Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 352, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 31, 1938 Page: 1 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.
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KIDNAPERS GET RANSOM, FAIL TO RETURN
• I •
FBI Army
Hunts Killer
Of Peter
Levine
NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. —
(UP)—A small army of G-men
are at work today to wipe off
the books the last of the major
unsolved child-snatching crimes
—the kidnaping of 12-year-old
Peter Levine, whose headless
body was fished out of the mur-
ky waters of Long Island Sound
Monday night.
The pitiful fragments of the
body of the once-happy school
bov—the head missing, appar-
ently garroted by a copper wire
twisted around the torso; both
feet, one arm and part of the
other gone—were buried yester-
day by the grief-stricken par-
ents.
The case was officially listed
as a "homicide" in police rec-
ords, and the manhunt for the
boy's murderers began.
Examine Vital Organs
The vital organs were remov-
ed from the body and taken
to Grassland hospital at East
View, N. Y., where Dr. Amos
Squire, the county medical ex-
aminer, will have them analyz-
ed to determine, if possible,
whether Peter was dead or alive
when he was thrown into Long
Island Sound.
Although Dr. Squire wrote
"asphyxiation by drowning" on
the death certificate as the
"cause of death," he put a ques-
tion mark after it, and said he
is not at all sure the boy was
not strangled before he was
tossed into the water.
"1 never knew of a case where
a head was severed by decom-
position," he said.
Connection With Mattson Case?
Although federal agents stu-
died possible similarities in the
kidnaping of young Levine
and the kidnaping of the Matt-
son boy, there seemed little
likelihood that there was any
connection.
Peter disappeared after leav-
ing a young schoolmate on the
afternoon of Feb. 24, supposed-
ly to run across the street and
buy a dime's worth of candy.
The Mattson boy was playing in
his home when a stranger walk-
ed into the room, grabbed the
boy and made off with him
while screaming playmates yell-
ed at him.
:< Victims Murdered
In three out of six cases the
victim was murdered. In the
other three cases—the kidnap-
ing of nine-year-old George Wey-
erhaeuser of Tacoma, Wash., six-
year-old June Robles of Tucson,
Ariz., and 10-year-old Peggy Mc-
Math of Harwichport, Mass. —
the kidnaper was found or the
case was "closed" to the satis-
faction of the federal agents.
The effort to track down the
killer of young Levine is regard-
ed as extremely important for
this reason. The G-men want to
deal out the same lesson to child-
killers that they dealt to such
gun-men as John Dillinger and
"Pretty Boy" Floyd when the
FBI was winning its spurs as a
crime-breaking institution.
o
Troops Close In
On Gen. Cedillo
SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico—
(UP) — Government troops to-
day tightened a circle around
the region between El Zenzontle
ranch and EI Salto in the brush-
covered hills where Gen. Satur-
nino Cedillo was believed to be
hiding with a small band of re-
bel followers.
Army planes flew low over
the area but did not sight the
fugitive one-time San Luis
Potosi "war lord" whose "ridi-
culous rebellion," as the govern-
ment described his uprising was
regarded as ended.
The railway union announced
that Cedillo had been captured,
but the war department said
the report was "premature."
WEATHER
Yesterday's maximum of 102
degrees set the record high
temperature for the season. Low
this morning was 69 and the
mercury was standing at 90 de-
grees at 3 o'clock this afternoon.
Partly cloudy tonight, Wednes-
day continued warm.
WEST TEXAS —Partly
cloudy tonight and Wednesday;
warmer in north portion Wed-
nesday.
EAST TEXAS — Partly
cloudy, local thundershowers in
interior, except in extreme west
portion; cooler in northwest por
tion tonight.. Wednesday partly
cloudy, local thundershowers in
northeast portion.
M exicanQets Death In Murder Of 12-Y ear-Old Lass
Speedy Trial for
Man Accused of
Ravishing Girl
Negro Electrocuted for
Slaying of Marion County
Sheriff in March, 1937
FLORESVILLE. Tex. —(UP)
—Jesus Herrera, 48, faced death
in the electric chair today, just
10 days after he was arrested
and accused of the rape and
murder of 12-year-old Hope Ell-
condo, Lavernia farm girl.
A district court jury found
Herrera guilty of the murder
last night and assessed the
death penalty.
