The Ruston Daily Leader from Ruston, Louisiana • Page 1

JOB PRINTING Any type of printed form can be hsxd by calling the Leader. Huy whnt you need In Ruston PHONES 126-127 2Utstmt Scatter THE WKATHMR A Continued fair tonight and Wednesday. VOLUME 284 Follow the Leader RUSTON, LOUISIANA, TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1937 N. E. A.

Service PRICE FIVE CENTS School Board Proposes Refinancing Of Debt SCOUTS AND FATHERS TO MEET AT ANNUAL BANQUET TONIGHT; WILLIAMSON CHIEF SPEAKER Chamber of Commerce Directors and City Council Delay Important Meeting in Order to Attend; Upwards of 150 Fathers, Scouts and Guests Expected at Methodist Bldg. 6:45 Huston's annual Boy Scout Father and Son banquet will be held this evening at 6:45 in the Methodist Educational -building auditorium on Alabama avenue, with present indications that upwards of 150 Scouts, their fathers, and guests will be present for the occasion. Fred Williamson, managing editor of the Monroe Morning World and President of the Ouachita Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America, will deliver the chief address of the evening, with other outstanding guests expected to be present, including R. H. "Bob" Curry, president of the Norwella Council, Boy Scouts, of Haynesville, and Oran Black, Scout executive for this district.

Local Boy Scout leaders who will attend include Judge E. L. Walker, Chairman of the Court of Honor; Truett L. Scarborough, retiring chairman of the Ruston Boy Scout Chapter, and Larry J. Fox, who will 'be installed as chairman succeding Mr.

Scarborough. The banquet time was made as early as possible in order to aviod any conflict with the important meetings scheduled for this evening by the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors-, who indicated that they will attend the banquet in a body, and the regular session of the City Council, which tonight is expected to complete plans for the city extension program. Both the later meetings have placed their time back to enable them to attend the banquet preceding their meetings. CAMPUS GOSSIP By Jack Armstrong With their first meet to be in April the track team is now getting ready for real work. Several members of the team are now working out for spring football but will take over the track activities as well.

Bill Dukes, who last year was unable to compete except against Mississippi University, and made 20 points against that team, is back again and will be a great help to the team. The baseball team will get under way this week with three games with the Cotton States League School of baseball at Monroe. This team is made of members of the regular Monroe team of this league. The Bulldogs will tackle them in Monroe Wednesday and Friday and they will come here for the third game Saturday afternoon. Although this is rather early in the season, it will give you an opportunity to see just what Tech has in the way of a baseball team this year.

We know they have quite a schedule. This is "Religious Emphasis Week" at Tech, with the program beginning March 8 and continuing through March 12. The theme of the meeting is "Facing Life With Jesus The speaker of the week will be the Reverend J. J. Rasmussen, who will speak to the student body several different times during the week.

The first of the talks was delivered this morning in the Wigwam with the entire student body in attendance. J. T. Folk, instructor in the School of Engineering, was called to his home because of illness in his family. It is not known just how long he will be away.

The faculty has long been in command, and now the students will have their day. Blank slips are 'being passed out to all students to fill out and give their opinion on all the subjects which they have taken since entering the institution. This information is to be used in helping to determine the best courses to offer in each departmet. A new bath room convenience with an adjustable nozzle and a jointed arm that can be installed in any 'bath tub can be used to give a shower bath or fill a tub with water. GERMAN GUNS FORGED FROM FRENCH STEEL Iron Mines Busy While Diplomats Battle With Words Over Disarmament of Reisch PARIS, March 4.

rearmament programs throughout Europe gave French iron mines a new lease on life last year, bringing production figures to a new high. The largest single rise was the export to Nazi Germany, whose new armaments program is causing profound -worry throughout France, both in government and popular circles. Although Belgium and Luxembourg, European stell and armament centers, still top the list of consumers of French iron ore with a total of 10,110,000 tons, the rise in Germany's consumption was the most (marked. In 1929 Germany imported 2,668,000 tons of iron and fell as low as 712,000 fa the depression year of 1932. In 1936 there was a penomenal rise from 5,862,000 tons the year before to 7,793,000 tons.

Another country whose consumption has taken a big jump is England. With the new British armaments program getting into stide, the former iron producer of the world already has noted a shocking shortage of steel. Production is still belo wdemand, and stocks have 'been reduced to a minimum. The result is that imports from France rome from the of figure of 92,000 tons to 236,000 tons in the last year. Although production in French iron mines rose almost 2,000,000 tons above last year's total, it still was 'below the year of 1929.

