Evening Star Newspaper, September 15, 1936, Page 21

« TO BE ORIGIN OF FLAMES Washi THREE-HOUR RLAZE RAZES CLUB HOUSE WITH $40.00 L0SS Washington Golf and Coun- try Club Fire Cause Is Undetermined. DINING ROOM BELIEVED Two Colored Firemen Are Rescued From Trap on Second Floor in Roof Collapse. The club house of the Washington Golf and Country Club in Arlington County, Va., which included President Woodrow Wilson among its members, was virtually destroyed early today by a stubborn fire that took more than three hours to extinguish. President | Harding also played golf there Xre-“ quentiy, although not a member. Of frame construction, the building was easily susceptible to the blaze. ‘When firemen arrived, the entire| structure was ablaze and flames were leaping from the roof. ‘The blaze was believed to have started in the center of the main dining room in the rear of the first floor. The cause was undetermined, but Arlington County firemen and club officials believe defective wiring was responsible. The damage was ex- pected to reach $40,000. The loss is completely covered by insurance. Two Kittens Perish. Two kittens, asleep in the club house kitchen, perished in the fire. There also was a near tragedy when two colored firemen, members of the Halls | Hill Company, were trapped on the| second floor at the height of the blaze | when a portion of the roof collapsed. ‘They were nearly overcome by smoke before they were rescued by John Clardy of the Arlington Fire Company. The two firemen, Milton Brackett,, chief of the Halls Hill Company, and | Robert Nickelson, assistant chief, were | * given first aid and returned to aid in | fighting the blaze. Another fireman, Robert Todd of | the Cherrydale company, was over- come by smoke. He was admitted to Emergency Hospital. Discovered at 1 A.M. ‘The fire was discovered shortly be- fore 1 am. by James S. Nicoll, 26, member of the club and finance ex- | aminer of the Public Works Ad- ministration, and Herbert Stevenson, 29, club bookkeeper, who were asleep in their rooms on the second floor. Nicoll said the odor of smoke awoke him, and he “raced 'to”Stevenson’s room, aroused him and then rushed to the first floor and telephoned for the fire apparatus. The men said at that time the walls between the din- ing room and lobby were ablaze. The Cherrydale and Halls Hill com- panies, those nearest the club, were first to arrive. Observing the serious- ness of the fire, calls were made for assistance. Virtually all of Arling- ton County's fire-fighting equipment » responded, as well as No. 5 Engine Company in Georgetown. Despite the volume of water poured into the building, it was nearly 2 hours before firemen got the blaze under control. Residents Aid Firemen. Residents of the vicinity assisted firemen in removing the personal be- longings of members from the locker rooms in the basement, where the fire did the least damage. Scores of bags of golf clubs were saved, and thrown into a pile in the rear of the club house. Many valuable golf trophies and autographed portraits, however, were lost. These included pictures of the late Presidents Wilson and Harding, Gen. John J. Pershing, cabinet officers and other prominent personalities who took part in the club's activities. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson still retains mem- bership. Nicoll and Stevenson were the only « persons in the club house when the fire started. Stevenson said activities at the club ended early last night, and he closed the club house shortly before 11:30 o'clock and went to bed. Aside from Nicoll and Stevenson, Fred W. Mugleston, manager of the club; George Biddle and Herbert Borkland, members, live at the club. All were away at the time of the fire Mugleston and Biddie were out for the evening. Borkland, an attor- ney for the Justice Department, left Saturday for a hunting trip in Can- ada. Clothing Destroyed. All clothing owned by the five men who lived at the club was destroyed. Btevenson and Nicoll fled in pajamas. Nicoll is said to have lost 25 pairs of shoes and 18 suits, as well as other personal belongings. The club records and funds, however, were in a fire- proof safe, which was intact when the blaze was extinguished. Mugleston said that, despite the damage caused by the fire, there would be no interruption in golfing activities, which include the club's championship tournament this week. The club has been located on its present site for about 35 years. It was purchased from the late Admiral Presley M. Rixey. Previously it was operated in Georgetown and another section of Arlington County. BILL TO BE STUDIED National Capital Group of Con- trollers Meets. ‘The National Capital Group of Controllers, holding its first Fall meet- ing last night, decided on a study of the Robinson-Patman anti-price dis- crimination bill as its major project for the year. Addresses on “taxation” were made by Adolph Wyle and on “Slow-moving Merchandise” by Gerald Jay_Lyon, both of Lansburgh & Bro. Committee appointments were made as follows by Harold C. Malone, pres- t: #gugnm Jesse Goodwin, Frank J. Brown, Jerry Lyons and William F. * Hisey; membership, E. 8. Wagoner, Harry Croonin and Dick Howard: publicity, Harry Malone, J. K. Al- thaus and J. Breen; taxation, Wylle Harry Malone and J. Goodwin, ~ ngton News Fire @he Foening Star WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1936. Scenes Penetrating the roof, flames turned night into day as they swept the club house of the Wash- ington Golf and Country Club, causing damage estimated at $40,000, The first question of most members—“How about my clubs?”