The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, August 29, 1931, Page 1

r ¢ ~ u a North Dakota’s Oldest Newspaper ESTABLISHED 1873 THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA, SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 1931 The Weather rally fair tonight an@ Sun- Gene: a somewhat warmer Sundey, PRICE FIVE CENTS elect Capitol Architects WEST VIRGINIA MAN LURED VICTIMS BY MATRIMONY OFFERS Bodies of Chicago Woman and Three Children are Found Beneath Garage PROMISES TO ‘TELL ALL’ Weakens After Night of Ques- tioning and Promises to Bare Details of Atrocity Clarksburg, W. V., Aug. 20.—(P)— Andrew Moore, Harrison county jail- er, Saturday announced that Harry F. Powers, alias Cornelius O. Pierson, 45, had confessed the murder of a woman end three children whose bodies were found under his garage Friday. Moore said Powers, who was locked up after a night of question- ing, promised to “tell all” later in the day. He was permitted to go to sleep after having admitted the crime and promising to sign a complete con- fession. Disheveled, red-eyed and nervous. the once-suave correspondent of mat- rimonial agencies was hustled back to his cell in the county jail at day- break. Saturday afternoon he asked that a minister be sent to him and his re- quest was granted. The man was al lowed to talk alone with the Rev. T. E. Gainer. “I want to get right with my God,” Powers said. After talking with the minister, Powers began a statement to police. He said he lured Mrs. Eicher and her| children to the quiet Dell building.|tret during July declined from thed police said, but there he stopped and asked the officers to desist in their questioning a half hour while he read the Bible. They consented after he said he would resume and make a signed confession. ‘The police said the man told them he brought Mrs. Eicher to West Vir- ginia and a week later returned to Chicago for the three childimy ~ The bodies, wrapped in blijup and buried in a drain sewer beneath the oddly-constructed garage six miles’ from here, were tentatively identified as those of Mrs. Asta Buick Eicher, well-to-do Chicago widow and. her children, Harry. 12, Greta, 14, and Anabel, 9. _ The basement of the garage was di- vided by thick brick walls into four chambers. There was a gas jet in each of these. Police expressed the belief the victims might have been | 1a; gassed, although there were marks on all th> bodies, An autopsy revealed the woman and children had not eaten for at least 48 ‘hours before they were slain. The examining physician said the woman and two girls apparently died by strangulation. The boy's skull was fractured twice, by blows from a ham- mer found buried with the bodes. Searching through large packets of letters and pepers found in-a trunk belonging to Powers, detectives were piecing together the story of his al- Jeged activities as a one-man matri- monial agency. Among his papers, police said, they found a copy -f an advertisement ap- parently used to promote correspond- ence with women. Police have discovered that Powers, corresponded with many women in various parts of the country. Officers said residents of the dis- trict in Clarksburg where the man | Ma lived reported several months ago that he dug sewers about his resi- dence in a peculiar manner, and that he rebuffed neighbors when ' they questioned him. The man’s wife, held in the county believed he was innocent The woman rect name was Harry F. Powers. ‘said her husband's cor- | ™ She Bullet-Proof Head | Frustrates Suicide | Newton, Kas, Aug. 20—(P)— Sam Vincent seems to have a bul- his head said the large calclum content of his bones frustrated his suicide attempt. SMALL VOLUME OF WHEAT IS MOVING Crop Is Smailer Than Usual and Carry-Over From Last Year Is Reduced Minneapolis, Aug. 29.—)—The crop marketing season is opening with' @ small volume of wheat moving out: of the country into terminal mar- kets, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said in its report cover- jing the Ninth district, made public Saturday. It explained that in addition to the fact that the crop is small the carry- over from last year’s crop was small- {er than in the two preceding years ‘and rains have occurred to delay har- |vesting and threshing in many parts of the district. As @ result only 6,276,000 bushels of northwestern wheat arrived in with 20,787,000 received during the same period last year. The report also said that: The volume of business in the dis- the June level as well as below July of last year. The decline apparently continued in early August. Bank debits were 16 per'cent small- er in July this year than in the same month-a year ago, with a majority of {other business, indicators incl postal receipts, building permits and contracts,,.flour--shipment, ore out- put, department and life inéurance sales, showing a downward trend. * Retail lumber sales have declined, being in July at the lowest level since in post-war years, reflecting-a t= ly reduced volume of raral ; Cold storage hol of meats, butter and poultry products were be- |low the five-year average Aug. 1 with ithe exception of ‘eggs, which were {slightly above average, said. They were also all smaller than jug. 1, 1930, excepting pork and ORR RE-ELECTED BY | SLOPE PRESS GROUP Meet Next at Linton |_ New Salem, N. D., Aug. .29.