LUCIANO RETURNED
TO NEWYORK Ml
“Most Important Racket
eer” of City Faces Four
Indictments.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. April 18.—Charles
Luciano, who earned gangland’s so
briquet of “Lucky” because he came
back alive from an underworld “ride”
In 1929, tonight found a jail cell the
terminus of another ride, accorded
him this time by the police of two
States.
Termed by Special Prosecutor
Thomas E. Dewey “the mo6t important
and dangerous racketeer in New York,
if not in the country,” the 39-year-old
Luciano is under four indictments con
taining 24 counts of compulsory pros
titution charges.
To discourage any underworld at
tempt at freeing the prisoner, a grim
faced escort of 48 detectives and po
licemen ringed Luciano this morning
when he was taken off a train from
Arkansas, where he had been arrested
and held in default of $200,000 bail
requested by New York authorities.
Dewey, after the arrival of the
prisoner, said that a $350,000 bond
would be requested at his arraignment
here. Such a bail might insure his
incarceration until the trial, tenta
tively set for May 4.
110 Witnesses Held.
Some 110 persons, most of them
women accused as prostitutes arrested
In a series of raids in Manhattan and
Brooklyn, have been held by Dewey
as material witnesses. He said he was
anxious to have Luciano's trial speeded
because of the expense already in
curred.
In police line-up Luciano unsmil
lngly told Acting Capt. Joseph Mooney
that he "didn’t know anything about"
the present charges against him.
He readily admitted, however, all
the post charges on his 20-year record
save one—a felonious assault charge
in 1923. His occupation, he volun
teered. was that of a bookmaker around
New York tracks. He had “no par
ticular” associates, he said.
Fingerprinted and photographed, he
was lodged in a police headquarters
cell pending arraignment before Su
preme Court Justice Philip J. Mc
Cook.
Returned From “Ride.”
Luciano, a person known to police
for two decades, earned for himself a
special page in police annals by his
feat m returning from the gangland
ride.
On the night of October 16. 1929,
he had an engagement to meet a
woman at Fiftieth street and Sixth
avenue under the elevated tracks.
The girl was not at the trysting
place, but three very sinister gentle
men were. Silently and swiftly they
threw Luciano to the floor of a wait
ing sedan, trussed him, taped his
mouth, handcuffed his wrists and
bound his legs and wrists with wire.
During a wild ride through mid
Manhattan they amused themselves
by pricking out fancy designs with a
knife on Luciano’s face, neck and
chest.
Neck Encircled by Wire.
By a peculiar method of trussing,
Luciano's neck was encircled with a
wire in such a position that the
•lightest move of his arms or legs
yould strangle him.
Apparently satisfied that a slow,
torturing death was the only escape
possible for Luciano from his bonds,
they tossed him out on a lonely spot.
But somehow he struggled loose and
•tumbled hysterically a half mile to a
police station.
Grim and recovered, he would say
only:
"It’s my business and I’ll take care
of it.”
The epilogue has never been re
vealed.
PITTSBURGH MAYOR
SPENDS HOUR IN CELL
McNair Arrested for Refusal to
Obey County Court Order
to Repay $100 Fine.
By the Associated Press.
PITTSBURGH, April 18— The
mayor of Pittsburgh, wise-cracking
William N. McNair, spent more than
an hour behind the bars of a jail cell
yesterday on a charge of embezzlement
based on an ancient State law.
The arrest was the mo6t exciting
of the long series of escapades that
have kept him in the public eye since
his election in 1933.
He went to jail because he refused
to obey an order by the County Court
to sign a warrant to repay a $100 fine
collected by a magistrate from a man
accused of writing “numbers” slips in
a lottery.
A constable made the arrest at the
executive offices in City Hall. Mc
Nair, scoring a suggestion that he give
bond, willingly went to jail, where he
laughed and joked with the prisoners,
ate an apple and smoked a stogie,
k Representative Theodore L. Moritz.
r Democrat, of Pennsylvania, formerly
the mayor's secretary, obtained a pe
tition for a writ of habeas corpus
W'hich the mayor signed. It was
granted by Judge Thomas Marshall.
TWO BODIES IDENTIFIED
.YEAR AFTER DISCOVERY
Xentucklan Declares Clothing on
One Belonged to Father
Missing Two Years.
By tee Associated Press.
