Evening Star Newspaper, September 14, 1935, Page 16

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1935. SCHOOL SYSTEM MYSTERY CLOAKS GARWILLHOLD - MURDER OF MAN FOUND NEAR RAILS Harry “Bump” Hudson of Hyattsville Slain by Blows on Head. POLICE LACK CLUES IN PROBING SLAYING Son of Navy Department Employe Had Been Out of Work Recently. By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. HYATTSVILLE, Md, September 14 —Practically without clues, Prince Georges County police today planned to question neighbors and associates of Harry “Bump” Hudson, 27, of Hyattsville, whose body was found in | & ravine near a spur of the Baitimore & Ohio Railroad yesterday afterncen An autopsy performed by Dr. John | T. Maloney last night disclosed the man died of a fracture of the skull near the right temple. He also had a 6-inch laceration on the back of his | head, a deep cut around the mouth | and several teeth had been knocked out. Train Ruled Out. | Judging from the position in which | the body was found, police said it | would have been impossible for Huc- son to have been hit by a train. A 3-foot stick which may have servad as & club was discovered near the scene by George Wiseman of Bladens- burg and taken to the police station here as a possible clue. It bore no | blood marks, however. Wiseman is believed to be one of the last persons to see Hudson alive. He noticed the man walking down the railroad tracks about noon Thursday. From the dead man's parents. Mr. and Mrs. George E. Hudson, of Sibley avenue, police learned he had been missing overnight. The parents were unable to shed any light on a possible motive for the murder, however. The elder Hudson is employed in the Navy Department. Recently Unemployed. ‘The slain man worked on the Belts- ville government farm last year, but had been unemployed recently. He registered for a job with the National Re-employment Service on August 16. His body was found by William Taylor,7a Bladensburg colored man. Acting Coroner Herbert J. Moffat im- panelled a jury which will conduct an inquest at Hyattsville, Tuesday night. | Funeral arrangements had not been | completed this morning. The body is | at the Gasch funeral home, Hyattsville. H. N. MILLER RITES | HELD IN ARLINGTON Deceased Was Former Aquatic Sports Star and Standard | 0il Salesman. Seeking Reno Divorce Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Mrs. Lawrence W. Robert, jr.. who celebrated their silver wedding anniversary here Febuary 9, are now figuring in a divorce action in Reno, Nev. the wife, Mrs. Louise Ayres Robert, application. The petition was filed by and Mr. Robert is not contesting her It is rumored that Robert, after the divorce, will marry Mrs. Evelyn ‘Walker, prominent in society here and an ardent horsewoman, who divorced her former husband, Fielding Robinson of New York, several years ago. Mrs. Robert's petition custody of twe minor children. charged mental cruelty and asked It was understood alimony of $300 a month has been arranged out of court, —Associated Press Photo. Busses to Be Numbered to Aid Connecticut Avenue Patrons| Two New Lines Beyond Calvert Street Will Operate on Hourly Schedule, With Rush-Hour Step-Up. Hoping to simplify bus identifica- tion, the Capital Transit Co. will use route numbers for busses replacing street car service tomorrow on upper Connecticut avenue and into Mont- gomery County. This is the first time the company has used route numbers. It is believed patrons will be enabled to select their busses more readily from numbers, but they will be supplemented in all cases by the usual destination legends. Street car service on Connecticut avenue above Calvert street will be en- tirely replaced by bus service begin- ning tomorrow. Two new bus lines will be run, although they cover the same | territory, from Chevy Chase Circle to Howell Norwood Miller, 38, a sales- man for the Standard Oil Co., and former aquatic sports siar here, died | ing the safety zone markers along | vesterday at Mount Alto Hospital | after a short illness. Funeral services were held this morning at the Wright undertaking parlors. followed | by burial in Arlington National Cem- | etery. | Mr. Miller, who resided with his| wife at 908 Fourteenth street, had | won the South Atlantic diving cham- pionship in 1917 and for many years was a champion canoeist with the ‘Washington Canoe Club and the Po- tomac Boat Club. A native of the District, he had gerved in the Ambulance Corps dur- ing the World War, being later trans- ferred to rehabilitation work in the French Army. He was a member of | the Drum and Bugle Corps. Fort Ste- vens Post, American Legion. Surviving are his widow, Suzanne Miller, and two brothers, Lieut. Comdr. Robert D. Miller, who is stationed at Puget Sound, Wash, and a twin brother, Farnham R. Miller of Wash- ington. Members of the Fort Stephens Post | were pallbearers