Evening Star Newspaper, February 23, 1932, Page 17

Washington News WORKMAN KILLED ASMYSTERY BLAST WRECKS BUILDING Body Found in Ruins Nine Hours After Structure Is Blown Down. CAUSE OF EXPLOSION STILL UNDETERMINED Auto Wreckers' Plant Demolished. Employe Apparently Spent Night There, Nine hours after he was burned to death, when a mysterious explosion de- molished the Penn Auto Wreckers Buildings, at 1300 Eleventh street southeast, Frank Price, 40-year-old col- ored employe of the firm. was extri- cated by firemen from the debris of the wrecked building. Price was identified by the son of the owner of the building. Firemen did not know the man was in the build- | ing when it was leveled about 3 o'clock this morning by an explosion, the source of which is undetermined Flames immediately followed the ex- plosion. When Price failed to show up for work at his usual hour this morning, police went to his home, in Fairmont Heights, Md., and there learned he had not come home last night. Shortly be- fore noon they discovered the dead man's automobile parked near the wrecked building and a short time later firemen located the badly charred body in the smoking ruins. Inquest Probably Tomorrow. Firemen of No. 18 Truck Company chopped through the burned timbers and removed bits of the crumbled walls to release the body, which was removed to the District Morgue for an inquest, probably tomorrow. Price apparently had returned alone to his place of employment to sleep in the two-story brick building last night At a late hour today the cause of the explosion was still unknown. Immediately following the explosion, which ocpurred at 2:40 o'clock, fire broke out in the debris and was still burning at & late hour teday, fed by oil and waste material. Firemen had poured water into the wreckage for hours with- out putting out the blaze, Value Put at $35,000. The force of the explosion jolted residents of nearby buildings from their beds, shook pictures off the walls and blasted the plate glass of the building front across Eleventh street and 25 yards into the Navy Yard reservation. ‘The explosion is believed to have oc- curred near the front, of the building, as the only thing left standing was a section of the rear wall. The owner, Jake Levin, of 2801 Thir- ty-third street southeast, estimated the demolished building and its stock of second-hand automobiles and acces- ories to be worth $35000. Levin said he had $5,000 insurance on the build- ing and $7,500 on the stock, which he valued at twice that amount. Levin could offer police and firemen no clue as to what might have caused the explosion. He said there was no gasoline stored in the building or other explosive material beyond a few bar- rels of lubricating oil and what gasoline may have been in the tanks of four second-hand automobiles. Firemen Felt Blast. While admitting the possibility that dynamite may have been set off in the building, Levin said this was unlikely | since he had no personal enemies and had never heard of any explosives being near the place Firemen of No. 18 engine company had just returned to their engine house at Ninth and K streets southeast from battling a three-alarm blaze downtown when the explosion shook the neigh- borhood. Although the engine house was four or five blocks from the scene, the force of the explosion was almost enough to knock the firemen from their feet, they said. BROOKHART DRIVES HIS CAR INTO TREE| Reports He Lost Control of Ma- chine—Four Women, Boy Hurt in Crashes. Losing control of his automobile yes- terday while trying to avoid a_truck, Senator Smith W. Brookhart of Iowa ran across the curbing at Thirteenth street and South Dakota avenue north- east, and broke off a small tree, he told police of the fifth precinct. He said he would pay for the damage. Four women and a boy were injured in other traffic mishaps late yesterday. Two drivers, one colored, Were ar- rested on charges of reckless driving after three of the women, passengers in 2 taxicab, had been injured in a col- at Vermont avenue and Q street. Eighth street, who rec ns and & head injury; Hel 23, and Lillian Zallymar both of the 1800 block of Seventh street, both of whom received lacerations. They treated at Emergency Hospital flord Sm'th, 25, colored. of the a avenue. driver of the cab, s Robinson, 29. of Mount Ranier. Md., were arrested on reckless driving charges Miss Rosamond Brady, 18, of Upper Marlboro, Md., wes hurt when the au-~ tomobile in which she V' ridingy driven by Fred A. Black, . of the 3200 block of Alabama avenue south- east, struck a street car on East Cap- itol near Second street, after colliding with a truck. She was treated at Cas- ualty Hospital. The boy hurt was John O'Connor, 124 Thirteenth street southeast, treated at Casualty Hospital for cuts about the head after being struck by a taxicab at Tennessee avenue and B street northeast. 