GREENUP. Ky., April 18.—The
Identity of two bodies, foilnd near here
a year ago, was believed established
today when Wesley Barnett. 25, of
Arquillite. Ky., told authorities cloth
ing found on one of the bodies be
longed to his father, John Barnett.
The young man said his father left
home about two years ago, with Mrs.
Nettie Elkins and that he had $200.
He said the other body might be
that of a son of Mrs. Elkins.
Fox hunters found the bodies, which
were tentatively identified as a man
named Thompson and his son. buried
under leaves. Silas Steagall of Soldier,
Ky„ was indicted for their murder, but
was freed when the Thompsons were
Sound alive.
Scientist Drowns in Lake.
BAR HARBOR, Me., April 18 (/P).—
Dr. Charles V. Green, 34, of the stall
of Jackson Memorial Laboratory,
cancer research institution, drowned
today in Eagle Lake. H? small boat
overturned while he w.*» fishing less
than 20 feet from shore.
I
Trivial Things
That Make
a World
Thousands of Antelopes
Freeze to Death
in Gobi Desert.
By the Associated Press.
KWEIHUA. Inner Mongolia.—
Many thousands of antelopes
have starved or frozen to
death on the Gobi Desert dur
i ing the Winter. The biggest snow
1 storm in many years prevented graz
j ing. In many cases entire herds were
marooned by snowdrifts to await star
| vaticin.
American Movies Popular in China.
NANKING.—The Chinese like Amer
j ican movies best. Eight million dol*
; lars (American) was spent by Chinese
! last year in attendance at China's 200
j theaters, and of all the pictures shown
| only 14 per cent were Chinese pro
ductions. Most of the others were
j from Hollywood.
Gypsies to Decide ‘•Government.’*
| ROWNO, Poland.—Gypsies of
the world are being asked to decide
what form of "rule” they wish to
adopt. A general meeting of the
tribes is to be held here at a dale
not yet determined.
There are two candidates for
leadership. "Baron” Michael
Kwiek insists upon becoming su
preme lord, with full authority
over all world tribes. "Baron” Jo
seph Kwiek, of the same name, but
different ideas, would uphold the
present democratic order of things.
Girl Violinist Makes Debut.
BERLIN.—A 17-year-old California
J girl, Leona Flood, has made an im
I pressive debut here as a violinist.
The tall, blond virtuoso was re
peatedly encored after playing a pro
I gram that included difficult works of
Paganini. Sarasate and Albeniz.
Locusts Denude China Farm Land.
NANKING—The ancient plague of
locusts, which revisited parts of China
last year, denuded large stretches of
larm land in a dozen Provinces and
did damage estimated now at about
$15,000,000.
Three times durmg the year hordes
of the insects swarmed over the rich
and fertile coastal Provinces of Ki
angsi and Chekiang, devouring all
green growing things.
—
Nazis Returning to Farms.
j BERLIN.—The Nazi farm leaders
i are planning to put 1,000.000 more
j city dwellers on the soil before 1941.
I They hope that thus 2,000,000 hand
j workers, masons, day laborers and in
| dustrial workers will get additional
: employment building the new homes.
They anticipate in the next 20 years
the foundation of 4,000,000 to 5,000,
000 farm homes,
“Chicken-Feather God” Worshiped.
CHUNGKING, West China.—
Rumors of remarkable cures by a
“chicken-feather god" have at
tracted thousands of people to a
little shrine in a cliff near here.
The crippled and the diseased
come from great distances to wor
ship at the shrine. Worshippers
believe results can be obtained only
by burning incense and cutting the
throat of a chicken. The blood is
made to spurt over the rocky face
of the cliff and then a few feathers
are pulled and stuck with the blood
onto the face of the cliff.
So many birds have been sacri
ficed that the narrow path along
the cliff is slippery with gore, and
the rock is thickly feathered over
an area of many square yards.
—
Government Controls Slave Traffic.
CHUNGKING. West China.—The
traffic in slave girls has been brought
under government control here as a
first step toward eradicating the prac
tice. New regulations require all such
girls to register, with a view to com
pelling their masters to give them
some reward for their services or else
to shorten their terms of bondage.
Tens of thousands of young girls
are sold annually by poor families to
wealthy ones, usually to become
drudges.
Social workers point out that if girl
I slavery is to be abolished, it must be
done gradually, as a sudden prohibi
j tion might lead to a higher rate of
infanticide among families unable to
support their children.
