Evening Star Newspaper, March 13, 1932, Page 12

BLUEBEARD, CALM, AWAITING GALLOWS Harry F. Powers Appears Bored as End Approaches for Slaying of Five. By the Assoclated Press. CLARKSBURG, W. Va, March 12— The strangest character these West Vir- ginia hills have ever known will be led to the gallows on the stroke of 8 o'clock Priday night for a bizarre crime—the love-racket slaying of a Northboro, Mass., divorcee. Eight months ago, sourred on by the disappearance of an Illinois widow, po- lice here followed a slim clue and ar- rested 2 man of a hundred aliases— Harry F. Powers, Harm Drenth, Corne- lius Orval Pierson. Those were a few of the names he used. He was a mild mannered, pudgy man who looked like a successful salesman. He nted through his glasses when they falked to him, and chewed gum between his quiet denials that he had ever committed a crime. But while he was in jail police made a discovery that branded him as the tor of a series of ruthless, cold- looded murders. Bodies Are Found. They went out to a peaceful sylvan gpot called Quiet Dell, where Powers had spent much of his time. They found a strange building—a windowless, soundproof “garege.” with subterranean chambers and queer gas connections. There were bloodstains on the floor and three trunks full of women's cloth- ing, but stili no trace of the missing Tilinois woman, Mrs. Asta Buick Eicher of Park Ridge, or of the three children | who vanished with her | Then they started digging in a drainage ditch near the garage. Late in the aft- ernoon they brought up the body of a child. Dusk came and the digging con- | tinued. During the night the other three bodies were disinterred. The news spread through Clarksburg and a crowd gathered outside the city jail where Powers was held. The terri- fed prisoner was spirited away to the county jail, then to the morgue to view e bodies. “Isn't that awful” he exclaimed, still denying he knew anything about the crime. Makes Confession. | After a night of ceaseless grilling, the bland prisoner's nerve broke and he ex- clajmed: “I did it! Give me a chance to rest a | MNttle and I'll tell you all about it. Twelve hours later he ‘signed a brief | confession admitting He ‘was the slay- er. It was just two hours later that the men who had been digeing con- stantly at Quiet Dell brought a fifth body from the trench—that of Mrs. Dorothy Pressler Lemke, Northboro divorcee. Powers had regained his suave de- meanor and was playing cards with other prisoners when he was asked about the fifth body. “She's from Chicago, but I don’t know her name,” he mumbled, as he squinted at his cards and asked that his game not be interrupted. Gradually investigators pieced to- gether—from letters, matrimonial agency files and information Powers gave reluctantly—the whole strange story of the man's love-racket activi- tles. Corresponded .With Women. ‘He had been carrying on a Nation- wide correspondence with widows and divorcees. He made ardent love to all of them and proposed to dozens. His arrest brought a flood of com- plaints from women in all parts of the country who claimed they had been Jilted or robbed by the glib-tongued man who culled technical terms from scientific books and romantic phrases from love stories to use in weaving his net around his victims. Several weeks before Christmas his trial began in Clarksburg's old opera house, within & block of where Stone- wall Jackson was born. On a stage once trod by famous actors. Powers sat and chewed gum while a jury was chosen. Only once during the four-day trial did Powers' shell of immobility break. That was when he wept as he men- tioned the name of his “dear wife"— the woman who had remained loyal to him while he was sending impassioned )v.we'.s letters to a long list of “pros-' pects.” | Blames Others. His only defense was that the crime had been committed by “two other !el_ighwsf' e townspeople who jammed the sidewalks outside the opera house cheered when the verdict was an- nounced, but Powers heard his doom pronounced in silence. He remained unconcerned during al futile effort to win a new trial. And his jailers expect he will go to the gal- lows that same way—as if he were| by the whole proceeding. MISSION APPEALS FOR $3,000 HELP| Swamped With Requests for Aid During Past Week of Extreme Cold. Swamped with requests for aid dur- ng the past week of extreme cold, the Central Union Mission, welfare agency of the Protestant churches of the city, has issued an appeal for contributions to help make up a $3,000 deficit in its budget. | One reason for the deficit, Mr. Ben- | Heads Club AMITY GROUP INSTALLS OFFICERS. ISIDORE SEMSKER, Newly elected president of the Amity Club, who, with other officers, was in- stalled at a dinner dance meeting at the Mayflower Hotel Wednesday. The others on the slate are Mac Mannes, first vice president; Robert I. Rudolph, sccond vice president; Carl Linker, sec- retary; Benjamin Madden, treasurer; Barney Robbin, financial secretary, and Herbert Sauber, sergeant at arms. PLAY INSTITUTE OPENS TOMORROW “Campfire Work” Will Be