Newspaper Page Text
Heirs Fight for
Wealth of Thief
Death of Bill the Brute, Clark
Parker of Pasadena, Starts
Contest for $1,000,000.
EX-BURGLAR DIED A RECLUSE
International Thief Invested an Inheri
tance and Quadrupled It—Biggest
Coup Was Robbery of Bank
f Lyons.
New York. — What would the old
cronies In crime of Chirk I’arker, once
Internationally Infamous as Hill the
llrute, burglar, thief and receiver of
stolen noods, say li they knew he left
im estate o| 51,000.00 u for eminently
respeetuhltf relatives and heirs to
squabble over?
Wlmt might >e the comment of his
one time pal, labile Guerin, bad man
from the West who achieved no end
of notoriety ns the only man ever
to e-rape from dread Devil’s island,
the French penal colony where Drey
fus and untold other unfortunates
languished? What would Fiddle th'nk
of that eool million, Fiddle who robbed
(be silk lined Hank of Lyons of 200,-
<mki francs with Hill the Hrute, but
who Imd to be sentenced to a Hritlsh
Jail pt sixty-one In 11*20 for niching
pehnles from n pedestrian?
Died a Recluse.
(’lark Parker (lied in Pasadena, Cal.,
In January, 1 922, a recluse millionaire,
aged eighty. For many years he was
well known to the police of America
and Europe, hut suddenly settled down
to ro pertnhlllty In Poston.
Ills brother, Benjamin Parker, was
el the time a resident of Boston and
one respected alike In business and
society. lie was the Molasses King
and he bequeathed his entire fortune
In trust to tie* ref< lined Clark. Clark
quadrupled It l>y -inefu! Investments
- honest Investments —and In 1010
moved to the Pacific const, living In
seclusion until Ids wife’s death, alone
after she was taken from him.
Bill the Brute did not win Ills broth
er's fortune without a bitterly fought
legal contest. Dr. Frederick P. Gay.
now a member of the University of
California faculty, his nephew, led a
band of relatives In a Joint attack on
the will and Its benefactor on the
ground that Benjamin Parker had been
unduly influenced.
Now Clark Parker Is dead and his
will divided the greatly enhanced for
tune of Benjamin Parker among the
Masons and F.lks of Los Angeles and
Pasadena and a long list of one-time
friends. A "birthday gift” of SI,OOO Is
all Doctor Gay Is supposed to get.
Again Doctor Gay leads a fight on
the will, lie and Jefferson H. I’nrker
of Boston are the nearest blood rela
tions left by old Bill the Brute. And
they have filed a contest on the ground
that the will and its codicils are Ille
gal, that the deceased was unduly ln
fluonced In drawing up the Instrument,
and furthermore incompetent.
Spoils Funeral; Rises From
Coffin as Lid Is Put On
Milan, Italy,-The coffin lid
was Just being fastened down
when Marla Battesinl, fifty-six
years old. who supposedly had
.dlisl the day before suddenly re
; jvlved and sat upright. The
: Wiests tied; relatives became
hysterical. Doctor* wyre sum
moned. ami the woman Is on the
: jroud to recovery.
Vanderbilt’s Palatial New Yacht
This shows the \rn, the new Stt.ooo,ooo yacht of William K. Vanderbilt,
upon which he rrrlved at Miami Beach, Fla. Its length is 217 feet; beam. 3fl
feet; draws 15 feet of water. It is equipped with two Immense Deisel engines.
The Ara was built by the French government during the war and was sold un
furnished to Vanderbilt who reconstructed the whole interior
prawdnent, for between them they are
to receive $.‘175,000 If the will stunds
unbroken.
Began by Killing.
Darker began his criminal career
when he was still In his ‘teens, killing
a seaman In a brawl aboard a sailing
vessel. He served a term in a Massa
chusetts penitentiary for the crime and
It started him on a series of depreda
tions In America, England, France and
Canada. In each of those countries he
served time.
