Newspaper Page Text
By E. L. RAINEY.
BEVERAGE USERS
GET S VERE SHOCK
LITTLE WORDS WITH BIG M.
ING FOUND IN GEORGIA’S NEW
ANTI-LIQUOR LAW,
THE HOME SUPPLY CURTAILED
Two Quarts of Booze, or Forty-eight
rints of Beer, or Four Quarts of
Wwine All the Consumer of ‘“Joy”
Wwater Can Have a Month.
It is astonighing what a big differ
ence there sometimes is between the
co-ordinate conjunction ‘“‘and” and
disjunctive ‘‘or.”” In the particular
case in question it makes a difference
to the average Georgia consumer of
“joy” beverags amounting to possibly
two jags a month, or the equiva’ent
thereof. 2
Erroneous Impression.
Translating the foregoing it may
he stated that in connection with the
anti-shipping prohibition bill recently
passed by the legislature and signed
by the governor there was a general
belief prevalent through the state
that it permitted the receipt monthly
by each individual of a maximum of
two quarts of whisky, four quarts of
wine and 48 pints of beer. Although
this would have ben a pretty respect
able amount of drinkables for the
average Georgian at least those of
ordinarily temperate habits. Even
those who have been accustomed to
keeping liquors in their homes and at
times entertaining friends thought
the measure allowed them ample lee
way.
This is the interpretation which the
press of the state has been consistent
ly putting upon the law, and news
paper men who had failed to make
apparent a careful study of it are
perhaps somewhat resonsible for the
general impression that has gone out
regarding it.
Meaning Misinterpreted.
This pre-conceived and much cher
ished notion as to the amount of ob
tainable dinkables even under rad
ical prohibition received a rude shock
this week in the announcement by
Senator A. S. J. Stovall, who, if not
the author of the bill, is at least the
father of it as that measure passed
the senate. This mistake which
the newspapers and the public
have made, according to Senator Sto
vall, is in using the conjunction
“and” instead of the conjunction
“or.” In other words, as Senator Sto
vall points out, the law permits the
receipt by any individual of two
quarts of whisky per month, four
quarts of wine or 48 pints of beer.
The individual may elect either one
of these he chooses, but he cannot
have any two or all of them. If they
should be found upon the premises he
could be called upon under the om
nibus prohibition law to explain their
presence there. This presence would
be take under the law as prima facie
evidence of possession of liquors for
unlawful purposes, regardless of the
habits and capacity of the individual
in question.
Enforcement Difficult.
While this is the law and attempts
may be made here and there under
the spirit of community sentiment to
enforce it there is already widely
spread and expressed belief even
among prohibitionists themselves,
that the average Georgian will get
and keep upon his own premises all
he wants in the line of drinkables,
and so long as he does not attempt
to dispose of it illegally or defy au
thorities to make a case against him.
Men who are in the habit of consum
ing drinkables and furnishing hospi
tality to their friends who call at
their homes are already talking of
storing a barrel or two away in the
cellar against the day of drouth.
A prominent state senator who
stood foremost in the ranks of those
voting fr the radical prohibition bills
was heard to remark publicly upon
the street the other day that the an
ti-shipping bill would not interfere
with him. He was quoted as saying
he had a thirty gallon barrel of corn
whisky now in storage in his cellar
and knew how to get just as much
more as he might want of it.
“But we have stopped the indis
criminate traffic in it"” he said, “and
that is what we wanted to do.”
EXISTS ON COFFEE, BUT IS
AN EMACIATED WRECK
Thirteen Year Old Girl an Example
of What Berry Will Do for One.
What coffee will do to you if you
stick to it long enough and closely
enough is shown by 13-year-cid Kate
Larber of Baltimore, who since she
was 14 months old has taken virtu
ally no nourishment bui coffee, which
she drinks in large quantities, some
times 20 cups a day, according to her
frandmother.
The child, says the grandmother,
has been at hospitals for treatment,
but she never has been persuaded to
eat. Though emaciated and unable
to stir from the couch where she lies
all day she appears perfectly normal
n other ways, talks intelligently and
is perfectly content if supplied with
ce balls and coffee.
She has never been able to attend
School or indulge in the ordinary pas
time of ¢hildren. Never has she eat
€ll meat vegetables or bread.
THE DAWSON NEWS.