Million Expected at Fair.
TEL AVIV, Palestine (Palcor Agen
cy).—The Levant fair, opening here
April 30, is expecting more than a
million visitors. More nations are
taking part this year than last and
the United State is being represented
by several leading firms.
Japanese Goods Found Everywhere.
TOKIO. — When Ambassador
Matsuzo Nagai, Japanese delegate
to the recent London Naval Con
ference, returned home from Eu
rope, his children were disappointed
that he brought them only the
usual Japanese gifts.
The Ambassador explained:
"When I visited the Eiffel Tower
in Paris and started to buy small
models of the tower, I found they
were made in Osaka. I had the
same experience when / tried to
buy toy elephants in India. It was
the same wherever I traveled.
"I decided it would be cheaper
and simpler to wait until I got
home."
Japanese Birth Rate Increases.
TOKIO.—Japan's natural increase
in population, the margin of births
over deaths, was 760,239 for the first
nine month of 1939, the government
Statistics Bureau has announced. If
this rate was maintained for the last
quarter of the year, it produced a
population gain or more than 1,000,
000 for the year. Only in one previous
year. 1932, has the population risen
by more than a million.
Portugal Business Gains.
Portugal expects 1936 to be one of
its best business years.
RATE FIGHT LOST,
Delay in Fare Cuts Denied.
Eastman Breaks
Deadlock.
BACKGROUND
171 an effort to bolster dwindling
rail revenues, the Interstate Com
merce Commission ordered "bar
gain counter" passenger rates on
the Eastern lines on the same basis
as Western and Southern carriers
have operated in recent years with
/air success, to meet the competi
tion o/ busses, and to a certain
extent, private vehicles. Pennsyl
vania, New Haven and New York
Central vigorously dissented from
the original order and sought a
modification.
*y in* Associated Pr*u.
By a 6-to-5 vote, the Interstate
Commerce Commission yesterday
struck down a proposal by Eastern
railroads for an 18-month delay In
establishing sharply reduced passen
ger fares, leaving the carriers the sole
recourse of challenging Its action In
1 tiie courts.
With the commission divided. 5 to
5. Transportation Co-ordinator Joseph
B. Eastman, the eleventh member, but
who acts only when there is a tie.
broke the deadlock by voting against
any delay in the June 2 effective date
of a recent I. C. C. order fixing a
basic rate of 2 cents a mile In day
coaches.
The previous rate was 3.6 cents and
! the carriers had asked the delay In
order to establish their own "experi
mental'' rate of 2.5 cents. They agreed,
however, to accept a 3-cent Pullman
rate fixed by the commission. The
former Pullman rate was 3.6 cents
! plus a surcharge, which averaged 0.4
! of a cent.
The controversy in which the com
mission acted yesterday was a year
old.
The carriers' plea for a postpone
ment—filed by all major Eastern
roads except the Baltimore Si Ohio
hinted that if the commission acted
adversely, they would carry their fight
to the courts. Rail officials here said
representatives of the roads soon
would decide this question.
Eastern Roads Affected.
Eastern roads are primarily affected
by the commission's order because low
passenger fares already are In effect In
the West and South. These would not
be changed if as low as those desig
nated.
The only written opinion yesterday
was by Eastman, long an advocate
of reduced fares as a method of at
tracting increased passenger traffic.
Although a member of the commis
sion, Eastman ordinarily does not vote
because of his duties as co-ordinator.
In a statement, he called attention
' to the roads' plea that they should
be permitted to experiment with their
own 2.5-cent fares in order to measure
the effect of a reduction on their reve
, nues.
Eastman said test of lesser -educ
i tions than those ordered by the com
mission "would not be at all con
| elusive as to the effect of those which
were ordered," and added'
"If experimentation is desired con
clusive results can be obtained only by
putting to the test the fares which
the commission has prescribed, and
such results should be available in a
period of time shorter than the 18
months proposed by the petitioners.”
Railroad* Argument.
The railroads also argued that flood
conditions had caused serious losses
| and that the commission should not
| take any action which might bring
j additional losses.
•'However." Eastmat. wrote, "the
; conclusion of the commission on the
evidence was that the reduction of
passenger fares in accordance with its
order would benefit rather than in
jure the carriers."
The Eastern roads estimated the -e
ductions would cost them millions of
dollars annually, arguing that because
their passenger traffic was largely
commuter travel no major increase in
volume could be expected.
