Evening Star Newspaper, September 25, 1932, Page 13

WASHINGTON INQUEST 1S GALLEDID. C. ASSESSMENTS IN MODEL'S DEATH ABOARD RIVER BOAT Hearing Before Coroner’s Jury Scheduled for To- morrow. COMPANION’S VERSION OF TRAGEDY INCLUDED Hunted Midwife to Be Prosecuted in S:parate Case on Charge of Ill=gal Operaticn. Investigation of the mysterious death of Sylvia Rochkin, 23-year-old artists’ model, found strangled early Friday on a house boat in Little River, will be taken up tomorrow by a coroner’s jury. The case will b presented to the jury at an inquest set for 11:30 am. by Detective Sergts. H. K. Wilson and John C. Dalglish. A four-page typewritten statement signed by George B. Speidel, 30-year-old City Post Office clerk and | emateur artist, with whom the model | lived on the boat, is expected to be| introduced in evidenc A midwife said to have performed an {llegal operation on Miss Rochkin—an operation _ that. according to Deputy Coroner C. J. Murphy, was not directly responsible for the young woman'’s death—was being sought by Dalglish last night i Presentation of the case, Wilson said last night, will include introduction of a suicide note purported to_ have been written by Miss Rochkin. the bathrobe | cord with which Speidel declares she hanged herself from a ceiling rafter of the boat's galley, and a small nail around which the cord was knotted. Returned Two Weeks Ago. Speidel's statement, made during a three-hcur grilling 2t police headquars ters PFriday night, described his rela- ticns with the model. The artist said his romance with Miss Rochkin began last May. when he met her in the Corcoran Art Gallery. After had taken soveral trips toge‘her, 2id rhe returncd to her home, in Park, Long Island She came back to Washington about two weeks egc, howev joining him he said, in an apartment in the 1700 block of Connecticut avenue. He leased the boat from a friend, he said, and| moved aboard last Monday—the day of the operation. still suffering from the effects of the aticn, she rejoined him on the boat Wednesday. he continued. She secmed nervous and depressed, he said, and, in 2n efiort to relieve her nervousness end despondency, he rowed her over to Ana- Iction Islana several timos Thurcday. Her condition apparently was un- ged, however, he went on, and she zod 5 incessantly through- cut the cay. Once, he faid, she wrote a noie, explcining it was to hor widowed night, he said, lezving her in the galley. Awakening shortly after midnight, he said, he found her hanging from a nail driven into the rafter. As ne lifted her, he added, she slumped and the nail dropped to the oor. Found Lying on Bed. When detectives reached the boat in response to a telephone call from Spei- del they found the dead weman lying on the bed, with the cord beneath her head. They arrested Speidel, who has been separated from his wiie and 5- year-cld son for the last two vears, and beoked him for investigation at the seventh precinct. The dead woman ter and brother, rs. Laura Kramer and Benjamin Rochkin, are expected to zitend the in- quest. They came here from New York City Priday night and, after a_brief visit to headquarters, left for Baltimore, HOME LOAN BANK PICKS AREA BOARD Directors for Los Angeles District ' Are Second Group to Be Named. Other Selections Due. By the Associated Press. Another step toward complete organ- ization of the Federal Home Loan Bank System was taken yesterday with ap- pointment of the 11 directors for the Los Angeles regional band. The institution will serve the twelfth district, comprising California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawail. Directorates of 2 of the 12 banks have now been selected. On Thursday those for the Cincinnati institution serving Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee were named. Other directorates will be announced ON PROPERTY ARE 267518 HIGHER {Improvements $12,706,586 Up, While Land Values Fall | { $10,038,968. CHANGES IN 20 SECTIONS | TABULATED BY ASSESSOR e | Sharpest Drop in Valuations ofj Real Estate Is Between Tenth 1 and 17th Streets West. | Although assessments of improve- ments of District real estate went up :$12,706,586 in the current fiscal year,| assessments on land value fell $10. 038,988, leaving a net increase of enly | | $2,667,818, according to a tabulation of assessments prepared by Assessor Wil-| liam P. Richards. The tabulation shows | the increase or decrease of assessments in_twenty sections of the city. Land | | values rose in 10 and fell in 10 of these. The value of improvements rose in| seven sections and fell in three. Among the land values, the sharpesJ drop was in the section lying between | Seventeenth and Tenth strects wes | where the decline was $4,807,182. This | | was closely followed by tke scction from | | Tenth to Fifth streets west, with a drop |of $4.857145. These sections also | showed declines in the assessment of | | improvements, the decrease being $3,- 1245,950 and $954,200, respectively. ‘ i Other Decreases Smaller. ! | The other decreases in land values | were all much smaller, none amounting | jto as much as $600,000. The se: n | from Rock Creek to - west showed @& decline of $720,877.