Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              CLAIM 20,000 SIGNED COUNTY PROBE PETITION
A Paper l^or The Home
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
Weather
S'lnday:   Cloudy with rain.
Monday: Partly cloudy.
Not much Chang* in temperature.
FORTY-EIGHT PAGES
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10,1937
PRICE TEN CENTS
>
ITALY OFFERS AID TO JAPANESE; FRANCE. RRITAIN PLAN REPRISALS
Tons Of Luck For Veteran
^
emocratic Chairman Law Claims Republicans Have Joined    In    Request
ATTACK REGISTRATION
Charge Conspiracy Deprives
Voters   Of   Right  To
Cast Their Ballots
r
More than L'0,000 citizens, Repuh¬ liean and Democratic, in all parts of Luzerne county, have signed their names during the past 24 hours to petitions to President Judge VV. S. McLean to have Attor¬ ney General Charles Margiotti con¬ duct a rigid investigation of the Luzerne county registration com¬ mission, It wa* reported last night. The petitions will ba circulated again tomorrow with the expecta¬ tion that 10,000 more citizens will nign their names before the peti¬ tion i> presented to the court.
The petition charges that; "in nur belief, a conspiracy now exists between the Republican members of the registration commission, their clerks, errfployees and mem¬ bers of the Republican organiza¬ tion of Luzerne county to defeat the Democratic candidacy by false, malicious means, in that every effort is going to be made, for tech¬ nical rea.sons, to deprive the Dem¬ ocratic electors of their right to vote for mistakes, made either un¬ intentionally or maliciously, by the Republican  registrars"
Law  OlvPa  Statement Satisfaction   was   expressed   last night   by  James   J.   Law,   County Chairman,   with    the    promjit    re¬ sponse of the thousands of electors ' to affix  their  names  to  the  peti-' tions for a pi obe of the registration commission.  Republican  controlled. I "It is a healthy sign of the times," ' said  .Mr   Law,  "a  compliment  and honor to the electorate  of Luzerne | eounty who helieve in a square deal and decent treatment for all."
"So widespread is the fecloiig among the citizens of Luzerne cnunty regardless of party affilia¬ tion." said Mr. Law. "that the Re¬ publican-controlled board of county commissioners has given the Dem¬ orratic voters such shabby unfair and illegal treatment in the matter "f registration that within the short "ipnre of ten hours no fewer than 20,OOn men and women signed peti- , tinn.i fnr an investigation of that I "Hire. Before Monday morning in.onn additional names will be on 'he petitions. I
(laliii Republicans Signed I
"Those who  circulated  the  petl-j tions report that thousands of fair- : minded   Republicans   have   volun- I'ered to affix their signatures  to the petitions. These citizens believe their   Democratic    neighbors    and friends are entitled to the right to vote and the desperate effort of the founty G.  O.   P.   machine   to  dis¬ franchise them is nauseating to the public generally. This is a fine sign of  the   times,   a   compliment   and I honor to the electorate of Luzerne rounty who believe in a square deall '",? decent treatment for all.
Everybody knows what hap¬ pened last year. The plot con¬ tinues this year. In the November i»3R campaign the dark-lantern "¦•iRade in the court house wiped 'f^ontinued  on   Page  A-2)
LOFTUS SHOOTING GIVEN RELEASES
Police To Start New Search
For Possible Attackers
Of Welfare Worker
DUCE DEFIES WORLD
IN JAPAN AND SPAIN
MAKING RECOVERY
Graphite. 5,000,000,000 tons of it | a ton. The depoait found by Hewin.; ns estimated by geologists, has j assays 40 per cent graphite, used in been discovered by Charles Hewlns, ¦ pencil.'!, paints and other commer- disabled war veteran prospector, | cial products, to the ton of ore. in a rich deposit in tha pinegirded . Hewins i.» shown above taking mountain"! near Big Bear, Cal. I samples of his newly discovered Graphite ore sells at |100 to $1,300 | wealth.