—is answered here. Theo Payne | “points to a pile of golfing paraphernalia saved from the flames. 14070 LOSE JoBs INCENSUS BUREAU Temporary Workers Will Be Dropped at End of Month. About 140 temporary workers, en- gaged in the quinquennial census of agriculture, under the Census Bureau, will be dropped at the end of the month, and about 20 more will lose their jobs in October, Government offi- cials disclosed today as preparation went ahead for moving the Social Security Board into the old Civil Service Commission Building on F street in the next few weeks, replacing the census employes. The work of taking the agricultural census, which is done every five years, now is drawing to a close. Officials of the division of Government space control, National Park Service, under the direction of Clay J. Guthridge, expect to move the Social Security Board, which is expanding, into 1724 F street about November 1. Commerce Department officials ex- pect to move the manufacturers’ cen- sus group into the Commerce Build- ing around the end of this month. At the height of the agricultural census work there were 1,600 engaged on the job in Washington, 800 of them at 1724 F street and the bal- ance in the Commerce Department. The staff is now down to around 200 temporary workers. The work is ex- pected to run until the end of the present calendar year, officials ex- plained. FIRE HOUSE CONTRACT New Building to Be at Rhode Island and Brentwood. Contract for construction of a new fire truck house at Rhode Island ave- nue and Brentwood road northeast at a cost of $67,720 was awarded to- day by the District Commissioners to the John W. Hunt Co. ‘The new station will be known as Truck Company No. 15. Money for its construction was transferred by Congress from an earlier appropria- tion, which was intended for a fire engine house on upper Sixteenth street,-when that plan was abandoned. - # 10th Precinct Bids Farewell To “Sweetheart” of 20 Years| Incidental Discloses W edding Plans of Rose Tassi. A routine incidental on the books of the tenth police precinct yesterday bade farewell to Miss Rose Tassi, who has been known for 20 years as the “sweetheart” of the officers who have seen duty in the old station house during that time. Ever since she was 4 years old, Rose, who lives at 456 Park road, has | been a frequent visitor at the precinct house. As a child she played with the policemen there and during her ’teens she used to visit the station house every Halloween to show the men her costumes. Yesterday, however, she dropped in to inform her old friends that she is | going to be married, and this momen- tous event was recorded officially in an incidental entered on the station’s Journal. Invited to Reception. The incidental advised the entire station force that Rose will become | the bride of Leo Lombardi, Baltimore, next Tuesday at 3 p.m., in Sacred Heart Church, and that at 8 p.m. there will be a wedding reception at the Tassi residence. Every officer at the station was invited and every one able to go will accept. Pvt D. G. Washburn entered the incidental, claiming the news of Rose's impending loss to No. 10. Rose, interviewed on the porch of her home, recalled pleasant memories of her friendship with the policemen. “I had all of them over here on my 18th birthday anniversary,” Rose said. “Now they are coming to my wedding reception. They all are like brothers to me. They have looked after me ever since I was a little girl—everybody from the sergeant to the privates. I have run to them for years with every little thing—all my troubles and problems, and they al- ways helped ‘me.” Halloween Visits Recalled. Rose recalled vividly her Halloween visits to No. 10. “They had to watch me,” she asserted. “One time I went in dressed as Mae West. Another time I showed them my flapper cos- tume—and they sent me right home. “I ran out of invitations to the wedding,” Rose added, “and decided the best way to'invite all of No. 10 MISS ROSE TASSI. here was to get an invitation put on | the incidental.” 8She expressed appreciation of the friendship and consolation the offi- cers offered four years ago, when her mother died. Rose lives with her father, Gerardo Tassi, who is retired. 1,200 C. C. C. WORKERS TO BE BROUGHT EAST Group to Be Transferred From 9th Corps Area for Flood- Control Duties. 8y wne Assoctated Press. Acting Secretary Woodring of the War Department said after a confer- ence with President Roosevelt yester- day that 1,200 Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees would be transferred from the 9th Corps Area on the West Coast to work on flood-control proj- ects around Binghamton, N. Y. Woodring was . accompanied to the White House by Gen. Malin Craig, chief of staff. Most of the C. C. C. boys to be transferred from the' West, he said, were young men originally enrolled in New York ' He added' that two com- panies of .200 men each would - be taken from ‘three different locations at Washington Golf and Country Club John Nicoll (left) and Herbert Stevenson watch firemen battle the blaze that awoke them in their sleeping quarters, on the second floor of the club hou:;e. John Clardy of the Arling- ton fire company, who donned a gas mask and entered the . burning structure to rescue two other firefighters trapped on the second story.