'GUERRY BRANNON
PUT INRIGHT LIGHT
1
A disleading Item Was Sent Out
Under Eufaula Date Line
' Coneerning Him.
The numerous friends here of Mr.
L. G. Brannon, will read with both
interest and pleasure the following
card from his attorney, Judge J. R.
!Pottle. Mr. Brannon is confident of
being acquitted by the courts of any
! blame for the failure of the George-
I town bank:
¢ “The news item published under an
| Eufaula date line in reference to Mr.
L. G. Brannon, of Georgetown, Ga..
|does him an injustice which I am
|sure you will be glad to correct.
. “Mr. Brannon was a guest at my
jhome when informed over the tele
[ phone that a warrant had been issued
{against him in connection with the
' recent failure of the Bank of George
town. No effort was made by him
to conceal his whereabouts, and this
is made manifest by the fact that he
was immediately located over the tel
ephone after the warrant was issued.
He at once called up the sheriff and
indicated his willingness to return
immediately to Georgetown, but
since his business here had not been
concluded the sheriff told him to wait
!until Sunday. lam informed that he
lreached home Sunday in the fore
l noon, and that his friends very readi
lly made the bond required by the
court.
‘ “Those who are acquainted with
with Mr. Brannon’s high character
’are unwilling to believe that he has
| been guilty of any illegal or fraudu
!lent conduct in reference to the
Ibank‘s affairs; and I think it is due
him that the unfair impression creat
ed by news reports from Eufaula
should be corrected. J. R. POTTLE.
“Albany, Ga., Nov, 22, 1915.”
r Y
T™WO KILLED WHEN
X ) m
AUTO TURNS TURTLE
—_—
PARTY IN WHICH WAS STEVE
PACE, FORMERLY OF DAWSON,
I HAS TRAGIC END.
The overturning of an automobile
near Buena Vista Thursday resulted
in the dath of two of the occupants
land probably fatal injury to another,
while four others escaped with only
severe bruises.
Miss Edith Hildreth of Live Oak,
{Fla.,, 18, was Kkilled instantly, her
! neck being broken and skull crushed.
Henry Lanier, aged 20, driver of the
car, was crushed beneath the steer
ing wheel, dying at 4:30 o’clock at
Ellaville, where he was taken after
the wreck.
Miss Sarah Tower, of Americus,
aged 19, was perhaps fatally injured,
and her recovery is considered very
doubtful. O. S. Pace of Americus
<ustained a sprained ankle and minor
injuries. Miss Mary Belle Hixon had
her foot badly cut, and Miss Mildred
Hollis and John Flournoy of Ameri
~cus escaped with minor scratches.
The party was going from Ameri
cus to Columbus for a Thanksgiving
| dinner party. The accident resulted
fwhen a tire burst. Physicians were
rushed to the scene and the injured
| brought to the Americus hospital.
| Miss Hildreth was the guest of Mrs.
1.. G. Council of Americus. Her body
' was sent to Live Oak, Fla.
SLATON INVITED TO
JOIN PEACE PARTY
To Sail For Neutral Countries Dec. 4
as Guests of Henry Ford. Promi
nent Persons Have Accepted.
NEW YORK.—Henry Ford tonight
said he had received acceptances from
Thomas Edison, John Wannamaker,
Miss Jane Addams, Miss Helen Kel
ler, Mrs. Garland Spencer and B
Howe to his proposal to take the
American Peace Commission to neu
tral Scandinavian countries in an ef
fort to end the war.
Governor Manning of South Caro
lina and former Governor Slaton of
Georgia have received invitatins Mr.
Slaton has been in New York sev
eral weeks.
In his telegram the Detroit manu
facturer says: ‘I am cabling leading
men and women of the European na
tions to join us en route, and at some
central point to be established later
establish an international conference
dedicated to the negotiations leading
to the just settlement of the war.”
The entire expenses of the expe
dition are to be defrayed by Mr.
Ford.
THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER
NOW CARRIES WALKING STICK
WASHINGTON.—The president’s
daughter, Eleanor, has just made the
capitol gasp by carrying a cane.
Now Washington socie‘y women
are putting in rush orders for walk
ing sticks. The fad is bound to be
the rage since the president’s daugh
ter and wife of Secretary of Treasury
MecAdoo started it. The cane Mrs.
