Evening Star Newspaper, December 15, 1930, Page 5

D. C, MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1930 COURAGE IS REPAID | C. MOTHERSEAD, | ** A-S IANTIS WIDEN WAR i LOCAL SURVIVOR OF SHIP DISASTER " RTES FOR GABRIEL DRAW BIS THRONC, EINSTEIN WELCOMED TO NEW YORK Colored Player in “Green . Pastures” Paid Tribute . in Dramatic Funeral. BY LORENA HICKOK. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, December 15.—In Harlem, where they refer to the 1930 Pulitzer prize play not by its title, but simply as ‘The Company,” funeral services were conducted yesterday for the big, genial colored man, whose own people months ago dropped his real name and called him after the role he played, “Gabriel.” More than 1,000 persons filled the pews and packed the alsles of one of the colored section's larger churches, where for two hours and a half eulo- gies were read, hymns were sung and rituals intoned over the body of Charles Wesley Hill, the “Angel Gabriel” of “Green Pastures,” Marc Connelly’s drama of the Negro's conception of Heaven. Hill was killed by a taxicab Wednesday. The man who plays the role of Je- hovah in “Green Pastures,” Richard B. Harrison—looking somehow shrunken and much older today than he did a few months ago across the footlights— Tead tenderly, and in a voice that some- times broke with grief, a tribute to “God's right-hand man,” who helped to create a Broadway success by usher- ing him onto the stage of the Mans- field Theater with a joyous, stentorian command: “Gangway God Jehovah “Adam,” Master of Ceremonies. Daniel L. Haynes, one of the best known actors of his race and the Adam of the play, was master of cere- monies, and at the end of the long service the colored players—led by the little cherub who gets a fishbone stuck in his throat at the heavenly fish fry of the first act—filed tearfully by _the casket. Marc Connelly occupied a place of honor in the pulpit, with Harrison, Haynes and several colored preachers, while down in a block of pews reserved for them sat the entire staffs of the producer_and of the theater in which “Green Pastures” is playing, together with a number of men and women prominently identified with the stage. But most of the mourners were of the dead actor’s own race, and at times the service was as typical of the race perhaps as “Green Pastures” itself is said to be. On the whole it was a strange, stirring mixture of primitive emotion, naivete, and love of color and ceremony with the reserve of an older, northern people. Orations and Ritual. ‘There were long and flery orations, two Masonic rituals, with uniforms, swords and incense—all more dramatic somehow than when used in white ceremonies—and a sort of childlike expression of satisfaction over the suc- cess of their own Gabriel in a dream. The whole service was conducted in terms of “Green Pastures.” Hill was never mentioned by any name other than Gabriel except in the formal, ritualistic ceremonies. ‘Two large choirs—the white-robed choir of the church and the choir that sings the spirituals in the play—leading the huge audience, every man, woman and child of which could apparently sing, again and again filled the audi- torium with the melodies of the old hymns, “Lead, Kindly Light,” “Abid With Me,” “Nearer My God to Thee.” And while white members of the audi- ence sat with rapt expressions on their facss, colored persons here and there would utter wild, piercing screams. Gives Brief Tribute. But more moving than all was the brief and broken tribute of Harrison, “The Lawd God Himself,” to “His Right Hand Man.” “No one could ever be angry with ‘Gabe’ very long,” he said. “After all, he just fingered his trumpet in the play—he never did blow it. No one in was more liked than Then he told how the pickaninnies of the first act used to come into “Gabriel's” dressing room to get the candy that he brought them when they ‘were good cherubs. “You can imagine,” he said slowly, “the consternation of the whole cast and myself when we learned that the last curtain had come for our friend and co-worker ‘Gabriel.’” 1t remained for the younger Haynes to say farewell for “Gabriel's” associates in “Green Pastures.” At the end of a recital of Hill's achievements in the theater, Haynes bowed his head and murmured in a voice that could hardly be_heard beyond the chancel rail: “Good-by, old man.” PLAYMATES TO CARRY DEAD BOY TO GRAVE Funeral Services Tomorrow for Lewis Bernard Cox, Jr., Fatally Hurt in Foot Ball Game. Gangway for de Lawd Four of his play companions will carry Lewis Bernard Cox., ir., to his final resting place, in Cedar Hiil Ceme- tery, tomorrow afternoon. Funeral services for the 12-year-old boy of 202 Eleventh street southeast, Wwho was fatally injured in a foot ball game Thursday, will be conducted at the residence by