Evening Star
- Proposed Inquiry by Reed Arouses Indiana Campaign
- Orators Ready for International Contest Tonight
- Acid Fails to Bare Figures on Gun in Scrivener Killing
The Evening Star's front page of October 15, 1926 led with a dispatch from Indianapolis in which G. Gould Lincoln reported that corruption charges involving the imprisoned former Klan leader D. C. Stephenson, together with the prospect of a visit by Senator James Reed's Senate investigating committee, had stirred an otherwise apathetic Indiana Senate campaign; he also weighed the World Court issue, the Klan's shrinking strength and the muted prohibition question. The page previewed that night's First International Oratorical Contest at the Washington Auditorium, where schoolboys from the United States, Canada, Britain, Mexico and France would speak after President Coolidge. It also reported that acid tests at the Bureau of Standards had failed to restore the filed-off serial number of the pistol left at the murder of Detective Sergeant Arthur B. Scrivener, as new leads emerged.
Translation
PROPOSED INQUIRY BY REED AROUSES INDIANA CAMPAIGN
Walb Protest of Money Used by International Bankers Acts as Boomerang.
G.O.P. FEARS INABILITY TO RESTRAIN SENATORS
Democrats Hope to Drag in “Stephensonism,” But Fear Reaction if Whole Thing “Flivvers.”
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.
Staff Correspondent of The Star.
INDIANAPOLIS, October 15.—Until “Stephensonism” entered the campaign and the limelight the same apathy among the voters that is found in other States this Fall was here. But the charges of political scandals involving D. C. Stephenson, a “lifer” at the Michigan City Penitentiary, and the Republican organization have aroused an interest, slowly at first, but now gathering momentum, which may yet make this a real campaign. Here in Marion County, the newspapers are full of the matter and people are watching each new edition.
If the whole thing “flivvers,” as some Republican leaders insist it will, it may prove a boomerang. On the other hand, the expectations that Senator “Jim” Reed of Missouri and his Senate investigating committee will be here next week, has roused still further interest in the matter.
Good Name of State at Stake.
For the fair name of the State many of its most influential citizens are hoping that the charges will prove incorrect. They are counseling voters not to be carried away, but to wait until the grand jury has sifted the matter and made its report. Bishop Frederick D. Leete of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Indiana has issued a statement on the Adams charges of political corruption, asserting that the people generally have confidence in the prosecuting attorney, William H. Remy, who is conducting the grand jury investigation, and that most good citizens have suspended judgment. The bishop's statement suggests that the issue has been made to free Stephenson or merely as a political device at the last hour before election, and that some of the officials against whom the charges have been made are more trustworthy than are those who have appeared as complainants. But the tide of sentiment seems to be rising and it is impossible to tell now just what the result will be.
G.O.P. Put in Hole.
Some of the Republicans are not at all pleased with the turn of affairs which may bring the Reed committee into this State. Clyde Walb, the Republican State chairman, who wrote a letter to Senator Borah of Idaho charging that “international bankers” were spending money in Indiana to hurt the Republican senatorial candidates because they had opposed the World Court, is coming in for criticism. The Democrats took up this charge by Walb and sent word to Senator Reed they would like to have him investigate the matter. As it appears to be the only grounds on which the Senate investigating committee could well decide to come here, Mr. Walb seems to have put his foot in it. Once the Reed committee is here the Democrats believe it will so maneuver as to make an investigation of the entire situation, including the Adams charges of corruption against the Republicans.
A young woman, described by local newspapers as a “frail, beautiful 23-year-old Indianapolis girl,” said to be a friend of “Steve,” has become a center of interest in the scandal investigation. She is Mildred Meade. On the theory that she has some of the alleged Stephenson documents showing payments to Republicans by the former Klansman and agreements regarding political appointments, Miss Meade is sought by the grand jury. Her parents insist that she has none of the documents, but that they were “all sent to New York.” The prosecuting attorney is making every effort to obtain the documents.