183 ARRESTED AS DRUNKS Number Locked Up on Holiday Largest in Months. Almost 150 persons, 118 of them charged with being drunk. were in the Police Court lock-up yesterday. In ad- dition 65 arrested for intoxication werz released on collateral Court attaches said the number in- carcerated was. one of the largest in Tecent months. Judges Isaac R. Hitt and Ralph Given. the only magistrates of the court personnel, convicted the majority of those who faced them. Employe Killed —~ WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION WASHINGTON, D. ( in Southeast Explosion Firemen fighting flames which followed an explosion early today in an automobile wrecking plant at 1300 Eleventh street southeast. A colored employe was caught in the wreckage and burned to dra(l‘; MEMORIAL PAVING WL STAY L0SED Week Ends and Holidays Only Exeeption Until About May 1. Present indications are that the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway will remain permanently closed to public travel, save for week end and holiday let-ups, until May 1 Officials of the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture said today that the landscaping, light- ing and placing of top-soil on the slopes are delaying the opening of the high- way. On the tentative schedule of the National George Washington Bicenten- nial Commission, the formal dedication of the Mount Vernon Highway will take place on April 30. The lighting of the new highway is now proceeding, with rustic-type lamp- posts with hanging lamps for electric lights being constructed between Alex- andria, Va., and Mount Vernon and the more formal type of lighting with metal posts being erected between the National Capital and Alexandria. The completion date of the lighting contract is now April 1. ~ Airport Pilots Protected. The lighting in the vicinity of the Washington-Hoover Airport presents a problem that calls for the casting of the light rays so that airplane pilots will not be blinded when swooping down to a landipg, or taking offl. The lamp- posts will be suitably marked with dan- ger signals to warn aviators. The Bureau of Public Roads is now placing topsoil over the rough gravel slopes and hillsides of clay and this process requires the passing and repass- ing of trucks that would be a menace to passenger automobile traffic, the of- ficials explained. Much of the top soil is being secured from the marshy areas between Four Mile Run and Alexan- dria. After the top soil is in the planting will go forward and then the work of the bureau along the new high- way will be flowing with the traffic, rather than cross-wise, officials as- serted. If motorists were permitted to use the highway between Washington and Alexandria now, the officials said to- day, they might as well quit work. It would be almost impossible for work trucks to try to cross traffic, with an estimated 17,000 cars using the road daily, they said. South of Alexandria traffic has not materially interfered with construc- tion. as a large percentage of cars turn at Alexandria to go on to Richmond. | Va Conse(iuemly. the road south of Alexandria has always been open. Landscaping ¥s Rushed. The Bureau of Public Roads proposes to put in 115,000 plants under its land- scaping program, officials said today. This will include shrubs and small | trees and delivery of these is to start | the first week in March. This will be | earlier than usual for this type of work, but the open season, thus far, warrants this course. It will take ahout two and a half months to put the plants in and in the event of in- clement weather this would be even longer. Even with two and a half months to do the work, the workmen will be kept hustling, officials said Some expressed the belief that the last of the planting would not be in yntil about June 1 Actual construction of the highway, the engineers said, was begun in Oc- tober 1€29, with the hydraulic pipe line fills, formed of sand and gravel, pumped up from the bed of the Potomac River by the dredges of the United States Engineer Office. Grading started in March, 1920, and considering the im- mensity of the engineering job. the officials asserted, the Mount Vernon | Memorial Highway has been finished | thus far, in a remarkably short time. | When the highway is completed it {is to be turned over to the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks. During week ends and holidays, when it is now open to the public, the United States park police patrol it. although there is a multitude of legal problems surrounding the highway and its status. FISHING SKIPPER DEAD 3 Capt. Johnson Hayden Suceumbs at | Hospital Here. Capt. Johnson Hayden, 62, well known | to District and Maryland fishermen as | the skipper of fishing boats at Solomons Island, Md., died yesterday morning at Prince PFrederick Hospital, following an operation. He was a retired sea captain, and had been at Solomons Island for about 15 years. He is survived by his widow and three sons, William, Leon and Cleveland Funeral services and burial were to be held at Middleham Chapel at 3 o'clock this afternoon. BULDING SPEEDED WITH TREE HIFTS Four Federal Structures in Triangle Are Pushed. 