Evening Star Newspaper, November 14, 1927, Page 1

WEATHER, 10 8 Waather Burean Forecast ) Pair and warmer, with lowest tem. perature about 40 degrees tonight. To- morrow cloudy and warmer, Temperature—Highest, 53 at noon today, lowest. 32, ut 6 a.m. today. | Full report on page 9 i e e ] Closing N. Y. Markets, Pages 12 and 13 30,512. red as second class matter office. Washington. D. C. No. St ch WASHINGTON, D. C, WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1927-THIRTY-EIGHT PAGES. ¢ Foening Star, * .15 DEAD, 600 HURT IN PITTSBU FIERY BALL BURSTS OVER CITY, SPREADING Explosion of Huge Gas Storage Tank Leaves Dead and Dying Lying in Littered Streets. # BIG FACTORIES DESTROYED; A INJURED CROWD HOSPITAL Force of Shock Levels All Wires and Breaks Water Mains, Adding to - Difficulty of Rescues. By the A.llbdlt‘kd Press. PITTSBURGH, November 14.—Fifteen persons were known to have been killed and several hundred injured here today when a . mammoth gas storage tank exploded, spreading death and destruc- . tion throughout the lower North Side district. Hampered in the work of rescue by wrecked buildings, streets flooded by broken water mains and dangling electric wires, police and firemen finally penetrated a part of the devastated area. They recovered seven hodies within a few minutes, and newspaper men at the scene said they had counted other dead in the streets and the wrecked houses The tank, containing 5,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas, let loose with one of the most terrific blasts in Pittsburgh’s history. Practically every building in the immediate vicinity was wrecked, and windows over a wide area were shattered, including some in downtown department stores and office structures. Ball of Fire Shoots Into Air. When the tank burst a ball of fire, higher than the adjacent tip of Mount Washington, shot into the air, spreading out in a + fan shape. Firemen and police~volunteer workers expressed the belief that scores of persons, in their homes and in factories of the region, had been trapped when the buildings collapsed. The scene of the disaster was one of wild confusion. Resi- dents of the thickly settled district rushed about the streets as if mad. Women sought their children, while men dug into.the debris of their homes in an effort to bring out some loved one trapped in the wreckage. < The force of the blast ripped down all telephone and tight wires, knocked over poles and caused homes to tumble down. Streets in the ill-fated region bulged, breaking sewer and water pipes. * Every policeman in the city was ordered to duty. They roped off an area one mile square to keep back the thousands who rushed to the scene. Private automobiles and trucks were com- mandeered to take injured to hospitals, and within a short time every hospital in the city was jammed, and the firemen were forced to set up emergency first-aid stations at the scene. The first 11 bodies taken to the morgue were workmen. Pieces of the tank steel supports, some- weighing more than 100 pounds, were found a mile from the scene. Street Car Wrecked by Blast. A street car, three blocks from the tank when it let go, was wrecked and every passenger aboard was hurt. Many school children in a nearby school yard were cut by flying glass when the windows in the structure were shattered. It was estimated by hospital officials that between 500 and 600 were injured, many seriously. Many of the injured staggered to the Presbyterian and Alle- gheny General Hospitals, and at the latter institution so many of the victims walked in that the steps leading to the main door were spattered with blood. Most of the injured had been cut and hurt by flying glass and debris. The gas works, on Reedsdale street, North Side; were said to employ more than 300 men, but just how many of these were at work at the time was not known. Coroner W. J. McGregor for Alle- gheny County, Fire Chief R. L. Smith for the city of Pittsburgh, and officials | S0Urt and rushed the police to the of the P’hiladelphia Co.. of which the Eaquitable Co., is a subsidiary, immedi- ately launched investigations of the fatal blast. All in Factory Injured. In some instances, where factories @id not collapse, all employes were hurt. This was true of the Pittsburgh Iron Bed Co., where the entire per- monnel of 50 men needed hospital at- tention. Entire families, fathers, mothers and children, residents of the district, who escaped death. were re- moved to hospitals, some very badly hurt. The first victim to be identified was Joe Harri: negro, resident of the wrecked district. His bod: the morgue, was identified by friends. Little effort was being made to identi- fy