The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 29, 1933, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. XLIIL, NO. 6533. ——— = JUNEAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DELEMBER 29, 1933, PRICE TEN CENTS — MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS LEROY VEST M_' U.S. Envoy sDaughter and Flance SHOT BY WOMAN WHO KILLS SELF i Mrs. Astrid Crowell Qla)a‘ Wellknown Local Men Here Ye;terdav NO CAUSE FOR RASH ACT IS DISCOVERED Note Left by—\i/omazl Indi- cates Shooting and | Suicide Planned LeRoy Vests Mrs. Ray G. Day of this city, and veteran of the Werld War, was shot and instantly killed yesterday afternoon abeut 4:40 p. m. by Mrs. Astrid Crewell, who then turned the gun, a .32 caliber automatic revolver, on herself and committed suicide. No cause for the shooting has heen revealed. ¢ The tragedy took place in Mrs. Crowell's room in the house of Dr. G. L. Barton on Gastineau Avenue. It was dis- Covered within 10 or 15 min- utes after it had happened. Woman Unable to Talk Mrs. Crowell was still breathing when Dr. Barton and Dr. L. P. Dawes, whom he called, and Chief of Police C. J. Davis entered the yoom. Her lips moved but she was unable to enunciate any words. She died a few minutes later and before | the arrival of an ambulance to take her to the hospital. | A note left by her, and her ac- tions earlier in the day indicated she had deliberately planned the tragedy, and that the shooting was not the result of a sudden quarrel or outbreak of emotional temp Apparently she shot without war! ing, missing the first time, but in- flicting a fatal wound with her second bullet. She then placed the gun at her head and blew her brains out. Note Tells Nothing A short note left in her purse, found on a table in the room and| in which was $430 in currency and silver, told nothing of her motive but did reveal that she ex- pected “something to happen.” With a shaky hand, indicating extreme nervousness, she had writ- ten with a pencil on a plain piece of paper “If anything happens to me,| please send word to Bjeme Peder- sen, Norde Honningsvaag, Finmas- | ken, Norway.” | Body on Fioor | Mr. Vestal's body was found 1y-| ing . curled upon the floor at tl foot of the bed. He had apparen! been in the room but a few min utes as he was still wearing his| overcoat and rubbers. Only his| gloves had been removed. His bo was still warm. Mrs. Crowell was reclining the bed. Her head was htly toward the wall. nerveless and outstretched on| turned | In her right hand rested the death weapon. Officers investigating the shoot-| ing seid she had apparently been lying down when Mr. Vestal en- tered the room, and that she had\ shot from the same position within a few minutes after his arrival. | Probably Concealed Gun One ofticial theory advanced was that she had telephoned Mr. Vestal at his’ office and asked him to! come to the room. probably saying she was ill. When he entered, thej time was fixed as about 4:30 p.m was in bed with the gun hidden beneath the bed covers. Probably as he took off his hat and gloves, she jerked the revolver out and fired, missing. She fired a second time before he could reach her to grab the weapon. This theory is partly borne out by the fact that Mr.*Vestal was still wearing his overcoat and rub- bers, and by the discovery of a buliet embedded in one of the walls John Bradford Post lout at 12:30 p.m \ Irene Helen Robbins VESTAL FUNERAL WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY, 1P. M, Services loE Under Di- rection of Alford John Bradford Post No. Funeral services for the late Le- Roy Vestal will be held Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock from the chapel of the C. W. Carter tuary, under the auspices of Alford No. 4, of this city, of which he was a charter member and for a long time s ed as Adjutant. The services will be ritualistic by the office S of Post. Members of the Post are reques ed by Post Commander W. Hendrickson to meet at the Dug- Members of the wear uniforms firing squad will and other members are asked to wear official caps. “Mr. Vestal was probably the most active member {of the Post ever had and for }L‘dxs headed its service activities,” !said Mr. Hendrickson today. Mr. Vestal, who enlisted in the American Army in Seattle on May 28, 1917, three days after his fitteenth birthday, was the young- est man to go to the World War from- Alaska and one of the young- in the entire American Army duripg the war, In spite of his youth, Mr. Vestal had an enviable record in the army and was awarded several medals for his outstanding service, including the Croix de Guerre with Palm, from the French Govern- ment, triple bars for taking a part in three major engageme in each of which