Evening Star Newspaper, September 4, 1935, Page 17

i bt S0 39 ASKD FORD. G SCADOLS N 1551 BUDGET $6,579,289 Increase Due to Larger Rolls and Econ- omy Effects. .28 BUILDING ITEMS AMONG PROPOSALS Three New High Schools Held Need in View of Serious Congestion. Declaring their needs have increased with the mounting school population and the “economy” limits placed on appropriations in recent years, school authorities are seeking provision of $18,041,339 in the 1937 budget, an in- crease of $6,579,289 over current ap- propriations. Details of the budget proposals, re- leased today by the Commissioners, reveal plans for 28 building projects and plans, against six approved for this year, and 15 items for school sites, against one granted for the present year. Funds are asked for plans for three new senior high schools, to be built at Takoma Park, near Sixteenth street and Rhode Island avenue northeast and near Twenty-fourth street and Benning road northeast. Other re- quests are for sites for new junior high schools near Massachusetts and Ca- thedral avenues and near Eighteenth street and Columbia road, and an ap- propriation for completion of the site of the proposed new Jefferson Junior High School in Southwest Washington. Schools for Cripples. ‘Requests are made also for purchase of sites for schools for crippled chil- dren, one to be located near Children's Hospital and another near Freedmen's Hospital. For construction and enlargement of school buildings the Board of Education and Supt. Frank W. Ballou asked a total of $4,296,000. For the present fiscal year the appropriation for construction totaied but $775,000. For land purchase school authorities are asking $1,704,000 for 1937. The item for the present year is $55,000. For the operation of the school system the proposal is $12,041,050, as egainst $10,632,050 for the present year. Among the increases sought are $382,700 for employment of 234 new teachers. Of these, 126 would be for white schools and 108 for colored schools. Other {tems calling for large in- creases are the operation of the Com- munity Center Department, which would be expanded, and for purchase of furniture, equipment, repairs and improvements to buildings and grounds. Hearings Next Monday. ‘The ommissioners will start pri- vate hearings for department officials next Monday. It is expected these will require about two weeks. There- after the Commissioners will draft a tentative 1937 budget and send it to the Budget Bureau. Henry Gilligan, vice president of the Board of Education, wrote the Commissioners: “New positions have been requested to provide teachers for new schools coming into use, to relieve congestion in schools and in the case of junior and senior high schools to reduce the number of pupils per teacher. This is an urgent need and is one to which the Commissioners are invited to give serious consideraticn. * * * “Increased enroliment has resulted in serious congestion in the schools. This makes it necessary for the school officials again to request a building program that will in a measure pro- vide more nearly adequate school house accommodations for pupils.” Proposed Construction. Construction items proposed by school officials are as follows: Lafayette School, second wing and assembly-gymnasium, first floor only to be finished at present, $175,000; Hardy School, completion of second floor, $35,000; Bancroft School, assem- bly-gymnasium, $60,000; = Shepherd School, completion of second floor, $35,000; Truesdell School, eight-room addition and assembly-gymnasium, $148,500; Whittier School, assembiy- gymnasium, $40,000; Noyes School, construction of second story, $60,000; eight-room building to be erected on present Bunker Hill School site, first floor to be finished for present, $115,- 000; eight-room building for Bladens- burg road northeast, near Mount Olivet Cemetery, to relieve the Wheat- ley, Blow, Webb and Pierce sciools, $115,000; Kingsman School, eight- room addition and assembly-gym- nasium, $190,000; Ketcham School, eight - room addition and assembly- gymnasium, $155,000. Monroe School, eight-room addition and assembly-gymnasium, $172,000; ea eight-room building and assembly- gymnasium in connection with erec- tion of school on old John F. Caok School site, $136,000; Grimke School, eight-room addition and assembly- gymnasium, $190,000; Young School, eight-room addition and gymnasium, $139,000; Syphax School, eight-room addition and assembly-gymnasium, $200,000; Giddings School, assembly- gymnasium, $40,000. e Vocational School to replace present Dennison Vocational School, $280,000; new building to replace Lenox Voca- tional