Evening star., 1933-12-31
War Against kidnapping.

War Against kldnaplng.
In America the forces of the law
warred against kidnaping-a wave that
followed the Staying of the Lindbergh
baby In 1882. Life imprisonment and
death sentences were invoked.
Infuriated mobs took other cases out
of the hands of the law.
Two men accused of Staying Brooke
Hart. whom they had kidnapped, were
Ilynched at San Jose. Calf. A Nation
wide controversy was stirred by Gov.
RoIph's condonement of the lynching
In Maryland Gov. Ritchie called out
National Guardsmen to arrest the al
legged lynChers Of a COlored man, bUt q
Judge freed them on habeas corpus
[ writs.
Sayings occurred in every section of
the Nation-gangsters and law-abiding
citizens; in New York Archbishop Leon
Tourian; in Chicago the macaore oeath
of Rheta Wynekoop on her mother-m-
laws operating table; on Stanford uni
versitys campus. Mrs. David Lamson.
Massacre in Kansas City.
The Kansas City massacre-On June
IS four officers were machine-gunned 10
death two wounded, as desperadoeS
sought to free Frank Nash, on his way
back to Leanvenworth Prison. Ther
bullets killed him, too
Prison breaks-Eleven convicts shot
their way to freedom from louisiana
Penttentiary in a riot in which three
we're killed a half dozen wounded. In
Kansas II prisoners fed the State
Penitentiary with the warden and two
guards as hostages. The officers we're
freed unharmed, most Of the conVlcts
were caught
Liquor racketeering waned with the
approach of repeal of prohibition. The
Federal Government sent Waxey
Gordon, Jersey beer baron, to prison Tor
10 wears, with $4,000 in fines and costs
for income tax evasion. A Senate
committee investigated business rack
eteering.
In the category of political assassina-
tions came the Staying of Mayor Ger
max. King Nadir Shah of Afghanistan,
President Sanchez Cerro of Peru and,
yesterday, Premier I. G. Duca Of Ru-
mania.
Secret Society Blamed.
New York police attributed the slay-
ing of Archbishop Tourian, knitted as he
led a procession up the aisle OF his
church. to a secret society seeking
restoration of Armenia as a republic
wrestling it away from the U. S. S. r.
Political intrigue involving the throne
was held to be responsible for King
Nadir'S assassination as he left his
harem; Cerro, fiery patriot-with many
bullet wounds on his body-had
stormy political career; Duca was
lifelong foe of King Carol.
Diminutive Chancellor Englebert
Dollfuss of Austria-enemy of Hitler's
Nazis-was the target for assaSSins' fire,
but escaped with two minor wounds.
He had attacked the Nazis for allegedly
attempting to spread propaganda in
Austria
The case of the man in the tower
one of the strangest in the annals Of
the British armed services-ended with
the court-martial of Lieut.. Norman
Baillie-SteWart, young officer in the
aristocratic Seaforth Highlanders and
member of the distinguished military
family, on charges of selling military
secrets to foreign nation, he was dis
honorably discharged and sentenced to
five years of penal servitude.
Trial of British Engineers.
The diplomatic relations of two great
nations-Soviet Russia and Great
Britain-hung in the balance as Rus
sia tried and convicted British engl-
neers of espionage and sabotage foster
ing "wrecking activities"
Germany's Reichstag-in f1orid
Italian Renaissance style-was burned
in February. 1t was an epochal event
In the nations political life. The fire
was of incendary origin.
The Communists were blamed, Hit
Ter was in the ascendancy. The Incl
dent sohdified the power of his NaZls
in the next weeks election. Liberals
in England and America held the Naz1S
responsible.
ol
land brick mason with shock of tou-
sled hair, and four Communists, mclud-
ing Ernest Torgler, formerly his partys
leader in the Reichstag, were charged
with setting the fire.
For three months the Supreme Court
listened to the evidence as Liberals in
other nations called the trial mock
ery. Van Der Lubbe was convicted
and sentenced to death. The others
were acquitted.
Act Against Kidnapers.
With heavy hand the forces OF law
IN the United States acted IN three
of the most sensational kidnaplngs OF
the wear, and the wave of abduction
Immediately began to wane
First. little Peggy McMath was lured
from her school room in HarWlcnport'
Mas A few days later she was nome
eafe % after payment of $4,000 ransom.
After being turned over to her father
she was kept aboard boat @ it;s for hours
as he sought to keep his immunity
nledee to the kidnapers.
Kenneth and Cyril Buck, brothers.
were arrested The ransom was recoV-
cred. Kenneth was convicted and SEN
fenced to "a years in prison, Cyril &C
quilted
Then Mary McElroy, 25-year-old
daughter of a Kansas City oflclal, was
kidnapped. She was returned a day later
after the payment of $4,000 ransom
The Department of Justice lmme-
diately took over the investigation. ~
was not long before three arrests were
made. The first death sentence Tor
kidnapping was imposed. Walter H NC
Gee is awaiting execution.
Aroused, the States began strength,
ening their kidnap laws. The Federal
Government had enacted its Lindbergn
law permitting life imprisonment.
Then came the kidnapping OF Charles
F. Urschel in Oklahoma City. He was
ranSomed for S200,OOO
A vigorous drive with Federal. state
and municipal law enforcement agen-
cies cooperating sent six persons to
prison for life for the crime: Machine
Gun" George Kelly and his wife, Kath,.
ryn; Harvey Bailey, Arthur Bates ana
Mr.. and Mrs. R. G. Shannon. Three
1+I,ers u-era given prisoD sentences