^B ^B * hb ^B Hi Hi ^B( ^B ^Hh^B ^Hw^m HB ',- bb' 'HB 91 91 " : jSSlSy I * ■ '' % *d VO THIRTY-SEVENTH YEAR—No. 271 •*- -■, ■ . , • —■■ __-u ■ GOOD ROADS, bright sunshine and warm water drew hundreds of visitors to the beaches at Padre Island and Boca Chica over Sunday. More venturesome folk have been bathing for several weeks in the surf at both places and a few of the really hardy ones have been enjoying a plunge at intervals throughout the winter. But Sunday might be said to have officially opened the season in the Valley. Hundreds of bathers were in the water and playing along the sand from early morning until late at night. * * * In fact a very creditable Easter showing of ‘‘what will be •worn on the beaches during the season of 1929” was made in the early after noon hours. And it was an advance showing, for folks at Corpus Christi, closest competitor of the Valley for early opening beaches, will not begin to really enjoy the water for a week or two at least and it will be fully 30 days before Galveston draws crowds of bathers. Possibly Miami and other Flor ida resorts already are enjoying the beach season, but out in California, where the chilly waters of the Pacific bathe the coast, the most enthusiastic lovers of the water will fight shy of the surf until early May and then their bathing will be done at mid-day. The big rush will begin in June. Come to the Valley. • * THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY, once considered isolated from all the outside world, continues to move closer and closed to other centers of population. The remark was inspired by the I voting Saturday of road bonds at Alice to finance paving of a road from there to the Live Oak county | line toward George West in that | ccv v Li ak already has financed I her ajrion of the road. i Conniption of the highway will open a new route between the Valley and San Antonio and will shorten the distance approximately m 30 miles. A highway direct to Houston is under construction and soon will be a reality. Shortens the distance 50 miles or more to that city. Il Eventually the highway through ml Kenedy county, north of the Wil [ : lacy county line, will be opened, k shortening distances again. I Conditions quite different in this ■ day of paved roads, fast trains and H i airplanes from the day when the flj few citizens living in this section I drove horses over indistinct trails if to the “outside.” Some used oxen. I ; Or when they boarded a sailing Ilf vessel off Point Isabel and after I j many weary days of traveling I : reached Galveston or New Orleans, in • * I BEAUTIFICATION of Valley !■ highways long has been urged by l*j citizens. I C. A. Bradshaw of Corpus I | Christi. superintendent of main ||l tenance for the state highway de m partment in South Texas^Jas^an I I nounced inauguration-tT^a cam ■h, paign which will meet general K H approval. U s Announces all signs on right of V i way will be removed. Also all I vendors will be moved off. m A recent tour disclosed many if violations of state law in these | l matters, Bradshaw says. I ; They not only are unsightly but I I *re considered a menace to traffic. I | Announcement also is made that MM portions of the highway now only | f 16 feet wide will be widened by il B adding gravel shoulders and top m I ping these with heavy oil. ■ y Will do much to prevent colli Ifl sions and encourage greater use of W | the highway. I AlDRICHfiETS || ATTORNEY POST K B Moody Says He Appointed H I Man Not Affiliated With || -:| Political Factions I AUSTIN. April l.—i.P—Oliver C. HH Aldrich of San Juan, was appoint Bfged district attorney of the 79th dis Bfl trict by Governor Moody today. He ■ ■fills the vacancy caused by the ■■death of Samuel H. Woods of Alice. ■ | The district is composed of the ■■counties of Jim Wells, Brooks. ■ ■starr, Hidalgo and Duval. Ald |B ■rich will soon move to Edinburg to ■■make his home. Governor Moody ■fi Aiferich is a veteran of the World H^Btrai^nd is not affiliated with fiyBeither of the political factions in iilBHidalgo county, the governor said. |gg| -11 “I turned down both crowds on ■nen they recommended and picked g|B|ne who was not a partisan in the ^■■campaigns down there,” he said. America and France Mourning Death of Myron T. Herrick PARIS, April 1.