Evening star. [volume], September 17, 1946, Image 15

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

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$t|C|ETT AN^GENE^a!.^!
WASHINGTON, D. C.
MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA NEWS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1946.
Utilities' Assessments
In Arlington Gain
$144,361 This Year
An Increase of $144,361 In 1946
assessment of public utilities in Ar
lington County over the preceding
year was announced today by Com
missioner of Revenue Harry K.
Green. Mr. Green said that the
increased valuation -will produce an
additional tax of $11,954.16 for the
county.
The 13 public service corporations
In the county have an assessed
value for J£46 of $5,226,592. The in
creased vsduations, Mr. Green said,
are less than increases in former
years. He added that due to pres
ent-day conditions utilities have
made very few extensions in the
last year.
Mr. Green listed the public serv
ice corporations and their values as
follows:
American Telephone At Telegraph
Co. of Virginia, $119,680: Chesa
peake & Potomac Telephone Co. of
Virginia. $2,745,573; Western Union
Telegraph Co., $9,313; Chesapeake
& Ohio Railway Co., $680; Rich
mond. Fredericksburg At Potomac
Railroad Co., $461,463; Rosslyn Con
necting Railroad Co.. $168,998: Ar
lington & Fairfax Auto Railroad
Co., $22,029: Washington & Old
Dominion Railroad Co., $79,981 ;j
Alexandria, Barcroft & Washington
Transit Co.. $33,540; Braddock Light
& Power Co.. Inc., $282,077: Vir
ginia Electric & Power Co.. $539,156:
Alexandria Water Co.. $35, and
Rosslyn Gas Co., $764,067.
Mrs. Rana Comer Dies
After Short Illness
Mrs. Rana Gibbs Comer. 43. an
employe of the national headquar
ters of the Fed Cross for 14 years,
died at Doctors Hospital Sunday:
mgnt alter a
short Illness. She
lived at 10000
Sutherland road,
Silver Spring.
A native of
Attleboro, Mass.,
Mrs. Comef came
to Washington
about 30 years
ago. She was
a graduate of
C e n t r al High
School and the
widow of Robert
Comer, an offi
cial in the Dis
trict Health De
Mr*. Comer.
partment, who died six years ago.
Mrs. Comer was a group super
visor in the department of the
service to the armed forces at the
Red Cross. She was a member of
Grace Episcopal Church, Woodside.
and served for several years as a
Republican election judge at the
12th precinct, Wheaton district.
Surviving are two sons. Don
Comer, 19. recently discharged from
the Marine Corp6. and Richard, 15;1
her mother, Mrs. Louise Gibbs, and
a sister, Mrs. Edith Burkhard. both
of Springfield, Mass.
Funeral services will be held at
1 30 p.m. tomorrow at the Warner
E. Pumphrey funeral home, 8434
Georgia avenue Silver Spring. Burial
will be in Glenwood Cemetery.
Baltimore Jury Indicts 2
In Century Club Holdup
•y the Associated Press
BALTIMORE. Sept. 17.—The Bal
timore grand jury yesterday re
turned presentments and indict
ments against Julius Taibi. 31. and
Alfred Rollo, 31, both of Brooklyn,
charging them with the July 4 hold
up of the Century Athletic Club.
State's Attorney J. Bernard Wells
said the grand jury's action was the
first step toward extradition of the
men from New York, where they are
in custody.
Taibi also is charged with participa
tion in the robbery at the Independ
ent Democratic Association here last
January.
Taibi and Rollo. alias Jim Rosso,
are charged on four counts in the
Century Club robbery, which touched
off an investigation of the Baltimore
Police Department. The indictments
accused both of robbing Louis Fish
er club official; Morton J. Hess,
Samuel Seletski and Robert London.
Mr. Fisher lost $1,170 and an auto
mobile license. Mr Hess a $500 dia
mond ring, Mr Seletski $400, and
Mr. London a wristwatch and $50.
the indictments specified.
Prince Georges PTA to Hold
Study of Child and Courts
A round table discussion of ' Chil
dren in the Court'’ will be held by
the Prince Georges County Council
of Parent-Teacher Associations at
8 p.m. October 3 in the Oxon Hill
High School.
Jerrold Powers, council legislative
chairman will preside with the fol
lowing participating: School Supt.
G. Gardner Shugart. Circuit Court
Judge Charles C. Marbury, Roy
Bright. State parole officer; Judge
Alfred D. Noyes of the Montgomery
County Juvenile Court. State's At
torney Gwynn Bowie, Miss Kathleen
Shears, county supervisor of attend
ance: Chairman Leroy Pumphrey
of the county delegation to the
General Assembly, and Doswell E
Brooks, supervisor of county colored
schools.