School, $280,000; Margaret Murray Washington Vocational School, room for cleaning and dyeing and mechanical equipment, $7,500. Paul Junior High School, 10 ad- ditional class rooms and gymnasium, $165,000; improvements to stage and corridors of Shaw Junior High School, $10,000; continuing construction of the Anacostia Junior High School, $100,000; alterations to Eastern High 8chool, including remodeling of pres- ent gymnasiums into class rooms and the addition of a new ,gymnasium wing, $353,000; improvements to Arm- strong High School, including con- necting corridors and remodeling girls’ gymnasium, $45,000. $500,000 Start Proposed. ‘The School Board asked for $500,- 000 for plans and starting of con- struction of the proposed new senior high school at Takoma Park, on “gland already owned by the Districy ALVIN E. LYNCH. Lynch, cashier at Thompson's Restaurant, Pennsylvania avenue near Eleventh street, was covered by two guns early today while the “burnt cork” bandit robbed the place. —Star Staff Photo. TRIAL BOARD PLAN BACKED BY HAZEN One Officer Would Serve Police Body as in New Fire Set-up. Only one officer of the Police De- the force for infraction of department rules, under a plan fostered by Com- missioner Hazen, who said he would econsult Police Supt. E. W. Brown about it. He suggests that the Police Trial Board be made to correspond to the | new set-up established for the Fire | Trial Board, two members of which are to be regular District officials and one representing official administra- tion of the department. ‘The proposal is to be laid before the board of Commissioners soon, with Hazen recommending the change. ‘The personnel of the Fire Trial Board was ordered revised yesterday, carrying out changes in Fire Depart- ment rules recently recommended by & committee headed by Assistant Cor- poration Counsel Edward W Thomas and approved by the city heads. Elwood Seal, assistant corporation counsel, was named chairman of the Fire Trial Board. The other two members are to be Assistant Engineer Commissioner H. §. Bishop and Deputy Chief Engineer A. C. Buscher of the Fire Department. Alternates are As- sistant Corporation Counsel Chester Gray, Assistant Engineer Commissioner Robert E. York and Battalion Chiefs Fire Department. Under Hazen's plan the same as- sistant corporation counsel and the same Engineer Department officials would be used in trying policemen, with police officers serving instead of Pire Department officers, in trying police cases. ‘There has been complaint that trials conducted by officers of the depart- ments leave the door open to prejudice against members of the force. RESTRICTED PARKING AREA IS CONTINUED Zone No. 1 Now Extends From Fifth to Fifteenth and Avenue to I Street. Extension of the congested area parking restrictions from Seventh to Fifth streets, between Pennsylvania avenue and I street, triea out experi- mentally for nearly a year, has been made permanent. ‘This makes Zone No. 1 in the park- ing restrictions run from Fifth to Fif- teenth streets and from Pennsylvania avenue to New York avenue and I street. Parking is forbidden between 8 and 9:30 am. and from 4 to 6 p.m., ‘with one hour parking permitted other hours during the day. Wife Files Suit. ROCKVILLE, Md., September 4 (Special) —Charging her husband de- serted her one month after their mar- riage, Mrs, Lula Jane Lynch filed suit Yyesterday in Montgomery County Cir- cuit Court here for limited divorce from Charles Lynch, an employe at the Congressional Country Club. She asks alimony and counsel fees. —_— government. The total cost would be limited to $1,450,000. A sum of $50,000 was asked for preparation of plans for a new senior high school near Sixteenth street and Rhode Island avenue northeast to re- lieve congestion at Eastern High School. An appropriation of $500,000 was sought for plans and starting of con- struction of a colored senior high school near Twenty-fourth street and Benning road northeast, a total cost of $1,450,000 to be authorized. ‘The school board asked the follow- ing for land purchase: Site for an elementary school near American University Park, $55,000; elementary school site near Washing- ton Circle, $60,000; elementary school site in vicinity of . Marietta Park, 45,000; sites for crippled children's schools, near Children's Hospital, $150,000, apd near Freedmen's Hos- pital, $100,000; elementary school near Eleventh and G streets southeast, $150,000; additional land for the Den- nison School, $115,000; additional 1and for the old John P. Cook School, $26,000; additional land for the Ban- neker School, for elementary school purposes, $100,000; additional