Rev. H. E. Hunter, minister of the Gospel Sunday School| of southeast Washington, at 2 o'clock. The boys, all chums of the dead lad, who will' be pallbearers, are George Charnley, Lem Jones, Gardner Perks and Johnson Hardy. Lewis Cox died at Casualty Hospital Saturday night following a relaps- that came after the lad seemed improved from the injuries he received Thursday. Lewis attempted to execute a flying tackle on an opposing player, who was | racing for a “hdown, when he miss- | ed his target and crashed in his head- long dive into zu fron post in Lincoln Park, which marked the goal. The boy sustained head injurles which resulted in his death Besides his parents, Lewis is sur- vived by two brothers, Edward, 18, and Joseph, 17. MRS. ELIZABETH I. MOON DIES IN CALIFORNIA Body of Wife of Quartermaster Corps Reserve Officer Being Brought to Washington. Mrs. Elizabeth Irwin Moon, 58 years old, wife of Lieut. Col. John B. Moon of the Quartermaster Corps Reserve, who is an attorney with the claims section of the Internal Revenue Bureau, died in San Jose, Calif, Priday, ac- cording to word received here. ‘The body is being brought to this eity. Pumlr:l arrangements are to be announced . Mrs. Mrs. Moon and her daughter, Moon's sister, Mrs. L. E. Lenzen of San Jean Moon, were on a visit to Jose, Besides the daughter and sister, she leaves her husband, another daugh- ter, Miss Marorie Moon, a néunlor at ‘William and Mary College, and another sister, Mrs. R. E. Brookbank of Rich- mond, Va. ‘The home of Col. and Mrs. Moon is 1632 Sixteentd stret. CHARLES H. COE, Seventy-four years old, of 2947 Mills avenue northeast, who last night was rescued from the sightseeing steamer which exploded off Miami. Mr. Coe was accom- panied on the trip by his son, Mayne R. Cce, also of Washington and a chemist in the Department of Agriculture. The elder Mr. Coe makes his home in Miami during the Winter, while his son was visiting him. Both reported to their wives here today that they were safe. CHAPIN, FAMED EDITOR, WILL LIE BESIDE WIFE HE SLEW IN FEAR End Comes in Prison He Entered in 1918. Rites Are Planned Without Religiou A stone slab as hard and unyielding | as the character of the man himself is | ready for the final entry in the ledger of life of Charles E. Chapin, quondam brilliant city editor of the New York ‘World, whom death found, strangely enough, in Sing Sing prison, Saturday | night. ‘The stone stands in the eaves of a hill in Glenwood Cemetery swept by Decem- ber winds. At the top is his name, then a space where will be graven “Died, December 13, 1930,” the end of his story. Below is written: “His wife, Nellie L. Chapin, Died September 16, 1918.” There lies under the stone he erected the wife he slew, as he sald, to keep her | from suffering want; a mad act that crowned a career with tragedy, and that sent Chapin into the numbered ranks of felony. Mother Also There. There, too, is the dust of his mother and a brother, long dead, and in that company Chapin will dream away eternity. Twelve years ago, the newspaper world which knew him so well was stunned | when Chapin, noted for his “hard-boil- ed” factors, ended the life of his wife with a bullet, explaining simply that he was in financial straits, and feared for her future, for he was than a man of 60. He had intended to kill himself also, but courage failed, he said. His sentence was 20 years to !fle;‘ Sing Sing received him, and there he became 69,690. ‘Then came the stories of the man. He hated trivial news. Irvin Cobb's| celebrated quip—“I hope it's nothing | trivial,” made when, as a reporter under Chapin, he heard one day that the city editor was ill, is recalled. Chapin’s instructions to a reporter | who had suffered at the hands of a man | Chapin had sent him to see were: “Go | back and tell him he can't intimidate | me.” Still another: A reporter on a beat in midtown, got across the river from outlying New York late one morn- | ing, and seeking to shield his tardiness called up to report that his beat was “quiet.” Checked Up on Report. “How about the story of the flood,” Chapin asked, in effect. “What flood?” queried the puzzled reporter. “There must be a flood,” Chapin said, “for that's the only way ferry boats could get up in the middle of New York " His quick ear had caught the sound of a ferry boat whistle while the re- porter was telephoning. Behind the walls of Sing Sing Chapin became little more than a memory, kept alive by occasional storles by Cobb, who wove & group of magazine articles about a fictional city editor. for which Chapin was generally credited with having been the inspiration. Later on Cobb went to Sing Sing and spent a day with Chapin, and in an- other magazine story gave to the world the tale of the labor of love that filled Chapin’s last years—the cultivation