Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1935, Page 4

TRIAL OF COOPER IS NEARING CLOSE Week End Recess in Case Against Former Bank President. The trial of Col. Wade H. Cooper, former bank president, on charges of defrauding the old Commercial Na- tional Bank of more than $80,000 marked time today while the court gave attention to other duties. The case will be resumed Monday. Indications are the Government will ecomplete presentation of its case Mon- day or Tuesday. It is expected the case will go to the jury before the end of next week. Bookkeeping Presented. Bookkeeping details of loans alleg- | edly made by Commercial to the de- funct Continental Trust Co. to enable the latter to pay dividends were given the jury yesterday afternoon by Law- rence A. Slaughter, former vice presi- dent of the Commercial Bank, and Frederick W. Pimper, once head note teller. Both witnesses identified numerous ledger sheets, debit and credit tickets and other papers covering phases of the transactions which, according to the Government, were fraudulent and engineered by Cooper. Irving Goldstein for the prosecution, and Chief Defense Attorney William E. Leahy made frequent use of a blackboard in their efforts to explain more clearly to the jury their respec- tive theories as to the nature and pur- pose of the financial dealings. The parade of complicated figures held| little interest for the spectators, and the court room was only partially filled | during the afternoon. Ceontention of Goldstein. Goldstein contends the loans were {llegal and that Continental should not have been paying dividends at a time when its assets were pledged to| Commercial for security in a merger | deal whereby Commercial assumed th deposit liabilities of Continental. Some | of the dividends went into Coopers\ pocket, Goldstein told the jury. | Slaughter, under questioning by YLeahy, said while he had opposed pay- ing the dividends, and had remon- strated to Cooper about it several times, he believed Cooper acted because of an “honest” difference of opinion. o Brown (Continued From First Page.) reports of major crime here and a rise in activities of several divisions. Dur- ing the past fiscal year 9,219 major offenses were reported, of which 62/ per cent were “cleared,” as compared | with 8,875 in the year ending June ! 80, 1034, when 72 per cent were re- | ported cleared. Including all manner of offenses, there was a grand total of 132,108 arrests during the past year as against E 118,559 in the preceding year. There‘ were 4,774 arrests for felonies or 145 less than the year before. | Statistics also told a story of a| rise in traffic law and regulation vio- | lations. The Traffic Bureau reported 47474 arTests as against 41,077 the year previous. | Arrests for driving while drunk, | speeding and reckless driving showed | an increase, Maj. Brown reported 252 arrests for driving while drunk, as against 180 the year previous. There were 8,137 arrests for speeding, as| against 7,058 the year before; and 482 | | arrests for reckless driving as a,gam.st 480 the year previous. 125 Killed in Traffic. The toll taken in accidents also was | reported. There were 125 deaths offi- | cially attributed to traffic accidents | in the past fiscal year. In addition to these there were 4,245 “minor casual- ties” resulting from 8,526 accidents. Private automobiles killed the greatest number of persons—86. Motor trucks | were second with a toll of 16 and | street cars third with 10. ’I‘nxlcabs‘ killed 7 and busses 3, bicycles 2 and | motor cycles 1. Private cars caused the greatest number of minor casual- ties, or 3,046 and taxicabs were second with 438. Washington drivers paid an expen- sive bill for disregard of rules. The record shows that 49,685 cases were made and that $213,162 in- collateral was posted at various police units. Ticket “fixing,” which ran a fast gait until the House Crime Committee centered a spotlight on it, saving many a traffic violator collatera! pay- ments or fines. The police report shows there were 4,585 “warnings and cancellations of tickets” during the year ending last June 30. Last Spring the Commissioners invoked a new system on ticket fixing and now the name of the person sponsoring any dropping of charges is listed, together with the reason and statement of the offense. Officials say the ticket fix- ing business has declined. Maj. Brown reported the homicide squad made a good record in handling 56 murder cases last fiscal year. All ‘were solved except one, he said. Fifty- three were “cleared” and in two other cases the accused have been indicted, but not yet arrested. In the unsolved case, that of the murder of Florence Dancy, 65, colored, who was found strangled to death at 2139 L street last April 12, Maj. Brown said wit- nesses had given a good description of a colored man accused of the crime. He is being sought. Reports of 1,170 robberies were handled by the robbery squad, as compared with 1,166 the previous year. Maj. Brown said 50 per cent of these cases had been closed, or 3 per cent better than the year previ- ous, when 1,166 robberies were re- ported. Police did a “land office” business in recovery of stolen automobiles. ‘There were 3,689 cars reported stolen. Police precincts recovered 1680, the auto squad 390 others and 355 more were recovered by owners on infor- mation furnished by the squad. Seventy-five owners reported their cars “stolen” when in fact they had been repossessed by sales agents. Only 197 of the 3,689 were reported not Tecovered. Maj. Brown reported “recovery” of other property, mostly from local dealers, nearby pawnbrokers and loan companies, valued at $86,845.25, as compared with $78,627.29. The Bureau of Criminal Investiga- tion had on file the fingerprints of 92,684 persons at the end of the past fiscal year, Maj. Brown said. During the past year the bureau photographed & total of 4,384 prisoners. —_— Olive Oil Carries Drug. When a solitary barrel of olive oil arrived at Cairo, Egypt, from Palestine, the police, becoming suspicious, opened it. Inside they found a little water- proof packsge’ containing. nearly & pound of opium. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, A Deserter Rewarded Dedjazmatch Haile Selassie Gugsa (left), a relative of Emperor Haile Selassie, who deserted with his troops to the Italian ranks and received as a reward the title of Ras (prince) of the Tigre Province, is shown here with Gen Emelio de Bono. governor general of Eritrea. It is believed that this was the first step in the setting throne. Mussolini (Continued From First Page.) spell of several days, the Fascist northern and southern armies in Ethiopia gathered for an attack on the important strongholds of Makale | and Gorrahei. Four armies seemed about to clash | in two big battles that might decide the fate of Ethiopia. The fortress towns of Makale in the | north and Gorrahei in the south were | the rallying points for major bodies | of Ethiopians. A small third Italian army was re- | ported endeavoring to creep in from | Assab, Eritrea, to a point where it | might eventually attack the flank or | rear of either Ethiopian army. Gen. Emilio de Bono, on the north, had his lines somewhere forward of Adigrat, Aduwa and Aksum, his up of Gugsa as the pretender to the —Wide World Photo. three main columns totaling more than 100,000 men. Gen. Rudolfo Graziani, in the south, straightened his line of numerous large detachments from the famous Walwal to Dolo, the first major point to fall cn the Italian Somaliland | front. | Italy’s Somaliland army was an- | nounced today to be moving up the | Webbe Shibeli Valley in the direction of Harar. An official communique | announced the capture of two addi- tional villages in the Sciaveli region, Callafo and Celedi. One skirmish was reported to have occurred in the north yesterday, when |Ras” Seyoum led a band of 1,000 | against the Italian right wing, at- tacking some small outposts west of Aduwa. —_— Budget Balancing. | Spain's minister of finance is pre- paring to balance the budget next year. ) 4 414 l/')77 D. C. LAWYER FACES ARKANSAS CHARGE Collecting Excessive Fee From War Veteran Alleged Against W. W. Smith, By the Associated Press. LITTLE ROCK, Ark., October 25.— Willlam Wolff Smith of Washington, D. C., former general counsel for the Veterans’ Administration, has been ordered to appear at Jonesboro, Ark., on November 25 for arraignment on D. C, & Federal indictment charging him with collecting an excessive fee from an Arkansas veteran whom he repre- sented in a disability compensation case. The indictment was made public here when Smith appeared before United States Commissioner Needham C. Turnage in Washington yesterday and made a $500 appearance bond. Smith resigned from the Veterans' Administration In 1932 after he had been criticized by Representative Blanton, Democrat, of Texas for ac- cepting $187.50 monthly in disability compensation while drawing $9,000- a-year salary from the administra- tion, ‘The matter on which the Arkansas FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1935, indictment was returned involved Smith's appearance more than a year later before the Veterans’ Administra- tion as associate counsel for Arthur E. York of Corning, Ark. York, suf- fering a World War disability, ob- taihed an adjusted rating and a lump- sum back-compensation payment. Records here show that after the award, Smith sued York for recovery of $1,295, claiming he had a con- tract with the veteran for a fee of 40 per cent of the amount recovered. The suli was compromised and in October, 1934, a consent judgment en- tered for Smith in the sum of $569.19. The Government claims there was a $10 limit on fees in such cases. 400 MILLION drinks were made with CINZ largest selling VERMOUTH i the world from 20 MILLION bottles ANO (Pronounced CHIN-ZAN-O) sold last year SOLE DISTRIBUTORS, CANADA DRY GINGER ALE, INC., NEW YORK ,‘/l/ a > WATCH SALE! This is the kind of sale for which you wait and wait—and seldom find. It is not just a watch sale. It is a sale of brand- new, nationally famous watches. Two hundred of them. Every one a brand-new model—guaranteed without a single restric- tion—no “ifs, ” ¢ 'ands” or “buts” are included in the conditions. Men and women in every walk of life will find a watch in this sale to suit their needs. College students, sportsmen and sports- women—boys and girls of school-going ages—may now own a fine famous brand watch at a price that should bring them to Castelberg’s bright and early tomorrow. Details to Know— ‘The shapes of these watches are as new as they are varied. Slen- der, graceful cases for the ladies; rugged, manly, straightline styles for the men. In white and yellow. 1004 F St. N.W. NATIONALLY KNOWN BRAND NEW SR OPPOSITE WOODWARD AND LOTHROP'S The Aristocrat of Sugar SALE! Don’t Miss This Last Opportunity to Share in Unusual Food Values S CHICKENS » 33: 2%2 TO 4 LBS. EACH Fresh PORK ROAST (%2 or Whole Loin) n3lc "SMOKED SHOULDERS » 19¢ 6 to 8 Lbs. Each PRUNES 2m. 3 MACKEREL w=1Te CHEESE . =19e " 20e Size 6070 Evaporated Gorton’s Fillets Black Tea tall cans at. bot. conts, MATINEE 2 25 MILK memme 3 o 17e YUKON CLUB szt 34,2+ 23 ™. il BUTTER n PEACHES | i Syt -2- —ln_ ‘2_5_0 c;: :ifi FROM yp, 32C " FLOUR Bl COFFEES "h';.'M;.Z'll 8 0'CLOCK . . m. 17¢ SP"‘AGH ” RED CIRCLE . 19c BOKAR.....n 23 |2]_7_° BROOMS ouss. .. = 193¢ WALDORF mssve ~ 4rae17e P&G SOAP .. Jewlle RINSU R . okE. 210 PINEAPPLE »v= 2 .22 1 5e NUTLEY warearme 2 15e¢ rnuns o VEGETABLES Libby’s No.1cans These prices effective in D. C. and Suburbs until closs of business Saturday, Oct. 26, 1935.