Subject for Initial 1932 Session, The opening 1932 meeting of the annual Play Institute for Washington will be held at 8 o'clock tomorrow night in the Park View Schocl gym- nasium, Otis and Warder streets. The institute, operated under the auspices of the Community Center Department, with the co-operation of local civic or- ganizations, will hold a series of seven meetings this Spring. Local organizations sponsoring the Play Institute are: the District of Cblumbia Christ Child Society, Dis- trict of Columbia Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Parent-Teachers’ Association, Friendship ‘House, Juanita K. Nye Council House, Jewish Community Center, Kindergarten Department of the Public Schools, Marjorie Webster School, Neighborhood House, Noel House, Physical Education Association, Physical Education Department, Dis- trict of Columbia Public Schools Play- ground Department, Recreation Com- mittee of the Washington Council of Social Agencies, Welfare and Recrea- tion Association of Public Buildings and Parks and Wilson Teachers’ College. “Campfire Work” Subject. ‘The subject for discussion tomorrow evening is “Campfire Work.” Mrs. Lil- lian Brousseau of the public schools will be song leader and Douglas D. Withers will be play leader. Accom- paniments will be played by Mrs. E. C. Robertshaw of the Community Cen- ter Department. The subjects for other March meet- ings are “Indoor Stunts and Games,” March 21, and “Story Telling and Dramatization,” March 28. At the first of these, the play leaders will in- clude: Miss Virginia Schmucker and Miss M. L. Griffiths of the public schools and. Louis Barr, Boy Scout leader, with William R. Smucker as song leader and Mrs. Robertshaw at the piano. At the meeting March 28 Miss Phyllis- Wilson of the Marjorie Webster School will be the leader and old-fashioned dancers will be discussed by Leaders Alice Louise Hunter and Marjorie Schuster of the Community Center Department. Mrs, Florence Vin- cent Yeager will be song leader and Mrs. Robertshaw accompanist. Subjects for April. In April the subjects for meetin will be: April 4, “Plenic Games" and the final three dates, April 11, 12 and 13, the programs will be arranged by Miss Ella Gardner of the Children’s Bureau. Those interested in attending the Play Institute should register with the Community Center Department at headquarters in the Franklin Adminis- | tration Building, Thirteenth and K streets, tomorrow. Registration fees are $1 per person and entitle the holder to all privileges of the 1932 in- stitute. WDONALD HITS POLITICS Urges Non-Partisan Unity in Sup- porting Conservative Candidate. LONDON, March 12 (#)—Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald last night went on record with the declaration that a “return today to partisan poli- tics would shatter the foundations of confidence at home and abroad, on v\hzc.h all the national services must rest.” The declaration was contained in a letter of support sent to Comdr. A. D. Cochrane, Conservative candidate in the Dumbarton-Shire by-election. nett explained, is undoubtedly due to the belief of many persons that thel Central Union Mission is a member of | the Community Chest. It derives no support from the Chest Since last September the demands for relief. increased by the unemployment situation, have taxed the resources of the mission as never before. The staff has lodged an average of 181 men a night and fed an average of 469 a day “It's all in the day's work,” said Mr. | “but unless financial relief is obtained, the Easter activitles of the mission probably will have to be cur- | tailed and the year will end with a big deficit | Six truck loads of old clothing were | Marnished by Washingtonians after the &, 9w storm of last Sunday in answer to Fur. Bennett's eppeal on behalf of hun- dreds of shivering men who sought re- lief. These supplies are already used up and with continued cold weather, men's clothing is still one of the greatest needs at the mission. ONE MINUTE OF SPEED MAY COST 16,819,200 Mortality Tables Indicate What Motorist Risks When He Steps on the Gas. By the Associated Press. OHICAGO, March 12—If you're & motorist at 35 and to_gain one minute, you're risking 16,819,200 preci- ous minutes of your life. The Chicago Motor Club figured this out today, using American mortality tables as their basls. At 35 a motorist may expect to live for 32 more years. hat's 16,819,200 minutes, or 1,009,152,- 0_seconds. “Few, if any, motorists would care to risk $16,819,200 in order to gain $1, yet thinkingly will risk SPECIAL All Ladies’ Dresses, $1.00 Ties, 6 for 50¢ Men’s Suits and Overcoats, 150 ea. Hats Cleaned and Blocked, 500 up Dor’t Forget Our Laundry Service It's the FASHION to be alive, active, quick. Wing your feet with %@me Now at New Low Prices 1416 New York Avenue 3. P. Smith Co., Makers THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, NEW BANK BILLS SLATED THIS WEEK House Committee to Take Up Triangular Program of Reforms. By the Associated Press. New and permanent remedies for de- fective banking