World Court as Issue.
The issues in the campaign outside of “Stephensonism” have created comparatively little excitement. The Republicans have sought to make the World Court an issue, realizing the strong sentiment in the State against American adherence and the fact that both Indiana Senators, Watson and Robinson, voted against the court. The Democrats, on the other hand, have tried not to be drawn into the court issue. Evans Woollen, candidate of the Democrats against Robinson, and Albert Stump, their nominee against Senator Watson, have taken the position that the Republicans and the Republican administration first presented the court issue to the Senate of the United States, and were in control of that body when the protocol was ratified.
Nevertheless, the Republicans are counting on this anti-World Court sentiment to aid them. Back of them in the stand they took is the Ku Klux Klan. Although the Klan is declared to be considerably weaker in Indiana than it was two years ago, it is still in control of many votes. It has been estimated that the Klan strength has dwindled to 100,000 from the 400,000 members it boasted at its height. This is only an estimate of Klan strength today.
The wet and dry issue that has stirred other States is lacking here, except in three congressional districts, the first, 8th and twelfth, where the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment is backing the Democratic nominees for the House. Officials of the Anti-Saloon League say that all four of the senatorial nominees, Republican and Democratic alike, are satisfactory to the drys, and the issue does not enter into the senatorial campaign. Senator Robinson has spoken repeatedly for the drys. The league on a few occasions paid Robinson's expenses from Washington to Indiana when he came to make dry speeches. He was the dry floor leader in the State Senate when the State enforcement code, more stringent than in any of the other States, was put through. Senator Watson, the league leaders point out, has a long record of voting for prohibition measures in Congress. Evans Woollen, head of one of the
(Continued on Page 6, Column 3.)
ORATORS READY FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTEST TONIGHT
President Coolidge to Speak Before Youths of Five Nations Compete.
AUDIENCE WILL HEAR THREE TONGUES SPOKEN
Magnificent Silver Loving Cup to Be Awarded Winner at Washington Auditorium.
The First International Oratorical Contest starts promptly at 8 o'clock tonight in the Washington Auditorium. Five schoolboys, representing five flags, are ready to uphold the traditions of their countries for youthful eloquence before an audience which will include the principal dignitaries of the United States, as well as the leaders of the diplomatic corps. President Coolidge will speak from the same platform.
Upon the slender shoulders of Herbert Wenig, Hollywood (Calif.) youth, falls the honor of representing the United States. Herbert Moran of Toronto will speak for the sister English-speaking Canada. William Meades Newton of Liverpool will defend the supremacy of the motherland of English speech. From Mexico City comes Jose Munoz Cota to uphold the ancient eloquence of the Castilian tongue, and from France, noted for its fiery orators, comes Maxime Raymond Puel of Nancy, determined upon the triumph of the tri-color.
Contrasts in Culture.
It will be a clash of the old world against the new, of Anglo-Saxon culture against Latin culture. For the first time today these five boys spent the day together. Young Puel reached Washington only late yesterday afternoon and his opponents met him at the station. The others have been in Washington for some time and have become fast friends during the busy days of sightseeing about the Nation's Capital and of placing the finishing touches on the orations they will deliver tonight. All five were together last night at a dinner given at the home of John Hays Hammond, 2301 Kalorama road. Mr. Hammond will formally open the contest tonight.
The day is passing slowly indeed for these schoolboys. All are accustomed to speaking before large audiences, but never has any one of them spoken before an assembly containing the President of the United States, five or six of his cabinet officers, the diplomatic representatives of their own countries and an imposing number of legislators, judges, educators and military and naval officers.
Silver Cup as Trophy.
The winner tonight will carry home with him a magnificent silver loving cup, donated by the committee of American newspaper publishers which is sponsoring the contest. This trophy will be presented on behalf of the publishers by Frank B. Noyes, publisher of The Evening Star and president of the Associated Press.