INDEPENDENTS SEEK EAST BOSTON LEASE
West Side Mine Closed By
RFC After Coal Price
Slash Brought Loss
LOANED $360,000
With winter weather slowly tet- ' tling   over   the   country   and   the; po.s.sibilities for a brisk demand for j coal,   over   ,500   employees   of   the ' East Boston Coal Company, located on  the  West Side,  idle  since  July, are   deeply  concerned  whether  the Reconstruction    Finance    Corpora-1 tion,  a  government  agency  which • operated the mines from November 19.38   to  July   1937,   will  again   take the respon.sibility of providing them with job.s.   The R.F.C. made a loan i of ,$360,000 last fall when the com- ' pany defaulted  in  its payrolls.
Prior    to    November,    1936,    em¬ ployees of this operation were idle fo(  two  years.   The   company   be¬ came   Involved   in   financial   diffi- i culties  and  the  mines  rlosed  with a  heavy  default  in  payrolls. R.F.C. Loaned .fSSO.OOO The Reconstruction Finance Cor- j poration,    after    urgent    requests from   the   men   and   business   lead¬ ers  on  the  West Side,  entered  the picture    and    granted    a    loan    of $360,000, which was utilized to clear I up   back   wage.i   as   well   as   out- ' standing  obligations.   A  little  was left for working capital. |
After   the   loan   was   granted   a. hitch   developed   according  to  em- j ployees  interviewed  by  a  reporter j of   the   Sunday   Independent,    be¬ tween  officials  of  the   Reconstruc¬ tion   Finance   Corporation   and   the fContinued  on  Page  B-11)
Father Coughlin Cancels Program
Royal Oak, Mich., Oct. 9 I UP) Father Charles E. Coughlin, whose recent remarks concern¬ ing President Roosevelt wero criticized by Archbishop Edward Mooney, tonight announced can¬ cellation of hia scheduled series of radio broadcasts.
He declined to amplify his announcement. Archbishop Mooney, Coughlin's ecclesiastical superior, could not be reached for  comment.
In an interview last week he u.sed the words "personal stu¬ pidity" in reference to President Roosevelt's appointment of Hugo "Black to the Supreme Court.
The archbishop in a formal statement expressed "deep re¬ gret" that Father Coughlin had not   had   "prudent   counsel".
Tonight the radio priest dis¬ closed that: "Father Coughlin presented to the archbishop for approval for publication his written reply to the archbishop's statement. This approval was withheld."
I     With the release of the only two suspects  rounded   up  in   the  wide search,  police  last  night  admitted I they were  still withoui a solution ; , to the  shooting of Miss  Nellie  G. i Loftus, wounded by a gunman who hid in the shadows of Kirby Health I Center on North Franklin street.
A   steady   stream   of   witnesses t pas.sed   through   headquarters  yes- i terday afternoon without being able ! to  shed  any  further  light  on  the | ambuscade laid for the State Wel¬ fare    nur.se.     At   Mercy   Hospital Miss Loftus continued to show im¬ provement   and,   unless   complica¬ tions develop, will recover.
The two suspects. Mrs. Agnes Tadin, proprietor of an establish¬ ment at 181 South Pennsylvania avenue, and her bartender, John Toma, 33, of 44 Ciat itreet, But¬ tonwood, were turned free after more than two days of questioning. Chief of Police Russell Taylor an¬ nounced the Tadin woman was dis¬ charged yesterday afternoon while Toma was given his liberty under $1,000 bail to appear when wanted. Toma was actually freed late in the afternoon but last night at 9 oclock was brought back to police headquarters as more witnesses ap¬ peared, but again was allowed to go home. Freedom for Mrs. Tadin may be a short affair because she Is scheduled to appear before Judge B. R. Jones to be sentenced on a charge of keeping a bawdy house. The shooting of Miss Loftus as she left Kirby Health Center Thursday night in company with Dr. Cyrus Jacobosky has sent de¬ tectives going back through the records of cases wherein the State Welfare nurse has appeared as a crusader against vice. Known for I her fearlessness in probing circum- | stances which caused young girls to eventually come within a police circle, Miss Loftus Incurred the enmity of many who trafficked in vice.
