The Seattle Star Newspaper, February 2, 1921, Page 1

0 OFFER TO HANG SCHMITT On the Issue of Americanism There Can Be No Compromise Weather Tonight and Thursday, rain; southeasterly winds, shifting to south gale. ture Last 24 Hours % 48, Minimum, 40, Today noon, 48. = Bee WASH., WEDNESDAY, F JUDGE BEN LINDSEY T SBRUARY 2, 1921. The Seattle Star nd Class Matter May 3, 1899, at the Postoffice at Seattle, Wash, under the Act of Congress March 3, 1879. Per Year, by Mall, §5 to $9 TH EW "A ire EDITION " es TWO CENTS IN SEATTLE REFUSES TO BETRAY BOY’S CONFIDENCE the Carlines Were Bought. well Was at the Conference le Rendered a Favorable Opinion. No Thought Then of Objections. hata said the wise old man, “is better than foresight. _ he conference at which the city made its proposition to the traction system for $15,000,000 bonds at 5 per cent interest took place in the mayor's office on Friday, September 6, 1918. It began at 11 a. m. | Those present were: A. M. Taylor, of Philadelphia, chair- of the passenger transportation and housing division the United States shipping board, emergency fleet cor- Monte Apple, attorney for the same board; Hanson; CORPORAL COUNSEL HUGH M. CALD- ; Superintendent of City Utilities Thomas F. Mur- 3 members of the city council; A. W. Leonard, presi- the Puget Sound Traction Co.; F. S. Pratt, chair- the board of directors of the Puget Sound Trac- m the proposition was finally agreed upon, Corpora- Caldwell, now mayor, lost no time in render-| that the mayor and city council had a e system without calling for a vote of the erely indicates Caldwell’s frame of mind ‘S$ ADVICE AGAINST NOT TAKEN “he-uncritical of the deal, : h it. volunteered legal advice that the ed up with- could be it consulting the peonle. Caldwell’ advice in this re-} *t was not taken, however. A vote of the people Had Caldwell, who sat in the conferences at which the i problems were being discussed, even hinted that) ie city was being bunkoed, it is a safe assumption that ie deal would never have gone thru. s ; ( sli is not the shrinking violet who is too timid to if be heard. That he did not protest the deal when he was so intimately involved in its prelimi- is significant. ember 7, 1918, the day ee eee mentioned, one newspaper gave well’s opinion the caption: “City Has Legal Right to Buy Cars, Caldwell.” IN WHICH CALDWELL VE OPINION ON PURCHASE IN 1918 article follows: ; Peace Corporation Counsel Hugh M. Caldwell this on gave an opinion that the mayor and city council the legal right to buy the Puget Sound Traction, Light ower company’s street railway tem without ref- ce to a vote of the people. His opinion follows: state legisiature, by an act passed in its present form in 1913, guthorized any incorporated city to construct acquire, add to, maintain, operate, or lease cable, fallways within the limits of such city, with full authority to regu- ‘and control the use and operation thereof; and to fix, alter, regulate Control the fares and rates to be charged thereon. This act also provides that whenever the city council shall purchase, or construct any such p&blic utility or make any additions or nts thereto, or exten we thereof, that the council shall provide by ordinance which shall specify and adopt the system or plan 4 and declare the estimated cost thereof. "It is then provided that this shall be submitted for ratification or a to the qualified voters of the city; provided, however, that whe Charter of the city, heretofore or hereafter adop by t peopl the city council to provide by ordinance for acquiring, opening ‘operating any of the public utilities mentioned for which no general dness ix to be incurred, then it need not be submitted for the fifieation or rejection of the voters. » “Since the charter of the city of Seattle, in Art. IV., Sec. 18, sub fifteenth, by amendment adopted in March, 1912, contains the ry authority specified in the statute, the city council of Seattle the authority to issue utility bonds payable solely out of the earn ps of the utility without submitting the same to a vote of the people ‘This construction of the statute and charter was upheld by the court in two test cases presented to it in 1917 by Corporation i Caldwell and Assistant Corporation Counsel Robert H. Evans the case of Shorts vs. Seattle, 95 Wash., 531 and 538. In these ca supreme court uses this language We are convinced that «ince the city charter specifically authorizes eity council by ordinance to acquire, own and operate a water rys such as the city long has had, the city has power, under the plain of the statute, to pro by ordinance for making additions, meions and betterments to that system, and to issue and nell bonds le solely from the income to» be derived from the system to pay the same without submitting either proposition to popular vote for ition.” "The same statute above referred to authorizes the acquisition and ition of water works ae well as street railways, and the decision is sive on the right of the city to issue utility bonds payable solely of the earnings of the utility without submitting the same to a vote people. "It has been the practice of the city, In lewuing these bonds, to guar that it will charge an amount sufficient to pay the interest and ¢ipal when due, as provided in the bonds. There can be little doubt whould the city fail to charge amount sufficient to pay the t upon the bonds and provide a sinking fund for their retirement this could be enforced by an appropriate act by or on behalf of bondholders.’ ” The same day, Caldwell was quoted also as saying there no legal obstacles in the road of the traction system urchase. iy electric and an { The bondholders would have thoro protection.” “If holders of the utility bonds found that they were | getting their earnings the courts to have the ’ he added, “they could resort fare raised above five cents. Did Mayor Caldw He did. id he approve it at that time? ich? ll know of the $15,000,000 proposition? Or did he protest it? condemn and) am | BECAUSE HE | PLAYS FAIR Courts of Land Uphold) Charge That Noted Friend | of Boys Is in Contempt | }, MDITOR's Lindeey tn refused to pay the alternative $668 fine | + let his boy friends pay it for him Following is bis own presentation of the j cane | eee | BY JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY (Copyrigt’, 1971, by the United Presa) | DENVER, Coto. Feb. 2—1 would | rather go to jail and rot in the ceil | than to betray the confidence of a| | child, ‘The law in the case in which T have been adjudged in contempt of court and sentenced to pay a fine of $600 or spend a year in jail, gives but | two alternatives—to betray such a confidence or pay the penalty. MAKES HIS CHOICE; | WILL GO TO JAIL. I have made the choice and wi go to jail. And if the same situation} should ever arine again, I would not | hoaltate to make the same cholce, In the midst of our work in the ju- venile court here, there came a myn. terious murder, to have kilied her by by suddenly appearing and declaring | that he, not hin mother, had com-| | mitted the ortme, Z They sald the boy war « Har. They brought him to me, as an expert tn} truth and falsehood, I got the truth) out of that boy by lifting the spell of | fear—promising I would not betray | his confidence, But a well-meaning | prosecuting attorney, in hin zeal to prosecute the mother, called me as ® witnesg to impeach the testimony of the bey, which had acquitted the mother | I refused to betray the boy's con- fidence. I could only claim the privi lige I had contended for-—that this | confidence should be respected by the courts in the Interest of truth and Justice. WAS FOU OF CONTE: ‘The lower court diangreed with me. I was found guilty of contempt. On appeal to the superior court of Colo- | rado, four out of seven judges held that technically I shoyld have be trayed the child, Three, in dissent ing, held ag I contended. | The supreme court of the United | States, I understand, has held, upont some technicality, that it could not Teview the decision, and so I have failed in my efforts to have a dect sion by an unbiased and unprejudiced | court upon the merits of this great principle | I can say this much now—only two | | people in the world know who killed | that man—the boy and mynelf, | mother accused of the murder does not know, Make out of thig what you will | Successful work in juvenile courts depends not so much upon statutes and law books as upon the under-/ stand of child fe. I can aay that In more than 20; years nile judge, T have had | children lie tome, | D GUILTY Pr During my work during the war in courts in foreign countries, a com }mon expression was: “These chil Iren are such extraordinary Han | They are not lars, The courts| were simply stupid institutions that | nd perjury. They did| not know how to lift the spell of fear that was the cause of the lies So, on behalf of the children of this country, I want to may that the charges that children are naturally liars is false and foul. It is the courts and society, with all their stu pidities, that are responsible for most lies. It is the spell of fear PLEADS FOR * WIFE, FAMILY Saying that his wife and children | will be forced onto charity unless lhe is allowed to continue his pro |feasion pending disposition of charges of practicing dentistry withgut a license, Dr. Leon Nobie| has Wiled in federal court complaint | in equity against Malcolm Douglas, prosecuting attorney, and his dep-| Bert ©. Juicy Pies Stolen From Pie Co. Here Several juicy pies were stolen from the Case & Case Ple Co., 614) Fifth ave. they reported to police Monday night. promoted lies | uty; one SLAYER OF FOUR MEN ON WAY TO THE GALLOWS John Schmitt had a smile on his face today when Sheriff Starwich took him to the train| WORLD LEADERS Urges Calling of Disarma- ment Conference WASHINGTON, Feb. stroyed unless the The | Kes the leadership in sarmament conference to prevent fu Gen. John J Pershing told the house naval affairs committee to “The nation that declines to come into the conference should be viewed Pershing said. re wars, with suspicion. T-GENT SUGAR SOON TO COME NEW YORK, 2.