of a magnificent flower garden in the | prison grounds. | Old Fire Was Gone. But Chapin was growing old, the old fire was gone, and his oft-expressed wish was: “I want to die, I want to get it over with. Three years more would have brought a parole, but he had no interest in that. He had been ill for a long time. In recent weeks this illness grew more pronounced, and Saturday night the end came. Due to congestion in the prison, he had been quartered in an upper room of the death house, and there he stayed, unwilling to be moved. Lewis E. Lawes, Sing Sing warden, and his close friend, was with him at the end, and to Lawes, Chapin, accord- ing to the Assoclated Press, handed a sealed letter arranging for his burial, effects, and for the care of his beloved effects, adn for the care of his beloved gardens. Had Been Fighting Death. “I have been fighting death nearly a year,” he wrote, “and now I feel I have about reached the limit of my re- sistance.” “I desire to be buried by the side of my wife in our family plot in Glen- wood Cemetery, Washington, D. C. My sister, Marion A. Chapin of Washington, holds the deeds.” He expressed a desire to be buried in “the least expensive casket obtain- able,” and he “expressly desired” that no service be held either here or in ‘Washington. s Phase. there was a constant exchange of letters between the Chapin home here at 30 Rhode Island avenue northeast, and the prison. Chapin, according to his sister, never touched on his prison life, but always spoke of the things which they had known and loved together. And as he went, he left a legacy of pride, for it was with pride that the sister today spoke of his newspaper work. Praised Him as Brother. She understood “Charley,” and there never was a better brother. He didn't really belong to any church any more, though he had affliated with the Baptist faith as a young man. Forms of religion no longer meant anything him. “Just so it was God, that's all that mattered to Charley.” So, there will be no funeral service when Chapin's body arrives here—some- time today, or perhaps tomorrow—with William Halpin, a prison guard, who was his friend: “Just a simple burial, for Charley would have wanted that.” The Chapins—mother, daughter and two sons—came from their home in Tllinois years ago, and established a new home here. So it was, when the mother and first brother died, they found their resting place in Glenwood, not far from the home. Reported Funeral First. ‘Then the wife took her place beside them, and today, the earth was being made ready for Chapin. When Chapin was a youngster start- ing out in newspaper work his first assignment was a funeral. A couplet that the minister recited at the grave never left his memory: “Oh, how dark, and drear and lone would be this world of mortal bliss, “If wandering through that radiant zone, we should not find the loved of this.” Those who knew Chapin best know he had no doubts, PATMAN IS TO SPEAK Texas Representative Will Address Fleet Reserves. Representative Wright Patman of Texas, himself a former service man and well known as an advocate of legis- lation sponsored by veterans, will ad- dress the Fleet Reserve Association at a meeting tonight at the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines’ Clubs, 1015 L street. Following a record haul of herrings recently, the fish were sold in Deal, England, at two for a cen {| INBUSINESS SLUMP| FORMER PAGE, DIES Report Relates Failure of General Expectations for Recovery. By the Assoclated Press. The rewards of courage, initiative and enterprise in business—“typically Amer- ican"—were etched again today on the the world business map. It was the success of those industries that refused to be downed by depressed conditions which Julius H. Barnes, chairman of the National Business Sur- vey Conference, singled out in a survey which related the failure of general “sanguine expectations” for quickened trade by the end of the year. The new report covered, for most lines, 11 months of the year. Retail trade was off 7 per cent, postal receipts still below 1929, foreign trade continued to decline, 31 per cent less new capital was floated than last year and short- term credit continued abundant, but about 2 per cent cheaper. The public’s rejuvenated saving pro- | pensities were reflected in Christmas saving funds exceeding $600,000,000, of which 38 per cent was calculated to go into holiday spending, and new life in- surance written at a rate leading to a year's total of $18,500,000,000, $1,000,- 000.000 higher than the average of the past five years. Savings deposits of all xinds were higher and the life insurance companies held almost six billions of mortgage loans. While collections were holding up wel,, installment buying was being cur- tailed and a higher rate of delinquen- cies