On the day she was shot the nurse had appeared In court against Mrs. Tadin as a result of testimony by one or more girls who frequented or were employed at the South Pennsylvania estab¬ lishment. As MI.SS Loftus and Dr. Jaco'oosky walked to the rear of '.he Health Ccn'ei for their cars, a man lurking in .he shadows fired two shot.s. One of these struck the nurse in th.- thigh Later It was reported that a second bullet had been found In her back, but this was denied by Dr. F. M. Pugliese.
In announcing the release of the Tadin woman and Toma, Chief of Police Taylor said his men were also working on the theory that the assailant may have been some¬ one Interested In a case which originated outside of Wilkes-Barre City. As a result, all cases where Miss Loftus appeared as prosecutor or witness were being studied for a clue to the gunman's identity.
U. S. Supported • By Argentina
Washington, Oct. 9 (UP) — TliR Argentine government to¬ night joined the fast growing bloc of nations arrayed against international anarchy as the United States and Great Britain began preliminary conversations regarding the conference among signatories to the Nine-Power Treaty in an effort to halt Japan's outlaw war against China.
In the background was the specter of Italy's and Germany's intervention in the Spanish civil war.
Felipe Espil, Argentine am¬ bassador, delivered to President Roosevelt a peraonal message from Argentine President Agus- tine P. Justo congratulating Mr. Roosevelt on his Chicago speech on international lawlessness. Justo assured him of the Argen¬ tine government's "warmest support" of the American stand.
It represented the first step in a possible all-Ameriran movement to present a solid front on threat! to world peace coming from other sectioni of the world.
Tokyo   Reports   Assurance Of   'Full   Support'   Of Italy    Under   Anti- Communist Pact
OPPOSING 50  NATIONS
USE OF GAS
IS CHARGED
Chiang Accuses Japs; Long
War Warned But Says
China Will Figiit
BIG PUSH AWAITED
Ask $40,000 For Food Worth $1L75 Civil War Vet Didn't Eatin Prison
PLAN FOR PEACE
L.vnn. Mati.s., Oct. 9. (UP) -Coun- "I lor heirs of a civil war veteran snnounced tonight that he has ask- *^.,L " <^°"B"ssmen to file a bill ¦ »"1? ""^^"^ "'e federal govern- F "J*"' *""'<! pa.v 140.000 for $11.75 li^hii ."' '""d 'o-'t by the veteran lA,*^"'* In Confederate prison camps. r ^, .^""'¦"•¦.v Alphonsu* McCarthy of Jjjnn .said he had been retained by ^e heirs, unnamed, of Charles Bustace, New Hampshire  contrac-
I     hL    u"   ^""'^   '"   the   1st   New "«mpshire Cavalry.
1 in tif'"? *^' imprisoned 47 days \ ".ul*^" Anderson, Libby and Dan- k Csrti, '-""federate prisons, Mc- \ le',,^''."^'''' After Eustace's re- Ia 111711 , *'''' '¦'""ed a claim for M   *•« lor •«ommutation of rationa",
contending that army rations of which he could not partake because of Imprisonment by the enemy amounted to that sum.
Subsequently, McCarthy said, Mrs Eustace was notified by a Washington law firm that her claim was justified, but that settle¬ ment would require an act of Con¬ gresa.   .She did not press the claim.
Eustace's heirs decided to seek settlement, however, after comput¬ ing that the original claim plus 12 percent compound interest would; total more than $40,000. |
- McCartrfy said he has written [ U. S. Reps. I.,awrence Connery of l Lynn and William Callahan ofl Keene. N. H., asking them tn file, th* necessary biU ip Congress,
Panther Creek Workers To
Keep Underground Until
Terms Are Written
UNION ORDER DEFIED
Coaldale, Pa., Oct. 9. (UP)- An offer of peace extended by officials of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company was rejected today by 38 miners who defied United Mine Workers of America executives by going on a "stay down" strike 1252 feet below ground.
The rejection cemented the de¬ termination of 6,500 other Panther Creek Valley miners to continue their "sympathy" strike, likewise In the face of orders from UMWA cfficials that they comply with labor   rontrari.s   \>itli    the    Lehigh
Roosevelt Talks On Radio Tuesday
Washington. Oct. 9 (UP) — President Roosevelt will address the nation in another of his "fireside chats" Tuesday night, the White House announced late   today.
