The Seattle Star Newspaper, June 25, 1924, Page 1

Fire Me! —WILLIAM B. SEVERYNS You're Fired'He’s Chief! ‘Severyns Is Ousted Chief’s Defiance of Seattle Woman | Mayor Meets Rapid Fire Action; He’s Summarily Discharged WILLIAM Hen: B SEVERYNS Landes, fired acting mayor of ILICE CHIE was Wednesday by Mrs. Seattle. Inspector Joe T. Mason, Severyns’ second-in-command, was made chief of police. Mason at once assumed the same position that caused Se eryns’ discharge. He refused point blank to “fire 100 cop: insisting that he would not discharge a single man without “definite evidence of his guilt.” Mrs. Landes indicated that she may herself take over the reins and run the department. She said she would “see it thru.” Tuesday Mrs. Landes sent the chief a letter, ordering him to discharge every guilty police officer in his department and |report to her within 24 hours that these orders had been carried out. Tuesday evening the chief sent in his reply. It ignored the orders and, without mincing many words, practically invited Mrs.+Landes to take over the police department and run it. The letter also accused Mrs. Landes of entering into a “conspiracy,” for political reasons, and said that this “con- | spiracy” was the work of Mayor Brown's political enemies. Meanwhile, Chief Severyns Wednesday fired one cop. This | individual is Patrolman J. L. Bell. In view of the fact that | Bell’s Pay was cut off by the city auditing committee, Sev- | eryns’ action was not construed anywhere as being in com- | Pliance with Mayor Landes’ orders. iti | At 11 a. m. Wednesday Mrs, Landes announced she had dis- Edi ion |charged Chief Severyns summarily. Inspector Joe T. Mason | was named to fill the position. | Mrs. Severyns issued a statement in which she admired | Mrs. Landes, but expressed the opinion that “she can’t get | away with it.” Henry Dahlby, Mayor Brown's secretary, bitterly opposed his present chief's action. He has wired the mayor in New | York, but has received no reply. Opinion in the city appeared divided. Women, generally, were with Mrs. Landes, with the notable exception of her co-councilwoman, Mrs. Mrs. The Newspaper ‘With the Biggest Circulation in’ Washington The Seattle Star Entered as Second Clans MAtter May 2, 1999, at the Postoffice at Beattle, Wash.” under the Act of Congress March 3) 149. Per Year, by Mail, 18.66 Delegates Cheer Mc Adoo! tonight and Thursday; moderate westerly winds Temperature Last 24 Hours Maximum, 7 Minimum, 51. Today noon, 62. | Cloudy _ VoL. 26. NO. eS ftome Brew | Howdy, folks! Mayor Brown Chief’s Wife Thinks Mrs. | is supposed to be attending the democratic convention, but we | don’t believe it. He hasn't made a single speech “There is still hope for a shen didate, namely, some unknow heralded. man, who, with clo-| fguence, personality, and the power} ‘Be appeal to the plain people, may [ripeat the precedent of Bryan in 26"—Senator C. C. Dill. | AW gwan, senator, name your man. | be so modest? e-. | The democratic party will sweep country if its platform qpntains aoreeeting the return of the} a law "atuaine the importa- oe any more mah-jongg sets. * one _ HYMN OF THANKSGIVING the Se } J. Macmillan Brown, chancellor | University of New Zealand, is} 2 Beattie en route to Alaska to/ ly the Eskimo. Bet he’s trying | find out if it’s true that they cat | . men are born famous, some fame, and others get their Metures in Tanlac advertisements. 3 .- Sign om the Back of » Ford Powder River, Let ’er Buck! .. are now $.000.000 Fords in ‘United States, it is announced. G those things are mulitplying fast as jack-rabbits! one p Must Battle Tunney,” says ia in the Chicago News.. poor fish! Carp must dattle Tunney for heavyweight honors, the ap-| place to stage the fight) at Pool. | = | j f ‘% oe d then there was the Scotch- who, after playing golf for more 3 years, gave it up completely he Jost the ball.