The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-23
CRAFT STRANDED
 AT CINCINNATI AS RIVER FALLS
Sudden Raising Of Dam Wickets Causes 10-
 Foot Drop

CINCINNATI, O., July 22.-At least five river steamers are aground, and innumerable houseboats are stranded, as the result of an unprec- edented drop of ten feet in the Ohio river in the past 24 hours. The drop was caused by! the sudden raising of wickets in the dams above Cincinnati.
 It is expected that the situation will be righted within five hours, as the dam wickets at Fernbank, below Gin cinnati, are being raised. The inflow of water will again float the grounded and stranded river craft and restore the Ohio river to its usual depth around Cincinnati.
 Damage Unknown
 Just what damage was done to the steamers and other river craft which grounded cannot be determined until the river comes back to its normal stage. The steamers may spring leaks as the result of being lifted from the mud by the dredge Ohio.
 Several wharves were standing at angles. River traffic was at a stand still and could net be resumed until the wickets at Fernbank were raised. This morning S9 of the 250 had been raised and government engineers said they ex- pected to complete the job before to- morrow
 Closed Wickets Caused Fall
 Major W. W. Parker, of the United States Engineers, explained the sudden fall was due to damming up the water at the Wheeling and Pittsburg dams. The engineers said that the fall was due merely to the effort to regulate the harbor pools wherever necessary and to bring about general normalcy in such harbQrs.
 The river at Cincinnati stood at 6.7 this morning.
 come the statements of a coroner's phy- sician as to the body itself. The state expects to follow this with testimony by hotel clerks and bank tellers iden- tifying both youths as impersonating Morton D. Ballard" in whose name q room was taken at a downtown hotel by Loeb and a bank account opened by Leopold.
 Masqueraded As Ballard
 Morton D. Ballard" was also used by Leopold when he rented the auto mobile into which Robert Franks was enticed and killed. Four employees of the concern will testify as to this, and also tell how the Identification cards were mailed to the Morrison hotel, where Loeb had previously registered as Ballard.
 It is probIematical whether the first days hearing will go beyond this stage of the case. Subsequent testimony will deal with Leopold's ownership of T portable typewriter, the purchase of cbiSel and rope and bottle of acid which the youths intended to use in the staying.
 The state witnesses will also include Sven Englund, chauffeur of the Leopold family, and his wife, who will testify that the Leopold car in which the boys said they were riding on the day of the murder, was in the garage all day.
 Persons who saw Loeb at the liar ward school on May 21, just before young Franks was Kidnapped, and Irv- ing Hartman, a playmate, last to see the victim alive as he left the school yard where he had been umpiring a ball game, are next in order, and then will come the detailed testimony by which the police traced the course of the murder car, checked up the confes- sions and, under direction of Leopold and Loeb, recovered the chisel, type writer and bits of clothing scattered along the route taken by the criminals. Police officials, newspaper reporters, handwriting experts and professional divers are in this list.
 Whether the boys themselves will ever take the stand is also unsettled. By entering guilty pleas and holding hearing to determine the degree of punishment. the boys are subject to be called by the state, the defense or the court itself. The names of the youths are not on the states list of witnesses made public today, but it is possible the state may place them on the stand later. The defense has not indicated its intention, but the court may take a hand in the ,ase and ques- tion the boys about any phase of the case he desires.