Evening star. [volume], June 30, 1940, Page A-13, Image 13

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Owner Renews Fight
To Block Demolition
Of Alley Dwelling
Miss Minnie Keyes
Questions Authority
For Slum Clearance
By NELSON M. SHEPARD.
For the second time in five years
Miss Minnie Keyes, 714 Seventh
street S.W., is engaged in a contro
versy with the Government in an
attempt to block Washington's slum
clearance program.
Remembered as the property
owner who defeated Secretary
Ickes and the P. W. A. Housing
Division in a 1935 legal action,
Miss Keyes now is seeking a court
order to restrain the Alley Dwelling
Authority from completing the
demolition of one of her properties,
407 L street S.E. The two-story
brick house is on a site near the
Navy Yard chosen for a slum clear
ance and public housing project for
low-income colored families.
The Alley Dwelling Authority has
directed the wrecking company
to halt its demolition pending
the outcome of her application
for a restraining order. Wrecking of
other properties on the site,' it was
said, will proceed.
Recently, through the law firm of
Gardiner, Earnest <fc Gardiner, she
protested condemnation proceedings
in the District Court affecting the
Navy Yard project site. She at
tacked. also, the validity of the Alley
Dwelling Authority Act. The court,
however, signed an order requiring
her to surrender title to the L street
house and, in effect, ruled in favor
of the validity of the A, D. A. Act.
Partly Dismantled.
But before her attorneys had time
to appeal from the ruling, she
claimed the local housing agency
had begun tearing down her proper
ty. An appeal from the court ruling
was filed Thursday with the United
States Court of Appeals and in con
nection with it the law firm sought
a restraining order to keep the
house from being demolished.
The L street house was one of 51
parcels included in a "declaration of
taking" filed by the Alley Dwelling
Authority. The A. D. A. deposited
*1.800 with the court to cover in ad
vance the award of a condemnation
jury in the case of Miss Keyes'
property. She says it is worth $3,000.
Miss Keyes claimed in her answer
filed in connection with the con
demnation proceedings that she had
never been solicited for the sale of
her property. The A. D. A., which
has been buying up many parcels in
the area for nearly a year, said it
had mailed an offer to her some time
ago.
Rented for S25 Monthly.
Anyway, Miss Keyes declared, she
made a recent visit to L street and
found her property intact. “The
next day I went there again and
wreckers were at work next door,”
she said. “I warned them not to
touch my property but they began
tearing it down anyway.”
Miss Keyes complained that the
tenant family had been told to va
cate and she helped them to locate
elsewhere. She was obtaining a
rental of $25 monthly.
Miss Keyes gained public atten
tion in 1935 when she successfully
blocked the P. W. A. Housing Divi
sion from going into congested slum
areas and condemning property for
public housing.
Most of the 60 or more pieces of
property she now owns she inherited
from an old friend, Leonard A.
Hamilton, in 1933.
Mr. Hamilton, a railroad teleg
rapher. engaged a room at the Keyes
home when he came here at the turn
of the century. He never left. Before
he died he scribbled a notation on a
cardboard box bequeathing his
estate to Miss Keyes.
Earlier Petition Upheld.
Tli is testament subsequently was
Upheld by the court and Miss Keyes
since then has been managing her
properties from her “office-home’'
on Seventh street.
When the P. W. A. sought to
build a $3,000,000 housing project
In Southwest Washington near the
War College, Miss Keyes fought
back to save the 13 houses she
owned in that area.
Upholding her petition, the then
District Supreme Court threw out
the condemnation proceedings which
were brought by the Housing Divi
sion under authority of the old N. I.
R. A. It held Congress did not have
in mind legislating for the District
of Columbia and ruled that the po
lice power is a power to regulate and
control and is not a power to take
private property except for general
public use. Later decisions in other
Federal jurisdictions upheld the
right of the P. W. A. to acquire
Slum property, but it made no further
attempt to do so in Washington,
The Navy Yard project which the
Alley Dwelling Authority is develop
ing is comprised of most of six
squares in Southeast between Third
and Fifth streets and extending
from I midway to L and M ■streets.
Under its amended act, Congress
gave the A. D. A. specific authority
to acquire slum sites for low-rent
housing.
U. S. Air Line Sells 10
Planes to British
Bv tvii* Associated Press.
