Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / April 27, 1923, edition 1 / Page 1
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CIRCULATION—DAILY, MORE THAN DOUBLE, SUNDAY OVER THREE TIMES, THAT OF. ANY OTHER WILMINGTON PAPER ' 12 Pages Full Day and Night Service of the Associated Press. OLDEST DAILY IN THE STATE. Flogging Hearings Will Continue Into Saturday Indicated Witnesses on Stand at Preliminary Hearing of Fairmont Affair Testify to The Fact That They recognized Several Persons in the Hooded and Masked Mob _, ■.. ( Sons and Daughters of Alleged Mistreated Women Say They Recognized Assailants STATE CONCLUDED ITS TESTIMONY EARLY Over Sixty Witnesses Have Been Called by Defense to Testify in Subsequent Sessions LU.UBERTON, April 26.—In the pre liminarv hearing held this afternoon b. fore Recorder W. B. Ivey In Lumber ton of the case of the state against B. M Lawson, Jule Brogden and John Hedgepeth, charged with burglary and conspiracy in connection with the al leged forcible taking of Mrs. Hattie l’urvls. Wife of Henry T. Purvis, and Mrs. Mary Watson, and. the inhuman whipping on their bare flesh, the state rested its case although the defense has summoned more than 60 witnesses and advices tonight are to the effect that • lie preliminary hearing will in all probability not be over until Satur day. Mrs. Purvis and Mrs. Watson nave today both testified to the actual whipping and the events leading up to the affair. During the morning session quite a number of witnesses were heard, all offering approximately the same testi mony. o At the afternoon session which was railed . at 2:30 o'clock and which re used' at a late hour tonight, two voting daughters, of Mrs. Watson cor roborated her testimony inasfar as •vents that took place at the house wore concerned, and stated that In the crowd that took their mother they •asily recognized Jule Brogden. Sons Testify Ton rad Purvis, 16, Aristo Purvis, 13, and Ricks Purvis, 10, were next called an witnesses by the state. All three of the young boys’ testimony was to tile same effect. They are the sons of Mrs. Hattie Purvis, the woman who Is alleged 1o have been beaten, and testi fied at the hearing that they recog nized two men among tlte mob’s num ber, namely Jule Brogden and John Hedgepeth. They further testified in accordance with the testimony given by their mother in regards to visitors received and as to what , went on at the house when the masked men called. Msit Police on Stand The next witness introduced by the state was R. R. Turbeville, acting night policeman at Fairmont, who stated that ho saw the Fairmont chief of police about 8:30 on the night that the crime is alleged to have taken place. The oh of he said at the time voluntarily stated to him that he was going home, alihough he was seen about 11:30 o'clock again by the witness. About six other witnesses were ex amined by attorneys for the state and for the defense, the majority being subject to a rigid cross examination. Practically all tesitfied along'the same lines, that of having seen the masked men on their trip to the coun tryside. During the morning hours the princi pals testified in tlie preliminary hear ing. Mrs. Purvis stated that she and Mrs. B atson were sitting in the room at her home, and that between 10 and 11 o’clock they heard steps upon the front and back porches. She asserted' that she recognized Jule Brogden first, when the band of men entered the house, and that she also recognized John Hedge P'th. a brother of Mrs. Watson. Mrs. Purvis reported that the men were masked, all wearing white robes, on a that In addition to recognizing r.rnrigen and Hedgepeth, she also rec ognized Mike Lawson, of Fairmont. She testified that the men carried ■Mrs. Watson and herself to a Ford au tomobile, in which, she stated, they wc-re driven through the town, of Proc torville to a church on the edge of the town; that they were blindfolded and that she, Mrs. Purvis, was charged by a member of the band, with operating a disorderly house. She also stated that members of the band alleged that she was in the habit of going to the office of a man in Fairmont. She claimed that she denied these allegations, but that she was not given a chance to talk. Tells of Whipping She recited the 'etory of the alleged whipping, after which she said that she •and Mrs. Watson were made to walk home. She stated that she showed the marks upon her body to Dr. E. R. Har din and J. A. Sharp, editor of the Robe son ian, and also to all of her lawyers. Mrs. Purvis was then tendered to the defense tor cross-examination, and was asked it a woman had attacked her on the streets of