Monday, 27 September 1926 · Washington, D.C. (United States) · English

Evening Star

Wave of Banditry Reaches Climax in Wounding of Five
Cool Spell Here to Stay 36 Hours
Chicago Is Spoiled, Edna Ferber Says, On Meeting Rebuff

The Evening Star of September 27, 1926, reported two unrelated gun battles in Washington, including a Petworth confrontation after which police claimed to have cleared numerous regional robberies. A weather report paired a forecast of at least 36 more cool hours with earlier September temperatures to explain why the chill was not exceptional. From Chicago came Edna Ferber’s complaint about her reception while researching industrial life and her disappointment at a city increasingly concerned with appearances.

Translation

Wave of Banditry Reaches Climax in Wounding of Five

Although the cost was dear, police declare today that by the capture of the dozen men and women effected after the biggest of the battles, which took place at 4:30 a.m. yesterday in Petworth, they have solved a long list of hold-ups and robberies which have baffled authorities of the District, Virginia and Maryland.

A second fight, in no way connected with the first, occurred early this morning between two policemen and a colored man caught entering the Piggly Wiggly warehouse at Fifth and T streets northeast. In the battle the negro felled one of the officers with an iron pipe, and was then critically wounded himself in an exchange of fire by a bullet from a police automatic.

Cool Spell Here to Stay 36 Hours

The present cool spell is the same which originated in the Northwest last week, said the forecaster. While failing to feel alarmed over the present temperature, he cites the dates of September 25 and 26 of last year, when the thermometer registered 46, and September 11, 1924, when it registered only 43, and was down to 44 on September 25 of the same year.

Wednesday may find it warming up a little, Mr. Mitchell said. Any change, however, he continued, is apt to be gradual.

Chicago Is Spoiled, Edna Ferber Says, On Meeting Rebuff

CHICAGO, September 27.—The “most compellingly interesting city in the world” is becoming “a little spoiled,” “a trifle elegant” and consequently is losing interest’s chief charm—a rugged naturalness.

Thus speaks Edna Ferber, New York novelist.

Here to plot out a new novel featuring the stock yards, the steel mills and Chicago industries, Miss Ferber became a bit piqued at her reception.

“At the steel mills,” Miss Ferber related, “they told me I couldn’t come in because I was a writer.”

At the stock yards, she said, she learned that the literati are déclassé.

She evinced keen disappointment over her discovery that Chicago is becoming self-conscious.

Context

Jurisdictional boundaries and the regional robbery problem

The significance of the Petworth arrests extended beyond the neighborhood because police linked the prisoners to robberies troubling authorities in the District, Virginia and Maryland. The [FBI’s institutional history](https://www.fbi.gov/history/history-of-the-fbi/the-fbi-and-the-american-gangster) describes a constraint on local policing in the 1920s: jurisdiction ended at local boundaries. Against that background, the police claim in this article concerned more than ending a single violent encounter; it connected arrests in Washington with unresolved cases across the surrounding region. The distinction between the Petworth confrontation and the unrelated warehouse fight also matters: the regional robbery claim concerned the arrests following the first encounter.

Past cold days as a guide to unusual weather

Mitchell used earlier observations to distinguish below-normal weather from an extraordinary cold spell: the article’s readings of 46, 43 and 44 degrees Fahrenheit were all below that morning’s 50. These examples supported reassurance, while his forecast of at least 36 more cool hours addressed what would happen next. According to the [National Weather Service](https://www.weather.gov/fwd/1991-2020_normals), the Weather Bureau’s first 30-year normals were produced in the mid-1930s using 1901–1930 data. Mitchell’s 1926 explanation preceded that series and shows how comparisons with particular earlier dates could make an assessment of unusual weather understandable to readers.

Industrial access and the novelist’s view

Ferber’s complaint made admission to workplaces a condition of seeing the industrial Chicago she wanted to portray. An earlier example shows what such access could enable: researching The Jungle in 1904, Upton Sinclair interviewed workers and other informants, and workers secretly brought him into meatpacking plants to observe conditions. The [Encyclopedia of Chicago](https://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/679.html) documents that route into industrial life. Read alongside this precedent, Ferber’s reported exclusion from the steel mills in 1926 illustrates how control of entry could constrain firsthand literary observation. Her complaint about Chicago’s growing self-consciousness connected that practical obstacle with the loss of the rugged naturalness she valued in the city.

Original

WAVE OF BANDITRY REACHES CLIMAX IN WOUNDING OF FIVE

The wave of banditry which has
stirred the National Capital and its
environs of late came to a sudden and
spectacular climax yesterday and to
day in two gun battles as a result of
which two policemen and two alleged
bandits are In hospitals from serious
wounds, another policeman and sus
pect have lesser wounds and a dozen
other alleged principals or co partners
in crime are under arrest.
Although the cost was dear, police
declare today that by the capture of
the dozen men and women effected
after the biggest of the battles, which
took place at 4:30 a.m. yesterday in
Petworth, they have solved a long
list of hold-ups and robberies which
have baffled authorities of the District,
Virginia and Maryland.
A second fight, in no way connected
with the first, occurred early this
morning between two policemen and a
colored man caught entering the
Piggly Wiggly warehouse at Fifth
and T streets northeast. In the battle
the negro felled one of the officers
with an Iron pipe, and was then critic
ally wounded himself in an exchange
of fire by a bullet from a police
automatic.

COOL SPELL HERE TO STAY 36 HOURS

The present cool spell in this sec
tion is due to continue for the next
36 hours at least, with cloudy
weather prevailing and occasional
showers today, said Forecaster C. L.
Mitchell of the United States Weather
Bureau, explaining there will be no
frosts. He added, although the pres
ent temperature, which was down to
50 early this morning, is below nor
mal, but not very unusual for this
time of the year.
The present cool spell is the same
which originated in the Northwest
last week, said the forecaster. While
failing to feel alarmed over the pres
ent temperature, he cites the dates of
September 25 and 26 of last year,
when the thermometer registered 46,
and September 11, 1924. when it reg
istered only 43. and was down to 44
on September 25 of the same year.
Wednesday may find it warming
up a little, Mr. Mitchell said. Any
change, however, he continued, is
apt to be gradual.

Chicago Is Spoiled, Edna Ferber Says, On Meeting Rebuff

CHICAGO, September 27.—The
"most compellingly interesting city
in the world" is becoming "a little
spoiled.” "a trifle elegant" and con
sequently is losing interest’s chief
charm —a rugged naturalness.
Thus speaks Edna Ferber, New
York novelist.
Here to plot out a new novel
featuring the stock yards, the steel
mills and Chicago industries. Miss
Ferber became a bit piqued at her
reception.
"At the steel mills," Miss Fer.
her related, "they told me I couldn’t
come in because I was a writer.”
At the stock yards, she said, she
learned that the literati are de
classe.
She evinced keen disappointment
over her discovery that Chicago is
becoming self-conscious.

Source: Holding institution