The great event of the evening, of course, will be the contest itself. The night belongs to these eloquent schoolboys, who not only have prepared polished orations, but have dug deeply into the histories and the fundamentals of government of their native lands for a background. But of equal importance will be another oration—by the President of the United States. Mr. Coolidge is an enthusiastic sponsor of such contests. In past years he has taken a deep interest in the National Oratorical Contests conducted every Spring in Washington. Few things are closer to the President's heart than the education of youth in the fundamentals of government, and that is the primary purpose of these contests. There are certain fundamental principles of good government common to all civilized countries. A great deal of the unrest of the world, the President believes, is due to ignorance or misunderstanding of these principles.
Orators Have Backers.
On the stage with the boys will be their national backers—groups of distinguished statesmen and educators, who feel with President Coolidge that such a contest is laying the foundations of good citizenship. The presence of these men is calculated to give each boy more confidence. He will not be standing alone in a strange land before a strange people. A great man who thinks and speaks in his own tongue will be with him.
Wenig will speak on “The American Constitution.” Moran's subject will be, “Canada's Part in the New World.” Newton's subject is, “The British Empire.” Cota goes into the stirring history and traditions of the Latin American republics for a subject, and will speak on “Bolivar and the Latin American Peoples.” Puel will speak on “The French Government.”
An unusual feature of the program will be that each national champion will be introduced by strains of his national anthem rather than by words of the chairman. The chairman will, however, make a group presentation of the orators, stating their subjects and their speaking order. Then President Coolidge will speak, after which will come the five orations. Three of the contestants will speak English, one in Spanish and one in French. They will be judged by a group of multi-lingual judges from leading universities of this country and abroad, headed by Ambassador Padilla of Spain. Others are Dr. Richard F. A. Muller, an engineer born in Belgium, who has spent much of his life on projects in Central and South America, and who was formerly connected with the University of Quito, Ecuador; Dr. Robert M. Sugar of McGill University, Montreal; Dr. Louis J. A. Mercier of Harvard University and Dr. Richard Henry Wilson of the University of Virginia. An English translation of the speeches of the Mexican and French champions will be available to every one in the audience.
Radio Programs—Page 46.
ACID FAILS TO BARE FIGURES ON GUN IN SCRIVENER KILLING
Police More Baffled Than Ever When Experts Admit Tests Have Failed.
VICTIM'S FUNERAL RITES DRAW COMRADES TO BIER
Officiating Minister Calls on Washington to Rally to Support of Law Defenders.
While friends and fellow officers at funeral services today paid a parting tribute to the memory of Detective Sergt. Arthur B. Scrivener, who was murdered early Wednesday morning, investigators seeking to unravel the mystery of his death again found themselves checked by unfavorable outcome of the tests performed by Bureau of Standards experts on the pistol which the murderer left on the scene of the crime.
Attempts to bring out the filed-off serial number of the pistol, it was reported, proved disappointing. After submergence of the pistol in acid baths for two days, it was found that the murderer of Detective Scrivener had done his work only too well in removing identification clues from the weapon. His filing of the numbers had been performed thoroughly and deeply.
The bringing out of the serial numbers of the weapon had been looked forward to by investigators as the real starting point in the investigation. With serial numbers present, the pistol could be traced from the factory to its various intermediate holders through records kept of the sale of weapons along the line. Police at least hoped to locate the place at which the pistol had been purchased.
Detective B. W. Thompson brought back the pistol and the report of the experiments from the Bureau of Standards this morning, and shortly after went into conference with Inspector Henry G. Pratt, chief of detectives, and Maj. Edwin B. Hesse, superintendent of police. Indication that the police were disappointed with the report of the test was given after this conference.
Missing Sandwich Mystery.
Meanwhile a new angle for investigation entered, when it was recalled that a club sandwich which Scrivener took away with him from a late repast at the Occidental Hotel a few hours before his murder had disappeared before he was found murdered in the alley opposite his home, 3123 N street, and the autopsy showed he had not eaten it. After leaving the Occidental, Scrivener drove Detectives Sweeney and Kelly to their respective homes, and left Detective Kelly about midnight. He must still have had the sandwich in his pocket then, it is believed. At about 12:20 he was last seen going north on Wisconsin avenue, two blocks from his home, by Joseph Brannan, a next-door neighbor, returning home late with his sister. What happened to the sandwich is a mystery.