—Screenland. . ° ucing Miss Abigail Apple- Mee, author of ‘‘The Teamsters’ of Etiquette,” “Hints to June ” Phe Curse’ of » Liquor,’” to Cure the Hives,” etc., ete. ce will write exclu- iy for Home Brew. see fall Applesauce says that Mrs. order to fire 100 cops would © popular with women shop- it hie would reduce the num- w sEChief Severyns follows out Mrs. ‘order and removes 100 po- who will the fruit-stand haye to talk with on rainy . @, little copper, t you cry. be a dootlegger by ant dy. ° yt know: he ts a bad egg, mother,’ Li'l Gee Gee, blushing slightly, iow, Mother, that ix the reason I Afraid to drop him." i see A DELICATE COMPLIMENT K 8, of the schooner his new schooner in combinat and Helen ters. ae ‘8 two ington State druggists are their annual convention in n to Page 7, Column 4) OIL COMPANIES HIT HARD | Government Starts Sensa- tional Action ASHINGTON, June 25.—The/ federal government today filed sult in the federal district court Im Chicago agaitiat 50 of the ‘greatest oil refining companies, charging a weneral conspiracy among thent to’ violate the Sherman ant(-trust-taws. ‘The court Was asked by Attorney General Stane, who announced the suits here, to prevent and restrain the companies from what the govern- | ment charged was “combination and | conspiracy in restraint 6f trade and commerce” among the several states and with otra nations, in gasoline, hydro-carbon The suit was described at the de partment of justice as the greatest attack ever made by the federd! gov- ernment on trusts and monopolies. CHIEF DEFENDANT | COMPANIES LISTED Chief among the defendants in the| sult were the Standard Oil com- panies of Indiana, New Jersey, Call- fornia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louts- jana, New. York, Ohio, company, American Refining Co. and the Actna Refining Co. In bringing the suit Attorney/ General Stone, charging that all of | these great companies have com- bined to control the production of | gasoline by a pooling of asserted patent rights in violation of the Sherman anti-trust act, names as the primary defendants in the con- spiracy to organize’ and maintain the unlawful company, the Standard Oil companies of Indiana, New Jer- sey, Standard Development Co., Texas Co, and Gasoline Products Co. The government charged that, tho disclosures of the “cracking” proc- ess by which gasoline is made in patents issued 60 years ago and long since expired, and that, while there are now no valid patents cov- ering broadly the basic features of (Turn to Page 7, Column 4) Park Checks Come Faster, but Your elp Is HE checks for the new paign are increasing in size, folks, Lots 0’ tens and above in Auto club headquarters Wednesday nforhing. But not enough! Eyerybody’s for the park, it seems. run across anybody yet who doesn’t figure it’s a mighty fine thing to get Seattle and Tacoma pulling together— that it’s going to be a great boon to the folks to be able to picnic and camp and play country, tho just over the But there’s too much of a tendency to “wait until tomorrow” on the part of each man before he does “his That's not the way to put this thing over! Figure out how much you can afford to give to make yourself—and the other fellow—happy, and then’ haul bit.” out your checkbook pronto. Contributions from the small contributors—mostly the Dollar Men—had piled the total up to nearly $900 And dollar contributions, as you know, Now let’s see some of the folks who can afford to be more generous, make the total It’s a worthy cause—and a thing that Seattle and Tacoma will never regret. William Smart, a student at*the uniyersity, had the right. spirit when’ he wrote that money wasn't _s0 * (Turn to Page 7, Column 4)! Wednesday. count up mighty slowly. swell, the Texas; PLACE HIM IN BATTLE FOR VOTES Delegates. P, Abandon fe First Candidate For- mally Enters MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, New York, June 25.