davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
Mi1-Up in Signals
Officially Blamed
In Moha,ck Crash
Ne,U York Report Sees
No Cause for Action
Against Officers.
BY the Associated Press.

6y lUc hooOCldlcu EIeoe
NEW YORK, March Local
steamboat inspectors today made
public their findings that the Mohawk
disaster January "a resulted from q
misunderstanding in signals, and con-
cluded with this statement:
After considering all the testimony
taken, the board finds no cause for
action against any of the surviving
officers Of the Mohawk"
The Ward liner Mohawk collided
with the Norwegian freighter Tails
man 81 miles south of Sea Grit,
N. j., and went to the bottom. Forty
i've persons persisted.
THE motorship Talisman, being Of
foreign registry. does not come under
the jurisdiction VI this service" the
board reported. The case Is there
fore dismissed without further action. !"
The inspectors found that the crash
was due to q misunderstanding In
signals from the bridge Of the
Mohawk to her steering engine room
after the regular steering apparatus
had broken and the trick" wheel was
resorted to.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
Secretary Declares He Will
Look to Attorney General
and Court of Claims for
Expenditure Guidance.
CONTROLLER GENERAL
HITS BACK IN LETTER
Present Fight Revolves Around
Allowances to Dependents of
Naval Officers Sent Home From
Posts for Retirement-Cum.
mings Comes in for Attack.
BY ]. A. FOX.

In an unprecedented move. Secre-
tary of the Navy Swanson has served
notice upon Controller General Nc
Carl that he will not be bound by the
latter's rulings on expenditures, but
will look to the Attorney General and
Court of Claims for guidance.
This was disclosed today when it
was said that it was the first time
that the authority Of McCarl. for IA
years the last word on the legality of
Government expenditures, had been
so bluntly challenged
The conflict between the two officers
was disclosed when McCarl made pub
lie letter to Swanson in which he
takes the latter to task without mine
ing words and declares that the prin-
ciple of the act setting up the General
Accounting once as an independent
establishment free from partisan or
political influence would be junked if
Swanson's views prevailed.
mcCarf Hits at Cummings.
At the same time McCarl again
hit at Attorney General CUMMINGS
who is represented as lining up with
the Navy head. repeating as he said
some time ago in q controversy that
the regulation Of Government ex-
penditures is not within the province
Of that official.
Particular significance was added to
the new controversy because of Nc
Carls recent decision blocking the
New Deal" promotions.
The present case revolves around the
old fight of the Navy to obtain travel
ing expenses for dependents of naval
officers sent home for retirement from
some post Of duty. They get these al
lowances when the shift is between
posts, but McCarl has held that when
a retirement order is involved they are
not allowable. and has fallen back
upon the Supreme Court to support
his contention.
McCarl Rulings to Be Ignored.
The Swanson letter. to which Nc
Carl's communication was a reply. ad-
vised that these allowances were to
be made, and. it was said. took the
broader view that Attorney Generals
opinions and the decisions of the
Court of Claims (wilD be hereafter
followed" despite any McCarl decision
holding particular appropriation is
not legally available for proposed ad-
ministrative use.
Swanson has instructed his Office
to ignore McCarl's rulings holding up
the allowances.
McCarl's letter says Swanson ad-
Wsed him that he had directed that
Attorney Generals oponions and the
decisions of the Court of Claims be
hereafter followed" and naval in
struction be made accordingly.
AS you apparently contemplate
ordering accountable officers under
your military control to make pay
ments from public moneys intrusted
to them as advances from appropria-
tons for purposes determined by this
office to be not within the law. and
thus for which the appropriation is
not legally available, it is assumed
you fully appreciate the seriousness
of your proposed action" McCarl said.
"You are aware, of course, that
such accountable officers and their
Continued on Page I. Column -
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
Revolutionaries Routed in
Macedonia by Troops In.
der Command of War
Minister.
HOME OF VENIZELOS
WRECKED BY LOYALISTS
Business in Athens Stops as Gov.
eminent Intensifes Drive to
Halt Victories of Foes-Pilots
Drop Calls to Arms on Noun.
tain Villages.