land for the Douglass-Simmons School, $18,000; additional land for the Syphax School, $25,000; completion. of site for Jeffer- son Junior High School, $190,000; site for the proposed junior high school near Eighteenth street and Columbia road, $350,000; site for proposed junior high school near Massachusetts and Cathedral avenues, $80,000, and site for proposed senior high school near Sixteenth street and Rhode Island avenue northeast, $45,000, - partment will sit as a member of the | | Police Trial Board, to try members of | H. B. Barker and C. A. Wells of the | The Foening Staf WASHINGTON, THREE IN' SERIES OF RAIDS LED BY BURNT CORK MAN Two - Gun Bandit Wears Gloves in Restaurants and Liquor Store. COLORED COMPANIONS . WITH REPEAT ROBBER Cash Taken at Seafood Place in Southeast, Thompson's on Ave- nue and at 501 Florida Ave. A two-gun bandit who blacks his face with burnt cork and wears gray gloves was sought by police today as the brains of a trio which last night and this morning engineered the hold- up of two restaurants and & liquor store. The loot totaled $1,110.76. As the aftermath of a robbery wave which netted burglars and petty thieves almost $5,000 over the week end, police are holding for question- ing two unidentified colored men at the fifth precinct station. While detectives combed the city for the black-face bandit, two colored men, belleved to be his confederates, topped off their night's maraudings at 8 o'clock this morning by robbing the Le Droit liquor store, 501 Florida ave- nue, and its manager, Nick Bodys, 4301 Fifteenth street, of $810.76. Two Earlier Robberies. Earlier robberies, at Milton Rowe's seafood restaurant, 913 Eleventh street | southeast, and Thompson's restaurant, 1109 Pennsylvania avenue, were made | | within 20 minutes of each other by a | | gruff, black-faced criminal. He left each place in a black sedan bearing | District license plates later found to | | have been stolen August 24. At the first restaurant the bandit | was accompanied by a colored com- | panion and at the second two col- | ored men waited for him in the car while he terrorized 35 early morning patrons. As he ran toward the car from Thompson’s he fired at Charles C. Hopkins, 45, who gave his address as R. F. D. No. 1, Charleston, W. Va. Hopkins’ right index finger was shred- ded by a bullet and he was treated at Emergency Hospital. Hopkins, unaware of the robbery that had just taken place, was leaving a restaurant next door when the | bandit ran across the sidewalk. When | Hopkins reached for his back pocket for some tobacco the bandit evidently mistook him for a plain-clothes man | reaching for his gun and halted “"i his flight to fire. Bodys had just opened the liquor store and was alone in the shop when two colored men, both brandishing guns, entered and ordered him to hold up his hands. While one of the rob- bers kept his pistol leveled at the manager the other took $190.76 from | the cash register. $620 in Billfold Taken. ‘The colored men ordered Bodys to the rear of the store, where they rifled his pockets and took a billfold con- taining $620. They then trussed him up with rope and left. It was half an hour before Bodys could free him- self and summon police. ‘Thirty - five early morning patrons were eating in Thompson's at 1:30 am. when the black-faced bandit walked in. He strolled over to the cash register, thrust his two guns to- ward the chest of Cashier Alvin E. Lynch, stepped behind the counter, shoved one gun into his pocket, scooped $100 in bills and change from the cash drawer and then ran into the street. After firing at Hopkins, he jumped | into the waiting car to join his two | colored companions, and drove rapidly toward Fourteenth street. At 1:10 am. the kid-glove robber had swaggered into the Seafood Res- taurant, this time in company with one of the colored men. While his companion pointed two revolvers at the 25 men and women in the cafe, the bandit ordered Night Manager Willlam H. Carroll, 705 Eighth street southeast, aside and helped himself to the $200 in the cash register. He and his companion backed out of the restaurant. The black-faced robber fired a shot into the floor as they departed. Descriptions Are Given. The bandit was described by both | Lynch and Collins as about 25 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weigh- ing between 140 and 160 pounds. They said he wore a light gray hat, gray sweater, gray kid gloves and brown trousers. His stocky colored com- panion, according to Collins, was 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, hatless and wearing a light shirt. ‘The white skin of the kid-glove