Evening Star Newspaper, December 1, 1934, Page 3

ILLFATED SHIPS OFFIGERS SEIZED Warms and Abbott Face Possible 10-Year Sentence | and $10,000 Fine. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK. December 1.—The act- | ing captain and chief engineer of the 1ll-fated- Morro Castle, which burned at sea with a loss of 134 lives, were arrested late yesterday and arraigned immediately before a United States commissioner on charges of negligence, misconduct and inattention to duty. William F. Warms, acting captain, end Eben E. Abbott, chief engineer, were released in bail of $2,500 each | to await a hearing December 12 be- | fore Commissioner Garrett W. Cotter. Federal statutes covering the case, b which Assistant District Attorney W. F. H. Adams described as a “very | serious crime,” proyide a maximum | penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $10,000. ‘The complaints against the ship's officers, filed by special Department ( of Justice agents, charged. that as a result of their “misconduct, negligence and inattention” to duties, “the lives of upward of 50 persons were de- stroyed.” Grand Jury Probe Continued. Grand jurors who investigated ac- cusations of criminal negligence in the disaster deliberated during the afternoon in private, but no indict- ment was handed up. The grand jury, it was reported, will meet again on Monday, when its three months’ tenure expires. The fact that yesterday afternoon’s gessions were unattended by legal ad- | visers gave rise to the belief that the | Jurors voted on indictments. Warms and Abbott, who previously had been before the grand jury, were pacing the long corridor outside the jury room when a bailiff arrived to| escort them to the Commissioner’s | Court for arraignment. Both the officers, with three others aboard the Morro Castle at the time of the holocaust, are on trial also be- fore steamboat inspectors for possible revocation of their licenses The complaint against Warms, | sworn to by Francis J. Kilmartin, spe- | cial agent for the Department of Jus- | tice, charged the acting captain “Un- lawfully and wilfully, by misconduct, | negligence and inattention to his duties, did fail to take such steps as were necessary for the safety of up- ward of 200 passengers and as a re- sult of his misconduct, negligence and inattention to his duties the lives of | upward of 50 persons were destroyed | e Abbott Charge Similar. The complaint against Abbott charged that he “unlawfully and wil-| fully, by misconduct, negligence and inattention to his duties, did fail to report to his station when he learned that fire had been reported on the Morro Castle, and, as a result of this misconduct, negligence and inatten- tion, the lives of upward of 50 persons were destroyed.” The Morro Castle was swept by a mysterious fire off the Jersey coast | September 8, with Warms on the | bridge following the sudden death of | her master, Capt. Robert R. Willmot. | A Federal board of inquiry that| directed the five ship's officers to defend their licenses alleged that failure to halt the blazing vessel sooner, delay in wirelessing distress signals and inefficient handling of life boats were in part responsible for at least some of the 134 deaths. | rising temperature Monday. Celebrate COUPLE OBSERVE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Hoellmen of 5304 Thirteenth street, who last Monday held a quiet observance of their golden wedding anniversary at their home. Mr. and Mrs. Luther A. Hoellmen, the couple's only son and daughter-in-law, of Yonkers, N. Y., and their two chil- dren, Lois E. and John R. Hoell- men, were the only invited guests. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoellmen, who were married in Girardville, Pa., on November 26, 1884, are each T4 years of age and have resided in ‘Washington for the past 10 years, coming here from nearby Virginia when Mr. Hoellmen took a position of building superintendent for the Potomac Electric Power Co. He retired from that position three years ago. —Edmonston Photo, THE WEATHER District of Columbia—Fair and much colder, with lowest temperature about 38 degrees tonight; tomorrow fair; Monday rain. Maryland and Virginia—Generally fair and much colder tonight: tomor- row fair, rising temperature in ex- treme west portion; Monday rain. West Virginia——Generally fair and colder tonight: tomorrow increasing cloudiness, with slowly rising temper- ature; rain tomorrow night. Outlook for December 3 to Decem- ber 8. North and Middle Atlantic States— Rain over South and rain or snow over North portion Monday and Tuesday, then generally fair except for rain over South and rain or snow over North portion about Friday. Slowly Colder middle of week. Rising temperature by Friday and Colder Saturday. River Report. Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers very muddy and rising today. Report for Last 24 Hours. Temperature. Barometer. Yesterday- Degrees Inches. 4 pm. . 65 2991 8 pm. ... 66 29.89 Midnight . 65 29.85 Today— 4 am. . 29.72 8 am, 5 29.66 Noon . S 29.71 Record for Last 24 Hours. (From noon yesterday to noon today.) Highest, 66, 10 am. today. Year ago, 57. Lowest, 64, noon today. Year ago, 36. Record Temperatures This Year, Highest, 101, on June 29, Lowest, —6'._ on February 9. Humidity for Last 24 Hours. | (From noon yesterday to noon today.) Highest, 92 per cent, at 2 am. today. Lowest, 77 per cent, at 10 pm.| ROOSEVELT HIGH | T0 RECEIVE MURALS Work of Four P. W. A. Artists Will Be Acknowledged at Assembly Monday. Mural and portrait work of four | young P. W. A. artists at Roosevelt High School, completed recently, will be formally acknowledged by the | school at an assembly Monday morn- ing to which members of the Board of Education, school officials and per- sons prominent in art circles here | have been invited A i Miss May P. Bradshaw, assistant | principal, will preside and introdue the artists, who are to explain the themes | of the various decorations. They are Miss Sewell Johnson, Charles Darby, J. Calvin Prince and Nelson Rosen- | berg. Allan Davis, principal of Roose- | velt, will express the school’s appre- ciation for their work. Miss Johnson has painted a por- trait of Dr. Frank W. Ballou, super- | intendent of schools, which will be placed on display for the first time. She also executed the mural decora- tions in one of the English class rooms, called “Frontiers in American Literature.” The theater lobby was the scene of Mr. Darby's work. He created a mu- ral called “Variations on the Colum- bine and Pierrot Theme.” Rosenberg’s “The American Pano- rama,” covers two wall spaces in the cafeteria. He also executed a fesco panel entitled “Euclid,” in one of the haliways. SPECIAL NOTICES. WEERLY TRIPS TO AND FROM BALTI- more; also weekly trips on 24 hours’ notice 1o any point in United States within a radius of les of \Wasningion. SMITH'S SFER 'ORAGE CO.. msr.uvr MOVING. C\LIF‘OHNXA FLOR- ida and foreign specialists: bargain rates exerywhere, | Bhone any time MER: CAN VAN .'\Eb i1 THE ANNI | Holdets of the. Columiga Tide. nqucanse Company of the District_of Columbia, for the purpose of electing fifteen trustees of the company for the ensuing year. will be Deld at the office of the company, No E st. n.w.. on Monday, December 17, 1934, at -1‘n° ‘clock p.m e Dolls will be open betgeen ¢ and 3 o'clock p.m. Tra: S b Gosed” f1om Becember December 17, 1934 both dates CHARLES E. MARSH. ~_“Secretary. WILL THE C GENTLEVI\N “HO WIT- | nessed _accident to lady at 13th and C| 1 n.e. on Sunday ah!’rnoon November . 1934, and took her to Casualty Hospi- | tal please communicate with Mrs. Charles Murphy. 