he was cited, and last year he was awarded the decoration of Order of the Purple Heart by the Americ | Government. When he was dis- charged, he had four clasps on his Victory Medal representing the four major engagements in which he took part. During the months France, from July 30, cember 2, 1918, Mr. Vestal took part, as a machine gunner in the tank corps, in the engagement Cantigny, and the major offensives at St. Mihiel, Argonne Forest, Toul Sector and Alsace Lorraine. He re- ceived machine gun wounds in the he he was 1917 to De- in at elbow and hand and in one en- gagement was the only survivor when the n in which he was gunner, was blown up. Enlisting as a private, Mr. Vestal made a Corporal in Company “B,” 344th Tank Battalion before just behind where he had evident- (Continued on Page Six.) he was dls"harged from the army Mor-, the Alexander C. Forbes The engagement of Miss Irene Helen Robbins, daughter of Warren Delano Robbins, American Minister to Canada and cousin of President Roosevelt, to Alexander Cochrane Forbes, of Boston, well-known Har- vard gridiron and track star, has been announced. Miss Robbins was a debutante last season and a leader of Washington’s younger set, (-YEARDLD GIRL ADMITS KILLING CHUM . Declares Elght-Yea\'—Old‘ Playmate Told Lies About Her, Family WHITE PLAINS, N. Y., Dec. 29 —A thirteen-year-old girl, Mary| Kavala, has confessed, District At-| torney Frank Coyne said, to the murder Sunday of her eight- \mx-‘ old girl chum. | Coyne said Mary told him she killed Josephine Woropay by hit-| ting her on the head with a 1ock‘ and then strangling her. | | “Josie told lies about men and | my family. T lost my temper,” Mary | said, according to the District At-| | torney. i | Girl's Body Found ! /rhe girl's body was found under the porch steps of St. Matthew's| Lyceum. | Mary said they went out for a| walk and started an argument over | .| stories she said Josephine had told and in a fit of temper struck her with a rock and then from an old mop took strands and tied them around the girl's neck. Later she twisted an inner tube around her chum’s neck, then went to a nearby rubbish pile, smashed a bottle on a rock and took a ppce} and cut the dead girl's face until she became exhausted. She then| pulled the body under the steps of | the Lyceum. The next day she‘ returned, stripped the clothing | from the body and covered it with| an 1bnnduned sled. 1S SLATED FOR her LE.C, Pfls"mN‘Polztwallv Dwmmw f 5 Crams Action in ! to 1932’s Restlessness WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—T M. W. Splawn, former Pres of the University of Texas, is ~aldr by Administration officials to have | been chosen for appoiniment to| the Interstate Commerce Commis-| sion to succeed Ezra Brainerd Jr. of Oklahoma. ose term expires at the end of the year. Dr. Splawn is @ Democral. It has been the view in some unofficial quarters that the Brainerd place under law would be required fo go to a Republican, but the Administration source said that opinion was incorrect . Colloquially, narrow sand strips parallelinz the coast of North Caro- lina are referred to as ‘banks” and residents of those isolated bits | Trea | cates | untouched and | Would circumvent ALL GOLDAND CERTIFICATES ARE CALLED IN 1T\easury Issues Order Ap- plicable to Entire Con- hnental {8,485 ONLY FEW EXCEPTIONS HAVE BEEN INDICATED Federal Statement Shows Yellow Metal Is in Vauhs W%'SHIVGI‘DV Dec. er order designed to bring into the sury gold coins and certifi- remaining in ‘the hands of | private persons in the Continental Unnm States was issued last night | b\' he Treasu Department The order last night removed the provision of previous orders that individuals might retain up to $100 in gold coin or certificates. Exceptions ee left a hu Reserve allowed coin col- 2 coins and Some The new dec |ing in the Fed: > hold- Banks lectors to retain permitted individuals to hold scrap gold and gold sweepings up to $100 value, except gold bullion held un- | der a Fe deral license or held out- | side Continental United States. The latest ‘Treasury statemént showed more than -$311,000.000 in gold coin and nearly $275.500,000 | n gold certificates still in circula- tion old Paid Gold turned the Treasury ill be paid for the old p: of $2067 an ounce instedd of price of n mined gold. The penalty for refusing to turn n gold will be a fine double the Price into the mount of the coms or certificates held. ! Applies to Alaska The order of the Treasury De- returning all gold applies to nlaska United partment about and certificates as well as Continental States. The Treasury figures put the United States monetary gold stock at $4,323.000,000. Yesterday’s Federal Reserve con- | dition statement listed gold re- serves in twelve banks at $3568.- 000,000, PURPOSE OF ORDER NEW YORK, Dec. 29.—Follow- ing the issuance of the new gold order made by Acting Secretary Morgenthau, Wall Street bankers expressed the opinion the purpose was meeting the points caused by the decision of Federal Judge Wool- sey last month in a test case of | gold hoarding. Judge Woolsey held that while the *Government has a right to compel gold hoarders to report or surrender the metal, the President’s anti-hoarding proclamation of last August 28 was partly invalid be- cause it constituted usurpation by the President of the pow dele- | gatéd specifically to the Secretary of the Treasury by an Act of Con- gress, It has been freely predicted on Wa” Street that the Government the technicality means of a new order from the Tn’dsllr\ head. By BYRON PRICE (Chief of Burcau, The A Press, Washington) Politically, Dynamic 1933 has been the true child and of Restless” 1932. It has translated into swift, bold action the tent and protest of the era it suc- ceeded. Political tr tions have tumbled in the It comes to its end with men de- bating whether its done wisely. Whatever to that, 1933 mus the year when t made—dramatically heir turning fatefully ‘ol land are called ‘“bankers.” the ods tell Four distinct | Re:erve Bank | 29.—Anoth- | l i | | | | | | ! three 3-STEP PLAN. IS PROPOSED, WORLD PEAGE, President R_m;evelt Gives Stern Challenge to Political Leaders ALL NATIONS URGED TO AGREE TO PACT Most Important Address| Made by Chief Execu- tive in Washington WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.— The White House today became the | listening post for reaction to the stern challenge by President Roose- velt (hat world political leaders | must assume all blame for blocking of the Universal Peace accord The step plan for a world non- aggressive pact by any nation still believing use of the sword for could be singled out The President spoke at the SE\-‘ enty-seventh Anniversary commem- orating the birth of Woodrow Wil- son. “in the invasion” Threc Pcint Plan : President’s three point plm be that every nation would to eliminate over a period of | . all weapons of offense, keep- ' ing only permanent defensive im- plements; every mation joining in a simple declaration that no armed force be allowed to cross the hHor- ders into the other nation, and third, by a rul- ing that such pacts would not be effective unless all nations agreed Many political observers inter- preted the President's speech as his strongest exposition of the Am- erican foreign policy. Intervention Opposed The President termed his Ad- ministration unequivocally opposed to intervention and flayed those world leaders, he said, who were over-riding the wishes of the peo- ple they represented in throwing bars across the path of the peace accord. “Blame for danger to world peace does not lie on the world population but in political leaders ' of that population,” the President said. President Roosevelt son’s League realiza “prop” but not the answer to wmld peace. He further said: “We members and we do not plate membership.” Is Killed When Faints or Sleeps At Auto W heel EVERETT, Wash., Dec. 29.— Fred B. Gyes, aged 35, of East | Stanwood, was killed last night | when his automobile crashed | into a milk truck driven by ! Earl Jenkins, of Monros. ! Jenkins was not held as dep- | i i { The would 1sed Wll~ are not contem- | uties, following a statement re- garding the accident, said they believed Gyes might have faint- ed or had gone asleep at his wheel as the auto sped on. equel ociated | discon- | President Hoover's dying istration, struggling fitfully the downward sp! passzd out on Ma litical and econiomic Rallying a discour President Roosevelt Congress, almost by consent, such sweeping no other peace-time Pres known, Administraticn Steps Out Then, as party lines were fo gotten in an “Era of Good Feel against| ataclysm. red people, | (Continued on Page Tw0) $250,000 ALLOTTED FOR BIG BRIDGE JUNEAU AND DOUGLAS LI President rested behind his| which he said | itory of any Drop to 10 admin- ‘ County of depression, | by h 4 amid a po- | President NK IS ASSURED ? In and Out of Social Reglster Phfl FUNDS ARE “ ALLOCATED FOR LOCAL PROJECT |Alaska Road Commission Allotted $250,000 to Build Channel Bridge ENGINEER WILL LEAVE |SEATTLE ON S.S. YUKON {Actual Construction Is Ex- pected to Start Within Next 90 Days Two hundred and fifty | thousand dollars was allotted lvesterday by the Public | Works Administration to the {Alaska Road Commission |with which to construct a |bridge a astineau Chan- \ ? inel to connect Juneau and ll)nuglas. | This was revealed in an | Associated Press dispatch |frem Washington, D. C., to The Empire. The Public | Works