bandit’s neck and collarbones was visible below the point where his false black face began. This man and his companions are linked by police with the robbery a week ago of a Southwest Washington liquor store, where cash register was robbed of $150. Before these hold-ups, Mrs. Ernest Zimmerman, 5735 Kansas avenue, had t5ld police burglars had robbed her home of $1,000 worth of jewelry and $900 worth of clothing over the week end while she and her husband were away on a holiday trip. Charles Fuchs, jeweler, of 910 Elev- enth street, thought to outwit thieves ‘when he put $720 worth of gems un- der his safe instead of into it, but he found this morning the rings and diamonds were gone, Mrs. Mary Beckley, 1026 Fifteenth street, reported theft of $1,000 in cash from her home. Other thefts included more than $200 of old gold and silver taken from George F. Muth, 710 ‘Thirteenth street, cash and car tokens amounting to $58.50 from a street car between Eighteenth street and Columbia road and Fourteenth and U streets. The two colored men at fifth pre- t am. cinct station were picked up st about 4 by Detectives Watson Salkeld and Fuller Arrington at New Jersey avenue and M streets southeast. It is thought they can shed light on muflnfiauhmuoimt. D. C, HUGE GOVERNMENT MAGHINE 10 STAY, MITCHELL ASSERTS Civil Service Commission Head Makes Statement in Address to U. S. Workers. PROPOSED PROMOTION SYSTEM IS OUTLINED Exemption of Civil Service From New Positions Is Laid to Congress. BY J. A. FOX, 8taff Correspondent of The Star. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo., September 4.—The ex- panding Government machine is here to stay, Harry B. Mitchell, president of the Civil Service Commission, today told the Thirteenth Convention of the National Federation of Federal Em- ployes. The statement was made in an ad- dress in which he emphasized the importance of widening the applica- tion of civil service to insure greater competency in the selection of the personnel that will carry on in the new flelds in which the Government 1s embarking. At the same time Mit- chell deprecated ghe lack of interest which Congress displays in the merit system, but heartened his listeners with an outline of a new promotion and transfer plan on which the com- mission is at work in an effort to better employment conditions. Situation Abnormal. “There has been complaint that the number of Government employes is too large,” Mitchell said. “I pre- sume that there always has been complaint of that sort since govern- ment began. We know that there was in England in the days of Charles I. | and it has been an ever-present ground of complaint in this country since the early days of the Republic. The present situation as to Government employes in the United States is ad- mittedly abnormal, due to abnormal and most depressing conditions, but even under normal conditions, past experience shows continued growth in the number of Government em- ployes, national, State and local. I question whether the proportional in- crease in the Government service is any greater than the proportional increase in the professions during the past hundred years, or than the pro- portional increase in the number of Here’s What Happens on Defense Highway 20, which took five lives. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMRBRER 4, 1935. Resting against the telephone pole it snapped in two, the latest wreck in the Defense Highway's most notorious “death trap” was photographed this morning opposite the debris of the bus-auto crash of August The men on the far side of the road are viewing the wreckage of the previous crash. —Star Staff Photo. TRAFFIG DEATHS HERE TOTAL 63 Colored Woman Is Sixth Victim Since Drive Started July 30. ‘The 1935 District of Columbia traffic | accident death toll had mounted to | 69 this morning. | Mrs. Annie Mack, colored, 47, of 1416 South Carolina avenue south- | east, died late yesterday of complica- tions caused by injuries received in an accident August 5. Her death was the sixth traffic fa- | tality noted since July 30, when the safety drive was instituted. She was | | injured when a car driven by her hus- | | what are generally referred to as| band, Richard Mack, 50, colored, was BARBER FOUND DEAD FROM GAS IN HOME Note Left by Carney 0. Wilson, 47, of Northeast Section Indicating Suicide. Carney O. Wilson, 47, a barber of the 2700 block of Twelfth street north- | east, was found dead early today from illuminating gas in the kitchen of his home. One jet in the stove was opened and the doors and windows | closed. Police found nearby a note, which asked forgiveness and told of affec- tion for