Wilkes-Barre Sunday Independent

              .—
BOY RELATES OWN STORY OF KIDNAPING
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
THE WEATHER
Eastern   Pennsylvania;     Fair   and
warmer  Sunday:   Monday
local  .ihowers.
LEASED WIRE TELEGRAPH REPORT TO 3 A.M. SUNDAY
FIFTY-TWO PAGES
The Only Sunday  Newspaper Covering the Wyoming Valley
WILKES-BARRE, PA., SUNDAY. JUNE 2, 1935
Entered at Wllkes-Barre, i'a. As Second Clasi Mall Matter
PRICE TEN CENTS
FEDERAL AGENTS SEE CHALLENGE
GANG'S ESCAPE WITH RICHES
IS
TO
«/'
Religious Fanatic Submission To Was At His Own
Admits Torture Request
SON DROVE SPIKES
Planned Cruel Ordeal As A Means Of Persuading Wife To Return To Him
Will Tax Aliens For Age Pension
Washington, June 1. (UP) — Senate legislative attorneys said today that aliens would be taxed the sB.me as others and would be eligible to receive Fedenil old-age pensions under the Ad¬ ministration's social security program as now drafted. Thn Federal system would not be¬ come effective until about flve years after passage of the legis¬ lation.
State pension programs, under which the Federal government would contribute to old-age funds, would start operating goon after approval of the law by President Roosevelt. In con¬ nection with aliens who enter the country illegally, it was ex¬ plained they are subject to de¬ portation  if  discovered.
MUST FACE TRIAL
High Point, N. C, June 1, (IJP) —K J. Riggs, 3S-year-old gasoline station operator who had his 15- year-oid son, Donald, nail him to a crude cross in an effort to win back the love of hia estrangtd wife, will be arrested aa soon as ha is released from a hospital, police laid tonight.
The son also will be arrested, police said. He was missing to¬ night and believed en route to Para¬ dise Point, 250 miles away. He fled shortly after his father, his hands and feet nailed to the cross, was found early today by P. A. Walls, a neighbor, who was attracted by the howling of dogs which had gathered around the tortured Riggs, Prosecuting Attorney Gaston A. Johnson, to whom Riggs confessed the self-conceived crucifixion, did not Itnow just what charges would be lodged against the father and son, but Riggs, whom he described ¦s a religious fanatic, will face a sanity commission,
Mrs. Riggs left her husband re¬ cently and subsequently charged him with non-support and aban¬ donment. Until police talked to her, they were convinced of the truth of Riggs' story that three men dragged him from his bed and crucified him because of his reh- gious beliefs.
Riggs tonight was suffering from ¦hock and loss of blood and faced possible compUcations in the form ot tetanus or septic poisoning. His hands and feet bore livid wounds, mute evidence that his son had carried out his orders to nail him to the  cross.
Mrs. Riggs said tonight her feel¬ ings were unchanged toward Riggs, and that she did not feel respons¬ ible for his "crucifixion,"
Confeasea to PoUc« Riggs confessed to police today that he had himself crucified by his 115-year-old son, Donald, in an effort to win back his estranged wife's affections.
Prosecuting Attorney Gaston A. Johnson, to whom the confession wai made, said that Riggs, a reli- «ious fanatic, had his son nail him to the cross last night.
Ten-penny nails were driven through the palms of his hands and the heels of hia feet, into a large limber and a crude cross-beam. Johnson said that Riggs, by this method of self-torture, hoped to »Kam win his wife to his side.
Riggs wag in agony when found •arly today. Blood dripped from his hands and feet and a wire about his neck was drawn Uut, almost "trangling him.
T
FACE RISE OF PRICES
Fifty Cents Pocket Charge Set By Coal Companies Upon   Outside    Haulers
OTHER COSTS UP
Plough Turns Up Stolen Jewelry
Lock Haven, Pa., June 1 (UP) —Jewelery valued at several hundred dollars, which was atoleti from the home of Dr. Dallas W. Armstrong, head of Lock Haven Teachers College, two years ago, was unearthed today by an 11-year-old boy while plowing a field.