Have Last Three Numbers.
Detective B. W. Thompson was called to the Bureau of Standards this morning. He returned at 10:30 o'clock with the pistol and memoranda explanatory of the test. Police have the last three numbers of the serial on the pistol, however, because the one who filed off such numbers, though taking almost infinite pains to conceal them, missed these numbers on the cylinder.
The effect of discovery of the numbers would have been to start police on the first real trail yet uncovered in the investigation, for it would be a tangible line of investigation, since a pistol leaving an arms factory has its recorded number to show to whom it was sent, and the sale of firearms is generally checked by the numbers on a pistol whenever the weapon is transferred from one owner to another. By inspection of such records it was hoped the pistol could be traced to the hands of the murderer of Detective Scrivener.
In connection with the belief previously held that the tests on the pistol at the Bureau of Standards would be successful was the information uncovered yesterday that, unless the filing had eaten too deeply into the metal, such acid bath tests had proven invariably of worth. It was evolved for special use on automobiles when thieves attempted to eliminate the motor numbers on the automobile by filing or otherwise obliterating them or attempting to superimpose another number on the original.
Prosecution Goes Ahead.
The prosecution of the investigation along other lines did not lag. Mrs. Annie E. Stauff, inmate of the Home for Aged Women, at 1255 Wisconsin avenue, who supplied the information regarding low, quick voices in the alley before the pistol shot was heard at the time of the murder, in a subsequent interview has imparted details leading police to believe that the murderer accompanied Scrivener to the garage just before the shooting. Mrs. Stauff said she was certain she heard the voices of two men before the automobile had been put in the garage, and that she also heard the voices after the door of the garage had been pushed shut. She reiterated that she had seen three strange men loitering in the alley the afternoon previous to the murder.
As the case goes on, additional accounts are furnished the detectives. It was remembered yesterday, for instance, that Scrivener had told a fellow detective the other day that “If I could ‘break’ what I'm working on this town will see the biggest sensation yet.”
Way to Solution Seen.
This opened the possibility that Scrivener had been quietly working up a case of importance not assigned him by the police, but being probed by him preliminary to his making an official report on it. If such was the case he had kept it secret from his friend and partner, Detective Edward J. Kelly. He had given no other hint of the matter. Had Scrivener kept an appointment shortly before his murder bearing on some new development he had uncovered in a private search, the identity of the person, if learned, would carry the investigators far toward a solution.
A total reward of $2,800 was being
(Continued on Page 2, Column 6.)
Context
D. C. Stephenson, the "lifer" at Michigan City
Lincoln uses "Stephensonism" as shorthand his Indiana readers would understand without explanation. David C. Stephenson had been appointed Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan in 1923 and put in charge of Klan recruiting for seven other states, and he built close relationships with Indiana politicians, especially Governor Edward L. Jackson. His power ended with the case of Madge Oberholtzer, a state education official he abducted and assaulted and who later died: a jury convicted him of second-degree murder on November 14, 1925, he was sentenced to life in prison two days later, and on November 21 he was delivered to the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City. That is the "lifer" of the dispatch. It explains why Bishop Leete, as the article reports, could suggest that the new charges were raised to win Stephenson his freedom: the charges rested on documents attributed to a convicted man whose former allies held the power of clemency.