MEMPHIS, Term.. June 29—The
Commercial Appeal said tonight it
had learned that Chicago and
Southern. New Orleans-to-Chicago !
air line, had sold several 10-passen- !
per Lockheed transport planes to
Great Britain.
The line recently changed from ;
the Lockheeds to larger planes, “but
kept the planes, six or seven in all,1
anticipating their possible use on
new routes for which application
has been made,” the paper said.
“The planes are three years old
and cost $50,000 each. They were
sold at a profit on the original
price, it was said. Canadian pilots
are flying the ships to Canada, where
It is thought they will be used for
training purposes. It is possible,
however, to convert them Into
bombers.”
George G. Buckley Dies;
Insurance Executive
Br thr Associated Press.
SPRINGFIELD. Mass . June 29 —
George Grant Bulkley. 69. president
of the Springfield Fire and Marine
Insurance Co., and its affiliated
companies for the last 16 years, j
died tonight at his home.
Under his administration, assets
of the company grew from nearly
125,000.000 to more than $35,000,000.
He had been associated with the
company since 1911. He was a na
tive of Rocky Hill, Conn.
AGAIN FIGHTS SLUM CLEARANCE—Miss Minnie Keyes of
714 Seventh street S.W. standing in the doorway of one of her
houses, 407 L street S.E., which has been partly demolished in
the slum clearance program. Seeking to prevent the demoli
tion, Miss Keyes is engaged in her second controversy with trie
Government. —Star Staff Photo.
Dynamite Pete the Hermit Wins
Bride With Stirring Letter
By the Associated Press. i
OMAHA, Nebr., June 29.—Dyna- ;
mite Pete Everett—he's what he calls •
a sport hermit—can stand on his 1
head and play the fiddle, and he s j
fair on his way to get the Ijride he
wants.
The 80-year-old recluse came to
■town, seeking a wife to share the
dug-out he calls home on Pawnee
Creek near South Bend.
Myrtle Mason. 41, whose 80-year
old husband died last year, read of j
Pete's longings in a newspaper, and
got a friend to write him a letter.
• She isn't very good with words, she
says.)
Pete answered promptly. Myrtle
sent him another letter and a pic
ture, saying it s all O. K. She told
Pete she has red curly hair and
blue eyes.
And Pete, stirred by the realiza
Wayne Morris Parted
From His Society Wife
By the Associated Pres*.
HOLLYWOOD. June 29— Wayne
Morris, young motion picture actor,
said today that he and his society
girl wife. Leonora <Bubblest Schi
nasi, had separated.
Morris moved into a Hollywood
apartment last night.
“I feel very badly about the whole
thing.” he said. “Right now I can't'
say any more.”
Morris, 25. and the 19-year-old
daughter of the late Leon Schinasi.
wealthy New York tobacco importer,
were married January 9. 1939. They
have a son, Bert Wayne Morris, 3d,
born last December 18.
Hollywood had heard for months
that all was not well in the $100,000
Brentwood home which the bride's
mother gave them as a wedding gift.
Mrs. Morris went East several weeks
ago. but returned early this morn
ing.
As she left for the East Morris
said:
“Absolutely nothing to talk about
our separation. It's all the silly
chatter of some of the Hollywood
columnists trying to find something
to write about.”
To which his wife added:
“I had a grand time in New York,
but there's no place like home.”
tion of his ambition, wrote in his
three-page letter:
“Will answer the best I can. 1
like wom?n. but I know no one would
come out in the woods and live with
me. ... I get an old-age pension
check once a month. ... I get Gov
ernment commodity stuff twice a
month. . . .
"I have been in over 14 States
years ago. I can walk 25 miles a
day. I am healthy. Can stand on
my head. I can play my old fiddle
“I am what they call a sport
hermit. I am full of fun Like my
beer. I never quarrel. If I had a
wife she could do as she pleased,
and all. outside of men friends.”
Myrtle says all Pete has to do is
come and get her.
I
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THE OLD. ..Note the
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THI NEW...St* how
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I
Townsend Followers
Gathering for Fifth
Old-Age Convention
10,000 Delegates
Expected to Support
Pensions at 60
Bt the Associated Press.