appeared in agricultural sections. The construction industries were way off, a more than half-billlon drop in private construction swamping = the $200,000,000 increase of public works and utility expansion. Sympatheticall, cement production dropped 20 per cent, lumber output was down, brick ship- ments were 50 per cent below last year and plumbing and heating supplies registered a production decline of 30 to_60 per cent. Reduced car loadings were coupled capital expenditures. Electric consump- tion was pulled down by the industrial decline, though domestic and commer- clal use increased. Gasoline refineries ran at two-thirds capacity, coal was off, pig iron was 30 per cent lower, steel mills operated two-thirds capacity and automobile production went down 23 cent. Miscellaneous industries showed sim- ilar drops, but improvement was de- veloping in the textile industry, partic- ularly cotton, during October. The year's total magazine advertising expendilures were approximately un- | changed from last year. Radio, which lost in sales, showed a large advertising increase, Forelgn conditions were summed thus: Some improvement in Great Brit- ain, Germany, China; unchanged in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Japan; further declines in the rest. JOHN F. CLARK DIES AFTER LONG ILLNESS Veteran Mail Carrier, Native of Washington, Will Be Buried Wednesday Afternoon. John F. Clark, 68 years old, retired veteran mail carrier of this city and native Washingtonian, died at his home, 3009 Georgia avenue, today after a long illness. Mr. Clark was for a number of years 8 letter carriér on Capitol Hill and in Brightwood, D. C. He entered the mail service 45 years ago and was retired three years ago. He was a member of the Mail Carriers’ Association and the Mail Clerks’ Association. Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Belle C. Clark; three sons, Joeeph F., John A. and Harry H. Clark, all of this city, and two_daughters, Mrs. Emma Weiselogel of Tulsa, Okla., and Mrs. Marie Tom- linson of this city. Funeral services will be conducted at the residence Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Rev. Dr. George Fiske Dud- ley, rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, will officiate. Interment will be in Congressional Cemetery. HERSEY TO NAVY POST Comdr. Mark L. Hersey, jr., son of the famous retired Army general, who has just returned from a tour of duty with the United States naval mission in Brazil, was named today in naval orders to take over an assignment in the Office of Naval Intelligence at the Navy Department. Comdr. Hersey was formerly com- manding officer of the Reserve de- stroyer U. 8. 8. Able P. Upshur, which until recently was at the Washington Navy Yard, for duty and training of reserves of the National Capital and Baltimore Tr (hristums Sk N Gifts of Qualitv that cost ne more The Gift for Him “I hope,” he wrote, “that you will find sufficient funds to my credit here to cover the expenses” Chapin made few bequests. ‘There was Iittle enough to bestow. “My gar- den books,” he sald, “are to be used by whomever you assign to carry for- ward the garden. The contents of my office_and the radio there I give to Mr. Halpin (a prison officer). The contents of my room I give to Everett Herriott (a male nurse), who has been very kind to me through my long ill- ness. He is very deserving.” Thanks to Warden. ‘With a word of thanks to the warden “and the members of 'Eour fine family,” the letter closes with the signature, “Charles Chapin, 69,690.” When the anonymity of Sing Sing swallowed up Chapin, were two left to grieve, & brother, Prank and the sister. ¥ never saw u{nn, but a family closely knittedSas they, did not allow tragedy to separdte them, and This fitted traveling kit is the answer to what will please him. The case may be had in black or brown cowhide equipped with ebony fittings. Articles Held Until Christmas GRS leather and is eight genuine Monogram at No Charge 1314 F Street N.W. Y THE TRAVEL,LEATHER & GIFP JHOP with substantially increased railroad | ingto per cent, with foreign sales off 43 per || Western Union Executive Had Stirring Experience Dur- ing Presidential Trial. Charles C. Mothersead, 76 years old, who was a page in the Senate When im- peachment _ proceedings were brought against President Andrew Johnson, died at his home here Saturday after a brief lllness® He resided at 718 B street southwest. A year ago Mr. Mothersead was re- tired from the service of the Western Union, after 61 years and 5 months of continuous employment. At 75 years of age he was in robust health which was a product, he told friends, of regular habits and plenty of sleep, Active until a week ago, when he be- came 1], his death was & shock to many friends, Career Was Notable. As a boy of 14 