Tha boy wag Malvin Smith, son of Dewey Smith, Officials were notified and the jewelry wag identified as part of the loot stolen from Dr, Armstrong's home. Eric Byrol and Andrew Mayeg, serving sentences for robbery, admitted they robbed the Armstrong home, police said. Most of the jewelry found today wai broken and badly damaged. It included a diamond ring, cuff linkg and a valuable bracelet.
>*
fr-
INFLICTED
IS SWOPE HEDGE
Views Industrial Revival As An Assured Outcome From  NRA  Experiments
LABOR TO GAIN
Oysters Harboni, Mass., June 1. (UP)—Minimum wage and maxi¬ mum hour gcaleg and the abolition of child labor have come to stay, despite the ruling against the NRA, Gerard Swope, president of Gen¬ eral Electric Company, said here tonight.
Speaking at the 40th reunion din¬ ner of the class of 1895 of Masaa- chusetu Institute of Technology, Swope predicted a definite business revival in big New England indus¬ tries during the next year, and aaid that business throughout the coun¬ try was showing a marked im¬ provement.
He said his company would not reduce wages or lengthen the work week.
"The Supreme Court's decision ruling the NRA invalid should have little effect upon our company or any big industry," he said. "The General Electric will not reduce wages, because a reduction in pay¬ rolls would mean disagreeable head¬ lines.
"Maximum hours and minimum wages and the abolition of child labor have come to definitely stay, despite the verdicts dn NRA."
CONTRACTS HELD BACK BY   OUSTER   OF   NRA
Agreement With Railroads Is Expected To Benefit Valley's   Mine   Industry
NEW TON LIST
Washington, June 1. (UP)—Mil¬ lions of dollars in public building tonstructon contracta were held in abeyance at the Treasury tonight becauge of confusion resulting from the Supreme Court's NRA decision.
Contracts let before the decision will stand, it wag learned at the Treagury'g procurement division. But no new contractg can be awarded, pending clarification of the NRA situation.
Numerous bids for conatruction of pogt offices and other public buildings throughout the country have been opened and recommenda¬ tions for contract awardg have been made.
For at least a few days, how- evr, no new contracts can be awarded, thereby delaying much building operations, until there ia a ruling on the code poaition.
Coal companies in thi* section announced an increase of 25c a ton, effective June 1, at all local mines. Along with the price in¬ crease, the companies gtruck a deadly blow at truckers who take coal to diatutt ¦ pointi. • T)iey de¬ clared a pocket charge of SOc a ton would be made against trucking outside the coal regiong, particu¬ larly to parts of New Jergey which are doge to the Pennsylvania lines.
In connection with the pocket chargea it wm revealed that an agreement had been reached with the coal companlea and railroadg tapping the anthracite fields. The railroadg have suffered tremendous losses in shipments, due to the in¬ flux of truckers from New Jersey. In consideration of the pocket chargeg, the railroads have agreed to reduce the price of freight on coal 50c a ton to New Jergey lec- tiong, providing that a pocket charge ia maintained agalnat the truckerg.
Another blow at the truckers ig gean in the fact that the reduction in freight rates will be passed on to the dealer in trucking centers so he will be able to meet any possible competition. This arrange¬ ment is expected to be a help in combating the shipment of bootleg coal which has been harmful not only to the railroadg, but to the gubstantial coal companies as well.
Coal priceg at the mineg with the increage of 25c a ton are: Egg,
$6.25; Stove, $8.,'50; Chestnut 6.25; |
Pea, $4.75; Buckwheat, $3,75; Rice, $1.75.
Even at these priceg, coal la sell¬ ing at its lowest figures in years. On April 1, a price reduction of $1.50 on large gizeg was announced with the result that thoee who could afford it have been gtocking their coal bins for the Winter months.
SIX NAVY FLYERS RESCOED AT SEA IN TRIPLE CRASH
Planes Tumble Into Waves After A One-Hour Flight In Company With Fleet
ALL FREE OF HARM
Reporter First To See Victim Tells Of His Interview With Weyerhaeuser Boy
KEPT HIS COURAGE
Too Valuable To Be Hurt He Was Told By Gangsters In Hideaway Of 8 Days
REMEMBERS NAMES
Ransom Records Show High Total
The $200,000 ransom in the George Weyerhauser case equals ths largegt ransom paid to kid¬ napers in the United States, al¬ though $300,000 was paid by the family of Eutlmio Falla Bonet, Hanava paper mill owner, for his return, last april.