members of the family. The missive, barely legible was concluded shortly after a sentence which ap- parently told of the gas becoming | stronger. Wilson's wife and daughter live at | Mitchell, Va., and he has other rela- | tives in the vicinity of Culpeper, V: police said. MacDonald said he would issue a cer- | tificate of suicide. | white collar jobs. Whether it is or in collision at Florida and Montello | not, there is little doubt that govern- | avenues northeast with a truck driven | mental activities in the future are|by Stephen B. Gray, 22, 30 O ;‘,Q,,‘FIRES RUU]' MANY Accidents Negligible. | going to be greater than under nor- mal conditions in the past. Greater Need for Efficiency. “This country is undertaking a pro- gram of economic security. Its peo- ple have apparently made up their minds that if democracy is to continue and the individual be free, there must be some curb in the greed that indi- vidualism naturally breeds. That curb can only come effectively through the Government. Therefore, there is today greater need for efficlency in the rank and file of American public service than ever before. No matter how unselfich or how able the men who are steering these new ven- tures may be, there must be the greatest possible efficiency throughout if the best results are to be obtained. In the days of our forefathers, when our industrial and commercial life was simpler, and the Government was con- cerned almost entirely with the pro- tection of life and property, it could get along more easily with the hit- and-miss sort of employes that the old system produced. Today it needs employes skilled in practically all walks of life. In the selection of these the methods that apply to private business, the methods that have been found most successful in government, the methods that other nations have found the best, the methods that all authorities tell us are best, should surely be used.” Issue Up to Congress. Taking up a tender subject with the' federation, the exemption from civil service of thousands of new po- sitions, Mitchell laid the issue squarely on the congressional doorstep, saying the Attorney General had held the President powerless to remedy the situation by executive order. The President has gone as far as he can, Mitchell said, and undoubtedly, with legislative sanction, would go fur- ther. As for Capitol Hill—“Experignce in Congress during the late session in getting bills through which would per- mit of the extension of the merit system is not encouraging. Congress- men hear from political friends who want jobs. They don’t get many let- ters from those who are interested primarily in efficient administration of Government affairs.” Mitchell emphasized also that or- ganized employes do not show the same interest in civil service legisla- tion involving the country as a whole that they do in that by which they are touched directly. The new promotion and transfer system on which the commission is working, Mitchell said, is believed by the commission to be a move toward strengthening the merit system. “It is proposed,” he said, “to estab- lish a method whereby the commis- sion can bring to the attention of the various agencies the names and records of employes who have equip- ped themselves for higher grade posi- tions. It is intended to make this plan a part of the commission’s reg- ular examination and certification procedure so that employes who qual- ify in open competitive examination may be considered non-competitively for transfer and promotion. Also it is thought the commission may be of aid to employes who wish to transfer to vacancies in similar positions in their own States.” Warns Against “Radicalism.” Mitchell said there is need for an agency to settle Federal employe and employer disputes, but argued for in- dependent conciliation committees in the different agencies, with Civil Service Commission itself sitting as the court of final resort, rather than the creation of & new establishment, which would mean an additional ex- penditure. He warned agsinst “Mrl" moves, | northeast. Yesterday's traffic accidents were negligible as a police report was issued showing that during August the Traf- fic Bureau handled 2,514 cases and the precincts 3,782, Patricia Wirt, 6, of 1225 Neal street northeast, was treated yésterday at Sibley Hospital for superficial abra- sions after being struck by an auto- mobile in front of her home. Carrie Jacobs, colored, of Alexandria received possible internal injuries last night when the car driven by her hus- band, Henry Jacobs, 29, was in collision with a car driven by Harold Harrelson, 21, of Spartanburg, S. C., at