re
gaining his health and was convinced
he would never see his son again,
once he left for the hospital. This
prompted him. he explained, to at
tempt to kill himself as well as his
son because he did not want his boy
to be “dragged through life like I
, was.”
The cripple made no attempt to
escape. The tragedy occurred in the
basAnent room which Ashcraft rented
at the Third street address.
WISHES OF SUICIDE
WILL BE RESPECTED
Pacifists Will Attend Kites for
Mrs. Capitola W. Koltes
and Son.
In respect to the pacifist convictions
of Mrs. Capitola W. Koltes, attractive
former movie magazine editor, who,
with her son. Robert Williams Ash
worth, 21, committed suicide Friday,
members of the National Council for
Prevention of War will attend the
funeral services tomorrow.
The bodies of Mrs. Koltes and Ash
Worth, a sophomore at George Wash
ington University, were cremated to
day. Services will be held at the
Lee funeral home at 5 p.m. tomorrow
and the ashes shipped to Mrs. Koltes’
native Chattanooga, Tenn.
Kenneth Durham, nephew of Mrs.
Koltes’ brother, Dr. J. Victor Williams
of Chattanooga, is in charge of the
funeral arrangements. Both mother
and son left notes requesting crema
tion.
Mrs. Koltes said in a note found in
the room at the Dupont Circle Apart
ments were she and her son drank
poison that "It would be nice” if a
member of the National. Council for
Prevention of War would give a talk
on peace at the funeral services. The
council has designated a speaker, but
Is withholding his name until it re
ceives a formal request from Durham
or other relatives.
Mias Mary Ida Winter, associate
secretary of the council in charge of
the sale of peace bonds, said she prob
... ^ably would attend the services. Mrs.
^Koltes bought two $1 peace bonds
from her January 4, saying he’d "do
anything” to keep her son out of war.
MRS. J.W. CHAPIN. 91,
DIES AT HOME HERE
Widow of Retired Business Man
Had Been Resident of Cap
ital 30 Tears.
Mrs. Mary Augusta Chapin. 91, for
SO years a resident of this city, died
Saturday at her home In the Kenesaw
Apartments. She had been ill since
breaking her hip in a fan about six
years ago.
Funeral services and burial will be
in Memphis. Term- probably Thurs
day.
Mrs. Chapin was the widow of
James W. Chapin. He died about six
years ago. She and her husband came
to Washington after he had retired
from business in Missouri. Mr. Chapin
was a Union Army officer in the Civil
War.
8he is survived by a number of
cousins, including Mrs. W. H. Fisher
and W. W. Barbour, both of Mem
phis, Tenn.; w. B. Qualn of Birming
ham. Ala., and Mrs. Thome Duel of
Clinton, Miss.
1
*
Slayer of Son in Court
David Ashcraft, crippled news vendor, who killed his son by holding
him over an open gas range, is shown being lifted into a wheelchair by
Deputy Marshal Joseph E. Hodge, colored, as he entered District Supreme
Court this morning to face trial. Beside the chair is Fred J. Icenhower,
appointed chief of counsel by the court to represent Ashcraft.
—Star Staff Photo.
Colored Man Who Escaped
in Swamp Later Captured
Through Tip.
Hilton Clarence Rheubottom. 24,
colored, 2206 Champlain street, ar
rested in Southwest Washington alter
eluding eight policemen in a chase
through swamps near Bethesda. Md„
was held at the fifth precinct station
today for questioning in the filling
station murder Friday night of Roland
P. Skinner. Ten other suspects also
are under arrest.
With 16 detectives on his trail,
Rheubottom escaped capture early
Saturday by flight in an automobile
out Wisconsin avenue, after Skinner.
53, of 2927 Twenty-sixth street north
east was killed at his station at Florida
avenue and P street northeast when
he resisted a hold-up attempt.
Two shots were fired at Rheubottom,
one each by Detective Sergts. Prank
Brass and John Wise, after the colored
suspect disappeared into a swampy
woods near Bethesda, but a 24-hour
search of the swamp proved futile. A
tip yesterday led police to a house at
Second and Canal streets southwest,
where Rheubottom was taken.
immediately after the fatal shoot
ing John Bowen, a cab driver of 520
K street northeast, took two colored
men, breathless from running, from
First street and New York avenue
northeast to Second and Canal streets
southwest. Bowen will view Rheubot
tom and the other suspects today in
a headquarters line-up.