—(?)}— |F. G. Orr, Mott, was reelected presi-| will iGus Steensgard and Wife and 16-Year-Old Son Lawrence Are Tragedy Victims FOUND BY ‘HAMBERG MAN Shootings Occur Between 6 and 8:30 A. M, Saturday At Wells County Farm Worry over financial troubles is blamed for a triple-shooting tragedy in Wells county Saturday in which Gus Steensgaard, his wife and his 16-year-old son, Lawrence, were killed. Authorities said. they believe Steensgaard shot his wife and son and then turned the weapon on him- self. They fixed the shootings at be- tween 6 and 8:30 o'clock Saturday morning. ‘The bodies were found at the latter to a kitchen window and, looking through, saw Steensgaard seated in ® chair with a gun in his hand. Forcing his way into the house, Lu- dahl found the man was dead and later discovered the son dead in bed. conditions but in particularly of no other motive for the Wells county authorities were still it the farm Saturday afternoon end gould not be reached for their version family. Besides the 16-year-old boy, there were no other children. 3000 EXPECEDT AT CELEBRATION HERE Extensive Program of Free En- tertainment to be Offered at Labor Day Fete sapprcstonelcty 3,000 persons are ex- | pected to be attracted to Bismarck by ;Mott Man to Continue Li | the Labor, Ree festivities which are be hel connection with ship of Newspaper Men; the twentieth annual convention of the State Federation of Labor, ac- cording to members of the Bismarck Central Trades and Lebor Assembly under whose auspices the celebration be held. : labor unions the North Dakota Press association] throughout the state will be here for at its annual meeting here Friday. | D, J. Shults, Hettinger, was named secretary; C. L. Bryant, Napoleon,| vice president, and Mrs. Beatrice treasurer. “the union! Hettinger invitations in favor of Linton. was favored for the next state meet- Salem Lions club. The mayor of New Salem gave an address of welcome to the convention while an extensive entertainment program, which is to be given free of charge, is expected to bring in throngs of people from sur- districts. ? ‘rounding . Among events featured on the pro- withdrew their] and a dance with special music at the |the anti-Smith movement in their ‘World War Memorial building. Senator Gerald P. Nye will deliver address the meeting were|tien at a banquet to be given he: entertained at luncheon by the New| Sunday, £ y ad , September 6, for members of labor organizations. deliver gasoline. Getting no response! to his knock at the door Ludah! went | , Admits Slaying Woman and Under Police Quiz Murder and Suicide Takes Toll ' Of Three Lives Near Fessenden PRET | What’s Dynamite , \ To a Good Goat? Mamananeck, N. Y., Aug. 20.— (®)—Mrs. Edward Nash's goat is loaded with dynamite but it seems to be a dud. The goat wandered into the yard of Mrs, Thomas De Roosa and dined on garden truck. Mrs. De Roosa tossed it a stick of dynamite for dessert. Mrs. Nash had her arrested. Sergeant O'Neil testified that although he gave the goat a swift kick, it didn’t explode. The judge reserv- ed decision. COMPLETE HEARING IN CANNON INQUIRY Committee Will Not Be Able to Study Evidence Until Mid- dle of October Washington. Aug. 29.—(#)—With its record bulging with evidence of the Republican source and the final dis- position of money given Bishop James Cannon, Jr., for use in his 1928 anti- Smith Democratic campaign, the senate campaign funds commit Saturday went into a long recess. Chairman Nye said the committee would not have a chance to come to- gether again until after the middle of October to study the wide variety of evidence accumulated in the three- day hearing and decide what action it would take regarding it and the |two witnesses who refused to testity. placed explanation under oath by Bishop Cannon and by hig two associates— Miss Ada L. Burroughs and J. Sidney Peters—who refused to talk. Among the testimony that went in: to the record in the last three dsys were assertions that a check charged to the. accoynt of H, Huston, who later became chair. man of the Republican national com- mittee, was used in financing the anti-Smith campaign. The commit- tee has subpoenaed all the records in connection with this account. Conrad Probst, vice president of the International Germanica Trust com- pany of New York, submitted the records of the account for the month of October, 1928, during which the $5,000 check was paid. -He said the total deposits in the account for the