f
American Legion’s Washington Birthday Dance Saturday Night
• •
Hewnrd Dailantemny
VOLUME 20.
NUMBER 51 0
SEWARD, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1925
PRICE TEN CENTS
MITCHELL SAYS
BOMBING FACTS
BE REVEALED
BROTHER OFFICERS SAY THAT
EVERY MAN IN AIR SERVICE IS
BEHIND MITCHELL IN CLAIMS
IMPROVE AVIATION EFFICIENCY
* WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 20
Brigadier General Mitchell, of the air
service, testified before the House
Aircraft Committee, that the facts
about the bombing tests which sunk
the uncompleted battleship Washing
ton off the Virginia Capes, should be
made public, to prevent deluding our
people into the belief that big war
ships can't be sunk.”
Men Behind Mitchell.
DETROIT, Feb. 20.—Dispatches to
the Free Press from East Tawas,
quoted Major Thomas G. Lanphier,
' commandant at Selfridge Field, as say
ing in a speech last night, “every man
in the United States Army Air Serv
ice believes General Mitchell right in
his claims for aviation. We are pri
marily interested in seeing the air
service developed without interference
f from men who do not understand it.”
Secretary Weeks again asked Briga
dier General Mitchell, assistant chief
of the air service .to explain (certain
statements he made to committees in
congress recently in support of in
creased aviation facilities.
General Mitchell declared that cer
tain officers were afraid to tell the
truth about aircraft through a fear of
being disciplined by being transferred
to less favored posts.
Representative Perkins declared
that it would be an “outrage” should
General Mitchell fail of reappointment
as assistant chief of air service and
thous automatically revert to the rank
of colonel, because his worst offense
was to tell the truth about air plane
conditions.
“I propose if possible.” Mr. Perkins
added, “to determine to what extent
terrorization prevents officers from
telling the truth to congress.”
Says No Ship Immune from Planes
WASHINGTON, U. C., Feb. 20.—
Brigadier General Mitchell told the
Committee that the bombs exploded
alongside the battleship Washington
were much too far away to have any
great effect, and predicted that the
Army aviators if given a chance could
blow the battleship North Dakota out
of the water next summer. Pie declar
ed “no real bombs had been dropped
on the battleship Washington from
the air,” and asserted that “any ship
that floats in the water is absolutely
at the mercy of an air attack.”
ANCIENT MINE
BE OPERATED
MEXICO CITY, Mex., Feb. 20.—
The Lewisohn interests, operating in
Mexico as the Reforma Mining and
Milling Company, announced today
that they had obtained control of the
ancient Campo Morada mine from the
Ortiz heirs. The mine was discovered
over 300 years ago, and at one time
was a great producer, but has long
been neglected while the heirs quar
reled. The property lies on the Balsas
river in Guerrero.
KING GEORGE IMPROVING
LONDON, Feb. 20.—The King had a
restless night, but improvement was
noted this morning and continued this
afternoon.
LET’S GO !
WHEAT PRICES TAKE
ANOTHER HEAVY DROP
WINNIPEG, Feb. 20.—Wheat prices
fell still further on the grain exchange
today. May slid below the $2 mark
the drop representing a recession of
25 cents since the peak was reached
about 17 days afo. July wheat suf
fered a setback of 8 3-4 cents at the
extreme dip which showed the price
below the §2 mark.
LET'S GO WHERE?
DRIVER OF DEATH CAR
BEING TRIED AT SPOKANE
SPOKANE, Feb. 20.—Taking of tes
! timony in the trial of Bernard New
' man of Yakima in connection with the
death last fall of Joseph Kennedy, hit
by an automobile alleged to have been
| driven by Newman was begun this
afternoon.
PRISON WARDEN
CONVICTED OF
TAKING BRIBES
ATLANTA, Ga.. Feb. 20— A Federal
jury, out 16 hours, convicted A. E.
Sartain. former warden of the Atlanta
Federal penitentiary, and Lawrence
Riehl, of Columbus, Ohio, of conspir
acy in receiving bribes from wealthy
prisoners. L. J. Fletcher, a former
deputy warden, was acquitted.
Sartain was charged with allowing
I wealthy prisoners to lool around in
their cells, take auto rides, and have
an easy time, thereby escaping the
hard labor going with their sentence.
Sartain was removed and former Ter
ritorial marshal Snook was appointed
to the position.
Sartain was sentenced to serve 18
months in the Atlanta penitentiary,
and Reihl was given a year and a day,
cognizance being taken of the fact
that he was not a government official.
LET S GO WHERE?