The bandits fled empty-handed from
the gasoline station, leaving Skinner,
who tried to defend himself with a
grease gun, lying on the runway, with
bullets in his heart and abdomen. The
victim died en route to Sibley Hos
pital. He had $62 in his pockets. He
is to be buried tomorrow in Fort Lin
coln Cemetery, after funeral services
at Hysong's, 1300 N street, at 2 p.m.
WORD FROM MISSING
GIRL REPORTED LACKING
Folice Say They Have Not Heard
From Alva Carmen Thyrring,
Said to Be in Georgia.
Police said today they had received
no word from Alva Carmen Thyrring,
missing Central High School student,
who was reported to have been identi
fied Saturday on a Georgia farm.
Reports that the girl had notified .her
parents she would not return to Wash
ington have not been verified.
The girl’s parents, who live at 417
Oglethorpe street, drove to Raleigh,
N. C., Saturday after Washington
detectives received a telegram from
Sheriff J. J. Griffin of Screvem County,
Ga„ who said the Thyrring girl had
been working on a nearby farm owned
by C. E. Pryor.
Missing from her home here since
October 25, the girl is believed to hava
gone to the farm early in November.
New Markers
STREET SIGNS NOW WILL
BE VISIBLE AT NIGHT.
i" .—
New type glass street signs,
illuminated by street lights, are
being installed throughout the Dis
trict to make street identification
easy for motorists. Old signs (be
low) were not easy to see at night.
—Star Staff Photo.
FUNERAL TOMORROW
FOR MRS. ARMSTRONG
Mother of Pharmacist Had Been
Resident of Washington for
Bast 25 Tears.
Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, 84, died
yesterday after a long illness at the
home of her son, Dr. Walter Arm
strong, pharmacist, 3555 Eleventh
street.
Mrs. Armstrong was the widow of
Dr. 1%omas Henry Armstrong, who
was a practicing physician at Co
lumbia Furnace, Va. Funeral services
will be held tomorrow afternoon at
Columbia Furnace, where she will be
buried beside her husband.
The son here is proprietor of a drug
store at Eleventh street and Park road.
Mrs. Armstrong also leaves another
spn, Dr. Howard Armstrong, a practic
ing physician of Harrisonburg, Va., and
two grandchildren. She had been a
resident of this city for the last 35
years, coming here some time after the
death of her husband.
Water Carnival Given Place
On Navy June Week Program
By the Associated Press.
ANNAPOLIS, January 13.—A water
carnival will be a part of the Naval
Academy’s June week program . for
the first time this year, in line with
efforts of Rear Admiral David Foot*
Sellers, superintendent, to center the
minds of the midshipmen more on the
The admiral contends the academy
is a nautical institution and a tang
of the sea should be mingled with the
usual drees parades and land cere
monies that mark the graduation ex
ercises.
Battleships in fageaat.
It was expected completed plans
will call for a night pageant so that
illuminated and decorated craft
manned by midshipmen can take
part. Academy vessels possibly will
be turned over to middy groups, who
will use their own ideas In decora
tions.
* <
The practice cruise battleships
Arkansas, Wyoming and Ttxas will be
anchored off the Naval Academy
during June week and It is planned
to Incorporate them In tbe pageant.
The Idea of the superintendent is In
line with the general quickening of
an marine activity since the new ad
ministration took over tbe Institution.
Seeks Traning Ship.
Two boats are being built In tbe
Marine engineering Building by mid
shipmen. One is a 20-foot Marconi
rigged sailboat and the other an 18
foot speedboat.
Pour 50-foot motor launches are
undo- construction at the Norfolk
Navy Yard for use of the midshipmen.
Admiral Belters has maeft strenu
ous efforts to have a regular training
ship assigned permanently to tbe
academy for tbe instruction of mid
shipmen. He has asked for one of the
new gunboats of a type designed for
service In the special sendee squadron.
FATHER COX GETS
COOT RECEPTION
AT END OF ‘MARCH’
»?*■
__ 1
Townsend Plan Headquar
ters Irked by Priest’s In
vasion of Capital.
CALIFORNIAN HAILED
AS “THE MODERN MOSES”
Pittsburgh Contingent, 35 Strong,
Arrived Here Last Night
Aboard Bus.