| Other declines were: Fifth to First | streets west, $534,684; squares 1761- 2362, in the section west of Rock Creek, | $480,721; the section from First street west to Third street east. $216,285: squares numbered above 5900, in the | tection across the Fastern Branch, $205516; squares 2500 to 2800, in the | section between Rock Creek and Sol- | | diers’ Home, $191,894; squares 3000 to | 3199. also in the section betwesn Roc't | Creek and Soldiers’ Home, $41,023, and | isquares 1060 to 1301, west of Rock Creel, | $14.416 | * Turning to sections where the ascess- ments for land values went up. the | largest increase amounted to only $653,- 672. This occurred in squares 4200 to { 5100, in the Northeast section. | Other increases wcre: Squares 3200 | to 3040. between Rock Creek and Sol- | diers' Home, $518.510; squares 3641 to 4199, in the Northeast section, $246.770; | squares 5600 to 5884, across the Eastern | Branch, $145898; the section from | Ninth street east to the river, $84.900; squares 1302 to 1760. west of Roc | Creek, $78,003; squares 2801 to 2999, belwecen Rock Creck and Soldiers' | | Hom», $49.205; squares 5300 to 5599, across the Eastern Branch, $29.557: the | section from Third street east to N'nth ! sireet east. $13,708. and squares 5101 to 15299, across the Eastern Eranch, | $10.442. | " Turning to assessments for improve- | { ments, the table shows a decline of | 1$125,000 in squares 2500 to 2800, be- j tween Rock Creek and Soldiers’ Home, ibesides the other two decreases pre- | viously mentioned. The largest in-| | crease occurred in squares numbered | above 5900, across the Eastern Branch. | where improvement assessments went| up $4.445236. Other large increases | were squares 3200 to 3640. between | Rock_Creek and Soldiers' Home, $3.- { 026.150; squares 1761 to 2362, west of | Rock Creek, $2,178.700; squares 3641 | to 4199, in the northeast section. $1.- 1529,000;_ squares 1202 to 1760, west of . $1.213,800, and squares n the noriheast section, R Cres !4200 to 5100 1 £905,000. Other Increases. increases were: FPirst street $705.400; squares, en Rock Creek and Soldiers’ $530,500; from Fifth street west to First street west, $484,400; squares 5600 to 5884.| across the Eastern Branch, $392,100; Ninth street east to the river, $352.900; Rock Creek to Seventeenth street. $342,150: squares 1060 to 1301, west of Rock Creek, $297,700; squares 5300 to| 5599, across the Eastern Branch, $283.- | 100; squares 3000 to 3199 between Rock | Creek and Soldiers’ Home, $211,600; | Third street east to Ninth street east. | $139,500, and squares 5101 to 5299,/ across the Eastern Branch, $94.500. The tozal of the land valuc assess ments for the current year is $544 033911 and of the improvement as sessments, $685,325.655. These together make a total assessment for the cur-| Tent vear of $1,229,359,566. The totals in the 1932 fiscal year were: Land, $554,072,879. improvements, $672,619, 069; total, $1,226,691,948. GEN. CROSBY INSPECTS Maj. Gen. Herbert B. Crosby. Com- | missioner in charge of police, made a | { personal inspection Friday of several Other west | pelice precinct stations, accompanied by | lc | the rental s fast as they have been appointed and | Inspector L. I, H. Edwards, assistant acceptances received from 21l 11 mem- | superintendent in charge of personnel. | bers e . { 1t 'was Commissioner Crosby's first visit | In making the selections, the Home! a¢ the precinct stations in more than Loan Board chose two directors to rep-! a month. g | resent “public interest” and nine who,‘ Gen. Crosby started his inspection | under the law must be men connected ' trip shortly after Brig. Gen. Pelham D. Wwith the home financing business. Their | Glassford, superintendent of police, left | northeast. successors must be officers or directors of institutions which own stock in the regional bank. Franklin W. Fort, chairman of the| manded the 52d Field Artillery Brigade | continue until the feast day of St. Home Loan Board, said reports indi- cated the sale of stock in the banks was proceeding satisfactorily and that each of the regional institutions would be ready to receive applications for loans on October 15. FISHING MISHAP WINS SYMPATHY FOR SPEEDER Man Hurryng to With Friend Gashed by Hook, Finds Judge Had Same Misfortune. Trafic Court Judge Isaac R. Hitt was in a position to sympathize with Ingemard O. Lund, 600 block of Park road, when the latter informed the court he was speeding to a doctor’s office with a friend wnose hand was badly gashed by