How strong was the Klan behind the Republican stand
The article says the Klan stood behind the Republicans' anti-World Court stance and, though weaker than two years earlier, still controlled many votes; it gives an estimate that membership had fallen to 100,000 from the 400,000 the Klan "boasted" at its height, and the reporter himself calls the current figure only an estimate. Historical accounts put the peak lower, at over 250,000 members, so the 400,000 figure reads as the organization's own boast rather than a count. The Klan's political weight had nonetheless been real: in the early 1920s Indiana politicians learned they needed its endorsement to win office. The decline Lincoln observed continued, and by the end of the decade the Indiana Klan was down to about 4,000 members and never recovered. The 1926 campaign he describes thus falls in the middle of that collapse, when Klan votes still counted but the organization's reputation was already sinking under the Stephenson scandal.
What the Stephenson corruption charges led to
In October 1926 the paper describes the Adams charges being weighed by a grand jury under prosecutor William H. Remy, and a search for Stephenson documents said to show Klan payments to Republicans, which Mildred Meade's parents claimed had been sent to New York. The fuller disclosure came later: in 1927, denied a pardon by Governor Jackson, Stephenson started talking with reporters for the Indianapolis Times. As a result of the information he released, Governor Ed Jackson and other officials were indicted. The mayor of Indianapolis, John Duvall, was jailed for thirty days and convicted of bribery, while Jackson escaped conviction because the court judged him not guilty on the ground that the statute of limitations had expired. The suggestion Lincoln reported, that the charges were merely a political device at the last hour before election, did not hold up in the following year, even though Bishop Leete and other leading citizens were urging voters in 1926 to suspend judgment.
The International Oratorical Contest after its first night
The Star billed the October 15, 1926 event as the First International Oratorical Contest, sponsored by a committee of American newspaper publishers, with five nations represented and Coolidge speaking on the education of youth in the fundamentals of government. The contest became a recurring event. When President Herbert Hoover welcomed the competitors in the Fifth International Oratorical Contest, he noted contestants from eight important nations, up from the five described in this article, and said the debates had advanced the knowledge and understanding of government, of history and of social and political questions. He also stressed the building of mutual understanding between the youth of different nations, a theme close to the purpose the Star attributed to Coolidge, who believed much of the world's unrest came from misunderstanding of shared principles of government. The fifth contest was won by Edmund Gullion of the United States.
Original
PROPOSED INQUIRY BY REED AROUSES INDIANA CAMPAIGN
PROPOSED INQUIRY BY REED AROUSES INDIANA CAMPAIGN Walb Protest of Money Used by International Bankers Acts as Boomerang. G. O. P. FEARS INABILITY TO RESTRAIN SENATORS Democrats Hope to Drag in " Stephensonism, " But Fear Reaction if Whole Thing " Flivvers. " BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. Staff Correspondent of The Star. INDIANAPOLIS, October 15. - Until " Stephensonism " entered the campaign and the limelight the same apathy among the voters that is found in other States this Fall was here. But the charges of political scandals involving D. C. Stephenson, a " lifer " at the Michigan City Penitentiary, and the Republican organization have aroused an interest, slowly at first, but now gathering momentum, which may yet make this a real campaign. Here in Marion County, the newspapers are full of the matter and people are watching each new edition. If the whole thing " flivvers, " as some Republican leaders insist it will, it may prove a boomerang. On the other hand, the expectations that Senator " Jim " Reed of Missouri and his Senate investigating committee will be here next week, has roused still further interest in the matter. Good Name of State at Stake. For the fair name of the State many of its most influential citizens are hoping that the charges will prove incorrect. They are counseling voters not to be carried away, but to wait until the grand jury has sifted the matter and made its report. Bishop Frederick D. Leete of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Indiana has issued a statement on the Adams charges of political corruption, asserting that the people generally have confidence in the prosecuting attorney, William H. Remy, who is conducting