A cold reception from Townsend
plan headquarters In the Southern
Building today awaited Father Janies
R. Cox. pastor of 8t. Patrick's Catho
lic Church, Pittsburgh, who brought
35 men here by bus from Pennsyl
vania last night to demand enact
ment of legislation providing pay
ment of the $200-a-month pension
to citizens over 65.
The priest, who four years ago
led a hunger army to the Capital.
Is holding conferences today with the
three Pittsburgh members of the House
of Representatives—Theodore Moritz.
Democrat: Henry Ellenbogen. Demo
crat, and Matthew Dunn, Democrat.
Dunn, who is blind, sold newspapers
with Father Cox in downtown Pitts
burgh when both were boys.
Hailed as “Modern Mooes.”
Father Cox haUed Dr. Francis E.
Townsend, Inventor of the old-age re
volving pension plan which would
bring mild luxury to the aged pro
vided they spent every cent of their
$200 every month, as “the modern
Moses” and said;
“I will go over to the O. A. R. P.
offices this afternoon and say ‘hello’
to the good man."
Townsend* Washington manager,
Baxter Rankin, exclaimed:
"We’ve asked the supporters of the
plan not to bring any expeditions to
Washington. We are doing every
thing possible here ourselves. If they
want to be of use, they can work hard
in other parts of the country.”
Father Cox has been broadcasting
the virtue of the Townsend plan four
times a week during the past two
months. As a result, he says, 10,000
letters from radio listeners in Western
Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West
Virginia have come to him demanding
the pension.
Plan Held "Beal Religion."
"It* a real religion,” he said of the
plan. ‘It* no use talking about doing
anything for the soul when you’re
dirty and hungry.
"I’ve been interested in old-age pen
sions for years. I’m for the plan be
cause it will help the poor. I came
from the poor people. I’ve always
lived with the poor people, and I hope
to die with them.”
Father Cox and his cohorts reached
La Fayette Hotel soon after midnight
today. A police escort, which was to
have been headed by Supt. of Police
Ernest W. Brown and Representative
Ellenbogen, the only one of the three
Pittsburgh members who is not com
mitted to the Townsend plan, failed
to meet the ’‘marchers'- when the
group neglected to let police know
what time they were arriving at the
District line.
Armed With Petition.
Father Cox brought with him a
petition for presentation to the Presi
dent, the House and the Senate, which
read. In part:
"We will always have 12,000,000
unemployed in the United States.
We have laws protecting and caring
for the birds of the air, the beasts of
the field and the lilies of the valley.
We must have a fundamental, solid
method of caring for these 12,000,000
people. The only liberal, up-to-date,
feasible plan that has been proposed
to care for the victims of the economic
order is the Townsend old-age re
volving pension plan.”
A cheap money advocate, Father
Cox four years ago established Cox
town, on the edge of Pittsburgh, where
60 destitute families lived in houses
erected with scrap lumber and bought
food, furniture, clothing and fuel at
a commissary with scrip.
PENNSY ELKINS ACT
PROSECUTION BEGINS
- I
Morning Consumed in Selection
of Jury—Rebate of Rents to
Merchants Charged.
Trial of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Co. under an indictment charging vio
lation of the Elkins act, which forbids
an interstate carrier granting con
cessions to its patrons, began in Dis
trict Supreme Court today before Jus
tice F. Dickinson Letts.
The morning was consumed in se
lecting a Jury. The same case was
tried last Spring, but ended in a hung
Jury after three weeks of testimony.
Conviction carries a maximum fine
of $400,000. There are 20 counts in
the indictment, and punishment on
each is a fine of not less than $1,000
nor more than $20,000.
It is charged that the railroad rent
ed property near its Water street ter
minal to Washington merchants, but
returned the rent to them when they
used its facilities in bringing in prod
uce. By this means, it is charged the
company unlawfully discriminated in
favor of the merchant, since the rebate
of rent amounted to reducing freight
liter.
The case is being prosecuted by As
sistant United States Attorney Harry
L. Underwood and Z. W. Scott, Inter
state Commerce Commission attorney.
The railroad ic represented by the
law firm of McKenney. Flannery and
Craig hill and Attorney R. Aubrey
Bogley.
DRY D. C. BILL HIT
Bartenders’ Union, old Local 15, at
a meeting yesterday, determined to
make a vigorous fight against the
Quyer bill, which would bring prohi
bition back to the District.
St and when hearings an held on
the Mil. the bartenders plan to send
a delegation to oppose the legislation.