the other victims. Some of the larger plants wrecked included the Union Paint Co., the Standard Plate Glass Co. warehouse and the Warren-Herrent Roofing Co. It was feared the death list would grow to a great extent because many of those in hospitals were reported in a critical condition. Doctors said many of the victims had suffered internal | hurts i In the lists of vietims at Merey Hos. pital was Paul Mundeski. his wife and four children An additional vietim the death list when G gate died of injuries General Hospital Among the injured at one hospital was Mrs. T. J. Mullen and her 11- month-old twin sons. James and William. Several hours after the blast oc- eurred, rescuers were finding it hard 2o get into the center of the wrecked district. In the midst of the section was the city asphalt plant, and here, it was reported, 15 employes had been k or injured. The plant, across reet from the tank. was a total as added to! ge Lowen- ! o in Allegheny | Many Pedestrians Hurt. Even pedestrians on downtown streetx did not escape the blast. Many scene, While the exact cause of the explo- sion was undetermined, it was said that gas company workmen were re- pairing a section of the tank with a blow torch when the blast occurred. Stunned at first by the extent of the catastrophe, Pittsburgh soon col- lected itself, and before noon relief agencies were hard at work rendering ald. Every available Red Cross nurse was at the scene and rescue workers of the organization were summoned from all parts of the county by A. K. Oliver, chairman. Advised of the dis- aster, Oliver ordered Red Cross equip- ment, including cots and blankets, rushed to the district, and he sent a Score of doctors and nurses to North ide hospitals to ald the oxertaxed staffs, The American Railway Express Co. offered the use of its automobile trucks to the Red Cross, and soon many of the machines were carrving injured to hospitals and taking med- ical and other supplies to emergency stations inside the police lines. Warehouse Is Crushed. The Joseph Horne department store warehouse, near the tank, was crush- ed like an eggshell by the force of the blast, With 11 bodies at the morgue the ‘rr‘:.:ular undertakers were forced to Ssummon outside aid. A number of morticians from private undertaking houses were put to work, while other: were held in reserve to handle add! | tional bodies as they were recovered from the ruins. The death list continued to grow when two others victims, C. M. Mi- chaels and a Mrs. Marty, succumbed t0_thelr injuries in hospitals. Begrimed firemen, working within the radius through which the explo- sion shot death and destruction, sald words would not describe the scene. They were fighting their way through the debris-choked streets, alded by volunteer rescue workers, but their | progress was slow. They were men- taced hy tottering walls, dangling | wires flooded streets. Here and there the firemen halted to pick up an injured victim. At cne persons were cut by glass when large department store windows were shaitered. The blast occurred just as the Police Courts of the city got under way. Magistrates smmediately adjourned point they stumbled upon a baby boy. He was rushed to a hospital. Anoth: er little fellow, cut by fiying debris, told the firemen he was Jack Smith, aged 4 years, but he did not know {Continued on Page 2, ump 69 Tank Rises Intact High in Air Before Terrific Explosion By the Associated Pross, PITTSBURGH, November 14— A vivid description of the explosion was given by Iire Chief Richard L. Smith, who was driving his au- tomobile over the Manchester Bridge at the junction of the Al- legheny and Monongahela Rivers, in full view of the blast when it let go. “The great steel tank rose hun- dreds of feet into the air like a great balloon,” he said. “It re- mained intact for an instant and then burst like a great fireworks bomb. As it let go with a terriffic roar, the hundreds of tons of steel went hurtling through the air as so much pasteboard and then the crash of buildings and glass filled the air.” HEROINE GATHERS WITH AIR HEROES AT WHITE HOUSE Ruth Elder and Noted Flyers Here for Lindbergh Cere- mony Tonight. GROUP EXCHANGES-IDEAS WITH WEATHER EXPERTS Chief Smith was the first of a hundred city, State or county offi- cials to reach the scene, DEBRIS EXTENDS FOR SOUARE MILE Water Gushing From Mains and Sewers Covers Wreckage in Streets. By the Associated Pres PITTSBURGH, November 14.— Scenes of utter destruction greeted an Associated Press reporter today as he made his way through the stricken lower North Side district, which was laid waste by the explosion of a huge storage gas tank. An area of approximately one square mile, fronting on the Ohio River, was devastated by the great blast, believed to have been caused when a blow torch, in the hands of workmen, came into contact with the tank and ignited the gas. The zas works, localed at an inter- section of Boyce street, Reedsdale street, Allegheny avenue and the Ohio River, was in the very heart of a district crowded by the fomes of workmen, factories. warehouses and industrial plants. The reporter made is way over the flooded streets, wa- ter gushing from broken water mains and sewer pipes. On all sides the dev- astation was_great. Many buildings collapsed. In some instances only the roofs were lifted from houses. Rescuers Work Feverishly. Firemen, policemen and volunteer rescuers worked feverishly, - digging into the ruins in an effort to find trapped, injured persons or recover the dead. On all sides were men, women and children, their heads and arms swathed in bandages. These victims had been treated at emergency stations set up by Red Cross nurses and Salvation Army workers. In one doorway sat a mother, her four children standing nearby. Stricken heyond speech, the woman sat waving her head back and forth. Eight blocks from the tank, in the middle of a street, rested a twisted mass of steel, a section of the big gas container. Only a great black scar marked the spot where the tank stood. Many homele: familles found shelter in houses outside the wrecked zone. Several hours after the tank exploded the entire region was choked by the odor of gas. L Two See Explosion. At least two persons were looking directly at the mammoth North Side gas tank when it exploded today. Miss Ruth Pastre and Jerome Henkle, em- ployed in a nearby plant, were stand- ing at a window, gazing at the tank. when it exploded. All they remem- bered was a blinding flash of fire, They were rescued by firemen and sent to a hospital, where cuts und bruises were treated. Patrolmen from the Center Avenue station, among the first to reach the gas blast disaster scene, were in time to rescue a woman who had given birth to a baby in a wrecked Ridge avenue house. The mother was cut by flying glass, but the infant was un- harmed. James Condon, 65, a storekeeper whose place is within one block of where the explosion occurred, told of a race he won with a sheet of flame down Reedsdale street. Standing at a window, Condon was cut about the body when the force of the blast shattered the glass. He rushed into the street, believing the district had been visited by an earthquake. Look- ing toward the gas works, he said he saw a sheet of flame traveling down the street in his direction. . Condon started to run ahead of the fire. and escaped the flames. Most of the residents of the dis- trict who escaped the blast said that at first they were convinced it was an earthquake, with streets bulging up ind houses and buildings collapsing. S .. Harold A. LaFount of Utah, was appointed by President Coolidge to- day to be a member of the Federal Radio Commission, succeeding John F. Dillon, who died recently. — Hughes Assumes Naval Post. Rear Admiral Charles F. Hughes, former commander-in-chief ofr the United States fleet, this afternoon will assume the duties of chief of the Bureau of Naval Operations, with the rank of admiral. He will relleve Ad. mirai . W. Eberle, who will hecome senior member of the Navy General Board, relieving ‘Rear Admiral Hil. lary P. Jones, who retired for age today, Dead in Blas PITTSBURGH, November 14 (®).—The identified dead in today’s gas explosion disaster: C. ¥. Michaels, superintendent of the gas works, Mrs. Marty, a residept of the stricken district. George Lowengate, workman. Joe Harris, negro, workman. Herman Sobech, 35, mechanical engineer, who was at work on the tank, M. Beaver, 25, structural steel ‘worker, P. W, Walters, Sarver, Pa., struc- tural steel foreman. o B Highman, workmase l | Ocean “Trail Blazer” to Receive Hubbard Medal From Presi- dent at Auditorium, America’s heroje adventurers of the air—including one smiling heroine— gathered around the White House luncheon table this afternoon, prepa- ratory to watching the youngest and shyest of their number receive to- night from the hands of President Coolidge, the coveted Hubbard medal of the National Geographic Society. Col. Charles A. Lindberg, slim vik- ing of the skies, who blazed a trail across the Atlantic Ocean from New York ‘to Paris for others to follow, is the youthful hero who will receive the rarely bestowed decoration at brilliant ceremones in the Washing- ton Auditorium. “Lindy” and the others, numbering nearly a score, from Comdr. Byrd, who conqiiered the North Pole, on down the famous list of transoceanic and round-the-world flyers to the latest additions to their illustrious group— Ruth Elder and Capt. George Halde- ! man—swapped reminiscences of their epic adventures at the presidential luncheon. Meteorological Forum. Just prior to the luncheon, a ma- Jority of the group recalled grim in- cidents of their fights against storms and ocean fogs in a “meteorological forum” held in the office of William P. MacCracken, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Air. The conference de- veloped into an exchange of idews be- tween Government weather experts and the fiyers regarding future colia- tion of weather data for transaceanic fights, The circle of celebrities which as- sembled about the White House table represented probably the greatest gathering of cotemporary national heroes in history. The list included Col. Lindbergh, the guest of honor; Miss Elder and Haldeman, who accompanied her on her almost-successful flight over the Atlantic; Comdr. Byrd, hero not only of the polar flight, but of the attempt to fly to Paris, which ended in the English Channel, and who already has been decorated with the Hubbard medal; Col. Arthur C. Goebel, winner of the Dole prize flight to Hawaii; Berndt Balchen, companion of Byrd in the flight to France; Lieuts. Hegen- berger and Maitland, first to fly from San Francisco to Hawall; Wil- liam 8. Brock and Edward F. whose round-the-world at- Clarence Cham- berlin and Charles A. Levine, who flew to Germany; Paul Schulter, sec- ond-place winner in the Dole contest; Emory Bronte, companion of Ernest L. Smith on the Hawaiian flight; Lieut. W. C. Davis, who accompanied Goebel, and George Noville. Several Are Delayed. Smith and the following were unable to reach Washington in time for the luncheon: Bert Acosta, a companion of Byrd on his flight to France, and Mar- tin Jensen, companion of Schluter. Smith wired the President this morn- ing that engine trouble had forced his plane down at Rockville, N. Y., and the others sent word they could not reach here by 1 o'clock, the time set for the luncheon. They are expected, however, to be on hand at the Audi- torium this evening. Lindbergh was among the last of he flyers to arrive here today. He landed at Bolling Field shortly after noon. from New York, accompanied by his mother and Daniel Guggenheim of the Guggenheim Foundation. Only the fiyers, President and Mrs. Coolidge, Col. Blanton Winship, mili- tary aide to the President, and Capt. Wilson Brown, naval aide, attended the luncheon, An exclusive audience of Amer- fean and foreign notables, numbering 6,000 persons, will witness the presen- tation of the Geographic Society medal tonight. Diplomatic represen- tatives from all of the countries visit- ed by the various flyers during their daring jaunts over two oceans. many lands and the top of the world, wiil occupy boxes or reserved seats. The ceremonies will be broadcast over a country-wide network of radio stations, beginning at 8:45 o'clock. Joins Hall of Fame, Only seven men before Lindbergh have been honored so singularly by the Geographic Society. When Presi- dent Coolidge bestows the Hubbard medal on the fair-haired idol of his country tonight, the name of Lind- bergh will go down in the records of fame alongside such names as Peary, Amundsen, Bartlett and Schackleton. The program will not be of elaborate nature, The President will be introduced by Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor, president of the soeiety, and Mr. Coolidge then will confer the decoration. with appropri- ate remarks. The whole function is designed to be simple, but of deeply impressive character. The flyers converged on Washing- ton yesterday and today by air and rail. Among those, who reached here yesterday were Goebel, Brock, Schlee and Bronte. They arrived in planes at Bolling Field. Miss Elder and Capt. Haldeman came by train early today. Greeted by Admirers. Crowds of cheering admirers greet. ed the distinguished visitors’in their movements about the city today, the largest throng assembling at the White House early this afternoon. Other crowds collected outside the De- partment of Commerce during the neteorological conference and outside he Carlton and Maytiower Hotels, where most of the flyers are stopping. Judging from the terest centered in the gowned Miss i e ZZ g, 4 RUTH ELDER WEARS PARIS FROCK TO WHITE HOUSE LUNCHEON Meets Lindbergh as Guest of President and First Lady. Aviatrice Denies Estrange- ment From Her Husband. By the Associated Press. Ruth Elder, wearing a Parisian frock instead of her famous knickers, at luacheon and to meet Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, the man, she says, in spired her hop over the Atlantic. One of the first things the young flier did on arrival here was to deny any es zemc.' with her 24-year- old husband, Lyle Womack. But she will not return to Panama with him “just now,” she sald, adding that is going back to Panama Weep at Parting. Miss Elder and her husband spent 40 minutes together last night, friends said, and they wept while exchanging pledges of affection. A member of Miss Elder's party described her as “a small-town girl, who became fa- mous overnight,” and said her in- tention was to return to New York before tomorrow to consider which of numerous proffered contracts she would accept. She will probably go on a 20-week lecture tour to tell of the flight which ended in the ocean near the Azores, he said. Miss Elder CABARET HEADS 10 FAGE COURT Five Proprietors Accused of Violating Sunday Ordinances. A campaign to force Washington night clubs to close at midnight Sat- urday was inaugurated quietly by po- lice early yesterday morning with the result that proprietors of five leading clubs have been summoned to appear in Police Court tomorrow to answer charges of violating section 16 of the police regulations, which forbids operation of public amusement places Sunday, except between the hours of 2 and 11 p.m. The clubs affected are Le Paradls, L’Aiglon, Ligon, Better 'Ole and Lido. The proprietors of all night clubs were warned by the police Saturday afternoon, it was said, that they would not be permitted to operate in the early hours of Sunday morn- ing. All of them, with the exception of the five whose proprietors were or- dered to appear in court, it was said, obeyed the warning. The campaign was directed by Lieuts J. D. McQuade of the second precinct and E. T. Harmey of the elghth precinct. It was ordered by Maj. Edwin B. Hesse, superintendent of police, who said that a number of complaints had been made to the Police Department that the night clubs were operating early Sunday morning. ITALY HAS NEW FLAG. Fascist Emblem Placed Beside That of Royalty. icaxo. Dally. B Radigo o, S 120, i ROME, November 14,—Fascism to: day endowed Italy with a new flag. Dictator Mussolini has ordered the Fascist emblem, a lictor, placed on the fiag. The emblem shares honors with the royal emblem, but appears at the right-hand side. ~ Certain regimental flags, emblematic of historic battles, { P! alone are exempted from the orde: erh ull an equality with the royal -ment , rea ve adorned flh Yigtors e RUTH ELDER. herselt denfed any intention of going on_the .stage or into the miovies. as high as $12,000 a week, it was de- clared. Her intentlon is to reap what gains are offered by reason of her flight, and then, possibly, to re- turn to Panama to her husband. Attitude of Husband. ‘Womack was represented as being anxious to avoid being considered cap- italizing his wife’s achievement, and it was only after he found that he could not obtain suitable work in this country that he decided to return to Panama. As Miss Elder talked with news- paper men this morning, her pilot in the Atlantic hop, George Haldeman, sat quietly in the background. When questioned, he would talk only of his companion’s courage on the trip. POLICE INDICTED INBLACKMAIL CASE Two Privates Charged With Taking Bribes in Whisky service. Sunday's (P) Means Associated Press. The only evening paper in Washington with the Associated Press news Saturday’s Circulation, 98570 Circulation, 110,936 TWO CENTS. BLAST SIOOT NOW BACKS $222,000000 CUT Yenator Alters His Tax Slash Ideas After Study of U. S. Expenses. Senator Smoot of Utah, who as chairman of the finance committee will have charge of the tax reduction bill in the Senate this Winter, and who has been personally advocating a $300,000,000 tax cut, has come to the conclusion that it would be safer to confine the reduction to $225,000,000, the maximum amount recently recom- mended by the Secretary of the Treasury, and since approved by President Coolidge. The Utah Senator expressed himself to this extent at the White House today, following a conference with the President, held immediately after a similar one between the President of the ways and means committee of the Senate, who will direct the destiny of the tax reduction bill in that body. Alters His Ideas. Senator Smoot explained that his ideas regarding how far Congress could go in reducing the tax burden have been somewhat altered since he has learned of the existing sentiment for a huge appropriation for Missis- sippi flood control, and rehabilitation in_ the flood area. He is convinced that with the Government facing a large outlay for flood purposes, caution should be exercised in cutting the taxes if a deficit in the Treasury next year is to be avoided. From his recent observations he is satisfied that sentiment for flood con- trol funds has about crystallized be- tween $60,000,000 and $70,000,000 for the coming year. He admitted that the appropriation for flood control would be less than $60,000,000, but at that, will be of a size that will call for retrenchments in other quarters. He would not be surprised to see $50,000,000 appropriated for flood con- trol at the coming session. The Utah Senator stated, however, that he would prefer to see the size of the tax reduetion held in abeyance until it is known definitely just how muych is going to be spent on flood control. Green Is Silent. Representative Green, who has been conducting hearings for more than two weeks on the subject of tax re- Ralph G. Blasey, 25 years old, and | vision, declined after his conference Robert L. Smith, 27 years old, sus-|With the President to make any com- pended police officers, were indicted | ment. He said he would prefer to today by the grand jury om two |DBave the President give out the news of their conference. charges of blackmail. The men are| “gona i Smoot said that he had accused of accepting money from per- |heard considerable talk about an ef- sons violating the national prohibition | fort to be made to bring about changes act to prevent their arrest. in the present tariff law in the com- According to the indictments, they |ing session, but he doubted it any such accepted $25 from Charles S. Beal, |movement would get very far. He de- 1259 First street southeast, September | clared with emphasis that a raid on 30, when they found him in possession |1 1ariff at this time would result of 24 cases of whisky. The officers il & Panic in this country. He said in this connection that already there also took four of the cases, according |is a slight depression in business, at Violation Law. nd jury, removing the intoxicaifts |ably less than last year, and that it Liip the protection afforded by the present tarift were reduced, business in this country would suffer severely. He said that it was his opinion that The men accepted. $50 in marked| o0 “wig ‘are advocating fasift re: money October 26 from Claude New- | yision are interested in foreign loans som, 209 Virginia avenue .southeast,|and therefore would be happy to see whose car had been apprehended while [ America flooded with foreign goods. transporting liquor. Newsom reported [ He doubted very much if there is any the demand of the paliceman to head-[real sentiment among farmers for a quarters and Sergt Wise and Detee- [change in the tariff. 5 tives Weber and Sullivan arranged to| Senator 00t -expressed the belief i be on hand when the money passed.|that some sound practical form of farm relief legislation would be passed Second street and Virginla avenue|at the coming session of Congress. He southeast and at & signal from New-|did not want to prophesy as to the som the waiting officers approached | nature this legisiation probably would the | take, but he did-say he favored the ound | 8dministratio in the patrol wagon. Accepted Marked Money. Newsom met Blasey and Smith at to the two suspects and took them 's m . for promot- ~ ‘progra. Sthtion, Where“tbA idaey. wes {oNA0 | ing and-asaisting 18 the. sabiimton SN-opkof tn: ets: e wrere of the marketing of agriculture. He of warehouses and orderly marketing. Senator Smoot, when asked if he ad any knowledge of the reported removal of ‘an item in the District estimates for a preliminary appropria- tion for a municipal airport at Gravel- ly Point,« replied that he no knowledge of this. Senator Smoot sald he tliought it would be inadvisable to attempt a further liberalization. of the law h‘: has been g . an . would be made to have the maximum increased, but he (e sire met with'no suceess this year. to one cf the witnesses before the|least profits are generally consxder’ O CASE AGTVIY BEFRE URY QUL Founder of Agency and Sons Granted Permission for Second Appearance. GORDON FAVORS PLEAS OVER PROTEST OF AIDE Detective Chiefs Will Tell Story to Inquisitors at Ses- sion Tomorrow. Permission was granted today to William J. Burns, his two sons, Ray- mond and W. Sherman Burns, and all the 16 detectives hired by Sinclair of- ficials to shadow the Teapot Dome ju- rors to go before the grand jury and answer the accusation made by one of Burns® own men that they conspired through false affidavits to cause a mis- trial in the oil case should it go against the defense. This decision, following sensational disclosures of Saturday, including revelations by William J. McMullin, a Burns detective, who