The address is expected to re¬ veal whether the President will call Congress into special ses¬ sion on Nov. 15 to enact farm and wages-hours legislation.
Speculation arose Immediately whether Mr. Roosevelt would comment in any way upon th« controversy growing out of the revelations that his Supreme Court appointee. Justice Hugo L. Brack, once waa a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mr. Roosevelt has refrained from any comincnt on the re¬ velations, first on grounds that Black had had no opportunity to reply to the ch.irge. After Black's unprecedented radio address, in which he admitted he wa* once a Klan member, Mr. Roosevelt again declined comment. The speech will be delivered from 9:30 p. m. to 10 p.  m.  ERT.
Shanghai, October 9. (UP) — Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, commander of the Chinese armies and dictator over 400,000,000 per¬ sons, declared tonight that China would fight Japan "to the last man."
At the same time, Chinese spokes¬ man charged that Japanese troops were attempting to crush the de¬ layed Chinese offensive by using tear  gas  in  vast  quantities.
Chiang Kai-Shek pledged a "last- ditch" fight in a nationwide broad¬ cast from Nanking on the eve of the "Ten-Ten" holiday, the 26th national anniversary ot the Chinese Republic and the day when an un¬ precedented Chinese offensive was to have begun had It not been for bad weather.
Bloodiest Battle Nearing While the generalissimo talked, great quantities of war material, heavy and light field guns and thousands of Chinese reinforce¬ ments moved toward the Shanghai front for what was expected to be the  bloodiest battle  of  the war.
Five hundred thousand troops on both sides faced each other across flooded paddy fields west and northwest of Shanghai. Chinese and Japane.se skirmished in brief but bloody  "test"  engagements.
While Chiang Kai-Shek was fore¬ casting a long war, nearly 600,000 of his troops were retreating north of the Yellow River in North China before four Japanese armies using the latest motorized equipment and ' scores of war planes. |
And while the generalissimo warned the nation against "false hopes," his government in Nanking learned that !S00 Japanese naval planes, concentrated at various points off the China seacoast, were ¦ devastating cities, railways and \ supply depots in the interior along a  2,000-mile  front. I
Warns Of Long War I
"We should  know," Chiang Kai-! shek declared, " that there  is ab- I solutely   no   hope   that   hostilities I will be ended within a few months \ and   musl   vi.sualize   the   ever   in¬ creasing  hardships   and  afflictions so    long    aa    the    bitter    struggle lasts . . ."
Even as he talked. Chinese re¬ ceived dispatches from Tokyo that Fascist Italy had aligned herself with Japan that the Italian am¬ bassador visited the Japanese for¬ eign office and pledged Italy's moral and material support, and that Italy would aid Japan despite the condemnation by the Lesgue of
(Continued on Page A.10).
!     Tokyo, Oct. 9. (UP)-Fa.scist Italy I was    reported     tonight    to    have ' promised imperinl Japan "full sup¬ port"  in  her  undeclared  war with China.
Italy apparently was assuming the right to come to the aid of Japan under the anti-Communist pact signed by Japan, Germany and Italy last year. Japan has charged repeatedly that Com¬ munists in China were responsible for  hostilities.
Italian  Suppnrt   Assured
Domei, senii-ofhcial news agency, said that Giacinto Auriti, Italian ambassador, held a half-hour con¬ ference with Vice Foreign Minister Kensuke Horinoughi and assured Japan of Italy's support. Italy thus aligned herself against 50 nations in the League of Nations and the United States, which have condemned Japan's invasion of [ China.
Horinouchi thanked Premier Benito Mussolini for his support, especially at a time when other leading nation.'? of the world were attempting to halt Japan's war of "self defense," Domei said.