and money conditions will be sought this week by the House |since introducing my bill to guarantee | Banking Committee. With a bare breathing spell since it wrote the Reconstruction Corporation, Federal Reserve credit expansion and $125,000,000 farm land bank bills, the committee will plunge into intensive study of a triangular program that in- cludes: President Hoover's home-loan bill, Chairman Steagall's plan to guarantee bank deposits, and numerous proposals for monetary stabilization. Steagall and the ranking members of his committee personally conveyed %o President Hoover today their in- tention of starting work on his home loan recommendation and discussed the proposal with him. Representative Reilly, Democrat, Wisconsin, will have charge of this measure and will open hearings Wednesday. | But even sooner, Steagall will call on | Treasury and Federal Reserve officials to furnish information on his bill to guarantee deposits of all member banks of the system. “I want to begin on Monday.” the Alabaman said. “We will ask the Treasury to furnish the statistics we need on this measure. “Never in my experience in Congress have I seen & more favorable response | to an ylegislation than I have received | deposits. Not only the small banks but the large cnes, too, are supporting it.” Representative Goldsborough, Demo- crat, Maryland, will conduct the hear- ings on monetary stabilization. He has sponsored several measures for this pur- pose. Numerous other bills also have | been introduced, especially by Repre- | sehtatives from farming area: HEARING INVOLVES $43,873,010 TAXES Government's Case, Before Appeals Board, Based on 1919 Merger i of 0il Properties. A $43,000,000 Federal tax case, in- volving claims against the Tex-Penn Oil Co. of West Virginia, M. L. Bene- dum of Pittsburgh, Pa., and F. B. Par- riott of Tulsa, Okla., was submitted | Priday to the United States Board 011 Tax Appeals after a four-day trial, in | which John W. Davis of New York ap- peared as counsel for the taxpayers. The demand of the Government for tax deficiencies aggregating $43,873,- 1010.10 for the year 1919 arose from & | consolidation in that year of various | ol properties into the Transcontinental Oil Co. The principal issue is whether | this consolidation represented a taxable | transaction. In July, the new company | York Exchange for $ 1919, the stock of | still sold on the New|Skating is his favorite diversion in 5 per share, | Winter. | MARCH 13, 1932—PART ONE. and it is on this valuation that the tax claims are computed. The mp;ym D was not & taxable transaction; that the stock they received, in fact had very little real value, and that it was not taxable income because they had agreed | not to put it on the market in the year | 1919. | The case was heard by three mem- bers of the board, Arundell, Van Fos- | sam and Leech. Only issues of law are | to be considered by the board at this | time. If these issues are decided in | favor of the Government, the question s to the value of the stock will be tried later. In addition to John W. Davis, the pe- titioners were represented by Montgom.- ery Angell and Weston Vernon, jr., of New York; J. C. Adams of Tulsa, Okla., and Harry Fredman. Brooks Fullerton, John D. Foley and Ottamar Hamele of the General Counsel’s Office, Bureau of Internal Revenue, appeared for the Gov- ernment. | . Cuts Figure Eights at 82. Alonzo Roy, 82, of Sabattus, Me., can cut a_ figure 8 on the ice. | | a8 those which affect other states, ine | cluding the reparatiofs problem, pro= FRANCE AND BRITAIN |jected commercial tpeaties and the TO END RIVALRIES ;itermenean navat dispute. 1 con- | sideration to the French plan for ex- tending economic assistance to the Agreement for Economic Recon- Central European and Danubian states, and that they had reached an accord struction Signed, Says Paris | on this and all other questions, declar- Communique. |ing that “Franco-British co-operation |shofid * have the double object of achieving amelioration of Eu n po- ‘:h[ical rivalries and accelerat! eco- By the Associated Press. | nomic reconstruction. PARIS. March 12—Just before the Briand funeral today the foreign office issued & communique announcing that Prance and Great Britain had reached an agreement to “work together to ap- pease Europe's political rivalries and hasten the day of economic reconstruc- tion.” SCREAMS BRING POLICE Boy, 15, 8witched by Grandfather, Found Converted to Education. Chicago officers heard screams com= piy ing from & basement, The announcement followed a two- | 5 hour cobference between Premier Tar. | L ey 1ound Willlam Boyd, 88, and his dieu and Sir John Simon, the British | randson, Howard, 15 forelgn secretary, who had come up| “Howard sald he wouldnt go to from the Disarmament Conference at | school,” Boyd said, shifting the switch Geneva for the funeral. | in his hand, “but I think he will now.” They talked over the outstanding is- | “Yes” Howard said, “Tll go to sues between the two countries, as well | schoo! 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