a fish hook, when police stopped him yesterday. Lund said he was fishing with the other man off Herring Bay, Md., when the hook was caught securely in the other’s right hand. Their launch was run o shore at full speec, and the in- jured man transferred to an auto- mobile. However, Policeman S. T. Creech halted Lund on Georgia averus2 only a few blocks from the doctor's office, and gave him a “ticket” charging speeding at 40 miles an hour. But Judge Hitt took his personnel bond. “You El’eww I was hooked in this finger last year,” said Juage Hitt, after the trial, holding up & agit for ex- amination. Dcetor for New York to participate in _the parade and reunion of the 77th Divi- | sion. Gen. Glassford at one time com- | | | of the 77th Division. | KEECHRAPSPUN TO THIN OUT TAXIS Arrest of Drivers of Rented: Cabs Only Harasses the | Men, He Says. Steps taken by the Public Utilities nmi-sion to reduce the number of tawicabs in Washingion by outlawing rented vehicles were described as im- potent yesterday by People’s Counsel Richmond B. Ke=ch Keech declared the arrest of drivers of rented cabs for violation of the com- mission’s regulation forbidding operation of such vehicles is meérely serving to harass the men, who are siriving 10 stave off starvation on incomes of $3 a day and les: The commission’s plan for wrecking cab business, Keech said, fails to reach the fundamental cause of the long-existed taxicab problem. The solution, he de-lared, in the | ion of a uniform zone sy loucly Rogulation Cvaded. Already companies renting cabs have found various legal methods of escaping the ion regu'ation, Keech | pointed out, so that the effect of the plan is virtually nullified. Keech szid he firmly believed the rented cabs would not be put out of business, despite the commission regu- lation and the recent police campaign of enforcement. and that any move to reduce the number of public vehicles in Washington would be futile during the present economic situation, | Many of the taxicab drivers, actord- ing to ee~h, have be2n unable to find y other form of emplovment end will inue to overate on a meager income r:ther then face starvation. The la‘est p the rental cab com- panies for evading the commission regulation involv the formation of associations in which ti# drivers con- tridute the same amount daily in mem- bership fees that was formerly required as a rental deposit on the cabs, 1n ad- dition, the companies have promised | the cabs {o the drivers as a bonus 2i the end of a year in order to give them the status of owners. Three Drivers Arrested. The commission’s regulation stipu- lates that no public vehicle shall be cperated by eny person other then the owner or a bona fide employe of the vner. The regu’ation b-came effcctive ust 4, and last week enforcoment was under'aken by the Police Depart- mert with the result that three Grivers were arrested and fined Thes2 thre2 cases were more or less of a tesi to determine in th~ lower | courts the authoritv of the commission | to outlaw a certain The Court of Anpeals. however. is to bz asked to rule on the question by one of the victims of the pclice crusade. | NOVENA BEGINS TONIGHT Public Honor Will Be Paid to St. Teresa. A public novena in honor of St. Teresa will begin tonight at 8 o'clock in the chapel of the Carmelite Mon- | astery, 150 Rhode Island avenue The exercises, auspices of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers, will be conducted by the Very Rev. Paschasius Heriz. The novena will he'd under Teresa, October 3. Washington Club Event to The greatest racing pigeon classic ever held in the United States will be | flown from this city October 9, weather | permitting. It is known as the Bicen- | tennial Futurity and already more than 10,000 pigeons have been entered by fanciers in every State in the Union. The race is being held under auspices of the Washington Racing Pigeon Club of the American Racing Pigeon Union. It will be followed by the annual con- | vention of the American Racing Pigeon | Union, to be held at the Mayflower Ho- tel the latter part of October. | All organized fanciers throughout the country are permitted to enter the | event, the pigeons fiying to various points within a radius of 400 miles from Washington. These pigeons are known | as ‘“youngsters,” having been born in 1932. Fanclers residing at a greater distance than 400 miles have-shipped their birds to points within that dis- tance for the competition. About a thousand jirds from Wash- ington are entered the event, hav- s l I l i NATION’S BIGGEST PIGEON RACE ALREADY HAS 10,000 ENTRIES Here of American Union Next Month. ! ment officials, especially those connected Follow Annual Convention ing been placed within the 400-mile radius. Almost every fancier in the city has one or more entries, Plans have been made by the local committee in