month was $183,356 and thousands of dollars flowed out of it each day. Aside from the $5,000 check, there was no indication of the use to which the remainder of the fund was put. Earlier it had been testified that Bishop Cannon was introduced to E. C. Jameson, New York, Republican capitalist, who gave $65,300 to the bishop for use in the campaign. The introduction was made by C. Bascom Slemp, national committeeman for Virginia, after the late James W. Good, western campaign manager for the Republican national committee during the 1928 drive, had written Jameson that Slemp had in mind an. independent organization that Good wished Jameson would help Slemp: with, Other evidence in the record traced this $65,300 through the eight bank accounts maintained by the bishop Neighbors Plow Land Crippled Burleigh Coun | | | SBLR BY SHOOTING Soe ‘ Three Children Associated Press Photo Mrs. Rose Veras, 48, was held by Detroit police on a technical charge of homicide after a roomer died in her boarding house. Police in. vestigated reports that she held In- surance policies on other boarders who had died. WISHEK MAN KILLS Jacob Badler, 43, Bids Son Good-Bye Before Commit- ting Suicide in Home Wishek, N. D., Aug. 22—A few min-| utes after he had said good-bye to his} son, Jacob Bader, 43, committed sul- | ape by shooting himself in his —_ ere. Mrs. Bader and several of thetr children had gone to Kulm for a vis- Jeaving Bader and his 16-year-old Roy, alone at home. son was preparing ‘a n lay luncheon, Bader said “Good-bye, Roy,” and went upstairs. A short time later the boy heard a shot. He rushed upstairs to find his father dead on the floor. A .32 calibre revolver was lying on the floor. Bader had used the only bullet in the house, shooting himself through the chest. Domestic trouble is believed the cause for his act. He apparently was happy before the shooting, according to his son, who said that Bader was; singing shortly before going upstairs. | TO DECIDE WHETHER | OSTER CAN APPEAL Man Serving Term for Second- Degree Murder Attempts To Get New Trial A hearing to determine whether BRITISH PARLIAMENT GROUPS CONSIDERING FINANCIAL PROGRAM Bolstered by $400,000,000 Credit From United States and French Bankers London, Aug. 29.—(7)—Bolstered by ® $400,000,000 credit from bankers of the United States and France, the national government Saturday placed in the hands of committees its parlia- mentary program for restoring Brit- ish finances to the right side of the ledger. the United States and France, the technical means to be used in bal- ancing the budget and the other was concerned with the procedure to be used in pushing the measures though the house of commons. Both will re- port to the cabinet Monday when Prime Minister MacDonald returns from Scotland to begin his task anew. At the same time the government put into effect the first of a number of drastic curtailments in expendi- tures. The salaries of 300,000 civil service employes were cut to effect an annual saving of $4,000,000. The royal investigating commission had counseled against such reductions but the government decided to leave no stone unturned to achieve econo- It was evident from Friday's events that the entire Conservative party and most of the Liberals would line up in the commons behind the government Jand that the whole weight of the Laborites, with the exception of a smal! group of right-wingers, would form the opposition. The government's majority will range between 40 and 55 votes, an adequate though not comfortable margin in normal times. However, lin view of the mixed team that Mac- Donald is driving, issues may be raised that will tax the loyalty of the Conservatives and Liberals. The extraordinary reticence of the treasury and the Bank of England regarding the Franco-American credit led some critics to demand that these institutions take the nation into full- er confidence. Other quarters saw in the treasury’s statement on the loan the hope and even the belief in official circles that it would not be necessary for Great Britain actually to use the full credit and that the mere knowledge of its existence would have a profound ef- fect in restoring confidence in sterl- ing on the markets of the world. MacDonald has been expelled from the Hampstead Labor Party “for join- ing an anti-Socialist government formed for the purpose of forcing through parliament anti - working legislation.” LUNDY MAY MAKE Jacob Oster, serving 8 25-year prison sentence for second-degree murder, is entitled to appeal his case has been set for Sept. 8 before the state su- preme court. He was convicted July 1, 1930, in Emmons county district court and has been serving his sentence since that date. Arthur Atkins, Napoleon, special assistant attorney general who sided the court an order to dismiss the ap- VISIT 70 SIBERIA Discusses Possibility with Rus- sians at Tokyo; Thanks Them for Courtesy Tokyo, Aug. 29.