—Photos by Gus Chinn, Star Staff. AGTION DUE SOON ONONE-MAN CARS 'Public Utilities Commission to Dispose of Question in Near Future. While declining to forecast what action the Public Utilities Commission intends to take in regard to opera- tion of “one-man” street cars in the District, Acting Chairman Richmond B. Keech said today it had been de- cided to dispose of the question in the near future. The commission studied the issue yesterday, going carefully over the mass of testimony offered at the re- cent hearings, when the application of the Capital Transit Co. to increase the number of one-man cars resulted in a storm of public protest. Keech did not say when a formal order would be issued. Approval of the final routing plan submitted by the company, made necessary by the substitution of busses for street cars on Connecti- cut avenue and the Anacostia services, was agreed on by the commission. There was no doubt as to the com- mission’s course, as the six principal rerouting changes had been worked out in conferemce with its experts and officials of the transit company. It will be only a matter of days, Keech said, when the order putting the changes in effect will be issued. turned down the application of Mon- roe street citizens to to have the one-way bus route taken off that street in the northeast section. Twice before the commission had denied the application, and it was necessary to do so again, because the papers were not filed within 30 days after the issuance of the order. The commission’s order was an- nounced on August 6, and the new application for its reversal was not filed until September 8. Police Accommodate Man Who Demands Admission to Court John Revell, 42, unsuccessfully sought admittance to Police Court Building early today, but police said he would be accommodated soon. Hearing a rattling and banging on the front door in the dark hours along before the building opens, charwomen called police. Lieut. Walter Storm and four other officers arrested Revell, jailed him at the first precinct station and charged him with drunkenness. Revell, who gave an address less than a block from the court puilding, will get into court For the third time the commission | Aokeok ok 'SCHOOL BOARD DUE 0 AGT TOMORROW RIDESFORCRIPPLED PUPLLS CURTAILED Number May Not Receive Free Transportation to School This Year. Because of a change in policy ordered | by the Commissioners, it is probable that a number of crippled and other- wise handicapped children will not receive free transportation to the| Weightman and Magruder Schools this | year as they have in the past. ‘The subject will be taken up to-| morrow by the Board of Education. | ‘The change, which ordered the school authorities to proportion tne appropriation of $22,000 throughout the year, is believed the result of ex- haustion of funds before the end of the last school year. Last year the fund for transporta- tion of pupils was $1,500 less than was actually needed. The premature ex- | penditure of the appropriation came about when the Board of Education authorized Dr. Frank W. Ballou, super- intendent of schools, to reroute the special bus lines to include outlying territory and to continue the free service until funds were exhausted. The service cost in the neighbor- hood of $2,500 per month last year, and the board hoped to make up the | shortage in a deficiency appropria- | tion. The item of $1,500 was pend- | ing in the deficiency bill when the funds were exhausted, and for a few days transportation was halted. | Only those pupils who could be taken ! to school by their parents or friends | attended classes at Weightman and Magruder. Then an anonymous resident noti- fled Dr. Ballou he would pay the costs, and service was resumed and continued until the end of the regu- lar year. ‘The Commissioners, in ordering the fund prorated over the entire period, sought to circumvent the need for a deficiency appropriation next Spring. The change will affect a propor- tionately small number of children, and only those residing near the Dis- trict line. ) ELECTION PLANNED BY G. W. UNION| Candidates for President to Be| Chosen—Straw Vote to Be Held | on National Choices. Preparing for another year of moot legislative sessions, plans were made last night for the annual election cf the George Washington Union, when the Executive Committee of the union held its first meeting of the year on the G. W. U. campus. It was decided the organization will not participate actively in the national presidential campaign, but that straw vote on the candidates will be held | as a part of the union’s own election October 15 and 16. Voting machines are to be brought here from New York for that purpose, it was announced. Before the election, the union plans to hold a three-cornered debate on | some outstanding issue, not yet select- | ed, in the platforms of the two major | parties. The debate will be held October 8. Three party conventions—Left, Center and Right—will be held near the end of Sepfember to select candi- dates for president of the union. The results of the presidential race wiil determine the proportional member- ship of delegates to the union. Ac present, the Center party holds 55 seats, Leftists, 24, and Rightists, 23, the results of the elections last year. Robert Doolan is serving as tem- porary president of the union and directed the