charge of the race for the liberation of the pigeons on the Monu- ment grounds about 7 am. Govern- with the Army Signal Corps, which uses pigeons for transportation of messages, are assisting in the futurity. Every loft to which pigeons will fly has bzen measured by airline distance to the Monument grounds. Each racer besides its registration band, will bear a countermark band on its leg, placed there by the committee in this city. The pigecn upon its arrival at home is caugnt and this countermark band placed in timing machine which regis- ters the exact time of its arrival home. By calculation of the distance flown by the individual bird and the time consumed in the fight, it n:'.g determined how many yards per moves. The fastest flight wins, tvps of taxicab. | T AxK cf from L - P a picturesque curve on the road. ] WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1932. NEW U. S, WORKERS GROUP T0 CONFER | | 's from the whole United States yesterday inspected the beauties of the new Shenandoah National Park | nd Drive, nearing completion along the highest ridge cf the Blue Ridge range in Virginia. The upper | lefi phetograph was made through the exit of Marys Rock Tunnel, a feature of the new highway. Upper right, | Below. a group from the inspection party. Seated in front, left to right: Con- rad L. Wcrth, assistant director National Park Service. and Dr. R. Lyman Sexton. Others, left to right: Willlam Austin, resident engineer, Bishop, chief of the Di sicn of Construct: Bureau Public Roads; Arno B. Cammerer, associate directcr, National Park Service; H. K. ion, Bureau of Public Roads; Hcrace W. Albright, director National Park Serv- ice; Fred A. Delano, president American Civic Association, and Dr. William Mann, director of lmliéhcnal Zoological ENGINEERS Park. MEE i) C. Auditor Claims | Fraudulent Use of tar Photos. DOCKETS CROWDED HERE TOMORRQW Meeme 2= Axe tield N DISTRICT COURTS Pragram Announced for 18th Annual Convention of American Association. Discussion of legislation to regulate tha practice of engineering and regis- tration of engineers will be among the | chief items on the program for the eighteenth annual convention of the American Association of Engine:rs opening in the Shoreham Hotel tomor- OW. ‘The three-day session also will be marked by addresses by leaders in busi- ness and industrial fields. These will | include a speech of welcome by Com- miscioner John C. Gotwals and talks by Chester Leasure of the United States Chamber of Commerce; David La rence, editor of the United States Daily; John Lyle Harrington, member of the engineering advisory board of the Re- construction Finance Corporation; Dr. Henry Arnstein of Philadelphia; V. Ber- nard Siems of New York, and Dr. J. A. L. Wadd:Il Director to Preside. The sessions will begin at 9 am. and will be called to order tomorrow by Denal L. Chamberlin, national director of the orgenization and president of the Washington chapter. The drive to promote legislation which would eliminate the unauthor- ized and unqualified misappropriation of the engineering title has the indorse- ment of bona fide engineers throughout the country, according to Chamberlin. It is planned to introduce a bill in the next session of Congress to provice reg- istration and regulate the practice of engineering in the District of Columbia. Other Topies. Other important topics scheduled to come up during the convention include a discussion of the development of the country's natural resources as a means of creating employment. Reports also will be made by the association toward “ridding the country of fraudulent tech- nical correspondence which extracts thousands of dollars annually from the unsuspecting youth of America.” Routine business will mark the open- ing session. Following each morning meeting, afternoon sight-seeing trips and social activities are to take place. ALUMNI TO PICNIC The annual picnic of the National | Capital Chabter of the Alumni Assccia- tion of Iowa State College, Ames, Icwa, will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in | Hyattsville, Md., at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Raymond A. Pearson. Dr. Pearson, president of the Uni- versity of Maryland, was president of the Iowa school from 1912 to 1926. H. B. S i dent of the wmmmm Collection of Money and Orders for Crabs Are Investigated. Use of his name to buy sea food and to coliect money fraudulently es bene- | fit solicitations_has led District Auditor Daniel J. Donovan to lodge a complaint with police. As a result, three men were in cus- tedy for investigation last night in con- nection with Auditor Donovan’s com- | | lAppeaIs and Supreme Bodies to Have Busy October Session. | | Crowded dockets await the conven- ing of the District Court cf Appeals | and the District Supreme Court for the | Fall terms on October 3 and 