Sweetwater Reporter
Fear for Safety
Of 5-Year-01d
Fla. Youth Grows
Father Pays $10,000
For Return by Noon;
Angry Mob Awaits Word
VOL. XXXX
SWEETWATER, TEXAS TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1938
NUMBER 332
NEGRO DIES ON
HIS 41ST BIRTHDAY
HUNTSVILLE — (UP) —
Charley Brookes, negro, died in
the electric chair of the Texas
penitentiary today on his 41st
birthday.
Brookes was convicted of the
murder of Sheriff Alex Brown
of Marion county. Brown was
killed March 0, 1937, as he tried
to capture Brookes, who had
broken jail. Brookes had been
jailed on a charge of stealing
10 cents from a negro girl.
o
Home-Making
Club Formed
Twenty-eight girls and five
boys enrolled at 9:30 o'clock
this morning in the Newman
high school home-making club,
organized for the summer.
Various summer projects were
studied and discussed including
socials, field trips and club ses-
sions.
Miss Lillian Fry was elected
president; Miss Mildred Howe,
vice-president; Miss Dorothy
Gardner, secretary and treasur-
er: and Miss Allie B. Carter, re-
porter.
The club is to meet Wednes-
day afternoon at the swimming
pool for a swim and picnic after
which members are to have a
skating party.
'First Southerner*
si
300,000 Pounds
Of Wool Await
Federal Grader
No More to Be Sold at
Local Warehouse Until
Present Lot Classed
Federal graders are expected
in Sweetwater this week to make
final inspection of samples of
approximately 300,000 pounds
of area wool in the warehouses
of the Central Wool & Mohair
company, Ollie Cox, manager,
said today. No more fleece will
be sold until the lot is graded,
Cox says. The last sale of 28,-
000 pounds brought 18 and 19
cents, slightly under the top
prevailing here.
All records and receipts nec-
essary for making the federal
loans have bec\n received in
Sweetwater, Cox says. He be-
lieves that growers will be able
to get a top of 20 cents loan on
wool from this area. Under the
federal loan plan, this practical-
ly amounts to an insurance in
the amount of the loan. The
grower is assured 20 cents if his
wool grades that high, and if it
sells higher any time during the
year ending May 31, 1939, the
grower gets the benefit of the
better market.
Loan Is Insurance
Should the price go lower,
the grower does not stand the
loss. Thus, says Cox, the grow-
er is assured the loan value ac-
cording to grade, and has the en
tire year to seek a better mar-
ket. Wool is not sold without
specific consent of the grower,
unless the warehouse manager
has other instructions. Should
it not be sold in the speficied
time, it goes into what is virtual-
ly a government "pool."
Efforts are being made, it is
reported, by wool buyers to
peg the price at the government
loan figure. Cox says this can
be prevented if the grower will
Dr. Charles Whitefield Welch,
Louisville, was elected modera-
tor of the 150th general as-
sembly of the Presbyterian
church, U. S. A. He is the first
Southerner in 46 years to be
so honored.
Increased Taxation For Relief
Funds Opposed By Citizens
not get
wool.
in a hurry to sell his
Scout Tests Are .
To Be Continued
Examination of 12 Boy Scouts
for advancement and merit bad-
ges conducted Monday afternoon
will be continued at 5 o'clock
this afternoon in Scout head-
quarters, it was announced by
Charles E. Paxton when the
board of review was unable to
complete the review and court
of honor scheduled Monday.
Paxton, president of the Buf-
falo Trial Council, presided in
the absence of R. S. Covey, chair-
man, who was called out of the
city on business.
Youth Charged
With Bike Theft
Charges of theft were filed by
County Attorney E. L. Duncan
in county court against Adron
Ballard, a Juvenile, on complaint
signed by Captain Lester Tur
ner of the city police. The boy
is alleged to have stolen a bicy-
cle belonging to Alton Bard-
well. He was arrested in Jacks
boro and will be brought here by
sheriff officers.
Ross-Armstrong
Fight Tonight
NEW YORK — (UP) — Bar-
ney Ross, defending champion
from Chicago, held an 8 1-2
pound weight advantage today
over Henry Armstrong, negro
challenger from St. Louis, who
will fight Ross for the welter-
weight title in Madison Square
Garden tonight.
At noon today Ross weighed
in at 142; Armstrong at 133 1-2.
o
New Speed Record
Set For Airplanes
OAKLAND AIRPORT — (UP)
—Earl Ortma , Los Angeles rac-
ing pilot, today possesses a 3-
foot gold cup and is $5,000 rich-
er. He edged out Col. Roscoe
Turner, Los Angeles, yesterday,
in the 150-mile Golden gate ex-
postion trophy race with an
average of 265.539 miles an
hour, an unofficial world's re-
cord, in the closing race of the
Pacific international air races
here.