MecAdoo ecarried is an ebony-hued
piece with a crooked handle inlaid
with silver. Sometimes she swings
DAWSON, GA., TUESDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 30, 1915.
LITTLE BOY PLAYING HORSE
ATE POPCORN AND DIED
After Being Driven a While Was Fed
and Died a Few Hours Later.
MOULTRIE, Ga.—Soon after he
learned to totter around Sheldon
Wilson, two-year-old son of Mr. and
Mrs. Ralph Wilson, liked to play
horse ever so well. Sometimes he
wanted to be the driver and again
he wanted to be driven. It's an inno
cent little game and that a tragedy
could grow out of it seemed a remote
possibility—but one did.
Saturday afternoon Sheldon was
acting the horse, and to make the
game more realistic his little driver
carried along some popcorn for his
prancing ‘“steed.” The little boys
hadn’t driven long before it was time
to feed. Carrying out his part Shel
don swallowed several grains of the
corn,
A few hours later he became vio
lently ill. Everything possible was
done to give him relief, but the
rough edges of the corn had perfor
ated the child’s intestines, and death
followed late in the day at the home
of his grandparents at Ochlocknee,
where Sheldon and his mother were
visiting.
SLAYER WASDEAF
TO VICTIM'S PLEAS
MATRONI'S BODY TRAMPLED IN
TO NEW MADE GRAVE AS HE
BEGGED FOR MERCY.
WIDOW REVEALS THE CRIME
Murderer Points Out the Place, and
Confesses His Guilt. Brutal Crime
Revealed After Months.
BATAVIA, N. Y.—Luigi Matroni
was buried alive in the cellar of his
home near Corfu in May, 1914, his
body being trampled into a newly
made grave while he still begged for
mercy, according to a story told by
his widow to District Attorney Coon
here today. Antonio Boliva, the al
lezed murderer, pointed out today
the spot where the crime took place
and a body was found which Mrs.
Matroni identified as that of her hus
band. Boliva has confessed, the dis
trict attorney said.
Witnessed Murder.,
Boliva, who is Mrs. Matroni's son
in-law, is serving a six months’ pris
on term for stabbing. Mrs. Matroni
came from Syracuse to tell the story
of the murder, which she declared
she and her young son had witness
ed. Her long silence, she said, was
due to fear of Boliva, who had threat
ened her and her son. When she
learned he was in prison she felt safe
to tell.
Mrs. Matroni said that her husband
was felled by a blow from a pickax
handle wielded by Boliva. He was
knocked unconscious, but revived be
fore the grave had been dug in the
cellar. He pleaded with Boliva for
mercy just before he was thrown into
the pit and trampled under the
ground, she says.
Boliva Confesses.
| After hearing the woman’'s story
’Coon and Sheriff Edgerton took Bol
iva to the farm where the Matronis
formerly lived. Boliva at first denied
knowledge of the murder, but later
he confessed and told the men where
to dig, said District Attarney Coon.
They found the body under nine feet
of earth, the house having been torn
down and the cellar filled in after the
Matronis moved away.
Boliva killed Matroni, he told the
district attorney, because after his
’marriage to Matron’s stepdaughter
tshe told him that Matroni attacked
“her the day before the wedding.
)(‘l)3'\']("]‘]«]!) OF SHIPPING
l WHISKEY IN COFFINS
ifihipping Clerk and Company Found
| Guilty in ¥Federal Court.
. CHATTANOOGA.—Frank Fox, the
Eshihping clerk for the Teunessee Cof
jfin and Casket Company, and the
\company were found guilty in federal
;court here today of shipping liquor
into adjoining states without proper
]y labeling the packages. T. C. Bet
terton, police commissioner of Chat
tanooga and manager of the com
pany; L. C. Mylius, superintendent,
and A. G. Smith, salesman, were ac
quitted.
The company and its four employes
were indicted on charges that it had
'been the custom to enclose bottles of
:WhiSkY in coffins shipped to various
parts of the country. Betterton de
clared he was ignorant of the prac
tice for some time, and when he
learned of it he ordered it discon
tinued.
it in her hand and sometimes she
hooks it over her arm.
Nearly every afternoon now Mrs.