Administrati i - ter Mary Duncan, screen star who married | ks Acimnishipon S Laddie Sanford, polo player, is in, therefore happy. The same is true NOURCINg the allocation of of Dorothy Jordan, another film actress, now the wife of Cooper. |the funds said the w°|-k But June Blossom, regular registerite, who achieved success dn the stage 1 left out this tine, and Whitney Bourne, who didn’t do so well 4 |weuld be completed within a Mary Duncan Dorothy Jordan These four beauties view the 1934 edition of the New York Register with varied feelings. iy the footlights, remains on society’s rcli of honor, vear and estimated it would . provide 1,200-man months Temperature May TRADE GAINS [emplcyment. Engineer Employed In order that there may be Below Tonight sl unnecessary delay in be- DURING WEEK, .. . Juneau's tes er ay 8 “mp"':‘ w”’(‘llz‘ i b“‘,o'v:v : ,mnnu. .utu.xl unM\uctmn of e prediction made at 2 o'clock mun, hu- lmvn em- e this afternoon. Those who e o water ‘plpes tb) dkta’ should. «/| Substantial lncreas:’ Made| engineering studies and sur- e not lose hope. . i % % < |veys, and to draft plans anc b il ot s B L in Most Branches |veys and pla 1 e o Over' Year /\go | specifications. He will leave Seattle on the steamer Yuken Following : next Saturday. As soon as he bu, W YORK, Dec est volume of Chr 20 WINTER KEEPS stmas rrives he will put on a erew since 1928 in many districts,| s B SR e Prsingis: @ikatenether stionils 11”“ make the final prepara- during the past week by fresh mer- \11 ns. chandise demands. dent to the| | Preliminary plans were widespread wintry weather, the| S35 ~ £ B EASTERN AREA Dinaie " Tho. raview aafd| drafted by the Commission an_s |sometime ago. These showed Most of the report ceived dur-|{a structure L'(»fllpo<e(i ()f a . # ing the week ; Some Relief Promised l)y i ““ me“m ed span of 400 feet, 1,300 Tomorrow in Certain comprretiveidicyre :rc«h nr;f“ pile ,lppwaches. aml - . . | ——tts — rock fills on bc AL Sitions oMy | s on both the Juneau |and Douglas ends. It would NEW YORK, Dec. 29.—Winter Twu w u M E N |be erected about on the line apparently concéntrating a pro- lof Ninth Stree | longed attack on the East but there feeig ",t,‘ Tfr:(t{ Iis promise from Weather Bureaus M | Remis Aping Fon | there may be some re tomor- | A l"‘m‘-h b {)ull(| wes. apolied row there as well as in the Cen-| o nfx(l’:l\:r‘ r‘:dx.:;;"y S [ tral states and western section IN AlRPLANE o « - | B : 3 stfs ot |was held by Lieut. John R. Noyes Fatilities are well over the 100 for the United States Board of mark. )EnL,mf‘P'\ on November 8. While no - eee fficial de U |official announcement was made to GEHMAK ESTAT Have Been in Skies Over o s reliably reported One Week and Sull m& Col. L. C. Sturtevant, Dis- trict Engineer at Seattle, recom- C(}! IHU(’ FIVll]g l)\l‘ndkd it be granted. The record and his recommen- BILLED AGAINST MIAMI, Florida, Dec. 20.—Having dation were forwarded several weeks sstablished w women’s refuel-|ago to the Division Engineer at MIAMI, Fla., mc 29.—A claim 4 ord, Frances Mar-|San Francisco. That office, after | for $5000 against the est of Richey are under- review, would forward a completed Mayor Anton Cermak, of Chicago, stood decided to land their [record to Washington, D. C., to the has been filed by Dr. John W. y bes of ex 1| Board for final action. Nothing Snyder, for services during Cer- more an one week in the 5 been heard from it to date. {mak’s illness following the shoot- Apprcval Is Expected {ing of the Mayor by Guiseppi Zan-| The former record of ¢ day However, last month, Gov. Troy gara four hours and f minutes was|and Ike P. Taylor, Chief Engir Dr. E. Sterling Nichol said he t ht and an hour|of the Commissi with {had sent a bill, also for $5000, to record was o members of the Board of Engineers the Cermak family. Dr. Snyder at the National capital. They dis- said his claim filed in Cook two women are up in|eyssed the project at length and Probate Court today ame away ident that the ap- -oe ation would be granted Cermak died of wounds inf bullets tended for the With Delegate Dimond, the Gov- lect Roosevelt PETERSBURG |ernor and Mr. Taylor discussed the - |pr ;uu at considerable lenzth with tant Secretary Chapman of the r Department. and obtained seration. When Mr. Taylor ashington early this month, Chapman had already taken 'Qoo.oolc--.u- HIT BY COLD - ® NO CHANGE TODAY IN PRICE OF GOLD WASHINGTON, Dec | 29, HleI'R(: he matter up with Secretary Ickes. . day's gold ce remain- here They were contident then that the ® ed the same as for the pa promi rate. |allotment of the desired funds several days, $34.06 an ounce. of_the water frozen | would be made, but did not expect nd town 3 (Continued on Pager EI&R_IE}_— 20 9000000