The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 10, 1939 Page: 1 of 14
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THE WEATHER TRAFFIC TOLL
For the Lower Rio Grande Valleyt _ 4rtfa VftnM>a ^
r.r<l. flood Thnrodo night .nd Frl- l.'ri^Tfl^. ” *
Ray. •
High tide— .. »
Low lido— Accident* . Ill
Thurtday ...4:22 p m.
Friday . <:14 P «•
FORTY-EIGHTH YEAR—No. 33 n. n»-«» » n. BROWNSVILLE TEXAS THURSDAY AUGUST 10 1939 * * * FOURTEEN PAGES TODAY »« A COPY
Qtwrt i
VALLEY
*4 *
| AMES C. BOWIE DIRECTOR OP
J the Port Isabel harbor was a
visitor in Brownsville a couple of
days ago.
Apparently very well recovered
from injuries sustained in a fall at
San Benito some weeks ago.
Mr. Bowie and this writer struck
the entrance to a restaurant at
about the same moment.
And the visitor invited the local
man to have lunch. They ate to-
gether.
Conversation was casual when the
two were joined by W. E. McDavitt.
It turned to Vice-President Gar-
ner. and revolved around the early
days of the Garner vice • presidency
the happenings that led up to it
and the northern fear that this
• wild radical democrat from Texas
would prove a menace to the coun-
try.
How the skeptics of 1932 and 1933
have changed their tune in the in-
tervening years served as a further
subject of conversation with Mr
McDavitt bringing out some New
York City newspaper clippings of
letters to the editor on the subject
of the Lewis attack on Mr. Garner.
• • •
~THE NEW YORK SUN. FROM
which the clippings were taken
is a politically independent newspa-
per with leaning toward the demo-
cratic side
These northeastern expressions ol
opinion should be of interest to the
numerous fnends of Mr Garner in
this area so we reproduce them
Roscoe Peacock ol North Cohoc-
ton. N. Y. said:
“One would almost have to go
back to Civil War days to find as
vituperative public upon a leading
government official as that upon
Vice-President Garner by John L
Lewis before a committee of con-
gress Thursday.
"Lewis says the vice-president is
a whisky'-drinker a poker player
and an old man. Well considering
the extent to which prohibition was
thrown out on its ear. the whisky
oughtn t to make Mr. Garner so un-
popular. We cant forget that the
Immortal Lincoln when some one
tattled to him the same charge
against General Grant observed
that he wished he knew the brand
Grant drank; that he would like to
send some to his less successful gen-
erals.
* "Poker is proverbially the earmark
of the good strategist. William Pitt
said it was no crime to be a young
man. and in a job like Garner s
wisdom grows with age to the point
where it also seems no crime.
“With this stuck Lewis flies in
the face of that theory of the science
of argumenution that the ad homi-
nen approach is the weakest. He
will undoubtedly be the urget of a
barrage of criticism couched in
similar unpolite terms. Lewis can
dish it out. It remains to be seen
if he can uke it
CARA TAWNEY LEFFERTS OF
^ New York City write* in the Sun
a* follows:
"If there is a man in this admin-
istration who has shown a natural
nobleness of character honor and
integrity’ it is Vice-President Gar-
ner.
“It has been well said that Honor
la of so fine and delicate a nature
it is only to be met with in mmds
that are naturally noble.'
"When men and women connec-
ted with the present administration
took advantage of their accidental
political prestige to popularize
themselves personally and in some
Instances increasing their financial
gam thereby it remained for Mr
Gamer to return a munificent con-
tract unsigned saying as he did so:
M'You would not pay Jack Gar-
ner 50 cents a week and you cannot
pay the Vice-President of the Unit-
ed 8tat«s a nickel .”
And saya R. C. Davis of Newark
N. J.:
“I think it is disgraceful and an
insult to the people and the nauon
the word* used by Lewis about our
Vice-President.