—William G. Me-! Adoo, the foremost of the leading) candidates for the presidential nomi. nation, was placed’ in nomination this afternoon and the first stage in the gfedt “elimination contest among McAdoo and the field was junder way. It was just 3:34 o'clock when Sen. | jatér Phelan glosed his long nomt-| nating speech with a strong appeal for the Californian, The sun was beating down -thru the skylights on an already well-baked ‘conyen- | tion, | The crowd had grown somewhat | i | | | | bored and listless under a jong and; talk-worn day. Then— Mention of McAdoo’s name! A. tremendous cheer as many) delegates rose shouting to their feet. | About the heads and the coats of scores of men and women were cowboy bandana handkerchiefs inj the colors of California. First out irito the alsies was the! California delegation, gaily begarbed, a beautiful bit of Western pageantry in the van. One after, another the delegations | |—those that are out for McAdoo- [swept out into the’ line } The hall and galleries were a| bediam of noise—shouts, cheers and! (Turn to Page 7, Column 3) i | | | Needed! State Salt Water park cam- the mail that arrived at the We haven't on the salt water out in the line from. town. DO IT TODAY! jare to appear with other residence | Aiaska- Yukon exposition bondy were ,|John Oliver, and other relatives In [placed againgt, thems Tho eyidenco CITY HOLDS UP LAND SALE |Madison Park Resiednts to| Protest Houseboat Menace | | ] Propesed public sale July 1 of a} strip of lake-front land between the | Kirkland ferry slip and the mouth| CN Union bay and the inter-lake cana), by which houseboat owners jesmas obtain permanent, joo ‘Was held up by Clark Savage, sta tand commissionér, Wednésday, fot | lowing request of the Selittic park | board . | Mra. Mae Avery Wilkins, acting} park board chairman, announced} that the board will survey the matter with a view to acquiring the land and using it for park purpones. Ac tion followed complaints by the Madi. son Park Improvement club and Mr. and) Mrs. Herbert A. Washington, 2301 43rd avo. N., residents In the district involved. RESIDENTS WANT VIEW FOR THEMSELVES Charges that the state land sale of | tracta within the city limits reat allow. houseboat owners to gain pe j manent control of the lake front ns become a menace to health, morals and the lake view of the residence} ownets prompted the decision by the} board. Mr. owners before the board, told ‘the | Star Wednesday that it is a matter, of municipal duty to acquire the} tracts, because of the untreated sew- age poured out by hgusedoats into} the. lake, ‘endangering lives and| health of bathers; and because of the | unsavory reputations of houseboats | and the fact that they would shut oft) waterseape views for which the! |nome owners built their houses in| |the district to the north of Madison park. The ‘tract involved, which would |be cut up into lots as small as 20- |foot frontage, Washington added, was given to the state as a grant by the city! at the time an issue of floated. CURRENT KILLS, Former Seattle. Man Elec- trocuted in Tacoma Richard Oliver, 27, former Rainier Valley and Seattle resident, was in- stantly killed, Tuesday at Tacoma when he was accidentally electro- cuted while at work ‘at the Todd dry flock at Tacoma. Oliver waa working on a ship when he accidentally touched a line carrying 110 volts of electric cur- rent. ‘His hand was wet and the slight contact was fatal. He is survived by a widow, two sons and a daughter, all residing in ‘Tacoma; ‘two brothers, Frank and Rainier Valley; where-he was widely known. MAY FREE FOUR Tacomans Held Bank Rob- bers Would Be Vindicated Unless new. evidence has been so: cured “by Sheriff... R. Conn of Skagit county during Prosecutor Warren Gilbert's absence to Spokane, the cases against the four Tacoma men charged with the robbery of the Anacortes State bank will be din: missed Wednesday or Thursday, Gil- bert has announced, “I have not had a chance to talk with the sheriff, yet," Gilbert sald ‘Wednesday, “If the matter stands an jt,was when’ L left, we will clear ‘| the mon,-of tho. charges that. were we did have was'not substantiated, ‘ Landes Will Fail in Fight} RS. W. B. BEVERY!S, wife | of the police chief, doesn't believe Mire. Landes, or any woman, can run a city “and get away with #,” she told The Star Wednesday “I really don't know very must about the situation,” she said “I ant, personally, a