meeting of the Executive Committee last night. Eight members of the three parties were present. ELGEN BACK AT DESK Commission Chairman to Return to Work Permanently Soon. Riley E. Elgen, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, who has been on sick leave for nearly three months, returned to his desk today, but probably will not be in regular service for another week or two. He became seriously ill early in the Summer and underwent a major op- eration. He may consult with the other members of the commission on the petition of the Capital Transit Co. for an increase in the number of | | transfer ON APPOINTMENTS New Principal at Central High Among Officials to Be Named. TRANSFER OF TEACHERS ALSO TO BE CONSIDERED Meeting of Personnel Committee Expected to Precede Business Conference. A busy docket is awaiting the Board of Education tomorrow after- noon, when the members hope to conclude all pending business that must be disposed of before the schools open on Monday. The chief items have to do with the appointment of a new principal at Central High School and assistant principals at Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Cardozo High Schools. Action on these positions was de- ferred last week because Prof. Robert A. Maurer, chairman of the Personnel Committee, was absent. A meeting of his committee is expected to precede the board meeting tomorrow. Others to Be Selected. A new principal also is to be named for the Thomson School, to succeed Charles K. Finkel, who died last week, and a successor to Dr. Ellis Haworth as head of the department of sciences in the white high schools is to be chosen. Dr. week was named to the faculty of Wilson Teachers’ College. There was some indication that action on these two posts may be de- ferred to allow more time for appli- cations to be received, since the vacancies occured such a short time ago. The board also will be asked by Dr. Frank W. Ballou, superintendent, to approve an order transferring vocational school teachers from their present elementary school rating to Jjunior high school status. The higher rating was authorized at the last session of Congress. Transfers Are Sought. Authority also will be requested to elementary teachers and pupils from Cardozo High School to | the new James F. Bundy School, re- cently completed. Another change to be asked is the opening of junior high school classes in the John Quincy Adams School, Nineteenth and Cali- | fornia streets, as an adjunct of the nearby Powell Junior High School. This is planned to relieve congestion at Powell. Because of new regulations recently approved by the District Commis- | sioners a number of custodial em- | | ployes in the colored schools, now | holding the rating of engineers, will have to be demoted, because of their inability to meet the new standards | set up. Several other items of routine busi- ness also are to be presented. OFFICIALS RESUME | D. C. BUDGET STUDY May Reach Police and Fire De- partment Estimates Late Haworth last | Society and General PAGE B—1 CITY'S CRIME RATE FOUND APPALLING; WEAKNESSES GITED Church Federation Commit- tee Completes Survey of Situation, LAWS ON GAMBLING TERMED INADEQUATE Parole System Held Crippled by Lack of Funds—Police Head- quarters a “Barn.” Declaring the Capital’s crime record is “appalling” for “a relatively small city,” the Washington Federation of Churches' Committee on Civic Affairs today laid before the new Washington Criminal Justice Association a detailed survey of law enforcement conditions | here. Signed by Wilbur LaRoe, jr., chair- man of the commitiee and a member of the District Parole Board, the sur- | vey—in the form of a letter—discussed | police and court facilities, prison facii- ities, treatment of inebriates, gambling, | liquor policy, felonies, the status of colored people, the parole system and “conviction of innocent persons.” “The large number of serious crimes committed in Washington,” the com- | mittee asserted, “demands an inquiry | into the causes of crime.” In order of numerical importance, felonies during the last fiscal year were listed as follows: Automobile thefts, 12,909; housebreaking, 2,685, grand larceny, 1,424; robbery, 1,390; assault with & dangerous weapon, 375; mur- ders, 56, and manslaughter, 15. Report Gambling Flourishes. “Gambling,” the committee said, “is | a prolific source of crime in the Dis- trict. It has recently been the cause | of several murders. In spite of ef- | fective work by the police, the gam- bling flourishes. Probably in no other | city does the numbers racket operate | more successfully or with less inter- ference.” “The gambling laws are inadequate Some of the more prominent gamblers are still at large, and conducting | wholesale operations. Gamblers, boot- | leggers and other crooks usually work | to some extent in liaison, and the re- sult is a formidable aggregation of | criminals with which the authorities have not been able to cope success- | fully. And not the least difficulty is | the tendency on the part of many persons to regard gambling as not in- | compatible with the welfare of the community.” Pointing out that arrests for drunken | driving increased from 185 in the fiscal | year 1933 to 390 in the fiscal year 1936, the committee said: “But liquor has made an important contribution also to robbery and other crimes. While it was hoped that re- ‘penl would put an end to bootlegging. the amount