ST. LOUIS. June 29—Preceded by
a delegate who hitch-hiked from
Cleveland, the advance guard of fol
lowers of Dr! Francis E. Townsend's
old-age pension plan, some in cos
tume, gathered today for the fifth
annual Townsend National Conven
tion.
A Colorado Indian in full tribal
feathers, a California woman in a
'dress of the gold rush period and
a Texan wearing a five-gallon hat
were included in one small group
which visited a newspaper office to
watch the presses roll.
Camp Meeting Fervor.
The Townsend conventions have
been described as a mixture of a
religious camp meeting, a college
I
reunion, a lodge session and “a
small town on Saturday night.”
About 10.000 of the Nation's "senior
citizens” are expected to be here as
delegates.
With "Americanism and patriot
ism” at its theme, the convention
proper opens Monday, but an open
air mass meeting will be held to
morrow with Dr. Townsend and the
Rev, J. Frank Norris of Fort
Worth and Detroit as the principal
speakers.
The 73-year-old founder of the
pension movement, in a message to
his "fellow Townsendites,” said:
"In the autumn of 1940 we face a
new opportunity and a solemn and
critical duty. The forthcoming 77th
Congress will inevitably be called
upon for decisions of unprecedented,
historic significance. America’s life,
as we know it, may be at stake.
"In selecting Representatives and
Senators to represent us, let us re
member that uncommon times call
for uncommon men. There is no
room for partyism. Let us place our
faith in those who have faith in us,
the people.”
Urge Townsend Plan.
A bill to impose a 2 per cent gross
income tax to finance the Townsend
pension plan now is pending in the
House Ways and Means Committee.
Under the plan, receipts from the
tax would be prorated among citi
zens over 60 years of age, who would
be required to spend their pension
payments within 30 days.
Just how the pension program will
fare in Congress in th% face of in
creased taxes for national defense
was a question that Dr. Townsend's
27-year-old son, Robert, answered
with the assertion the plan was Just
what the country needed, now more
than ever.
In his opinion, the expense of de
fense could be met more easily if
there were a more equal distribution
of national wealth.
D. A. R. Honors Mrs. Loker
LEONARDTOWN, Md„ June 29
especial).—Mrs. George P. Lcker of
Washington, D. C., has been ap
pointed Maryland State librarian of
the Daughters of the American Rev- 1
olution. j
Transcontinental to Use
Five New Stratoliners
Bt the Assorts ted Press.
KANSAS CITY. June 29—Trans
continental and Western Air, Inc.,
will place five new 33-pa‘ssenger
stratoliners in service July 8, rut
ting the flying time between Los'
Angeles and New York by about two
hours, President Jack Frye said to
day.
The stratoliners, Ml. Frye said,
will be the first four-motored planes
assigned to a domestic route.
Their schedule calls for an east
bound transcontinental flight of 13
hours 40 minutes and westbound of
15 hours 8 minutes.
J
" To the Public■
Our reputation for honesty, fair dealing ani our back
ground of buying selling, exchanging and trading cameras
in this city for the past ten years allows us to offer . . .
Still and Motion Picture
CAMERAS AND EQUIPMENT
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at pries'* that compare favorably
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Still On Hand . . . one of the largest stocks of new and
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-—III_
. .i '' r— . .
Demands Store-Wide Clearance of Existing Stocks
All Furniture, Carpets, Oriental and Domestic Rugs, Lamps, Draperies, etc.—
must make way for the new designs and the program of greater production,
which in turn will mean expansion of our facilities—for your better service.
Here are some of the "Opportunities'' that are yours right NOW—offered at
savings that will justify anticipation of future needs.
For the Living Room
Love Seat,*Chippendale design; solid.mahog
. any frome; down-filled cushion. Tailored in»|.Q
damask. REDUCED from $150 *||0
Sofa, English Club; with down-filled pillow
back and down-filled seat cushions; damask <r«
tailoring. REDUCED from $165_*|4U
Love Seat, Eighteenth Century; down-filled
cushions. Tailored in brown tapestry.
REDUCED from $137.50 _ *98
Sofa, Duncan Phyfe; solid mahogany frame;
down-filled cushions. Tailored in damask. <r« « m
REDUCED from $155_*| |Z
Easy Chair, Victorian, with solid mahogany
frame and tailored in green velvet.