Fairmont. This Mrs. Pur Ws admitted. The defense attempted to prove by Mrs. Purvis that she was angry with Mike Lawson, attempting to show the mason for her anger as being caused hy l he failure of Lawson to take up f' r her in her trouble in Fairmont. Mrs. Purvis charged that Mrs. Mary M.'arson's husband was at the bottom of Mk whole affair. Mrs. Watson was m xt placed upon the stand by the Mate, and testified essentially the same as Mrs. Purvis, corroborating the de tads of the alleged whipping. Mrs. Watson Testifies Mrs. Watson testified that site went cn'er to visit .Mrs. Purvis on the night fader notice, and she stated' that the members of the masked band.informed l>er that she was not rearing, her girls (Continued on Page Two? mf, v ' MODERNIZATION OF OLD SHIPS WILL BE LEFT ENTIRELY TO CONGRESS Secretary’s Decision is Said to Have Complete Approval of President WASHINGTON, April 26.—Moderni zation of the older ships of the Ameri can fleet will await specific authority of congress, Secretary Denby an nounced today, and tfre navy depart ment will abandon for the time being the -program which it considers may i have been approved under a misappre hension of the situation, i The secretary’s decision, which was said to have the approval of President Harding, was regarded as closing the incident created through the protest of the British embassy against statements made before congressional committees when the department was seeking ap propriations for Installing post-war improvements in the battleships. Navy officials then asserted that no criticism of the work could be made as contra vening the five-power naval treaty since Great Britain completed similar alterations. This was denied by the embassy. As a result of today’s discussion the 66,500,000 appropriated by the last con gress for gun elevation will be left in the treasury and refunded at the end of the fiscal year as "unexpended money.” With official opinion in the navy from Secretary Denby down holding unanimously that the modernization program is permissible under the treaty drawn up at the Washington arms conference and essential to the American naval standing, it was re garded as certain that the matter wouldt be presented anew to-congress duriftfe the December session. The de partment recommendations/ however, is expected to be bared in the techni cal necessities of the situation without regard to what any other nation has done or may do. While the immediate problem was removed by. Serfetary Denby’s statement, naval officials de clared that a large question of treaty interpretation remained which ulti mately would have to be answered. Among the five signatories of the Washington naval convention, Great Britain has indicated specifically she considered changes in gun elevation to come within the provisions prohibit ing alterations of change of main bat teries; France has taken the opposite view, several French battleships now being in dry dock for such improve menis. The Japanese position never has been officially stated and, so far as the American naval officials have been informed, there is no record whether Japan's fleet has been improved in line with "the lessons of Jutland.” Some officials here have suggested that, while the actual work is being held in abeyance, precautions could,be taken which would lessen the danger of the American fleet being caught unaware by an enemy of superior battle rating. They would have master dies and patterns of the more intricate parts necessary to gun elevation manu factured and stored at the various bases for use in an emergency so that the. period of tie-up might be reduced. It has been estimated that - three months would be required under nor mal conditions to complete the modern ization of a battleship. BORAH’S CAMPAIGN AGAIN?1§, S. ENTRY 1 TRIB|M HAS BEGUN - Id? rf|^enator Will Lead Iron **» Fight 'Against Ad '%z; ministration Move . y_ GIVES STATEMENT IN REGARDS TO HIS VIEWS Declares Country Cannot Go Into Tribunal and Stay Out of league i WASHINGTON, April 26.