•We are fed up with the com-
munistic ideas of Lewis and feel he
will rum not only Industry but the
national government If permitted to
get away with what M has in the
past."
• • •
QN THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE
^ same clipping appeared six
verses by the famous newspaper
< Cotin ued on Page Two).
... .- - H
New Use For Fire Ladder
The 75-foot flagpole at the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce got a
new rope Wednesday. Fireman Arthur Lightboume Is shown atop a
Brownsville fire truck ladder •'threading" the rope through the pulley.
The pole get* a new rope every year.
PAIR GRABBED
i IN MAN’S DEATH
Suspects Arrested At
Reynosa
MATAMOROS — Two men al-
leged to have slain Francisco Rivera.
48. here Wednesday morning have
been apprehended by Reynosa po-
lice. according to Special Investi-
gator Jose Castro who said Thurs-
day morning he had received such
Information from Reynosa.
The men are expected to be re-
turned to Matamoros soon.
Rivera proprietor of an estab-
lishment in the south section ol
Matamoros. walked into a hall of
bullets as he stepped from a build-
ing a block and a half from the
Matamoros police station about 11:30
a. m. Wednesday.
Shot several times through the
body he was taken to a hospital
where he died about 12 35 p. m
Wednesday. Special Investigator
Castro said Rivera named two men
who allegedly did the shooting.
A car registered in the name ol
the men was found near La India
several miles south of Matamoros
on the Victoria highway some time
after the shooting. Castro said and
rural and local police spent Wed-
nesday afternoon beating the brush
in the area.
The report that the two men
sought had been apprehended in
Reynosa was received Thursday
morning
Rivera told Castro that he had
gone into the building to consult
with a lawyer on personal business
and that in the hall of the building
he met one of the men he said shot
him.
After talking to the lawyer. Ri-
vera told Castro he started to leave
the building for his car parked in
the street. Just before he stepped
(See MURDER. Page Two) "
-n-i- -
DEATH TAKES
B. LONGORIA. SR.
Brownsville Man Is
Dead At 76
BROWNSVILLE — Funeral ser-
vices for Benito Longoria 76. were
held Thursday at the Immaculate
Conception church with interment
following at Buena Vista cemetery.
Mr Longoria had died Wednes-
day afternoon at the family resi-
dence. 10th and Jackson streets
following an Illness of several
weeks
He was a retired merchant and
had lived in Brownsville for many
•years He was w'ell known through-
out the Valley.
Pallbearers were Abelardo A.
Trevino. Eduardo Garibay. Jose
Champion. Domingo Laiseca. Ismael
Zarate and Justo R. Guerra.
Surviving are his widow. Mrs.
Label Solis Longoria; two sons.
Francisco and Benito. Jr. and four
daughters. Misses Josefs and Maria
'Longoria and Mrs. Lucinda Lieck
and Mrs Virginia L Tumlinson
all of Brownsville.
Arrangements were in charge of
the Marcelo Garza Funeral Home.
Paralytic Issued
License to Wed
CHICAGO—yP>—- A marriage li-
cense was issued Thursday to Fred
Snite. Jr. paralysis victim who has
been living in an iron lung for
three years and Miss Teresa Lar-
kin.
Neither member of the Snite
family nor close friends would dis-
cuss the matter but was under-
stood Miss Larkin was an old
friend.
HEAT IS FATAL
HOUSTON—</P— Bernardo Ro-
driguez. 45 died Thursday of heat
prostration suffered yesterday while
he worked in W degree tempera-
ture
First Jap Ship to Visit
Valley Is Booked Here
BROWNSVILLE—The first Jap-
anese vessel to ever dock at a
Valley port is scheduled Friday
August 18. at the Port of Browns-
ville. Gilbert Philen. Jr. of the
Philen Shipping Company an-
nounced Thursday.
The Jap freighter is the large
new motor vessel Kimikawa Maru
of tlie Kawasaki Kaisha Line
known among mariners as the “K"
line.