—(?)—Col. Charles in the prosecuton of Oster, filed with| ciate, peal on the grounds that more than a year has elapsed since the date of judgment and more than six months, areas they had no knowledge of $4,500 and $4,000 the bishop had said EF have elapsed since date of service of notice of appeal. The court issued an order for hearing to have Oster er cause why the appeal should not, dismissed. Oster was charged with killing John. Peterson near Hazelton March 24. Oster claimed he shot Peterson be- for Aged and ty Farmer ; | ia : Be island and at Petropaviovsk during their flight from the United States to Tokyo. th Colonel informed the -|eyes toward Moscow as the destina- tion of a sightseeing trip. He said, however, that the trip over Siberia i Fr] E: i a i tage Z Winter Wheat Men To Cut Production Unprecedented Low Prices and Burdensome Supplies Force Drastic Action SEE 12-PER-CENT SLASH Present Intentions to Sow Would Mean Smallest Acreage Since 1914 Washington, Aug. 20.—(?)—Amer- ican winter wheat farmers, influenced by unprecedented low prices and bur- dersome surplus supplies, intend to reduce their acreage for harvest next year by 12 per cent. The agricultural department said ported and carried out 37,344,000 acres yesterday if intentions thus far re-| INORTH DAKOTA MEN TODESIGN BUILDING FOR HISTORIC SITE Joseph De Remer, Grand Forks, and W. F. Kurke, Fargo, Are Men Chosen CHICAGO FIRM TO HELP Holabird and Root, Nationally Famous Organization, to Assist With Advice Grand Forks, N. D., Aug. 20.—(2)}— Two of North Dakota's leading archi- tects, Joseph DeRemer of Grand Forks and W. F. Kurke of Fargo, will design the $2,000,000 North Dakota state cap- itol to replace the historic structure wie by fire at Bismarck last Associated with them in an advis- ory éapacity will be the firm of Hola- bird & Root of Chicago, designers of Some of the country's best-known public buildings. This was announced late Friday by will be sown this fall. This would mean the smallest acreage since 1914. A bumper crop of 894,000,000 bushels of all wheat has been indicated for {harvest this year. This plentiful sup- ply adds to a domestic carryover from indicating a total supply in the Uni- nearly enough to meet two years nor- mal domestic demand. The intended winter wheat plant- ing compares with 42,422,000 acres sown a year ago. Lest fall farmers cut acreage one and one-half per jcent as compared with 1929 plantings. Low Prices Force Slash Low prices also had their effect on spring wheat plantings early this year when farmers slashed acreage by 15 per cest. The prospective yield of spring wheat has been further re- duced by drought until the crop now is expected to be one of the smallest \on record. With a supply of 1,213,000,000 ‘bushels available with this year’s har- vest and carryover, department sta- tisticians have figured that a 50 per cent reduction in acreage would be necessary to reduce to @ normal carry lover of 100,000,000 bushels by next July 1. The normal domestic requirement is 650,000,000 bushels, leaving a sur- plus for export this year of 563,000,- 000 bushels. If United States exports should only equal last year’s exports of 113,000,000 a carryover of 450,000,- 000 bushels is indicated for July 1, 1932. Kansas, which produced the largest winter crop on record this year, will cut next year’s &creage 15 per cent acreage 11 per cent and Texas 14 per cent. Acreage by States ‘The acreage to be sown next fall, as expressed by the intentions to plant and the percentage of the 1930 acreage includes: States Intended 1930 Sown Acres Percent of 1,369,000 83 1,345,000 70 148,000 110 229,000 65 140,000 100 1,693,000 80 10,890,000 85 3,798,000 89 3,305,000 86 826,000 87 TARIFF OFFIGIA Alfred P. Dennis, Vice Chairman of Important Commission, Drowns Himself Bailey's Island, Maine, Aug. 29.—(?) —Alfred P. Dennis, Mis chairman of last year’s crop of 319,000,000 bushels, q while Oklahoma plans to reduce its| 4% TAKES OWN LP = George Bangs, of Grand Forks, presi- dent of the North Dakota ‘capitol commission, as series of conferences in ieneapeie with representatives of the architectural firms. The commission expect & three wo months, Bangs sai and Grawings should be February and detalled plate an see cifications not later than April. Start Next Summer “Then, I hope, we can start actual construction next summer,” Bangs said. “About 15 months, we estimate, will be needed to the exter- Serving with Ba commis- sion are Fred L. Conklin os sident, Planned here include the gymnasium addition to Central the Grand Forks Home for the Aged and the First Presbyterian church. He also planned buildings for Jamestown college and the Grafton Institution for the Feeble Minded, the recently constructed wale, high school. ~ ‘urke was born in Minneapolis, at- tended the public schools. there ‘and graduat irom the Universit Minnesota. He was «Md