The commission divided, five to four,
i on its original order, but Its vote yes
terday brought a slightly different
line-up.
Originally voting for the reductions.
Commissioner Carroll Miller supported
the move for a postponement. His
vote was offset, however, by Commis
sioner Huhg M. Tate, who did not
vote on the earlier order.
Commissioners Claude Porter, Clyde
B. Aitchison, Marion M. Caskie and
Walter M. W. Splawn stood by the
June 2 effective date. Besides Miller,
Commissioners Balthasar H. Meyer.
Prank McManamy, Charles D. Mahaf
fie and William E. Lee voted for the
postponement.
i_
1 FORMER BOXER HELD
IN WOMAN’S DEATH
Suspect Denies Murder—Body of
Victim Found, Partly Clad,
in Residential Section.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, April 18—John
Thomasitz, former boxer, was arrested
tonight on a charge of homicide grow
ing out of the slaying of 39-year-old
Mildred McCabe, whose partly clad
body was found today In a residential
section of Queens County.
Detective Joseph Stanworth, who
booked Thomasitz, also known as
Thomas, said his prisoner admitted he
took Miss McCabe and the slain wom
an’s sister, Mrs. Anna Scanlon, for a
ride in his automobile after meeting
them last night in a restaurant.
Police said Thomasitz told them he
left Mrs. Scanlon at her home before
taking Miss McCabe to his house,
where a quarrel ensued. Thomasitz
admitted slapping her.
She was in a fainting condition
when he let her out of his car later
at the spot where she was found—
but she was not dead, police quoted the
prisoner as saying. Detectives asserted
Miss McCabe had been assaulted and
beaten to death.
THURSTON INTERRED
Body of Magician Laid to B.est
Amid Boyhood Scenes.
COLUMBUS. Ohio, April 18 (VP,.—
The body of Howard Thurston, who
baffled the world with feats of magic,
was laid to rest today amid scenes
of his boyhood.
Hundreds of Columbus friends of
the man who learned as a bellhop
here a halt century ago tricks that
"mystified and delighted children from
4 to 94” paid him final tribute.
Thurston died at 68 in Miami Beach,
Fla., Monds#.
A
.—."' ' , ■ —
Glimpses of President’s Aide
A camera study of Col. Louis McHenry Howe, aide and confidant of President Roosevelt,
who died last night.. Right, above: The latest photo, taken with the President December 8, 1934,
when both attended the Gridiron Club dinner at the Willard. At left: Testifying before a con
gressional committee in 1933. Below: With the President and Mrs. John Boettiger, the former
Anna Roosevelt, as the President returned from his ocean vacation trip August 19, 1934.
—Underwood Photos.
■ -- a-—
Howe
(Continued Prom First Page !
January 14, 1871, but it was a life
time spent in Intimate observation of
! politics in New York State that fitted
| him for the role he was to play. He
j grew' up in Saratoga, where New York
| politicians were wont to rally around
j the allurements of that sport resort
in and out of season. His father ran
a paper there and the son drifted nat
urally into the business and ultimate
ly undertook the father's additional
j function of corresponding for great
| New York dailies.
j The substance of that correspond
I ence was politics. From the outset of
| his journalistic efforts young Howe
j lived and breathed politics. There was
; no intricacy of up and downstate
New York politics unfamiliar to him;
| no trick of the game he had not soon
heard of. He displayed so great a
flair for politics that more than 30
years ago he was picked by the old
New York Herald for Albany cor
respondent, a job that was all poli
tics.
As a Democrat, and an upstate New
York Democrat at that. Howe watched
party maneuvering with a frosty eye
on Tammany and all its ways. He
i also saw in the history of the New
York governorship a route to the
White House pioneered by both Re
publicans and Democrats; and spent
a decade in admiring observation of
the career of Theodore Roosevelt.
i’oaeibilities Seen.
When a young, eager, handsome
chap from Dutchess County bearing
that charmed name, yet a Democrat,
made his way into the State Senate,
his coming was a matter of very spe
cial interest to Howe. He saw possi
bilities in it that young Franklin
Roosevelt himself then might well
have laughed at. Day by day, Howe, 10
years older than the young State Sen
ator, watched his political evolution,
noted the special charm he seemed to
exercise over many of his legislative
colleagues, observed his course in
legislative crisis and adjudged him
able and courageous. An intimacy
sprang up that was to ripen in time
into such a friendship as rarely has
figured in American political history.