Several thousand bales of Valley
cotton are expected to be loaded
by the Jap ship here.
Mr Philen said that the MV
•Kimikawa Maru 18 to arrive hare*
from Port Arthur on August 18 and
sail the following day for Yoko-
homa Osaka and Kobe. Japan.
There have been vessels docking
at the Port of Brownsville to load
for Japan but there never has been
a Japanese owned ship at either
the local port. Port Isabel Mr.
Phiien said.
The word “Maru” on the end
of tlie ship's name denotes that it
is a merchant vessel. Mr. Phiien
added
Captain Sullivan master of the
SS Henry 8 Grove. Isthmian Line
ship which docked from the Pacific
* tSee JAPANESE. Pag* Twoj
i
POLICE HEAR
MAN CONFESS
DOUBLE DEED
Representing Himself
As Booking Agent
He Took Couple to
Coast Resort
BOCA RATON. Fla.—<4*1—A man
booked as Charlea Jefferson con-
fessed to police Thursday he had
abducted two Miami high school
girls with the intention of holding
them for ransom killed one and
held the other captive until early
Thursday.
Lieut. E W. Melchen of Miami
detectives announced the confession
at the Boca Raton police station
where Jefferson was held after his
arrest near the scene of the slay-
ing of 17-year-old Ruth Prances
Dunn.
Melchen reported Miss Dunn and
Jean Bolton. 19. were bound in
the man's automobile which he
drove into a lonely beach section
about 800 feet off the ocean high-
j (See ABDUCTION. Page Two)
SOLON URGES
JAP WAR BAN
•
Schwellenbach Asks
Immediate Steps
WASHINGTON— UP) —Senator
Schwellenbach <D-Washl a mem-
ber of the senate foreign relations
committee urged the state depart-
ment Thursday to take immediate
steps to halt the flow of American
war materials to Japan
In a letter to Secretary Hull
Schwellenbach said this could be
accomplished either by involking an
old wartime statute empowering the
president to ban the export of any
war materials in violation of law or
by obtaining voluntary agreements
of shippers to halt such exports
“The object of this letter." Sch-
ellenbach wrote "is to suggest to
you that there is available to the
executive department of the 'gov-
ernment at any time the machinery
by which the shipment of war sup-
plies to Japan may be stopped.''
He referred to an argument which
he made in the senate last week
that the United States was violat-
ing the nine-power treaty which
pledges respect of the territorial in- i
tegrity of China by "supplying 70
per cent of the more important ma-
terials used by the Japanese in the
prosecution of the war against
China.*
___
!
Officers Hunt
Colored Rapist
Grim Manhunt Under Way
In Texas Area
■.
TERRELL—X*— poot-weary and
sleepy after falling to trap their
quarry during the night state and
local officers and incensed citizens
kept up their gnm hunt Thursday
for a negro rapist who stabbed and
left his white victim for dead.
The woman was seized as she
walked along the Able Springs
road esat of here Wednesday after-
noon. dragged beneath a culvert
and assaulted.
Threatened with death and stab-
bed twice in the throat she pre-
tended to be dead until her assail-
ant fled. She staggered to the near-
by farm home of A A Elliott.
The woman was treated and re-
leased after four stitches had clos-
ed each wound.
News of the crime spread fast
feeling ran high and soon the
greatest manhunt in Kaufman
county history was underway.
Bloodhounds placed on the trail
by Sheriff Prank Wolfa picked it
up but lost it.
Italy Orders Time
Magazine Banned
ROME——Time Magazine has
been banned from Italy until fur-
ther notice on account of an article
in the issue of July 24 about Coun-
tess ^dda Ciano. dr ughter of
Premier Mussolini and wife of
Foreign Minister Count Ciano.