Other large rangom paymente follow:
t Kldlltini«d lUnjom durlce AucuMiu
lindbwill    )r M»r.   1. l»8a I 5*.000
Chiriee  Bogiuhcr  tr .r«b. li, less eo.OOJ
Uanint McMtOi ....Mi;   i. lOW TO.OOfl
Wmiun Hunni  June IS. ISM lOO.nW
ClierUe   T.   Vrmhsl. ..July U. KM ttD.OW
Eitwerd  O.   Bremer...,Jin. 1T.1M4 SOO.OOO
I'LL GET THEM
!
All
WILL CONTINUE CODES
Spartnnsburg, S. C, June 1. (UP) —The print cloth group of the cot¬ ton manufacturerg, who were to meet here next Wednegday to de¬ cide their future policy concerning invalidated codes, have changed their meeting to next Friday at Charlotte, N. C. The group, last Monday, the day of the Supreme Court NRA decision, decided to continue operationg under the In- dugtry'g code "until further notice."
SECOND FALSE ALARM SOUNDS EARLY TODAY
ENTERS DEATH CHAIR WITH GUILT DENIALS
Ohio Penitentiary, Columbus, June 1, (UP)—Peter D. Treadway, ?». who pleaded to the lagt that |>« was innocent, waa put to death I" the electric chair tonight for '"• murder of Mrs, Ruth Steeee, young Cleveland welfare worker, Who was robbed and shot to death •n 1932. Treadway died with a prayer on
IP'"   lips   after   accepting   congola-
' "on of the Catholic church. To jhe end, his wife, hig gigter and "tj attorneys  fought  for  his  life,
^f eh    had    been    prolonged    by
pwerous  reprieves.
Mrs. Bteege waa robbed and killed after she left a bank with a gizeable amount of caeh. Her body was found in an automobile in a Cleveland suburb. Witneggeg Identified Treadway as the killer and he was tried and convicted.
Three courts, 13 judges and two Governorg reviewed Treadway'g case. His attorneys, as a lagt re¬ sort, asked that he be subjected to the lie detector. Tihg wag de¬ nied and he died, still proclaiming that his arrcgfc was a case ot mi*- taken Identity.
For the gecond time in 24 hours, city firemen responded to a call at two oclock thig morning, only to find no gign of a blaze in the region from which an alarm was gounded. The first call was registered early yesterday morning. Firemen and policemen are incensed by activity of the fal.se alarm "bugs" and hasty punishment ig contemplated If the guilty parties are approached.
The alarm at two oclock this morning came from Box 413 at Carey avenue and Elizabeth atreet. Firemen from Companlea 1 and 7 responded. No peraon was seen in vicinity of the box when the fire¬ men arrived.
Early yesterday morning Com¬ panies 2, 4 and 8 were summoned to the East End section. Prior to pulling the East End box the guilty parties lowered four arc lights to menace firemen enroute to the call bojc. Two men on Na 4 truck bad close escapee from Injury. '
Aboard the U. S. Pennsylvania, at sea, June 1. (UP)—Six Navy fliers escaped death in a crash of three seaplanes in a choppy sea to4ay as the fleet headed toward San Diego and the end of its mid- Pacific war maneuvers. The crack- up ended a one-hour flight of 36 planeg attached to ghlps of the fleet.
All the occupants of the three two-seater planes were fished out of the water, unhurt, by lifeboats hurriedly put overboard from near¬ by batleships. The planes also were recovered.
The crashes all occurred within a minute as the the planes de¬ scended abaft the battleships Pennsylvania, Idaho and Califor¬ nia.
While still close astern, the planes nosed into the choppy seas with waterspout splashes, their huge tails sticking out of the waves. An Instant later the fliers scrambled out onto the upturned craft
One pilot swam out from a sub¬ merged cockpit. All saved them¬ selves by their ovm agility in clinging to whatever supports they could lay their hands on until the rescue boats hove alongside.
One destroyer raced from the Destroyer Division for several miles on the chance its aid might be needed. It turned about when the  recoveries were completed.