—Senator Boarh of Idaho, a leader of the Repub lican Ironclads in the senate fight over the treaty of Versailles and its league J of nations covenant, tonight inaugurat ed his campaign 'of opposition to the administration proposal that the Unit ed States accept membership in the permanent court of international Jus ! tice, the world arbitration tribunal set ' up under the league. In a statement setting forth his views, the Idaho senator declared that “the Republican party in asserting that the United States can go into the league court and stay out of the ’eague is tak ing a position which will bring down ] upon it the moral condemnation of everyone.” “I think the proposition that you can go into the league court and still con tinue to be against the league, or stay out of the league, Is the most remark able proposition even presented to the public," Mr. Borah added. “It is an impossible proposition, it would never be suggested if political exigency did not seem to require it.” Issuance of the statement was the foremost development today in the world court discussions which continued to engage many of the members of the senate who are in Washington. Several senators today as yesterday conferred on the matter, among them Senators Lodge of Massachusetts, the Republic can leader and Watson, of Indiana, but from these conferences nothing devel oped to indicate definitely the trend of sentiment. The administration proposal received support from Ellhu Root, who sat as a member of the commission that draft;, ed the court statute, in an address de livered tonight at the meeting here of the American society of international law. Before the same organisation Secretary Hughes tomorrow night will: further explain the administration plan. • In addition to Senator Borah's state ment, views on the proposal were set forth by Senators McKellar, Democrat, Tennessee and McKinley, Republican, Illinois. Senator McKellar endorsed the step proposed by President Harding who he said “like Saul of Tarsus has at last seen a light.” “I greatly marvel that there stems to be so much division and descension over the court in the President’s own party,” said Senator McKellar, “but I hope and believe that maturer thought will allay this opposition and that at least enough Republican senators will Join us Democrats in voting for the proposition to insure ottr entrance into the court.” Senator McKinley’s statement merely supplemented his endorsement given personally to the President yesterday, and asserted that he had been told by Lord Robert Cecil and the President of the French senate while in Geneva last September fifth British and French governments would be satisfied with a reorganization of the court and a se lection of Judges in a way that would be satisfactory to the United States.” PRISONER DIES TODAY. RALEIGH, April 26.—Unless Gover nor Morrison interferes a* the last mo ment, Willie Hardison,' Onsjow county negro will be executed' at the state prison tomorrow morning at 10:50 o’clock, paying the penalty for the murder of Cyrua Jones, mail carrier, and reducing by one the little colony of 16 men in death row at the state prison waiting the date for their going. LEADERS IN STAR-NEWS RACE EXCEEDINGLY HARD TO FIGURE End of Big Vote Period Find s Canidates Close Together; - • , Counters Are Literally Swamped With'Great Num ber of Votes for Di fferent Candidates Going up! Swinging into line, all a-tlngle with high hopes and ambition, candidates in the Star-News now famous, cam paign have' swelled their vote ‘ totals to a wonderful high mark. and from ■now on to. the finish it will be a pretty exciting race between the leaders. The first period of the campaign which closed Monday night was a .tre mendous .success.' Tens of thousands 'yes, hundreds of thousands of votes, ■were issued and every "live” candi date profited mightily. Jt ’is a strange coincidence, too, and something unusual in affairs of this .kind, but each of the leading candi dates who is striving for first honors land,1 the :grand prizes, benefited so equally during the period just closed, that,- not without? ^airline figuring could today’s leaders be determined. The competition, therefore, so far as the relative standing ofj the candi dates is concerned, depends almost en tirely, upon the - results obtained by the various contestants 'between now and the finish as to who the ultimate winners will be. The above is not "mere talk”' for the flake of telling but a real fact— theories or rumors notwithstanding. Hence the. struggle fpr supremacy will be fought out during the next few days for the entire'campaign comes . jif.?'!. ’ .' ■ ' , '■: r'tl ' ■ to a fateful close in just a few weeks. The “second period!’ closes on Satur day night, March 5, at 12 o’clock. New Prize Added For new subscriptions received in' the Star-News great $14,000 “Every body Wins Campaign” during the next three and a-half weeks the Star-News offers a new Essex Coach value $1300. Think pf it! Not satisfied with giving, $14,000 in automobiles and gold and silver in this big campaign, the Star .News will now . give a special consist ing of a Essex Coach to the candidate pffio secures ■the . most points on new subscriptions on the basis of 1 1-2 points for every" yearly subscription to the News, and 1 point for every yearly subscription to the Star, be tween now and Saturday night, May 5. Count for Votes, Too The special extra added prize has no relation whatsoever to the $14,000* in automobiles and gold and silver except that the new subscriptions re-, ceived on the extra special,, gift pro-1 position also count full value in the race for the captial prizes. New sub scriptions this second period carry the extra vote of 40,000 extra for each new; subscription of a year or more. Every candidate starts on even , terms tomorrow for the. extra special - prize. An absolutely new candidate can ten.-, . Continued on Page Two , j is I♦ ar , t f' *■/' , a ■ ; & 'gjT :C' Dudding Charges Not Investigated HALEIGHi April 2(U—In the ah* Bence of a quorum, no action on the question of a state prison Investi gation was taken by the state board of charities and public welfare to day, the only two members of the board who reached Raleigh, con ferring informally for an hour or more with Governor Morrison who called the meeting. The meeting scheduled for today will be held to morrow at ‘Jt o’clock and it is ex pected that possibly all save one member will be present. The state prison .board at a recent session refused to’ investigate the charges of cruelty to prisoners made by Dudding and expressed the opin ion in a formal statement that the charges should be ignored. Mrs. Kate Burr Johnson, commissioner of welfare, had previously written James A, Leak, chairman of the stnte prison board, suggesting an inquiry to clear up the good name of the stnte which, she maintained, was involved, - --- MARRIAGE OF DUKE OF YORK IS ATTENDED BY IMMENSE THRONGS Brilliant Assemblage of Foreign Notables, English Aristo crats and'Others SERVICE CONDUCTED IN OLD WESTMINSTER Marriage Service Conducted With True British Preci sion for All Matters LONDON, April 86.—The Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon joined hands and hearts before the golden altar of Westminster Abbey to day while all Britain poured out its blessings. The magnificent church ser vice that elevated the modest Scotch girl from the common ranks to a place in the crown of the empire would have exalted a king or queen. All the members of the royal family and a brilliant array of foreign princes, nobles, ambassador* and ministers wltfc , their ladies were there in the midst Aaf this. glitte-Mlg splendor of state. Sfficrtean' ambassador^®' a ■wtonbfe court suit of black sat among hTa gorgeously attired EUropean col leagues, a, symbol of democracy. ; v. The entire service was conducted with the traditional precision of British royal events. The bridegroom save the impression of a man at happy ease. Queen Mary wore a solemn, severely dignified ex pression and kept her eyes upon the bridal couple‘throughout. The vener able dowager queen, Alexandria, gave the regal ceremony a human touch by moving out of'her place and bestowing kisses upon the members of party as they came within the chancel. Next to the bride and groom, Princess Mary and the Prince of Wales were the objects of the most attention. Wales appeared to be the calmest man In the abbey, and he toyed with the plume of his three-cornered military hat during the entire ceremony. At one point Alexandria leaned toward him and whispered in his ear what some in the audience declared must have been good advice to a bachelor. The wedding ceremony began promptly at 11:30 o'clock. After the king and queen, the other royalties and clergy had taken their places in the sacriarium, the soft, melodious tones of the invisible male choir, ac companied by the honorous booming of the great organ, flowed over thp gathering, filling the vast abbey with moving cadences. The bride, in the simplest and dain tiest gown probably ever made for a royal marriage, then moved slowly to the steps of the altar on the arm of her tall, courtly father, the Earl of Strath more. She carried no bridal bouquet, having deposited It on the tomb of the unknown soldier. She was joined soon afterward by the bridegroom, who presented a striking figure in his blue uniform of the royal air force, with the blue ri band of the Garter across his shouldef and a golden sword at his side. The six bridesmaids, two of whom are soon to become brides themselves, stood be hind the couple, the ensemble present ing a striking picture. As the duke and bride joined hands the sun, which had not revealed’ Itself for several days, suddenly emerged from behind the mist and its light, eoming through the high-vaulted win dows of the abbey, cast an effulgence upon the gallant duke and his lovely bride and brought-Into