EX-MEXICO ENVOY DIES
MEXICO CITY— [JP. -General
Samuel C. Rojas 45. former Mexi-
can military attache at Washington
and one time head of the Mexican
airforce died Wednesday night after
a short illness i
Mexican Amy Officers Entertained Here
High ranking officials of the Mexican army were
entertained on a goodwill tour Wednesday after-
noon at Port Brown and later shown Valley deep
water facilities. The Mexican and Port Brown of-
ficers making the tour were front row. left to rlghr
Major Buenaventura Plores Lt. Col. Clifford C.
Whitney Gen L. Dor antes.. Col Arthur E Wil-
boum commander of the 12th Cavalry and Port
Brown; Col. Jesus Gomez Garcia Lt. Col. Eustls
L Hubbard and Lt. Col. Ezequiel Olivares Guajardo.
Second row. left to right. Major Manuel Quiros
Cortez. Major O. C. Newell. Second Lt Alberto
Gutierrez. Lt. Samuel Hogan Miguel Dorantes. son
of General Dorantes: Lt. Col. Jay K. Colwell and
Col. Juvencio Bravo Alatorre.
How Hidalgo Reduced
Bond Debt$10000000
(EDITOR'S NOTE—In ISM. Hidalgo county and all Its political subdi-
vision*. found Ikcmiclm burdened with bond warrant and other types
of obligation* totaling an estimated swnoonon The end of ISM is es-
Kted to see these obligations reduced to something lea* than SSO.OOO.-
. and they are expected to go murh lower. How were these obligation*
reduced IIb.dSd.SdP? The Herald assigned Brad Smith long time Hidalgo
county newspaperman to write a series of articles telling how Hidalgo
county la heading out of the red.)_
BY BRAD SMITH
Special Writer for Herald
CDINBURG— Dunn* the past
^ few years a large number of
Hidalgo county municipal subdivi-
sions have found it both necessary
and possible to refinance their out-
standing Indebtedness which in
most cases Included both bonds and
warrants.
There seems to be little doubt but
that cities school districts water
districts road districts and all other
types of municipal subdivisions in
Hidalgo County including the
county itself set some kind of a re-
cord during the period 1924-29 fot
voting debts upon themselves It
was a period of mushroom develop-
ment at the height of a nation-wide
uptrend in all lines of business. The
building fever struck the Valley just
as it struck all other sections of the
country undoubtedly stemming
from the post-war financial up-
swing of the early twenties. Bonds
and other securities of municipal
subdivisions were received with
open arms on the bond marts of the
country and many bond brokers
made specialties of municipal
bonds. So highly specialised was
this field and so many were the
opportunities that many sections of .
the country like Hidalgo County
became obsessed with such a desire
to build. Build. BUILD that their
citizens obligated themselves to pay
out millions of dollars within the
next 30 to 40 years Under the pres-
sure both of a naturally prosperous
era in the business cycle and am-
bitious political leaders it was easy
to spend millions of dollars that the
third of fourth generation follow-
ing would have to pay off. That
in brief was the condition facing
Hidalgo County and most of its
political subdivisions in 1930
Bubble Bursts
Then came the inevitable day of
reckoning. The pretty bubble burst.
The business foresight and acumen
of many a man was proven to be
nothing more nor leas than a wild
guess and when those men were at
the head of municipal governments
with the power either to issue war-
rants or encourage and influence
the voting of bonds the third and
fourth generations following were
drowned before they were born in
an overwhelming flood of stiff
crinkly paper printed with bright
blue and red and green and gold
inks known as bonds They were
the promises of a prosperity-drunk
people to pay back sometime us-
tSee HIDALGO. Page Severn
Snite Is Wed
In Iron Lung
CHICAGO — f/P> — Courageous
young Fred Snite. Jr. who has
been fighting for life In an Iron
lung" for three years was married
Thursday.
The smiling 29-vear-old infantile
paralysis victim who has refused
to let the handicap of an artificial
respirator interfere with his many
activities took Miss Teressa Lar-
kin. 25. of Dayton. O. for his bride.