—(/P)—France today mourned the death of another of the men who helped it through the dark days of the war. United States Ambassador Myron T. Herrick was another nation’s son, but this country felt the loss almost as though he were her own. It is remembered how, when in 1914 German armies knocked at the gates of Pans and the governments fled to Bordeaux, he himself re fuesd to leave his post, though warned he might be killed. Death came to Ambassador Her rick yesterday at 4:10 p. m., after a sudden heart attack that left him within an hour lifeless, but with a smile on his lips. He was 75 years old. Shortly afterward Premier Ray mond Poincare told Colonel T. Bent ley Mott, assistant military at t&rfl6! “Anything that the French gov ernment can do shall be done. Am bassador Herrick’s family may ask! anything they please and it shall be done.” Papers Praise Him French newspapers appeared today with flaring headlines, “France has lost one of her greatest friends.” Columns were devoted to eulogies. A long procession of automobiles brought distinguished Frenchmen together with Americans residing here to sign the embassy register and express condolen'>. Madame Foch personally telephoned the ambassa dor’s daughter-in-law, Mrs. Parmely ck President Gaston Doumergue im mediately after he was informed of the ambassador’s death entrusted an expression of condolence on be half of the nation to Admiral Ve del, General Lasson, and Jules Michel, head of his civil cabinet, who called at the embassy to de liver it. Son In America There was an impression at the embassy today that the ambassa dor’s son would take the first ship to France and arrange to escort his father’s body back to the United States for burial at either Arlington or in Cleveland. Throughout the past winter ill ness weakened Ambassador Herrick but it was believed he was well on the road to recovery. He spent a bad night Thursday and his daugh ter-in-law—his wife died in 1918— telephoned Friday morning for Dr. H. Rabeau. Yesterday Mrs. Herrick was informed his condition wus critical and she called her husband in Cleveland over the telephone. An hour later she called him again to convey the message of his father’s death. ,, , Myron T. Herrick, diplomat, statesman, lawyer, banker and manufacturer, began his career selling dinner bells, parlor organs and lightening rods to the farmers of Ohio. From this humble start he rose, by virtue of his applica tion and ability, to the position of financier, promoter of great rail (Continued on pfige two.) ‘BUYER’ FOUND IN LIQUOR RAID Man Say* He Did Not Buy Evidence From Mr*. Lillian Deking AURORA, HI., April 1.—iff)—The man who made the “buy” in the Deking liquor raid case has been found. He is Philip Johnson, and he has told attorneys he did not purchase liquor from Mrs. Lillian Deking at all. The shooting to death of Mrs. Deking a week ago by a deputy sheriff took place at the Deking home during a raid made under a search warrant. Fairchild told authorities the complaint on which the warrant was obtained was inaccurate in de claring he personally had made the purchase. He said Johnson, son of a gas station owner at Batavia. 111., had been the actual buyer of the liquor, using money which Fair child furnished. Johnson, who volunteered his story to attorneys representing Jo seph Deking, said he did not buy the liquor at the Deking home, or from a woman, as the Fairchild complaint declared. The “buy” was made, Johnson said, “from a man in front of 'Stafford's filling sta tion,” which is near the Deking home. Carbary reiteraied his belief that Deputy Sheriff Roy Smith, who did the shooting, acted in self defense, believing that Mrs. Deking intended to shoot him after he had slugged her husband. Joseph. MAN IS REMANDED TO JAIL ON RUM CHARGE Hearing was held this morning before United States Commissioner E. K. Goodrich for Fortunato Her nandez, who was arrested near La Paloma Saturday charged with having 19 pints of Mescal m his possession. He was remanded to jail upon failure to make bond, which was placed at $250. The arrest was made at Hinkley’s pump near La Paloma bv United States Customs Inspectors E. R. McNabb and R. L. Campbell. The case will come up for trial in the May term of federal court. America and France alike to day were mourning the loss of Col. Myron T. Herrick. U. S. ambassador to France, who died suddenly Sunday afternoon after a heart attack. LOYS WILSON GETS 3 YEARS Spectators Hear Religious Hymns As Verdict Is Pronounced TYLER, Tex., April 1.