1309 C st. ne.? Telephone Lincoln THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STOCK- holders of the Columbia Permanent Build- ing Association of the District of Ce for ‘the election of four directors held on Tuesday. December 11, 11 30 p.m. at the office of the asso 733 i2th st nw, Washington RED_A. SMITH. Secretary. Eureka Head to Foot Home 1802 14th ST. On account of the. recent déath of Mr. John Kidd, the proprietor. this establish- ment will be closed. We ‘appreciate your patronage and urge that you call at once for your garments. We will not be respon- &ple for any sarment left in the place after December, 1934." This is impor- it Tor“We Geaire that 3l be satisfled. MRS. JOHN KIDD. ELECTRICAL Virhas. Bieciric 8hop on Wheels. Inc. have shops all over town to se: Sée vour Telephone Di- Toctory for branch st you or call Wis- Consin 4821, No 10b 00 amall or o0 Iarge SLAG ROOFING —by practical_roof - Clalty "of this . work. Wil You're s . get_the best material and labor. It DIVX Ge;"our estimate NOW., s COMPANY. " Apples—Sweet Cider Rockville Fruit Farm Drive to Rockville, Md. tw Yund“tolf‘.fl. house, then one ‘l’flflglozlkli Fotom: yesterday. | High . Tide Tables. (Furnished by United States Coast | and Geodetic Survey.) Tomorrow. ! 'RABBI DISCUSSES Low High . : Low 10 40 p.m. The Sun and Moon. Rises. Sets. Sun, today .... 7:07 4:47 Sun, tomorrow. 7:08 4:46 Moon, today ... 1:42am. 1:23pm.| Automobile lights must be turned on one-half hour after sunset. Precipitation, Monthly precipitation in inches in the Capital (current month to date): Month. 1934 Average. Record January 197 355 09 '82 February 322 327 6.84 '84 { March . 418 375 884 '91 April . 227 327 913 ‘89! May 384 370 10.69 '89 | June . 287 413 1094 00 July . 288 4.71 1063 '86 | August . 521 4.01 1441 28 September ...1745 3.24 1745 ’'34 October 075 284 857 '8 | November . 358 237 869 '8! December . .084 332 1756 '01 Weather in Various Cifies. Tamu:nt\ue ’;’ 159U3IH ay * 3aujvem *ausu asep eu 1591 Statlons. 19jawoavg * ¢ gep1aisas [3) Abilene, Tex.. Albany. N_¥! Atlanta, Ga. Atlantic City Baltimore, M Birmingham . Bismarck. N.'D. Boston, Mass Buffalo. N. Y.. Charleston, S.C. Chicago, TiI.... Cincinnati, Ohio Cleveland.’ Ohi. Galveston, Tex. Helena, _Mont. Huron.'S” Dak. Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City, Mo Los Angeles.. . Louisville, Ky.. Miami. Fla. Minneapoli: N. Orleans. New York. N. Y. Oklahoma_City. Omaha, Neb: Philadeiphia FOREIGN. (7 a.m.. Greenwich time, tod; Stations. perature. Weather. London.. Qm cl Stockholm. Sweden 28 (Noon, Greenwich nme today.) Horta (Fayal). Azores Cloudy St. Georges, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Hatana, Cuba... Colon, Canal Zoni Land Bank Loans Collected. W. I. Myers, governor of the Farm Credit Administration, reported yes- terday that 83 per cent of the total amount of matured installments on land bank commissioner’s loans had been collected up to October 31. The collections compare with 79.4 per cent on September 30. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. (GEORGE P. PLITT EX-MARINE, DIES Retired Mail Clerk Saw Monitor and Merrimac Battle in 1862, George P. Plitt, 85, retired railway mail clerk and former Marine, died Thursday afternoon at Providence Hospital. Too young to fight in the Civil War, he was present at the bat- {tle of the Monitor and Merrimac, heard Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg and the ‘12 schoolgirls, dressed in white, sing “Dropping From the Ranks One By One,” a rarely remembered part of the famous occasion. He also trained on “Old Ironsides” when it was anchored in Annapolis in 1868. Mr. Plitt came to America from Germany when he was 13 years old, with a relative, a business man of Baltimore. By chance they arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake on Sunday, March 9, 1862, as the Moni- tor and Merrimac were demonstrating to the world the practicability of iron- clads. Their ship beat a hasty re- treat to the safety of the Capes, but the young immigrant had seen one of the most significant battles of the world. i Apprenticed to a Baltimore confec- tioner, he was nevertheless to be per- mitted to