The ceremony which united the
widely known "boiler kid" with the
Ohio girl was performed in the
Snite suburban home in River
Forest by the Rev. J. W. Morrison
Young Snite was in his iron lung
as the sendee was read.
Plaza Hotel Is Sold
To Matamoros Man
BROWNSVILLE — Sale of the
Plasa Hotel facing the Market
Square here to Leocadio M Monte-
mayor of Matamoros was revealed
by warranty deed records Thurs-
day.
Mr Montemayor stated he paid
$10000 for the property and that
at present he has formulated no
plans in connection with the hotel.
Mr. Montemayor owns other prop-
erty also in the city.
The warranty deed indicated
that conveyor of the property to
M.. Montemayor was Mrs. Maria
Pumarejo de Besteiro.
E. B. Gordon has been operat-
ing the hotel for more than four
years He said Thursday that he
has been notified his lease on the
hotel will end fieotember 20. I
Envoy of French
Tells of Misuse
WASHINGTON —/**>— Sumner
Welle* acting secretary of state
disclosed Thursday the French am-
bassador Count Rene De St.
Quentin had voluntarily informed
the state department last March
of the misuse of French diplomatic
pouches as charged in a federal
grand Jury presentment Wednes-
day at New York
Welles said the French am-
bassador called at the state de-
partment in March on his own
initiative and stated there had
been a misuse of a French pouch
The ambassador. Welles said ex-
pressed regret and said an admin-
istrative inquiry would be made
and disciplinary measures taken in
France.
BURNELL SIGNS
UP WITH UNION
Schmidt Insists On
Definitions
r _____
PORT ISABEL — A victory for
CIO organizers seeking to unionize
the fishing industry- in Port Isabel
was seen Wednesday when B. B
Burnell of the Burnell Fish com-
pany was reported to have signed
a contract with the Inland Boat-
men's Division of the National
Maritime Union.
Mr. Burnell could not be reached
Thursday morning and was under-
stood to have left on a day-long
sport fishing trip into the Gulf
J. H Schmidt operator of the
Port Isabel Fish company said
Thursday he would sign no con-
tract for a closed shop nor one
which does not define a fisherman
and a shrimper.
Mr Schmidt said that he would
consider signing a contract with
a union composed of shrimpers and
fishermen alone where men voted
on matters pertaimng to their par-
ticular work.
He declared that the union or-
ganized at Port Isabel is composed
of men of practically every occupa-
tion there including men who
never have fished In their lives
and never intend to fish.
*T am not opposed to union la-
bor.” Mr Schmidt declared. "If the
organization pertains to a par-
ticular business." He said that the
present union includes taxi drivers
truck drivers barkeepers and prac-
tically "any occupation you want."
Mr. Schmidt pointed out also
that he did not consider the men
fishing for him as his employes.
They work on a contract basis he
said and fishermen and company
share the catch. Some of them
use company equipment he said.
(See STRIKE Page Two)
Beteta Goes Back
To Headquarters
McALLEN — Ramon Beteta Mex-
ican undersecretary of foreign af-
fairs was enroute to San Antonio
Thursday after explaining to Mexi-
can nationals in the Valley why
Mexico repatriation program has
been temporarily halted.
Speaking before an audience of
300 In Fair Park auditorium at Har-
lingen Tuesday night Beteta said
the government found It necessary
to suspend the program until more
room was available for colonists.
The big colony near Matamoros.
has been filled with all the families
from the United 8tat#s the project
can care for at this time he said.
Mother Arranges Burial;
Dead Man Not Her Son
‘VINCENNES. Ind.—(JP)—Mrs Ed-
na Lawrence waited hopefully here
Thursday for definite word her 22-
ycar-old son James William whom
only Wednesday believed dead
was alive and w
1110 young man. who left home a
month ago. wrote last week he had
a Job picking peaches near Corn-
ing. Calif.