*
Old Age Pension Conference
Father James R. Cox (center) led 35 Townsend plan boosters to Washington from Pittsburgh early today.
He Is shown conferring at the La Fayette Hotel with Representative Dunn (left) and Representative Ellenbogen.
~' ' ' ~ . i . .. - - —
KIDNAP ROBBERY
$168 Taken, Driver Asserts,
After Recovery From
Hog Pen.
A taxicab driver’s tale of having
been kidnaped by three armed men.
who tossed him, bound and gagged,
into a hog. pen after robbing him of
$168, was under
uiiceugauun to
day by police.
Victim of the rob
Dery was Joseph
P. Green, 2917
Olive avenue, who
told police he
picked up the trio
at Eight e e n t h
street and Penn
sylvania avenue
shortly before
noon yesterday
and was instruct
'd to drive to an
address in Clar
endon. Va. As
Jeaeph F. Green
lie iicBicu me uesuuauun. ne sain,
the men drew guns and ordered him
to stop.
Cap Taken by Gunmen.
While men and women passed and
children played in the street. Green
related, one of the gunmen traded
caps with him and then took the
wheel of the cab. Pearing violence,
he said, he directed them away from
streets blocked by construction work
and out the Columbia pike toward
Fairfax. They turned off into a dirt
road and stopped at the pig farm of
V. M. Lynch, where several hundred
swine were feeding. There they re
lieved him of his money, he asserted.
Binding him hand and foot with his
nectie and belt and some wire they
found nearby and gagging him with
handkerchiefs, the trio threw him over
a flve-foot fence, into a pigsty, and
covered him with straw’. Then they
left with his cab.
Curiosity brought the pigs grunting
and rooting in the straw, Green con
tinued. and he was pushed around in
the mud several times before he suc
ceeded in working himself loose. He
climbed out and hailed John Webb of
Annadale, who was driving by.
Webb took Oreen to Bailey’s Cross
roads, where he notified Constable Ben
Runyon. Both Virginia and District
police were asked to begin a search for
the robbers and the taxi. Green said
he could Identify the men.
$820 of Jewelry Stolen.
Other robbeties reported included
theft of $820 worth of Jewelry from
the home of Ezra Evans, 2122 Penn
sylvania avenue; theft of $30 from
Sidney Carturiendt, operator of a fill
ing station at 1302 L street; theft of
$10 from Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Bal
lard, 1327 Tenth street; $6.70 from
Edith M. Cooper, 1415 Chapin street;
$9 from S. J. Kruppa, 907 Tenth street
southeast, and $8 from Mary Frye, 405
M street northeast.
POLICE FIND CRIPPLE
ABANDONED ON POINT
Cries for help early yesterday
brought harbor police across Washing
ton Channel to Halns Point to the
assistance of a cripple who had been
put out of an automobile there and
couldn’t walk home.
The man identified himself as Prank
Davis, 30, of 606 P street, who had lost
both legs in an automobile accident
when he was 9 years old. Police
found Davis lying on a bench.
Davis said he had been on a party
with some strangers, who later took
him to Halns Point and put him out
of their car. The man was taken back
across the channel in the police boat
and sent home in a taxicab.
Deaths Reported.
Ann* Katherine HenkelU 87. 18th and
Douglas its. n.e.
JohnW. Field*. 88. 2217 Hall pi.
Oapiuel Nolan. 85, Little 81*ters of the
Sucenia Hepburn. 82. 318 Channinc ft.
Marr 'L. Hunt, 81. 2804 14th at.
3. McDonald Stewart. 81. Oeorce Wash*
initon Hospital.
7»25H»L at.
i Johnson Pspssotersa, 6ft, W
_ _ * 6ft. Oeorss Wsshinston
fast
ft tars' ** '
Harry Patterson. 53. Preedmen’s Hospital
Prank Matthews. 48. Oalllnser Hospital.
104 XSZn. a«.g ard
mm
b
Warming Hands
On Ceiling Pipe
Calls Out Police
Passerby Sees Elevated
Arms and Reports
Robbery.
A "hold-up” at 3801 Fourteenth
street last night cost Melvin Holmes
a lot of words. He began to explain
shortly after he “reached for the
celling,” and he’s been explaining ever
since.
Holmes first explained to police In
a radio car. then to other officers who
kept arriving, and finally to various
reporters, customers and friends.