very domes tle woman and my bables’ take ups alt my time. 1 think a wom- an’s place is in the home—but then I've never belonged to clubs Or been interested in politics. “L. don’t think I've ever seen Mrs, Landes or heard her speak, but I believe she is a very fine wornan. “But I can't. see how any woman can be fitted to run a clty-—I don't befleve any woman can got away with it.” ‘AIRMEN MOVE ON Americans Make New Flight to Bay of Bengal CALCUTTA, India, Jane 25 —The | American round-the-world flyers ar. rived at Chittagong this afternoon, according to a dispateh here. The fiyers left Rangoon this morning #ha} apparently Just mised. Major Mac- | Laren, the British flyer attetiaine| @ roundthe gone nee . i Chittagong ts a seaport on the Bay | |and ix about 200 miles from Calcutta | by alr line SEEK BONUSES War Veterans’ Aid | The American feton will open a} | bonus bureau Thursday morning o! the sécond floor of the New Arctio | hotel, Third ave. and Jefferson. st.,} to ald ex-service men in making outy their bonus claims, it was announced | Wednesday. The first official war department | blanks have been received by the] legion for this work. Bnotgh bianks | are on hand to take care of all men | in Seattle. Experts acquainted with i the bonus provisions. will be in| charge of the bureau. McAdoo 's Camp Is Claiming Strength) NEW YORK, June 25.—Inroads | were claimed to have been made by | McAdoo leaders today into the ‘east- ern vote,” which has been staunch for Gov. Al Smith. In the last 36 hours McAdoo has made a net gain of 60 delegates, those in a position to speak for him around his head- quarters maintain. { Since Sunday the McAdoo. floor leadérs have been prying into the New England state delegations, gath- ering votes here and there. While the managers refuse to reveal the exact source of the new strength, most of it is understood to come from the New England delegations, Smith Chances Are Brighter, Claimed: NEW YORK, June 25.—Chances of Gov, Alfred E. Smith to capture the démocratic presidential nomina- tion appeared today to be the bright. est yet, his managers claim. Smith js said to have been in- formed by such leaders as Tom Tag- rart, George Brennan and Bd. Moore that if in the early balloting for can- didates he shows sufficient strength to warrant the belief that he can win, they will get'behind him, Until today Brennan was the only one of these three leaders to openly support | Smith. Ralston Baskets See New Chances NEW YORK, June 26.—Indiana today became so enthusiastic over the chances of Senator Samuel Ralston emerging as the eventual cholee of the democratic convention for pres! dent that the delegation ix urging the senator to come to New York, Senator Ralston is now on his farm near Lebanon, Ind. He has declared that he would not raise a hand in an offort to obtaln-the nomination, RUSH IN JAPS 1,700 to: Land-Here.on Six; Vessels Before July 1 Six passenger Moers, bringing ap- Proximately 1,700 Japanese, will ar- rive in” Seattle June a1 to be ndmittéd into this country, The first of the ‘fleet, the _ hama Maru, was to arrive Wed day, 'From now tntil the chosing | |day, the ships will arrive on an average of a Uttle better than one| jot Bengal, in the province of Bengal.| a day. According to estimates at the U. |immigration station here, the Yoko- jhama Maru has 93 Japs. | Hawaii Marv, with 346 Japanese, due either Wednesday, night dg morning. Friday will be is. or the biggest day, with four ships to dock. The Presi-| dna fakre! sweating Sb. wan LUCIO Opens Bureau for | dent Jackson,.with 240 immigrants, the: Kaga Maru, with 184, the Africa Maru, with 342, and the Mishima Maru, with 486, will all land in port that day. GIRLS MISSING ‘Chums Disappear With Man; Believed in Tacoma The police Wednesday were search- ing for two young girls, Teresa Stew- art, 17, and Phoebe Palmer, 16, who disappeared from their homes Mon- day. Mrs. Nevada Stewart, Vernon hotel, reported that her daughter Was seen entering an automobile} driven by a man and ‘t was later found she had told friends that