The old high was 50,731,000 tons and production last year reached only 33,208,000 tons, which, however, was a post-depression high. Part of the deficiency in the last year's production was the result of social 'Conditions, the strike period 'having brought the mines virtually to a stop. It rose swiftly after the close of a successful strikes. In the last three months of the year production was higher than the first five months of the year, before the June strikes. At present the 40-hour weeks is applicable to the fining fields, although permission has been granted allowing owners to arrive at the new working day by stages.

Until the end of February mines worked 44 hours, after which they dropped to the 40 hour level. The experience of the last months, (however, has convinced producers that production will not fall off as a of the greatest fears they expressed when opposing the June strikes. Production was highest in the Briey and Moselle districts, wihere it topped 14,000,000 tons. Longwy and Normandie, the next highest producing ares were far behind, with slightly more than 1,500,000 eons each. France's iron cfenters, therefore remain in the north, uncomfortably close to the German border.

Mrs. FDR to Speak In Shreveport At Auditorium Wed. Nation's First Lady Will Deliver Two Talks On First Trip into Louisiana Mrs. Franklyn Delano Roosevelt will deliver two addresses at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium tomorrow afternoon and evening, under the sponsorship of the Shreveport Life Underwriters Association. The subject of Mrs.

Roosevelt's talks will be "A Day At The White Intimate details of the affairs in managing the Presidential Mansion in Washington will be revealed by the Nation's First Lady, who is making her first trip to Louisiana during the present speaking tour, which has already carried her to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. FIRST FIRESIDE CHAT OF THE YEAR President Franklin D. Roosevelt is scheduled to again take the affairs of the nation direct to the people tonight at 9:30 (Louisiana Time), in the first fireside chat of the current term. The President Is expected to deal principally with the supreme court issue which has been under fire for the past several weeks. His talk will be carried by all major broadcasting networks.

SHERIFF RECORDS ARE CLEAR AS THIGPEN ENDS FIRST YEAR No Major Criminal Action Remains on Books Unsolved; Son of Late Sheriff Thigpen "Carries On" in Office of Father Stepping into the position left vacant by the death of his father, J. Bryan Thigpen, tomorrow begins his second year as sheriff of Lincoln parish. Still quiet and unassuming, the additional duties accepted by him when he became the parish's chief law enforcement official, have left little trace of the additional responsibility. The host of friends made by him during the 12 years he spent as office deputy under his -father, the late A. J.

"Uncle Jack" Thigpen, still find the same welcome for them at the sheriff's office, and the same courteous, friendly service that characterized the 16 years in office of the elder Thigpen. J. B. Thigpen was unanimously named by the Parish Democratic Executive Committee to the post of Sheriff on March 10, 1936, within a few hours of the death of his father. He qualified and took office on March 12, upon appointment by then Acting-Governor James A.

Noe, who did so upon the recommendations of hundreds of friends of the Thigpen family, including influential citizens in both factions of state and parish politics. His name was unanimously selected to go on the same state ticket in the general election held in April, 1936, to fill the team to which his father had been overwhelmingly elected over three opponents in the January primaries. In the April election, his was the only name to receive balot-value, thereby making his the only unanimously elected sheriff, if not official of any nature, in the parish history. In assuming office, the younger Thigpen took upon himself the task of upholding one of the most envious records in the annals of police work, one that is believed to constitute not only a local record for crime detection, but covers the entire state, if not a considerably larger area. Only one major criminal act had not been solved in the 16 years of service by the elder Thigpen at the time of his death.

For months preceding his passing, he had worked virtually night and day in an effort to clear the records of that one. It has not been cleared, the criminal tried, convicted and court judgment fulfilled, however, it was left for the younger sheriff to conclude the case. Again the parish records are clear of unsolved criminal acts. In addition to the conviction of Johnny Sanders for the murder of Sim Evans, which occurred during the life of his father, the present Sheriff Thigpen has investigated 80 other criminal actions during the past year. Included in the result of these investigations have been 79 convictions and only two acquittals.

Of the 79 convictions, 65 plead guilty to the charges with which they were arraigned, while 14 stood trial, with 12 being convicted. Sentences imposed by the court included 18 penitentiary terms. 27 parish road teams, 33 fines and one execution, incidentally the second such imposition in the history of the pariah In addition to criminal detection activity fey tfa, aepirtmtut, in licenses were collected and distributed during the past 12 months. Efficiency and expediency are the watch-words of the local sheriff's department, as proven by the following most notable items among those on record for the past year: Huttig Fuller, negro, charged with murder on March 15 (the present Sheriff's first case), apprehended in Monroe on March 18 and sent to the penitentiary. On March 17, Mrs.