600 Are Employed. More than 600 men are now em- ployed on the largest single construc- tion job in the public building pro- gram, in the Federal triangle, between Twelfth and Fourteenth streets, Penn- sylvania and Constitution avenues, where four” great structures are grad- ually rising. » Eleven pile driving rigs are working in the huge excavation for the four buildings, and within a few weeks, it is expected that all 11 of these drivers, the largest number ever assembled on one single job in this city, will be con- centrated on the foundations for the Post Office Department at the corner of Tweifth street and Pennsylvania ave- nue. All piling has been finished on the site of the Interstate Commerce Com- mission Building, at the corner of Twelfth street and Constitution avenue, and today workmen began pouring con- crete for the foundation walls, rising above the footings and piles. To push along the work, gangs of men are working in three shifts, 24 hours every day, in_pouring concrete. Excavation on the Post Office Depart- ment also is proceeding up to 11 o'clock at night with three shovels and a fleet of trucks in full swing. Another shovel is cutting down the site of the new Government auditorium along Consti- tution avenue between about Thirteenth and Thirteen-and-a-half street. On the site of the Department of Labor building, progress is being made on the piles, and it is expected all of them will be driven by about March 1. Footings are being poured there. SNELL “SURPRISED” BY GARNER ATTACK Democrats Have Co-Operated With G. 0. P., Leader Says—Deplores “Peeve” Over “Few Speeches.” Speaker Garner's charge that the ad- ministration was not co-operating with the Democratic House drew a reply yesterday from the Republican floor leader, Representative Snell of New York, who declared it was based, 2] parently, on a few Lincoln day speeches by cabinet members who lauded Presi- dent Hoover. “I am surprised that an astute poli- tician like Speaker Garner should be peeved over a few Lincoln day speeches, the New York Republican said. On the same day that the Republican speakers praised Hoover, Snell said, Democratic spokesmen charged the Re- publican “with all the evils they. could think of or imagine, and we were silent about their attacks.” | I have not decided, after reading Speaker Garner's statement, whether it came from Speaker Garner or as from Garner, candidate for President. “The Democrats have co-operated with the Republicans in passing the economic legislation for the benefit of | the entire country, and any time they | have any similar legislation they will receive the co-operation of the House | Republicans.” Appearance of Uniforms Wi in Some Cases, Gl Aroused by the untidy appearance of the uniforms of some members of the Police Department assigned to special detalls during the George Washington Bicentennial ceremonies yesterday, Brig. Gen. Pelham D. Glassford, superin- tendent of police, today ordered a gen- 'cral inspection of the force as soon as commanding officers can make arrange- | ments | Disciplinary action likely will be dicated. In his trip around the city during the various Bicentennial celebrations, Gen. Glassford said he observed police- men, especially those on spesjal details, pressed unif unshined with un) orms, taken in some cases, Gen. Glassford in- | UNTIDY POLICE IN BICENTENNIAL CEREMONIES FACE REPRIMANDS ill Bring Disciplinary Action lassford Indicates. shoes and caps with brims soiled by.| fingermarks. { “I am not so particular about the appearance of the men working the night shift from 12 midnight to 8 am," Gen. Glassford declared, “but officers on duty during the daylight hours, espeoially those in the business | section, where they come in contact with hundreds of persons. have got to Leep up their appearance.” Incidentally, Gen. Glassford said he | | had received a message of commenda- tion from Representative Sol Bloom. director of the George Washington Bi- centennial Commission, on the effi- clency of his force in handling the nu- merous Bicentennial visitors. CAPITAL IS LAUDED BY BRUCE BARTON Author Traces Development of Washington in Radio Address. Bruce Barton, author and advertising executive, does not believe any one can really know America until he has seen its Capital. This tribute was paid Washington last night during the program “Parade of the States,” sponsored by General Motors Corporation and broadcast over the coast-to-coast hook-up of the Na- tional Broadcasting Co. The entire program was dedicated to the District of Columbia and the George Washing- ton Bicentennial. District Survey “Yesterday.” “Measured against the background of human history, it was only yesterday that George Washington and Pierre I'Enfant, the young French engineer, tramped the ‘10 miles square’ beside the Potomac, seeing visions, shaping the plan of a noble capital,” Mr. Barton said. “Ten years later, in 1800. the gov- ernment staff of 131 clerks moved down from Philadelphia and found only a few boarding houses and temporary shacks along the rutted muddy cart track, now Pennsylvania avenue. All else was