the grand jury investigation, and that most good citizens have suspended judgment. The bishop's statement suggests that the issue has been made to free Stephenson or merely as a political device at the last hour before election, and that some of the officials against whom the charges have been made are more trustworthy than are those who have appeared as complainants. But the tide of sentiment seems to be rising and it is impossible to tell now just what the result will be. G. O. P. Put in Hole. Some of the Republicans are not at all pleased with the turn of affairs which may bring the Reed committee into this State. Clyde Walb, the Republican State chairman, who wrote a letter to Senator Borah of Idaho charging that " international bankers " were spending money in Indiana to hurt the Republican senatorial candidates because they had opposed the World Court, is coming in for criticism. The Democrats took up this charge by Walb and sent word to Senator Reed they would like to have him investigate the matter. As it appears to be the only grounds on which the Senate investigating committee could well decide to come here, Mr. Walb seems to have put his foot in it. Once the Reed committee is here the Democrats believe it will so maneuver as to make an investigation of the entire situation, including the Adams charges of corruption against the Republicans. A young woman, described by local newspapers as a " frail, beautiful 23year-old Indianapolis girl, " said to be a friend of " Steve, " has become a center of interest in the scandal investigation. She is Mildred Meade. On the theory that she has some of the alleged Stephenson documents showing payments to Republicans by the former Klansman and agreements regarding political appointments, Miss Meade is sought by the grand jury. Her parents insist that she has none of the documents, but that they were " all sent to New York. " The prosecuting attorney is making every effort to obtain the documents. World Court as Issue. The issues in the campaign outside of " Stephensonism " have created comparatively little excitement. The Republicans have sought to make the World Court an issue, realizing the strong sentiment in the State against American adherence and the fact that both Indiana Senators, Watson and Robinson, voted against the court. The Democrats, on the other hand, have tried not to be drawn into the court issue. Evans Woollen, candidate of the Democrats against Robinson, and Albert Stump, their nominee against Senator Watson, have taken the position that the Republicans and the Republican administration first presented the court issue to the Senate of the United States, and were in control of that body when the protocol was ratified. Nevertheless, the Republicans are counting on this anti-World Court sentiment to aid them. Back of them in the stand they took is the Ku Klux Klan. Although the Klan is declared to be considerably weaker in Indiana than it was two years ago, it is still in control of many votes. It has been estimated that the Klan strength has dwindled to 100, 000 from the 400, 000 members it boasted at its height. This is only an estimate of Klan strength today. The wet and dry issue that has stirred other States is lacking here, except in three congressional districts, the first, 8th and twelfth, where the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment is backing the Democratic nominees for the House. Officials of the Anti-Saloon League say that all four of the senatorial nominees, Republican and Democratic alike, are satisfactory to the drys, and the issue does not enter into the senatorial campaign. Senator Robinson has spoken repeatedly for the drys. The league on a few occasions paid Robinson's expenses from Washington to Indiana when he came to make dry speeches. He was the dry floor leader in the State Senate when the State enforcement code, more stringent than in any of the other States, was put through. Senator Watson, the league leaders point out, has a long record of voting for prohibition measures in Congress. Evans Woollen, head of one of the (Continued on Page 6, Column 3.)
ORATORS READY FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTEST TONIGHT