Italy thus became the first major power to as.sure Japan of direct aid. Her assurances came while the League of Nations was arranging a meeting of the signatories of the nine-power pact, signed in Wash¬ ington in 1922 as a guarantee of Chinese territorial Integrity. U.   S.   Action   Regretted
Foreign Minister Koki Hirota was expected to issue soon a state- mcnl detailing Japan's Asiatic policy. The statement was not ex¬ pected to reply directly to the League and the United States but to .Tttempt to clarify Japan's aims. The foreign office issued a state¬ ment, expressing regret at the action of the League nnd U. S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull in accusing   Japan   of   violating   the
// Duce Answers— Calls More Troops
Rome, Oct. 9 (UP)—Premier Benito Mussolini, formally re¬ jecting Anglo-French demands for withdrawal of his "volun- lec." troops from Spain, was reported tonight to be mobiliz¬ ing aimy conscripts to meet any reprisals which France or Britain may undertake.
II Duce has called three classes of conscripts—those of 1907, 1908 and 1909—to the colors.
They are being mobilized quietly In readiness for "event¬ ual action anywhere," officials .said.
Diplomats believed they would be sent to Spain to augment the insurgent forces of Generalis¬ simo Francisco Franco if France throws down the bar¬ riers along the Franco-Spanish frontier to permit an influx of men, munitions and arms to the Spanish   Loyalists.
Diplomatic quarters under¬ stood that the B'rench govern¬ ment might even "permit" men of her crack regular army divi¬ sions  to join  the  Loyalists.
French  May Open Border,
And Send Troops To Help
Loyalists;   Italy  To
Feel   Direct   Action
PARIS SOUNDS WARNING
JAPS MASS
500 PLANES
New Air Fleet To Hammer
Interior; Chinese Fall
Back In North
COMMUNISTS RETREAT
Nanking, Oct. 9 (UP)—Five hun¬ dred   Japanese   naval   planes   are concentrated at various  points off the   Chinese   coast   to   carry   out Nine-Power Pact and the Kellogg-  Japans threat of bringing China to Briand   Peace   Treaty,   and   main-   h^r knees by devastating her inter-
tainlng   the   right   to   station   Jap¬ anese troops in China.
AIRICAN FLIER
Franco Grants Her Permis¬ sion To Come And Prom¬ ises 'Every Courtesy'
WILL GO BY PLANE
Salamanca, Spain, Oct. 9. lUP) - Mrs. Edithe Rogers Dahl, blonde "torch singer" and bride of Harold E. Dahi, who narrowly escaped death before a Spanish insurgent firing squad, tonight obtained per¬ mission from Generalissimo Fran- cLsco Franco to join her husband.
She will fly here from the French Riviera in a plane piloted by Capt. James A. Mollison, famous English aviator, to vi.sit Dahl in his white- wa.shed   prison  cell.
Promised   "All   Courtesy"
Immediately after being in¬ formed that her 28-year-old hus¬ band, whose home is In Cham¬ paign, III., had been sentenced to death by court martial and then pardoned by Franco, Mrs. Dahl telegraphed a plea that she be al¬ lowed to join him.
The gcnerali.ssimo, who twice saved Dahl's life by reprieve and pardon on Mrs. Dahl's pleas, sent a gallant answer telling her she would be afforded "all the courtesy of Nationalist Spain."
Dahl. shot down and captured behind Insurgent lines last July 12 while fighting for the Loyalists, was tried by a court martial last Tuesday. He testified that he came to Spain as a terhnici-in and was (Continued on Page A-10>
lor,  the  government waa informed today.
This figure does not include Jap¬ anese planes concentrated at air fields on the island of Formosa or the large numher of army planes In North   China,   military   authorities
1 pointed  out.
1 The 500 planes were brought to the China coast by aircraft car¬ riers which are now stationed off Shanghai.     Hawchow     in     North
I China and at the mouth of the Pearl River below Canton in South China.
(liinese   Communlstn   Retreating
Peiping. Sunday, Oct. 10 (UP) — Chinese Communist troops under Gen. Chu Teh, the "Red Napoleon of China," were reported today to be falling back on Kweihwa cap¬ ital of Euiyuan province, before a powerful Japanese offensive deep into the northwest country.
Three other Chinese armies were retreating steadily north of the Yellow River, demoralized by the swift motorized drive of the Japa- : nese armies toward the Yellow- River,   Japanese   spokesmen   said.