REDUCED from $85_ *67
Wing Chair, Chippendale; solid mahogany
cabriole legs, with ball and claw feet. Tai
lored in brocatelle. REDUCED from $75— *59
Easy Chair, Queen Anne; solid mahogany
cabriole legs; down-filled cushion. Tailored
in rose damask. REDUCED from $105-*v9
Nest of Kidney-shaped Tables; genuine ma
hogany construction; master Table has
leather top. • REDUCED from $33_
Cocktail Table, Directoire; finished with
black decorations; brass claw feet. »
REDUCED from $35_*25
Sheraton Tables in Chinese red lacquer; Shera
ton design. REDUCED from $26.50 _
Drop-Leaf Table, Chinese Chippendale
design. Cuban mahogany construction, e M mm
REDUCED from $75 ....._ $47-50
Secretary-Desk, American Colonial; hand
some top with fine dentil-work in molding;
practical writing space; three deep drawers
in base; bracket feet. Genuine mahogany
construction. REDUCED from $98_
Knee-Hole Desk, Chippendale; genuine
mahogany construction; handsomely
carved; inserted leather top. REDUCED en
from $135_ $99-50
Drum Table, with 42-inch top; Sheraton de
sign. Cuban mahogany construction with *
hand tooled leather top. REDUCED from ~
$198- *Y52
Pie Crust Table, American Chippendale; genu
ine Honduras mahogany construction. ^
REDUCED from $25_*IO
Drop-Leaf Table, Sheraton; genuine Honduras ^
• mahogany construction. REDUCED from $25
Cocktail Table, Adam period; genuine Hon- .
duras mahogany. REDUCED f.rom $16-|
«
Break-front Bookcase, Eighteenth Century
English; genuine Honduras mahogany con
struction, inlaid with satinwood. REDUCED
from $125
[llfinHfUVfiflfHiifiynfiinuHimuuiiiiiuniimummifiiiuiiumviiimnmumtmfminnmiiiymmmMf
8
All Summer Furniture Reduced |
Rattan, Iron, Tenite—groups and |
separate pieces I
I Displayed in the "Sloane Garden" Street Floor |
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For the Bedroom
F-ederal-American Group, solid Hondu
ras mahogany. Sleigh-type Twin Beds;
and handsome mirrors. Eight pieces. ..
REDUCED from $450 _ 345
Louis XV Group; American walnut and
French beech construction. Twin Beds of
the footless type; handsomely decorated
mirrors. Eight pieces. REDUCED from « » mm mm
9950 _ *475
Early Colonial Group, in the Queen Anne
motif; solid Honduras mahogany with low
poster Twin Beds and handsome pediment
mirrors. Eight pieces. REDUCED from
$4i5-*295
American Hepplewhite Group; genuine Hon
duras mahogany Eight pieces, including
TwinBeds. REDUCED from $295_*195
Regency Group; rosewood construction with
black and gold decorations. Six pieces,
including full size Bed, Chest of Drawers,
Knee-hole Dressing Table and Mirror,
Night Table, Chair and Bench. REDUCED
from $575 _I_*298
American 'Hepplewhite Group; rock maple
construction with curley maple veneers.
Decorations in floral design. Six pieces, in
eluding Twin Beds. REDUCED from $325- VO
American Hepplewhite Group, genuine Hon
duras mahogany. Twin Beds are designed
after the Hepplewhite chair back. Five
pieces. REDUCED from $325 _*| / 5
Ready-made Draperies
A few of the many—and all at reductions that are
truly extraordinary.
Ripple Glow Draperies, ivory tone; floral patterns.
23/4 yards long. REDUCED from $12 pair_
Figured Moire Damask Draperies in fawn,
wine, green, white and rose. 23,^ yards long.
REDUCED from $10.95 pair_
Chintz Draperies, black backgrounds with
floral patterns. Beautiful shades of blue,
red, off-white and green.’ 2Vz yards long.
REDUCED from $7.50 pair_9^
Table Lamps
Single Lamps and pairs—in pottery, glass, porcelain
and composition bases—complete with shades.
Regularly Reduced
$5.$3.50
$7-$4.75
$10.. $6.50
515.- $9.50
523 .. $H.75
$30&$35-.-$18.50
W6J Sloane
■ 711 TWELFTH STREET m
i