bold relief the touches of gold, crimson and silver In the costumes of the brilliant assem blage of spectators. The duke stood fully a head taller than Lady Elizabeth, his erect, muscu lar frame and the ruddy glow of his countenance contrasting strongly with the delicate figure of his br{de, whose robe of unrelieved white seemed to ac centuate the palneness of her features. After the marriage vows had been taken by the couple, the archbishop of York delivered a brief address to the duke and his bride in which he said: i “The warm, generous heart of this people takes you today to Itself; won’t you In response take that heart with all Its joys and sorrows into, your' The service was concluded with • short prayer and benediction and the congregation knelt in silent devotion The royal couple then repaired to the chapel of Edward the Confessor where they signed the marriage' register. Meanwhile the organ broke into the martial strains of the British national anthem, the music ridging through the' ■great! edifice* and making the silent sepulchres of the dead resound with Its reverberations.. *. * PROHIBITION GRAFT CHARGES WILL SOON HAVE FULL HEARING High Officials of Three Federal Agencies Working on the Proposition CHARGE OF FRAUD ARE FREELY MADE Wet Cases Coming up From Dif ferent Sections of the United States WASHINGTON, April 26.—Prohibi tion troubles from bootlegging to al legations of bribery in several states accumulated here today and engaged the attention of high officials of at least three federal agencies, the treas ury and ' justiqg departments and pro hibition enforcement headquarters. There were indications that facts de veloped from the several investigations in progress might ultimately come be fore President Harding for action. | Charges of fraud among former and possibly present prohibition agents [ caused orders for an investigation by the bureau of internal revenue. An other Investigation along similar lines, involving alleged tenders of bribes for “protection” to former prohibition of ficers already is under way by, the de partment of justice, whose agents are making inquiries among “bootlegg” ! circles in a number of cities. The internal revenue bureau’s in | vestigatlon also was said to extend i into several states, involving the per | sorinel of several state prohibition staffs. Prohibition personnel troubles in Il linois and Alabama had further of ficial airings during the day. Roscoe C. Andrews, suspended prohibition di rector for Illinois, conferred with in ternal revenue commissioner Blair, but did not call upon prohibition Commis sioner Haynes who obtained his sus pension for authorization delivery of thousands of gallons of liquor to stock holders of a liquidated Chicago con cern. Commissioner Blair and Mr. Andrews declined to comment on their conference. Another prohibition personnel dif ficulty, from Alabama, following the recent suspension there of the acting state director and three assistants evoked a statement today from com missioner Haynes denying that Conrad W. Austin, general agent, had been "called off” from an investigation ot the., Alabama*. stgff*...,^ Mr. Haynes said the inquiry follow ing UBual practice, was turned over to the intelligence unit of commis sioner Blair’s office after, Mr. Austin’s preliminary work had been concluded and the four Alabama agents suspen ded. The incident of the several prohibi tion cases was said to be unusual al though personnel differences in the prohibition unit are under investiga tion almost constantly. It was said, however, that Secretary Mellon of the treasury department was concerned over some of the methods being em loyed in prohibition enforcement. There also was a revival of reports of differences between Secretary Mellon, Commissioner Blair and Haynes. The latter, however, insisted that no seri ous disputes existed although there naturally have disagreements. Commissioner Haynes has often de clared that foes of prohibition have en deavored frequently to make trouble with his superiors. In this connection prohibition headquarter officials point ed out that his office .was without auth I orlty to conduct final investigations into the conduct of prohibition agents, these being prosecuted by the intelli gence unit under Commissioner Blair, the immediate superior of Commis sioner, Haynes and also by the depart ment of justice. ! _ WINS AUTO RACE. FRESNO, Calif., April 26.