Ortman spun his tiny, power-
ful Marcoux Bromberg ship
around the 8 1-3 mile closed
course skilfully and finished a
bare 100 feet ahead of Turner
after a neck-and-neck duel.
. o
Three Sections Of
Land Transferred
A real estate transfer record-
ed in the office of the county
clerk Monday involved three
sections of farm and ranch land
on the Nolan-Taylor county
line in Nolan county. It was
purchased by S. L. Bacon of
Abilene from George W. Mur-
fee, at a reported price of $14,-
081.25 for the more than 1,900
acres. It is understood that Ba-
con, who with his brother is
engaged in the manufacture of
candy in Abilene, plans to move
his family to the newly acquir-
ed ranch home.
Citizens, who met with the
county commissioners and relief
board last night to devise ways
of financing the local end of
federal work relief projects,
frowned on a tax increase and
appointed a committee of 15 to
work with the commissioners
to study methods of financing.
The session was called when
Judge Charles W. Lewis, chair-
man of the commissioners court,
reported that the county funds
for local aid have become ex-
hausted. Charles E. Paxton,
chairman of the county relief
board, called the meeting at
the request of Judge Lewis.
The problem is to raise about
$5,000 yearly in Nolan county,
for which the federal work re-
lief checks produce for the coun-
ty approximately SI 1,000 month-
ly.
Proposed Advanced
It was bought out that to!
raise $5,000 for local purposes,
it will be necessary to boost the
tax collection by $15,000, inas-l
much as the county legally can
raetain only one-third, the rest j
going to the state.
A proposal that a "communi-1
ty" fund of approximately $2,000
be raised by subscription was
advanced, when Judge Lewis re-
ported that the commissioners
might raise $2,000 during the
year by legal revision of the
budget. However, this plan was
not adopted, but a committee
appointed to study it, and work
out a definite financing system
with the commissioners.
Appointed on this committee
were F. D.. Willis and Tom
Carlisle, Blaekwell: Mrs. W. R.
Eppler and Walter A. Porter,
Roscoe; H. D. Norris, Nolan;
Bailey Sliger, Hylton; and from
Sweetwater, A. S. Legg, R. M.
Simmons, A1 Allison, H. B. Al-
len. Irving Loeb, H. A. Walker,
B. N. Roberts, George M. Thomp-
son. J. W. Schriever, Luther
M. Watson and George Bennitt.
In outlining the situation,
Judge Lewis and others pointed
out that there is no reason for
alarm over the situation. It
merely means that Nolan county
must raise a nominal sum, to
gain a much larger one from
federal relief projects. It re-
solves itself into the problem
of raising a few cents, figurative-
ly, or raising dollars should
the federal program be permit-
ted to lapse for want of local
participation.
* * *
CHILD WELFARE BOARD
MEMBERS APPOINTED
Nolan county commissioners,
in a session following the relief
meeting named Mrs. J. W.
Young, Roscoe and Gerald Wil-
liams, Sweetwater, to serve on
the Nolan County Child Welfare
Board, filling two vacancies.
Other board members are Dr.
Sam A. Loeb, chairman; T. A.
Carlisle, Blaekwell, vice-chair-
man: Mrs. Dean Bell, secretary;
Mrs. B. Eppler, Roscoe, and Mrs.
Med Swain, members.
Going Gets Tough—Rebels Quit
m
mm
PRINCETON, Fla. — (UP)
—Fear for the safety of 5-
year old James Cash, Jr.,
grew today as his kidnapers
collected $10,000 ransom
at dawn hut failed to make
good their promise o return
the boy by noon.
As the noon deadline passed,
Approximately 290 Deaths ^ (ian8er of violence from angry
Florida farmers increased. Gath-
ed in angry knots, the farmers
earlier had been told to delay
any action at least until noon.
G-men and local law enforce-
ment officers withheld action in
the case, hopeful that the tow-
headed boy .still may be safely
returned.
$10,000 Delivered at Dawn
James B. Cash, Sr., father of
the boy, drew $10,000 from a
Miami bank yesterday. Short-
ly after 4 a. m. today, after a
long drive over rough country
roads, he handed the ransom to
kidnapers. Under the agree-
ment, the boy was to be re-
turned by noon.
He was kidnaped from
home Saturday night.
o
Nation's Holiday
Yesterday Saner
Than Last Year
Occurred From Violence in
Memorial Day Observance
By UNITED PRESS
The nation was more cautious
in its celebration of the Memor-
ial Day weekend this year than
it was in 1938, a United Press
survey of violent deaths showed
today.