—Beven sugar for the tw wholesale dealers here declared to- day The approach to pre-war prices fol lowed» wholesale reductions an, nounced by the Federal company, the an Sugar refining, Pennayl Sugar refining, Revere and 1 companies. The prices ranged from 6.85 set by the Federal to 7% announced by the Pennsyl vania comy PNTER ny WOMAN PROWLER prowler—like She lifted two Enter the woman wise exit the same. | umbrellas from the porch of Mrs at 3406 vanished. nw 7th ave HELD UP BY LONE GUNMAN A lone gunman held Beebe, 3745 Conrad way, te, two blocks south of the Lake Burien carline, at 10 p. m. Tues day night, and robbed him of $60 The robber carried a nickelplated gun. B. Harris’ home 8.9 Monday and up FF, at River 2.—Civillza- | \for Walla Walla, where he will be hanged on April 1 for the murder of three Seattle po-| \licemen.—Photo by Price and Carter. NAVAL BUILDING This Sum Favorably Re- ported to the House WASHINGTON, Feb. 2—Appro- priations of $90,000,000 to continue the building of naval dreadnaughts and other armament during the next | fiscal 3 ommended in the | naval appropriation bill reported to/ r were the house today. | ‘The total carried by the bill ts | $295,604,444.23. Compared with ap-| propriations for the current year, it we of $37,775,129.77, and is! 4 leas than was request- 8 a dec: $284,011 | ea by navy officials, The public works appropriations for the Pacific naval yards follow: Mare Island, California, $325,000 Puget sound, Washington, $1,4¢ Pearl H r, Hawaii, $1,205,000. Appropriations for ammunition | depots were | | Mare Isiand, $100,000; Pearl Har bor, $177,000; Puget sound, $26,000. At San Diego appropriations of $500,000 were allowed for marine | barracks, $200,000 for additional con. | struction work on the naval base und $1,000,000 for the training station | ther b \$550 Diamond Ring | Is Lost by Woman A diamond ring, valued gt $550, was lost by the wife of Don C, Moore operator of a lunch counter at 1120 Segond ave. on Second ave. Mon | day, he reported to. police. \Bike Stolen in _ | Shadow of Station While delivering a message to lthe chief of police, Leonard Stave, | Western Union messenger of 7848 26th ave. N. Wy left his bicyole in -000; | quest of $1,150,000 for a naval A fuel base at San Diego was not al low | | | lice: front of police station Monday night. It was stolen, PERSHING WARNS $90,000,000 FORIGIVE NO MORE DRAFT NUMBERS, Adjutant General Fears It} Would Let in Frauds The adjutant general announced Wednesday that no further informa tion will be given out from his office regarding the order and serial num bers of the draft, as asked for on the bonus blanks ‘This change in policy from Tues: | day was the result of a conference with the county and state auditors, | at which it was pointed out by Gen. | Thompson that by giving out the in formation from the adjutant gener. al's office, aid might be given to per. sons making fraudulent claims. POLICE BENEFIT DANCES TONIGHT Dreamland rink and Eagles hall will be the scenes of two dances to. night for the benefit of the slain po. 8 families, Both start at 9 o'clock. Admission to the Hippodrome will be 50 cents and to the Eagles hall 55 cents, STATE RESTS IN PEETE HEARING LBS, Cal,, Feb, 2.—The © against Louise L. Peete, charged with the murder of Jacob C. Denton, was neluded this morning at 10:55 o'clock ROBBERS FLEE WITH $75,000 CHICAGO, Feb. 2.—Police rifle squads searched Chicago and its out skirts today for trace of bandits who yesterday held up and robbed the Ken | that wood Trust & Savings bank of $75,- 000, Describes Long Series of Robberies in Seattle; Recognizes His Victims BY HAL ARMSTRONG Before John Schmitt, four-time killer, left the county jail, still smiling, at 9 o'clock this morning on the last leg of his journey to the gallows at Walla Walla, two Se eattle men proffered their services as hangmen. Frank Kline, a deputy in sheriff's office, was first to volunteer. mething He has hanged 12 men, in Detective John Majewski, at breakfast at the Boulevard — cafe, said he understood Penitentiary Warden Henry of an expert with the noose. Chicago. Drumm was opposed to capi- tal punishment, “I'm going over to see Schmitt hanged,” he said. “If | Drumm doesn’t like to hang him, I'll be glad to do it.” SLAYER EATS HEARTY BREAKFAST An hour later at the jail Schmitt breakfasted heartily. A tray was taken to his cell, laden with food? He cleaned it, voracijously. While this was going on, a jafler and another man approached the cell. The other man was C. A. Lin coin, former collector for the Standard O11 Co, ‘to see you, Schmitt,” sang out the jailer. Schmitt peered out between the bars, and grinned broadly. “Hello, Mr. Lincoln,” he said cheerily, “Good morning. Is it rain- ing outside?” “Yes,” replied coln. “You