Police Order
Destruction of
Explosive Cache
Alexandria police today pondered
the disposition of three cases of
•‘explosives’’ found in a hollow tree
on the old Hume estate by three
youths.
Police also were pondering the
consequences which might have re
sulted if the three cases had been
combined, pointing out that one
contained almost 50 pounds of stick
dynamite, another was almost full
of whisky and the third contained
blasting caps and fuses.
Finders of the materials were
Charles Jones, 11, of 120 Hume
avenue, Leo Hilbom, 10. 119 Hume
avenue and Donnie Potter, 13. 117
Hume avenue. Thit trio was play
ing in the grounds of the old estate
at Mount Vernon and Hume avenues
when they came across the cache
Saturday and notified their parents
tTbo called police.
200 District POWs Gather
In'Stalag' Dinner at Pentagon
Guests at the former prisoners of war dinner last night at
the Pentagon included (left to rightt Lt. Col. John R. Waters,
son-in-law' of the late Gen. Patton; Col. Charles R. Greening,
AAF. and Col. James P. S. Devereux, Marine Corps.
—Star Staff Photo.
By George Kennedy
It was similar to other prisoner
of war camps in Germany. No. 1
Compound North of Stalag Luft 1
was a group of small huts inclosed
by barbwire. It was on the bleak
Mecklenburg plain near the shores
of the Baltic. The guardhouses on
stilts, square affairs with oversized
fiat roofs, made ominous silhouettes
against gray skies.
But in March. 1944, the 2.000
American airmen herded there were
joined by an unusual man. He was
29-year-old Lt. Col. Charles R.
Greening, the man who invented
the 20-eent bomb sight used on the
Doolittle Tokyo raid to keep the
Norden sight from the enemy. Col.
Greening had flow'n with Gen. Doo
little on that raid and 18 months
later had been shot down over
Mount Vesuvius. Gen. Doolittle
was waiting in Africa for his return
from that mission with the eagles
of a full colonel for him. Col.
Greening has them now'.
He had studied art at Washington
State College. He immediately
started to buck up morale by pro
moting W’ork in art and handicraft.
His own contributions w'ere cheer
ing—conventional nudes of student
life classes.
Utilitarian Exhibits.
In July, 1944. the prisoners held
an arts and handicraft show in
the mess hall. Every one w;as amazed
at what came out of the huts for
16 men. Many of the exhibits were
made from milk cans, some of them
pathetically utilitarian—egg beaters
for eggs they never had, a clock
that kept good time for men who
had no place to go.
“All this,” they said, “is so good I
that we will save it and show it in1
America when we are free."
When the Russians overran the
camp (the men of Stalag Luft 1
were not marched along the wintry1
roads as prisoners of war further;
east) and the B-17s arrived to take'
the Americans out, they insisted j
that several large packing cases
nad to go.
The contents of those cases are
on display this week at Lansburgh
& Bro.'s store. Did you enjoy read
ing Swiss Family Robinson? Then
go to see this show. It is a thrill
ing demonstration of how the Amer
ican genius can improvise and in
vent when deprived of the familiar
products of mass production.
Intricate Carvings.
There is a camera made wdth a
tin can and the pictures taken
with it, a statuette ash tray of a
cigarette girl carved f~om melted
pieces of broken records with a
familiar trade-mark where the cen
ter record forms the container she
holds, another figurette good enough
to adorn a radiator cap—of a god
ess made from melted tinfoil.
There are intricately carved chess
men and schooners and full-rigged
ships and military airplanes galore.
Last night Col. Greening was the
speaker at a dinner in the Pentagon
with Secretary of War Patterson on
the dais beside him. At the tables
w'ere 200 Washington young men
who had been prisoners of war.
Some of them were well-knowm
figures—Marine Col. James Patrick
Sinnot Devereux, the hero of Wake
Island and Col. Johnny Waters, son
in-law of Gen. George S. Patton,
jr„ who was taken at Faid in Tunisia
and spent more than two years in
German prison camps mostly at
Offlag 64. The others were the
young men who only two and three
years ago were carried on page 2
of The Star, first as missing in
action then as reported in prison
camps.
Mrs. Doyle Is Chairman.
Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle, chair
man of the War Hospitality Com
mittee was chairman. Joseph C.
McGarraghy. president of the Board
of Trade, introduced the speakers.
Jan Tomason, concert meister of the
National Symphony Orchestra,
played selections on a beautiful
violin made from bed slats by Capt.
Clare Cline of Minneapolis, Minn.
It sounded like a Stradivarius to
this untutored ear. Maj. Gen. Fred
erick L. Anderson, jr.. assistant chief
of the air staff, told them he hoped
they belonged to a "last man's club."
Secretary Patterson said that never
again would Americans live behind
barbwire—there would be no
more war or if there should be
America will be strong enough to
protect its own.
Col. Greening spoke for all the
POWs. He said:
"Here we are—what is our
attitude?"
He scorned the idea that the
POWs had lost months, even years,
of their lives in the prison camps.
"I've gained more from this ex
perience than I ever gained before
or I ever will gain,” he said. "I
learned what happiness is and what
hatred is and what true sorrow is.
"We talked about democracy be
fore we went over, but when we
were captured we saw the other
side of the picture."
An Average Fellow.
He said he was an average fellow
and that he wanted to come back
and kill every German man. woman
and child for what he was suffering
—"but when you had a chance to
think it over you found that be
cause you were American that was
the very thing you were fighting
against.”
He read the verses he had writ
ten in captivity, entitled, "The is
our story”:
This is our story . . .
The story of the Yankee Kriegies,
the Americans
Who lost their freedom.
And in losing it learned for the
first time
What it meant to be free.
This is our story . . .
How we lived and laughed and died
Behind the barbwdre in an alien
land because our country
Forgot that to be free you must be
strong and unafraid.
He reminded the POWs of the
"Fight Russia Now” posters the
Germans had put in the prison
camps in the last months of the
war. and concluded with:
“Now much to my surprise we are
being very gullible—that's my per
sonal opinion—and we have gone
whole-hearted on a program started
before the end of the war.”
Lawyers' Aid Urged
In Delinquency Fight
®y the Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH. Va.. Sept. 17.
- Stating "that, as a rule “there is
no greater influence • • • than the
bench and the bar" Howard C. Gil
mer. jr.. of Pulaski, president of the
Virginia State Bar in annual meet
ing here, told the State's judges and
lawyers that they would have “done
much” to help save our boys and
girls if they would exert their in
fluence towards helping co-ordinate
agencies that deal with delinquency.
Speaking on "The March of Crime
—Youth Conservation.” at the open
ing session last night in the Cavalier
Hotel, Mr. Gilmer said that lawyers
often are in a position to know at
an early stage when some child has
been accused of an offense. He can
know, too, “if by co-operation with
the judges and with the local agen
cies. a solution for that particular
problem can be worked out with
out, the necessity of the child
being 'hauled into court: and for
ever stamped and marred by a
record’ • * * ’’
Today Willis Smith of Raleigh,
N. C., president of the American
Bar Association, will speak on “re
cent observations in Europe.” Lord
Goodard, chief justice of England,
will address the group tonight on
"Recollections of a Lawyers Life.”
Albemarle Man Indicted
In Killing of Girl, 17
By th* Auociottd Prtii
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept.
17.—A Greene County Circuit Court
grand jury yesterday indicted Ralph
Shiflettt of Albemarle County on
a charge of murder in the shotgun
slaying of Pauline Crawford, 17,
on a Ruckersville street on August
23.
Shifflett's trial was set for Thurs
day.
Shiflett was arrested August 29
near the home of his father after
a search of nearly a week, and
has been held in the Albemarle
County jail pending trial.
Miss Crawford was talking to an
acquaintance when shot in the back
of the head.
May Employes Protest
NLRB Election Result
fty th* Associated Pfm
BALTIMORE. Sept. 17.—Five AFL
unions, recently defeated in an
NLRB collective bargaining election
among employes of the May Co. de
partment store here, today filed a
protest with the regional NLRB
office charging the company with
'coercion'’ and other Wagner Act
violations.
Regional NLRB Director Ross
Madden said he would make a
I routine investigation and send find
ings to Washington.
Eight accusations against the May
Co., operating a chain of department
[stores in several cities, were em
bodied in a letter filed with Mr.
Madden by J. N. Mayberry, chairman
of a combined union committee
! which made an organization drive
among May Co. employes.
The vote in the September 5 elec
tion was 1.109 to 140 against AFL
representation.
Harry L. Katz, May Co. vice pres
! ident and general manager, said
he understood it is regular union
procedure to file charges of unfair
practices after losing an election.
“The charges against the May Co
are not true,” he said. "The vote
clearly indicates the wishes of our
employes.”
Mrs. Faegre to Speak
On Child Understanding
1 ‘ Understanding the Young Child’
will be the topic of a lecture b\
Mrs. Marion L. Faegre. consultant
! on parent education of the Chil
: drens Bureau, at 8 o'clock tonight
in the Colonial Village ballroom
1913 Wilson boulevard, Arlington.
The lecture will be the second ir
the work conference on child car*
sponsored by the director of the
child care program in Arlington
with the co-operation of the local
tuberculosis and preschool associa
tions and the Federation of Co
operative Nursery Schools of Nor
thern Virginia.
All parents and teachers of pre
school children are Invited to. tak(
the course. n
Prince Georges Hold
Over Federal Land
Challenged in Court
The jurisdiction of Prince Georges
County courts over federally owned
land within the county was chal
lenged yesterday before Trial Mag
istrate Alan Bowie in Hyattsville
Police Court.
John White, attorney for Carlton
L. Cotting. 16, of Falls Church, Va.,
charged with manslaughter and
reckless driving in the traffic death
June 16 of Miss Betty Clem, 15, of
Falls Church, asked Judge Bowie if
the court had the right to hear the
case.
Mr, White pointed out that the
accident, in which five other boys
and girls were injured, occurred
within the grounds of the Agricul
tural Experimental Farm at Belts
ville.
Following some 20 minutes of dis
cussion, Judge Bowie continued the
case until September 23 in order to
have State's Attorney A. Gwynn
Bowie present.
Miss Clem, who had been elected
president of the senior class of Falls
Church High School for the current
term, was one of the occupants of
the station wagon which the Cotting
youth was driving to a Civil Air
Patrol meeting at the Beltsville air
field when it collided with a truck.
Virginia Leader Seeks
Test on State Poll Tax
.Tohn Locke Green Arlington. Re
publican leader, who seeks an in
junction against collection of the
State poll tax in the 8th district,
has filed a motion in United States
District Court. Alexandria, asking
that a deposition of Jesse W. Dillon,
secretary of the commonwealth, be
taken in the case, court yfficials
announced today.
The motion states the secretary
of the commonwealth has in his
custody certain State records,
among them the official debates or
journal of the 1901-02 Constitutial
Convention of Virginia, and that
the plaintiff would show the con
vention was "called for the express
purpose to vitiate and to destroy
the purpose and intent," of two
amendments to the Federal con
stitution.
Mr. Green proposes to Introduce
as a part of the evidence an ad
dress of the late Senator Carter
Glass, who when as a delegate
from Lynchburg spoke on the pur
poses of the State constitutional
convention.
Gov. Tuck, Attorney General A.
P. Staples and commissioners of
revenue and treasurers of 15 coun
tries and two cities of the 8th dis
trict have been named defendants
in the action brought by Mr. Green
in the name of Lawrence Michael.
Republican candidate for the
House. Mr. Staples has moved to
dismiss Mr. Green's petition on the
grounds of lack of jurisdiction,
among other reasons.
Bank Clerk Gets 18 Months
In Baltimore Embezzlement
By th* AtiociaUd Pr««
BALTIMORE, Sept. 17.—Judge
Herman M. Moser yesterday sen
tenced a 40-year-old bank clerk to
18 months in prison for a $32,000
embezzlement and said he could not
be lenient because the defendant re
paid $25,000 by blackmailing a book
maker.
Judge Moser, sitting in Baltimore
Supreme Court, said he doubted
; Daniel J. Nickles had lost all the
lerfibezzled money gambling.
"When discovery was close upon
him, he went to a bank official, con
fessed and asked for a few days,"
said the judge in reviewing the case.
“He got $5,000 from friends, $2,000
by cashing War Bonds, and $25,000
from a bookmaker.
"He made his gamble, lost, and
then made it all over again by black
mailing a bookmaker. This court
cannot permit the proposition that
one may steal to gamble and then
replace the stolen money illegally.”
Sixty persons, many of them
' prominent, appeared to make clem
ency pleas for Nickles.
Mrs. Florence V. Wageley
Dies at 90 in Takoma Park
Mrs. Florence V. Wagely, 90, a
resident of the Washington area for
many years, died Sunday at the
home of her daughter, Mrs. Gladys
Latham. 629 Elm avenue. Takoma
Park, Md., after an illness of sev
eral years.
Born near Winchester, Va., Mrs.
j Wageley spent most of her life in
the District, moving to Takoma Park
about 10 years ago. She was the
widow of Mann Wageley and was
one of the oldest members of Mc
Kendrie Methodist Church.
Besides Mrs. Latham, Mrs. Wage
ley is survived by two other daugh
ters, Mrs. Evelyn C. Gensheimer,
Washington, and Mrs. Mildred Cross.
New York; a son, Sherman, Detroit;
a sister, Mrs. Charles Fishpaw, Ber
ryville, Va., and three brothers, Carl
and Arthur Light, Indianapolis, and
Harry Light, Summits Point, W. Va.
Funeral services will be held at
10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Warner
E. Pumphrey funeral home, 8434
Georgia avenue, Silver Spring. Bur
ial will be in Fort Lincoln Cemetery.
Man Called as Juror
Brings His Fire Truck
Sy th« Associated Press
FREDERICK, Md., Sept. 17.—Ray
F. Steele, summoned as juror for
the September Circuit Court yester
day, brought along his ladder truck
and tillerman—in case of fire.
Alton E. Shaff, the tillerman.
was posted in the ' anteroom to
listen for alarms and haul Mr.
Steele out of court to chase the
flies, if any.
On second thought the court ex
! cused Mr. Steele for the day to
I hunt up a substitute driver for the
duration of the grand jury session.
Silver Spring Legion
Publishes Newspaper
The first issue of the Cissel-Saxon
Journal, a four-page newspaper
published monthly by Cissel-Saxon
American Legion Post No. 41 ol
Silver Spring, was mailed yester
day to the 739 members of the post
Editor of the publication is Wil
liam J. Brannan, jr„ and the gen
eral manager is John Aleumder
commander of the post.
MONTGOMERY JUNIOR COLLEGE OPENS—Among the approximately 175 students who took
psychological examinations yesterday at the opening of the new Montgomery Junior College in
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School were (left to right) Lorrie Notton, 5423 Lincoln street, Be
thesda; Kirby Keneall, 912 Nelson street, Arlington, and Dorothy Jones, 3960 First street N.W.
Classes will start Thursday. —Star Staff Photo.
Fingerprints on Glasses Led
FBI to Automobile Thieves
By Jerry O'Leory, Jr.
A set of fingerprints found on a'
pair of dark glasses in a stolen ear
was the clue which led 35 Federal
bureau of Investigation agents and
Maryland policemen to the arrest of
the four Swann brothers for auto
mobile thefts in the Sunday morn
ing raid on their Chapel Hill, Md.,
home, it was learned today.
Their capture was the climax of
a two-month-long investigation, and :
the quartet, with two more brothers,
had been under 24-hour surveillance
by undercover men for 10 days.
Key men in the apprehension of;
; the Swanns—believed to be the
principal members of a stolen car
ring which stripped and burned
scores of automobiles from Wash
ington and nearby Maryland in re
cent months—were two Prince
Georges County, Md., policemen.
They are Plainclothesmen John Sid
dall and Wilson J. Purdy,
As Officer Siddal told a Star re
porter in an exclusive interview to
day, the raid was worked out with
veteran FBI men after vital evi
dence was uncovered 10 days ago.
Fingerprints matching those of
Pennal Swann. 26, were found on a
pair of dark glasses in a 1946 Ford
reported stolen in Washington. In
10 days, he said, Federal and State
investigators collaborated to amass
evidence which may send the
Swanns to prison.
The raid was a carefully planned
maneuver, worked out by veteran
G-men who do not take chances.!
The six brothers—two later were
released—were known to be armed
and their long record of arrests for,
murder, assault with intent to kill,1
cuttings and other crimes of vio
lence was common knowledge, Of
! fleer Siddel said.
The Swanns—Maxwell, Joseph,
Pennal, James. Hercules and Sher
man—were in three houses near the
tavern they own at Chapel Hill,
only 17 miles from Washington. The
raiding party rendezvous near the
Maryland-District line early Sunday
morning and waited until the net1
was complete. The trap was sprung
at 5:30 a.m.
The raiders entered all three
dwellings simultaneously to protect
the surprise advantage they had.'
“The Swanns had guns and knives,'
and they are a cunning crew,”
Policeman Siddall declared. “They!
would have fought if had given'
them half a chance."
The care and skill applied to this
raid paid off. The Swanns were
taken in their beds at about, 5:35
a.m. and whisked away for inten
jsive questioning.
Four of them are charged only,
with conspiracy to violate the Na-i
1 tional Automobile Theft. Act. while
j two others Hercules and Sherman
were released.
Policeman Siddall said these
i charges tell only a small part of the
; story.
"The Swann boys," he said, “come
from around Clinton, where their
father. Arthur Swann, still has a
little farm. There are eight of the
boys and we’ve had nothing but
trouble from them ever since they
were boys.
“They are members of what they
called the 'Black Shirt Gang of
Charles County’ until we broke that
I outfit up. The ‘gang’ always dressed
in black silk shirts and they terror
ized the peace-loving folk around
. Leonardtown, La Plata and other
! Southern Maryland points.
“They stole tobacco, they boot-!
ilegged, they committed assaults and;
J robberies. They stole everything
j from cattle to automobiles, and dur
J ing the war they ran a black mar-1
ket in beef.
“We know all about them and
we’ve had them in jail off and on
jail their lives.”
So much for the Swanns until the
early summer of this year when
j police of Washington and the near
by Maryland counties were swamped
| with a number of complaints from
iautomobile owners that their cars;
i were being stolen. Investigators got j
I nowhere. Then, police began find
( ing stripped and burned automobiles
in secluded spots in Southern Mary
land around Cedar Point, Mcrganza.
Forestville and other places. Still
(there was no clue which pointed out
(the culprits. 4
Washington police noticed that a
large proportion of the cars were
disappearing from the Livingston
road area of S.E. and always the
modus operand! was the same:
Stolen one day. recovered in South-1
ern Maryland with salable acces-1
sories missing the next,
j As the summer wore on, the ac
jtivities of the gang branched out
I to other parts of Washington and
i Maryland. Now the ring was burn
ling the stripped hulks of the cars
(they stole. Maryland and Wash
ington police, stalemated, called in
the FBI’s Baltimore office, and the
G-men sent trained agents to work
on the case.
On August 25, The Star printed a
story detailing the operations of the
I gang, telling how they worked and
even what kind of car they pre
ferred to steal Police and FBI men
doggedly continued working 12 and
16 hours on the case, running down
every lead, examining with a fine
toothed comb the hulks of automo
biles they continued to find in the
Maryland woods.
The Swanns, up to this point, had
not been connected with the growing
activities of the car-stealing ring
The break came 10 days ago.
Policeman Siddall said Federal
Alcoholic Tax Unit men from Balti
more found a 1946 Ford, apparently
abandoned on old Fort Washington
road near Chapel Hill. Noting the
tag number, they reported it to
Prince Georges County police. Rou
tine police work revealed that the
car had been reported stolen from
1611 M street N.W., Washington,
early in August.
County police put a 24-hour
"plant'’ on the car and checked
it for fingerprints. No one ever
showed up to strip the car, Police
man Siddall said, but the finger
prints of Pennal Swann were found
on a pair of dark glasses in the
stolen car.
Pennal Swann, as already related,
was well known to police, as were
his fingerprints.
The Swanns made no move from
September 6 until Sunday morn
ings’ raid that police and Federal
agents did not know about. Their
tavern and homes in the 8700 block
of Livingston road. Chapel Hill, were
watched constantly. When one of
the brothers went somewhere, law'
enforcement officers followed like
shadows.
Federal men. meanwhile, worked
on other pieces of evidence—a pop
corn box found near a stripped car,
an oil can, a Buick heater, from a
stolen car, which had been resold
' in Washington.
When evidence considered strong
enough to convict the Swanns was
all in order, the FBI ordered the
raid, and it was a success. The FBI
reported without comment, that they
confiscated a shotgun and a loaded
pistol from the brothers.
Arraigned before United States
Commissioner Needham C. Turnage
yesterday, the four pleaded not
guilty to charges of conspiracy to
violate the Auto Theft Act and were
remanded to fail under $7,500 bond
each to await a preliminary hear
ing September 30. Reporters were
told they had no chance of making
bail.
The Federal Bureau of Investi
gation, Maryland authorities, Wash
ington police, however, have said
they are not through with the men
on only one charge each.
An FBI spokesman said agents
are still at work on the activities
of the ring. Prince Georges County
police are biding their time and
may file enough charges against
the brothers “to send them to jail
Tor life." A good proportion of the
automobiles stolen were from Wash
ington and the District Detective
Bureau has not shown its hand yet.
"How many cars do you think the
Swann gang stole?” Policeman Sid
dall was asked.
He said the full score of their
depredations might never be known,
but he added the same handiwork
was plain in scores of cases that in
vestigators know of.
“There is no telling how many
cars are lying out in the woods,
burned and stripped, that we will
never find,” he said. "The Sw-anns
are not likely to tell us.” q
Brethren Conference Opens
MARTINSBURG, W. Va.. Sept. 17
itf’i.—Approximately 250 persons are
expected to attend the 147th three
day meeting of the Virginia Con
ference of the United Brethren in
' Christ opening here today.
Commercial Hatchery
Production Decline
Reported in Virginia
Ey Associated Pros*
RICHMOND. Va., Sept. 17.—The
Virginia Co-operative Crop Report
ing Service disclosed yesterday that
the commercial chick hatchery out
put last month was the smallest in
any August since 1941 and predicted
a further scarcity of poultry during
the next three months.
Meanwhile, the United States
Crop Reporting Service announced
that Virginia's average monthly
farm wage in July was S80.75. as
against the South's regional monthly
average of $79.50. The United States
average was $114.70.
The wage figures apply to wages
where no board was included.