She received his card Monday. A
short time later a telegram arrived
from Commerce Tex. saying he
had been killed by a train there
Sorrowfully she ordered tus body
b.
shipped home snd arranged a fun-
eral for Thursday.
Late Wednesday the body arriv-
ed. Mrs Lawrence looked — and
said it was not her son a.
The dead mans name in lus pa-
pers. was James William Lawrence.
But his age was given as 39 and his
occupation as mining.
Authorities here began efforts to
reach Mrs Lawrences son through
state police radio.
They expressed belief the confus-
ion arose because both men had
registered for work at Stockton
cun
NAZIS TO AID
free crry in
CASEOF WAR
Cheering Crowd Hears
German Leader Say
Hitler Will Come to
Their Aid
FREE CITY OF DANZIG
— (AP)—Nazi Leader Al-
bert Forester told cheering
throngs in Langer market
place* Thursday night that
“Poland may rest assured"
Germany and Adolf Hitler
“are determined in the event
of attack to stand at our
side.”
Speaking with the full authority
of his conference earlier thu week
with the German Fuehrer Forester
declared:
“In a serious moment we have as-
sembled in this histone market place
in order to protest against the
threats of war uttered by Polish pa-
pers and speakers
His declaration that Germany
stood solidly behind the Free City
In the nasi campaign for reunion
with Germany was interrupted by
cnes of:
‘One people! One Reich! One
Fuehrer!"
“We want to return to the
Reich!"
‘The Danzig population has shown
that It loves peace1" he said “If
the polish threats had not been so
serious we should have been con-
tent to pass over them."
STORM HEADS
FOR BAHAMAS
Little Chance Is Seen
Of Gulf Entry
BROWNSVILLE— Chances were
considered remote Thursday that
the current tropical storm headed
(or the Bahama Islands would
swing across the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters said the storm was
central at 6 a. m <CSTi about 450
miles southeast of Miami. Fla. and
moving west northwestward 12
miles an hour into the southeastern
Bahamas.
The disturbance had increased
(rom slight to moderate intensity
but the highest winds so far re-
ported were only 45 to 50 miles an
hour.
Myron H Carpenter of the
Brownsville weather bureau said
the chances are remote that the
blow might veer across the Gulf of
Mexico.
Citing that tropical storms are
erratic however he said that no
definite prediction could be made
yet. The storm is expected to swing-
up the Atlantic coast.
Captain Wallace Reed retired
coast guard officer here happened
Wednesday to remark that T al-
ways say never to trust a hurricane
in the Gulf. You never know where
they might go/*
The Jacksonville ria. wcawirr
bureau aald that if the present
movement of the storm continues
the center «ill pass near Watlmg
island Thursday afternoon and
reach the vicinity of Nassau early
Friday morning
Watlmg island was the ground
first set fot on by Christopher Co-
lumbus when be "discovered' Am-
erica.
The weather bureau cautioned all
interests in the Bahamas Thursday
and Thursday night and on the
Southeast Florida coast for lata
Thursday night and Friday.
An unexpected shower occurred
over Brownsville Thursday morning
with about .21 of an inch of ram
falling The rainfall said to have
been caused by unstable local air
conditions was not thought to be
general however.
"Partly cloudy Thursday mgnt
and Friday" is forecast for the Val-
ley.
SPOT COTTON
NEW ORLEANS—OP.—The aver-
age price of middling cotton today
at ten southern spot markets was
seven points lower at 9.14 cents a
pound average for the past thirty
market days 9.14 cents a pound.
DALLAA — (A*) — Cotton 8.62;
Houston 9.00; Galveston 8.97.
BELGIUM NOMINATED
GENEVA— uP>- Belgium has
been nominated for the presidency
of the 106th council of the Lesgn
of nations in place of unwilling
Yugoslavia officials disclosed
Thursday
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Stein, J. M. The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 10, 1939, newspaper, August 10, 1939; Brownsville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1405182/m1/1/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .