Evening Star Newspaper, January 2, 1930, Page 1

WEATHER. (U. 8. Weather Bureau Forecast.) ht and tomorrow: ‘mild Rain late ton! temperature tht; ‘Temperatures—Highest, 59, lowest, 48, at today: Full report on page Closing N. Y. Markets, Pages 12 and 13 colder tomorrow. t noon 7 am. 9. b WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION e Foening Star, service. The only evening in Washington wit Associated Press per the news Yesterday’s Circulation, 103,451 secor Wa Entered as rost office, No. 31,292. nd class matte v shington. D. C. C. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9 “y 1930 —FORTY-TWO PAGES. PP (®) Means Associated P TWO CENTS. EX-JUROR DEFENDS SHELBY AND KELLY BEFORE TRAL BOY Eugene Beatty Is Out_spoken‘ in Praise of Deposed Heads of Detectives. AGREES WITH INSPECTOR ON ALLEN’S TESTIMONY Former Member of Investigating Body Declares Excoriation of Officers Outrage. Eugene Beatty, a member of the July grand jury which excoriated Inspector William S. Shelby and Lieut. Edwnrd,’ J. Kelly, came to the defense of these’ two officers today when their joint trial on charges of bungling the McPherson case was resumed before the extraordi- nary police trial board. The first of 15 of the principal wit- | nesses of the defense, Beatty was out- spoken in his praise of Inspector Shelby and Lieut. Kelly and declared that the sensational report of the grand jury which reeked with criticism of the | police investigation of the McPherson case had no basis of foundation. Beatty also testified that he consid- | ered the charge that Kelly made an inefficient and unbusinesslike investi- gation an outrage and denied most emphatically that Shelby had admitted to the grand jury that the police “bungled” the case. Beatty made one disclosure, revealing that after the July grand jury voted to indict Robert A. McPherson for the murder of his wife, a group of a haif- dozen members of the jury gathered in a corner of the grand jury room and celebrated hilariously. The incident, he said, shocked the sensibilities of one of the women on the jury and smelling salts were administered to prevent her from fainting. Tells of Another Theory. From Beatty's testimony also emerged another murder theory of former Po- | liceman Robert J. Allen. According to the witness, Allen told the grand jury that Assistant United States Attorney Wilham H. Collins had taken from the McPherson apartment a book. on jiu jitsu, which described Japanese meth- ods of strangulation. It was Allen's idea, he said, that the book was used by Mrs. McPherson's murderer in the preparation of the crime. In denying that Shelby had admitted that the police had “bungled” the Mc- Pherson case investigation, Beatty said that the first time he saw the word used in connection with the case was in 8 newspaper story. He also denied that Shelby was in a rage when he raised his hand before the grand jury and declared that former Policeman Allen and Mrs. Roy Heavrin should b2 indicted for perjury. Beatty declared that Shelby's gesture was for the pur- pose of emphasis, an action which showed him to be human. Moreover, the witness said he drew the same con- | clusion as Inspector Shelby before the case was over. Under cross-cxamination, Beatty ex- pressed the opinion that one of the principal reasons for the grand jury's charge that Shelby had tampered with | witnesses was due 1o the fact tha: he had a written stalement from Police. man Laurencs Botts, .of ths third pre- cinct, concernmz Allen’s storv before the policeman had testified to the grand jury. Beatty said Shelby's explanation cleared this matter up in his mind, but that some of the jurors remained skeptical. Botts was Allen's partner cn | the night he claims to have seen a man | several conferences with members of the | escape from thé rear window of the McPherson avartment. Beatty was the only witness at the | fnorning session of the trial board. He was_on the stand continuously from | 10.15 o'clock, when the board convened, until 12:35 o'clock, when it recessed for | lunch. | Beatty’s Testimony. 1 Beatty testified that Inspector Shelby was not questioned concerning the ‘ presence of a stenographer in_the |every indication that President Hoover | grand jury room, and denied that Shel- | by made any statement to the effect | that the stenographer was there to| record testimony for possible use later | in a police trial board perjury pro-| ceeding. He said “Collins told them | the stenographer was present solely for the benefit of the jurors. i Inspector Shelby, he said, was not | asked whether lights in the McPher- | son apartment were found on or whether any windows were open. The| chief of detectives, the witness de- | clared, did say that a mistake had been made if no search was made for finger prints, but explained that the phrasing of the question was such as to indicate to him that testimony to witnesses, | Beatty denied emphatically that In- spector Shelby or any other witness before the grand jury had used the word “bungling.” He testified that Inspector Shelby was questioned concerning the posl-i bility of Policeman Allen having seen a man leaving the window of the Mc- Pherson apartment, and that he ex- pressed doubt as to the physical possi- bility of the policeman having seen any such event. That evening, he said, the members of the grand jury went to the scene to determine for themselves whether a man could have been seen leaving the window. and that on the SEA ROADS TO PEACE Writings of Admiral Mahan, American, Set Europe Thinking About As the nations prepare for the grea January 21 the age-old problem of the Jore. ' Its ramifications. its historical ezaminaticn in the light of recent eve: Price Bell inaugurates a_series in_ 1whi Maritime Power. t maval conference which opens in London freedom of the seas again comes to the backoround, demand o new and careful nts. With' the following article Edward ch “he will set forth the essential facts of sea power and sea policy and the change that has beem wrought by man's strugole for a stable peace. BY EDWARD PRICE BELL. Sea power and the year just born—1930—scarcely can fail of close historical association so long as international polit; ‘This is a fact for two reasons. ics shall endure, First, 1930 will witness the five-power Naval Conference to meet in Lon- don toward the end of January. Secondly, that conference will discuss the basic factors of the world maritime situation with a the oroughness and a determination to reach a settlement, such as hitherto has not characterized any gathering of the kind. Old as the studied it hundreds of years before Christ has been thought out conclusively. It tellectual area full of fog banks. area full of danger of war. Only in sea question is—Thucydides t—it never is an in- It is a practical late years have even the experts of politics and strategy be- gun clearly to realize that the sea question lies at the root of peace. Happily, ordinary folk are beginning to give some thought to the matter; it no lon ger is left entirely to either statesmen or strategists—a new thing. Until recently active public interest in fighting ships and their use was of small import- ance, at least as affecting policy, in any part of the world. After the Napoleonic war, t nation itself, more dependent upon sea its navy to pass out of mind for a cen he English Edward Price Bell. power than any other, almost allowed tury. Only under the Germanic threat did the British reawaken to their deperidence upon their fleet. Conferences A ttack Problem. Following the Great War came the Washington conference of 1921-22 and the three-power (or Coolidge) conference e at Geneva in 1927. Those conferences did more to bring the maritime problem vividly before the masses of mankind than have all similar previous meetings put together. And the London conference, from the point of view of public interest, will have the reflex benefit of arous- ing and informing discussions of Washin gton and Geneva, (Continued on Page 2, Column 3.) ALCOHOL LEAKS SEEN AS MENACE Diversion of Industrial Sup- ply Held Prohibition’s Most Difficult Problem. By the Associated Press. dustrial alcohol leaks are regarded by President Hoover's Law Enforcement Commission and congressional dry lead- ers as prohibition’s most difficult prob- lem. Out of the whirl of holiday discus- sion and controversy among the drys this fact has been agreed upon by all factions. The Law Enforcement Com- mission has set itself to inquiring into the situation, but the preliminary re- port of the commission to Congress will not touch upon it. Described by Senator Borah of Idaho as a “scandal,” the administration of the permit system whereby industrial alcohol is distributed to business is due for a .thorough investigation and al ready rumors of grave disclosures in this inquiry have been heard. Jones Urges Full Probe. Senator Jones of Washington, ad- ministration spokesman for the drys, said in a statement last night after Law Enforcement Commission: “All seems to view the industrial al- cohol situation as the most difficult one to solve properly, as well as one of the most important phases of prohi- bition enforcement. In working this out the commission should shield no in- dividual and no line of business.” Senator Capper of Kansas, another Republican dry leager, also has called for a thorough investigation