ORATORS READY FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTEST TONIGHT President Coolidge to Speak Before Youths of Five Nations Compete. AUDIENCE WILL HEAR THREE TONGUES SPOKEN Magnificent Silver Loving Cup to Be Awarded Winner at Washington Auditorium. The First International Oratorical Contest starts promptly at 8 o'clock tonight in the Washington Auditorium. Five schoolboys, representing five flags, are ready to uphold the traditions of their countries for youthful eloquence before an audience which will include the principal dignitaries of the United States, as well as the leaders of the diplomatic corps. President Coolidge will speak from the same platform. Upon the slender shoulders of Herbert Wenig, Hollywood (Calif.) youth, falls the honor of representing the United States. Herbert Moran of Toronto will speak for the sister English-speaking Canada. William Meades Newton of Liverpool will defend the supremacy of the motherland of English speech. From Mexico City comes Jose Munoz Cota to uphold the ancient eloquence of the Castilian tongue, and from France, noted for its fiery orators, comes Maxime Raymond Puel of Nancy, determined upon the triumph of the tri-color. Contrasts in Culture. It will be a clash of the old world against the new, of Anglo-Saxon culture against Latin culture. For the first time today these five boys spent the day together. Young Puel reached Washington only late yesterday afternoon and his opponents met him at the station. The others have been in Washington for some time and have become fast friends during the busy days of sightseeing about the Nation's Capital and of placing the finishing touches on the orations they will deliver tonight. All five were together last night at a dinner given at the home of John Hays Hammond, 2301 Kalorama road. Mr. Hammond will formally open the contest tonight. The day is passing slowly indeed for these schoolboys. All are accustomed to speaking before large audiences, but never has any one of them spoken before an assembly containing the President of the United States, five or six of his cabinet officers, the diplomatic representatives of their own countries and an imposing number of legislators, judges, educators and military and naval officers. Silver Cup as Trophy. The winner tonight will carry home with him a magnificent silver loving cup, donated by the committee of American newspaper publishers which is sponsoring the contest. This trophy will be presented on behalf of the publishers by Frank B. Noyes, publisher of The Evening Star and president of the Associated Press. The great event of the evening, of course, will be the contest itself. The night belongs to these eloquent schoolboys, who not only have prepared polished orations, but have dug deeply into the histories and the fundamentals of government of their native lands for a background. But of equal importance will be another oration-by the President of the United States. Mr. Coolidge is an enthusiastic sponsor of such contests. In past years he has taken a deep interest in the National Oratorical Contests conducted every Spring in Washington. Few things are closer to the President's heart than the education of youth in the fundamentals of government, and that is the primary purpose of these contests. There are certain fundamental principles of good government common to all civilized countries. A great deal of the unrest of the world, the President believes, is due to ignorance or misunderstanding of these principles. Orators Have Backers. On the stage with the boys will be their national backers-groups of distinguished statesmen and educators, who feel with President Coolidge that such a contest is laying the foundations of good citizenship. The presence of these men is calculated to give each boy more confidence. He will not be standing alone in a strange land before a strange people. A great man who thinks and speaks in his own tongue will be with him. Wenig will speak on " The American Constitution. " Moran's subject will be, " Canada's Part in the New World. " Newton's subject is, " The British Empire. " Cota goes into the stirring history and traditions of the Latin American republics for a subject, and will speak on " Bolivar and the Latin American Peoples. " Puel will speak on " The French Government. " An unusual feature of the program will be that each national champion will be introduced by strains of his national anthem rather than by words of the chairman. The chairman will, however, make a group presentation of the orators, stating their subjects and their speaking order. Then President Coolidge will speak, after which will come the five orations. Three of the contestants will speak English, one in Spanish and one in French. They will be judged by a group of multi-lingual judges from leading universities of this country and abroad, headed by Ambassador Padilla of Spain. Others are Dr. Richard F. A. Muller, an engineer born in Belgium, who has spent much of his life on projects in Central and South America, and who was formerly connected with the University of Quito, Ecuador; Dr. Robert M. Sugar of McGill University, Montreal; Dr. Louis J. A. Mercier of Harvard University and Dr. Richard Henry Wilson of the University of Virginia. An English translation of the speeches of the Mexican and French champions will be available to every one in the audience. Radio Programs-Page 46.