Then came the first Roosevelt set
back. On the eve of his re-election
campaign, the young Senator was
stricken with typhoid fever. His orig
inal election as a Democrat from an
Inherently Republican region had
been something of an accident. With
the candidate himself out ot the pic
ture, his re-election seemed impossible.
But there was Louis Howe to call
on. He responded and in the battle
that followed demonstrated his quali
ties by re-electing young Roosevelt,
campaigning for him by proxy, deter
mining himself almost every strategic
move, even fashioning out of his own
iiead issues to which he pledged his
man.
From then on. the political part
nership of Roosevelt and Howe was
a fixed matter, never to be inter
rupted while both lived. And it was
more than a partnership, it was a
friendship of such depth and strength
that nothing short of death could
have severed it. To that friendship
and to the absolute conviction in his
own mind that one day Franklin
Roosevelt would be President. Howe
sacrificed every personal consideration.
As they swung along together, step
by step, up and down, he came to
live more as a member of the Frank
lin Roosevelt family than of his own,
although he was himself a grand
father before that final step to the
White House was taken.
When Franklin Roosevelt was called
in the Wilson administration to carry
on the Roosevelt tradition in the As
sistant Secretaryship at the Navy De
partment, established by his Repub
lican kinsman. Howe came with him,
of course. It was Howe who ran de
tails of that office, Howe who widened
his political horizon to span the Na
tion instead of the State, always with
an ultimate view of making another
Roosevelt President.
Untiring in Efforts.
Only a few old timers at the Navy
Department recall Howe as of those
days. He was then the same spare,
retiring man he always remained. He
had no liking for the center of the
stage; yet he worked for the inter
ests of “the boss” untiringly back
stage. The intricacies of Government
business were soon clear to him.
His knack of reading men aided
Assistant Secretary Roosevelt vastly
in meeting difficult naval problems
that devolved upon his office. Howe
was his ambassador in manv a
strange bit of maneuvering on Navy
matters, whether to wheedle a way
around budgetary officers or to get
at the insides of naval personnel
clashes. Yet no one except the
newspaper men covering the Navy
Department heard or saw much of
Howe He dealt with them as a fel
low craftsman and his dealings did
no harm to the reputation and grow
ing prestige of Franklin Roosevelt.
Even back in those days Howe had
learned that what would be most
helpful to “the boss” would be a good
“no" man. Mr. Roosevelt was young
and ardent. He had a tendency to
surge into action in support of a
.. .. f
project too precipitately, Howe thought.
So even when he approved the plan
Howe often opposed it in inner coun
cils in order to bring out every weak
ness ia advance. He kept up that
business to the end. It became
almost a game between them. As
presidential secretary, Howe often
described himself as the “no” man
of the New Deal.
And he was "no” man on one very
big point in the Roosevelt career.
He did not see prospects of advance
ment toward the White House in
Mr. Roosevelt’s acceptance of his
partv's vice presidential nomination
in 1920. with certain defeat for the
ticket ahead. Yet with the decision
made, planning of the campaign,
picking up campaign aides was Howe's
job. How well satisfied Roosevelt
was with that planning and picking
is shown by the fact that two of the
men then picked to help that cam
paign. Marvin MacIntyre and Stephen
T. Earlv. became Howe's associates
in the White House secretaryship in
1933 when Mr. Roosevelt became
President.
Rarely Left White House.
In the wake of that campaign came
the stroke that seemed to have
wrecked finally Franklin Roosevelt’s
political career. From the hour word
of that disaster reached him, Louis
Howe abandoned his own affairs, his
own home almost to stand at his
friend's side. He became an inmate
of the Roosevelt home, commuting as
chance offered to his own home. That
continued through the subsequent
Roosevelt governorships and after
Mr. Roosevelt’s inauguration as Presi
dent. Howe was more th^n secre
tary to the President. He was a resi
dent secretary, living in the White
House and rarely leaving it.
While Roosevelt was Governor
Howe held no title. He was carrying
forward the work of the State Crime
Commission Mr. Roosevelt had taken
over before his State election. He
lived in the Roosevelt home in New
York City and had his own room in
the executive mansion in Albany.
But wherever he was. whether mas
ter-minding with Jim Farley at
State Central Committee headquar
ters or bustling back and forth be
tween New York and Albany, he was
working always on the presidential
possibilities the situation held for
"the boss."