4. | appellate tribunal meets on the first Monday and the lower court the fol- | lowing day. A total of 220 cases is ready for argu- plaint. They gave their names as John | ment in the Court of Appeais. as com- | efficiency of the business itself. ‘The | \Council Backed by Labor Federation Called to Plan Session. | The National Executive Council of the American Federation cf Government Employes will convere at headquarters, | 1726 Pennsylvania avenue, at 8 o'clock | tomorrow night to arrange for the first | convention of the new crganization here ‘Ocmber 17 and to discuss the legislative | program, which is to be pressed before | the next Congress. | ~The council is composed of 11 mem | bers, and cutside representation already | assured for the meeting. according to David R. Glass, the president, includes those from New York, St. Louis and Providence, R. I. Other cities also are expected to be reprcsented, according to Glass, either by members of the ccuncil or those who come in an adviscry pacity to parlicipate in the deliberations, which are scheduled to run through TuesGay night. | Reports to Be Hezrd. | _Those from out of Washington will | report on the operations of the new or- ‘sanmtmn in their respective localities. ’Among these, it was anncunced, will | be Harry Kennedy of St. Louis, chair- | man of the National Committee on Civic and Other Affiliates, and John H. Nolde, recording secretary of the St. | Louis lodge, who will take up with the | council plans for organizing work in | the Middle West. Mrs. Sophie J. Berg- | ner, second vice president, will report to the council regarding the respcnse of woman Federal emploves to solicita- tions to join the federation. The chief items in the organization's announced legislative program which will%e taken up at the m-eung are 1. Restorat on to Government workers of zll pay and cther benefits tak>n away by provisions of the economy act. 2. A fair and equitabie ciassification for the departmental service in Wash- inglon and employes in {ne field. 3. A liberalized retirement law, cptional retirement afier 30 service. In this connection, President Glass made the following statement: Scores Economy Act. “Government employes have borne the brunt of the effort to effect economy in the Federal departments. It can be shown that the employes’ share of the | reduction of Government expenses is | too large, and we propose to present a carefully’ prepared argument that will with | years' indicate how Federal workers are being | penalized. “I am not opposed to economy in government, but if the same method | were applied to private business it. would | result in definite harm to the morale of | its employes as well as reducing the It is Carry, 48, of the 1100 block Eleventh |pared with 241 when the Fall term of | not fair to effect economies at the ex- street; Willlam H. Taylor, 37. and George E. Taylor, 36, both of the 1400 block W street. No charge has yet been placed against them. | The practice came to Ma). Donovan’s attention when local real estate firms reported to him they had been ap- proached by solicitors for funds for the yearbook of the City Employes’ Associa- tion. The agents implied they repre- sented the District auditor. Police’es- timate several thousand dollars have been collected. An order for 60 crabs placed by tel- ephone with Herzog's sea food restau- rant last Thursday was investigated by Lieut. Ira Keck, aid? to one of the District Commissioners, who happened to be in the establishment at the time, and proved to the satisfaction of the restaurant that the order was not for Maj. Donovan. Several similar orders viously had been made. |POLICE SAY ARREST CLEARS FRAUD CASES Sixth Precinct Prisoner, Giving Name of Redding, Alleged to Have Confessed. Police last night cleared up a number of alleged fraud cases in the arrest of Rolson Redding of the 300 block B street southeast, who admitted collect- ing money in the name of a local furni- ture company. 2 Redding, arrested by Sixth Precinet Policemen Melvin Creel and Lawrence Bottes, was caught when he ran down Montague street, near Fourteenth, after a police redio car had come down the street nsar him. Acccrding to detectives, Redding, who had several aliases, carried a receipt book of a furniture company here, and called on home owners, offering them furniture out of a catalogue and accept- ing “down payments.” More than 50 cases were attributed to him by police, of which more than 40 were said to have been admitted to by Red for crabs to the same restaurant pre- | | 1931 convened. In the District Su- preme Court the civil docket shows a | decline of nearly 100 cases from the docket_of October. 1931, but there is a | marked increase in the number of crim- inal cases. | Last year there were 2,178 civil cases while the new total is 2,091. | ber of criminal cases ready for trial| | jumped from 168 last year to 294 ready for the new term of court. 