ACID FAILS TO BARE FIGURES ON GUN IN SCRIVENER KILLING
ACID FAILS TO BARE FIGURES ON GUN IN SCRIVENER KILLING Police More Baffled Than Ever When Experts Admit Tests Have Failed. VICTIM'S FUNERAL RITES DRAW COMRADES TO BIER Officiating Minister Calls on Washington to Rally to Support of Law Defenders. While friends and fellow officers at funeral services today paid a parting tribute to the memory of Detective Sergt. Arthur B. Scrivener, who was murdered early Wednesday morning, investigators seeking to unravel the mystery of his death again found themselves checked by unfavorable outcome of the tests performed by Bureau of Standards experts on the pistol which the murderer left on the scene of the crime. Attempts to bring out the filed-off serial number of the pistol, it was reported, proved disappointing. After submergence of the pistol in acid baths for two days, it was found that the murderer of Detective Scrivener had done his work only too well in removing identification clues from the weapon. His filing of the numbers had been performed thoroughly and deeply. The bringing out of the serial numbers of the weapon had been looked forward to by investigators as the real starting point in the investigation. With serial numbers present, the pistol could be traced from the factory to its various intermediate holders through records kept of the sale of weapons along the line. Police at least hoped to locate the place at which the pistol had been purchased. Detective B. W. Thompson brought back the pistol and the report of the experiments from the Bureau of Standards this morning, and shortly after went into conference with Inspector Henry G. Pratt, chief of detectives, and Maj. Edwin B. Hesse, superintendent of police. Indication that the police were disappointed with the report of the test was given after this conference. Missing Sandwich Mystery. Meanwhile a new angle for investigation entered, when it was recalled that a club sandwich which Scrivener took away with him from a late repast at the Occidental Hotel a few hours before his murder had disappeared before he was found murdered in the alley opposite his home, 3123 N street, and the autopsy showed he had not eaten it. After leaving the Occidental, Scrivener drove Detectives Sweeney and Kelly to their respective homes, and left Detective Kelly about midnight. He must still have had the sandwich in his pocket then, it is believed. At about 12: 20 he was last seen going north on Wisconsin avenue, two blocks from his home, by Joseph Brannan, a next-door neighbor, returning home late with his sister. What happened to the sandwich is a mystery. Have Last Three Numbers. Detective B. W. Thompson was called to the Bureau of Standards this morning. He returned at 10: 30 o'clock with the pistol and memoranda explanatory of the test. Police have the last three numbers of the serial on the pistol, however, because the one who filed off such numbers, though taking almost infinite pains to conceal them, missed these numbers on the cylinder. The effect of discovery of the numbers would have been to start police on the first real trail yet uncovered in the investigation, for it would be a tangible line of investigation, since a pistol leaving an arms factory has its recorded number to show to whom it was sent, and the sale of firearms is generally checked by the numbers on a pistol whenever the weapon is transferred from one owner to another. By inspection of such records it was hoped the pistol could be traced to the hands of the murderer of Detective Scrivener. In connection with the belief previously held that the tests on the pistol at the Bureau of Standards would be successful was the information uncovered yesterday that, unless the filing had eaten too deeply into the metal, such acid bath tests had proven invariably of worth. It was evolved for special use on automobiles when thieves attempted to eliminate the motor numbers on the automobile by filing or otherwise obliterating them or attempting to superimpose another number on the original. Prosecution Goes Ahead. The prosecution of the investigation along other lines did not lag. Mrs. Annie E. Stauff, inmate of the Home for Aged Women, at 1255 Wisconsin avenue, who supplied the information regarding low, quick voices in the alley before the pistol shot was heard at the time of the murder, in a subsequent interview has imparted details leading police to believe that the murderer accompanied Scrivener to the garage just before the shooting. Mrs. Stauff said she was certain she heard the voices of two men before the automobile had been put in the garage, and that she also heard the voices after the door of the garage had been pushed shut. She reiterated that she had seen three strange men loitering in the alley the afternoon previous to the murder. As the case goes on, additional accounts are furnished the detectives. It was remembered yesterday, for instance, that Scrivener had told a fellow detective the other day that " If I could ' break ' what I'm working on this town will see the biggest sensation yet. " Way to Solution Seen. This opened the possibility that Scrivener had been quietly working up a case of importance not assigned him by the police, but being probed by him preliminary to his making an official report on it. If such was the case he had kept it secret from his friend and partner, Detective Edward J. Kelly. He had given no other hint of the matter. Had Scrivener kept an appointment shortly before his murder bearing on some new development he had uncovered in a private search, the identity of the person, if learned, would carry the investigators far toward a solution. A total reward of $ 2, 800 was being (Continued on Page 2, Column 6.)
Source: Holding institution