Howe never figured at a national
convention until that in Chicago
which nominated Roosevelt. Prior to
that when, after the defeat of 1928,
a special session of the Democratic
National Committee was called in
Washington to map party plans.
Howe came to Washington to guide
the action of Roosevelt supporters. It
was a touch-and-go moment with
his hopes for a 1932 nomination. Yet
Howe never appeared in the Na
tional Committee hotel center. He
had a modest room in a distant hotel,
where he kept a wire open to Albany.
He passed along word on committee
strategy to such Roosevelt stalwarts
in the committee gathering as Cordell
Hull or Henry Morgenthau. sr. And
a notable Roosevelt victory, paving
the way for his nomination, came out
of all that, although few recognized
it ot the time.
Washington Contacts.
Before the committee broke up,
Howe had vanished, gone back to
New York. Not even the press knew
he had been in Washington or why.
He similarly engineered as time rolled
on toward the Chicago convention
unheralded contacts in Washington
between party groups that had a lot
to do with what happened in Chicago.
At that convention Howe moved In,
but in hiding. Only the initiated
knew where his room was; yet it was
the nerve center of the Roosevelt
campaign. Perhaps the only per
sonal appearance Louis Howe ever
made publicly in a political setting
was when he stood on the platform
with Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt, Just off
a plane from New York, to share ic
the convention's greeting to 1U nontf
nee.
Howe was not well then. All that
♦
Lewis to Talk in Forum
ILLINOIS SENATOR TO DISCUSS FOREIGN RELATIONS.
INTERNATIONAL relations will be
the subject of an address deliv
ered by Senator James Hamilton
Lewis of Illinois in the National
Radio Forum tomorrow at 10:30 p.m.
The National Radio FOrum is ar
ranged by The Washington Star and
broadcast over the network of the
National Broadcasting Co.
Senator Lewis, who has just been
renominated by the Democratic party
in Illinois, Is a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
The Illinois Senator has been a
close student of foreign affairs for
many years. He will deal with the
problem of International relations,
particularly from the American point
of view.
The title Senator Lewis has selected
for his address is “Where Stands
America at This Time When Nations
of Asia and Europe Threaten a New
World War?”
SENATOR LEWIS.
WENDEL SUSPECT
HELD, 2 SOUGHT
Martin Schiossman Identi
fied in Lindbergh Kidnap
“Confession.”
BACKGROUND—
Arretted and charged with the
Lindbergh baby kidnapping on the
strength of a "confession” during
the last days of the fight of Bruno
Hauptmann against execution,
Paul H. Wendel 0/ New Jersey said
he had been kidnapped and tor
tured into signing the “confession.”
He said he was held 10 days in a
Brooklyn house,
Bv tfte Associated Press.
NEW YORK, April 18—Brooklyn
police late today arrested Martin ’
Schlossman on a charge of abducting
Paul H. Wendel, former New Jersey
attorney, and torturing him into a
"confession” of the Lindbergh kid
naping.
The arrest was made after Wendel
identified Schlossman as one of the
four men who held him captive in a
Brooklyn house and forced him to sign
the kidnaping “confession.”
Police are seeking Murray Bleefeld
and Harry Weiss, who, Wendel said,
were the two men who abducted him !
from in front of a Manhattan hotel
February 14 and transported him to
Brooklyn.
After the arrest of Schlossman, a
spokesman for District Attorney Wil
liam F. X. Geoghan said:
"We expect to break this ease wide
open before many hours have passed,
and there may be far-reaching rami
fications.”
House is laeniineo.
Developments today included identi
fication by Wendel of the house in
which he was held and the questioning
of three other persons besides
Schlossman.
Wendel pointed out the house of
Harry Bleefeld at 3041 Voorhies avenue
after he had threaded through numer
ous streets with representatives of the
district attorney, retracing the route
he said he had followed in the com
pany of the men who abducted him.
After an examination of the resi
dence, he told the district attorney’s
aides he recognized a number of
articles in the house.
The three questioned by police were
Harry Bleefeld. Mrs. Schlossman and
Sidney Bleefeld. Harry Bleefeld is
the father of Murray and Sidney Blee- j
feld and Mrs. Schlossman.
