Evening Star Newspaper, January 18, 1932, Page 17

Washington News @he Zoe ning Star WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION Society and General e WAS HINGTON, D05 MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 1932. PAGE B—1 TAX] OWNERSHIP PROBE ORDERED: -~ RATE WAR LOOMS Reports That Chicago Firm Has Bought Local Fleets Brings Utilities Inquiry. BLACK AND WHITE ASKS RIGHT TO CUT FARES Commission May Refuse Request Under Previous Demand That All Use Meter System. An investigation to detérmine whether control of any local taxicab corporation has passed to foreign holding companies in violation of the La Follette anti- merger act was ordered today by the Public Utilities Commission | The inquiry is said to have resulted | from reports that a transportation com- pany of Chicago had purchased a major interest in the Yellow and Black and White Taxicab Cos. and would place a large number of new cabs on Washing- , ton streets. | Wants to Cut Rates. Meanwhile, William J. Brown, presi- | dent of the Yellow and Black & White companies, appeared before the Utilities Commission and requested permission to begin operating a portion of his cabs on the 20-40-60-cent zone rate basis. The commission withheld its approval for the time being at least. Observers said there is a possibility the commis- sion would refuse to approve the new rates under a previous order which pro- vided scales of fare then in effect should not be changed until all taxicabs in the city should be equipped with meters, An order of the commission requiring the use of meters after January 10 has not been enforced due to the action of Justice Jesse C. Adkins of the District Supreme Court in remanding the meter case to the Utilities Commission. His ruling was made in a suit by independ- ent operators to restrain the Utilities | Commission from enforcing the meter | order without further public hearings. Silent on Chicago Angle. Mr. Brown today declined to confirm | or deny reported entry of the Chicago concern into the local field. He inti- mated, however, that such negotiations were under way. He said any change in ownership would be reported to the | Ttilities Commission | Mr. Brown discredited rumors that | his company would import 2,000 addi- tional cabs from Philadelphia for use in a rate war with independent opera- tors. He said his companies always had operated on a high plane and would continue to do so. Many of thé rumors now in circula- tion, Mr. Brown said, were without the slightest foundation in fact. He de- clined to say whether his companies would comply with demands of Willlam A. Van Duzery trafic director, that all cab operators purchase “H” tags for heir machines instead of the cheaper “L" tags, unless the cabs were to be used strictly in answering telephone | calls for service. ATTACK ON MARATHON DANCERS BRINGS FINE Victim Testifies Man Struck Him | and Partner in Face at Auditorium. Arrested on a charge of striking a pair of dancers on the Washington Au- ditorium marathon dance floor early | this morning, Clarence Swartz, 23, was fined a total of $60 on three charges by Judge Ralph Given in Police Court today. Lester Phigp& and Gladys Trice, whe recently withdrew from the marathon after 851 hours, were dancing among the spectators when Swartz assaulted them, they said. Each testified the man leaped at them from behind a pillar and struck them in the face without provocation. Swartz was arrested for two charges of assault and disorderly conduct. Swartz claimed he had been tripped ‘by Phipps earlier in the eve- ning. Miss Trice street, while ‘Tenth street. APPRENTICE PRINTERS WIN ESSAY HONORS| Two Washington apprentices at the| Government Printing Office won second | and third honors in the annual essay | contest conducted by the United Ty- ! pothetae of America, it was announced today Milton A street, son of Lie Traffic Bureau 1422 N street second and third pri Influence of Franklin's Career on the Printing Craft” First p awarded to a Los Angeles trade school student The i United Typothetae Hartman of Chevy Chase, sponsors the on each year for the Benjamin Franklin | This schools | the cou ered the lives at 2726 Phipps resides at Thirtieth | 1126 | Smith, 820 Tuckerman | t. M. D. Smith of the | and William J. Bergin, | e essays on “The | edy department of the aded by Fred throughout contest JEFFRIES’ SU.CCESSOR ASKS I. C. C. APPROVAL Fe | evy Chase, Md., ap- | ate Commerce Com- proval of his elec- el of the Southern Iway and 38 of its subsidiaries. He was named to succeed the late Louis E who died suddenly two| while participating in rail- hearings ver, was not s was Jeffries ed appli- n B. Hyde, 2219 Cali- and Sidney S. Alderman, Wyoming avenue, for authoriza- ton to succeed Prince &s general so- licitor, GARAGE OWNERS FLEECED named a Swindler Pays for Storage Space Witk Bad Checks. A warning against a bogus-check artist. who specializes in defrauding private garage owners, was issued today by_police. Thus