Mr. Mothersead came to the Capital from nearby Alexandria, Va., his native city, and shortly there- after became a page at the United States Senate. After a brief period of service he entered the employ of the Western Union, in July of 1868, only three years after victorlous Northern troops had paraded down Pennsylvania avenue before President Grant. He rose in the company's service to posi- tion of manager of the credit and col- lection department. Mr. Mothersead enjoyed a wide ac- quaintanceship in official life and on the occasion of his retirement he was paid tribute by his friends in and out of the Western Unlon Co. Funeral Rites Tomorrow. He was a_member and past noble grand of the Metropolitan Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was married to Miss Laura Virginia Garrett of Washington, in June, 1879, and is survived by her, daughter-in-law, Mrs. Garrett L. Mothersead; her two children, Charles and Ellen, also survive; and in addition, & brother, Lewis F. Mothersead, and two sisters, Mrs. D. P. Collins, and_Mrs, Katherine Laskey. All reside in Wash- n. Funeral services will be held tomor- row afternoon, at 2 o'clock, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, at Eighth and B street southwest. Interment will be in Congressional Cemeter: SPECIAL OFFER for December Onl A. B. C. OIL HEAT $10, di commi'tee, headed by President Nicholas Murray Butler of Colum- welcomed A special bia University, officially ceremony in the City Hall. Prof. Einstein, Mrs. Einstein Prof. Albert Einstein to New York City at a In the group, from left to right, are: Mayor Walker, and President Butler. —Wide World Photo. HOP OF 12 SEAPLANES IS HALTED BY WEATHER Italian Aviators Planning Trans-|b atlantic Flight to Brazil Port Facing Adverse Winds. By the Associated Press. ORBETELLO, Italy, December 15— Adverse weather today forced postpone- ment of the start of 12 Italian sea- planes on a flight to Cartegena, Spain, first lap of a transatlantic flight to Rio de_Janeiro, Brazil. e postponement, announced at midnight, is until tomorrow or Wednes- depending upon improvement of flying conditions over the Mediter- ranean. There was still a heavy wind and rain here today. The 12 seaplanes will fly in three squadrons, Gen. Italo Balbo himself to in command of the first group of four planes. Route of the flight will be along the Mediterranean and African coast to Bolama, Portuguese Guinea, from where the transatlantic part of the flight, to Port Natal, Brazil, will be attempted. ‘Will Soon Have “No Bananas.” The banana-growing industry is threatened with utter destruction by a fungus known as the Panama dis- ease, and the result will be serious, for the banana is one of the most nour- ishing of fruif AGAINST MACHADD Business and Professions’ * Asked to Join Student Plea * for His Resignation. By the Assoctated Press. HAVANA, December 15.—Havana'™ business and professional organizations - \ and labor groups are being asked to sign a referendum indorsing student de- mands that President Machado resign. The National Confederation of Work= ers, which compares with the American Federation of Labor in the United » States, has called a speclal meeting for & vote on the referendum, while tobacco manufacturers, shoemakers, printers, newspaper men and others are meeting today to take action on the protest, Meanwhile the government is moving against signers of a manifesto of stu- dents and teachers of the National Uni- versity. — Many prominent lawyers, physicians and politicians said to be on the list have left for the interior to evade arrest. Gen. Eugenio Molinet, secretary of education, announced that not onl would all teachers of the university provincial high schools and normal schools who signed the manifesto be arrested, but their accrued salaries ¢ would be withheld. X The government investigation of Communism and seditious activities has. struck a hitch with resignation of the two special judges !STK""” to pass " on all charges, Dr. drigas and Dr."7 Queseda, both of whom said so many g:mmal friends and relatives had been ought, before them that, they preferred not to act. T Blind Eight Years, Now Sees. For the first time Mrs. Christopher Gavin of Stockport, England, has just seen her daughter, now 4 years old, - Eight years ago she was stricken blind, ; after an attack of rheumatic fever..s “I was practically blind when I mar--- ried my husband five years ago and when our baby was born,” she said. “It was a great joy to me. when I recently found my sight was returning and I coul u;“;he faces of my hus- y DOWN YRS. TO PAY These A.B.C. Oil Burner Users Say, “AB.C. OIL HEAT New Hamp. Ave. ‘The owner of this 23- room home says ABC Oil Heat saved him $50 & year in fuel costs. Wesley Hts. 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