McAdoo dons a smart-tailored walk
ing suit and with Miss Helen Wood
row Bones, the president’s niece, goes
for a long walk. The other day the
president and Mrs. Galt passed the
pair. Mrs. McAdoo laughed and wav
ed the cane at them. That gave the
official stamp to the fad—and so “‘car
rying a cane” is the thing.
LEADS HUNT FOR
FORMER PIRATE AND SEA CAP
TAIN DECLARES HE 1S ONLY
HOLDER OF SECRET.
SEARCHING EXPEDITION STARTS
With Mysterious Maps and Accompa
nied by Guard He Leaves For Aus
tralia. Says He Saw the Wealth
of Booty and Handled It.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Another
treasure-hunting expedition is on the
way to the South Pacific. This time
it is backed by thirty business men
of the Missouri Ozarks, and is led by
the white-haired old sea captain, Jas.
Brown, who, in gpite of his 81 years,
tells with vivid memory the thrilling
story of how he saw buried on this
secret island 386 tons of gold, silver
and diamonds, worth, according to
his calculations, $60,000,000.
The treasure party left Kansas City
recently under such secrecy that
nothing of its departure was learned
until it was well on its way to San
Francisco. Then it leaked out that
the leader, who says he is a former
pirate, wanted to maintain absolute
secrecy, ‘‘because the island where
the treasure lies buried belongs to
England and if John Bull knew we
were going after it he would send a
battleship to stop us.” |
It is possible, however, that he se
lected the present time for the expe
dition because Great Britain's battle
ships are so busy in European waters
that it is not likely they have time
to try to save the treasure.
At San Francisco the party was
scheduled to embark for Sydney, Aus
tralia, where a schooner will be out
fitted for the real work of discover
ing the island locating the hidden
loot. And that ought to be easy, for
the old sea dog has maps of that part
of the sea, and on one of these
appears the island with arrows point
ing to the exact spot where the treas
ure is. In fact, Brown told his
friends he would be back by Christ
mas loaded down with gold.
Says He Seaw Treasure,
“I know that 4reasure,” said Cap
tain Brown. ‘“l've seen it. I've stood
over it. I've seen dead men by the
score lying around there. I've seen
n‘svoro of them murdered for that
treasure. I know how much there is
of it., I figured it to be $60,000,-
000, or thereabouts. The treasure is
in gold sovereigns, gold bars, bullion,
silver dollars. There are gold cross
es, gold plate and gold angels that
they took out of churches, and plenty
of diamends as big-.as hazel nuts. I
was first mate, and when it came on
board I took count and entered it on
books."”
This is the way the old captain
told it to his prospective backers in
Kansas City, Springfield and Mount
ain Grove.
He's Said That Before,
Of course it i€ not the first time he
has told his story. He told it in Lon
don and organized an expedition that
was wrecked. He told it in New York
in 1913 and formed a company with
some wealthy New York, Chicago and
St. Louis men back of it. That ex
pedition failed because it never start
ed. The newspapers heard of it and
printed the history of dozens of sim
ilar treasure-hunting expeditions
based upon mysteriously obtained
maps of Cocos Island, which had sail
ed and returned without a dollar’'s
worth of treasure. This seemed to
discourage the financial backers of
the New York expedition and they
refused to furnigh the funds.
Now, after ail, Brown’'s story is a
modified version of the Cocos. Island
tale. It is based upon the same fab
ulous wealth that history insists the
bandit sea rovers plying off the coast
of South America about the year
1820 took from the churches and
treasure houses of the natives and
buried on Cocos Island. History has
it that to this day no one knows what
became of the millions. Brown claims
he helped transfer them to another
island some thirty years later, and
adds a touch of realism with his sto
ry of the captain’s plot to murder all
the crew, from which he alone escap
ed after shooting the captain through
the head at the last.
STILL THE CRY IS
FOR MORE TAXES
Now Proposed to Increase Burden as
Means of Meeting President Wil
son's Defense Plans.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—lncrease in
internal taxation rather than issu
ance of bonds to meet the first year’s
expenses of the administration’s de
fense program is advecated by Sec
rtary McAdoo of the treasury in a
formal statement issued tonight giv
ing an estimate of the federal gov
ernment’s revenues and expenditures
up to the end of the fiscal year be
ginning next July.
Assuming that congress will con
tinue in effect the present emergency
tax law and customs duty on sugar
the secretary estimates that $112,-
806,394 in additional revenue will be
needed for the expenditures for 1917,
including $93,800,000 for new meas
ures for national defense.