of the in- dustrial alcohol system and there is shares in the view that this problem is one demanding an overhauling. Administration of the industrial al- cohol permits comes under the Treasury Department and more particularly un- der Assistant Secretary Lowman and Prohibition Director Doran. hi: reorganization of the prohibition en- forcement machinery, Mr. Hoover has proposed to continue this phase of pro- hibition in the Treasury. Assurance was given by Senator Jones that the Law Enforcement Commission | would complete its study of prohibition | G:;' before July 1, and that the commission has agreed unanimously not to pass judgment upon the “wisdom or un- | wisdom” of the eighteenth amendment this effect had been given by earlier | j tself. Delay Held Unwarranted. “Prohibition enforcement,” said Sen- ator Jones, “is of vital and immediate concern to the people. It was stated on the floor of the Senate a short time ago that a member of the commission has intimated it would take three or four years to Work this out, I could not believe it. In my judgment the President would not tolerate such de- i lay on so pressing and important a mat. ter, nor did it seem to me to be war- ranted at all. “I have conferred with several mem- bers of the commission. Some think that the prohibition phase of their work (Continued on Page 2, Column 1.) (Continued on Page 4, Column 1.) FATHER DIES IN ARMS OF SON WHO RAN HIM DOWN ON BICYCLE Youth Rendering Aid After Collision Finds Parent Breath- i ing “Good-by Epecial Dispatch to The Star. HAGERSTOWN, - Md.,, January 2.— Merle Sprenkle, jr., 14, was riding his bicycle home through the night to hurry to a New Year dinner which his mother had promised. Without warning, an obscure figure of a person arose before the dim light of his wheel. Thrown into a ditch, he heard a man moaning | beside him. He hurried to give heip, held the man in his arms, and by the flickering ri of his overturned bicycle lamp recognized his father, who breathed heavily & “Good-by to mother,” d then died from a broken neck with- the convulsive clasp of his sobbing Bon. | husband and boy, to Mother.” The father had been working on the farm of a neighbor, Washington Kipe, and was quickening his steps home for the holiday dinner. The son was re- turning in an opposite direction from an errand for his mother when the fatal accident took place. The boy lifted the body of his father upon the seat of his bicycle and struggled .to the door of his home, where the mother, awaiting the return of her with steaming dishes | ready cn the table, was overcome when she answered a rap at the door and was faced with the limj band supported by her exhausted son. Four other children were gathered around the table filled with holiday cheer when tragedy lulkeklnw the POLICE INSPECTOR GANGLAND VICTIM ;Shot Down by Group in Sedan—Girl Bystander Is Also Critically Wounded. By the Associated Press. DETROIT, January 2.—Inspector Henry J. Qarvin, head of the crime and bomb squad of the Detroit Police Department, was shot four times and today, by a group of men in a large black sedan, who drove beside the in- spector’s car on Coplin avenue near Jefferson avenue and fired 12 shots. An 11-year-old girl, struck by one of the bullets, was said to be dying. The inspector is known to have beerl a marked man in'the city’s underworla since the organization of the crime and bomb squad two years ago. The squad was organized to rid the city of racketeers and hi-jackers. Girl Reported Dying. The wounded girl is Lois Bartlett of | 14427 Mack avenue. Receiving hospital | attaches reported her to be dying. She was on her way to school. She came to Detroit six months ago with her Murray Bartlett, is an employe in an automobile plant. The girl was shot four times, twice in the right arm, once in the head and once in the back. She said she saw the two cars come | close together, heard the chots and then iremembered nothing after she was struck. Inspector Garvin's condition was sal to be serious, but not critical. He was able to give police details of the shoot- ing ‘The inspector, who is 40 years old | has been with the Police Department | since 1914 and has held the rank of inspector since September, 1927, when the crime and bomb squad was formed. He has had 11 meritorious mentions and 5 citations for distinguished service. Inspector Garvin was to have ap- peared as a State witness this morn- | Ing in the trial of Martin Cohn, pro- prietor of the Study Club, wno is charged with involuntary manslaughter {in connection with the fire at that | cabaret September 20, in which 23 per- | sons lost their lives. i Unable to Describe Car. om his bed in Receiving Hospital vin was able to give an account of the shooting. “This car came up behind me,” he said. “I swung over so the driver could pass, but he got beside me for a few feet, then there was the crack of a pistol and a bullet hit me in the neck. | “I dropped behind the wheel of the | car and felt it bump over the curb and I then I got hit some more. I didn't itry to get out of the car until some ! policemen came. The other car went , away toward Jefferson avenue, but I jdidn’t see it. I haven't any idea how many men were in the car, or what kind of a car it was.” Inspector Garvin has been promi- | nently associated with nearly every ‘major crime investigation in Detroit during the past two years. Included {in his exploits was the investigation { carried on into the activities of the Purple gang, an organization which was prominent in the cleaners and dyers’ war of two years ago as well as rum-running, hi-jacking and similar activities, CHILD DISCOVERED DROWNED IN POND 21-Month-0ld Daughter of Mrs. Loree Freshour Fails to Respond to Treatment. ‘While playing alone today near the nome of her grand parents at Danlel's | Park, adjacent to Berwyn, Md. Mary Lcuise Freshour, 21 months old, wi dered into a pond across the street and drowned. The body was found floating in "| water shortly after 9 o'clock this morn- ing. The Hyattsville rescue squad and Dr. A. O. Ettienne employed artificial respiration in an unsuccessful effort to revive the child. Loree Mrs. ‘The child, daughter of Mrs, McPhatter Freshour, resided with Freshour's parents, Mr, and Mrs. H. J. Biermam. seriously wounded shortly after 8 am. | family from Muncie, Ind. Her father, | ANTARCTIC HIDES FATE OF 2 FLYERS INWHALING PLANE Tiny Airship Used for Scout- ing Is Missing Since Christmas Day. BYRD PARTY IS UNABLE TO ASSIST IN SEARCH Explorers at Little America Feel Loss of Norwegian Aviator and Doctor. BY RUSSELL OWEN. By Wireless to The Star and the New York Times. LITTLE AMERICA, Antarctica, January 1.—Another tragedy has been written on the ice-strewn sea of the Antarctic. An airplane used in scout- ing for whales by the whaler Kosmos has vanished near the edge of the ice pack despite a search for it since Christmas Day. It was flown by Leif Lier. a well known pilot in Norway, who had with him as passenger Dr. Ingvald-Schreiner, the ship's doctor and | the son of a well known physiclan in Oslo. The search for the missing men is being continued by the Kosmos, al- though after five days of desperate effort in which the entire ice pack was penetrated deeply between Scott Island and the Balleny Islands, there is little hope that they will be found. Victims of Sudden Mishap. What happened to them must have | come s0 suddenly that Lier had no op- portunity to make a safe landing on the ice or in a sheltered ice bay. ‘The loss of the two young men, both of whom were popular on the ship and at home, spoiled the Christmas season for the whalers and they are all sad- dened by the accident, which they could not avert and which they have tried 30 hard to meet by the rescue opera- tions. . The Kosmos, which is commanded by ; Capt. Andresen, is the largest of the Norwegian whalers, a 22,000-ton ship, and was built especially for this work. It is really a floating factory for the rendering of blubber from the whales brought alongside by the small chasers. It has been thought in recent years that an airplane would be of value in spotting whales, and Admiral Byrd's ex- tion, g through last year, ap- parently did much to hasten the ex- periment. A light two-seater airplane, a Gypsy Moth, with a 100-horsepower Cyrrus engine, was fitted with pontoons and Lief Lier was engaged as pilot. Lier Known to Men With Byrd. Lier ‘is well known to several members of the Byrd expedition. Bernt Belchen knew him well and so did Carl Petersen, one of our radio operators, and I met him in Oslo while on the way to Spitz- bergen with Capt. Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth in 1926. He was a tall, handsome man, about 32 years old, who until this trip has been doing com- ‘mercial flying in Norway, using his own ships. }2: learned to fly in Hungary in 1921 and, after seven hours of solo flying bought a plane and flew it home over Germany and Sweden, quite a feat for a new pilot. Since then he has had many planes and at times has flown on mall runs in Norway. He had promised to fly over to see us if the Kosmos got near enough and the | day before Christmas he sent us a Christmas message. So every one feels as deeply about his disappearance as though he had been a member of this expedition. We all knew what he was up against. Lier had made several good flights from the Kosmos in his small plane and its use had been completely suc- | cessful in whaling. On one day he | flew in all about 700 miles. He was always careful, knowing the dangers of getting out of touch with the ships and, in addition to.using the radio when he flew alone, he generally kept along the edge of the pack with the mother ship or some of the chasers in sight. But on the occasion of his most recent fight he did not carry radio because of the added weight of his passenger. On the day Lier disappeared, whaling operations had been resumed after the Christmas festivities. The whalers are (Continued on Page 2, Column 2) WALES ALL READY FOR AFRICAN TRIP| 1 | |Will Resume Jaunt Halted byi Illness of Father ! Last Year. i By the Associated Press. LONDON, January 2.—The Prince of Wales was back in London today, after spending the holidays with his parents at Sandringham, to make final prepara- tions for the beginning of his African | trip and to say goodbye to friends. He will leave tomorrow from South- ampton aboard the Kenilworth Castle to resume the jaunt interrupted last year by iliness of King George. He will go first to Capetown and return to Eng- land probably in April. He expects to do considerable hunting while away. He sails aboard the Kenilworth Castle as an ordinary salon passenger, all cere- mony being ignored in accordance with his own wish. The liner will carry about 500 passengers, most of them tourists. He will take his meals in the ordinary dining salon, otherwise sharing the ship's ordinary accommodations. only exception will be when he sleeps, ifor a bedstead has been provided for his ksutrroom in place of the usual buni DENIES RESIGNATION. Primo de Rivera Outlines Party Re- organization to King of Spain. MADRID, January 2 (#).—Premier Primo de Rivera today issued a denial of reports that he had resigned and de- clared that there no political crisis. The premier, about whose plans has centered much speculation during the t week, sald that the program which e had submitted to the King was for jrow shook hands with a steady stream i broadcast, stuck to the theme that the { the governor to succeed Walier E. Edge | Prospects for Better Enforexment; the reorganization of the political party “Patriotic Union” and added that there would be an_election Februrary for provineial delegates union. PRI 7] o W HAVING THEVX RIGHT OF way ALL ST ’ SENATE CAMPAIGN OF MORROW BEGUN Neighborhood Party Takes| Political Aspect as G. 0. P. Leaders of State Attend. Special Dispatch to The Star. ENGLEWOOD, N. J, January 2.— More than 4,000 friends and admirers >f Dwight W. Morrow gave him a home- town welcome on New Year day and started the ball rolling in his campaign for the post of United States Senator from New Jersey. The Englewood Armory was hired yesterday afternoon for what was called simply a “neighborhood party” to hon- or Mr. Morrow as a distinguished cit- zen of the town. The affair turned out to be not only & gathering of neighbors but also of political leaders from various parts of the State and a host of badge-wearing “Morrow Booster Club” members, R For more than two hours Mr. Mor- of men, women and children who had come here to greet him from more than seventy New Jersey towns and cities. Politics Not Mentioned. The brief speech-making, which was occasion was merely a gathering of neighbors to greet the citizen of Engle- wood who is Ambassador to Mexico and is soon to represent his country at the five-power naval conference in London. There was no mention of politics either in the brief address by the retiring mayor, Douglas G. Thomson, or in Mr. Morrow's response, ‘Those who stood in the chilly armory listening to them included, however, two Republican national committee- men, the chairman of the State com- mittee and political leaders by the doz- ens. In the course of the afternoon's handshaking, Mr. Morrow was greeted by many of the men and women who will be in the forefront of his cam- paign to win the Republican senatorial nomination. Thomson to Manage Campaign. Mr. Thomson, who_ retired from his office as mayor of Englewood today, is to be Mr. Morrow's campaign man- ager. When the Ambassador returns from London and resigns his Mexican post he will take the Senate seat now occupied by David Baird, jr., named by when he became Ambassador to France. Mr., Baird will resign to make way for Mr. Morrow. It is not expected that Mr. Morrow will start active campaigning until May, about three or four weeks before the primary elections. Yesterday's reception began at 3 o'clock and continued until ailmost din- ner time. Mr. Morrow arrived at the armory, which quarters the 104th Engi- neers, New Jersey National Guard, companied by Mrs. Morrow, eir daughter, Miss Elizabeth Morrow; Wil- ton J. White, superintendent of schools; Cornelius Westervelt and Mrs. Charles Hulst, members of the Englewood Board of Education. ‘They were first greeted by the officials | of the town and by Daniel E. Pomeroy, | JONES LAW AUTHOR T0 TALK IN FORUM' of Prohibition to Be Sena- tor’s Topic. Prospects for better enforcement of the prohibition law will be discussed by Senator Wesley L. Jones of Washing- ton tonight at 10:30 o'clock in the Na- tional Radio Forum arranged by The Evening Star and sponsored by the Co- lumbia Broadcasting System. Senator Jones is one of the Nation's outstanding authorities on prohibition. He is the author of the celebrated Jones law. This recently enacted stat- ute provides drastic penalties for liquor violations. Efforts of the present administration to make prohibition enforcement more effective are expected to bear fruit dur- ing the next 12 months. The Presi- dent’s Law Enforcement Commission probably will play an important part in the prohibition rlcture as it continues to command public attention. Elected to the Senate more than a score of years ago, Jones soon will suc- ceed the late Senator Warren of Wyo- ming as chairman of the powerful Sen- ate committee on appropriations. Radio Programs on Page C-6 Would-Be Burglar, Stuck in Chimney, Asks ‘Victim’s® Aid Former Sailor Squirms in Trap for Two Hours Before Being Rescued. By the Associated Press. CHADDS FORD, Pa., January 2—A | burglar who tried to enter the home of John D. Schiedt here by way of a chimney got stuck early today and was forced to call upon the occupants of the house for help. He was rescued by firemen and then arrested. The prisoner gave his name as Michael Toth, 27, of Philadelphia. He said he learned to climb when he was a sailor and thought that “chimney would be easy.” Whea he and two com- panions were unable to enter the Schiedt house by windows and doors he climbed to the rcof and slid down the chimney. Just above a fireplace in the living room he found himself trapped. He squirmed fo: two hours, trying to extricate himself and then began- to moah for help. A son of the owner of the house heard the moans and called police, who, in turn, called the fire department. The latter pulled Toth out with ropes, took him to a hosvital for a bath and treatment for cuts and bruises, then to ;cmnilutrlle, who held him in $5,000 il Toth’s companions had deserted him. CLEMENGY SOUGHT FOR MULLAN HEADS Idaho Town May Appeal to Hoover to Release Con- victed Officials. By the Assoclated Press. MULLAN, Idaho, January 2.—A pe- tition protesting against the conviction of the mayor, city councilmen and chief of police of Mullan on a charge of conspiracy to violate the Federal pro- hibition law, and seeking presidential clemency for them, was being circu- lated here today. A group of citizens, led by J. B. Wilcox, cashier of the First National Bank of Mullan, circulated the petition, saying they intend to present it to President Hoover, The city officlals were found guilty in Federal Court at Coeur D'Alene last Sunday of conspiring to violate the Federal dry law by licensing various business places in Mullan and using the fees for municipal expenses. Protection System Charged. The Government charged that liquor dispensaries, gambling places and dis- orderly houses had been protected by | the license system, which assessed some business places as much as $25 a| month. The prosecution conceded, how- | ever, that no one personally profitea | by the system, fees of which were used ! to pay the expenses of the municipality | and to replenish an exhausted city | treasury. | All the officials convicted were sen- | tenced to Federal prison or to jails for terms ranging from 10 months to 2 years. Some of them also were fined. Sponsors of the petition argued that | the system of licenses obtained police | protection for the town, purchased fire | trucks, a street lighting system and other improvements. They said it also had constructed playgrounds and swim- ming pools for school children, and that it represented the attempt of group of public-spirited citizens to make ! Mullan a “progressive city.” H Sheriff Refuses to Quit. Sheriff R. E. Weniger of Shoshone County, one of those convicted of con- | spiracy, refused to turn over his office, Insisting that he had not been sus- | pended automatically because of the | conviction, and_that his appeal to tne | United States Circuit Court of Appeaus | stayed suspension. W. D. Gillis, Idaho attorney general, was reported to be starting ouster pro- ceedings in Boise. Judge J. Stanley Webster, who pre- sided at the trial, set February 3 as the date to hear motions for a new trial filled by Weniger and his deputy, Charles Bloom. Mayor Arthur Harwood and a group | of Mullan City trustees i’efll!fdly boarded a train for McNeil Island, Wash., Federal prison, to begin their | sentences. Chile Feels Slight Quake, BSANTIAGO, Chile, January 2 (#).— Santiago and other points in the re- public felt ja brief slight earthquake at 4:50 p.m} yesterday. CONTENDS JURORS NEEDN'T OWNLAND Government Invokes Statute Enacted During Revolution in Reaching Decision. A Maryland colonial statute enacted during the Revolution was invoked to- day by the government as an authority for the proposition that grand jurors need not be freeholders. The present grand jury was attacked in a series of 25 pleas in abatement filed by defend- | Gq ants’ counsel in the case of Benjamin R. Buck, and others, indicted for con- spiracy to violate the bucket shop law of the District of Columbia. The statute which was cited in a memorandum of authorities filed with Justice Peyton Gordon by Leo A. Rover, United States Attorney, and Neil Burkin- shaw, assistant United States ltwmer, provides that “no challenge shall be al- lowed tosany person for the want of a freehold.” It had been contended by counsel for the defendants in oral argu- ments made a week ago that the com- mon law requirement for grand jurors being freeholders still prevailed in this District, and that consequently the pres- ent grand jury was illegally constituted. Justice Gordon has the question under consideration, “The ancient requirement,” says the Government's memorandum, “that a grand juror must be a freeholder, is a relic of feudalism. It has no part in the institutions of the United States of America. It is very true that much of the criminal branch of our common law has either become obsolete or has been obliterated by statutory enactment upon the same subject. Nevertheless, it is true that where it has not been repealed by express statutory provision, or modi- fied by inconsistent legislation, or where it has not become obsolete or unsuited to our republican form of government, the common law of England in all its branches, both civil and criminal, re- mains today the law of the District of Colum! and it has been repeatedly so_held.” The memorandum also dealt with other pleas in abatement attacking the right of women to sit on grand juries, and attacking the provisions of the law that allows women to serve or refuse to serve at their option. The Government’s memorandum upholds the right of Women to serve on grand juries as well as on petit jurles, since no such distinc- tion is made in the law, which declares that no distinction as to sex shall be made as a qualification for service on ‘Juries” except that such service shall be optional for women. THREE BURNED TO DEATH. NASHVILLE, Mich.,, January 2 (#).— Verne D. Andrews, a farmer, who lived 3!2 miles southeast of here, and two unidentified men, evidently guests at a New Year party, were burned to death in a fire at the Andrews home this morning. Andrews was not married. The house was still burning when | neighbors discovered the bodies and a search was begun to see if there were other victims of the fire. Venizelos Leaves for Hague. ATHENS, Greece, January 2 (#).— Premier Venizelos left by the Orient express today for the Hague conference on reparations. His decision was made suddenly yesterday as a consequence of the Bulgarian and Hungarian attitude on reparations. He expects w Athens in 13 days, o 0 Tetum to DEATH BOMB CLUES LACKING AS POLICE TRACING ORIGIN OF ‘GIFT" ARE BAFFLED Identity of Unknown Sender of Christmas Package Re- mains Mystery as Doctors Battle to Save 2 Children. HUSBAND OF DEAD WOMAN IS GRILLED BY OFFICIALS Check of Marriage Date Given by Brady Shows Alleged Discrep- ancy of Five Months—United States Aid in Probe of Explosion Is Asked by Maryland Officers. A small coiled spring, a piece of copper wire, some scarred nails and several bits of brown wrap- | ping paper were the only tangible clues available today to guide police of two jurisdictions in their Intensive efforts to solve the mystery of yesterday’s Christmas- package bomb outrage in Seat Pleasant, which took the life of Mrs. Naomi Hall Brady, young November bride, and dealt grave injuries to her mother, three brothers and a tiny sister. The spring, found in the glass- strewn yard of -an adjoining home, is thought to have actuated a trigger-mechanism which ex- ploded a gaily-camouflaged box of dynamite as the ghastly “gift” was being opened by the 18-year- old expectant mother before the happily excited family group. Saffled by absence of b tter clues and Iack of credible theories, police of Prince eorges County, Md., and the National Capital sought determindedly today to | trace the origin of the fatal package and apprehend its unknown sender. | Questioning of relatives, neighbors and friends so far has yielded no definite “lead,” despite rumors of rejected suit- ors, religious contention and other fac- tors often associated with such a secret marriage as occurred when Naomi Hall eloped to Fairfax November 14 with Herman Brady, young Maryland farmer. Fight to Save Two Lives. Meanwhile surgeons at two hospi- tals brought all the skill of their pro- fession to bear in the effort to save the lives of Dorothy and Samuel Hall, 4!, years and 19 months old, respective- ly, whose little faces were horribly torn by the blast as they bent eagerly over the package. Mrs. Nora Hall, the 45-year-old mother, also is in a serious condition, with a punctured abdomen and se lacerations and bruises to the head arms, but her two older children, Les- lie, 16, and Thomas, 8, escaped with badly mangled hands, torn as they reached, boy-like, for the unsuspected instrument of death, While State's Attorney J. Frank Par- ran and Sheriff Charles F. Early were questioning Brady behind closed doors at the Marlboro court house this morn- ing a Maryland officer brought to the Bureau of Standards the spring section, copper wire, nails paper and a one- cent plece, all bearing marks of the ex'pl)?slom The Maryland officials said tney hoped to obtain the ald of Federal ex- perts in investigating the type of ex- plosive and the kind of bomb mechan- Ism used. It was planned to have the paper examined for water-marks or other peculiarities that might serve to trace its source. Opinions differed ag to whether the spring was part of a clock mschanism or a fragment of a trigger device used to fire the exnlosive upon disturbance of the wrappings around the package. The penny, badly burnsd, was bicksd up near the spring in the yard of Mr. and Mrs. E. V. Owens, about 20 feet from the wrecked kitchen of the Hall | home. Its connection with the infernal | machine was not clear. Couple Married Two Mounths. Brady returned to Washington after his visit to the State's attorney's office { this morning. Although the husband is | reported to have told reporters yesterday he was married to Naomi last June, records at Fairfax Court House showed the ceremony was performed there No- vember 14 by Deputy Clerk E. R. Hol- | brook. | It was learned today that Brady also took out a marriage license at Marlboro on November 4. Apparently this license never was used, and the court clerk has no record of its return. The state’s attorney and the Wash- | ington police scouted rumors that re- | ligious differences might, have led to ilhp crime. Althcuga Rrady is a Oath- olic and his bride ani her people are Protestants, no evidence of sectarian !ll-feeling ‘has bee, (Continued on 1 | vere and 2, DISTRICT HEADS WILL SEEK LAW TO SELL TAGS BY MAIL Commissioner Plans Action to Relieve Congestion at Auto License Bureau. The District Commissioners will make a vigorous drive to secure legislation to allow District automobile tags to be sold by mail. ‘This announcement was made today by Commissioner Sidney F. Taliaferro, Who is In executive control of the office of the superintendent of licenses. Mr. Taliaferro spent a long time today ob- serving the milling throng on the ground floor of the District Building, where tags were being sold. He re- ported that the situation was distress- ing and that he would take immediate steps to have it relieved when the tags are sold next year. Mr. Taliaferro said that he was in full accord with the editorial in The Evening Star fiutfl,rflly in which the practice of seiling tags by maill was advocated. T don't know just legislation this take, | the erowd this morning convin me wn that wknls the prva course e\‘:dnke. e are seeking a change in the a- | tios which wl? low l.;mmentu:l"'!ha cars in December instead of January as at present. This will allow the tags to go on sale on the first of December. I shall send a memorandum to Mr, Richards" (William P, Richards, District tax assessor) “instructing him to draw up necessary legislation to put these | reforms into offect and will call the matter up for action at an early meet- ing of the Board of Commissioners, |, “I am convinced that the time has now come when Washington should serve its tags by mail and not require its citizens to stand in line for long hours in order to get them. “I do not expett that we will ever achieve that perfection where we can dispense 100.000 or more tags in a single day, but T do believe that con- ditions will be materially improved by such legisiation as I have in mind."