wilderness. “In the east room of the White House, then not even plastered, Abigail Adams, wife of the second President, hung out her washing. To a fence rail in front of the Capitol Building Thomas Jeffer- son tied his horse and, stalking into the Senate chamber, took the oath of office. “This was yesterday. Today from the gallery of that same Senate chamber one can in imagination picture the whole panorama of our national life. One hears the thunder of Webster's voice, the persuasive eloquence of Cal- houn and Clay. Every chair has held its great man. History comes near. All Have Memories. “No street or avenue but has its hal- lowed memories: no building is without some treasure which alone would repay a pilgrimage. “In the Library of Congress you can see the Declaration of Independence in Jeflerson's handwriting, with the cor- rections of Adams and Benjamin Frank- lin between the lines. There, too, is the engrossed original of the Constitution. At the State Department you can see the emancipation proclamation, in the hand of Abraham Lincoln, and in the National Museum Washington's sword and the desk at which Jefferson penned the Declaration “There in the National Museum are parts of the first American steam en- gine, the Benjamin PFranklin printing press, the More telegraph, Howe's sew- ing machine, Edison'’s first tinfoil phonograph and Lindbergh's plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. The whole thrill- ing record of Yankee ingenuity unfolds Itself thare—America's stupendous con- tribution to the making of the modern world. View From Monument. “From the top of Washington Monu- ment you can see far down the Poto- mac, toward Mount Vernon. Across the river in Arlington rest the heroes of six wars. To the northwest lies his- toric Georgetown. And almost at your very feet that sacred shrine wherein sits the tragic, lonely, marble form of Lincoln—the noblest Memorial ever erected by a people to a leader whom it loved. “All this is Washington—a vast cathedral, housing the Nation's monu- ments, typifying its ideals. And today, along historic Pennsylvania avenue, you can see with vour own eyes the begin- ning of the colossal enterprise in capi- tal building which, when completed, will bring to realization the exalted dream of our first President. Not until you have seen your country’s Capital do you really know America. See it feel it. The traditions of the past will 8Tip your heart. The actualities of the present will thrill you to the center of your being. Prouder than ever you will be to say, “I, too, am an American.” A. & P. STORE ROBBED Thieves Get $53 nnd‘Q\mntity of Merchandise. Joseph F. Lilly, manager of the At- lantic & Pacific’ Tea Co. grocery at 215 Seventeenth street northeast, re- ported to police today a burglar entered the store last night and took $53 in cash, 20 cartons of cigarettes, 3 hams and a quantity of groceries. money was removed from five secret hiding places in the building. Entrance was gained by forcing & back door. R IR 4 . SAFETY BILL STUDIED Measure Would Enforce Financial Responsibility. ‘The bill to promote safety in Wash- ington by requiring motorists who are convicted of scrious traffic offenses to show financial responsibility before their | driving permits are restored is the prin- cipal subject to be taken up by the Senate District Committee this after- noon. Chairman Capper may call up one or two other measures, in addition to hearing testimony ‘on the automol responsibility bill. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, TEALOS TRAF | POLICEMAN KEEPS /0B OVERPROTEST Glassford Defends Record of + Sinc.. ., Aitacked by Monarch Club. DENIES THAT ACTIONS CALL FOR REPRIMAND Refuses to Transfer Officer to Post Where He Can Be Used to “Better Advantage.” Raymond V. Sinclair, traffice police- man, whose victims run into the thou- sands, will not be removed from the trafic squad, Brig. Gen. Pelham D. Glassford, superintendent of police, de- cided today in passing on a request of the Monarch Club that the officer be transferred to same other duties where his zeal “can be utilized to better ad- ventage.” It was Sinclair’s recent round-up of 52 motorists for traffic offenses that stirred the Monarch Club, an organiza- tion of business and professional men. In a letter to Gen. Glassford, the club not only urged the officer’s removal from the squad. but condemned his ac- tivities as “prejudicial to the best in- terests of the community.” “While zeel in performing one’s duties should not be comdemned,” the club_declared, “the record established by Policeman Sinclair raises the in- escapable presumption in our minds that either one of two things are true, viz., either all of the other members of the traffic squad are woefully inefficient and derelict in_ their duty or else Sin- clair is overzealous. “The other officers do not find it nec- essary to drag citizens wholesale into Traffic Court in this fashion, and we believe that this practice breeds an- tagonism between the citizens and the authorities that is much more objec- tionable