at the funeral. | MRS. WILLIAM STUART, | Chevy Chase Lake. Early today workmen began remov- Connecticut avenue, although the cars will run until after midnight. Patrons Have Option. One of the bus lines begins at Gar- rett Park, Md, and runs through| Kensington to the lake, then contin- ues on down to the Rock Creek loop at Calvert street. Passengers on these busses can change to downtown busses | at the circle if they so desire, or they can change to any one of three down- town car lines at the loop. For the convenience of those changing at the circle, schedules have been co-ordi- nated so there is a two-minute wait for downtown express busses and a three-minute wait for the lccal busses. Those changing to street cars at the loop will be served by the two old lines running to the Seventh street wharves via Seventh street and the Navy Yard via New Jersey avenue, as well as & new line running down U and Eleventh streets to Ninth and E streets. Hourly Schedule. Busses leaving Garrett Park will run approximately on a regular hourly schedule, with half-hour service dur- ing morning and evening rush hours. The first bus leaves at 5:45 a.m., half- | portunity for transfer at the circle. | The all-day schedule from the lake | to the circle will employ four busses an hour, including the one from Gar- | rett Park. This cumulative service will | | be stepped up during the rush hours to provide a bus about every four min- | utes. The first bus leaves the lake at 15:23 a.m,, followed by others at about | 15-minute intervals until 6:55, when an eight-minute schedule is started. | The first four-minute bus leaves at 7:33, continuing with the exception | | of an eight-minute break from 7:40 | to 7:48, until 8:19. | 24 Busses to Be Used. | From the circle 24 busses will be | operated an hour on an all-day basis. ['rms will be stepped up during the | rush periods, so that at the peak 59 ‘busxes an hour will pass Connecticut | avenue and Calvert street. ‘The all-day hourly schedule includes | eight local busses from tke circle to the loop, eight locals through the downtown area to Anacostia, with four | continuing to Congress Heights, and| eight express busses to Eighth street| | and Pennsylvania avenue. A special rush-hour service will be | furnished from 7 to 9 in the morning and from 4 to 6 in the evening to and from the circle and Potomac Park. These busses will run over Connec- | ticut avenue, Twentieth street, New Hampshire avenue and Twenty-first | street to Constitution avenue, east on | Constitution to Eighteenth street, | north on Eighteenth to E street, west on E to Twenty-first and then north on Twenty-first, Florida and Connec- ticut avenues to the circle. Rush-Hour Provisions. During rush hours Van Ness street will be the last point for boarding southbound express busses and Cal- vert street during the non-rush hours. Connecticut avenue and K street will be the first point for alighting, rush or non-rush. During both periods K street will be the last point for board- ing northbound express busses. Van our service during the morning rush | EX-WASHINGTONIAN, DIES |n ‘Word has been received of the death ‘ in Bristol, Tenn. of Mrs. William | Spifer Stuart, former Washington resident and sister-in-law of Henry Carter Stuart, former Governor of Virginia | Mrs. Stuart, who was well known | in musical and club circles during the 13 years she lived in the Capital, died last Saturday. Burial took place Monday at Bristol. She was the daughter of Maj. B. G. McDowell of Bristol and was the wife of the late Judge William S. Stuart of Bristol, Va. Surviving are a daugh- ter, Mrs. J. Carter Cook, jr., and a grandson, J. Carter Cook, 3d, of Rich- mond, Va.; two sisters, Mrs. W. D. Ferguson and Miss Irene McDowell, and a brother, A. §. McDowell, all of Bristol, Tenn. HARRY HUDSON. I beginning at 7:44. The last half-hour morning bus leaves at 8:45 o'clock. Patrons living between the lake and the circle, however, will be able to use additional busses beginning at the lake and running to the loop, with op~ Ness street will be the first alighting | point during the rush hours and Cal- | | vert street during the non-rush. It was emphasized that no busses starting from beyond the District of | Columbia line will come below Cal- | vert street, transfers being necessary. CRIPPLED SLAYER IS HELD IN JAIL David Asheraft Bound Over to Grand Jury for Killing of Son. David Ashcraft, 45, destitute paraly- tic, said to be suffering with tubercu- losis, was being held in the District Jail today after a coroner’s jury bound him over to the grand jury yesterday on a charge of killing his 5-year-old son David, jr., by holding the child over open gas jets. | The crime was discovered early Thursday when Ashcraft was found in his basement room, in the 200 block of Third street, seated beside the body of his son. He told the coroner’s jury