(copyrisht. 1885. by the Associated Press)
ATHENS, March 4.-Greek govern
nent troops, led personally by Gen.
George Kondylis, minister of war,
smashed in force today against the
rebels in Macedonia and the govern
ment announced at nightfall that the
rebels had been hemmed in.
Guns blazed all along the ancient
battle grounds of Saloniki as the loyal
forces strove to capture Drama, the
old village long regarded as a key
position on the Northern Aegean.
At the same time the government
at Athens moved troops, warships and
airplanes to other points where rebels,
who began fighting last Saturday.
threatened the authority of the gov
eminent
Twenty-Five bombing planes, flown
ty loyal pilots, took off from Athens
to bomb warships which put to sea
under the command Of rebel officers
across the Yugoslav border heavy
fighting was reported heard, the Yu-
goslavs saying that both the Greek
government forces and the rebels
we're using artillery and that the en-
gagement had taken on the .charac-
teristics Of major battle)
Wreck Venizelos' Home.
Government air pilots reported that
they had wrecked the home of the
leader Of the rebellion, former Pre-
nier Eleutherios Venizelos. They
new over his estate, at Canea, Crete,
and dropped q series Of bombs.
(Another alleged rebel leader, Gen.
Nicholas Plastiras, who ran q Greek
revolution In 1922. was reported miss
ing from his hotel in Cannes and 1t
was rumored he might have sailed for
Crete.)
Gen. Kondylis, minister of war,
took personal command of the gov
eminent campaign in an effort to
force a sudden end to the hostilities
which broke out Saturday.
The military restrictions in Athens
we're frightened. All radio stations
we're ordered to stay silent. Private
automobiles were forbidden to circu-
late.
The government announced it would
open court-martial tomorrow and
that rebels would be tried solely by
army officers.
The Bourse was closed and business
practically came to a standstill.
A number of prominent people
visited President Zaimis this morning
and asked him to intervene to prevent
further loss of lives and property
damage.
Fleet Ready to Go.
The government, however, declared
that it could not permit any inter-
ference with its activities.
The Greek fleet prepared to embark
upon an expedition to Crete to wage
a fight to the finish with the rebels
who have taken possession of the en-
tire island.
Naval vessels we're ordered to make
ready to put to sea after wireless mes
sages had been intercepted indicating
the insurgents might flee to Italian
territory.
The radio station at Votanikos re-
ported it had heard the wireless sta
ton at Canea, Crete. attempting to
Continued on Page 4, Column S)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04

There appeared to be little hope to-
day for the recovery of Oliver Wendell
Holmes, retired Supreme Court JUS
tice, who is losing steadily in grim
fight against bronchial pneumonia.
The aged jurist, still breathing
heavily beneath an oxygen tent, was
perceptibly weaker this morning and
his condition was described BY Mark
Howe, former secretary, as very dis
couraging."
Howe made the pessimistic COM
ment after departure of DIR. Thomas
A. Clayton, Holmes personal physician,
who examined his patient for several
minutes In the darkened second-hoor
bed room at 1920 street.
In Apparent Stupor.
A member of the household said 1t
Is necessary now to awaken the former
justice from his apparent stupor in
order to administer nourishment.
Senator Borah, Republican, Of Idaho,
who was brief caller this morning,
told reporters he had been informed
the sick man was resting comfortably
and that there was no immediate
danger.
Attorney General Homer 8. Cum
mings, another visitor, was given q
similar picture Of the 94-year-old vic
TINS condition.
Other callers were Of the consensus
that it is lust . matter Of time" now
until the disease runs its dread course.
Only the astounding vitality Of the
reyered old man has enabled him to
put up such o courageous battle for
more than Q week. it was said.
Dr. Clayton did not visit the sick
room during the night, and there
was no sign of activity within the
dignified old brick house until this
morning.
More Oxygen Supplied.
A new tank of oxygen Is attached
to the tent apparatus every IL hours.
Several tanks are held In reserve In
an adjoining room.
Friends Of the former justice called
in person and by telephone through
out yesterday to learn Of his condition.
The White House 10 being advised by
telephone Of any changes II, the situ-
alton. --
Among visitors yesterday were Chief
Justice Hughes, Justice Brandeis, Prof.
Felix Frankfurter of Harvard Uni
yerSity. William Green president OF
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
DAVIDSON AUTOPSY
CLUES RECHECKED
Financial Transactions Of
Husband Probed-FamiIy
Hires Investigator.
BY JOHN III. CLINE,
stafi Correspondent OF The Star.

