The Shamrock Texan (Shamrock, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 261, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 3, 1937 Page: 1 of 4
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I
1 •
OhfcSHAMIMKRK
Regarding the contest to deter-
mine the most thankless public job
j hi Shamrock, a citizen who asked
mat his name be withheld took Issue
with JAUB that school board mem-
bers are entitled to win the flower-
leas yase. He says members of the
volunteer fire department are the
jpsung heroes of our community;
that they perform more public ser-
vice and get less praise than any-
body.
“It is true few people take the
trouble to thank our school trustees
| dor their invaluable services,” he
said,; “but nevertheless the public
is grateful and manages to show it
in other ways. I’ll admit a school
trustee gets more cussings than any-
J body when he performs his duty
I Conscientiously, but likewise he is
given credit for what he does by the
thinking people, even though per-
haps it seldom reaches his ears. And
even if he does get cussed, a school
trustee can see tangible things that
I He has done and he has the person-
1 al satisfaction of knowing he is con-
tribating something to make his
community and town better.”
Workers Seize Ford
Assembly Plant In
Unauthorized Move
VOL 33
SHAMROCK, WHEELER COUNTY, TEXAS, SATURDAY, APRIL 3. 1937
MILLIONAIRE AGAIN
NAMED IN MING
BEAUTIFUL MODEL
JOSEPH GEDEON RELEASED ON
BAIL IN MYSTERIOUS
TRIPLE MURDER
NO. 261
‘Good Boy’ Held
as Girl Slayer
A Scene of Feverish Activity
"Mk man goes on to say that a
volunteer fireman can have no rec-
ord of achievement to point to. If
hei helped save the property own-
ers hundreds of dollars in Insurance
I premiums by means of having made
II good fire record possible, that is
I taken for granted. The rate would
probably have been lower, thinks the
public. If so-and-so hadn’t been in
the department. Do they go around
to the 24 fire boys and thank them?
ffell, do you?
The public has been told the fire
boys are paid for answering these
alarms in the cold of night, for
working hours at a stretch some-
times in rain and sleet and snow,
tfej, they are paid all right. If they
dash from a warm fireside to answer
an alarm and It happens to be false,
or If it is a small blaze and no hose
strung, they get exactly one half
I of a dollar eaoh. If It Is a large
^Mke, sufficient to ruin their suit
for Instance, they receive one dollar
and fifty cents. And if the fire
should happen to last two hours,
they are paid three bucks — imagine
that!
• Yes sir, there is room for argu-
ment about this thankless public
service all right. We could write a
column about the griefs of each one
of them, having observed them close-
ly from the press box, but after all,
fvery community must have men to
fill these various public jobs and
we don't want to make it look so
blue nobody will consent to take
them.
J^K —JAUB-
* And while we are on the subject
of public jobs whose compensation
consists of free advice from the
public and then cussings if you don’t
follow it, we would like to organize
NEW YORK, April 3 - Informa-
tion tending to support Joseph Ged-
eon’s theory that a mysterious "mil-
lionaire" was responsible for the
Easter day killings on Beekman hill
was turned over to investigators last
night by a laundryman.
The informant, Charles Stute-
vant, told his story to detectives
even as Gedeon, who had been des-
cribed by authorities as the "prin-
cipal suspect,” was released on bail
on a technical charge designed to
hold him for further investigation.
Sturtevant said Gedeon’s estrang-
ed wife, Mary, recently had spoken
bitterly to him of attentions show-
ered on her artist’s model daughter
by a "millionaire.”
Mrs. Gedeon complained the weal-
thy admirer had taken her daugh-
ter through a whirl of high life,
night and day, of which she
thoroughly disapproved, Sturtevant
recalled.
‘One time,” he quoted the mother
as saying, “she even went on a party
with him on his yacht. I certainly
didn’t like that, and I told her so."
Gedeon, 54, upholsterer who dis-
covered the bodies of both mother
and daughter after they had been
strangled and beaten to death by
an Intruder who also killed a lodger
In their apartment, mentioned a
“frustrated millionaire” in an inter-
view the next day, Monday.
Following his release from the
Tombs today, on $1,000 bail, his at-
torney, Peter L. F, Sabbatino issued
a statement signed by three of his
examining physicians In support of
his charge that Gedeon had been
“brutally beaten” by the police.
Subjecting patients to artificial fever may some day furnish cures
for numerous diseases, according to opinions expressed at an in-
ternational conference on the new science of “Fever Therapy” held
in New York. Here is one of the machines invented for shooting
your temperature up around 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the interests
of health, and used in treating St. Vitus dance, angina pectoris,
rheumatic fevers and similar ailments.