I.»\Lh MEMBERS FLOCKED TO THE
DESK LIKE FAMOUS NEW
* YORK BREAD LINE,
PROF. MATHESON TOOK THE TIP
And Provided the Lawmakers With
seats at the Football Game. An
Interesting Little Story From the
Georgia Capitol.
ATLANTA, Ga.—Members of the
house and senate got their free tick
ets to the Tech-Auburn football
‘game, all right, and thereby hangs
}a. right interesting little story.
| Thursday morning one of the news
peper men who report proceedings of
‘the house suggested to one of the
members of the house that somebody
ought to call up the authorities at
Tech and tactfully indicate that the
legislators would not object to see
ing the game free of charge.
“Fine idea,” said the member of
the house. ‘Go to it.”
Given Tip.
The scribe called Tech school, got
Dr. Matheson on the telephone and
said as a newspaper man who felt
very friendly to the institution he
would like to give Dr. Matheson a tip.
which was that members of the leg
islature were saying they got free
tickets to tihe Tech-Georgia game,
bhefore appropriationse were vofod;
upon, but had got none to the Tech-
Auburn game, after :I])l)r()px'inti()nsl
had been voted on, and after the,
house and senate had given Tech thei
increase it asked for. 1
If there's anything Dr. Matheson
(‘i«lll'd() it is to take a tip, and he‘
thanked the newspaper man wurmlyi
and declared he would attend to Lhe|
matter at once.
Tickets Furnished. l
Thursday afternoon just hcfore'
the house and senate adjourned for
the day, Col. John T. Boifeuillet, the |
clerk of the house, and D. F. Mec-
Clatchey, secretary of the senate,
made the welcome announcements
that they were prepared to furnish
the members tickets.
And the way members of the house
and senate flocked to their desks was
like the famous Fleischmann bread
line.
\
\
DANAGE SCITS FRON
\
X \
SHOW TRAIN WRECK
\
ONE ASKS $25,000 ANP TWO OTH
ERS WANT $2,500 KFOR IN
JURIES SUSTAINED.
COLUMBUS, Ga.—Three damage
suits against the Central of Georgia
railway were filed in the Muscogee
guperior court here today, one of
them for $25,000, being the first of
the suits resulting from the wreck
of the Central passenger and the Con
T. Kennedy carnival train.
Alleging through her attorney,
an Atlanta lawyer, that her hus
band, O. H. Johnson, lost his life
in the wreck his body being burned,
Mrs. O. H. Hawkins, who remained
in Atlanta when the carnival com
pany left for Girard, asks $25,000
damages. She states that her hus
band was connected with the penny
arcade, and that he was earning
about $4O a week when he was
killed.
Two Other Suits,
Two other suits for $2,500 each
were filed in the superior court to
day, they being filed by local attor
neys. The Central of Georgia is made
the defendant by Samuel A. Engle
and John Johnson. Both men ask
damages in that they were injured
in the wreck, both suffering strained
backs and legs and cuts and bruises,
which will take them away from the
carnival, and. therefore take away
their soumce of making a living.
LET PYING WIFE KISS BABY
AFTER HE CUT HER THROAT
Miner Grants Last Request and Then
Commits Suicide.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Henry H.
Reeves, a miner, cut his wife’'s throat
with a razor and after he had granted
the wounded woman's gasping re
quest to kiss their baby good-bye kill
ed himself with the same weapon.
The child in its bloodstained dress
was laid baeck in its cradle still sleep
ing. Reeves left an incoherent note
in which he said that his wife loved
another man better than she did him.
FRANCE TO SPEND MILLIONS
FOR AMERICAN MACHINERY
It is increasingly evident that if
the race for trade caused the great
war the cause will not disappear with
the coming of peace. All of the war
ring nations are looking ahead and
are constructing schemes of com
mercial preparedness to meet the
fierce competition of their rivals after
the end of the war and to render
easier the rebuilding of the industries
destroyed or crippled in the great
conflict.
