The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-09-04
POISON BOOZE
TAKES LIFE OF
MODEL PUPIL
Lad of is Is Dead After
Drinking Liquor on Fish
ing Trip.
ARREST PAIR FOR SALE
Man and Wife Accused of
BootIegging to Boys;
Mother Frustrated.
BY HEZE CLARK

by k1EAE CLAIM
Liquor sold to teen-age boys by
indianapolis bootleggers today took
grim toll. with the death of Is
year old Walter Allen Hamilton.
At the home of the boy, BOT West
Ray street, a grief stricken mother
is dazed over the horrible death
from alcohol poisoning, of her son
who was preparing to enter high
school Tuesday.
In the city prison a man and his
wife stand charged with selling
liquor to four boys who went on a
fishing trip that ended in Walters
death. They are Mr.. and Mrs.
Frank Davis, 831 South Senate
avenue, held on blind tiger and
vagrancy counts.
Walter Hamilton and three other
boys started on a fishing trip to
near Mooresville Thursday after
noon. Among the group was Verle
Jeffrey, II, of 835 Church street,
for years a friend of Walters.
Lies in Beating Rain
The other boys were Gayle Stew
ems, Is, of 100 Kansas street, and
Marion Hopper, II, of 942 South
Senate avenue, whom Walter only
had known a week.
En- route to Mooresville in their
topless touring car, the boys said
they stopped at the Davis house,
where they bought one and one
half pints of liquor. They drank
it in the car.
Before they reached their des-
tination, rain began to pour. The
other boys sought shelter.
But Walter, i'll, lay in the rear
seat of the auto, the rain beating
down on him, his only protection
against the storm being an old
blanket that his companions had
thrown over him.
Through the rain the boys later
drove back to indianapolis and took
the car to Hopper's house. 1t was
there that Walter was found in a
Semi-conscious condition.
IF those other boys could have
seen what my boy suffered before
he died they never would touch that
stuff again." Mrs. Belle Hamilton,
the boys mother, cried today.
First Drinks Fatal
Walter never before had taken
drink and was the outstanding boy
of his graduating class at School
IL, last June.
He was the boy in the class who
was complimented most by teachers.
He was the boy they urged to CON-
tinue his education through college.
Walter was preparing to con-
tinue his education. He had
been working with his brother-in-
law, Herbert Costelow, on vege-
table wagon this summer, but Mrs.
Hamilton had bought his books for
his business course at Manual Train
ing high school.
When Walter failed to return
home during the rain Thursday
night, Mrs. Hamilton became wor-
ried. Costelow searched for him at
Hopper's house.
Costelow said he looked in the
topless car and found the youth
huddled in corner of the rear seat,
still covered by the rain-soaked
blanket.
when I saw my boy come
through the door, I knew he had
been drinking for the first time"
Mrs. Hamilton said. II could tell
by the odor on his breath.
couldn't seem to wake him, he was
semi conscious at times.
Dies in Agony
"He began getting worse and had
commissions. We tried to get a doc
tor, but couldn't. We couldn't hold
him on the davenport and his agony
was terrible. When the doctor came
he was dead.
II hate liquor-hate it. We never
had it in the house before or after
prohibition.
I'VE believe in laws. Why, my
boy said the allegiance to the flag
at his graduation"
Mrs. Hamilton said she had urged
her son not to go on the trip with
Hopper and Stevens on short
acquaintance, but he had assured
her he and the jeffrey boy would
be all right and would stay all
night.
Mr.. and Mrs. Davis, despite identi-
flcation of them by the boys as SELL
ers of the booze, denied to police
that the boys had bought the death
dealing liquor at their residence.
In addition to the parents, Wal
ter Hamilton is survived by sis
ter, Mrs. Beulah Costelow, of Indi-
annapolis. Funeral arrangements