FASCISTS DRIVE ! 1,188 CAR TAGS
a heckling squad to work on the
Few citizens that Shamrock and every
■tain has, whose sole purpose In life
seems to be to stand on the sidelines
and criticize the players.
We could name a half a dozen
gien right now who have never done
anything constructive for Shamrock
during the 10 years we have resided
here, and yet they will do more
griping and more mud-slinging than
all the other 3,800 citizens put to-
gpther. They are really uncanny at
finding fault with the public-spirit-
ed men and women who offer their
services at personal sacrifice, and
they can be counted on to oppose
each and every progressive move-
ipent that these public servants ad-
vocated The issues involved make no
difference — they are against it.
Yes air, we would like to have a
big hackling squad for the purpose
of showing these fault-finders and
g$tpers exactly what their fellow
|Tcitizens think about them. The least
they could do, as ungrateful as they
l#re, would be to keep quiet. Well.
le thing to be thankful for, is that
j Shamrock has fewer chronic gripers
Mian almost any town in the coun-
try, and more public-spirited, wide-
T awake 'citizens than any town of its
1 sim on the face of the globe.
PUBLIC INVITED TO
SEE TREE PLANTING
SHELTERBELT DEMONSTRATION
TO BE ON GOOCH FARM
TUESDAY MORNING
BACK LOYALISTS
BASQUE PEOPLE WEARY
LONG-DRAWN SPANISH
CIVIL CONFLICT
An opportunity will be given
Shamrock people next Tuesday
morning to observe at first hand
the methods of planting tree shel-
terbelts, more than 50 miles of
VITORIA, Spain, April 3 — Insur-
gents wrested four strategic moun-
tain peaks from government defend-
ers of the Basque country Friday in
a swift offensive that carried them
to points 20 miles from Bilbao.
Aided by aircrfcft that bombed
the enemy lines "unmercifully,";
Gen. Emilio Mola sent two columns
driving toward the Basque capital,
nestled between the Cantabrian
mountains and the Bay of Biscay.
The misty mountain sides were
reported strewn with government
dead. Hundreds of prisoners were
taken, along with great quantities
of arms and ammunition.
SAINT JEAN DE LUZ, France,
April 3 — The civilian population in
. , . "—;■ ~r~r......—' the rich Basque country of northern
which have been set out on Wheeler Spaln apparently is growing weary of
county farms in the past few weeks, j civil war
dfmon*tl)at!on of the I .gome among the Basques sup-
work will be given Tuesday between porting the government, diplomats
0 and U a m on the farm of Dr. stationed here said, are even ready
J. W. Gooch, eight miles west and to surrender to the Insurgent Gener-
two miles north of Shamrock, ac-, ai Francisco Franco in return for
rr rding™t0 A1 ° Schattenberg of the Promises of pardon. Others still are
U. 8. Forestry Service, who is in determined to fight to the end.
PURCHASED HERE
300 FEWER CARS REGISTERED
IN COUNTY IS ESTIMATE
DEPUTY COLLECTOR
Car tag sales in Shamrock reached
1,180, J. B. Zeigler, deputy collector
here, announced today. Of this
number, 926 were passenger cars,
162 commercial, 85 farm tags, and 27
trailer tags.
Zeigler stated he had sold about
100 more plates than the Wheeler
office, but the total sales for the
county was 300 below the number
sold last year at this time.
All car owners who have not pur-
chased their 1937 tags are warned
by the highway department not to
drive their automobiles until the
plates have been put on. A 20 per
cent penalty on the license fee is
now in, force.
charge of shelterbelt projects in this
and neighboring counties.
A detailed explanation of the pro-
ject will be given as the actual
work goes forward, Mr. Schatten-
berg said. An Invitation is extended
to rLTTf Wh° thintCreSted: °pen <luarre»w"?onsa of
Do you know what some of the
i-timers are bawling JAUB out
, for now — for locking up The Texan
, office atj night. They say the print
ishop wasn’t locked up for years,
; that some of the former editors used
jjto leave It for days at a time, and
j they have intimated to us they con-
I aider it an insult to their honesty
j for us to lock it up now every time
all the employees go home.
A. M. Hilbum, the speech arts
teacher, who used to be the editor of
The Texan many years ago, broach-
ed the subject to us the other night.
He said the old-timers have started
s whispering campaign against us
and he suggested we throw the of-
Be* keys away and write a big story
(Ckmttnued an Last Page)
to be on hand to see the demon
stration.
Arrangements are being made for
a large group of business men and
chamber of commerce members to
attend the demonstration, Bedford
Harrison, secretary-manager, said
this morning.
When the projects are completed
(Continued On Page 2)
“QUALITY STREET”
IS WELL RECEIVED
Sponsored by the Thursday Liter-
ary Club, Mrs. Claudia Elliott Benge
of Wellington, presented a reading
of "Quality Street,” a four-act play
by James M. Barrie, at the Metho-
dist Church Friday afternoon.
Members of the club expressed
their appreciation for the fine co-
operation given them by other club
groups of the city. Proceeds will be
used for school and civic work, Mrs.
H. T. Fields, president, said today.
TWO ALDERMEN TO
BE ELECTED TUESDAY
Eligible voters of Shamrock will
elect two members of the city coun-
cil from three candidates in the
municipal election next Tuesday,
April 6. The polls will be located in
the city hall, 122 West Second street.
Candidates for places on the mu-
nicipal governing body are L. S.
Griffin, R. A. “Pete” Wood and C.
L. Duncum. Retiring aldermen are
B. P. Kersh and E. D. Baggs.
to the diplomatic
Dispatches
corps said:
Many within the Vizcaya prov-
ince in the Bilbao sector have
been without bread for 10 days.
There is political dissension and
the conservative Basque nationalists
and the more radical anarchists.
SEED DISTRIBUTION
IN COUNTY CLOSED
Certificate seed work for the year
in this county was brought to a
close at a recent meeting of the
county agricultural association, ac-
cording to County Agent Jake Tar-
ter, who said the demand had been
supplied. The First National Bank
of Shamrock financed the seed
movement without interest to the
amount of $779.90.
The council is sponsoring the fol-
lowing things: Boys’ 4-H Club work,
rodent control, insect control, proper
feeding of work stock, farm and
home demonstrations, whole ranch
demonstrations, and feed supply for
the county.
AUSTIN, April 3 — Texas highway
patrolmen were issued no special or-
ders Friday on enforcement of the
law requiring 1937 automobile li-
cense plates to be affixed to cars, it
was stated here by L. G. Phares,
chief of the patrol.
“It is a violation of the law to
operate a motor vehicle today and
hereafter without a 1937 license,”
Phares stated, “and patrolmen will
enforce the statute just the same as
any other infraction of the highway
laws which might come to their at-
tention.”
Chief Phares also said that he
could see no reason for any special
leniency in the enforcement of this
particular statute. “The time has
been extended to meet the con-
venience of automobile, owners,” he
said, “and we will enforce it.”
ALLREO VETOES
HARRIS COUNTY
TAHEMISSION
GOVERNOR’S ACTION IN LINE
WITH DECLARATION ON
STATE FINANCES
AUSTIN, April 1 — Gov. James
V. Allred Friday vetoed a bill remit-
ting certain ad valorem taxes to
Harris county for flood control pur-
poses and announced he would
veto all similar local measures.
The action was in line with his re-
iterated declarations that the state’s
financial condition would not permit
remission to individual counties un-
less taxes were levied to make up the
difference in revenue.
The governor said he planned to
veto a bill remitting taxes to Foard,
Cottle, Hardeman and Wilbarger
counties for two years to aid the
Pease River flood control district al-
though it had not reached his desk.
Unpleasant Duty
The Harris county bill would have
remitted one-half of the state ad
valorem taxes collected in that coun-
ty for 10 years.
The governor said his veto mes-
sage on the Harris county bill, stat-
ing it was his "very unpleasant
duty” to take that action, was being
drafted.
With referenoe to the Pease River
project, he commented "that is from
my own district, and while I hate
to veto the bill I must.”
“I will veto all local tax remission
bills,” he said.
A bill which would remit ad va-
lorem taxes to all counties, the gov-
ernor said, was a “whole lot fairer,”
but he had reached no final conclu-
sion as to it.
Fairer to Remit All
That bill has been passed by the
House of Representatives and has
been set for special consideration in
the Senate next Wednesday.
“I think it is more justifiable to
(Continued on Last Page)
latinmm
TOURNAMENT HERE
WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED
AT BANQUET TONIGHT
AT M. E. CHURCH
Thomas Smith, 18, above, never
smoked or drank, but he has
confessed to Buffalo police, they
say, that he stabbed and beat
18-year old Mary Ellen Babcock
to death because of an “uncon-
trollable impulse.” His confes-
sion came after he was arrested
for stabbing Frances Fitzgerald,
14, another Buffalo girl, with an
ice pick. His arrest led to solu-
t:on of a two-month mystery.
Latin teams from Pampa, Wel-
lington, Amarillo and Shamrock
competed in the annual Panhandle
schools Latin tournament held here
at the local high school today.