in a voluntary state- ment that he had intended to dis- pose of the body and then commit suicide because he was afraid to in- trust the child’s future to his mother, Mrs. Josephine Ashcraft, 39. The man accused his wife of infl- delity, although the woman refused to take the stand at the inquest lest her testimony incriminate her hus- band. Ashcraft, a hopeless cripple, once sold newspapers from his wheel chair at Fourteenth and G streets until fail- ing health sent him to various charity hospitals in the District. WIFE SEARCH URGED Gus Vakas, 919 Virginia avenue southwest, a fruit vendor, has asked police to aid in finding his wife, Mrs. Angelina Vakas, whom has been miss- ing from home since August 8, he said. They have nine children. Appealing also to the press to aid, Vakas said: “Help me. Tell her to come home and everything will be all right.” HONORED ON RETIRING Harry W. Melville Served Bureau of Engraving 34 Years. Harry W. Melville, 452 Park Road, yesterday was guest at a party given by fellow employes of Section 3, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, on the occasion of his retirement from that section after 34 years’ service. Melville, who has reached the re- tirement age of 65, was presented with two wallets of money and nu- merous floral tributes by fellow work- | ers. CHANGES SOUGHT BY GROUP OF 14 $800,000 Private Fund En- ables Five-Year Fact- Finding Survey. PROTECTION OF YOUTH FROM CRIME AN AIM Fourfold Undertaking Under Aus- pices of American Council on Education. By the Associated Press. The American Council on Education has challenged the existing school set- up and seeks to determine if it is out of touch with social and economic times. . A broad effort to rechart the eourse of education and gear.it with chang- ing forces of the day was mapped yesterday by the council, the creation of a non-governmental commission of 14 members, who-will meet Monday to launch a four-point program of in- quiry into youth problems. An $800,000 private grant will finance the five-year intensive survey, which is designed to be fact-finding and remedial. In announcing the plan, Dr. George F. Zook, council president, laid em- phasis “on the part youth plays in the present-day crisis.” He said youth's problems “may constitute a funda- mental threat to national welfare.” Need of Protection. Of all arrests reported to the Jus- tice Department in 1934, Dr. Zook said, 114,233, or 37.5 per cent, were persons under 25 and 15.1 per cent under 20. He said there are no exist- ing social agencies “equipped to pro- vide adequate supervision and protec- tion for these young people.” ‘The fourfold undertaking includes: 1. Analysis of the characteristics of youth and an evaluation of the influ- ences to which they are subject. 2. Study of commonly = accepted goals in the education of youth to determine the adequacy of these goals in relation to the social, economic and political trends. 3. Investigation of agencies con- cerned with the youth problem, and the recommendation of procedures which seem to influence the young effectively. 4. Systematic popularization of de- sirable plans of action through con- | ferences, publications and demonstra- tions. Director to Chart Study. Dr. Zook, a former commissioner of | education, said the new commission | vill choose a full-time director who will chart the study. | The commission includes Newton | D. Baker, former Secretary of War; | Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago; John W. Studebaker, Federal education com- missioner, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher, author. The commission’s investigation will cover education of youth from 12'years of age upward and will include ex- amination of such problems as unem- ployment and cgime, “the growing specialization and mechanization of | vocational opportunities,” the “recent increase in leisure time for both young people and adults” and the “declining influence of the home and church.” Dr. Zook said 3,000,000 young per- sons in rural sections are not receiviig adequate educational opportunities and that only 12.5 per cent of college-age youths are enrolled in schools and that only one out of every three of high school age is in school. Others of Commission. Besides Baker, Hutchins, Studebaker and Mrs. Pisher, members of the com- | mission are: ‘Will W. Alexander of Atlanta, former clergyman and leader in the field of race relations. Ralph Budd of Chicago, president of the Burlington Railway Lines. Lotus D. Coffman of Minneapolis, president of the University of Min- nesota and chairman of the American Council on Education. Willard E. Givens of Washington, secretary of the National Education Association and former San Diego and Oakland, Calif., school superintendent. Henry 1. Harriman of Boston, public | utility executive and past president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Chester