The Washington times. [volume], July 23, 1922, SUNDAY MORNING, Page 6, Image 18

About The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939

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FLASKS IN STOCKINGS OF FLAPPERS AT EXCLUSIVE SCHOOL
BRINGS ARREST OF CHURCH ORGANIST AS RUM SELLER
* ^ ? y % f /? ?
GAY GIRL GRADUATE,
PRESENT AT PARTY,
TURNS DRY DEPUTY
Wife of Church Organist Held in Raid Denies
Charges of Implication, and Declares Girl
Sworn jas Sleuth Was "Blind Drank" When
She Tried to Buy Dlicit Spirits. v
BOSTON, July 22.
^^"W^LAPPER FLASKS," mounted in silver and gold
and each capable of containing a gill of gin, in
spired an investigation of bootlegging in exclusive
Bradford Academy that is producing dramatic results.
Here are a few of the developments already on record:
?A girl graduate, sworn in as a prohibition enforce
ment officer, caused the arrest of the supervisor of
music and church organist in Haverhill as a seller of liquor
to flapper students.
?The supervisor's wife was involved in the charges
and the supervisor's home was raided by a liquor
?quad, led by a woman.
?Evidence was brought out that the girl students
staged hilarious "rum parties" nightly in the historic
?cademy and the "flapper flasks" were declared to be a
scandal of the campus.
?The church organist's wife, denying the charges, as
serts that the pretty volunteer sleuth was "blind
drunk" when she tried to buy the illicit spirit#.
The raid was made after Miss Katherine Durfee, graduate
student, who lives at the Brookline home of Prohibition
Enforcement Director James P. Roberts, told him that "silk
stocking flask parties" were events of public discussion on
the campus and that she knew where .the "booze was
bought."
Chief Roberta had her eworn In
as a dry agent, gave her a flask
and the girl went after the evidence
like a trained sleuth.
At the home of the Supervisor
of Music and Church Organist
Herbert W. W. Downes, Just across
the road from the academy, she
charges that Mrs. Downes filled a
flask for her for $2.
SOLEMN PRELIMINARIES.
Dry agents then raided the
Downes home under the leadership
of Mrs. Hannah Brigham, the first
woman officer to head a raiding
party, and found a small quantity
of liquor, they assert, and ar
rested Downes. The raid was a
?candal In the college, which is the
oldest women's educational Institu
tion in New England, if not lo the
country.
Mr. Downes denied ownership of
the liquor, and even more vigorous
ly denied selling any. United
States Commissioner Hayes refused
to issue a warrant or hold Mr.
Downes, terming him a victim of
circumstances. ,
The raid. Miss Durfee said, who
ts now teaching rhythmic expres
sion at the Noyes School, was
planned In the Robert's home, at
No. 11 Park street, Brookllna The
return of alumnae for commence
ment exercises caused the college
authorities to fear a repetition of
the flask parties that had become
common gossip, according to the
girl raider, in the institution..
She decided to protect the fair
name of the academy, she said, and
so volunteered to Chief Roberts to
get the evidence.
THE GIRL'S STORY.
Here is Miss Durfee's own story
of the scandal:
"I went to Mr. Roberta" office
in Chauncey street and was sworn
In as a special deputy. I was a
prohibition officer for Just one
night. And one appearance in that
role wam quite enough.
"Other officers were there and I
had to raise my right hprtd and
swear. Then Mr. Roberts gave me
a flask and X went back to the re
union of my class, which was be
ing held through commencement
week."
Incidentally, the flaak which Miss
Durfee used In collecting the evi
dence was the same veaseel cap
tured by former Dry Agent Harold
B. Wilson In his famous hotel raid
In Springfield last Mew Tear Eve.
With the flask snugly reposing
where flappers usually carry their
container*. Miss Durfee waa ready1
for the big adventure, and ahortly \
after midnight Tuesday ahe start
ed oyt.
She told the other alumnae and
students aa she ?ai slipping out
of tha house to wait up for her, as
there m ght be "something good
and exciting."
Brave In a sport skirt and knit
ted sweater, with her bobbed hair
flapping In the night wind, Kather
Ine, girlish of figure, clear of com
plexion and guileless of manner,
the young deputy looke<^ for all
the world like any of the glrla at
tending the academy. 8he went
on with the tale of her adventures:
"I rang the bell at Mrs. Downes'
house and Mrs. Downe* opened the
door. Then I pulled out the silver
flask and asked her if she would
fill It for me.
SAID PARTY WAS ON.
"I pretended to be very much
afraid of the college authorities
and told her that she must not
1st any of the faculty know about
It, for It would get me In trouble.
" 'That's all right." Mrs.
Downes told me. 'It would mean
a great deal more trouble for me
than for yOu If this sort of thing
was let out.'
"We were standing In the hall
way near the door and then we
moved out toward the kitchen.
Mrs. Downes asked ma If I be
longed to the college.
" 'Tea, I said, 'we are having a
little party'over there and we Just
want a little mora to flnlah up
with.'
A DRY RAIDER!
"Mrs. Downe* aald that aha was
afraid that aha hadn't a drop In
the house, but that If I had given
her a little notice, ahe would have
had aome there for me.
" 'Oh. that's too bad,' I aald,
and then ahe aald that ahe could
give me some witch hazel.
" "That won't do at allf' I told
her. 'Haven't you any boose?'
"Then she said that sha could
glva me a little drop that she
had, about so much, she aald,
measuring about an inch and she
said it waa In the medicine closet.
"Mrs. Dowries went out to the
back, and in a few minute* re
turned with the flask?full to the
top."
With the alleged evidence return
CAW
80ENE 07 FLAPPER FLASK PASTIES!?Here in his
toric Bradford Academy, old New England center of feminine
culture, modern flappers are said to have staged wild hootch
parties, each contributing to the flowing bowl from flasks
tucked in silken stockings. A rirl graduate, sworn in as a
special deputy prohibition director, gathered evidence which
led to a raid conducted by Mrs. Hannah Brigham, pictured
above,
ed to lta traditional place In anf*
keeplng, Katherlne a&ld ahe atfll
played the part of a frightened
atudent. She explained to the wom
an, ahe said, that ahe was afraid,
and asked her to go to the door
and are if the coast was clear for
a quick, clean get away.
Then went on Katherlne:
"Mra. Downea went to the door
and looked out and beckoned to
me that everything waa all right.
I aald good-night to her and went
back to the house where the other
girls were waiting up ,for m? In
keen anticipation. The filling of
the flask coat me $2.
"Right here I want to say that
I didn't t*ate a drop of the hard
atuff. I wouldn't touch it for all
the world. I juat hate It."
Teari welled In the eyes of the
brave aleuth at the thought, and
then ahe told of the grief ahe felt
for the girls, younger even than
ahe, who ahe aaid had been staging
drinking bouta at the college ahe
loved eo well, making Its fair name
a mockery.
JOYOUS WELCOME.
Then Kathertne laughed at the
reception which ahe aald her class
matea gave her when ahe returned
triumphant with the full flaak to
them. She continued the narrative
with a smile:
"I ahowed them what I had got
and they all crowded around and
clapped their handa, but I wouldn't
let them touch It, not a drop, for
I knew It had to go atralght to
Mr. Roberta, my chief, the prohibi
tion enforcement director.
"That night I locked the flaak
In my bag and hid It under the
bed. and then next day, commence
ment day, I brought it Into Mr.
Robert'? office. * ? _
"I didn't get a chance tolell Mlaa
Marlon Coates, principal of the
academy, as ahe waa busy with the
other members of the faculty on
the platform.
"But before I went over to get
the stuff I told Mias Coates that I
had been selected, and she said:
'"Why Katherlne! You, of all
girls!* "
Ransome Plngree, a trustee of
the academy and attorney for the
institution, Is directing the inside
Investigation of the situation which
haf brought the traditions and
morals of the academy Into ques
tion In the courts?and the press?
and he is determined to learn who
gave the first tip to the Federal
authorities.
The trustees are firm In their In
sistence that, despite the charges,
there has been no drinking in the
academy. The tiny silver flasks of
liquor which the students are re
ported to have carried In their
stockings never existed, or If they
did, the school authorities never be
fore heard of. much less saw them.
TRL'8TEE AMAZED.
For Mr. Plngree, trustee and
lawyer, declared:
"It Is atl news to me. I was
dumbfounded when I picked up
the papers and saw that Mr.
Downes had been arrested, and
that rumor had It that our girls
were staging wild parties.
"I am certain that the rumors
ire not true. We are very careful
with the glrla In our school.
"They are not allowed out to
leave Haverhill without proper
chape rones. They are not allowed
to mingle with the restdervta - of
Bradford. They are not allowed
to go to tea houses that are not
approved by the school officials.
"It stands to reason that they
would not have been permitted to
go to the house of Mr. Downes
if we thought there was any
thing wrong going on there."
Miss Marion Coates, principal
of the academy, waa indignant
over the affair and made no ef
fort to conceal that emotion, but,
aside from Issuing.a general de
nial, she merely referred all
questions to Mr. Plngree.
Aftar being freed by United
MAIDENS' HOSE HID
NECESSARY "STUFF
FOR FLOWING CUPS
Historic Academy Scandalized by Flasks
. Tacked in Silken Stockings and Run
Parties, Which, by Eridcnce Brought Oat,
Were Staged Nightly With Muph Hilarity.
States Commissioner Hayes. In
Boston. Mr. Downes hurried home
to his wife, who was heartbroken
over the raid on her home and
the arrest of her husband. To a
'reporter Mr. Downes declared:
The case is simply one of spite.
I am glad that-It Is over, and I
hope that the person or persons
who started the rumor are satis
fied. It caused me a lot of unhap
piness and unpleasant notoriety for
a few hours, but I have not lost
anything by it. My position In the
schools has not been affected. The
school officials telephoned me that
they had Implicit faith in me."
MRS. DOWNE8 AMAZED.
Mrs. Downes said that she firmly
believed an enemy had tipped otf
the Federal officers falsely and
brought about the obnoxious raid
and arrest for the sake of revengo.
She asserted that she had a num
ber of enemies In Bradford and
Haverhill who might be expected
to do such a thing, and she ?ddad,
R3AR ADMIRAL BRADLEY
A. FISKE, retired, naval
Inventor of international
note. Is probably the first inventor
in history to declare an Invention
of his own to be without practical
value.
He has given up work on radio
control, on which he holds the
earliest patent, and says that while
its is a scientific success it is a
practical failure.
Admiral Flske worked out the
principle of wireless control of
torpedoes in 1887, the year before
the Spanish-American war. when
he was a lieutenant. He beat
Nicola Tesla to the patent by a
narrow margin. Since then John
Hays Hammond. Jr., has brought
radio control of moving objects
to a high degree of workability.
Hammond told Universal Serv
ice last week that not only Is
radio control of torpedoes, sea
craft, aircraft, and automobiles
practicable, but It will be used
eventually to control simultane
ously groups of mechanical plow*
sharply!
"The thing that I cannot under
stand is why Miss Katharine Dur
fse should play such a prominent
part In this affair. Why, that girt
was Mind drunk when she came
hers and triad to gat liquor.
"It Is possible that she night
have got mad because she could
not get any and then told the
officers."
And Mr. Downes declared, with
emphasis:
"Spite work and Jealousy! Just
because my wife Is the best cook
In Bradford, and entertains moit
of the wealthy parents of students
on commencement day!"
And Miss Durfee. half smiling,
half tearful, repeats:
"I did It for the honor of the old
school!"
And?oh, but the president, prin
cipal, faculty and students are glad
that the school year Is closed at
last! When the school reopens
there will be more to be said.
tlonlze agriculture.
Flske, in an exclusive interview
for Universal Service, took an op
posite view.
Although the two foremost Am
erican authorities on radio con
trol do not agree as to the prac
tical value of radio control, the
elder Inventor greatly respects the
younger's work. He testified for
Hammond when the letter's" In
ventions were before the Senate
Naval Committee.
! "When an expert like Hammond
says he can do a certain thing
I wouldn't bet against It," said
Admiral Fiske, "but I have be
come satisfied that while radio
control of vehicles Is a scientific
success if Will prove to be of no
real value either to the navy or
on land.
"When you come to control
plows by radio, It can be done
all right, but it will result only
In saving the labor of one man,
and ?t greater expenses than the
cost of his labor."
ADMIRAL FISKE
QUITS WORK ON
RADIO CONTROL
By SoHN GOLD8TROM, on the great farms and will revolu
WE WOMEN AND OUR ONE KINGDOM By KATHLEEN NORRISj
"0
F course the next fenera
tion will have lta own
amazing Inventions and
discoveries," said one of us?one
of ua parent* In the early forties,
I mean, when we were all discus
sing the age and the children tha
other day, "but It Is hard to Im
agine what they are to be!"
And we began to review tha
achievements of our own genera
tion, and to tell the unbelieving
youngsters about the days when
electric light?that same light
that Illumines whole cities and
creepa so brilliantly today Into
the humblest homes?was the
liovelty called "the Incandescent
light," and when motor ca'rs were
"horseless carriages" (does any
one else remember those tiny pen
and-ink sketches of them In the
funny little magazine that used
to be "Vogue?"), and when the
telephone was still exciting, and
before the movies and radio were
In existence.
' We don't feel very old, we
children of the eighties, and yet
all this has come In our day.
"Well," somebody suggested. In
answer, "perhaps the next big
thrill will be when we get In
touch with a star!"
We were talking In the star
light, and we all looked up at
the velvet blackness above us, and
the solemn great tapestry of the
planets, and the Milky Way lying
like a scarf very low and very
close across the brighter constel
lations, and something of the aw
ful, Inspiring beauty of that possi
bility caine over us all.
Our world?this little floating
?peck In space?sending out Its
greeting Into the big unknown,
and convulsed In Europe, In
China, In the smallest African or
Hrnzlilan village where there Is
twin, by receiving a reply!
What would we learn from that
planet tf some day we began to
communicate with one? Might that
be a world that had really believed
In lta Master, had never known
torture and starvation and wars
and pestilence and famine? Or
might It be a world even less ad
vanced than ourselves? For we
do make occasional struggles to
ward the light.
And what would a visitant from
that other planet think about us?
Did It ever occur to you to
Imagine logically what he must
think about us, in one particular7
This visitor, studying us with none
of our deep-rooted, long established
stupidities and prejudices to blind
him, would look with a perfectly
indifferent eye upon the things we
treasure.
He womd see In Jewels only bits
of stone; in fashion only a most ex
traordianry custom of cramping
our bodies; In magnlficient fur
niture only annoying Impedimenta,
and In our much manipulated food
(In bits of animals and roots and
milk of cows all heated and chop
ped and divided upon bits of color
ed china) only a sort of universal
Insanity.
THK PRICELESS GIFT.
He might think grand opera
strange?little creatures pretend
ing to be something else, and
screaming and parading In d&rk.
crowded rooms, to the noise of
small brass tubes and wooden
boxes covered with horse-hair and
cat-gut. And what he would think
of such things as feathers, finger
bowls, buttons, foutaln pens, head
ache powders, servants' liveries,
bracelets, embroidery, pillow shams
and pate-de-fol-gras makes one
dizzy to Imagine!
Imagine yourself trying to ex
plain to him why machine-finished
silver forks are so much cheaper
than hand-finished onea, and wtar
brides' announcement* must be en
graved and not printed!
Whatever elae he thought, or
didn't think, our distinguished
guest would regard us as having
exactly one priceless, one exquisite
-Und extraordinary thing, and he
might be surprised to find how
lightly we regard it, and how wan
tonly we waste It.
He would realize, what we do
not, that the reason we are alii
here, the reason that there is a
world. Is because there Is life. It
ls Life that is Immortal, not
French mahogany and African dia
monds. The smallest child that
dies hungry and wet and dirty in
a London slum is mors precious.
In the great scheme of things to
which we and the stars belong,
than th? Romanoff coronet or the
treasure of the Vatican.
And our visitor would see this,
coming from realms wbere Life,
where Greater Llvingness is the
All. Hs would look at us In stupe
faction. saying to himself:
"Their complexions?the tiny
bits of painted canvas on' their
walls?the Infinitesimal laces shut
Into Infinitesimal boxes?the petty
admiration of their gabbling, stupid
neighbors?these things are inor?)
to this poor, demented people than
?Life.
And he would hunt?ut some slm
ple, wonderful w$>man in your
town and mine, some woman with
little sons and daughters gathered
about her, and with a tiny baby
in her arms, and her breast brim
ming with the glory-and beauty of
motherhood, and her he would
envy, and worship, and enthrone.
WOMAN'S ONE KINGDOM.
For that la our one Kingdom, as
women, and that Is the greatest
Kingdom In the world?and per
haps in any world. The living,
WMteiv presence of Life In our
By KATHLEEN NORRIS:
It is Life that is immor
tal, not French mahogany
and African diamonds.
The smallest child that
dies hungry and wet and
dirty in a London slum is
more precious, in the great
scheme of things to which
we and the stars belong,
than the Romanoff coro
net or the treasure of the
Vatican.
? * *
Some day the childless
woman will be a "slack
er" in the truest sense,
and the greatest crown
and glory of life will be
More Life. To give the
world men and women is
to give it no mere Stamp
Collection or no mere
Theory of Mathematics.
? * it
There is no altar more
wonderful than that altar
in a darkened, pain-filled
room where a child gives
his first little cry and
where a Mother is born.
And the greatest nation of
the future will be the na
tion that guards its children as it does its public build
ings, the nation of men and women who feel that a baby
is more valuable than a Percheron or an Airedale.
homes, rather than the dusty, male
accumulation of what la dead.
Everything else may be bought
and sold, may have value today,
beauty today, and may be trash
tomorrow.