worked hand and glove with the Government investiga- tors, was made shortly before noon by United States Attorney Peyton Gor- don The three Burns principals, sum- moned to be in attendance today, ap- pealed to Gordon over the head of NeilBurkinshaw, the young assistant who is presenting the Government's case before the grand jury. Burkinshaw Opposes Move. Burkinshaw had refused to permit Burns and his two sons to go again before the grand jury, stating that the Government has made out its case and that they had been given an oppor- tunity to tell what they knew. He had no intention at this time, he added, to let the elder Burns make another “‘speec! before the grand jury, as the Burns men are ex-parte to the proceedings. If they had anything more to say Burkinshaw intimated they would have ample opportunity to tell it later. Burns and his two sons were closet- ed in the United States attorney’s of- fice for upward of an hour while their position was being deliberated. When they left the room the elder Buins declared that “Mr. Gordon has given all of us permission to go before the grand jury and testify.” Both Burns and Sherman were em- phatic in stating that Raymond Burns, the elder son, “knows nothing at all about this case, as he was at. tending the American Bankers' As- Contracts_ offered Miss Eider run|and Representative Green, chalrman | sociation sessions during the. triai. The grand jury was only in session a short while today and adjourned at noon until tomorrow. For this rea- :\‘fl\l lhz bBeurr;; officials and detectives vill nof able to appear e bogxy uml}lfl;hem ppear before that eanwhile. rumors were ci.culat that McMullin's sensational dlscluuu:‘-de that he was induced by Burns and other operatives to prepare the false affidavit and reports about jurors, for !Ihe purpose of obtaining a mistrial if needed,” was to be followed by an- other and equally startling develop- ment. Government attorneys handling the case, however, would make public no announcement. Jury Returns Indictments, A sensation was caused earlier today when the grand jurors suddenly filed out of their quarters and proceeded to the Criminal Court, over which Justice Frederick L. Siddons, trial judge in the Teapot Dome case, is presiding. There they presented a sheaf of indictments. It was rumored that the indictments possibly were the “surprise” development which the United States attorney's office has in store, These rumors exploded when it was revealed that it was the usual series of indictments which the grand jury hands down on Monday. Because of the number of business men on the srand jury who must give some at- tention to their affairs, only a short session of the body was held today. The only two witnesses in the Jury- fixing case brought before thé grand jury today were James L. Riddle, auditor of the Wardman Park Hotel, and John F. Schlotterbeck, credit manager of the Mayflower Hotel. These two witnesses brought t. United States attorney's gomceur's"‘:- ords of telephone calis by Sinclair officials made in connection with the hiring of the Burns detectives. Schlotterbeck brought records show- ing that on October 18, when it was known that the jurors were not to be locked up, two calls were made from Sinclair's .partment in the Ma: flower Hotel, one to Harry Jeffries, confidential clerk of Sinclair's at ;)Sr’?onge, N. J. and the other to Rector Telephone Calls, Riddle’s records with telephone calls made by C. G. Ruddy, Philadelphia manager of the Burns agency in charge of the jury shadowing detail. These records showed two local calls, one to the Mayflower and the other to the residence of Donald Woodward on Leroy place, where Henry Mason Day, Sinclair official, who is sald to have hired the jury shadowers, spent ome of his time. Testimony is be- ore the Grand Jury that it was Day, who is now ander $25,000 bond on a jury tampering conspiracy charge, made the telephone call from Sin. clair's apartment to Jeffries, ordering him to get in touch with the Burns u':nc)n it f the t ccounts of the two hotels were also brought by the two mes &n an endeavor to shed some light om ex- pense vouchers turned in by the Burns men. Burkinshaw would not predict today who would be called before the grand jll;;}' lom';l'owl. by No explanation was given Maj. Gordon in connection with the appeal of the three Burns principals other than the mere statement that they would be permitted to go before the grand jury. Burns Appears Deflant. “We've got something to put before grand jury that will disprove thi: story,” d-:hndwmmflmn. irns, referring to m McMullin dis- Bu closure. He tai breast pocket, : ‘(flo%lmnfl on % % Columa Eefi—