M. E. Morgan and Lcuise Morgan, mother and daughter, were apprehended in Chipley, Florida, returned here and sentenced to the penitentiary on charges of operating a confidence game. On July 9th, Dave May field was apprehended and jailed on charges of having murdered Fletcher Slayton, also a negro, on the same day. Mayfield later sentenced to life imprisonment.

On August 9th, Johnny Sanders wes arrested and confessed to having burned and robbed a filling station on the Shreveport highway. On August 10, he also confessed to having murdered Sim Evans, Lincoln parish farmer on October 25, 1935. He was tried and convicted on October 10, 1936, and executed January 15, 1937, marking the first time in history that a convicted murderer had been executed in the parish. On December 22, Ross McCorkle, 20 year old Ruston youth, was apprehended within an hour after he had shot and seriously wounded O. W.

Wanless, Ruston filling station operator. McOorkle plead guilty and was sentenced to the penitentiary. On January 20, Alvin Parker and William B. Reed, alias George Morgan, were apprehended in Vicksburg, within 24 hours after they had kidnaped and robbed W. S.

Roberts, local taxi-driver. Parker plead guilty here and was sentenced to the Louisiana penitentiary, while Reed was released on extradition to West Virginia authorities to stand trial on charges of murder and kidnaping in that state. And so the work of detecting criminals in Lincoln parish is being "carried by the son of the man who during his years of service, became the parish's most loved citizen Today, not one criminal act is on the "open file" in the department. In beginning his f-econd Frost Predicted Wednesday Morn. Frost was predicted in the Ruston vicinity Wednesday morning by the New Orleans Weather Bureau in a telegram to the Chamber of Commerce here today.

Senior League Has Promising Recruit Class Every Club In National Loop Stock Up With One or More High Class Rookies NEW YORK (UP) Overshadowed last year by the brilliance of American League recruits, the National League swings into the training season this spring with high hopes of having a banner crop of freshmen. Every club has at least one rookie who has shown promise of 'Winning a major league job. Among the outstanding rookies are: Boston Outfielder Vince DiMaggio from San Diego. Said to have better arm than his brother Joe of the Yankees. Long range hitter.

Stepped up in the 13th inning of a scoreless tie last year and smashed a homer. Pitcher Lou Fette from St. Paul. Tops in American Association hurling last year with 25 victories. Led A.

A. in victory percentage, number complete games, innings and number of batters Was in 38 games altogether; year 'before, broke into 43 box scores. Brooklyn Pitcher Walter Singer from Allentown. Right-hander with B. S.

degree from N. Y. U. Appendix stopped him at Dayton in 1934, sore arm got him at Reading in '35, but last year he won 16 games, topping Nypa's first line pitchers in earned runs with 2.96. Had streak of nine straight wins with four successive shutouts, Chicago Outfielder Joe Marty from San Francisco.

Joines Seals in 1934, starred in 1935 playoff for Coast League pennant, and struck stride as a slugger last year when he batted .358, wining the Coast batting championship. Outfielder Moon Meyer from Eau Claire, Northern League Club. Native of Chicago's North Side. Member American Legion team which won Junior Championship and sent Phil Cavaretta to Cubs. Serious, studious, follows craft of arte-iacting stringed instruments during off-season.

Batted .338 last year and drove in 129 rims. Cincinnati Catcher Dee More from Macon. Most versatile player in majors. Sally League home run champion in 1936. Player outfield in first game of double-header last year for Macon then went in and pitched no-hit gaime.

Pitcher Johnny Vender Meer (Continued pact four) here, Sheriff Thigpen today paid high tribute to Clyde Frazier, C. Leggett, and Fred Wilder, deputies for their work in the department, both during time the elder Thigpen was sheriff and since under the present Sheriff HUGE BUILDING AND REPAIR PROGRAM IS INCLUDED WITH OTHER PLANS FOR SCHOOLS Improvements Include Gymnasiums for High Schools, Additional Space Where Needed, Enlargement of Auditoriums; Consolidation of Bonded Bebt Into Parish Wide Issue Plans looking toward the refinancing of the entire bonded indebtedness of the Parish School Board, together with the renovation and installing badly needed repairs to equipment and buildings were today announced by H. L. Campbell, superintendent of the Board. The Board, at a special meeting in the courthouse at 10 o'clock this morning approved the proposed changes in financial structure, as well as the repairs and proposed new buildings.