H. Rowell of San Francisco, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, trustee of the World Peace Founda- tion and political science lecturer. William F. Russell of New York, dean of the Columbia University | | Teachers' College and former chair- | man of the American Council on | Education, Member From Louisiana. Mrs, Edith R. Stern of New Orleans, civic and educational leader. Miss Mariam Van Water of Fram- ingham, Mass,, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Reformatory for Women and former president of the National Conference on Social Work. Matthew Woll of New York, vice | president of the American Federation of Labor, writer and lecturer, Taxi Rates for * The problem of whether the Dis- trict unwittingly has undertaken to control rates charged by undertakers for use of their funeral cars ricochet- ed from office to office at the District Building today, with no immediate solution in sight. The question revolved around an order by the Commissioners requiring that special business licenses be oh- [tained for funeral cars. The order was effective August 25, and funeral directors today were being notified to comply. According to Assistant Corporation Counsel Edward W. Thomas, the funeral cars are classified as vehicles for hire and for each the $25 tax fee license must be obtained. Also, he said, each driver of such car must have a $5 operator’s permit. cision as meaning that the funeral cars must be operated under taxicao rates prescribed by the Public Utili- ties Commission, because he says the licenses will be taxi licenses. ‘Thomas further interprets the de-! Officials of the Public Utilities ¥ Funeral Cars Loom as Result of D. C. Order Commission immediately disclaimed any thought of attempting to control rates of funeral cars and said they did not believe the cars could in fact be called ‘4axis.” They said they had not studied the language of the applicable law, but would do so. The prescribed taxi rates are 20, 30, 50 and 70 cents in the uniform zones or $2 .an hour on an hourly basis. There are estimated to be between 300 and 400 funeral cars. The ques- tion was raised as to whether these might be used actually as taxis when not needed for funerals. Thomas said they could be, though he did not think they would be. One funeral di- rector said, “Oh, no, we wouldn't want to do that.” Unofficial opinion was that the taxi rates must be fol- lowed should any of the funeral cars be used as taxis. Thomas sajd he felt he must prosecute funeral car operators if they do not obtain the taxi licenses or | began on July 20. | Hospital suffering with numerous cuts | juries. if they do not follow the prescribed Tates. Hophmwuouunmlpn.unmymmmmm halted. fire house. A Fred Connor, who was foreman of stone masons in building the Lincoln Memorial, directs his helpers, S. Boykin and Tom Mawson, in setting a stone in the portal of the south transept of the National Cathedral at Mount St. Albans. The work, part of new construction now under way at the Cathedral, was inspected yes- terday by Very Rev. E. L. Henderson, dean of St. Albans Cathedral, London, who was taken on a tour through the impressive structure by Right Rev. James E. Freeman, Bishop of Washington; Canon Raymond L. Wolven, chaplain to the bishop, and Robert G. Barrow, new organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral. —Star Staff Pheto. CHILD IS KILLED | BY BEER TRUCK Traffic Toll 74 in 1935 Six More Hurt in Accidents. | A 22-month-old child was killed and | six persons were injured yesterday & | the 1935 traffic toll here mounted to 74. Eleven persons have died in traffic accidents since the police safety drive ‘The latest fatality was Norman Dicken, son of®Mr. and Mrs. Morris Dicken, 7424 Georgia avenue, whose body was crushed under a heavy beer | truck in front of 3603 Warder street, where the baby's parents had taken him to visit friends. ‘The child had walked uncertainly out into the street from between parked cars into the path of the truck, according to stories told police. He died a short time later at Garfield | Hospital. The driver of the truck, Elder B. Holahan, 35, of 1109 N street, was re- leased in custody of his attorney pending a coroner’s inquest, probably Monday. Just a few minutes before the child was killed Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Rakestraw, both 42, of 3900 block of Connecticut avenue, were seriously injured at Twenty-second and M streets when their coupe and an am- bulance from the Quantico, Va. Marine Barracks collided. The in- jured couple was taken to Emergency and bruises and possible internal in- The ambulance, driven by Alfred L. Utter, attached to the Marine Bar- | racks. did not have a patient in it at | the time. Utter explained to police | that he was taking a friend to an| optometrist to get glasses fitted. A broken jaw was