Twenty-two students comprised the
various teams. Three Amarillo
schools, senior high school and the
Buchanan junior high school, sent
teams.
Unsettled weather prevented many
of the teams from attending. The
tournament started at 12:30 p. m.,
and continued through the after-
noon. Winners will be announced at
the baquet held tonight at the
Methodist Church basement, honor-
ing the visiting teams.
Mrs. Raymond Zeigler, local Latin
instructor, was in charge of the ar-
rangements.
Poverty-Stricken Mother
Dead, Family III After
Meal Of Poisonous Weeds
ABILENE CHORAL
CLUB GIVE PROGRAM
A* large number of people attended
the McMurray College Choral Club
program at the high school audi-
torium yesterday afternoon. Under
the direction of Mrs. Gypsy Ted Sul-
livan Wylie, the group of 12 singers
gave an interesting selection of
songs.
The choral club is making a tour
of Panhandle cities and Shamrock
was fortunate to be included among
that number.
Barney Poole is 111 at his home.
CARLSBAD, N. M., April 3 —
Poisonous weeds, eaten as food by a
penniless family, brought death to a
39-year-old mother and left her two
young sons seriously ill in a hospital
here last night.
Before she died, Mrs. Etta Pitch-
ard told physicians she had gath-
ered the weeds and boiled them as
greens because she could not bring
herself to beg from neighbors.
Her sons, Hanley Marion, 10, and
Elizia, 8, showed “some improve-
ment” tonight, physicians said, but
their condition remained critical.
Formerly Ate Alfalfa
While authorities sought to deter-
mine the nature of the weeds the
three ate, 12-year-old Ova Belle
Pitchford, the only member of the
family who did not partake of the
meal, expressed belief her mother
thought she was gathering alfalfa.
“We used to eat alfalfa back
home,” the girl said.
Mrs. Pitchford, with her children
and her father, J. T. Hill, came here
last fall from Antlers, Okla. A short
time ago, Mrs. Pitchford said, Hill
took their small truck and return-
ed to his home at Finley, Okla.
Asserts Aid Refused
Unable to find work, Mrs. Pitch-
ford said she sought aid from the
relief and security office here, but
was refused because she had not
lived long enough in New Mexico.
Relief officials here, however, said
they offered to send the family back
to Oklahoma, but Mrs. Pitchford de-
clined to leave.
The family lived in a small cabin
on a ranch near here. Ova Belle,
officials said, did occasional work
for a family at nearby Loving. She
had returned from there, she said,
when she found the rest of the fam-
ily 111 after the meal of weeds.
Mrs. Pitchford was estranged from
her husband, Lea Pitchford, of Oak
Hill, Okla.
LAST RITES SAID
FOR MRS. WHEELER
HUNDREDS OF FRIENDS PAY
TRIBUTE TO BELOVED
CITY RESIDENT
Rev. Ed R. Wallace read the fu-
neral service for Mrs. J. A. Wheeler,
63, mother of Mrs. Harris Tilley of
this city, who was laid to rest in the
local cemetery this afternoon. Mrs.
Wheeler died Thursday morning in
Fayetteville, Ark., at the home of
her daughter, Mrs. Irene Kelly.
Hundreds of friends gathered at
the First Methodist Church to pay a
final tribute to the prominent city
woman. Pall bearers were H. T.
Fields, Vernon Carver, Dr. J. A.
Hall. Earl Hunter, Jack Kersh and
J. R. Benson.
Flower girls were Bernice Stevens,
Freda Nell Holmes, Josephine Mit-
chell, Mary Louise Begley, Dorothy
Palmer and Dorothy Hall. Nix Fu-
nerlal Home was in charge of the
burial arrangements.
Surviving Mrs. Wheeler are three
children, Mrs. Tilley of this city,
Mrs. Kelly of Fayetteville, and Joe
Wheeler of Elk City, Okla.
GARDENifCMC
GROUP WILL MEET
KANSAS CITY, April 3 — More
than 600 men seized the Ford as-
sembly plant here Friday afternoon
in a sit-down strike.
The workers, without apparent
organization, said the strike began
without previous plan after the com-
pany laid off 350 men as they re-
ceived their pay.
United automobile workers organ-
izers were known to have been at
work among the Ford employees but
available union officials, who would
not be quoted, said no strike had
been authorized.
Minor Violence
As word of the layoff spread
among the day shift, men sat down
beside their machines and benches.
There was only one minor violence
report in the early hours of the
strike. Policemen found two men and
two women fighting near the plant.
The officers said they were told the
women started the fight “because
the men left the plant."