far, police said, three persons have complained they were “taken” for $20 each by the swindler. His method, law, once through being adjudged men- Prize-Winning P BAL BOHEME AWARDS ANNOUNCED. Charles Dunn with his prize-winning poster. HE prize-winning poster to be used in_connection with the coming Bal Boheme, sponsored by the Washington Arts Club, is the work of Charles Dunn, 912 Nineteenth street. The $100 prize offered by the club for the best poster was awarded to Dunn by the committce in_charge yesterday. More than the usual number of en- tries were made this year, according to Mrs. Louise Rochon Hoover, chairman | of the Contest Committee, and the work represented was of more titan ordinary merit. She was aided in choosing the | be on exhibition at the Arts Club, 2017 oster —Star Staff Photo. prize winner by Miss Elizabeth Langen- beck, Miss Frances B. Johnston, Miss Je: Baker, Parké Custis, Eugen Weisz and Garnet Jex. Two honorable mentions also were awarded, the first to Jean Calerdine, 1436 N street, and the second to David M. Flax, 522 Buchanan street. Both entitle their holders to tickets for the | Ball of the Seven Seas” to be given February 8 at the Willard Hotel. Posters submitted in the contest will 1t “was I eet, beginning tomorrow, ounced today. Was Judged Insane Once Caught in Apartment. George Emmett Hicks, 36, who three tally unbalanced and twice through an apartment house at 2310 Ashmead |the slightest degree,” Patent Commis- place last night. | Hicks had been sought since eluding | a policeman at Gallinger Hospital last | week and escaping, dressed in pajamas | and an overcoat. i The man was captured last night by R. E. Wilcox on the fire stairway exit | in the apartment building after a wom- | an occupant of a second-floor apart- | ment of the building had complained to the resident manager that some one had been tampering with the lock on her | door. an apartment of a friend. began to plead for his release, but was | Feld until the arrival of police of the | publications division of the Patent Of- third precinct. At the time of his last escape—that | Commissioner Was | day, their quarters were so arranged as | from Gallinger Hospital—Hicks about to be released from the hospital after undergoing treatment a broken back he received when mak- | his escape from the old No. police estation on September 18 last. | Fie was to be taken to court on house- | breaking charges as soon as his phys- ical condition permitted. Trapped in 1930. He made his escape from No. 12 by fimmying & door to & witness room, which he had been allowed to remain, and jumping from & second-story win dow.. He was subsequently rearrested by Headquarters Detective Frank Alli- compared it with the offices on good in a house in the Southeast on September 30 and taken to Gallinger | when found to be ill. He was first arrested in 1930 when trapped in a young woman's apartment in the 1600 block of Kenyon street After remaining in St. Elizabeth's Hos- pital for some time after that occasion he was released and housebreaking | charges which had been placed against him were nolle prossed. . Falls Down Stairs. Louis Hartman, 73, of 2415 Twentieth | terday morning. street was in Emergency Hospital to-| day, suffering from injuries hand | When the 15-mile Memorial Boule- | vard from the new Arlington Bridge to Mount Vernon was being discussed | in connection with the agricultural | appropriation bill reported to the House | [ today, Representative Simmons of Ne- | braska again emphasized his estimate | that $7 an inch is a preposterous price to pay for construction of that boule- i vard | “If George Washington could turn | over in his grave, I will bet that marble casket over in Mount Vernon would crack,” said Simmons, who declared “if there is any place the Government has thrown money out in unlimited waste, it is on that highway.” { Bureau of Roads, who had testified the | boulevard is practically completed, and |that something within $7,200,000 would be spent on the roadway, pro- tested this has not been “an extrav gance in the sense of the Nation doing something adequate.” “i believe,” he said, “that we will have & parkway that will be as endur- ing or more enduring than this build- ing, and Congress has seen fit to use the best grade of stone and adequate it was explained, is to “rent” a garage and pay for it with a worthless check, construction in this building.” Mr. MacDonald continued that, while | Creek to Mount Vernon is essentially BURGLAR SUSPECT CLERKS BASEMENT S TRAPPED AGAIN - PROTESTS FUTILE Man Who Escaped Twice and ‘Proposal for Other Quarters times has eluded the clutches of the | whom are elderly women, into the base- ment of the Commerce Department's escapes {rom police, was recaptured in | new building will not be changed “in in Commerce Building Re- fused by Robinson. Plans for moving 40 clerks, many ot | Tydings of Maryland, Glass of Virginia Confronted by Mr. Wilcox, Hicks is |and Walsh of Massachusetts