—Jimmy Murphy won the 150 miles “raisin day” automobile race here today. His time was one hour, 26 minutes and 55 sec onds. Eddie Hearne finished second. Benny Hili, third; Cooper fourth, El liott fifth and Thomas six. Morse Trial Is Halted During Day Account Of Many Conferences Question as To Whether Mistrial Should be Ordered or Not Stirs Court Room During Session As it Was Alleged Jurors Were Not Competent to Serve -# - . GUARDSMEN WILL BE NEEDED IN FLORIDA AT CLARA HEARINGS Legislator So Declares in State ] ment Made To a Special ! Committee TALLAHASSEE, Fla.. April 26.— Troops should be sent to Dixie county to protect the lives of state witnesses when the trial of Walter Higginbotham, charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of Martin Tabert of Munich, ~V. D„ is called May 16, declared Representative C. H. Ken nerly, in reporting today to tho joint legislative committee of his trip to Clara yesterday. "If the prosecution brings, witnesses i down there for the trial their lives won’t be safe,” Mr. rvennerly told' the committee, “and if members of this committee are obliged to go there again, troops should be sent with them" he added. The representative related in : detail how he and Representative John Clay Smith, comprising a sub-commit tee, were greeted yesterday at Clara by a committee of armed men when they arrived to inspect Tabert’s grave. The committee, which concluded its inquiry into Tabert’s death this after noon, unanimously adopted a resolu tion calling the attention of tho state board of medical examiners to the con duct of Dr. T. Capers Jones physician employed by the Putnam Lumber com pany and asked that an investigation, be made to the end “that the medical profession be purged of a seemingly unworthy member.” Dr. Jones testified before the com mittee lie had attended Tabert three days before he died wnlle serving a sentence at the convict lease camp of the lumber company. He told the copi mittee' that Tab'er.t’s . bpdy .ebpwed. no. signs of any bruises or cuts that could have been caused, by. the whip- of Hig ginbotham.-• He gave pneumonia as .the cause-yf fWtfth eyitti'-nwomp! ication' of malaria.' - Raco-rds'df th^. Stitts' board; of health, shdwed he never made put a. burial certificate, A . .. The resolution, .was. introduced . . by Representative. ICannerly. at the ■ con elusion of his addriss. ■ Before the-com mittee could- vote/ it was amended. The original measure ' ' charaftteriz'ed ' 'Dr. Jones aka disgtace” to the profession and said should be ejected, from it. Sen ator W. A. .MacWilliams . drew up the revised resolution oalling o-n the state board of medioal examiners to investi gate the record of the physician. A general discussion took place while Senator MacWilliams was wording the. amendment and Senator. John P, Stokes, chairman of the committee,, declared “so far. as I am concerned,. I believe every word that has been said about him, (the physician) and I believe he ought to be kicked out of the profes sion.” . “He seems' to have .been. owned,, body, and soul, by the Putnam Lumber com pany,” continued Senator Stokes. “FurT ther. I want every crook that has had anything to do with-this to be cleaned out. But, in this doctor’s case, I be lieve it would be • outside the scope’of. the committee’s power to do more than bring the 'testimony to 'the' attention of the boajrd of medical examiners,” . Representative Kennerly. making his official reports as • spokosman for the sub-committee that visited Clara yes terday, related the actions -of tire so I called reception ' committee to-sVards Arthur Johnson, a negro,'and former, convict at. the Putp.aro Lumber .com pany Clara, which is. in Taylor. ( ounty and cross City, located in Dixie,-the ad joining county, are- owned by the- Put nam Lumber company ' and inhabited by Its employes, the committee leafned.' | The Fish That Must Swim Inland! ■ Look at this map and you will see that this phrase aptly describes the new war-made republic of Czechoslovakia. ' “The fish that must swim inland” is; in a predicament as romantic as St it unusual. William Philip Simms, the; famous- international re porter touring Europe for the Wilmington News, tells about • its plight in a series of articles starting today. Don't fail' to read them. . ’ After Recess pf More Than an Hour Judge Ordered Trial to Proceed ATTORNEY ROCKWOOD IS REPRESENTING MORSE In Speech to Court Called Atten tion to Fact of Morse’s Ability WASHINGTON, April 28.