than minor violators of the traffic regulations. “In view of the marked increase in Tobbery and serious crimes, we believe the zeal of Sinclair can be utilized to better advantage in other directions than upon the traffic squad, and we urge his transfer to some other de- partment.” Replying to the club's Tequest, Gen. Glassford sald in no particular instance did Sinclair’s judgment appear subject to reprimand or to warrant his removal from the traffic squad. Gen. Glassford also took occasion to point out that police department sta- tistics show that robberies and other serious crimes during the past few months are not appreciably more nu- merous than for similar periods in past years, R. S. COLLINS DIES IN BROOKLYN HOME Native of Washington Passes Away at Age of 64 Years—Has Relatives Here. Word has been received here of the death of Raymond 8. Collins, 64, of Brooklyn, N. Y., a native apd former resident of Washington and Brother of Guy V. Collins, chief clerk in the ad- vertising department of the The Eve- ning Star. Another brother. Ralph A. Collins and a sister, Mrs. Ada G. Gas- kins, also are residents of this city. Mr. Collins died at his _home, 1657 East Thirty-sixth street, Brooklyn, eon February 18. Funeral services were | held in that city on February 20. Born in Washington, Mr. Collins was educated in the public schools and was in the insurance business here for some time. His father was William R. Col- lins, an editor of The Star. He married Miss Minnie Grady while he wad living here, and they had four children, Ray- mond, Vincent, and Paul, now of New York City, and a daughter, Sister Stella Aloysia of St. Peter’s Convent, Pough- keepsie. N. Y. The first Mrs. Collins died more than 25 years ago. Mr. Col- lins married again and his second wife, Margaret, survives him. He is also survived by another sister, Mrs. May Dickinson of Bayside, Long Island. For more than two decades prior to his death Mr. Collins was connected ;"lthk the Consolidated Gas Co. of New ork. = — |AWARD FOR STREET UPHELD BY COURT Condemnation Jury's Action Ap- proved in Extension of Thoroughfares. The District Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Chief Justice Martin today, affirmed the action of the District Su- preme Court in upholding the award of a condemnation jury for the ex- tension of Irving street between Eight- eenth and Twentieth streets and for the widening of Eighteenth street be- tween Jackson and Irving streets northeast. The court held objections by property owners to the jury's award are in the nature of a motion for a new trial and the law does not pro- vide for a retrial, except when ordered by _the court, Objections were filed by Lloyd H. Van Kirk and Guy V. Collins, owners of land condemned, and by George D. Mitchell, Alice N. Touey and Nicholas D. Demas, whose land had been as- sessed for benefits. Van Kirk and Collins had been served personally be- fore the jury was sworn and the others received due notice of the assessment, the court finds, and all had their day in court. As to the questions of fact raised by the appellants, the court says, con- cerning the amounts found by the jury for damages and benefits, it need only be said that the record does not present evidence sufficient to sustain the ob- jections and exceptions. DRY CHIEF CONFIDENT Prohibition Director Woodcock ex- pressed belief in the current issue of the bureau's weekly bulletin to its per- sonnel that “we will win this fight.” His statement in the bulletin said: “During the month of January 92 per cent of the prohibition cases termi- nated in the Federal courts resulted in conviction. This is an unprecedented record. I congratulate every one in the bureau. I feel that we are going forward and ask for a continuation bile | of the best effort that every one can fight. : give. We will win this ‘The Foening Shar 1932. SCIENTIST COMBS FOR BONES OF IC Frank M. Setzler Invades Black Caverns to Seek Ancients’ Remains. Identity of Tribes Forms Greatest Puzzle to Archeology. Into black caverns of Western Texas leads the trail of the oldest Americans. Frank M. Setbler, archeologist of the Smithsonian Institution, has just left Washington to make his second in- vasion of this inferno-like subterranean region where last Summer he uncovered what may be next to the lowest level | of human occupation yet found in | North America. During the past few years evidence has been accumulating that this part of the continent was occupied by a primitive people contemporaneous with extinct animals—antedating the ear- liest Basket Maker people. They appear to have lived at about the time when the fauna of the region was changing from the Ice Age forms to those of the present. This would make them the earliest human inhabitants of the con- tinent whose remains have been un- covered. Identity ¥s Puzsling. ‘The identity of these people is today | perhaps the greatest puzzle in North | American archeology. They apparently | flourished for & time and then vanished, to be followed a long time later by the | primitive