All kinds of burglaries rnd thefts
received bis attention and lie commit
ted them under all kinds of names —
Clark I’arker, Charles I’arker, William
Stetson, George Goodman. Bill the
Truck Climbs
Over Ditches
Army Officers Try Out Tractor
Type Vehicle That Performs
Like War Tanks.
NEW DEPARTURE IN TRACTORS
Glides on Asphalt Pavement Without
Leaving Scratch, Then Goes Over
Ditches, Up Hills and Over
Roadless Territory.
Washington.—A truck capable of
carrying two and a half tons over
ditches, up hills and through roadless
territory, Just as did the tanks of
World war days, has been demon
strated to high army officers and mem
bers of the bouse and senate military
committees here, with a view to hav
ing the type udopted as standard for
the army.
With Assistant Secretary of War
Walnwright, General Pershing, officers
of the general staff and the ordnance
and supply departments of the army
and congressmen looking on, the 10,-
000-pound trnctor-truck went through
its paces, first demonstrating its speed
and practicability <n the asphalt pave
ment and not leaving a scratch on the
road's smooth surface.
Then came the tests for war uses.
Down the side of the embankment into
Hock Creek park It went, carrying
among its passengers MaJ. Gen. Wil
liam 11. Hart, quartermaster general of
the army. In this untraveled territory
the truck crossed successfully a net
work of ditches in the deep ravine be
low a bridge. Only once in the series
of tests to which the army tnnn had
the machine put did It falter. Straight
up the side of a ditch, at an angle of
about 40 degrees, it stnrted. Half way
up the frozen ground gnvo the rear
tractors no purchase, and for a mo
ment the truck hung there. With a
twist of the steering wheel the trac
tors bit the ground and up went the
big truck.
This “roadless truck" is anew de
parture in trnetors. Instead of the
usual leaf or coll spring that tnkes the
load of the great truck In crossing ob
structions It Is equipped with a sus
pension cable that spreads the weight
of the truck over the entire chasslr,
giving the huge bulk a pressure of
only 13V4 pounds a squnre Inch on a
hard roadway and OV4 pounds where
the steel shoes come In contact with
the ground softer surfaces. A
"snake track," having n mdius about
which the machine will turn, gives the
truck almost ns much flexibility as an
THE OANIELSVILLE MONITOR, OANIELSVILLE, GEORGIA.
Brw- was the title bestowed upon him
by envious rivals of his nefarious pro
fession when his career was at its
weight. Later, when he h. and lost his
nerve and contented hlmsel' with act
ing as a fence for stolen goods, that
Imposing nickname was changed tc
plain English Hill.
Parker's biggest coup was the rob
bery of the Bank of Lyons In 181*1,
planned and executed with the daring
Eddie Guerin, then the boldest and
shrewdest criminal In Europe, not to
say the most dapper. Eddie hired a
French ehautenu and lived in it with a
dazzling blonde from Chteggo while
they planned the robbery; ■•hut’s the
kind of a crook he was.
The robbery was accomplished
easily enough and I’arker and Guerin
went into a cemetery nearby to divide
the spoils. A sharp quarrel ensued
and In a moment of excitement and
anger Parker shot Guerin, seriously
wounding him. No sooner had Ire fired,
however, when he repented and at the
risk of capture assisted Guerin to I.on
don. Parker fled to Boston.
ordinary automobile and prevents the
sculling of the road so common in
tractors. A demonstration of bow the
weight is sprend out by the suspension
cable wns given by running the 10,000-
pound truck over a series of pine
blocks, leaving no marks on them, and
without Jarring the occupants. Asa
final demonstration of the ease with
which it can be manipulated Mrs. Wil
liam 11. Coburn of Chestnut Hill,
Mass., took the driver's seat and put
the big machine through all the tests
again.