HUGH TATE IMPROVED
Philadelphia, June 1.—UP—The condition of Hugh Tate, former chairman of the Interstate Com¬ merce Commission, was reported as "good" tonight in Bryn Mawr hos¬ pital. He has been a patient in the hospital for more than a week,
BOOZE SMUGGLERS BEATEN
Washington, June 1. (UP)—Vir¬ tual victory In its campaign against liquor smuggling from overseas was revealed by the Coast Guard tonight. Only nine foreign rum runners hovered off Amerian shores during the past week, Capt, L. C. CovaiJ, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, reported to Secretary Henry Morgenthau. A week ago 15 rum runners flying foreign flags cruised off American coasts. Two weeks ago there were 23,
By JOHN H. DREHEB
Seattle Times Correspondent Who
Beturned  George  Wyerhaeuser  to
His Home.
(Copyright, 1B35, by United Press)
Tacoma, Wash., June 1. (UP)—• It waa a long wait; but, boy! What a finish! This morning just after 7 oclock the break came. A telephone call said the boy had been found near Issaquah. We figured the boy must be coming into Tacoma from Issaquah in the farmer's automo¬ bile.
On one of those hunches that came  like a royal flush I started
out in a taxicab, with Earl Robin- i „„„„  ._..„t.  *.„  „,«..   fv,.   „i,„o« son   at   the   wheel,   to   meet   the   ,'l""« .fSt"*^ *° ?J.^_"'J^^_ "l^*!!
Resources Of Agency Of Justice Will Be Used To Run Down Criminals
SERIAL NUMBERS OF RANSOM BILLS CLUE IN MANHUNT
Twenty Thousand Items In Payment Made To Kidnapers Of George Weyerhaeuser Whose Dramatic Return Home Is Signal To Loose Justice Agents On Trail Of Gang
FUGITIVES ARE SIGHTED
MARKED FOR DEATH
Washington, June 1. (UP)—The Federal government tonight un¬ leashed one of the most powerful manhunting organizations in the world to track down the kidnapers of young George Weyerhaeuser.
J.   Edgar  Hoover,  Chief  of  the
Federal   Bureau   of   Investigation,
waited until the youth was safely
in   the   arms   of   his   mother   in
I Tacoma.   Then he ordered his far-
farmer's automobile on the road to Tacoma—I told Earl not to worry about speed limits this time. Any¬ way, out on the road—it seemed half-way to Renton and I was looking for the Smith tower—we met this old car chugging along. It was early in the morning and easy to spot, because there were few machines on the road.
"It's the boy," I said to Robinson, "I said, 'turn around as they pass and we will overtake them'."
And it was the farmer and the boy, dirty and with that dirty white blanket with the rose pattern wrap¬ ped around him. We overtook him in a minute and the farmer seemed glad to be rid of his precious charge as George hopped into my taxicab. The farmer headed for police headquarters, but that boy had to be back in his mother's arms. We headed for the home,
"George, we sure are glad to see you."
"And I'm awfully glad to get back," George answered.
"George,   you   and   I   are   going home," I told the boy and his face lighted up as he exclaimed: "Fine," Home!
How good that must look to this curly-headed youngster! Home and Mother! And Dad, and Elizabeth and Phil! "George!   George!   How  did hey capture you?" I asked.
How They Caught Him "Well, I walked down through the tennis grounds, you know, the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club, and i came out there on that pa'.h and then to where the steps you go up and you come out on ths street.
"There   was   a   tan   automobile
standing there. A man wus at the
wheel and  another,  tho  one  they
afterward  called  "Allen   or 'AivliV
was rtat oirg on the curb. He s-i'il.
" 'Say, (I don't know whether he
called me son or boy) he asked me
where   Stadium   Way  was.   I   told
him  I  didn't  know  and  he  came
over  toward me  and  grabbed  me
and put his hand over my mouth
and pulled me into the tan sedan,
"Then  he  put me  down   in  the
(Continued on  Page 12—Sec.  2)
He told them to drop minor cases. He tbid them to get the abductors of George Weyerhaeuser—to get them dead or alive.