Ninth street and Pennsylvania avenue. Policeman Is Cleared. A coroner’s jury yesterday absolved Policeman E. G. Wood of blame in the death late Saturday of Oscar Rice, 37, 2600 block of Wade road. Rice was struck by a police car driven by Wood pursuing a speeding motorist. Wood, under suspension pending the inquest, was restored to good standing in the police force. William C. Taylor, 34, of Takoma Park, Md., was held for the grand jury after an inquest into the death of Mrs. Isabel Flora, 45, of 6616 Piney Branch road, struck by a car driven by Taylor August 19. The accident occurred in the 7300 block of Blair road. Mrs. Flora died August 24. aserting “Uncle Sam is not a hard taskmaster, but if he gets the idea you are asking too much, you may be denied what he otherwise would be ready to grant.” Mitchell spoke as the federation ground through the grist of resolu- tions from constituent lodges through- out the country, which will form the basis of the legislative program to be pushed at the next session of Congress. * Conmsider Resolutions. After Mitchell had spoken, the dele- gates resumed consideration of reso- lutions forming the basis for legisla- tion to be sought in the next Congress, speeding alonz in an effort to get through by tomorrow. In the morn- ing officers will be elected and the meeting place for 1937 chosen. The incumbent officials, headed by Luther C. Steward, are slated to be returned. The convention site is likely to be Springfield, 111, though there has been some talk of Miami. In a session that lasted into the night, the delegates yesterday took their stand on a number of issues im- portant to Federal workers. These called for a shorter work day and week without specifying hours, compensstory time for overtime and work on holidays, 30-day dismissal notice and dismissal wage for persons not dismissed. for cause who are not eligible for retirement benefits, and liberalized travel allowsnce, including restoration of $6 daily grant. Allow- ance for dependents of employes and for the transfer of furniture when they are shifted between stations also was favored. y Against Marital Law. ‘The federation reiterated its stand against the marital status law and in favor of an appeals agency to handle grievances. employe o Another resolution asks six months’ pay for dependents of any Govern- ment employe dying while in service. This is customary in the Army and the legislative branch, it was pointed out. The convention once again voted a protest against employment of men from Army or Navy in civilian posi- tions. The organization. long has fought this practice, which President Luther {Janitor of Massachusetts Avenue Apartment Se- riously Burned. A colored man was seriously burned | and several families were routed from | their homes last night in a series of fires, two of them in the downtown section. The most serious of the blazes oc- curred in the basement of the Colonial | Wallpaper Co., 930 New York avenue: | Residents of apartments above the by smoke. Janitor Seriously Burned. ; George Hicks, 37, janitor at an | nue, was burned about the hands, | arms and legs when a bucket of gaso- | line with which he was cleaning a gas stove caught fire. He was treated at | Georgetown Hospital. A trash fire in the basement of R. Harris & Co. jewelry store, Eleventh |and F streets, was extinguished by firemen before any serious damage was caused. A sprinkling system, installed after the recent fire at the store, kept | the flames from spreading. Fire at St. Elizabeth’s. Several hundred pillowcases and sheets were destroyed when fire broke out in a two-story brick building hous- ing the laundry at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. The blaze was discovered by patients at the institution and their frightened screams brought help. The laundry building is separate from the hospital. Damage estimated at several hun- dred dollars resulted when flames swept a two-car garage at the Im- maculata Seminary, Forty-second and Yuma streets. SLAIN MANS BODY FOUND IN WOODS Body of Unidentified Colored Man Bears Bullet Wound Over Heart. An unidentified colored man was found dead today, & bullet wound over his heart, near the edge of woods in the 4200 block of Forty-second street. The body apparently had been there for several hours, police said. No gun was found, and members of the homi- cide squad launched an investigation. The man is described as being about 35 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds. Several upper teeth were missing, and he had an old sear over the eye. He wore a blue suit and black and white shoes. Several laundry marks were found