Reports from the 18 states and
Foresaking rebel chieftan Sat
urnino Cedillo as 12,000 fed-
eral troops closed in on their
former leader, these armed
agrarians stacked their arms
and quit.
II Duce Loses
Heavily in Spain
ROME — (UP) — Premier
Benito Mussolini disclosed to-
day, following nationwide cele-
bration of the "day of solidari-
ty for Nationalist Spain," that
his support of Generalissimo
Francisco Franco's insurgent
armies already has cost more
Italian lives than his entire
conquest of Ethiopia.
Dhile 11 Duce received Col.
Milan Astray, Franco's emis-
sary to the celebration, and
other Spanish insurgent offi-
cers in a two-hour conference at
Venice palace, an official com-
munique was issued revealing
that 2,032 Italian blackshirts
have been killed on Spanish bat-
tlefronts since February, 1937.
Mussolini's heavy committ-
ments to a Franco victory in
Spain to prevent a "barbaric
bolshevik invasion in the Med-
iterranean" took a toll of 9,541
casualties during that 15-month
period, beginning with the bat-
tle of Malaga along the south-
ern Mediterranean coast.
In the Halo-Ethiopian cam-
paign only 1,542 Italians were
killed but there were 2,854 re-
ported deaths among native
troops.
the district of Columbia listed
290 deaths by violence in this
year's first three-day holiday
weekend. Less than half — 138
—occurred in traffic accidents.
The other 152 died in shoot-
ings, drownings, floods and oth-
er forms of violence.
Approximately 500 persons
died violent deaths during the
holiday weekend a year ago,
about two-thirds of them in au-
tomobile accidents.
o
Britain Denounces
Franco s Raiders
his
58 Misspelled
Words Listed
Convictions In
Criminal Cases
During the district court
term of six weeks which closed
Saturday, all criminal cases
; brought to trial resulted in con-
' victions. A total of 14 counts
resulted in total of 15 years pri-
son sentences, 15 years aggregate
suspended, and one jail sen-
tence of 20 days- and S50 fir**,
the latter also laid out in jail.
At the beginning of the term
there were on the docket 63
divorce petitions, largest for any
term in the history of the
cout. it is reported. Of this num-
New Assistant TES
Manager Named
SAN ANTONIO — (UP) —
Beeman Fisher, general man-
ager of radio station WOAI, to-
day announced* his resignation
to accept the position of assis-
tant to the president of Texas
Electric Service company, with
headquarters in Fort Worth.
Fisher was for many years con-
nected with the Texas Power
& Light company.
Sweetwater Making Bid For Airmail
Stop On Proposed New Air Line
Sweetwater' is making a
strong bid for an airmail
stop on the proposed new
air route between San An-
tonio and Amarillo.
James Henry Beall. Jr.,
and George Barber of the
Board of City Development.
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Bowen,
ipdividuals, are in Washing-
ton today conferring with
Second Assistant Postmas-
ter Harlee Branch. The dele-
gation has enlisted the as-
sistance of Rep. Clyde L.
Garrett and Rep. Maury
Maverick.
"Our party and Congress-
man Garrett had a satisfac-
tory conference with Har-
lee Branch this morning,"
reads a telegram from Bar-
ber received here at noon
today. "We are contacting
other officials and depart-
ments today and joining
Texas delegation on cotton
research laboratory peti-
tion."
In connection with the
airmail stop, the local dele-
gation is pointing out the
advantages of Sweetwater
as a rail center which gives
it an opportunity to become
the leading mail dispatching
center of West Texas.
Hunting for misspelled word?
in the Reporter's
cials bargain carnival was a I
popular diversion of readers j
with many new entrants listed \
yesterday. Combined with their i
word hunting, they found un-,
usual and seasonable values in j
merchandise offerings by Sweet-1
water merchants. Every adver- I
tisement had to be searched
carefully to compile the win-
ning lists of words.
Winner of first prize in this
week's contest is Mrs. Homer
Young, who listed 58 of the of-
ficial misspelled words and re-
ceives $2 cash. Mrs. Tom Bailey
is the second prize winner with
57 words, receiving $1 cash.