filed pro- said to have said he was looking for | tests He later | Lamont. there 1or | of the office 12| room has in | temple of | place, was_ four received | occupant of were the authors of the! whcn he fell down a flight of steps to| moned a physic the basement of the Colorado Building. | Hospital, who He was reported to have suffered cuts | dead. Thompson Was | on the head and abrasions on the left|of a gas heater '$7 AN INCH FOR NEW HIGHWAY ATTACKED AT HEARING ON BILL “Simmons Says Cost of Mount Vernon Road Would Make ‘ Washington Turn in Grave. Thomas H. MacDonald, chief of the | sioner Thomas E. Robinson said today. ‘These clerks have filed protests with the Senate and House Committees on patents, declaring that by placing them in this section of the $17,500,000 build- ing their health will be impaired. Chairman Hebert of the Senate Com- mittee on patents last week requested Commissioner Robinson to file a report on these conditions. Meantime, Senators with Secretary of Commerce The clerks are all attached to the designing the _building, Robinson explained to- fice, and in to increase the efficiency of this branch | same time, he asserted, the ore ventilation than many of the Tooms on the first floor of the structure, and more than ample pre- cautlon was taken in constructing the building to keep out dampness. On a tour of the Patent Office sec~ tion of the massive bronze-gated fact finding today Com- missioner Rolinson showed newspaper men the basement office assigned to these clerks and at_the same time e At the first floor. GAS KILLS SIGN PAINTER George S. T"<r;!:[;<;;1i'ound Dead at His Pl George S. The painter, Who resi of Business. on, 30, & sign at 3522 Quesada of business, about 9 o'clock yes- room at his pla New York avenue detected by another building. He sum- from Emergency unced Thompson opened three jets thrown an oil- Odor of gas wa the cloth over his head 10 years, after that “we a to be glad we have done it Representative Summers of Wash- ington. a member of the subcommittee conducting the heari expressed the opinion that “while building an ex- pensive highway, we are building one that will be traveled by millions of patriotic citizens want to go in the years to come to Mount Vernon to pay their respects to Father of Our Country, end While the cost is high, the Nation will finally not have any criticism The Mount Vernon Boulevard is 15.3 | miles long, from 40 to 80 feet wide, landscaped’ and electrically lighted like a city street. Mr. MacDonald testified it is now possible to drive from one end.to the other of the highway. The installation for lighting s estimated to cost $73,469 This highway, he said, is to connect with the Arlington Memorial Bridge, but that connecting link. about 1,000 feet in length, is being put in by the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission as an approach to the bridge. There is some unfinished road surfacing between Columbia Island and the south shore of Hunting Creek. This section, when fully completed, Will cost, it is estimated, re ajl going the BOY SAYS ACCUSED POLICE WARNED HIM AGAINST TESTIMONY Bremmermann and Clark, Brutality Case Defendants, Blamed in Court. APPROACHED AFTER RELEASE, SAYS WITNESS Charges Colored Man Was Felled and Then Admitted Va- rious Offenses. Another witness at the trial of Policemen Charles R. Bremmermann and Hollls H. Clark, charged with as- saulting a colored prisoner, Thomas McKeever Williams, last Summer, told the jury in District Supreme Court to- not to tell the grand jury anything about the happenings in the locker room of the old second precinct station. The witness, Milburn Howard, one ot seven or eight colored boys Who tes- tified about beatings they had received in the locker room, told how he was approached by the two policemen after his release, when it was learned De- partment of Justice agents were ques- tioning the boys. Warned of “Slick Guys.” Bremmermann and Clark drove up to asked him if he had been talking to anybody about the case. He said Bremmerman told him to remember that “he didn't see anything” and warned him to be “careful” because “those guys are slick,” Justice Department agents. Howard's story to the jury, under the direct examination of John Fitz- patrick, assistant United States attor- ney, was about the same that half a dozen other witnesses have related. He testified that Williams, the com- plaining witness, was struck by one of the policemen and fell to the floor. It was then, he aid, that Williams made admissions about various offenses. Defense Attorney Willlam A. O'Shea brought out under _cross-examination that the boys had been permitted to smoke cigarettes at various times be tween intermissions of the “setting-up’ exercises they were being put through in the locker room. O'Shea seized triumphantly upon this point, seeking to bring out that the boys were not being beaten the entire time they were in the room with the two policemen. At one point of his cross examination when