Until today the four men who held
Wendel had been known to him only
as ”Jack," "Tony.” "Maier” and "Spid- :
delio.” He told District Attorney
Geoghan that Schlossman was "Jack.” I
Geoghan said Murray Bleefeld some- 1
times went by the alias of William
Maier and that Weiss occasionally as
sumed the name of Harry Spiddelio.
He described Weiss as a former taxicab
driver.
Car Passe* Red Light.
Schlossman owned a 1928 sedan, '
which was ticketed for passing a red
light on the evening of February 24.
Police said they believed the car was
returning from Mount Holly. N. J.,
after having delivered Wendel to the
home of Ellis Parker, Burlington
County detective.
When Schlossman was questioned j
recently he insisted that he had loaned
his car to his brother-in-law, Murray
Bleefeld, on that evening.
Wendel was brought to New York
last night after New Jersey Supreme
Court Justice Thomas W. Trenchard
dismissed a murder charge against
him.
Postal Savings Increase.
Depositors in postal savings banks
of Japan increased by 353,759 in a re
cent month.
he did prior to that convention, after
it in the gruelling campaign which
to him meant endless hours at the
New York national headquarters and
on the phone raking the whole Na
tion by long distance, was done
against doctors' warning. Howe knew
he was risking his life. The knowl
edge did not cause him to abate an
instant of his labor.
After inauguration, Howe bobbed
up as a figure in the news for a time.
He planned the new White House
organization with the aid of Mac
Intyre and Early, but he reserved
for himself a rather indistinct back
ground post despite his title as secre
tary to the President. The other two
dealt with callers and the press.
Howe at first conferred regularly with
them, but as his health failed was
compelled to drop even that.
Then, early last year, his condition
became acute and death was expected
hourly for some time. He hung on
grimly, however, and had been in
Naval Hospital more than a year.
President Roosevelt's first sharp
move after the banking crisis had
been dealt with was creation of the
Civilian Conservation Corps. When
Congress authorized that project, the
President turned it over to Howe to
get it going. It was Howe who:
picked the men to do the actual work.
Appears Before Committee.
And in connection with equipment
of the forestry cadets arose a Senate
investigation of the details of the
purchasing of toilet kits. Before it
all simmered away into a finding that
no wrong-doing was involved. Howe
appeared in person before the com
mittee to testify. It was the only
public appearance he made as Presi
dent’s secretary, although for a time
he did a radio comment every week
and he wrote a number of magazine
articles.
a very ticKlish business also turned
over to Howe by the President early
in the administration was the sec
ond bonus march on Washington. In
view of what had happened during
the Hoover administration, it was a
difficult problem. Howe handled it
by getting the marchers down to a
nearby ungarrisoned Army post, feed
ing them and then enlarging the C.
C. C. to take in as many as desired.
The second bonus march dwindled
into a mere passing Incident over
night under his management.
Whatever the President himself or
any other element of his administra
tion might do or say about thrusting
aside thoughts of the 1936 campaign
in the first two years of the admin
istration. that was never out of Louis
Howe's mind. He was essentiaUy po
litical secretary to the President in
that respect. He spent his time look
ing ahead, and often employing his
“no” man role to iron out complica
tions as to 1936 he thought some par
ticular current New Deal venture
might involve. As his health pro
gressively failed, however, and he
never threw off the physical effects
of the campaign strain, his orbit of
activity became narrower and nar
rower. He rarely left his White
House room, saw few callers and
even limited his telephone activities
His share of the normal routine of
fice activities had been passed over
to his secretariat colleagues almost
entirely months before the end.
•
CITIZENS SUPPORT .
0. C. VOTEPARLEY
Appropriation for Notices of
Suffrage Session Made
by Federation.
Members of the Federation of Citi
zens' Associations last night supported
plans of its National Representation
Committee for calling of a conference
here of representatives of State so
cieties and other groups to push the
cause of District representation In
Congress at points throughout the
country.
The conference was authorized and
an appropriation was voted on motion
by Mrs. Marie F. Maddox, who out
lined plans for a campaign in the
States in the interest of the national
representation cause.
Chairman Norton of the House Dis
trict Committee will gladly seek In
clusion of a national representattion
plank in the Democratic platform if
she is urged to make the fight by rep
resentative District residents, the fed
eration was informed by Mrs. Harvey
W. Wiley of the Federation of Wom
en's Clubs.
Delay Is Questioned.