H. A. Kelley, one of the men in-
side the plant, who Identified him-
self as a union committeeman,
there were 1,400 men in the building,
but police held to an estimate of 600.
Union Cards Signed
Kelley said the plant employed
2.363 persons, including office work-
ers, but would not give the union
membership. He did assert, however,
that non - union workers remaining
inside were signing union cards "as
fast as they can be made out.”
As the dinner hour approached
members of the strikers families be-
gan bringing food which was hauled
into the plant on strings.
The men inside bantered with
those outside through windows.
GENERAL MOTORS
DEMANDS RELIEF
DETROIT, April 3 — General Mo-
tors Corporation demanded relief
from sit-down strikes last night as
peace efforts were directed at settle-
ment of labor disputes in the plants
of two other automobile producers.
Homer Martin, president of the
United Automobile Workers of Am-
erica, and other high union officials
hastened to Flint, Mich., to ask
strikers in the Chevrolet Motor Com-
pany plant to “live up to” the
March 12 agreement between the
corporation and the V. A. W. A.
The union leaders left a confer-
ence here at which William S. Kund-
sen, executive vice president of
General Motor, had listed nearly 30
sit-down strikes since March 16 and
added:
‘This situation can not continue.
Agreements not lived up to are no
agreements.’’
HOPPER CONTROL
TO BEJISCUSSED
FARMERS INVITED TO HEAR
WELL KNOWN STATE AND
U. S. ENTOMOLOGISTS
PLANS FOR CLEAN-UP DRIVE
AND OTHER TOPICS TO
BE DISCUSSED
Plans for participating in the
Clean-Up Campaign, sponsored an-
nually by the chamber of commerce,
will be a topic for discussion at the
monthly meeting of the Shamrock
Garden and Civile dub Tuesday
evening, April 6, in the basement of
the First Methodist Church, Mrs.
H. P. Mundy, president, said to-
day. Tentative dates for the clean-up
drive have been set for the week of
April 19 to 24.
Planting methods fed- various
shrubs and flowers will be discuss-
ed by individuals who have had suc-
cess with them.
Zinnia seeds will be on hand for
distribution to those who want
them. The zinnia is the official
flower of Shamrock and is easily
grown in this section. Seeds will be
distributed at low cost to encourage
as widespread planting as possible.
As the planting season is at hand,
the Tuesday night meeting of the
Garden and Civic Club should be of
interest to every member and all
are urged to attend.
PRESIDENT APPROVES
DROUTH AREA FUNDS
WASHINGTON, April 3 - Chair-
man Jones, Democrat, Texas, of the
house agricultural committee, said
Friday President Roosevelt and Dan-
iel W. Bell, acting director of the
budget, had approved a bill to ap-
propriate $5,000,000 for a dust bowl
program in the Southwest.
The funds are to be taken out
of an unexpected balance from last
year’s soil conservation program,
Jones said.
The Texas Panhandle, southwest-
ern Oklahoma, western vraTwaj
eastern Colorado and northeastern
New Mexico will share in the funds.
E. R. Reppert, extension entomo-
logist of College Station, will be in
Wheeler county Friday, April 8, and
will instruct farmers in grasshopper
control at a meeting to be held at
10 a. m., County Agent Jake Tarter
informs. Reppert will be accompani-
ed by R. L. Shotwell of the United
States Bureau of Entomology, who is
stationed at Bozeman, Mont.
In a letter to Tarter, Reppert
said: “Shotwell and myself will be
(Continued on Page 3)
-o-
McReynolds Has
No Intention Of
Quitting Bench
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 3
—The Rev. James Clement Reid said
Friday he received a letter from his
personal friend, Associate Justice
James Clark McReynolds of the Su-
preme Court, in which the justice
said “It is not my purpose at pres-
ent to retire from the bench in the
immediate future.”
The minister said that the just'c?
in the course of a personal com-
munication wrote:
“I thank you very much for your
cordial message. Against my in-
clinations to seek freedom from the
incessant demands on my time and
strength, it is not my purpose at
present to retire from the bench in
the immediate future. But the sit-
uation is a very grave one and, un-
less the public demands another
course, there is not much to hope
for — according to our standards.”
Justice McReynolds, an appointee
of President WUson, is counted as
one of the conservatives on the
Supreme Court. No direct tnentow.
was made In the portion of the
letter Mr. Reid made public of
President Roosevelt’s proposal for
reorganiaatlan of the Judiciary.
Sr
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Bones, Percy. The Shamrock Texan (Shamrock, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 261, Ed. 1 Saturday, April 3, 1937, newspaper, April 3, 1937; Shamrock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth525873/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Shamrock Public Library.