Marihuana and Mex
Responsible for Six
t _
GUAYMAS, Sonora, Mex., Feb. 20.—
Crazed by smoking marihuana, Ecz
rodo Valle. 27, a former Mexican ma
rine, ran amuck in a hospital with a
butcher knife, killing six patients be
fore he was himself killed.
ONE TOWN IN THIS STATE
GETS HARMON PLAYFI ELD
NEW YORK, Feb. 19.—Fifty-four
cities and towns in thirty-one states
have been selected as sites for Har
mon playfields deeded perpetually
for recreation uses, the Harmon
foundation announced last week.
The selection was made from
more than 800 requests forwarded
to the Foundation, following the
announcement in March of last year
that William E. Harmon, of New
York, had provided ?100,000 for the
purchase of fifty play places in
i towns having a resident population
of at least 3,000 and showing a
growth of 30 per cent or more since
1900.
Among communities selected as
playfields wras Hillyard, Washington.
FIFTY MINERS
ARE ENTOMBED
SULLIVAN, Ind„ Feb. 20.—Fifty
miners are imprisoned in the City
Coal Company’s mine near here. An
explosion attributed to the ignition of
gas, caused several caveins. Two bod
ies near the entrance were recovered
and three seriously injured v tak
en to a hospital. It is belie.-a that
many are dead.
TROLLEY JUMPS !
TRACK, 6 RILLED !
AT CORREGIDOR
MANILA, P. I., Feb. 20.—Lieutenant
Colonel R. E. Herring, Major John E.
Hunter, and three enlisted men of the
Coast Artiller, were killed, and Lieut
enant F. L. Hayden and ten enlisted
men were seriously injured when a
trolley jumped the track, en route
from the top of Corregidor Island at
the entrance to Manila Bay, to the
boat landing.
Later—The motorman of the trolley
car which jumped the track descend- j
ing from the top of Corregidor Island j
died tonight, making six dead, includ- j
ing two army officers. Twelve others I
were seriously injured.
CONVICTED OF ROBBING
BON MARCHE MESSENGER
SEATTLE. Feb. 20.—Ed Fasick, bis
j wife, and J. M. Dooley were convicted
of robbing a Bon Marche messenger
last fall, after the jury had been out
but an hour.
Democratic Officials
Self Congratulatory
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 20.—
Chairman Shaver, of the Democratic
National committee, issued a message
reassuring the friends and supporters
of the Democratic Party that “the or
ganization cannot be killed or even
seriously injured by defeat.”
He expressed the belief that the
time is not far distant when his party
will be called once more in National
service.
HALF MILLION
DOLLAR PAINTING
TAKEN BY THIEF
HOLLYWOOD. Calif., Feb. 20.—A
painting which Martin Weinschenck
reported stolen last night from his
home in this city, was worth a half
million dollars. He said the thief or
thieves left behind other objects worth
more than the loot they secured.
Weinschenck is a member of an art
firm of Dantzig, Germany. He dis
covered his loss when he returned to
his home from a visit to Catalina isl
and.
OIL COMPANY REPLIES
TO CHARGES OF SOLON
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 19.
—Replying to charges made at Oak
land yesterday by State Senator A.
H. Reed, who said that recently an
nounced increases in retail gasoline
prices was a move to defeat the
proposed increase of one cent a gal
lon of the state gasoline tax, the
Standard Oil company of California
issued a statement, saying “nothing
could be further from the facts.”
“The reason for the increase,” the
statement said, “are simple and fol
low the fundamental laws of econo
mics. Gasoline and crude oil as re
lated to other markets, differ in no
essential respect from other com
modities. Any commodity will nat
urally reach its highest market. Due
to recent increases in the price of
both crude and gasoline in the
United States east of the Rocky
mountains, these products can move
from California to those markets
to advantage.”
The steamship Starr is expected to
reach port some time Saturday or
early Sunday morning.
LET’S GO WHERE?
NOTED ARCHITECT DIES
IN HOTEL AT OLYMPIA
OLYMPIA, Feb. 20.—Charles Haire,
aged 65, the architect who had charge
of the construction work on the Mon
tana state capitol building at Helena,
died here in the bathroom of his
quarters at a local hotel following an
attack of acute indigestion.
Mr. Haire had arrived here recently
from California, and in company with
John Hasty, of the construction con
cern which is building the capitol, and
W. R. Wilder, architect of the build
ing, made a survey of the structure j
yesterday.
He retired about 11 o’clock last
night and awakened at 4 o’clock suf- ;
fering from indigestion. A physician
was called, but Mr. Haire took a re
lapse and was found dead at 7 o’clock.
His family lives in Oakland, Cal.