"All right,” £ighed Holmes to a
couple of reporters this morning,
"I might as well tell you fellows,
too ” He sounded a trifle hoarse, but
resigned, as he went on:
“You see, my hands got a little
cold. Well, there's a hot-water pipe
above my head. I just lifted my hands
toward that pipe and held them there.
“Pretty soon the police began to
arrive. A fellow outside had seen
my hands and reported a hold-up.
Get it?"
Just then a customer came in.
"Say,” he cried, "how about that
hold-up. Holmes?”
Holmes sighed again and cleared his
throat: "You see, my hands got a
little cold . .
CHILD OF 2 DIES
IN BURNING HOME
Attempt to Bescue Colored Girl
Fails—Mother Out at
Time.
Dolores Manual. 2, colored, was
burned to death today in a Are which
wrecked a house at 2665 Sheridan
road southeast. The child was left in
the house by her mother. Lillian Man
uel. who had gone to a nearby grocery,
firemen were told.
Three colored men, answering the
girl's cries, smashed the front door
and entered the two-story frame
dwelling twice before the body was
found by S. L. Cocimano, 3d Battalion
aide. It was taken to the morgue.
The men who attempted to save the
child were Edward Myers, 2666 Sheri
dan road southeast; Samuel Berry and
James Mills, 909 Fourth street south
east.
Origin of the blaze was not deter
mined, but an overheated stove was
suspected. Damage was estimated ten
tatively at $3,000.
SHOOTING VICTIM
IN CRim STATE
Young Husband’s Father-in
Law Is Held After Trou
ble at Home.
A young husband who was shot in
the mouth early yesterday after he
allegedly broke into a house at 2112
Eighteenth street and demanded to
see his estranged wife, remained in
a critical condition at Emergency
Hospital today while police held his
father-in-law, William H. Heath, 63,
a carpenter.
Willis A. Finch. Jr., 28. a hardware
store clerk, of 141912 E street north
east, went to the home of his father
i in-law about 3 a.m., rang the bell J
and demanded to see his wife. MrS.
Ethel Finch. 26.
Heath told police he saw that Finch
had been drinking and refused to
admit him. The husband was said
to have Insisted and. on being refused
admission a second time, kicked in a !
; ground-floor window and entered.
I Finch allegedly climbed the steps
to the second floor, calling for his
wife. The father-in-law, meanwhile,
had retreated to his second-floor bed
room, where he obtained a -32-caliber
pistol from a dresser drawer.
Heath said he ordered Finch to
leave and the latter struck at him.
Then, the father-in-law added, he
shot once. He was arrested and held
for investigation at No. 4 precinct.
Finch and his wife, who have a
young daughter, had been separated i
for several months. Finch works for
his father. Willis A. Finch,*srH 1817
Belmont road.
Friends said that Mrs. Finch was
not at home at the time of the
shooting, but was staying with a
sister.
I -•
COUPLE FOUND DEAD
Man Declared to Have Shot Girl
and Self.
LONG BEACH, Calif., January
13 (**).—'The bodies of Ruth Elizabeth
Thompson. 16, a high school student,
and Grant Samuel Rutter, 37, were
found yesterday in a parked car
on a lonely suburban road. A police
report said Ritter shot the girl in
the head and killed himself.
“She has tom out my heart,” said
a farewell note apparently written
by Ritter, “leaving me but a shell
of my former self. She threw me
down for no reason at all.”
Young Washington
Donald O'Conner hasn’t decided for certain yet, but from the In
terested expression si he gases at bottles of building material samples, he
might to construction work upon completion of bis schooling. He
Is the atm of Mr. and Mrs. William O’Conner, SO7 North Capitol street,
and la 9 yean old. Right now though he’ll confine his building to the
regular work of the 1-B grade at the Blake 8chool, where he is shown in
deep thought. Tomorrow—Ralph Poore, son id Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Poore;
Joseph Boswell, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Boswell, and Joseph Blubaugh,
son of Mr. and Mn. J. M. Blubaugh. All attend the Wheatly School.
—Star Staff Photo.
r
* *
Two Traffic Relief Plans
Discussed at Advisory
Committee Meeting.
WIDER THOROUGHFARES
FAVORED BY MERCHANTS
Study of Congested Roadways*
Capacity Is Proposed by
Ihlder.