Official Word List
Listed below are the words of-
ficially misspelled: t h o r o 1 y
(thoroughly); trowser, (trouser);
phon (phone); phon, (phone);
pair, (pairs); ladies (ladies');
wonderfull (wonderful); heres
(here's): preserve, (reserve);
purchace ((purchase); Pecen
(Pecan); boillers (boilers): pales
(pails); actuel (actual); shear
(sheer); voils (voile): batist. bat-
iste): weeks' (week's): swing
(swing) pastells (pastels); strip-
ped (striped); regriferater "(re-
frigerator) specials, (special); ev-
ening evenings) Wards (Ward's)
brassiers, (brassieres); crea-
tonne, (cretonne): mens (men's);
womens (women's); servise (ser-
vice); class (glass); Brodway,
(Broadway); ladies (ladies');
navees (navies); shiffons (chif-j
fons); Sobes (Sobe's); sqare
(square); efect ifffect): un-
bleeched, (unbleached); Brod- j
way( Broadway); Swetwater,
(Sweetwater): mispelled, (mis-j
spelled): mispelled (misspelled);!
specials (special); precents,
(presents): price (prize); mis-
pelled (misspelled): pertining,
(pertaining): price (prize): price
(prize): price (prize); entrys
(entries); price (prize): 1. (In);
deslcioft (decision); tickest
(tickets); theatrs (theatres);
appear (appears); precent (pre-
sent); string (strings).
LONDON — (UP) — The
British government today ac-
cused Generalissimo Francisco
Franco's Spanish insurgent
bombing planes of deliberately
sinking the British steamer
Thorpehall and demand "strong
disciplinary action" against the
raiding airmen.
Richard A. Butler, parliamen-i her, 22 were granted and none
Monday spe-' tarv under-secretary of state, dismissed.
1 announced in the house of com- Judge A. S. Mauzey, District
mons that the government con- Attorney George W. Outlaw and
sidered the 1,251-ton Thorpehall,: W. M. Swaim, court reporter,
sunk by aerial bombs Wednes- closed the term here and Tues-
dav as it lay at anchor outside day went to Colorado for a four
the harbor of Valencia, to be weeks term. The grand jury
"the victim of a deliberate at-1 there went into session Tues-
tack." | day.
Butler's announcement was j — o
made almost at the moment
eight insurgent planes again
raided Valencia and the harbor
and set fire to a French freight-
er with a direct hit.
National Health
New Half Dollar
Meeting Called
WASHINGTON — (UP) —A
national health conference, call-
ed at the direction of President
Roosevelt will open here July
IS to discuss means of coping
with the cost of illness and pre-
mature death of Americans es-
timated at $10,000,000,000 an-
nually.
.Miss Josephine Roche, chair-
man of the president's interde-
partmental committee to coordi-
nate health and welfare activi-
ties. said invitations to partici-
pate in the conference have
been sent to 100 men and women
who represent medical and oth-
er professions and organization-
interested in providing medica:
services, labor, agriculture and
other groups.
The number of the conferees
was limited, she said, because
the meeting is to be a "working
conference."
Extensive studies by the
federal government and other
agencies during the last few
years have produced striking
evidence of the enormous suf-
fering and economic waste due
to disease and disabilities which
For the first time in history,
a United States coin, a new
half dollar, will bear the flag
of the Confederacy. The coin
commemorates the 75th anni-
versary of the battle of Gettys-
burg.
could be
she said.
prevented or cured,"
Wacoan Held On
4Peeping' Charge
300 Spaniards Are
Killed In Bombing
BARCELONA — (UP) — In-
surgent planes bombed the
town Granollers, north of Bar-
celona today, and the mayor re-
ported that the death toll may
exceed 300. He estimated the
number of wounded from 500 to
600.
Midland Shooting
Is Investigated
MIDLAND — (UP) — Two
persons were in the hospital to-
day, one suffering from a gun-
shot. wound and the other from
poisoning, and police held a
A man giving his name as, third for questioning.
Bill Brent who says he is from > Officers questioned T. L. Box,
Waco, was arrested about 11 Gatesville, in connection with
o'clock Monday night by Patrol-; the shooting last night of Her-
men D. C. Fulkerson and L. 1). shall Gunter, an automobile
Coppedge, on complaint of "win- j salesman. Gunter was shot
dow peeping". It is alleged that' through the lung.
he was loitering near, and peep-
ing into the windows of the J.
C. Pace. Jr.. home in West
Sweetwater.
An hour after Gunter entered
the hospital, Mrs. Box was re-
ceived for treatment for poison-
ing.
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 352, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 31, 1938, newspaper, May 31, 1938; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth290376/m1/1/?q=War+of+the+Rebellion.: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.