The Construction of the truck Is a
distinct departure from all previous
types and It is the first one built In
this country. Built on the general prin
ciple of a suspension bridge, the road
less truck wns designed especially for
use In oil fields and other virgin ter
ritory where no roads exist. So per
fectly does this cable function. It 13
said, he machine could pass over a
mnn’s leg without seriously injuring it,
the weight not applying In one spot
ns In other types. Army experts be
lieve this type will help to solve the
problem of carrying heavy loads over
light roads without the resulting dam
age that hns led to so much protest
against the use of heavy cars on
boulevards and other smooth roads.
New Lubrication
One phase of peculiar Interest to
the technical men present was the
scheme of Interior lubrication, which,
they believe, overcomes one of the
principal difficulties to which tractors
have been subject. Heretofore in
running through sand there has been
much trouble over the mixing of sand
and oil, which quickly cuts the bear
ings. Tills new Invention forces the
oil out, the pressure being sufficient to
keep the sand from working Its way
Into the bearings.
The truck made the trip down to
Washington from New York at an
average speed slightly In excess of
nine miles an hour. The rubber tread
with which the front wheels and rear
tractors are equipped showed little
sign of wear.
Grass Used as Towels in Russia.
Petrograd.—Bundles of dried grass,
and flux are sold in the streets of
Petrograd, near ths public -hath
houses, to he used ns tow’eis by the
bathers. They cost but a penny or
so, and are thrown away after use.
Foreigners take their own towels, for
while the grass serves its purpose, it
Is too ticklish for their tender skins.
Saturn Is the lightest of all the plan
ets; its density Is only 63 hundredths
that of water.
BULLETS KILL AFTER 7 YEARS
Indiana Boy Shot In Head by Grief.
Crazed Father Succumbs
to Wounds.
Peru. Ind.—The death .of George
Dollar, aged sixteen, at the home of
his grnndfather on n farm near An
derson, recalls a tragedy at Maey, this
county, seven years ago, when George
Dollar, crazed by the death of his
wife, killed three members of his fam
ily, wounded his seven-year-old son.
George, Jr., and then went to the
grave of his wife and killed himself.
George lmd carried two bullets im
bedded in his skull since that time
and then died from an Injury to his
brain caused bv one of the bullets
which had been touching the brain.
Burlap Clothes Russia's Needy.
Moscow.—Millions of American bur
lap sack* which wen' brought to Rus
sia tilled with sugar, tlour, corn or rice
for the starving population are to be
made into garments to help relieve the
famine in clothing among the poor.
Tmihbhmi
(Prepared by the Natior.al Geographic So
ciety, Washlncr*on, D. C.)
Its ground traversed since our his
tory began only by. camels the Sahara
desert lias just been conquered by au
tomobiles which crossed tiie 2,000 miles
from Afgiets to Timbuktu in twenty
nine third of the time camels
would have required, The feat serves
to bring, into bold relief some of the
misconceptions we have been harbor
ing about the world’s greatest desert.
The chief and most persistent fal
lacy about the Sahara is tliat It Is a
“sea of sand.” Asa matter of fact,
while there is much sand, the desert
Is predominantly a land of rocky
plateaus and mountains.
There is the idea, too, that the
Sahara is tremendously liot. It Is —by
day. But at night the temperature
falls, often to below freezing in a few
hours. So well does this night cool
ness balance the extreme heat of day
that the mean annual temperature of
the-Sahara is no higher than that of
regions much farther north.
This great desert is used ns a
synonym for dryness.’ Except for a
few tiny oases It is ordinarily thought
of as “bone dry” throughout its entire
area. But in reality the mountains of
the Interior receive considerable pre
cipitation and are even said by some
travelers to be capped with snow dur
ing a part of every year. Further
more, area after area, formerly con
sidered hopelessly dry, is'being shown'
to have water available from artesian
xservoirs in the earth below
There are good enough reasons for
,he prevalent misconceptions and the.
general lack of knowledge about the
Sahara. It was known first from its
northeastern corner, where it stretches
westward from the Nile, and there it
is In truth a. "sea of sand.” The vast
-billowy, shifting dunes of the. Libyan
desert, then, inspired a striking word
picture which cafne to be applied by
The world to the Sahara. The fact
that, a band of sand dunes also extends
pretty much along the entire northern
edge of the great desert for a hundred
or more miles Inland from the Mediter
ranean coast, furnished further circum
stantial evidence to convict the Sahara
of being a "sea of sand. ’
Not Easy for Explorers.