ALLEGES MUZZLE |
PLACED ON COUNT
DURING VISIT;
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 20.—
The Senate Foreign Relations commit
tee directed Chairman Borah to ask
Secretary Charles E. Hughes, for the
true facts concerning the charges that
his department had muzzled Count
Michael Carolyi, former president of
Hungary during his visit to America.
LET’S GO WHERE?
Coolidge Denied A
New Rubber Eraser
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 20.—
A spirit of economy has apparently
been forced upon President Coolidge.
He requested a new eraser as his old
one was dull, but the old one was re
turned to him with the explanation
that there were no new ones on hand
and there was no authority to buy one.
He took the old one and returned to
work without comment.
Wrath of Ymir Was
Too Much for Frankie
TACOMA, Wn., Feb. 20.—Young Pe
ter Jackson of Portland, a negro
light heavyweight, technically kayoed
Franky O’Neil of Anchorage, Alaska,
in the second round last night.
PLANES MAY TRY
TRIP TO ALASKA
CAMP SKEEL, Oscoda, Michigan,
Feb. 20.—Major Thomas H. Lanphier,
commandant at Salfridge Field aerial
squadron of Salfridge Field aerial
fare under winter conditions said, “It
is contended that an expedition can
fly from Selfridge to Alaska in two
days, and be supplied en route with
fuel from the air, averaging one thou
sands miles in a seven hour day with
no hardships.”
$4,000,000 B. C. BOND ISSUE ON
NEW YORK, Feb. 19.—A syndi
cate headed by Guaranty Co., of New
York, and including A. E. Ames &
Co., Wood, Gundy & Co., Inc., and
Blyth Witter & Co., is offering Mon
day $4,000,000 Province of British
Columbia, Canada, 4% per cent gold
bonds, maturing February 2, 1928,
at 100 and accrued niterest.
The bonds are a direct and pri
mary obligation of the province
of British Columbia, and are payable
both principal and interest, from
its general revenues.
The steamship Alameda may reach
port Monday, in case she does not lay
over too long at Cordova.
FIREMAN SETS
FIRES TO HELP
DEPARTMENT
PORTLAND, Ore.. Feb. 20— Ches
ter C. Buchtel, assistant engineer in
the Portland fire department, was ar
rested last night and»confessed to set
ting twenty fires last year, causing a
loss of $50,000. He helped to fight
many of these fires, hurrying back to
his post as soon as they were touched
off. Butchel belongs to a prominent
pioneer family.
District Attorney Myers said that
Buchtel had such a delight in fighting
fires that those occurring normally
did not satisfy him.
Heavy Tax Hard
On German Autos
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 19.—
A 90 per cent federal tax would be
levied on the sale of professional
baseball players whenever the am
ount changing hands exceeded $5,000
under a bill introduced recently by
Representative Laguardia, republican
of New York. The tax would not
be assessed if the players received
the purchase price.
SEC. AGRICULTURE
MAKES ADDRESS
FOR FIRST TIME
TOPEKA. Kan., Feb. 20.—Dr. Wil
liam M. Jardine, whose nomination as
secretary of agriculture was confirm
ed yesterday by the Senate, made his
first address here last night since the
appointment. Secretary Jardine said
the consumer could not be expected
to pay much more for food from the
farms, but declared the distance from
the producer to the consumer must be
shortened. He said the newspapers
of the country would be his great in
strument in forming an effectual poli
cy, and said productions must be bal
anced. Explaining his remarks, he
said that he did not mean making big
changes in crops from year to year,
“but a little shift from one crop to
another. We must inject more busi
ness into agriculture.”
He asserted that it was a clever
man who understood the needs of the
farmer better than President Coolidge
and nobody ever in the Whitehouse
was more sincerely interested in agri
culture.
COYOTES MENACE TO
OREGON STOCK FARM
BEND, Ore., Feb. 19.—Rabid coy
ates are menacing stock in the Trout
creek country just north of Madras,
according to information brought to
Bend today by stockmen.
Recently a coyote was -seen snap
ping at the feet of cattle on the
C. M. Kennedy ranch. About the
same date a coyote, obviously rabid,
was reported from the Leslie Priday
herd, where several head of cattle
were bitten.
MORE HAY NEEDED
FOR ALASKA DEER
SEATTLE, Feb. 20.—One hundred
additional tons are needed for feed
for southwestern Alaskan deer, which
feed will last until March 15, K. Le
Masters declared on his arrival here
yesterday from Petersburg, Alaska.
The deer are reported to starving
on Baranof and other islands in large
numbers.
LET’S GO WHERE?