Commercial hatchery reports
showed 1,484.000 chicks hatched
during August. This figure, the crop
service stated, was 35 per cent below
the 2,289,000 produced during August,
1945.
For the season from January
through August of this year there
were 27,595,000 chicks hatched, com
pared with 33,343,000 for the same
period in 1945.
The decrease in commercial hatch
ery production was reported to have
become marked during April and
was attributed principally to the feed
shortage for poultry.
Despite the drop the crop service
said that Virginia production was
better than that for the Nation as
a whole, which showed a decrease
from January tHrough August of 25
per cent and a substantially heavier
reduction for August.
One factor tending to relieve thf
! situation, the service said, is the cm
in Army procurement which wil
make more poultry’ available foi
civilian use.
Twitfy Assault Case
Delayed Indefinitely
By tb# Associated Press
ANNAPOLIS. Md, Sept. 17.—
Magistrate James G. Woodward
announced a hearing in the assault
and battery case brought by Doris
: Joann Twitty, 14. against her father,
Kirby Leon Twitty of Edgewater.
slated for today, had been postponed
indefinitely.
Judge Woodward said he could not
assign any reason for the delay.
State's Attorney Marvin I. Ander
son of Anne Arundel County, said
he still had the case under advise
ment and would require more time
to decide how to proceed.
The case was the second brought
by Joann against her father. In
the first, he was convicted of assault
and battery after she testified he
had beaten her and chained her
to a bed. An appeal is pending in
, the Circuit Court.
The second charge resulted from
an alleged beating with a crowbar.
Meanwhile. Judge William J. Mc
Williams of Anne Arundel County
Juvenile Court, ordered the girl to
the Montrose Training School for
Girls at Reisterstown, after her
father complained she was delin
quent.
Fitzpatrick to Speak
FREDERICK, Md.. Sept. 17 <&).—
John B. Fitzpatrick., commander of
Francis Scott Key Post, American
Legion, will address the Maryland
State Society. Daughters of the
American Revolution, today.
James East of Arlington Police
To Retire After 24 Years' Duty
By Paul C. Beach
James D East, 62-.vear-old vet
eran Arlington policeman, will re
j tire soon, the first to leave the
force under the recently adopted
county police
and firemen's ;
retirement act. j
Now serving \
as radio dis- ;
patcher, he has
been a member
of the depart
ment for 24
years.
Mr. East,
known to many
! county citizens :
jas “Uncle Jim,”
said he will ap
! ply for retire
ment at the Oc
tober meeting of
the Pension Boar
Mr. But.
d.
Born July 1, 1884, in Chattanooga,
he enlisted in the Army at the out
break of the Spanish-American
War. During a second enlistment
he came to Arlington and was sta
tioned at Port Myer.
Was on D. C. Force.
Honorably discharged in 1908, he
was appointed the following year to
the Metropolitan Police Department
where he served for three years.
He joined the Arlington depart
ment in 1922.
“At the time I Joined,” he recol
lected, "the department was op
erating on a fee systefl>J-there were
no salaries." Sheriff A. C. Clements
was in charge of the force then.
Mr. East said there were “only
three houses between Rosslyn and
Clarendon at that time.” In many
instances, he added, causes for com
plaints would turn out to be "only
kids playing baseball who had
chased a cow away or let a goat
loose.”
Honorary Cadet Corps Members.
In 1928 he was assigned by Sheriff
Howard B. Fields to Washington
Lee High School and remained on
that assignment 11 years. While
there his friends among the chil
dren, faculty and parents started
calling his “Uncle Jim.” He was
named an honorary member of the
cadet corps, with a rank of cap
tain, an honorary member of the
girls' cadet auxiliary and became
the only citizen ever awarded a
school athletic letter sweater.
“I got everything at W.-L. except
I a diploma,” he recalled, "even a
failure slip for not moving a piano
one time.”
Married 39 years, he is the father
of eight children and has seven
grandchildren.
Mr. East and his wife plan a six
month motor trip through the South
and then a visit to the Pacific Coast,
after which they will return to their
home in Fairfax County.
“I've been minding others people's
business for almost 40 years.” he
commented, "now I'm going to try
to mind my own.” |
Fairfax Grand Jury
Names 13 Persons
In 11 Indictments
Eleven indictments against 13
persons were returned yesterday by
a grand jury at the opening of the
September term of-the Fairfax
County Circuit Court.
Those indicted were:
Carl Spears, colored, for murder
in the death of his wife, Mattie
Spears, at Gum Springs August 3.
George S. Tail, for manslaughter
in connection with the death of
Horatio Belt of Alexandria, as the
result of injuries sustained when
his motorcycle and a card driven
by Tait collided at the intersection
of the Little River pike and the
Lee highway August 12.