—(/Pi—Loys Wilson, young garageman, who con tended unsuccessfully before a jury that his wife’s asserted affair with the Rev. Founts Wallace justified him in killing the handsome, 26 year-old preacher, looked today to the higher courts to overthrow a three-year sentence assessed him on Easter Sunday by a jury here. Within hearing of two religious services, through which hymns fre quently were interspersed, Wilson yesterday received a verdict of guilty in his trial for murder. Mrs. Wilson, a choir singer in the Troup minister’s church, testifying for her husband, had told a stor$ of long and extreme intimacy with the pastor. Wilson himself declared he slew the Rev. Wallace after Mrs. Wilson had promised to “put the preacher out of her life” and later had, in his opinion, by her acts showed she had broken the pledge. Prosecution witnesses submitted testimony seeking to controvert Mrs. Wilson’s story of two or three spe cific “love trysts” she declared she had with the Rev. Wallace. Wilson about a year ago walked up to Wallace, a former football player in Kentucky and a coach and civic leader in Troup. Drawing a pistol, he shouted “brother, prepare to meet your God,” and shot the clergyman down. Tire jurors deliberated nearly 24 hours before handing in their deci sion—that Wilson wras guilty of mur der “without malice aforethought.” VENIRE CALLED IN ADAMS CASE Trial Expected To Last Three Week*; Aspect of Slaying Changed DALLAS, April 1.—(/P)—A special venire of 500 was called today foi the second trial of V. Ray Adams farmer of Bartlett, charged with the murder of Orville L. Mathews, Dal las banker, here September 1. Since a previous trial, which re sulted in a mistrial, Adams hai been at Liberty under $25,000 bond Two weeks was required to hear tes timony in the first trial and it wa: expected the present hearing woulc last nearly three weeks. Development since the first tria were expected to affect the aspect of the present case. At the first trial Adams sought to prove he shol Mathews after the banker hac pocketed * $2,000 in election bei stakes which belonged to Adam; and a group of friends. Adams sale Mathews made a “hip-pocket” irtovi when confronted and ordered to pro duce the money. Since the first trial of Adams it has been proved to the satisfac tion of a jury that Mathews was th< victim of a clever forgery allegedly engineered by Ben C. Richards. Jr. one of the losing bettors. Richard: was given three years for forgery He is at liberty under $3,000 bom appeal, Jh uRIFFI STIR Rebel Ships l __■__ _ __ _______________ ESCOBAR SAYS LOYAL TROOPS ‘DEMOipED’ Chieftain Claims To Have Won Great 10 Hour Victory Near Esc Ion NACO, Sonora, April 1.—(/P>— A resumption of the rebel aerial bombardment of Naco began about 10 a. m. today. Two rebel airplanes appeared over the federal trenches and began dropping bombs. JUAREZ. Chihuahua, Mexico, April 1.—(A1)—Aided by fifteen air planes, Mexican rebels led by Gen eral Jose Gonzalo Escobar, today claimed to have won a victory in a ten-hour battle near Escalon Sun day in which 400 federals ws*e re ported killed and 1,500 taken prisoner. The rebels moved into the terri tory around Escalon Saturday night, it was reported at rebel headquarters here, and engaged the federal command about noon Sunday, fighting until nightfall. A rebel detachment was reported to be pursuing federal troops to ward Torreon. General Escobar indicated in his report that he W'ould remain in Escalon today but would start south tomorrow, on the heels of what he characterized as “demoralized government troops.” Among the federal officers re ported killed in the encounter, de scribed as “the initial battle of the campaign,” was General Eulo gio Ortiz. Two surprises were accredited by the rebel commander with having brought his troops victory. The rebel general said his march to ward Escalon had not been expect ed. The second surprise came, he reported, when fifteen rebel planes appeared over the battle field in the midst of the fighting. Most of the planes were unsuitable to syn chronized machine guns and the pieces were fteed to the floor, pointing downward. As the ships new over the battle front they were reported to have dropped scores of bombs on federal rein forcements attempting to come up from the rear. ATTACK ON REBELS AT WESTERN TOWN NEAR MEXICO CITY, April 1.