ree. ognize me?” “Sure,” the condemned man laugh- ed. “How's the ofl business?” SAYS HE'D RECOGNIZE VOICE ANYWHERE Pretty good,” was the answer. | “As soon as I read in the papers | about you, I figured you must _be the man who held me up twice. I know it now; I'd recognize your voice anywher At 8:30 o'clock two traveling guards from the penitentiary, Walter Coates and John Collins, arrived. They had picked up three prisoners bound for the penitentiary from Hoquiam and Aberdeen. These three and a boy, Ray Bennett, an alleged | auto thief, arrested for the sheriff at! Walla Walla at Kent yesterday, ac- | companied Schmitt when he left the} jail. Schmitt was handcuffed to Sheriff Matt Starwich. | The party was taken to the King st, station in two autos and boarded | the Northern Pacific for Walla, just before it pulled out of fie depot at 9:15. Schmitt sat beside Ed Camp, one of the three prisoners from South: | west Washington, their wrists hand: | cuffed together, James Hall and Ar-| thur Hanson, two other prisoners, | sat handcuffed facing them, Star. wich sat in the seat across the aisle, beside Ray Bennett, and immediately back of Schmitt, sat the two traveling guards. SCHMITT'S FACE GOES WHITE AS HE LEA A friend cauttoned Starwich: “Better not take any chances with fellow Schmitt, He'll take a chance if he gets it, He's desperate. Don't forget!” “Well,” Starwich's eyes twinkled; “I'm pretty nervous. I never took a prisoner anywhere before.” A crowd of spectators who had fol-| lowed the party into the coach to get | a glimpse of the killer laughed heart ily at Starwich’s ironical jest, As the train started, two newspa- per reporters told Schmitt good-bye, and, for the first time since his ar-| rest, his face went ghastly white, his smile vanished and his jaw twitched to the side. “COMES CLEAN” BEFORE HIS DEPARTURE Before his departura, Schmitt came clean,” baring his criminal record from its beginning, three years ago. He confessed that the killing of Jimmy O'Brien and the mortal wounding of two other policemen the evening of January 21, was not the first time his automatic had snuffed out human life, It was Schmitt who shot out the right eye of F. H. Schultz in Olym pia, on De The man who, with a confederate, held up the Coliseum theatre here on August 18 last, bound Superintend- ent Ben Larson and Manager Frank Steffy to chairs in the theatre office and escaped with $500 taken from the safe, was Schmitt, FEAR OF RECOGNITION ‘AUSED HIM TO SLAY It was because he did not care to be arrested and run the risk of being identified as Schultz's slayer that he f | shot Policemen W. T, Angle and Neil! the civil department of the Kline is soi Schmitt Gives} Some Advice to} Boys’ Parents John Schmitt sat writing in his “What Is your advice to boys | In the envelope Malone found the following; in Schmitt's handwriting and signed | weandegh the condemned bandit: g r i J : oy i ifs Ul i F if | : if teak is i H i z { | elt aH il iti t Lil if i i fl i 4 iad 2 = e . 5 z ap than» i E rf & would mand s a { the ! Walla |( rather limited. McMillan when they stopped him on Broadway a few nights ago, and later the same evening put a bullet thru Detective O'Brien's heart. Schmitt is the lone highwayman who has terrorized oil station tenders and collectors here and in Tacoma, Portland and Spokane for the last two years. He held up and robbed every oil station in Portland and Spokane that he could find, and some of them twice. Hunger turned him crooked. He had gone without food for three days |before he j“went bad” in Aberdeen three years ago, threw a rock thru a hardware store window and snatch: ed out two automatic pistols, One of these he sold to a pawn broker for $8. With part of the money he bought ammunition for the other gun. The remainder went for food. He went into a pool hall in Kelso early one morning to get $$ changed. The proprietor had just opened the doors. He reached under the coun- ter, pulled out a sack of money, changed Schmitt's bill and Schmitt went out. When his $5 was gone he returned at night. He kicked in the door, went to the place where he knew the money sack was hidden, and took it. That was his last burglary. He turned highwayman after that, Bigger towns attracted him. He went to Portland. Systematically, he set out to mop up oil stations. He had many narrow escapes, but man- aged, with care, to avoid actual murder. “Portland policemen,” he said, “did what I told them. One chased me one night, I had just stuck up an oil station. I was walking off down the street when I turned around, and close behind me saw a row of brass buttons coming after me. “I dodged behind a telephone pole and waited. The policeman came up and was passing the pole, looking this way and that, I poked my gun out and said: “Reach for the moon? “He reached. I took his rod away and told him; “‘Now, you just keep on going! (Turn to Page 2, Column 9 O SERVE JAIL TERM: [BANDIT ADMITS — FOURTH MURDER; | ~ ON WAY TO PEN |