the defense at- tormrey was trying to get the witness to tell the exact spot on the _flocr that Williams was sitting on_various occa- sions, Assistant United States Attorney Wwilliam A. Gallagher protested to the court. He declared O'Shea was “bad- gering” the witness and that there was no use in repeating the same question so often. Colored Barber Heard. The first witness to testify today after the trial had resumed from last ‘Thurs- day was a colored barber, Louis Peewee The Government witness, Williams, had testified his head was ble blows struck by the two policemen. He went to a barber shop after his release to get his hair cut. The barber was put on the stand to corroborate '.Ps',l'— mony about three bruises on the boy's head. Third Witness “Warned.” The Government put on as its third witness Jesse Hall, colored, who had bought automobile accessories from one of the boys locked up with Williams for investigation. 4 Hall had been released after belng detained several days, and no charges were preferred against him. During his testimony he also said Officers Brem- mermann_snd Clark had warned him not to tell anybody about the beatings received. He said they threatened him in event he told. The Government expects to rest its case before court recesses tomorrow aft- ernoon. 'Two more boys are to be called to testify about the alleged beatings that went on in the precinct station. AMATEUR PLAYERS TO AID CHEST ON AIR Series of One-Act Dramas Will Be Presented Over Radio to Assist Campaign. A number of amateur stage players will appear in & series of unusual Com- munity Chest radio programs this week. A series of one-act playlets, prepared by J. O. Martin of the Chesapeake & | Potomac Telephone Co., will be gWven over WMAL this afternoon at 5:25 o'clock, Thursday at the same hour and Saturday at 5:15. The participants will inelude Mrs. Wilbert E. Longfellow, Mrs. Donald Wildman, Mrs. Jane Williams, Douglas Withers and Alvin ‘Thaden. They will be directed by Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow. B In addition, a series of five-minute sketches of dramatized questions and answers regarding the Chest will be presented over Station WOL at 7:15 to- morrow night, Wednesday night, Thurs- day night, Friday night, Saturday night and the following Tuesday night. HEARING SET ON JUSTICES Nominations of O'Donoghue and Letts Will Be Considered. subcommitte composed of Senators Bioine st Wisconsin and King of Utah Wil meet tomorrow morning to con- sider the nominations of Justice F. Dickinson Letts and Justice Daniel W. O'Donoghue, who were appointed to the District Supreme Court by Presi- dent Hoover. One witness has asked %o be heard in oprosition to the ap- polntment of Justice Letts and it is xpected a number will appear in sup- port of the nomination. HUMORIST TO SPEAK Stoddard King to Lecture in Cen- tral High Tuesday. ddard King, American humorist, | comtod et and poet, will lecture at Cen- tral High School auditorium Tuesday ing at 8:15 o'clock. 3 © ing a graduate of Yale University, will be introduced by Joseph Fairbanks, attorney and former president of the hington Yale Club. w'nls’ickeg for the lecture are on sale at $700000. The section from Hunting Teceiving an average of §15 in change. criticlsm may be expected for the next | completed at & cost of §583,351, - T. Arthur Smith's, the Willard Hotel and the American Automobile Aossoci- ation. % his home one day, Howard testified, and | meaning the day the two policemen had warned him | I piloted by Jack Wynne, manager 30,173 CARS PASS OVER NEW BRIDGE. | | More Than 5,000 Use Key to Mount Vernon Highway in One Hour of Afternoon. of the Atlantic Seaboard Airways. Thousands Cross New Arlington Bridg HE above photograph, made from an airplane, shows how Washington took advantage of the first day of traffic | over the new Arlington Memorial Bridge. The plane from which a Star staff photographer made this shot was —Star Staff Photo. Youthful Editor Issues “Extra” On Store Hold-Up Thornapple Street News Gets First-Hand Story in Chevy Chase. The thrill of a lifetime came to 9- | year-old Larry Williams, jr., editor of A total of 30,175 automobiles passed | the “Thornapple Street News,” when a eding from he, Williams and other witnesses had over the Arlington Memorial Bridge and on down the Mount Vernon Memorial y yesterday, Capt. R. C. Mont- | superintendent of the United States park police, announced today. Despite the heavy traffic there were no accidents or arrests for traffic violations, the captain said. | The heaviest trafic came between 4 | and 5 oclock in the afternoon, when 3,165 cars were clocked moving south, and an estimate was made that 2,000 | machines passed into Washington over | that route. | The bridge and boulevard were closed to public travel today except between Alexandria, Va., and Mount Vernon They will niot be open again to the Hub- lic until the next week end. Permanent Opening February 1. Lieut. Col. U. 8. Grant, 3d, executive