VISITORS QUESTIONED AND
GUARDS DOUBLED AT CAPITOL
To Keep Bombs From Being Placed
in Government Buildings,
WASHINGTON, D. C,—The watch
fulness of the guards about all of
the principal government build
ings in the capitol has been redoub
led on orders. Guards stationed at
strategic positions commanding all
the entrances to the building which
houses the state, war and navy de
partments were under orders today
to question and if necessary search
any persons of whom they had
doubts. Any one carrying a package
of any sort was subject to question
ing. Hundreds of tourists go through
the building daily.
Since a bomb explosion wrecked a
room in the capitol last summer and
bomb plots generally have kept the
government detectives busy there
has been more than usual activity
among the guards here now, but the
watch is even more strictly kept.
Guards employed by railroad com
panies are constantly on duty in the
railroad tunnel leading to the bridge
over the Potomac river, which is the
principal gateway to the South.
iSTARVATION STALKS
| ABROAD IN MEXICO
Women and Children Eat Poisonous
Plants and Drop in the Streets
¥From Dire Hunger.
Women and children in Mexico
City of the poorer classes are starv
ing. Conditions there beggar de
scription, said Dr. C. J. O'Connor,
who has just returned from Mexico
City, where he was head of the Amer
icam Red Cross work.
“The death rate, especially in Mex
ico City,” said Dr. O’Connor, ‘‘is ex
ceedingly high. 1 have seen women
and children, along with dogs, dig
ging in garbage piles for a bit of food.
On the outskirts of the city I have
seen them living on pigweed, alfalfa,
and parts of the century plant. These
weeds are poisonous, but they are
boiled in pots and eaten. The people
have nothing else. Eating them
causes death by dropsy eventually.
Children Drop in Streets.
“The children are in a terrible con
dition. Frequently calls come in at
the hospital to attend persors, often
children, wno have dropped in liha
streets. In most cases it was from
stervation. We be'ned all we counla,
but such cases could not be kept long
er than three or four days.”
Dr. O'Connor said the average
wage of a Mexican laborer, when
work was tc be obtained, was about
75 cents to a $1.50, Mexican money.
“Just before I left Mexico Clity,”
said he, ‘1 saw in a shop window a
loal of bread, weighing probahly two
pounds, placarded with the price $2.
There is very little work to be bhad,
and naturally men cannot buy food
at such prices.
“Business ig at a =tandstiil. Vir=
tually all shops, hotels and restau
rants are closed. Crops this vear are
far below normal. There is food in
Mexico, but it is hoarded and sold at
exorbitant prices."”
BECOMES HEIRESS |
TO $33,000,000 ESTATE
Unexpected Kink Upsets Will of €,
W. Post and Gives Entire KFoirt
une to His Daughter.
Startling complications involving
the $33,000,000 estate of the late C.
W. Post, Battle Creek millionaire and
manufacturer of breakfast foods,
have developed. It is said that the
entire ‘ortune v.ill go to his dauzh
ter, Mrs. Marjorie Close, regardless
of his carefully prepared will.
In a suit against the Post eslate,
started by the state of Michigan to
collect inheritance tax, it was
brought out ‘that several years ago
Mr. Post went through the bank
ruptey court.
Post Was Only Agent.
In the testimony given at the time
he stated that his cereal company
had been founded on $750, which
had been saved by the first Mrs. Post,
and placed to the credit of their
daughter, Marjorie.
Mr. Posi also stated then that the
company was the property of Marjo
rie, and that he was only her agent.
This had never been contradicted,
according to the records, and: Mrs.
(Close will become the sole owner of
the company.
The second Mrs. Post was the prin
cipal beneficiary under the will. It
is denied that there had been any
friction between Mrs, Close and her
stepmother. It is stated that an ami
cable understanding exists between
the two, and that Mrs. Post will share
“largely’’ in the estate.
As an example: A French trade
commission representing the indus
trial, commercial, agricultural and
banking interests of France is now in
this country to arrange for the pur
chase at the conclusion of the war
of at least $160,000,000 worth of
structural iron and steel machinery
and industrial supplies.
Prior to the war this great annual
supply of machinery was imported
{rom Germany.
VOL. 34—NO. 14.