The desolate sand dunes were enough
in themselves to discourage most
would-be travelers who might have
found the truth to the south. Add to
this that the people who came out of
the sands were fierce, fanatical war
riors who early established reputations
foi massacring strangers first and won
dering about their errands afterwards,
and it is small wonder that the Eu
ropean world went on century after
century without knowing anything
about the Sahara.
Behind the bulwarks of sand that
stretch in a semicircle from the Nile
>outli of the Mediterranean, below the
Atlas mountains and to the Atlantic,
I'es the real, and until recently the
unknown, Sahara. Recent estimates
are that loose sands make up between
only oi.e-tenth or one-ninth the area
of ’he Sahara. South of Algeria the
northern sands give way to rising,
wHkv ground, which leads to an exten
Old Wei 1 in a Sahara Oasis.
s ve plateau of massive rock, pebble;
and boulders, and finally 900 miles
from the coast are crags of the Hoggin
mountains, £,OOO to 9,000 feet high.
This roof-peak of the Sahara is almost
exactly midway between the Mediter
ranean and the Gulf of Guinea, and
not far front the half-way point be
tween the Nile and the Atlantic. From
11 plateaus slope in every direction;
but to the southeast the descent is only
temporary, for -further in that direc
tion lie other ranges, culminating in
the Tibestis with a peak 10,600 feet
high.
It is the highland portions ,of the
Sahara, regions strikingly different
from the sand dune sections, that are
the homes of the fierce Tuaregs—the
real “people of the desert” —who have
constantly preyed on the camel cara
vans that Arabs and Jews have sent
I eriodically from the Mediterranean
toward Central Africa.
Tuaregs, Land Buccaneers.
These people, natfves and rulers oh
the middle desert, are the allies of no
one, but wage a furtive guerrilla war
fare with all who invade their inhos
pitable domain. They are land buc
caneers, forever at war. with all civil
ization and its restraints. Masked
Tuaregs are Berber uonmds, a white
desert people, whose country Is prob
ably the most inaccessible bn earth,
Even before Egyptian civilization be
gan to leave coherent records of its
history, the Tuaregs, or Berbers, were
long established along Northern Africa,
The great Arab invasion of the
Eleventh century displaced them from
their possessions upon the Seacoast
and drove them into the savage area of
the interior desert, where, with, their
hands raised against all who come into
their pathless country, they have
maintained themselves through the In
tervealng centuries, despite paucity ol
water, (lust storms, and lack of farming
land, requisitioning by force of arms
from the Arabs and Egyptians, to the
north and east, and from the blacks
of the Soudan, hi the south, such neces
sities and luxuries as their cheerless
portion of mother earth cannot supply
them.
. There are five- main tribes in the
Tuareg confederation, and they inhabit
the desert from Tuat to Timbuktu and
from Fezzan to Zinder. These fierce
adventurers who have forced the great
desolation to yield them a support
number 300.000 or more, according to
estimate; and they have made them
selves feared by the nntlves from the
Mediterranean to the jungles of Cen
trul Africa.
The Tuaregs wear the end of thei.
turban cloth drawn around the face,
allowing nothing hut the eyes to be
seen. It Is worn for the purpose of
protecting the throat and lungs from
the cutting blasts of fine desert sand,
and also, probably, as an element en
hancing tiie mystery of their life, for
they seldom or never remove these
masks, whether roving over the desert
! or visiting in the cities on the coast.
Due to these cloths, they are called
Masked Tuaregs, while the Aralg call
them "People of the Veil.”