Whether a ban on downtown park
tag or widening of street* in the down
town area would serve better to solve
Washington’s problem of traffic con
gestion was discussed today at the
second meeting of the Advisory Com
mittee or Traffic set up about two
weeks ago by Commisloner Melvin C.
Hazen.
Merchants of the city, represented
on the committee by Arthur J. Sund
lun, suggested widening of streets and
at the same time objected to the pro
posed parking ban.
Commissioner Hawn, on the other
hand, pointed out that additional
lanes on the heavily traveled streets
could be provided to expedite the
movement of traffic and cited the
experience of Chicago in prohibiting
parking in the Loop. It was brought
out, however, that Chcago has pro
vided some municipal parking facili
ties, along with private parking areas,
to care for shoppers and others in the
business area.
street study It Urged.
John Ihlder. director of the Aliev
Dwelling Authority, suggested that
a study of the traffic capacity of the
congested streets be made, so that
the more practical plan as between
banning parking or widening the
thoroughfares could be chcwen.
Thomas Lodge, president of the
Federation of Citizens’ Associations,
and Richmond B. Keech. vice chair
man of the Public Utilities Commis
sion, made the suggestion that, since
both plans would serve the same pur
pose, prchibition of parking should
first betried, since it involves no new
expense, and then, if the experiment
failed, street widening might be un
dertaken.
Charles H. Frame, representing
trucking interests, objected strenu
ously to a ban on parking for loading
and unloading purposes during the
rush hours Merchants, he said, have
to have their goods delivered early
each day for that day's business or
suffer a loss because of the delay.
K Street Congestion Cited.
In his argument for wider streets,
Sundlun pointed out that K street
from Thirteenth to Sixteenth streets,
is one of the mo6t congested in the
city during the afternoon rush hours
and at the same time is bordered by
extremely wide sidewalks that are not
needed. Other streets, he said, have
similar unnecessarily wide sidewalks.
The meeting today was the second
held by the committee and was for
the purpose of exchanging ideas so
that a long-range plan mav be
worked out. The next meeting is ex
pected to bring definite recommenda
tions on what should be done.
The committee also is considering
the feasibility of subways for rapid
mass transportation across the city and
construction of m unci pal garages or
parking lots as a means of relieving
downtown congestion.
Van Duzer was appointed chairman
of a subcommittee to draw up definite
recommendations for traffic improve
ment
DIVORCEE TO WED
CONSUL AT HAVANA
Mrs. Maria Terese Bennert's
Marriage to W. N. Walmsley, Jr ,
Probably Will Be Tomorrow.
Mrs. Marie Terese Rennert ot
Washington, Spanish beauty who ob
tained a divorce in Reno, Nev.. a week
ago from Hugo R. Rennert, formerly
a Washingtonian and now living in
Richmond, will be married In Miami,
Fla., probably tomorrow, to Walter
N. Walmsley. jr„ an American consul
at Havana, Cuba.
The Associated Press reported that
Mrs. Rennert declined to discuss ar
rangements for the wedding on the
plea that she was ‘‘too busy.” but h
was understood the marriage would
take place in Miami tomorrow.
Mrs. Rennert and Walmsley, a for
mer resident of Philadelphia, arrived
In Miami Saturday, both registering
at the Miami Beach Hotel. Mrs. Ren
nert, prominent socially here, was
known as one of the best-dressed
women in Washington.
TWO DRIVING INSTITUTES
FOR MEN AND WOMEN
Due to the success of the institute
for women drivers held last month,
two sessions will be held this month
for men and women. The first will
be held January 20 and 22, and the
second January 27 and 20.
Traffic Director William A. Van
Duaer, Thomas E. Lodge, president
of the Federation of Citizens’ Asso
ciation, and Assistant Traffic Direc
tor M. O. Eldridge will speak. The
institutes, sponsored by the District
of Columbia Motor Club and the Key
stone Automobile Club, will meet in
the Palmer-Svans Building.
About 150 women attended the De
cember sessions, and almost all of
them passed the examination for a
driver’s permit, Van Duzer said.
Fairfax Marriage Licenses.
FAIRFAX, Va., January 13 (Spe
:lal).—Marriage licenses have been
issued in the office of the clerk of
the Circuit Court to the following:
Harry Dawson, 28. and Frances
Bertha Mahovlic, 22. both of Wash
ington, D. C., and Charles Wefci
Hartley, 28. Eastern. Pa., and Mary
Catherine Drew, 21, Washington, D. C.
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