officer of the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission, has set February 1 as the tentative date for the permanent open- ing of the bridge. Construction work on Columbia Island, on the road linking the main bridge with the short bridge across Boundary Channel, has yet to be done and there are still landscaping and grading, as well as some repair work, to be accomplished on the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway. Both the bridge and highway remain to be lighted and the District government will furnish temporary lights until the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission and the Fine Arts Commission decide upon the ornamental type of lights that will be permanently affixed to the magnificent structure. Officials of the Bureau of Public Roads said today the lighting of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway is expected to be completed by April 1. Motorists using the highway yesterday had to drive around the big drums that hold the cable lines for the lights, now | being put into place. Dome Refractors Used. ‘The type of light to be used on the highway is the hanging variety, with dome refractors that concentrate and distrbute the light on the road and not upward. This is necessary because of the planes using the Washington Air- port and flying directly over the high- way. For the present, this arrangement will be carried out, without the proposed red dot on top, as an obstruction marker for air navigation. Bureau officials said they conferred with the aeronautics branch of the Department of Commerce on this type of illumination, and the aerial expert pronounced it satisfactory. Some consideration was given the pro- posal to have a “buil's-eye” on top of the lights, particularly in the Columbia Island region, but this has now been abandoned. If found necessary later, the officials said, a separate red globe can be placed on top of the poles. From Columbia Island to Alexandria the metal light standards will be used for the illumination, as the most con- centrated travel is anticipated between those points. Southward of Alexandria the rustic type cedar poles will be utilized. Capt. Montgomery said he was pleased with the working out of the four-leaf clover arrangement at the Highway Bridge, as well as with the way motorists kept to the right-hand side of the road. He explained, how- ever, the Mount Vernon Memorlal Highway is the latest construction in high-speed boulevard, as motorists need not fear cross-traffic. Eight mem- bers of the United States Park Police patroled the highway yesterday and members of the Alexandria Police Force assisted in handling trafic through that city. | Clarendon Citizens to Meet. CLARENDON, Va,, January 18 (Spe- >ial).—The Clarendon Citizens' Corpora- tion will hold its annual meeting to- night at _the home of Arthur J. Porter, Wilson Boulevard and Clarendon ave- nue. Officers for the new term will be elected. real news story broke right under his nose at 11 o'clock Saturday night and ke issued an “extra” in an effort, as a newspaper man would describe it, “to scoop the town.” Larry's big chance came when a hold-up man visited a drug store just around the corner from Larry's home and office, 128 East Thornapple street, Chevy Chase, Md., and got away with $5. Larry got the story and his extra was ready and in the hands of his sub- scribers at 7 o'clock yesterday morning. The hold-up is described in vivid lan- guage. The bandit, described as ‘“real young,” ordered a soft drink, and the druggist, after preparing the drink, found a pistol under his nose. “The man said to hold 'em up and | give him all the money in the cash Tegister,” Larry’s description contin- ues. “He made Mrs. Schwartz (wife of the druggist) go back and sit down. While this was happening a girl cus- tomer came in and the man made her g0 over to the other side of the store and sit down by Mrs. Schwartz. The man kept the gun on them until he was outside the store so they couldn't call the police till after he was gone. Dr. Schwartz called the police from Bethesda. While he was waiting for the police Dr. Schwartz drank the coco cola.” UNIDENTIFIED MAN, HIT BY AUT0, DIES Two Women and Man Injured in Traffic Mishaps Yesterday. Injuries received when struck by an automobile at Sixth street and Rhode Island avenue yesterday resulted in the death at Freedmen'’s Hospital early to- day of an unidentified colored man. Three others were injured in Sunday traffic mishaps in the Capital. Mrs. Mary B. Taft, 64, of 1204 Frank- lin street northeast, received internal injuries in a collision at Fourth and L streets northeast. Police arrested Rus- sell Limberry, 23, colored, of the 600 block of Callan street northeast, whom they held for investigation in connec- tion with the collision. Mrs. Bertha Weaver, 49, of 18 Quincy street northeast, recelved a broken wrist, fractured ribs and other injuries when struck by an automobile on Four- teenth street near F street. Police said James Fox, 19, of 1408 Massachusetts avenue, operated the car which struck the woman. Frank N. Mitchell, 32, of 4350 River road, was injured when the automobile in which he was riding collided with | |a car operated by Meade Foster, 30, | 2608 Tilden street, at Ninth and Rhode Island avenue. Myer Shurman, 1735 F street northeast, said to be the driver of the car in which Mitchell was rid- ing, was arrested oo a charge of reck- less driving. William C. Dawson, 55, colored, said to be the driver of the car which struck the man who died at Freedman's Hospital, was released by police to his attorney pending an inquest. B. Y. P. U. Elects President. FAIRFAX STATION, Va, January 18 (Special).