The plan briefly is as follows: MILK INCOME FOR FARMERS CITED BY KING $40,000 Is Paid to 350 Lincoln Parish Farmers For Milk Produced in 1936 Three hundred and fifty dairymen of Lincoln Parish received $40,000 from the sale of milk and cream in 1936. This does not include ibottled milk or churned butter and buttermilk, only the milk and cream sold for manufacturing purposes. The largest amount received by one farmer was $1,595.92, and the smallest was 54c. This is an average of $114.85 per farm or the equivalent of two bales of cotton. Three farmers received $4,308.46 of the $40,000 from the sale of milk from their farms, iin average of $1,436.15 per farm or the equivalent of 24 bales of cotton.

Ladies To Have Charge of C. of C. Meeting Tonite Time of Meeting Set Back To 7:45 P. M. To Avoid Conflict With Scout Banquet at 6:45 Due to the conflicting time of the annual Father and Son Boy Scout banquet, scheduled to be held at the Methodist Educational Building on Alabama Avenue, this evening at 6:45 o'clock, the weekly meeting of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will be held at 7:45 instead of the regular time of 7 o'clock.

The Women's Division of the Welcoming Committee, headed by J. S. Harris, as chairman, will be in charge of the meeting of the Board tonight, it was stated by Mrs. W. E.

Colvin, secretary. Petit Jury Term Will Be Omitted In Union Parish Scarcity of Major Bills Cause Walker to Order Omission of Criminal Session The Union Parish Grand Jury met in regular Spring session Tuesday, March 1st, and adjourned on Saturday, March 5th, after considering 59 cases which were presented before them by District Attorney T. C. Bergeron. Twentythree true bills were returned by the Jury, along with 31 no-true bills and five were continued for further investigation.

In view of the fact that only one major criminal bill was returned by the Jury, Judge E. L. Walker of the Third Judicial District has ordered that no petit jury term be advertised in Union Parish for the regular April term service. The Jury reported no prisoners in the Union Parish jail, and recommended only minor repairs be made on the jail, courthouse, and parish farm. 1 HAWAII SETS TOURIST RECORD HONOLULU (UP) Despite the Pacific Coast shipping strike that lasted from October till February, Hawaii managed to set an all-time record for tourists and vacationists.

More than 22,000 reached here either by the Pacific Clippers or by foreign lines that were not involved in the American strike. Issuance of $260,000 al bonds, spread over a XS year maturity period, the first due in 1938, and the final in 1963; Probable interest rale on these bonds will be per cent. The purchase of aa many af the $220,000 outstanding aehool board bonds as can be bought, thereby eliminating the 6 per cent payments in interest on that amount. Consolidation of the indtb- tcdness into one single pariah- wide unit and making the millage school board taxes mills throughout the parish. The rate now paid at each of the high school districts is aa follows: Sitnsboro 12; Choudrant and Dubach 11; Hico, 10 and Ruston The construction of gymnasium facilities at every high school in the parish, including all indoor sport facilitiea, saeh basketball, boxing and aOwr athletic events; and the making of needed repairs and construction of additional building space wherever necessary.

In making the announcement today, Mr. Campbell pointed out that practically every school in the parish, including high schools and grade schools, are now in need of various and sundry repairs and renovations. The Ruston high school proposal, for instance, entails the construction of approximately 12 additional rooms to the building, doubling the seating capacity of the auditorium by extending the wing westward, and the construction of a fully equipped gymnasium for the high school athletic program. Funds with which construction work on James Athletic Field. a recent gift to the high school by T.

L. James, local business leader, will also provided by the bond issue, in the event the necessary grant from WPA is not forthcoming, Mr. Campbel stated. At. Simsboro, Dubach, Choudrant, and Hlco, similar improvements will be made on the school buildings and grounds, Mr.

Campbell stated. This will include repainting, reroofing where necessary, and other renovations that will Continued on Page Four Around The Corner BY ELMER ZILCH i I 1 1 i The Smith Brothers papa over spending a few days with the boya in their new Ruston store thia week. Mr. Smith is from Bastrop. See Mrs.

Pratt is making an offer to the girlies who want- to get ready for the Pan-Hel hop Friday night. With fishing weather coming up next, and the sun going to get hot, you might try Homer Warren's idea of using an old wagon umbrella to sit under while you drag them in. Just in passing we might mention the Ruston Kiwanis Club founded 15 years ago today when. today was on a Thursday. The Boy Scouts and their are planning a big time tonight so if you are a Scout or a Scout'a papa, go 011 over to the church for a feed and some talking.

One of the things WUliwn and Robert are having to to is being called "Mr." and told "how young you.