"It may be a day. It may be a week. It may be a year before we capture the kidnapers—but we are going to capture them," he said, "The long grind has begun,"
He  said  that  every resource  of
Walla Walla, Wash., June 1. (UP) —Two Umatilla county deputy sheriffs chased five men in a gray sedan, believed used in the Weyer¬ hauser kidnaping, on the Columbia river highway late today. The gray car eluded the officers by speeding 90 miles an hour. All officers in the district were summoned. Capture of the car was a matter of hours, officers said.
his   agency,   acknowledged   as   be
ing on a par In efliciency with any ! ^^j^-^^^ c7mpaign"to Vun thi «tor-
Tacoma, Wash., June 1 (UP)—A list of serial numbers of bills mak- . ing up the Weyerhauser ransom payment has been prepared in Washington, D. C, by Federal offi¬ cials, the United Press learned to¬ night. The list ig being taken to Tacoma on a plane, due tomorrow. The numberg may he released to northwest banks, Monday, and eventually to all banks of the na¬ tion, to use in checking ransom money. The full $200,000 ransom demand was paid. Tha list con¬ tains numbers of 20,000 bills, 5,000 twenties, 5,000 tens, 10,000 fives.
With 9-year-old George Weyer¬ haeuser safely home. Federal and State officers tonight turned to the monumental task of capturing the gang which kidnaped him and col¬ lected $200,000 ransom.
The kidnapers are known and a reward will be .posted for their ap¬ prehension, it was indicated, as Department of Justice operatives, State authorities and relatives of the boy went into conference, ap¬ parently as a preliminary to an or
on   earth,   would   be   thrown the hunt.
into
Girl  Missing
Bronxville, N. Y., June 1. (UP) — Police of five States searched to¬ day for Marion Ruth Nesbit, 19, who had been missing from her home 48 hours. Her father, Jean Nesbit, official of a rubber reclaim¬ ing company, scouted suggestions that his daughter had been kid¬ naped. He believed she was a vic¬ tim of wanderlust.
The girl carfed only $5.60 when she left home, presumably for a walk, but she wore a valuable diamond ring. She Is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 125 pounds, has light brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a blue print dress and white ghoes, wiUt no hat or stock Ingg.
WOMEN ON STRIKE
Philadelphia, June 1. (UP)—Pro¬ testing wage reductions and exten¬ sion of working hourg as a re.^uit of the NRA decision, more than 100 women employees of Mrs. Schlorer's, Inc., went on strike to¬ day.
MOTHER GOES WITH SON TO DELAWARE GALLOWS
PLEAD TO GOVERNORS FOR NATIONAL CODES
Baltimore, Md., June 1. (UP) — Gov, Harry Nice of Maryland to¬ night telegraphed Governors of all States urging an immediate con¬ ference on effects of the Supreme Court NRA decision. He called on Gov. Herbert Lehman of New York to organize the national meeting.
Nice asked that the Governors give Immediate thought to a national conference to be held at "some centrally located point"
He characterized the Supreme Court decision as of importance equal to that of the Dred Scott case and suggested that an ex¬ change of views by the Governors of the 48 States might "be of some aid in this rather unsettled moment."
He proposed that the Governors contact Lehman regardlog the time and place of the proposed meeting.
Georgetown, Del., June 1 (UP) — The shadow of the gallows drew closer tonight to Mrs. May H. Carey, 55, and her 27-year-oid son, Howard.
The couple will be executed next Friday for the murder of the wo¬ man's brother, Robert H. Kitchens, seven years ago. Whether a final appeal for clemency will be made to Gov. C. Douglas Buck was in doubt, as the executive already has indicated he would not intervene.
Kitchens, who was an automobile mechanic, was found beaten and shot to death in November, 1927.
The slaying remained unsolved until last December when Lawrence Carey, 21, another son of Mrs. Carey, was arrested on a robbery charge. During questioning he ad¬ mitted the death of Kitchens in or¬ der to collect on a $2,000 insurance policy. Lawrence was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mrs. Carey will be the second woman in Delaware's history to die on the gallows. Prison officials al¬ ready have ruled that only 12 per¬ sons may witness the executions.
tionists to earth
News that the conference had been called was revealed by Fed¬ eral agents who indicated serial numbers of the ransom bills may be published as well as names and photographs of the six men sus¬ pected of participating in the most profitable kidnaping in years. $200,000 Wa<i Paid These developments came as the Weyerhaeuser family publicly an¬ nounced for the first time that $200,000 had been paid for the safe return of the curly-haired little boy.