—<£>>— The rebel west coast army was be lieved today to be entrenched at La Cruz, 64 miles north of Mazatlan, awaiting federal attack there. This attack was forming and General Plutarco Elias Calles. from his field headquarters in northern Mexico, notified the government he believed it would take place either tomorrow or Wednesday. First disclosures of fortifications at La Cruz, a small station near the Pacific ocean, came when airplanes flew over the town intending to drop bombs. The streets suddenly filled with soldiers, firing wildly. Each of four planes partaking in the raid was hit by bullets, and an observer was killed. The federals under command of ; General Lazaro Cardenas, and Gen eral Jaime Carrillo, defender of Ma zatlan. by abandoning the railroad ; and choosing to advance by high way, had their advance guard past the rebel stronghold and were in a position to cut in from Coyotitan and attack the rebels from the rear. In northern Mexico the govern ment trooDs under General Juan Andreu Almazan forsook the rail ; road yesterday and took to the j highway so as to quicken their ad ! vance toward Jimenez, which fed . eral planes continued to fly over during the day without sighting rebel troops. i No communications were received ■ from General Almazan since the • description Saturday night, relayed r here by General Calles, of the fight , which resulted in the rebel eban i donment of Rellano and Corralitos. Nine federals and fifty rebels were [ killed, with six federals and twelve (Continued on naae two.) NO GUNS FIRED;! ¥ * 1900 MAKE CAR * * * PULLING ‘HILL’ In this day of speed, the auto mobile, of the vintage of 1900 or thereabouts, doesn’t cut much of a figure. But a car of this date did Sun day evening. On its way up the incline to Matamoros, it began backfiring, with the regularity of a machine gun. lasting until it reached the Mexican side of the bridge. People in the immediate neigh borhood rushed to the bridge. Officers, civil and federal were on hand; officers on the Mexican side rushed to the scene, also. Rat-a-tat-tat, and a couple more blooeys—it was nothing but the backfire of the old benzine wagon making the “giade.” And that’s the story of a com motion create'1 Sunday evening at the bridge. It was not the firing of guns. ’PHONE OFFICE HERE IS SOLD Rio Grande Valley Tele phone Co. Also Takes Over Harlingen, Pt. Isabel Purchase of the Brownsville, Har lingen and Point Isabel Exchanges from the Southwestern Bell Tele phone Co. by the Rio Grande Val ley Telephone Co and taking over of operation of the new properties by the new owners was announced here today in a joint statement issued by G. R. Weber and J. C. Paxton. Mr. Weber is district manager for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. and Mr. Paxton is general mana ger of the purchasing company. E. E. Mockbee, manager of the Edinburg exchange is to be sent to Brownsville immediately as resident manager, Mr. Paxton announced. The Point Isabel exchange is to be operated under the direction of the San Benito manager and the new manager at Harlingen is to be nam ed in a day or two. Mr. Paxton also announced that plans for extending a cable to the municipal airport here, made by the formed owners, would be rushed to completion. The Rio Grande Valley Telephone Co. already owned the exchanges at San Benito, Mercedes, Donna, Ala mo, San Juan, Pharr, McAllen, Mis sion, Edinburg, Edcouch, Rio Hon do and Elsa. Mr. Paxtcn announ ced that an exchange would be op ened May 1 at Los Fresnos. Head quarters are at McAllen. “There is probably no other sec tion of the United States where ex ist such close ties between a large group of different towns as is true in the Lower Rio Grande Valley,” said Mr. Paxton. “The entire Val ley is an economic and social as well as geographical unit. It is es pecially desirable, therefore, that no obstacle exist to the fullest develop ment of telephone communications all over the Valley. It is generally agreed that the best telephone de velopment can b securd by having all properties in the hands of one company and under the nntrni of one management “Because of thes uus deal was arranged between tt* two com panies. and on April first our com pany took over the three properties of the Southwesctern Company, which rill give the Rio Grande Val ley Telephone Company a total of fiftee: ion :xchanges in the Valle; “Ii tb svn taken over by our company this time, it is our intention to continue the tele phone development along the same by the* Bell as ev GALLOGLY AND HARSH ENTER GUILTYPLEAS Sentence Ends Effort For Verdict After Two Juries Failed to Agree ATLANTA, Ga. April 1.