on the clothing which police hope will aid in identifying him. The body was taken to the morgue. PURSE STOLEN IN HOME Mrs. Corey McQuinn Nichols, 1627 Massachusetts avenue, reported to po- lice, today the theft of & containing $200, a check for $150 and other valuables worth several hundred dollars. The purse, police were told. was taken from s table in the hall of the residence. Police are searching Coroner A. Magruder | AS ONE IS HURT, | establishment were driven to the street | apartment at 3701 Massachusetts ave- | ADDITIONAL RAN | BAPECTED N Storm Due to Continue To-| morrow as Result of Flor- ida Disturbance. partial result of the tropical storm which has claimed many lives in Flor- | ida. | Moderate southeast and east winds | probably will freshen tomorrow, but | no blow is anticipated here. ‘Weather men predicted considerable rain will result from the influence of the Southern storm on local condi- tions. The damp, chilly spell has persisted | here for several days and probably | will be followed tomorrow by some- | what lower temperatures. | Although the mercury today was sticking in the low 70s, the humidity | was unusually great, a mark of 98 be- Additional rain is expected here this | n | afternoon, tonight and tomorrow as a | Society and General 2 HURT IN CRASH ASA. A. A SCORES “DEATH" HIGHWAY Auto Association Blames Faulty Construction for Accident Toll. SLIPPERY PAVEMENT SENDS CAR INTO POLE Brentwood and Colmar Manor Urge Improvement—Hearing Set in Fatal Accident. ‘Two Maryland men narrowly escaped the jaws of Defense Highway's most notorious “death trap” this morning in the latest of the highway's acci- dents, which, a special accident re- port study discloses, are principally caused by faulty road construction. ‘The report, made by the American Automobile Association's District of Columbia Motor Club, termed the road itself the principal cause of all the fatalities and nearly 60 per cent of the injuries which have occurred on “Death Highway” this year. Coupled with today’s accident, whick happened within a few feet of th> point where five persons were Kkille in a bus-auto crash August 20, the report further aroused public senti- ment in behalf of the campaign t widen and straighten the road. Abnormally Slippery. “While the driver is at least part’ responsible in nearly every accident the A. A. A. statement said, “repor show clearly that the greater part ¢ the blame for the tragic state of af fairs on the Defense Highway mu: be laid to construction. “In many places this highway be comes abnormally slippery when we and skidding on the wet surfac | caused all of the fatalities and 57 pe cent of the injuries on the highwa; this year. “In addition, the narrowness of the road was a contributing factor in a umber of accidents, such as inter- section crashes and failure to keep t> the right side of the road. In only a few accidents did the highway factor fail to enter and the majority of these mvolved pedestrians. “These facts point to the necessity of adopting a two-point program to correct the situation: Roughening Urged, “First, adoption of emergency meas- ures to reduce road hazards imme- diately, particularly through providing non-skid surfaces at principal danger | points and improving the road shoul- ders. “Second, widening and straighten- ing the road in order to eliminate its many death traps permanently.” | ing recorded this morning. Yester- | day’s extreme temperatures were 62 and 72 degrees. | Fog blanketing large sections of the East today interrupted flying at the airport, from which & few planes flew yesterday afternoon following a day of inactivity. MOONLIGHT CRUISE BENEFIT PLANNED Tickets for Charity Event Go on Sale, With Brown Buying First One. Plans are nearing completion for the charity moonlight cruise Sunday for the benefit of the Good Samaritan Milk Pund for needy children in the District. The trip will be made on the steamer Potomac. Dance music will be fur- nished by the Homer L. Kitt Music Co., while other attractions will in- clude a floor show. Joe Brown, mas- ter of ceremonies, and his “Radio Kid- dies” also will perform. Representative Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, chairman of the Ticket Committee, announced the sale of the first ticket to Police Supt. Er- nest W. Brown. The tickets are now on sale at Liggett's drug stores, Sev- enth Street Wharf and Good Samari- tan headquarters, 638 D street. Other committee chairmen, serying under the general leadership of ’(zp- resentative Mary T. Norton of New Jersey, are: Arrangements, Millard Caldwell and Wilburn Cartwright; music, Prof. Norris I. Crandall; en- tertainment, Mrs. John Allan Dough- erty; publicity, Mrs. Eleanor Patter- son; floor show, Miss Mae Helm; re- ception, James G. Yaden; finance, James Councilor; General Committee, PFrank Buckley, Mrs. Isabel P. Guy, Alton T. Taylor, Mrs. Lydia Peters, Charles B. Abbott, jr.; Mrs. Maithe G. Sills, Miss Katherine Peters, Mrs. Katherine Keith, Andrew R. Dewall, jr.; H. H. Cummings, Walter G. Mon- roe, B. T. Hammett, Mackall B. Fet- zer, H. H. Nichols and J. R. Gary. EMPLOYES T0 ASK ZEUCH BE REHIRED Mass Meeting to Be Held by Re- settlement Lodge Tomor- 4 row Night. A mass meeting designed to have Dr. William E. Zeuch reinstated as co-operative counsel of the Rural Re- settlement Administration has been called by Resettlement Lodge, No. 206, American Federation of Government Employes, for tmorrow night at 8 o'clock, at the administration’s offices in the old Walsh mansion, 2020 Massa- chusetts avenue. The lodge charges Dr. Zeuch was removed at the request of Secretary Ickes, under whom he worked in the Public Works Administration before transferring to the new agency. ‘The union has adopted the slogan, “Blacklisting by Government Officials Must Stop.” ‘The workers hope to present the case to Dr. Rexford G. Tugwell, head of the Resettlement Administration, and have Dr. Zeuch returned to his former post. Circulars announcing the meeting were passed out in several Government departments today in- viting organized workers to join the ook, F The club’s study showed accidents have been concentrated at certain | danger spots in the neighborhood of Camp Parole, Collington and Bladens- burg. “The prevalence of accidents at | these sections should serve as a sharp warning to motorists to exercise par- ticular caution when traveling in these areas and also shows the points most { In need of emergency corrective meas- | ures,” the club’s statement declares. Two Men Hurt, Municipal groups furthered-the drive | in Prince Georges County for an im- proved highway by adopting resolu- tions last night calling on the State Roads Commission and Gov. Nice to fight for Federal funds to construct a safe, modern road in place of the treacherous, cbsolete highway. The victims of today’s accident were | John O. Fillings, 22, and Richard | Wagner, 27, employes of the Crowns- ville State Hospital. Both were treated by Dr. James H. Truitt of | Glenn Dale for several head cuts and | possible internal injuries and taken back to the hospital in the Glenn Daie rescue squad ambulance. Death Hearing Set. Meanwhile, & police court hearing | to fix the blame for the accident in which Miss Ida Schartner, 21, of 323 H street, was killed Sunday night, was set for September 11 by Justice of the | Peace Louis A. Gundling of Lanham. ). Miss Schartner became the fifteenth "I fatality of “Death Highway” in 16 months when the automobile in which she was riding left the road near Mitchellville. | State Policeman J. C. Gates, who | investigated, obtained reckless driving warrants yesterday from Judge Gund- | ling for Casper T. Fogle of Clinton, driver of the car in which Mrs. Sihart- ner was riding, and Charles Brooks, colored, of Bowie, operator of the oth- er car involved in the accident. Both men are at liberty under bond. Brentwood and Colmar Manor were the municipalities which last night urged State authorities to widen and straighten the Defense Highway. The Town Council of each eom- munity passed resolutions terming the road a menace to the traveling public and its improvement the most urgently needed State project in this vicinity. Federal funds could not be spent to better advantage than to save lives and provide an adequate highway link between Washington and An- napolis, the resolutions said. Urge Full Width, Colmar Manor's Council also sug- gested that the Roads Commission use the full width of its right-of-way of 78 feet through that town. Mayor John N. Torvestad said that a 78- foot road instead of the present 40- foot one, would facilitate the flow of traffic between Bladensburg and the District Line, and relieve congestion at the Peace Cross “bottleneck.” Brentwood authorities, who have proposed that the same objective be accomplished through an extension of William street and the construction of an underpass below the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks, said they would co-operate with other town, county and State officials in any plan that would™ relieve congestion and build safety into the Defense highe way. Dr. Ballou at Desk. Dr. Frank W. Ballou, superintendent of schools, was back at his desk in the Franklin School Building today atter s Summer vacation spent at his camp n Maine. g