Alvin Karpis the nation's No. 1 Public Enemy, was believed to head the list. Karpis ia known to have centered his activities in the Pacific northwest since he and his mob shot their way out of an Atlantic City, N, J., police trap last Winter. Officers, however, re¬ fused to disclose whether they be¬ lieved Karpis headed the kidnap gang. They had only the story of the young kidnap victim who said some of his abductors called each other Harry, Albert and Bill. The Albert may be "Alvin" Karpis and the Harry "Harry Campbell," of Karpis' mob of killers.
Among the boy's relatives at¬ tending the conference were hia father, J. P. Weyerhaeuser jr., scion of the multi-millionaire lum¬ ber tycoon; F. M. Bolcom, a friend of the family, and F. R. Titcomb and   Charles   Ingrams,   ofl^cials   of
Weyerhaeuser Lumber Co., th« domain ot which takes in un« counted thousands of acres of vir* gin timber land.
Police Detain One Meantime, in Seattle, Federal agents seized an ex-newspaperman, George Powell, 54, for questioning. Powell was found in a dilapidated waterfront hotel. He was detained for questioning. Police said \hat in January, 1934, he was committed to Western Washington State Hos¬ pital after he admitted formulat¬ ing a plot to kidnap John Herberg, 16, son of a Seattle theater mag« nate.
At this juncture Seattle police also found an automobile believed used in the Weyerhaeuser abduc¬ tion. On the rear of it was a trunlj with holes punched in it. Little George said that his abductors, in transporting him from one hideout to another, placed him in an auto¬ mobile trunk in which holes had been bored for ingress of air.
The machine was a four-door Pontlac sedan and bore a licens«l issued to F, H. Steichen of Tacoma for a 1935 Oldsmobile coupe.
Dramatic Recovery I
Young George was returned to his home this morning by a Cas« cade foothills farmer, Louis Boni* fas, who said the boy, dirty of facaj and otherwise unkempt, rapped at his door at 5 a. m. today and iden* tifled himself. He had been re« leased near the Bonifas farm housal by his abductors who snatched him' eight  days  ago.
In announcing payment of th« ransom  the  family said:
"In response to many inquirie* we wish to state that the ransom demand was finally met through the assistance of friends. George is safe and apparently well. No further statements with reference to the matter will be made by members of the family or of the household.
"Since we must assume this atti¬ tude in the furtherance of justice we ask that this be accepted as a final statement.
"The wonderful support and sym« pathetic interest which has been expressed in so many ways is deep¬ ly  appreciated.
"(Signed) '
"Mr.  and  Mrs,  J. P.
"Weyerhaeuser, Jr." Shortly    after    the    conference, George, smiling and clad in clean clothes, came out on the lawn and posed  for news  reel cameramen.
He laughed and posed willingly, but   there   was   no   conversation.
His father and mother then ls« sued the statement confirming that they had paid the ransom asked by  the  "Egoist" and his gang.
It was generally believed the kid^ napers were in the immediate vis cinity of Puget Sound. All road* were   closely   guarded.
Released By Captora The 9-year-old boy, victim of < of   the   highest   ransom   plots (Continued on  Page  10—Sec.
>f on*
ts   oj
FORCE RELIEF WAGES FROM CAPTIVE CHIEFS
Bloomington, Ind., June 1. (UP) — Approximately 200 Monroe county Relief workers won a demand for immediate payment of wages today after holding two State Relief offi¬ cials captive in their office here for seven hours.
Charles Hardin, county Work Re¬ lief supervisor, and Orla Helm, field representative of the Governor's Commission on Unemployment Re¬ lief, were 'iliowed to leave their office after distributing checks they had intended to hold until Monday.
Six men employed in the Relief
office also were held by the work- [shortly tJttmxi,
ers,  who  protested  against  fotag^ without funds over the week-end.
Decision to issue the pay checltt followed a lengthy conference be* tween the two ReUef officials Mayor A. H. Bernts and Polie4 Chief Robert Eller.
The telephone switchboard Ul Hardin's office and the glass top on his desk were broken by the dls« gruntled workers.
The crowd started with a group of about 25 men before noon ana grew gradually. They disperaet once at the request of the Mairof, but  returned  In  greater  luma^tn