She was going to Tacoma. Officers there are on the lookout for them, Labor Planks Are Urged by Gompers WASHINGTON, June 25. — Presi- dent Samuel Gompers, of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor, presented planks. in behalf of labor today be- fore the demécratic platform commit- tee, The federation demands the repeal of anti-trust legislation and the en- actment of legislation that will ‘‘pro- vide regulation in public interest and legalize economic organizations as well as the constructive activities of trade. associations’’ and scores ‘per: version of the injunctive process to apply to personal relations in indus. trial disputes,” The federation also demands pro- vision for full rehabilitation of dis- abled veterans. and opposes conscrip: tion except for defensive war, It asks for a constitutional amendment enabling congress by a two-thirds vote (o,re-enact any measure declared unconstitutional py the #upreme court. Now He Faces Two Charges on Booze Gus Johnson, whose trial liquor charges was set for Wednes- day morning in Federal Judge Will- jam H, Sawtelle'’s court, was “un- avoldably detained” ‘from appearing for trial on, time. When his case was called, it was disclosed that he had been arrested late Tuesday night on new liduor charges, and was in the immigration detention station awaiting arraignment, Johnson wax arrested Tuesday night at the Berkeiey hotel, 1405% Wrst ave, and was charged with . possession and sale of liquor, D 4 between now and! the final day for Orientals! The | under | tions here did not justify the Kathryn Miracle. | declaring that prohibition was unworkable, said that condi- Miracle, acting mayor’s action. Men, on the other hand, generally regarded Mrs. Landes’ | action as ill-advised, on the theory that the attendant pub- | licity would hurt the city. POLICE FIGHT HAD A PARALLEL WHEN GILL WAS SEATTLE’S MAYOR ie 1910 a situation somewhat similar to the present one ex- isted. Hi Gill was mayor of Seat- tle. He left the city on a pleas. ure trip aboard the yacht Rainier, || This yacht-was owned by the Se |] attle Brewing & Malting Co. Mix Wardall, president of the city council, became mayor. He tired Police Chief Charles, W. Wappenstein, Mike Powers was placed in eharge of the depart- ment On his return to the city Mayor Gill dismissed Powers and rein- stated “Wappy.” CHIEF OPPOSED Severyns’ Police Reign Has Been Marked by Trouble Chief of Police W. B. Severyns, now under the fire of Acting Mayor | Mrs. Bertha Landes, was appointed | ' ] iv his present position by Mayor E. J. Brown right after Brown took of- fice for the first time on June 5, 1922, Severyns is a graduate of the Uni- versity of Washington law school and practiced law in Seattle for some time, Later he was engaged in pri- vate investigation work, particularly distinguishing himself in several dif- ficult cases. He succetded Chief W. H. Searing | as head of the police department. Severyns met much opposition In the department from the start from several sources. This was caused, it is said, because many of the old-time men resented the appointment of an outsider as head of the department. Soon after Mayor Brown's re-elec- tion the chief and the mayor ap- proached a breaking point over the | reassignment of the downtown police patrol. During the controversy Chief Sev- eryns said he had installed a dicta- phone in his office and that he had listened in on “protest meetings” of some of his officers who were be- wailing the fact that a certain “gold braid” was getting the most of the “graft.” Severyns refused to reveal the name of the “gold braid.” The affair between Severyns and the mayor was settled after Capt. | Joe Mason had been made inspector to succeed Harry T, O'Brien, who Was absent on a sick leave, and Rob- ert Kernan, the chief's private in- yestigator.. had been discharged. ONE COP FIRED But His Pay Was Cut Off, in Any Case Patrolman J. L. Bell, who for the past few weeks has been the center of a controversy between the chief of police, the mayor andthe civil service commission, was