But childhood, the tendar, mar
velous little structure of delictus
flesh and blood, the awakening
eyes, the exploring feet, the little
voices taking a stronger and
stronger part in the family coun
cils?that Is the true richness, and
the only miracle we ever will know.
Women do not believe that now,
and civilization haa been so unjuat
to them and to their children that
it ia not astonishing that they do
not realize it.
The splendor of bearing, the tri
umph of knowing that from her
living and loving has sprung this
troop of bright-eyed, eager, re
sponsive children, and that she has
given to Life these ringing voices
and joyous laughs, these rich heads
of hair and dancing feet and bfisy
sunburned hands, is comparable to
no other richness in the world for a
woman! But too often financial
worry, physical breakdown, and
the contempt of the barren, pros
perous, well-corseted sister next
door have been before her eyes to
make her feel, in her hurt and
puzzled heart, that the selfish,
sterile way ia, after all, the way of
wisdom and peace.
CHILDLESS WOMEN SLACKERS
I think we are beginning to learn
that this is not true. And some
day all the world will know it, and
the chNdless woman will be a
"slacker" In the truest sense, and
the greatest crown and glory of life
will be More Life. To give the
world men and women is to give it
no mere Stamp Collections or no
mere Theory of Mathematics. Why,
children are the world, and the
woman with children is part owner
of the universe! |
^pHIS is no mere fallacy of a
sentimentalist? who happena to
love to hold a lumpy new baby in
her arms, and who feela that there
la no altar more wonderful than
that altar In a darkened, pain
filled room, where a child glvea his
first little cry and where a Mother
la born. This la the fundamental
truth, and the greatest h*tlon of
the future will be the nation that
realizes it first, the nation tnat
guards its children as It does its
public buildings, the nation of men
and women who feel that a baby
is more valuable than a Percheron
or an Airedale.
Whether our white gloves this
year have black markings on their
backs or white, and whether we
adopt the English custom of end
ing formal dinners with a "savory"
or continue to stop with Ice cream
and chocolate cake, are, of course,
questions of international Import
ance.
But when these are settled, could
we begin to discuss the absurdity
of "Bottles for Babies?" Could we
be the first nation In the world that
felt that combatting hunger and
want and preventable illness for
oi^r tiny, precious, irreplacable
citizens was as nice as collecting
Rubens or learning to smoke?
Could we work toward a govern
ment recognition of the women
who bear magnificent little boys
any girls, and could we?by the
potent argument that they are
worth the money?being ourselves
to respect, admire and envy the
mother of sons and daughters?
POWER OF MOTHERHOOD.
You fortunate mothers of many
children, begin the good work your
selves. Rejoice in them, boast
about them, and let the first emo
tion that attends the knowledge
that the present baby is about to
be ousted from his sinecure be on*
of pride and joy.
Eliminate froqj your lives all the
artifices and empty conventions
that have been put there by Idle
and barren women, and make your
home simply a safe, efficient, hap
py place for the children. They
are your excuse for the fact that
the plain deal .table Is washed
after every meal, and that you
have dispensed with table cloths;
they are your reason for not Join
ing the Dante Society, and for
dropping chopped nuts and stuffed
eegs permanently from your bills
of-fare.
You don't know how powerful
you are. You don't know how other
women feel. In their hearts, when
you say conclusively:
"Ah, but you haven't children!
And we have four, you know."
You let some other childless
woman shame you, make you?
who are four times a millionaire?
feel Inferior. But, believe me, she
goes on to her Dante Society with
a primordial Jealousy within her,
with a pain as old as all history
gnawing at her heart.
After all, If my mother had pre
ferred Dante, and yours had, you
and I would not be meeting today.
And what a bo lit Dante's mother?
I wonder if she rebelled, and talked
It over with some neighbor, and
suffered the neighbor's superior
pity, and regretted that now she
probably couldn't buy that bright
red peplum, It would look too
ridiculous!
(Copyright, lilt, by R?trab)lo SyBdleat?.)
This is one of a series of Woman
to Woman Talks on present day
family and sorW problems thai
Mrs. N'orris, America's best loved
and most popular woman writer, is
writing especially for The Wash
ington Times. Another talk will
be printed next Sunday.
Captured Foxes Play
With Police Dogs
LEWISTOWN. Pa. July 2J ?
8hsriff A. C. Kemberllng hss three
fins red foxes at large In the yafd
of jths county prison hers. They
play all day long with a brace of
polios dogs obtained by tbs sheriff
several weeks ago.
The foxes are half grown and
were oatight In a dsn In ths Seven
Mountains ssetloa W Howard