1,332 Law Cases. | The civil business of the District Su- preme Court includes 1,332 law cases. as compared with 1426 last yeir. erans against the United States. and 120 represent cases against the tion of war minerals. Among the law cases, 57 have been dismissed by coun- sel since the recent publication in The Star of the Ready Calendar as an- nounced by Fred C. O'Connell, assign- ment commissioner. Of the 294 criminal cases at issue at the opening of the new term, the accused in 158 of them are in the Dis- trict Jail. while those in 136 cases are at liverty on bond. Included in_ths criminal calendar are 16 cases of first- | degree murder and 3 of manslaughter. New Assignments. ‘The new assignment of justices will go into effect with the opening of the Fall term and will obtain until the Christmas holidays. _ Chief _Justice ‘Wheat will preside in Criminal Division 1; Justice Daniel W. O'Donoghue in Criminal Division 2; Justices Bailey, Ad- kins, Cox and Proctor will be in the four branches of the Circuit Divisiors: Justice Gordon will preside in Equity Division 1, and Justice Letts in Equily Division 2, when not engaged in the District Court. Justicc Oscar R. Luhring will be the | motions and assignment justice, and | Justice Letts' chief assignment will be | the Condemnation Court. Tossed on Doctor’s Lawn. The num- | of | | this number, 325 cases are suits by vet- | | ‘The Equity Calendar this year con- | tains 759 cases as compared with 752 last year. Of these, 95 are patent cases | Government growing out of the produc- | | pense of employed personnel.” |~ John Arthur Shaw, first vice president | of the federation, who has just returned | from the West, found interest stirred by the new crganization, according to a statement from the federation, which | quoted him as follows: “Everywhere I visited I found enthu- siastic interest in the objiectives of the American Federation of Government Employes and in the fact that it is af- filiated with the American Federation of Labor. We need labor's support when Congress reconvenes, and I found that Government workers with whom I talked are of the same mind ' TELEPHONE CHANGE GAME NETS THREE YOUTHS $20 Three colored boys worked the old telephone “change” racket on a Georgia. avenue grocery proprietor yesterday m(d}e fleecué‘ ]him of almost $20. orge Esler, proprietor of a grocery | store at 3819 Georgia avenue, received a phone call about 11 o'clock for gro- ceries to be delivered to an apartment in the 800 block Quincy street with change for a $20 bill. Clifton Butterworth, colored messen- 3 y of the apartment by the three colored boys who held him up at the point of a knife and took the $18 in change. been caught, however. A safe cracker robbed the McCam- bridge & McCambridge Manufactur- ing Chemist Co., 1226 southeast, of between $8 and $10 yes- terday, according to police. A lock on the rear door to the plant was forced and the safe broken into. 1825 in cash were stolen from Wirz & | Waldmann, food merchants, of 235 Sainga by way of & Scytight on the oot of a on the I A woman's clothing store in the 2000 block Eleventh streei ‘The thief cut a small plece of glass the front door and opent Butterworth recognized the boy who held the knife and gave his name to police. None of the young thieves has jeventh street PFifty dollars’ worth of hams and Fifteenth street southeast, according to yesterday was |on robbed of about $37 worth of clothing.|be held in the Sunday school room PAGE B—1 PARK EXPERTS RIDE ON SKYLAND DRIV FOR 34-MILE TOUR Beauty of Shenandoah Road Unfolded to First Group of Visitors. PUBLIC MAY NOT ENJOY HIGHWAY BEFORE JULY, National Playground Especially Appeals to City Dwellers, Al- bright Tells Delegates. By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. SKYLAND, Va., September 24.— Virginia turned over the heart of its | Blue Ridge Mountains, famed in song and story, to the Nation today, not in deed of trust but in confidence the Na- jtion would gladly receive as its first Eastern national perk the area that surrounds the highest regions of the Blue Ridge Mountains, from Waynes- boro to Front Royal, and, as a starter | showed to the experts on park matters from the entire country, just what could be done about a road along mountain tops. Skyland Drive, which the public iprobably will not see until next July, or even later if the program for the {development of the Shenandoah Nation- al Park is not carried through ace cording to schedule, was shown this |afternoon in its present 34-mile length {:0 the Bicentennial Conference on Plan- |ning, Parks and Government, the first | 8roup 1o see the modest venture that was started back in the days when the Valley of Virginia was suffering from the ravages of a terrific drought, and was