Basket Maker tribes whose re- mains up to the present, have marked the North American archeologists's farthest horizon in the past. They may have been ancestors of the Basket Makers or have represented an entirely different sort of race. ‘Thus far no skeleton has been found. Human bones will be the primary objec- tive of Setzler's search in the caves. ‘Thus far the evidence of the existence of these people rests almost entirely on a peculiar sort of spear point—the so- called Folson type—found among the bones of extinct animals. ‘The search is directed especially to the Texas caves through a discovery just reported to the Smithsonian by Edgar B. Howard, archeologist of the Pennsylvania Museum. Philadelphia, who last Fall excavated a.cave just across the New Mexico line and found this characteristic speer point associ- ated with bones of an extinct bison and musk ox approximately four feet beneath a stratum associated with the earliest level of basketmaker culture. Believed Positive Evidence. ‘The spear point is consjdered almost positive evidence that human beings were in the country with the vanished apimals. The amount of earth that had accumulated above it indicates that it was many centuries, at least, before the cavern was again used for human habitation. Especially significant are the bones of the musk ox as far south as_Texas. The range of animals of like species today is strictly circumpolar, the herds grazing on the tundra at the edge of the Arctic. The indication is strong that the creature lived that far South at a time when the greater part of the TEXAS CAVES E-AGE HUMAN FRANK M. SETZLER. continent was covered with ice, its graz- ing grounds being just below the edge of the ice sheet. There was evidence that the musk-ox brought from somewhere else. This would indicate that the maker of the spear point lived during the last ice age. It implies an antiquity which few anthropologists in the past have been willing to grant the human race in the Western world although, Mr. Setzler points out, not disproving the well established thesis that the conti- nent was peopled by migration from Eastern Asia by way of Alaska. To Follow Another Clue. Setzler is to follow up another clue from the same general region. He will start in the southern part of the Big Ben region of Texas, a few miles from the Rio Grande, and work north up the Pecos toward the Guadalupe Moun- tains. This is all a hilly and moun- tainous country, with numerous caves— both limestone caverns in the sediment- ary rock and big gas pockets in the volcanic rocks. Last year in one cave in this region he found a few remnants of an ancient Indian culture which archeologists have been unable to iden- tify. There were some slight indica- tions, however, which connected it with the Basketmakers, although it did not check entirely with any of the known Basketmaker horizons. The question to be answered by further cave excavations is whether these people were a branch of the basketmakers, or possibly their fore- runners, intervening between them and the “Folsom” spearhead makers. If the latter is true, it may be possible to find still lower cave levels with artifacts of the Foisom people themselves and— which would be by far the greatest find of all—some of their bones. Until a skeleton is found the nature of these most ancient of Americans will remain a mystery. On the way to Texas Setzler will stop at Cumberland Island, Ga. to investi- gate an alleged find of a dugout canoe of the sort used by the Southern In- dians at the time of the first white set- tlements. At present only one of these is known to exist. Considerable confu- sion has arisen because slaves the same style of boatmaking and their products have been mistaken for those of the Indians. POLICE CAPTURE STORE INTRUDER Arrest One Man in Basement, While Another Escapes. Auto Seized. Responding to a call that the Dun- can Pharmacy, Pirst and K streets, had been entered, police early today cap- tured a colored man in the basement of the store after a second man had es- caped. The officers also found an auto- mobile, said to have been used by the two men. ‘The man, William Coleman, 36, who gave his address as Jacksonville, Fla., was captured by Pvt. H. H. Hodge and Sergt. R. B. Carroll of No. 2 police station, who entered the building while two officers from the first precinct stood guard in the rear. Coleman was booked for investigation. Cigarettes Missing. A check-up on the store's stock showed five cartons of cigarettes miss- ing. The car taken by police, a small coupe, bore Maryland license tags. The man who escaped was believed to have made his getaway on foot. The police were summoned to the scene by a man who noticed a window to the store had been broken. A second drug store listed in today’s police reports was that of William C. Furr, Fifth and E streets northeast. Furr told police that he was alone in his store about 5:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon when two young white men, one of whom he believed was armed, rifled his pockets and the cash register and escaped with his watch and a small sum of money. They ordered their victim to a rear room before departing. Dallas P. Fisher, Clarendon, Va., & taxicab driver, reported to police that | he had been robbed of $5 by a young | white man whom he had driven to Twenty-eighth and M streets, The bandit was armed, according to Fisher. ‘Two revolvers and $20 in cash were stolen from the store of William R. Sherwood. 