—Emmett M. Day has been elected president of the Baptist Young People’s Union of Jerusalem Church. Mrs. MclIntosh was elected vice presi- dent and Mrs. Howard Jones, secretary- TRACKS TORN UP INTRIANGLE AREA Interrupted Work on Sewer Near Old Terminal First to Get Under Way. With abandonment of the trolley | line from Arlington Junction, Va., into the old terminal at Twelfth street and Pennsylvania avenue last night, power shovels early today started tearing into two portions of the old trackage in the Federal triangle where the Federal building program had been delayed by presence of the tracks. The first plece of track to be taken out was near the old terminal, at Twelfth and D streets, where a steam shovel cutting a new diversion sewer !carried forward an interrupted sewer | | project. Excavation Completed. Another shovel began undermining the tracks on Thirteen-and-a-half street near Constitution avenue, where the trolley line cut through the middle of the Department of Labor site. The excavation has been completed on both sides of this track, leaving the rails on a high elevation running through the building site. This “isthmus” will be cut out as quickly as possible so that pile driving and foundation construction may pro- Later on the entire block of trackage on D street between Twelfth and Thir- teenth streets and a part of the track on C street between Twelfth and Thir- teenth streets will be excavated for the new Post Office Department Building, which is well under way. The old terminal will be torn down soon. The last street car left the old ter- minal at 12:40 last night for Alexan- dria in charge of Frank A. Beach of Rosemont, who has been a motorman on the line for several years. He oper- ated the car in place of two oldtimers who had been designated Saturday. Busses Use New Terminal. The regular Alexandria busses and a number of other bus lines are stopping | at the new terminal 1013 D street, but | the shuttle busses, which pick up pas- sengers of the two trolley lines at Ar- | lington Junction, run over a route tak- ing them along the south side of Penn- sylvania avenue from Fourteenth to| Tenth street and then to Constitution avenue and return. Operation of the transfer point at | Arlington Junction was said by officials to have been as successful as céuld be | expected for the first day of operation. There was some delay occasioned for passengers of the Arlington & Fairfax | line early this morning, during the rush | hours, it was said, but this is expected to be obviated in the future. PAGES LOSE PLEA Utilities Commission Declines to! Grant Them School Fare. The Public Utilitles Commission_to- day denied the request of Erest L Kendall, principal of the School for Pages at the Capitol, to include the students at the school in the class al- lowed transportation on cars and busses at 3 cents. This action was taken on the theory that, in traveling to and from the Capitol, the pages are going to work and not to school, and that their in- struction is merely incidental to_ thelr uties. SAFE ROBBERY FAILS | Burglars Unable to Open Strong Box in Methodist Building. An unsuccessful attempt to rob a safe in the cafe of the Methodist Building, | 100 Maryland avenue northeast, was made over the week end by intruders, who gained entrance by breaking the glass to a basement window, it was re- treasurer. Other officers and group captains will be elected later. Meetings are held each Sunday evening at 7:30. poried to police today. ‘The yeggmen left behind & number of burned matches. > | Chadwell, COMPROMISE GAS TANK PROPOSAL WILL BE STUDIED Park and Planning Group to Hear Plan to Meet Resi- dents’ Objections. THREE-DAY SESSION TO GET LEGAL OUTLINE Development.of Union Square at East End of Mall Presents Traffic Complications. A compromise plan on the erection of the proposed new gas reservoirs of the Washington Gas Light Co. at Fort Totten in the Northeast, will be sub- mitted to the three-day session of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, starting Thursday. Objection has been lodged by civic and other groups against erection of the 312-foot piston type of gas holder at Fort Totten, on the ground that it violated the zoning height limit <here. When the question came before the commission