The Northwest Army under Lieut. Gen. Seishiro Itagaki, hero of the Japanese Kwantung Army, had reached Koutsuitze. only thirty miles from Kweihwa, an official; annnuncement said, and was press¬ ing on toward the provincial capi¬ tal in the face of savage resistance.
Mongolian     cavalry     under     the ((^ontinued  on  Page  A-10)
1 London, Oct. 9 (UP)—Greal Britain and Franre tonight dis- \ cussed retaliative measures against Fascist Italy which may lead ta ! final collap.se of the Spanish neu» I trallty control estabPished by 2T I nations In an effort to avert a g;en« eral European war.
Premier   Benito   Mussolini's   re¬ fusal to enter into three-power ne¬ gotiations on the withdrawal of all foreign     volunteers     from     Spain drove all Europe toward a "show down"  In   a  crisis   that   has   been brewing fnr 15 months. I    Italy's  defiance,  although  sugar- j coated   and   professing   desire   for peace,   forced   Britain   and   Franca into   the   position   of   carrying  out ^ threats to take "some fo-m  of di¬ rect  action"  in  event of    I Duce'i j refusal to collaborate. j May  Open  Border
Within a few hours after tha l^H^itaa. answer was delivered ths i British and French foreign offices called consultations.
The first retaliatory measure, it was Indicated, will be to throw open the Franco-!3panish frontier and permit an unrestricted flow of aid to the Spanish Loyalists—men, mu¬ nitions, arms and perhaps "volun¬ teers" from France's crack army divisions.
This may be followed by tha British government granting per¬ mission for arms shipments to Loyalist Spain.
Officials admitted that some im¬ mediate action was necessary tu offset Mussolini's ob% ious determ¬ ination to maintain and perhaps increase his military role in Spain. Otherwise the Loyalists might be crushed and an Italian-dominated Fascist state  established  in Spain.
Reports that the French govern¬ ment already had fixed Monday as the "zero hour" for opening tha frontier  were  officially  discounted.
The   British   Foreign  Office  said that "no  surprise action" was an¬ ticipated aver the weekend. Fear  New  Terror rampaign
Beyond Italy's rejection of tha Anglo-French demand for direct negotiations on the volunteers question, two other developments stirred fears in London and Paris. They  were:
1. Reports that Mussolini, al¬ ready rushing thousands of troopi to North Africa, was mobilizing army conscripts to meet any Anglo- French "reprisals."
2. A Spanish Loyalist note to Britain charging that Italy would embark soon on a fre,sh campaign of terror and aggression on tha side of the Spanish  insurgents.
France Sounds Warning
Paris, Oct. 9 (UP'-The govern¬ ment announced today, after study- iug Italy's refusal to discuss with¬ drawal of foreign troops from Spain that it was preparing to "safeguard French security from big-scale  Italian  intervention."
The announcement, made by ai foreign office spokesman after an emergency conference of Premier Camille (Chautemps with cabinet leaders. Indicated that a movement already was under way to throve open the Pyrenees frontier at tha north  of Spain.
Removal of the frontier barriara with full British corwent woulil provide a flow of men and ma¬ terials for the Loyalist forces anit greatly offset the insurgents' mili¬ tary  superiority.
"France Is not thinking of thresA« (Continued on  Page A-10)
14-Year-Old Boy Leaves City For Bike Ride To Binghamton Home
Binghamton is a long way from town. The return messac« Wilkes-Barre, especially for a 14- j his mother was pitiful year-old boy traveling on a bicycle. Nevertheless, the youngster, Charles Roberts of 4 Grant street, Bing¬ hamton, left the city police station for home last night with this vehicle.
Roberts,    picked    up    on    South Main street yesterday afternoon by
James, father of the boy, had left home to seek work in the South. The family was partially on relief and, after no word arrived from his parent, Charles set out oo hia bike, heading south to find him.
Being in distress, the mother was unable to send the boy's fara but expressed  a desire  for him ta
Officer Duffy, was taken to police ! come home. Undaunted, fhe little station and listed for a night's adventurer was released by Cl^hlef lodging. In the meantime, a tele- < Russell Tajrlar and Started aa Ul type message was sent to bis home [ wajCn .-. ^
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