1578 Thirty-third street, by burglars who removed a pane of glass from a rear window some time between noon yesterday and 7 o'clock this morn- ing, Sherwood told police. Boris Dimitrieff, 1215 Tenth street, reported the loss of jewelry and money valued at $368 by burglars who entered his apartment with a duplicate key dur- ing his absence. FIVE MEN CONVICTED ON VAGRANCY CHARGE Sixth Defendant, World War Vet- Is Dismissed—Police Continue Drive. Continuing their drive on panhandlers and vagrants, police brought six persons to Police Court today where five were convicted on_vi cy charges. The case of the sixth was dismissed. Four of the men were arrested last night on Missouri avenue by Policeman | G. L. Heath, first precinct, while the| remaining two were apprehended by fifth precinct officers. Judge Schuldt sentenced Tom Knibl and Earl Mains to serve 60 days in fail | when they were unable to post $500 | bond. John W. Happ, E. L. Jones and Thomas J. Crowder, whom Heath dis- covered sleeping in a vacant house, were ordered to secure $300 bond apiec? or serve & month in jail. The charge | against the fourth person arrested by Heath, Las er Johnson, was dis- missed. He War veteran. eran, MLIWAUKEE M HEADS EDLEATORS U. S. Superintendents Press for National Study of Tax Reform. Dr. Milton C. Potter, superintendent of Milwaukee schools for 18 years, will be the next president of the National Education Association’s department of llupel'lnl.fl.ldem:e. Dr. Potter was the the business session of the department’s convention at noon today. At the same session, the superin- tendents urged unanimous action that a careful study be made of existing tax systems throughout the United States looking to general tax reform. This resolution was proposed by the depart- ment’s Committee on School Costs. Dr. Potter was nominated by Dr. Paul Stetson, superintendent of Indi- anapolis schools. His nomination was supported by Dr. William J. Bogan, superintendent of Chicago schools; Dr. Frank Cody, superintendent of Detroit schools, and delegates from Iowa, Georgia, Wisconsin and California, be- fore it finally was moved to close the nominations. Kansas City Man Nominated. Dr George Melcher, superintendent of Kansas City schools, was nominated for second vice president. Dr. Edwin C. Broome, superintendent of Philadelphia schools, the retiring president of the department, automatically becomes first vice president. The two candidates pro- posed for the department’s Executive Committee were Dr. David J. Malcolm, superintendent of schools at Charle- mont, Mass.,, and Dr. Carroll R. Reed, superintendent of Minneapolis schools, one of whom will be elected. The formality of voting will be held throughout Wednesday. The ballot box will open at 11 am. in the Washington Auditorium, Constitution Hall and the Hotel Washington. The board of tellers will report Thursday. ‘The resolution which was adopted at the morning session points out that the current economic emergency ‘“re- emphasizes the fact that the financing which should involve the technicai ad- vice of experts in taxation, the co-oper- ation of professional school people and the educational policy of the public.” Careful Study Asked. The resolution follows: “That the department of superin- tendence recommends that there be copstituted in every State a group of skeleton was not | eral only man nominated for the office at| Pre: SQUADS ON MARCH Special Units Will Be Central- ized Again i Interest of Efficiency. PERSONNEL CHANGES ALSO ARE SCHEDULED Glassford Declares Move Does Not Presage Any Particular En- forcement Drive. The special police liquor and gam- bling squads, decentralized in the gen- reorganization of the department last July, are to be reorganized and again centraliged March 1, it was re- vealed today by Brig. Gen. Pelham D. Glassford, superintendent of police. Twenty officers constituting the liquor and gambling enforcement squads, who are now scattered, nine of them working out of police headquarters and the re- 11 from the three inspection district headquarters, are to be placed under the direct supervision of Inspec- tor James M. Beckett, head of the Bu- reau of Special Investigations. The personnel of the squads also is to be changed somewhat. Denies Special Drive. Gen. Glassford said the reorganiza- tion did not presage a special drive against liquor and gambling establish- ments, but would be carried out solely in the interest of increased effective- ness and efficiency. The present de- centralized system, he declared, has not worked out satisfactorily. Gen. Glassford said he had placed responsibility for