The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-03-10
TOY-GUN Girl.
TO Be GIVEN
MENTAL TEST
Medical Science Joins With
Law to Decide Fate of
Shortridge Pupil.
DEFENDS TAXI DRIVER
Man Was Not Accomplish
in HoIdup, She Says on
Witness Stand.

Medical sciences gloved hand
clasped the mailed hand of the law
for the first time today in juvenile
court, in an effort to solve the prob
lem of the fate of an adolescent
offender.
For Juvenile Judge John F. Geek
Ter ordered Miss Vera Wood, II,
Shortridge high school pupil and
toy-gun bandit, sent to the psyche
pathic ward at city hospital for two
weeks observation before he would
rule on charges of drunkenness and
delinquency.
With completion of her trial, and
testimony showing that she held
up eleven persons Feb. %, that she
read sex novels, smoked cigarets
and drank hquon Geckler said:
I'm not convinced of this girls
mental responsibility. I'm taking
The case under advisement until two
weeks from today and / want her
committed TO city hospital. I want
10 find out whether liquor or drugs
might have been responsible for
her condition"
Tries to Save Companion
The toy-gun girl took the witness
stand over the protest of her mother
to vindicate Joe Hottenrock, 80, of
Ravenswood, a taxi driver, against
any participation in her delilquen-
cies.
Il want to testify" she told
Geckler, after her mother expressed
the desire that she not be called.
In a low voice Vera denied the
charge Of girl witness, another
Shortridge pupil, that she ever had
called Hottenrock on the phone or
had dates with him.
Vera declared the only time she
saw him was the night she partici-
pated in spree of holdups when
she hailed his taxicab and asked
him to drive her about the northern
section of the city.
Slept in Hallway
She answered the trial charge of
Mrs. Leona Frankfort, juvenile
court investigator, of Judge, she
knows the name of the man she
was out with that night, but she
won't tell it," by giving an indefi-
mite description of the man.
She reiterated her story to police
that her companion on her wild
night with the toy gun was a
Jimmie Stegeman or Stegel."
She admitted sleeping one night
in the hallway of an apartment
house near Sixteenth and Meridian
streets. She related times she'd
been given liquor by youthful COM
panionS.
Mrs. Frankfort testified about her
investigation of the toy-gun girls
past life and how she was termed
queer girl" by her teachers at
Shortridge, though she thought the
prisoner was normal in intellect.
A neighbor near the Woods fam
lily home at 3247 Graceland avenue
testified that she had seen the girl
walking on the street. talking to
herself.
Read Bad" Novels
She wore the same dark black
suit in which she was CARRIED the
morning of her arrest. A black
scarf, embroidered with flowers,
was the sling she wore for her right
arm. The arm was fractured when
a taXi-driver resisted her attempt to
rob him.
In the testimony of her mother.
modern novels, and the fact that
she dion't learn to smoke until she
started to high school partially were
held responsible for her delinquency.
She read paper-backed novels
that my mother wouldn't let me
read when was a girl" the mother
said during a court recess.
Deny Use of Drugs
Both Geckler and Wilfred Brad
shaw, juvenile court prosecutor, at
tempted to elicit from the family
whether Vera ever had been addict
ed to drugs or the use of marihuana
cigaretS, better known as ''muggles."
The girls mother and her brother,
Cornet Wood, denied knowledge of
her use of the drugged Tags.
The courtroom was crowded with
welfare workers and visitors. No at
torneys represented the toy-gun
girl. Hottenrock, also charged with
contributing to the girls delin-
quency in juvenile court, answered
questions regarding the girls ride
in his taXicab over protest of his
own attorney.
Date of his trial has not been set.