of illegitimate liquor sold in Washington is enormous.” Commenting on the markedly higher proportion of crime among the colored people here, the committee blamed | this condition on the fact they are almost completely barred from the better Government jobs, that they live in less desirable sections and that poverty among them is intense. Tell of Discrimination. “Although the average Negro is no more criminally inclined than the in Day. The Commissioners today resume:i their serutiny of the 1938 budgetary average white person,” the committee said, “the discrimination against them must be removed” before crime among requests of their department heads, | them can be materially reduced. with some prospect they would reach the Police and Fire Department es- timates before the day ended. The requests of nearly all depart- ments are expected to be cut as the Commissioners strive to lessen the threat of a tax boost. being split into two parts. The primary | portion is to be limited to some $40,000,000, or within about $2,000,000 of revenues now expected during the next fiscal year. The supplementary budget is to contain additional items which could be provided if the Federal payment is boosted or taxes increased | Police Supt. E. W. Brown is asking an appropriation ‘of $4,112,835, more than $400,000 more than was appro- priated for this year. Charles E. Schrom is seeking $3.639,- 980, an increase of more than $1,100.- 000. Most of the requested increase for the Pire Department is proposed as a means of giving a standard work week of 44 hours to firemen. Cries of Brother, 7, Save Girl, 4, From Bathtub Drowning Boy, Just Over Tonsil Operation, Screams Hoarsely. Four-year-old Mary Davis, 3557 Sixth street, is alive today because | her 7-year-old brother, just over an operation for removal of his tonsils, managed to scream for help when he saw her submerged in a bathtub at their home yesterday. The brother, James, hadi't been able to talk following the opera- tion, but when he saw his baby sister under water in the tub yesterday after- noon he screamed hoarsely, attracting the attention of his mother, Mrs. James L. Davis, who was cooking dinner. Mrs. Davis ran to the bath room, took the baby out of the tub and administered artificial respiration. The rescue squad was called, and after working over Mary, the firemen took her to Casualty Hospital, where she was pronounced out of danger last night, although suffering from sub- mersion and shock. Mrs. Davis said she had placed the baby in the tub before going down- stairs to put some potatoes on the stove for dinner. A few moments later she heard the scream from the second floor. The budget is | Fire Chief ‘ While a parole system was set up | by law in 1932, the report said, Con- | gress “has never provided either suf- | ficient funds or adequate facilities for | the successful administration of the law. “There are factors of almost in- | superable difficulty now standing in | the way of successful operation of the |law,” the report continued. “Chief | among these is the mixture of young offenders with hardened criminals at | Lorton Reformatory which, coupled with the crowded condition, makes al- most impossible the kind of rehabili- | tation of young criminals which the | parole law contemplates. “For young prisoners, Lorton {s ‘nlmmt a training school for crime. |1t is not a reformatory in a real | sense, but a penitentiary. It is | physically impossible to use this over- icrowded institution, containing many confirmed criminals, as a school for the upbuilding of young offenders. “The parole staff, such as it s, i {on the pay roll of the reformatory | There is no psychiatrist at Lorto. to deal with the troublesome menta! cases. A parole Qoard is more or less helpless in mental cases without reliable psychiatric advice. ‘The | Parole Board has no money even for the return of a parolee who escapes from the District. An unpaid board is trying by the expenditure of much nervous energy to make up for th» deficiencies of the system, but it s |a difficult and, at times, very dis- couraging task.” Police Headquarters “Barn.” Police facilities were characterized as so “very inadequate” as to “affect the efficiency of the department.” The police headquarters building was de- scribed as “little better than an old barn.” The question of whether “poor peo- ple accused of crime are receiving adequate defense,” was raised as a subject deserving “careful study.” Terming itself “gratified” by the appointment of James M. Hepbron as acting director of the association, the committee concluded: “You will be encouraged, we think, by the fact that most, if not all, of our judges and public officials are honest. Most of them are trying very sincerely to do the best job they can.” The most serious difficulties grow out of poverty, insufficient laws and in- adequate funds and facilities for the proper administration of justice. “Our courts are often congested, with men waiting in crowded jails for a hearing sometimes for months. Given public officials who are competent and who have a desire to do right, there On August 25 Mrs. Davis lost her 7-month-old son, George Ralph Davis, one-man street cars before s decision on that question is announced. i when the infant died of heat prostra- tion in his carriage. 1 should be relentless effort to see that they obtain the necessary facilities and funds with which to do their work " "2 ;