—{SP)— George (Jimmie) Harsh and Rich ard G. Gallogly, wealthy former Ogelthorpe University students, to day pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to life imprison-’ ment. On agreement, the action was tak en immediately after Harsh, mem ber of a Milwaukee family, had been granted a new trial following his conviction and sentence to death for the murder of Willard Smith, a drug clerk, during a holdup. At nivpre vious trial he had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental ir responsibility. Gallogly was permitted to enter a similar plea and receive sentence after having been tried twice with out a jury agreement on a verdict. He was charged with the same of fense as Harsh. The latter admit ted the holdup and shooting and implicated Gallogly as his com panion, but Gallogly denied he had participated. 22 INJURED IN MISSOURI STORM Train Hits Tree Blown Across Track; Three Missing ST. LOUIS. April 1.—OP)—Twen ty-two injured, three missing, and thirty to forty farm buildings wrecked or damaged was the known toll today of an Easter storm that cut a swath through southeast Mis souri last night. Searching parties, under direction of the Poplar Bluff Red Cross chap ter, today attempted to make their way over highways strewn with trees and other debris to hiakfe a further survey. Reports indicated the storm, ac companied by a terrific downpour of rain and hail, originated near Hoxie in northern Arkansas and swept north as far as Bismarck, Mo., a dis tance of about 70 miles. The worst damage was in the Green Forest church community, three miles northwest of here, where many buildings were un roofed or wrecked and eleven per sons were injured. An inch of hail was left on the ground. The Missouri Pacific “Sunshine Special” which left St. Louis at 6:45 p. m.. struck a tree blown across the track north of Poplar Bluff. The train was not derailed, but windows in several coaches were broken and passengers were shaken up, KNIGHTS TEMPLAR GO TO SPECIAL SERVICE The annual Easter service of Brownsville commandry, Knights Templar, held at the First Baptist church in San Benito was well at tended, members from Brownsville reported. The sermon was preached by Rev. Sloan Batchelor, pastor of the Har lingen Methodist church. FOUR HIDALGO TOWNS HOLDING ELECTIONS IN M1SSII LANE . ! h n T. Raymond Finucane (above*, wealthy Rochester. N. Y., real estate operator, who was a pas senger on the amphibian plane, which disappeared after leaving Norfolk, Va., for New York. Robert Boyd (below) was the mechanic aboard. -— WAR LOOMS ON LONG CHARGES |W|| a L m 14*n£1 m i 8p ■ »* if wA a» \ j j | MCT m k. J U 1 g_ m UHI automobile tour wldch was to cove** the county before night and^whleftl Travis District court at Austin ini his contest for the judgeship of thfll 93rd district against J. E.. Leslie, infcfl cumbent and over the recommence*! tion of the house election investf**™ tion committe in Washington#*^ MJ the department of justice^^^ jj « At the- mass meeting toffl§b$, PaW| W&m leaders'Tjredict ther? will be 1 a crowd of 10,000 people, Griffin, | Dave E. Kirgan, mayor cl Weslaco, | and Frank B. Freeland, mayor off McAllen, are scheduled to speak. '-j The automobile caravan said to ft contain 100 cars, left Weslaco afcu 10:30 a. m. today going to Mercedes, i La Villa. Edcouch and Edinburg by # noon. In the afternoon the tour * was to continue to Pharr. McAllen, e Mission and back down the high-'f wav to Donna. It was exDected that 300 cars 1 would be in the parade leaving Ed- | inburg this afternoon. “This Is merely the beginning.” said Kirgan this morning. “Con tests filed in other district races will be pushed to the limit and every ef fort will be made to oust other members of other offices of the ad ministration declared elected.” Suits have been filed for practic ally every county office. HOUSE COMMITTEE ASKS INVESTIGATION WASHINGTON. April 1*—f/P>— The house special campaign ex penditures committee, in r report made public today recommended that the department of justice^ make a searching investigation of the election in Hidalgo county, Texas, last November, which it said was “tainted with wholesale . fraud I in various forms." The report said it was the opin-s ion of the committee that the j throwing out of returns from Wes- j laco was “utterly without justifiable grounds” and the “voting of thou- i sands of Mexican citizens or ntfc- j Baker machine paid poll taxes