Support for the campaign was voted
after William McK. Clayton. James G
Yaden and other supporters of nation
al rcpresentattion had debated ad
visability of delaying forceful action on
local suffrage proposals until the time
when Congress will act on the na
tional representation plan. This is
provided in a joint resolution prcpc?
lng an amendment to the Constitution
allowing the District representation in
both houses of Congress and a vote in
national elections.
Urging a more aggressive spirit for
District sufTra§e, Clayton said the
District government was becoming
merely a "bureau of the Federal Gov
ernment." Citizens of other cities. h>
said, would "rise up and kick such
a system out very promptly."
The federation again urged Con
gress to pass the bill drafted by for
mer Corporation Counsel E. Barrett
Prettyman, and sponsored by the Com
missioners. urging a new small-loan
act. which would place intere
charges, fees and services at not to
exceed 2 per cent per month on un
paid balances.
This action was taken on a motion
by Joseph L. Gammell. It was a sub
stitute for a report by Paul E Jamie
son and George E. Sullivan, asking
that the federation withdraw approval
of the bill, voted a year ago. and go
on record for maintenance of a limr
of 1 per cent per month, as provided
in the present bill.
Film Bill Favored.
Passage of the Pectingill-N'eely bill
to ban present practices of "blind sell
ing and block booking” of motion pic
ture films was urged on motion by
Mrs. George Corbin.
The body rejected a report, offered
by Mrs. Elizabeth T. Sullivan, oppos
ing the legislation on the ground,
there was "grave danger of political
censorship" and suggesting the pro
posed act would be found unconsti
tutional because it set up "infringe
ment of contract."
Opposition to a bill which would
remove successful smallpox vaccina
tion as a requirement for entrance to
public schools was recorded on mo
tion by Dr. Charles B. Campbell.
Starting of development of the
proposed stadium at the foot of East
Capitol street was requested In an
other resolution, proposed by Miss
Elaine Eppley.
HORNER DENIES PLAN
TO END KELLY FEUD
Declares. However. Unity Needed
to Head Off G. 0. P. Nominee
for Governor.
Bv the Associated Press.
FRENCH LICK. Ind.. April 18
Gov. Henry Homer of Illinois, here
for a week end of relaxation after the
campaign which brought him the
Democratic nomination for re-elec
tion, insisted today he had no definite
plans for patching up his differences
with Mayor Edward J. Kelly of Chi
cago.
The Governor added, however, that
"a united Democratic front is abso
lutely necessary to head off a Repub
lican opponent in the November
gubernatorial race."
He said he had no plans for reor
ganization of the Illinois State Dem
ocratic Committee and had no ideas
concerning the keynoter for the
party's State convention.
“I have absolutely no idea at the
present time who will be chosen for
the new national committeeman and
I do not know who will be the new
State chairman," he said.
PUBLISHER DIES AT 64
MINNEAPOLIS. April 18 M.
Near. 64, publisher of the Saturday
Press, known for his fight against
the Minnesota "gas law.” later ruled
unconstitutional, died today after a
year's illness.
Born in Fort Atkinson. Iowa, he
came to Minneapolis about 20 years
ago.
TRAFFIC
CONVICTIONS
SECOND OFFENSE SPEEDING.
Joseph Barbagallo, 1821 North
Capitol street, $15.
FIRST OFFENSE SPEEDING.
Eara B. Lilly, 1525 Forty-fourth
street, $5.
John R. Winter, 3*54 Newark
street, $5. ,
Margaret N. Hooper, 4425 Garfield
street, $5.
Howard W. Smith, Navy Yard, $5.
Thomas M. Purdy, 5665 Chevy
Chase parkway, $5.
Gene Miller, 1435 8 street south
east, $5.
Hershel A. Sheets, Maryland. $10.
Chauncey McKay, 537 Twenty
third place northeast. $5.
Lurty G. Lloyd, 312 Seventeenth
street northeast, $10.
Bernard Wolowitz, 1361 Newton
street, $5.
Pierre Portler, 1402 Emerson street,
$10.
Immanuel Neumark 1630 Seven
teenth street. $10.
Clarence J. West, jr., 1225 Critten
den street, $5.
George G. Butler, 1474 Morris road
southeast, $5.
Ambrose Hamilton. Maryland. $5.
Richard S. Schnltz, 128 U street
northeast, $10.
Samuel James. 72 H street. $10.
Solomon Nlssensem, New York. $3.
-