reorganization of the liquor and gambling squads on In- spector Beckett. All of the details will be worked out by Beckett. He also will be given freedom to select the men he wants in his bureau., The plan, however, according to Gen. Glassford, will be patterned after the existing organization. of the detective bureau. Inspector Frank S. W. Burke, chief of detectives, he explained. now has supervision over all detectives, pre- cinct men, as well as those working out of headquarters. The special liquor and gambling enforcement officers in the precincts, under the reorganiza- tion plan, he said. will make their re- ports directly to Inspector Beckett. Centers of Headquarters. Police headquarters, according to Gen. Glassford, is the logical place for centralization of the liquor and gam=- bling squads. Virtually all of the in- formation relative to the location of. speakeasies and gambling houses, he said, comes to police headquarters. The reorganization plan, Gen. Glass- ford declared, also contemplates the addition of some duties on members of Inspector Beckett's Bureau of Investi- gation. What Gen. Glassford hopes to do, he said, is to make the bureau ex- actly what its name implies—an in- vestigation bureau. Thus, its activities would not be confined entirely to liquor, vice and gambling cases, but it would also be called on from time to time to make special investigations of cases not directly related to the work of the Detective Bureau. WHITE HOUSE SCRIBES RE-ELECT OFFICERS Inauguration Will Be Feature of Annual Banquet, Set for March 5. ’ Officers of the White House Corre- spondents’ Association were yesterday re-elected for the ensuing year. They are: President, Paul R. Mallon, United ss; vice president, Robert B. Arm- strong, Los Angeles Times: secretary~ treasurer, G. L. Tazry, Wall Street Jowr nal. John F. Chester of the Press and William R. Flythe of the Unie versal Service, were elected to the Ex= ecutive Committee. Inauguration of the officers will be one of the features of the annual bane quet of the association March 5, at the ‘Willard Hotel, on which occasion Presi- dent, Hoover, who is honorary president of the association, and Vice President Curtis, every member of the cabinet and other notables will be present. President Mallon today announced the following committee chairmen to range for the annual banquet; En tainment, Georg: E. Durno, Interna tional News: Invitations, Lewis Wood, New York Times: Reception, John Rus- sell Young, The Evening Star; Seating, Robert S. Pickens, Associated Press; Printing, John F. Chester, Associated Press; Decorations, Stuart Hayes, Cen= tral News; Finance, G. L. Tarry, Wall Street Journal; Scenario, Edward T. Folliard, Washington Post; Publicity, Lawrence Sullivan, Washington Post; Arrangements, President Mallon. FLEEING MOTORIST CAPTURED IN CHASE Autoist Is Arrested, Charged With Leaving Scene After Colliding. Abram Lee, 26, colored, of the 100 block of Randolph street, was arrested of public education is a responsibility) and charged with leaving the scene after colliding, following his capture by a motorist after a chase yesterday. Joseph H. Rivera. 26, of the 200 block of Morgan street, gave chase in his car after Lee is said to have crowded into him at Florida avenue and Second street. During the chase, Lee’s car struck a parked car in the 2200 block of Flagler street. to citizens, including expert economists, competent school people and repre- sentative laymen, to make a careful study of the existing system of taxa- .Pée.‘?d‘m resolved, That since a comprehensive national study of school finance is underway under the direc- tion of the United States Office of Edu- cation, the utmost co-operation should exist between such groups as may be established in the several States and the national survey of school finance.” Dr. Frank W. Ballou, superintendent of Washington schools, presented the report of the department’s Committee on Financing Educational Research. Dr. Ballou acted as chairman by vir- tue of the death in December of Dr Randall J. Condon. the chairman. The report, which the Washington superin- tendent presented today, lists the prog- ress made by the committee and in- cludes a lengthy statement lauding t! life and work of Dr. Condon, Whi was prepared by Dr. Sherwood D. Shankland, executive secretary of the Department of Superintendence. At this point Lee attempted escape on fiot and was overhauled by William F. Johnson, of the 100 block of Adams street, who held him until police arrived. Lee was treated at Freedmen's Hospitali for cuts and bruises about the face, said to have been received in one of the collisions. . FREED IN WOMAN’S DEATH Colored Truck Driver Is Held Blameless in Accident, Willlam A. Allen, 26, colored, 615 Q street, was exonerated today' by a cor- oner’s jury of blame in the death of Mary E. Fisher, 70, of 1412 Euclid street, who was run down by a truck operated by Allen near Fourteenth and Euclid streets Saturday morning. T l;l‘est-lmony at the lng‘uen indicaf len was unable to avoid striking owned