looking for ways to alleviate the suffering of the mountain folk, who felt the drought most desperately. Beauty of Drive Extolled. Out of tha! drought, the dry earth which mage trees wither and fed forest fires with brittle fuel, sent men em- oloyed by the Bureau of Public Roads of the Dcpartment of Agriculture to build- ling an adjunct to the Capital’s park |system which bids fair to eclipse the fermal Mount Vernon Memorial High- | way. Carved off the shoulder of the highest i ricge in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the | Skyland drive from picturesque Pano- rama down to Swift Run Gap. 34 miles jaway, winds in ever-revealing beauty of the Virginia valey country. sometimes lamid clouds, other times dropping down | to gaps that give glimpses of peaceful, | fertile valleys basking in their sunshine jon_ either side. | r M. Albright. director of the National Park Service, addressing the 1 conference delegates, told them how the 1 Shecnandoch country had lent itself { most readily t> deve opment into a na- | tional park. He pointed out that the 1 Government will take over Shenandoah Nat.oral Park by July Recreation Value Stressed. It will bring a new field of recreation to the ccuntry th of the Masol |Dix:n line, he said. It will take res] | dents of the South out of the movies, night clubs, bridge parties and other ity life diversion and tak: them to woodland mox in trails, to picturesque streams with stocks of brcok end rain- | bow trout, to a clean, fine outlook on | life with which to go back to city busi- | ness, he declared. | Mr. Albright pointed out that the aim { of the National Park Se:vice in develop- g the Shenandcah National Park is {to provide for such nearby cities as ;“’ashmg:m) some place where people | tired of formal regularity of city streets | and schemed landscaping of city parks can come into a country which nature lis allowed to reclaim and repopulate, |and to gather some knowledge of the beauty of the country which earliest Virginia settlers never more than par- tially conquered. He said the Shenandoah country opened by the Skyland drive brings to Washingtonians particularly a country that has, since settlement of America, been practically inaccessible and, until & few years ago, practically unknown to even those Virginians living in valleys on either side of the ridge which forms the backbone of Shenandoah Park. As a humanitarian project, not only by.rea- son of its having been built as a drought-relief project, but as a means of bringing twentieth century civilization to an almost primitive mountain folk living in the Rollows and coves of the mountains, Skyland drive will be a means, he said, of bringing prosperity, in the form cf thousands of motor cars, bearing their burden of tourists, into & country that has known misery, priva- tion and hunger for more than a hin- dred years. Hopes Park Is Enjoyed. He said he wanted Washingtonians to make the most of the great park de- velopment that is to be just three hours® motor drive from Washington, and urged park executives to spread the story of the Shenandosh National Park | throughout the land. Delegates to the conference went by horseback and on foot from Skyland, over the mountain trails to White Run Canyon and Cedar Rock, this morning, partaking of a chicken barbecue lunch at the brink of the highest crest along Skyland Drive, overlooking Shenandoah Valley and presenting a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the valley below for more than 30 miles. Then they were taken by automobiles along the entire length of Skyland drive as it now stands, through the 300-foot_tunnel carved in the side of Mary's Rock, a quarter of a mile from Panorama, the present beginning of the road, on from mountain top to moun- tain top to Swift Run Gap, with'each gap between mcuntains offering newer and more impressive views of the flat valleys on either side, with their littie groups of homes nestling together here and there, and the molded ridges of other mountains in the Blue Ridge showing blue in the haze that y h;nr Al)ver :Ee s?emx;g:’m country and gives the Blue Mountains their color. o Tonight ~ the delegates gathered around a bonfire at Skyland, saw the entertainment of mountain folk, singing and dancing, playing crude musical in- struments, which have been a part of the Blue Ridge hollows for more than & century, and sang with a colored choir imported to entertain the confer- ence. Tomorrow they will make a fur- ther inspection of the park, walking and riding up the Passamaguott trail. After luncheon they will return to Washing- ton and go to their homes, o - Plan Classes in Sewing. PURCELLVILLE, Va., September 24 (Special) —The Central Home Demon- stration Club in sponsoring a meeting “Short Cuts in Sewing,” which will | | | | of the Methodist Church at Purcell- on Thursday, 3, -