—Thu Mursn trial was halted for an hour and a half today tor private conferences be tween counsel and Justice Stafford, the subject of which was reported to have i been Whether one of the jurors sitt’nr \ in the case should be disqualified and a mistrial ordered. So far as appeared the question was left undetermined Some of counsel of the defense indi ca.te<\ !hat a motion for a mistrial migrht be made tomorrow. The con-_ rerence began immediately after court : was convened and continued for more than a quarter of an hour. Meantime! rumors of some development of pos sibly a startling- character swept around the court room. After further discussion with attorneys, who had been conferring: together, Justice Staf ford dismissed the jury for an hour n,nfoiihe^C0nferences M’ere continued outside the court. There was an air of expectancy among-, the spectators as court was re- -■ convened, but the trial proceeded after 1 Justice Stafford had asked each jury in turn whether he had read or knew the substahee of an editorial appear ing yesterday In a local newspaper and discussing the sick plea of Harry P. Morse, one of the defendants. The jurors replied in the negative. Resuming his oral presentation of the defense case to the jury, Attorney Nash Rockford, of New York, declared the evidence would show that the opinions of the emergency fleet cor poration constituted “if not one of the . Greatest scandals in history, at least . on,e of .the greatest exhibitions of in . He. arrantjtbtttv,*1 the defence expected; Jto put all the facts on thfe- tabki.■ no matter .whom ’ they might hit,- ^ : ;‘ .Mr. I^oqkwood declared that the de lays in ship deliveries by >the Morse concerns about which the government complains were due to red tape in the -fleet corjfration, the confused records of that corporation, delay in the mak ing of progress, payments, changes in' plans. of., the. ships and iit^construction even after they were completed ana the inefficiency of many of the cor poration’s employes. As an illustration of what shipbiuld ' ers were confronted with during the .war,. Mr, .Rockwood asserted that the launching of a steel ship at the Morse's : Groton. Conn., plant, was delayed for some time ' because an inspector for -the-fleet corporation had reported thiift thewater in the Thames river was not : of sufficient, specific gravity to float, , the■ yessel.. .He related that Charles W. Morse .eventually launched the ship on his own responsibility although warned in "the sovereign name of the United States" not to do so. " Counsel , declared that the evidence would.show that.Mr. Morse’s first act after the war was declared was to call together the board of directors of his Noank, Conn., wooden ship plant and offer the use of the plant to the gov ernment. The government sought Morse out .to obtain the benefit of His practical experience in shipbuilding. Mr. Rockwood declared. He added thjit Mr. Morse had cancelled the contracts for four wooden ships without cost to the government and charged off his personal losses to patriotism. Then the government abandoned the , wooden ship program and decided to concentrate on steel ships, its officials •’ 'again-sought out Mr. Morse, Mr. Rock- " wood continued, with a result that the . J Groton plant was constructed and the / .contract let. for the building of 12-. Ships there, Rater he was • asked ty j build a- second plant and did so frt'll Alexandria;--Va. Counsel declared the* books of’the plants were open at allA times to government Inspectors and^ were inspected frequently. Turning to the employment by Mn., Morse of Wm. G. McAdoo, former seqt retary of the treasury and other cou'n\ gel, Mr. Rockwood said the idea wag. that Mr. Morse should be well guldei?*,. in the execution of the contracts with n the government. The attorney added * that he followed direction of counsel, throughout. • ' ■ One point stressed by Mr. Rock- 5 wood was that the contracts awarded ' to' Mr. " Morse were on lump sums .amount of each ship to be built and !not a .cost plus basis. He asserted that With the exception of the initial contract payments, of 10 per cent on each craft there was nothing In the ; contracts as to how the money should '. be speht and argued that this was not ’ a subject of concern to the govern- • ment so long as the ships were de livered, Twin City Citizen ^ Dies in Baltimore WINSTON-SALEM, April 26.—A tele gram from Baltimore received here tow night stated that P. Q. Dunklee, sue nessful business man of Winston-Salem,;; dropped dead there early -in the even ing. Mr. Dunklee left Here Wednes day night to enter a Baltimore hospital ■„ Tbr treatment. He was an ex-presidefit of the Rotary club here, a Knight Tem- . jjlftr, Shriner, and Elk. Last year^ he represented Rotary in the San Fran cisco convention. - ; 1 ' ' ‘ ) • . - ' . - ,r J - . 1 if . ...... . . *
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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April 27, 1923, edition 1
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