recently, it ordered a study made and John Nolen, jr., its city plan- ner, has since been in conference witt: officials of the gas company. Details of the compromise pian were not made pubiic, but it is anticipated that it will provide for sinking.the tanks in the ground, if that is feasible from an en- gineering standpoint. Will Survey Legislation. ‘The commission will survey the con- gressional legislative situation and listen to an outline of the work of the Vir- ginia State Legislature, presented by Thomas S. Settle, its secretary. The commission will consider build- ing lines in the Mall, so that future construction will adhere to these, rather than having a haphazard plan. Charles W. Eliot, 2d, director of plan- ning of the commission, has been work- ing on this problem Development of the proposed Union Square, forming the eastern terminus of the Mall, has engaged the attention of the commission’s staff, which has drawn up a tentative plan for its ex- pansion. Capt. E. N. Chisolm, jr., engi- neer of the commission, explained today that a difficult traffic problem is pre- sented at Union Square, with the four Mall roads terminating at that point. The problem is to get traffic out to Pennsylvania avenue and other arterial highways, at the same time preserving the beauty of the square. The commission will consider en- croachments on the street line, in the vicinity of the new Department of Agriculture development. Members of the staff have taken this question up with the office of the supervising architect, Treasury Depart- ment. The proposed widening of Twenty- third street at the Naval Hospital and north of Constitution avenue will be discussed. The commission will direct its at- tention to the previously published plan of a stadium for the end of East Capi- tol street at the Anacostia River. The staff has made numerous studies of features of this and will present them at the forthcoming meeting. Barney Circle to Be Discussed. The location of the street railway tracks and bus stops and improvement generally of Commodore Barney Cir- cle at Pensylvania avenue, near the Anacostia River, will be considered. ‘Tomorrow’s meeting of the Co-ordi- nating Committee, on which interested District and Federal Government agen- cles are represented, will consider plans for a new Oregon avenue and pass on its recommendation to the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Representatives of the State of Oregon complained that the present Oregon avenue, which extends for only a couple of blocks from Nineteenth street to New Hampshire avenue, near Florida avenue, does not suitably reflect the importance of that Commonwealth. The Oregonians insist that the present avenue named after their State is too short and in= significant and they want a more pre= tentious thoroughfare. Attention will be given the proposed new highway from Mount Vernon to Woodlawn, Va. connecting with the Jefferson Davis Highway, near the Un- derwood home. This new thoroughfare is planned as an 80-foot right-of-way. ‘The Virginia electric railway situation will be discussed, as well as the substi- tution of busses for the street cars com= ing into Washington. On Friday the commission is planning a trip over the park system, to Fort Trotten, to Ross- lyn, Va, and through Rock Creek Park. YOUTHFUL B.R_IDEGROOM HELD IN $500 BOND Perjury Charged in Application for License to Wed Girl, 15. Taken to Rockville, Special Dispatch to The Star. ROCKVILLE, Md., January 18— George L. Harrison, 635 Ninth street northeast, Wasiington, who is charged with perjury as a result of his mar- riage here January 14 to Clara L. 92¢ H street northeast, Washington, was brought to Rockville today by Sergi. Earl Burdine of the Montgomery County’ police and com- mitted to jail in default of $500 bond to await a preliminary hearing in Police Court. The warrant against him was sworn out by his father-in-law, Shirley C. Chadwell, who claimed that in making application for the marriage license the youth gave the girl's age as 18 when she really was 15. The date for the hearing has not yet been fixed. FORMER RAIDER GIVEN SENTENCE OF 120 DAYS De Palma, Member of Vice Squad Under Letterman, Receives Dry Law Penalty. Joseph De Palma, former member of the police vice squad, was sentenced to- day by Police Court Judge Gus A. Schuldt to serve a total of 120 days’ imprisonment on three charges of vio- lation of the prohibition law. De Palma was convicted early in De- cember on charges of sale, possession and transportation by a jury through the efforts of Assistant United States Attorney Roger Robb. Judge Schuldt ordered 30 days each on the sale and possession charges and an additional ZO days or a $200 fine for transporta- on. The former policeman was arrested by members of Sergt. N. O. Holmes’ vice squad at Eighteenth and Belmont streets, where he had been lured to make a “delivery” to a police informer. De Palma formerly served on the vice squad under Lieut. O. J. Letterman, % i