serve two days in the Civil War. In 1864, when Gen. Jubal Early made his raid into Maryland, it was necessary to seize all the horses in Baltimore and move them up to the Union lines. Seeing the excitement, young Plitt ran into the street, meet- ing a policeman holding a string of eight horses. “Here son, take these to Owings Mills,” said the officer. He had never been on a horse before, but he leaped up and followed the | growing cavalcade. He was gone two days, and received a thrashing when he got home. Established Station. In 1868 he joined the Marines, and was sent as orderly to Capt. Bartlett on the frigate Contoocock to Santo Domingo. President Grant and his Secretary of the Navy had decided to establish a coaling station in southern waters and a treaty was successfully arranged with the president of the Dominican Republic, giving the Unit- cd States the Bay of Samana for 50 years. As the Senate refused to ratify the treaty, the flag which Pvt. Plitt had run up at Samana was taken down again. Describing his life after his service, Mr. Plitt wrote in an article for the Leatherneck Magazine, a Marine monthly published here: *“I returned to civil life, choosing as a livelihood the work of a railroad engineer. For three years I fired a locomotive on the Chesapeake & Ohio. As no pro- motion seemed possible, I became a letter carried in the post office at Richmond, Va. On one of my deliv- eries to a private home, I was badly bitten by a huge police dog. That was enough of that.” Worked for U. S. So he got a position with the rail- way mail service of the Post Office Department, first traveling and later as clerk in charge. He retired in 1920 after 35 years. His warlike adventures were brought to a close as a musician with the band of the Richmond Blues during the World War, for he was a member of the 1st Virginia Regiment, Drum and Bugle Corps Mr. Plitt lived in Washington at 104 C street northeast, with his wife, who survives him. He also leaves two daughters, Mrs. Lily Berry of Bal- | timore and Mrs. William Hassellbush of Washington. Funeral services were to be held this afternoon at the Lee Co. chapel at 3:30 pm. He will be buried in Pros- | pect Hill Cemetery, of which he was a member of the Board of Directors. CORRELATING LIFE | Delegates to Institute of Jewish Religious School Teachers in Session. Problems of correlating the curricula of Jewish religious schools with every- day Jewish life were discussed this morning by Rabbi Abram Simon at the sixth annual Institute of Jewish ‘Re]igmus School Teachers. The ses- sion was held in the Washington ‘Hebrew Congregation Temple. Approximately 150 delegates, who represent schools in the District, | Maryland and Virginia, were to lunch at the Ambassador Hotel and then | celebrate Oneg Shabbat this afternoon under thg leadership of Rabbi Theo- | dore H. Gordon of Baltimore. A paper on Jewish history by Dr. Leo L. Honor, director of the College of Jewish Studies, Chicago, was to be read at 3 p.m. Rabbi Edward L. Israel of Baltimore was designated as discus- sion leader for the afternoon. A dinner will be held at the Jewish Community Center this evening, to be followed by election of officers and & dance. Sunday will be devoted to ob- serving a model Chanukah assembly at the Washington Hebrew Congrega- tion school and to group meetings, The institute opened yesurd.ny. 70 BOYS ESCAPE F FIRE GREENVILLE, Tex., December 1 (#) —Seventy boys at the Boles Or- | phans’ Home, 15 miles south of Green= ville, escaped unharmed yesterday H g hen their dormitory was damaged by | fire. The fire was discovered in the base- ment of the two-story brick building by Noah Bates, an employe. He gave the alarm and aided in ushering the children to safety. Firemen estimated the loss at $1,000. MARYLAND COLONIAL ESTATE 800 acres on either side of good To: Wonderful old. Colonial brick mansi built in 1774. 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