LONG LIST OF FIRES IN SAINT
LOUIS SAID TO BE RESULT ;
OF AN “ARSON TRUST.” $
A PROFIT OF OVER $2,500,000"*
l(‘onfesnion of an Insurance Agent
Causes Arrest of Prominent Citi
" zemns . An Arson Conspiracy Is Al
leged to Have Existed,
ST. LOUIS.—An unusual trial was
begun in St. Louis Monday as the
culmination of eharges that there has
existed in this city a widespread arson
conspiracy. A long list of fires whish
have occurred in St. Louis, with evi~
dences of incendiary origin, is esti- '
mated to have netted the conspira
tors in the alleged arson cases a prof
it of some $2,600,000 in the past few
years. In view of this prevalence of
‘incendiarism the police had long been
on their guard, but it was not until
Sept. 11 last that they confirmed
their suspicions by thé alleged con
fession of Herbert O. Baker, a fire
insurance agent.
Baker was arrested on the night
of Sept. 11, a few hours after four
men, afterward referred to as
“torches,” were taken as they were
unloading four barrels of gasoline:
at plant of the Christen Bellows Man
ufacturing Co. :
The arrest of these four men was
due to the fact that the head of the
firm had revealed details of a plot
to have his own factory fired—a plot
which he told the police had been
proposed to him by an insurance man
and which he pretended to enter into
in order to assist the police in the de
tection of the guilty. :
Several Groups Working.
After Baker had made a statemgnt
to the police it was announced at
detective headquarters that Baker
had revealed, not the existence of an
“arson trust,”” but that several
groups of men, working on similar
lines, had conspired with heads of
business firms to set property on fire *
that the firms might collect excessive
insurance. An insurance agent al
ways was in these plots, according to
the story, and he was to reap his
profit by getting commissions on the
excess insurance written before the
fire. @ Bl i
The grand jury began an inquiry -
into the arson conspiracy on Sept. 16,
and returned final indictments on
Qct. 1. The foollowing were in
dicted: ¥
Roy M. B. Todd, mayor of Webster
Goves, Mo., a fashionable suburb of
St. Louis, president of the Nixon-
Jones Printing Co. whose five-story
plant was burned on the night of
Sept. 4. Barrels and boxes of gaso
line were found in the basement of
the printing plant after the fire, the
police said. Befcre his indictment
‘Todd had brought a $lO,OOO damage
suit against Assistant Fire Chief
'Rucker because after the fire Rucker
‘ would not give him free access to the
‘burned printing house.
| Charges Against Bersch.
Julius R. Bersch, vice president of
the Bersch Insurance Agency Com
pany. Bersch was named in the same
indictment as Todd in connection with
|t'm> Nixon-Jones fire. The'indictment
'was based on testimony that Bersch
/in trying to arrange a plot to fire the
(Christen Bellows Company plant had
' referred to the Nixon-Jones fire and
'had eaid that Todd weuld get the
| insurance.” Bersch also was indicted
'for alleged participation in the fire
'that destroyed the Gilmore-Bonfig
' Decorating Co. establishment on July.
24, and for the projected burning of
the Christen Hellow% factory. :
Harry G. Gilmore} head of the Gil
more-Bonfig Decorating Co., for al
leged complicity in burning the estab
lishment of that concern.
Harry Imel, secretary to Gilmore,
indicted in connection with the Gil
more-Bonfig fire.
Edward Milner, alleged ‘‘torch,”
accused in connection with the Gil
more-Bonfig fire; also in connection
with the alleged attempt to fire the
Christen Bellcws plant: ; Z
Otto F. Leman, insurance adjuster,
indicted in connection with the al
leged plot to set fire to the Christen
Bellows plant. ;
Morris Greenberg, Max Greenberg
and Michael O’'Connor, alleged
“torches,” indicted in connection
with the plot to fire the Christen Bel
low establishment.
BOYS WILL BE BOYS g
ALL THE WORLD OVER
And the Humorous Prank of m
Youthful Georgians Prove lt.a}'"’fls
GUYTON, Ga.—Autoists, meto fZ;-
and others who drive into Springfield
over the Guyton road are M%é
ed at a signpost near the public higi
way as one approaches the coumty
site, which reads;® 7 o S SR
“Speed Limit 45 Miles Per Hour."
Imagine, if you can, an auto Zoim %;
through a little village in Georgia at
45 miles per howr, . o Gl
The sign was not always thus. ' The
speed limit was originally 15 miles
ver hour, plainly painted on the posts
But the mischievousness of the
American youth asserted itself, and
with a deft stroke of brush and paint
lthe numbers were easily changed to
read 45 instead of 15. ;j?“»f o
el B R e