Everett M. Fitzpatrick, indicted
for escaping from the State convict
road force, pleaded guilty and was
given an additional one-vear sen
tence, suspended pending good be
havior.
Ponnie ,T. Williams, indicted for
felonious wounding of Mazie Well
ington. pleaded guilty, and his case
was held open for sentence.
George Crosby, indicted for fe
loniously wounding Curtis Terry,
pleaded not guilty.
James C. Purks was indicted on
a charge of seduction, Leonard C.
Shippe and Edward E. Owen, Joint
indictment for grand larceny; Ger
ture Frye, grand larceny; Charles
L. Meyers and Clarence C. Kirby,
joint indictment for housebreaking;
William Smith, alias Robert Hyson,
housebreaking; Ernest L. Long,
felonious shooting of Vernon R.
Hinton.
Peyton M. Fussell, 69,
Dies at Wheel of Car
Peyton Morgan Fussell, 69, Ash
ton, Md.. son of Mordecal Fussell,
Ashton, founder of the ice cream
bearing his name, died yesterday
at the wheel of his automobile as
he was backing out of a garage at
his home.
The car continued across the
road, striking a parked automobile
but causing only slight damage. Dr.
F. J. Broschart. Montgomery County
medical examiner, said death was
caused by a heart attack.
The body was taken to the
Reuben Pumphrey Funeral Home.
Rockville. Funeral services and
burial will be held at 2 p.m. today
in Greenmount Cemetery chapel,
Baltimore.
Mr. Fussell is survived by his
father and a brother Norris, 2127
California street N.W.
Employes at the Fussell-Young
Ice Cream Co. said none of the
Fussell family is now connected
with the firm.
State Veterans' Bonuses
\ Exempt From U. S. Tax
1 By *6# Associated ’’r#**
r State veterans’ bonuses are #x
. empt from Federal taxation, Treas
ury and Internal Revenue Bureau
tax experts said yesterday.
These officials explained the pay
ments constitute "gifts” rather than
compensation in the meaning to
which tax is applied.
Also, they said, the payments are
free from Federal gift taxes because
the gift tax applies to the giver
I rather than the receiver, and a State
| cannot be taxed. Furthermore, the
| Federal tax applies only to gifts
j valued at more than $3,000. and no
i bonuses of that size has been pro
posed.
Illinois is to vote in a referendum
! November 5 on a bond issue to pay
$385,000,000 to 916,000 Illinois vet
erans, or around $400 a man. State
| officials said that is the biggest pay
! ment proposed.
Gov. Dwight H. Green said yes
j terday he has asked Secretary of the
Treasury Snyder for a ruling on
whether the proposed Illinois lump
sum cash awards would be subject to
; Federal income taxes.
Potato Growers Warned
Of U. S. Limit on Acreage
By the Associated Press
Joseph H. Blandford, State pro
duction and marketing administra
tion director, said today that only
Maryland farmers who stay within
(individual farm acreage goals for
potatoes in 1947 will be eligible for
i Government price support,
j Production goals will be announced
early in October, Mr. Blandford
' said. The national goal calls for
. 373,000,000 bushels of potatoes, 5,
000,000 less than the 1946 goal.
This year, 1,142 carloads of Mary
land early whites were purchased by
^the Government for use in making
S alcohol and other products.
____
Five Ships Due Today
With 7,500 Troops
By th# Associated Press
Five vessels are scheduled to ar
rive today at East and West Coast
Iports with more than 7,500 service
| personnel.
The arrivals:
At New York—Koundouriotis from
Bremerhaven. 10 troops: Joseph Gale
: from Leghorn, 5.
At San Francisco—General Pat
rick from Yokohama, 2,433 troops.
At Seattle—Marine Serpent from
Yokohama, 2,433 troops.
At San Diego—General A. E. An
derson from Chian, 1,960 Marine,
Navy and civilian passengers.
Leo J. Stallo Appointed
Acting U. S. Marshal
By tho Associated Press
BALTIMORE, Sept. 17.—Leo J.
Stallo, chief deputy United States
marshal, has been appointed acting
marshal until the position is filled
by presidential appointment, Fed
• eral Judge William C. Coleman an
1 nounced.
A vacancy was created several
; weeks ago when Marshal August
1 Klecka died. Mr. Stallo has been
chief deputy since 1941.
O'Conor to Give Talk
Gov. O Conor of Maryland, Demo
ciatic nominee for the United
i States Senate, will deliver a Con
« stitution day address at 6:15 o'clock
r | tonight over radio station WITH,
Baltimore. •