suffered by Rich- ard Adamson, 43, of the 400 block of Fifth street northeast, when his car struck a guard rail on the Benning Viaduct and caromed into another-car driven by John H. Burton of Marl- boro. Adamson was treated at Gal- | linger Hospital. Two persons were seriously injured when the motor cycle they were riding and an automobile collided at Con- stitution avenue and Twenty-first street. They were Wallace Haynes, 20, of 2224 F street, and Doris Moore, 15, of 2306 G street. Luther D. Jar- rett, 26, of 3933 Fourteenth street, operator of the automobile, was de- tained by police. Haynes was reported to be suffer- ing from a skull fracture and Miss Moore lost several teeth and was thought to have a slight concussion. Both were treated at Emergency Hos- pital. While crossing the street at Four- teenth street and Pennsylvania ave- nue last night, Marian Bond, 35, of 2007 R street, was knocked down and injured. Pelice said the operator of the car was Pyron Lorraine, of 1430 Fairmont street, g Several other persons were treated at Washington hospitals for less seri- ous injuries yesterday and last night. As he stepped from a bus at Twen- ty-fourth street and Glebe road shortly befoxe noon today, Lionel Richmond, 10, of 911 Massachusetts avenue, was struck by an automobile. He was taken to Georgetown Hospital by twe men, whose names were not given, where he was treated for a fractured thigh, fracture of several ribs, a lac- erated chin and numerous brush burns. : —_— Fire Association to Meet. BALLSTON, September 14 (Special).—The regular meeting of the Arlington-Fairfax Counties Fire- men’s Association will be held at 8 BELMONT MANSION SSUDTOO.ES i Old Landmark Will Be Con- | verted Into Interna- tional Temple. . ‘The old Perry Belmont mansion at | New Hampshire avenue and Eight- eenth street has been sold and will | be converted into an International | Bastern Star Temple, it was an- nounced today. Miss Minnie Keyes, who handled the purchase for the General Grand | Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, said the fraternal organization, which | numbers 2,000,000 members, has been New Secretary MISS HEFFNER NAMED TO SUCCEED MISS PEM looking for a location in Washing- | | ton for an international headquarters for several years. ! “I believe the old Belmont mansion will serve our purpose admirably,” | | she séld, “and we expect to occupy it as S00n &S necessary arrangements | can be completed.” | The mansion, sometimes known as the “house where the Prince of Wales 4 | stayed,” has been closed for some | time. Mr. Belmont, who was a mem- er of Congress from 1881 to 1889 and later Minister to Spain, built the house in 1909. The Belmonts entertained extensively and the Prince of Wales used their home as his headquarters MISS BERNICE B, HEFFNER. Miss Heffner jas been elected secretary of the American Federa- e e s vig | O1 8 Visit to Washington in 1919. split with President E. Claude Bab- f The house is beautifully arranged, cock over A. F. G. E. policies | the ball room being paneled in gilt, with gold brocade and mirrors re- flecting a huge crystal chandelier. Two years ago the Zoning Commission | authorized Mr. Belmont to convert “IRISH NITE” TONIGHT e the home into an apartment house, Sons and daughters of the Emerald | \ ¢ thic was never done. Isle will celebrate Irish night with Negotiations for the sale were con- songs, dancing and entertainment ducted through Weaver B Inc. this evening at 8 o'clock at the Holy & ke Name Church carnival, Eleventh and | - K streets northeast. Miss Frances Kelley, Eddie Moran Church Century old. and Andrew Patterson will entertain| WARRENTON. Va, September 14 with vocal selectfons. Specialty | (Special) —Trinity Episcopal Church, dances will be presented by the Leach | Upperville, will celebrate the centen- Twins and Irish dances by Misses|nial of its founding tomorrow. Right Helen McCann, Hannah Sheehan, | Rev. H. St. George Tucker, Bishop of Nora Johnson and Catherine McCann. | Virginia, will preach at the 11 o'clock Steven Liston, James Brosnan, Jerry | service. Rev. William Page Dame is Cullinane and Pat O'Sullivan also | rector of the church and Rev. Edward will participate in the dances. | B. Burwell, rector emeritus. Hazen Buys Beliefit Ticket Commissioner Melyin C. Hazen shown this morning as he bought a ticket for the Metropolitan Police Boys' Club benefit, to be held in Griffith Stadium the evening of September 30. A program of boxing will be the feature of the benefit. Eddie Arnold of the Fifth Precinct Boys’ Clud & selling the Commissioper the ticket, while Policeman Leon Frost looks on e —>Star Staff Photo. ‘ 3 ) A CONVENTION HERE DESPITE PROTESTS Mrs. Margaret Worrell and Trade Board Committee Issue Invitation. 