discharged from the police department Wednes- day by Chief Severyns. Bell's discharge was based on the refusal of the city auditing commit- tee to issue him a paycheck for his services since he was reinstated a| week or so ago by the civil service board. The patrolman was first dis- charged over two years ago by W. H. Searing, then police thief. The charge was accepting a bribe from a motorist, Bell applied for reinstatement and then withdrew his action, In the face of many protests and a ruling by Tod, L. Kennedy, cor- poration counsel, that such action was Illegal, ihe civil service com- mission reinstated him. The’ city refused to pay Bell, In discharging Severyns, Mrs. Landes said she had no alternative, “because of the chief's evasive and jdeflant attitude,” and his refusal to obey her orders to dismiss every gullty police officer on the Seattle force. MAKES GRAVE CHARGES AGAINST SEVERYNS In her letter advising Severyns that be was dismissed, Mrs, Landes Places full responsibility for the graft and ‘corruption in the police depart- ment and the lawlessness in Seattle | vice and liquor ring, Mrs. “Larides charges, are daily and open visitors at police headquarters. Other men | known to be connected with law vio- lations are also in frequent confer- enge withthigh officials in the police department, she says. “Such fraternizing with the law- less is constantly tearing down the morale of your own department, fe Sl there may be left,” Mrs, Landes wrote Severyns. “JUST WHAT I EXPECTED,” SAYS. CHIEF “It’s just what I expected,” the chief said. He was first informed of his dismissal by The Star. “I will step out gracefully and then wait and see. I don’t know whether I'll ‘come back’ when Mayor Brown returns, or not: I don’t want to, much, but I may, if the mayor presses the point. “I have tried to do my duty here and it is unfair to change me with ie the things with which I've beea NEW CHIEF WON'T FIRE 100 COPS “I don’t expect to .be chief very long,” Police Chief Joe Mason told The Star, taking practically the same stand his former chief, now Mr. Sev- eryns, took in connection with the present trouble. “I will not fire 100 cops or any number of cops, just on hearsay,” the new chief said. “I will obey or- ders from the mayor, but I must have the evidence before I discharge an officer. If Mrs, Landes gives me the evidence I'll fire "em. “I'm not worrying about my job, anyway.” Inspector Mason joined the force August 20, 1902, As a patrolman. He was promoted to sergeant in 1902 and gained his first commission as a po- lice Heutenant in 1914, In 1919 he was made captain. and became in- spector this year by Chief Severyns when it was found that fliness would prevent Harry T. O'Brien, then in- spector, from continulng such ardu- ous duties. In a statement to The Star Mrs. Landes said she would go thru with her program to clean the “riff-raff” from the police department to the utmost of her ability and authority, Asked if she would later as- sume personal charge of the po- lice department, Mrs. Landes said: “While I do not relish the re- sponsibility of taking over the po- lice department, I have always found that if I have to do any- thing I can see it thru.” In her letter dismissing the chief the acting mayor accuses Severyns of inefficiency and vacillations. “It's the duty of the police to maintain a reasonable trend of law- ful conduct, and as this is vot being done by you, whether thru inability or unwillingness, it becomes neces- sary to place in charge of tho police jdepartment someone who can func- tion with greater effectiveness,” tho letter stated, “Tho records of your department do not shew any appreciable Inroad on the liquor ring, whose leading spirtt is a man who is, a frequent and apparently welcome visitor at polige’ headquarters. Other men known to be connected with law ylolation Of ‘almost every type are also in frequent conference with high officials in the police depart. thont. Such patronizing with the Jewless is constantly tearing down the more of your own department, (Turn to Page 8, Column @