3,000 TO 5,000 EXPECTED AT 1936 ENCAMPMENT Veterans, Ladies of G. A. R. and Memorial Day Association Op- posed Bringing Session Here. In spite of protests by Washington members of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Department of Potomac Ladies of the G. A. R., and the G. A. R. Memorial Day Association, the 1936 national encampment of the Grand Army has decided to come to Wash- ington. The invitation to come here had been made by Mrs. Margaret Hopkins Worrell, 515 East Clifton Terrace, and | the Greater National Capital Com- Tittee of the Board of Trade. An- nouncement of the decision of the | Grand Rapids encampment to come | here next year was made today by Curtis Hodges, executive director of the Greater National Capital Com- mittee, 3,000 Expected Here. Between 3,000 and 5,000 persons are expected fo come. | The encampment will be held in August or September, the exact date not yet having been fixed. } The matter of bringing the @ivil | War veterans here has been the sub- | ject of controversy since it was learned about two months ago that Congress ‘ had appropriated $16,000 for public or- | der arrangements for the reunion | Immediately, John M. Kline, Dis- trict department commander, and th> Ladies of the G. A. R. called upon the District Commissioners for an expla- nation of the appropriation. They had not invited the Union veterans here they said, and furthermore had no funds with which to entertain them Mrs. Worrell explained that she had | extended the invitaticn when national officers expressed a desire more than a year ago to meet again in the Cap- | ital, Disclaims Invitation. Mrs. Emma F. Hayward, president of the Department of the Potomac Ladies of the Grand Army of the Re- public, issued a statement disclaiming | that an official invitation had beer | given the G. A. R. James G. Yaden, president of th G. A. R. Memorial Day Association also pointed out that it is customar for the veterans to meet only in citic where local veterans have extenccc | an invitation. Since no such offici invitation was made, he said be didn | see how the national organizatio: could decide to come here. | Mrs. Worrell, however, pursued ti | matter and succeeded in having Wash- | ington selected. Mrs. Worrell explained also that sh: was responsible for the appropriation, | having called on Senator Bulkley, Democrat, of Ohio, and Representative Norton, Democrat, of New Jersey, who | sponsored the resolution that authoriz- ed the $16,000 appropriation. Mrs. Worrell is not now an active officer in the Ladies of the G. A. R, but has held a number of offices ii. both the departmental and nationei organization. 'WATER FRONT WORK ' START T0 BE URGE Gen. Markham to Tell Budge: Bureau Hearing Need of $1,- 650,000 Improvement. Starting of the $1,650,000 improve ment progiam for the Washington water front during the next fiscal year will be urged by Maj. Gen. Ed- | ward M. Markham, chief of Army ¢n- gineers, at Budget Bureau hearings on the 1937 War Department estimat>s The project, along with a $300.000 program for deepening the Washing- ton channel, was authorized in the new national rivers and harbors act | The program will run five or more years. | The District's share of the cost o the $1,650,000 program will be 3389.- 000, officials reported. Just what item would be started first, if an initic appropriation is granted, has not bec decided, it was said. Impression changes are to be along the water front and in faciiit in the channel and Anacostia R | for water craft. 'GIRL, 13, AND YOUNG ENGINEER MISSIR Virginia Pair Had Been Keepin: | Company—Auto Is Found Abandoned. Special Dispatch to The Star. EAST FALLS CHURCH, Va., Sep- tember 14.—Arlington County police were searching today for a 13-year- old school girl who vanished from her home here Thursday and a young construction engineer in whose com- pany the girl is to believed to be. Betty Bowman, daughter of Mrs. | Kathleen Bowman, Sweetbrier street, East Falls Church, left home about 8:30 am. Thursday for schooi. She was riding a bicycle. When her ab- sence from school was reported later Mrs. Bowman notified police. At the same time Richard H. Welles, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl H. Welles, 274 Virginia avenue, Clarendon, Va. left home, saying he was going to Baltimore to inquire about a trip to South America. Betty had been going with Welles for some time with her mother’s ap- proval. Parents of both believe they are together. Welles’ car was found abandoned at Bluemont Junction, near Falls Church. Police have broadcast a | lookout. S WOMAN FOUND DEAD’ R, Gertrude Strothers, 23, colored, 1200 block of V street, was found dead in bed at 328 V street shortly before noon today and Ellis Wilson, 26, of 328 V street was removed to Gallinger Hos~ pital from the same gas-filled room. Semgt. Willlam J. Liverman of the homicide squad expressed the opinion the man had inadvertently turned on the gas last night when he hung his suit on a gas jet on the wall.