PINEHURST, N. c., March A.
Financial transactions Of S. Bradley
Davidson, jr.. prominent Washingto-
MAN, before his marriage two months
ago to Elva Davidson, 22-year-o
Statler Hotel fortune heiress, were be-
ing investigated today by Solicitor
Roland Pruette in preparation for the
inquest into her death tomorrow.
william L. Marcy, jr., New York
attorney. representing the Statler fam
lily, has engaged L. p. Whitfield, head
Of the Burns Detective Agency in the
South, to conduct q private investiga-
ton for the family.
Marcy said Whitfield had been
brought here to clear up certain
angles Of Mrs Davidson's death, which
he feels have not been satisfactorily
explained.
Mrs. Davidson's body, sprawled
across the floor boards Of her auto
mobile, was found early Wednesday
by the family butler when he went to
the Davidson garage to wash the car
A preliminary investigation indicated
she had died of carbon monoxide
fumes from the running motor, but
her vital organs have been taken to
laboratories at Wake Forst College and
Duke University, where they are being
examined for possible traces of drugs
or poison.
New Theories Considered.
Mrs, Davidson's death was first de-
scribed as accidental. but Pruette says
he now has information which con-
vinces him she was either killed or
committed suicide"
The State solicitor said he had re-
ceived "intimations' concerning GER
tain financial transactions by David
son, which he wants to investigate
fully before the inquest is concluded.
He refused to discuss the nature Of his
information and would not discuss the
character of the alleged transactions.
It could not be learned whether Mrs.
Davidson knew of them prior to her
death.
Pruette believes his theory that the
wealthy young woman either killed
herself or was murdered Is supported
by . statement from a waiter In q
nearby spaghetti camp that he saw
her in tears q few hours before her
death.
The waiter. John Notragiacomio,
Continued on Page 4, Column g.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
HEARING IS DELAYED
Treasury Workers Salaries to Be
Considered Later.

The meeting of the Senate SUBJ
committee handling the Treasury
Post ONCE appropriation bill, involv-
ing the status of 1900 Treasury en-
ployes who have been working with
out pay since December /. had to be
postponed for this afternoon, until
tomorrow or the next day.
The subcommittee had expected to
settle this afternoon the issue of
whether to restore to the pay roll
these workers whose salaries were
stopped by the Mcclellan rider on
current appropriations. It was found,
however. that members of this SUBJ
committee had to attend other COM
n1ittee meetings this afternoon.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
MRS. M'DUFFIE DIES
AFTER YEARS ILLNESS
Resident Here Many Years Ex-
pires at Mobile, Ala.-Hus-
band q. s. Judge.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
MOBILE, Ala. March Mrs. Cor
nelia Hixon McDufie, wife of United
States Judge McDufie, former Repre-
sentative who became judge of the
South Alabama Federal District Court
here Saturday, died at her home early
today after an illness Of more than q
year.
When McDufhe was named to Con-
gress the couple moved to Washing
ton, where they maintained q home
during the eight times the Represent
alive was reelected.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
Will Return to London After Visit
to Berlin.

LONDON, March 4 Cp.-The for.
eign Office announced today that Sir
John Simon, foreign secretary, and
Capt. Anthony Eden. lord privy
seal. would go to Berlin Thursday,
remaining two days. and returning to
London Sunday.
previously it had been unoficially
reported that the two British govern
ment officials might include Russia,
Poland and Czechoslovakia in their
itinerary following the visit to the
German government.)
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
HOLMES
SLOWLY SINKING
Aged Jurist PerceptibIy
Weaker, With Condition
Held Very Discouraging.
BULLETIN.

Former Justice Oliver Wendell
Holmes was reported a little weaker
and his condition not so favorable
by his physician at noon today.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
WEATHER.

90. 3. Weather Bureau ForecastD
Cloudy with rising temperature tonight
and tomorrow, probably occasional light
rain; lowest temperature about 40 degrees.
Temperatures-Highe 81, at 3 pm.
yesterday; lowest, So, at Z am. today.
Full report on page 40.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-03-04
SIMON VISIT SCHEDULED

Continued on Page 4, Column IL
Evening star., 1935-06-25

less of outside interference. Complete
control Of Abyssinia is generally UNDER
stood to be the Italians irreducible OBJ
jective. Suggestions of the cession Of
strip of Ethiopian territory, which
would unite the surrounding italian
colonies of Eritrea and Somaliland, are
secuted as inadequate and unacceptable.
British craftsmanship is famed for
it's genius for compromise. Rome press
cables state that "a more yielding view"
of italian colonial aspirations is dis
cerned in British circles since Capt.
Edens arrival Mussolini holds trump
cards in the present tangled state OF
European affairs, to say nothing Of
conditions In Africa, in which vital
British interests are involved. That II
Duce will lay his cards on the table in
his discussions with Capt. Eden Is q cer-
tainty. Britains known anxiety to boil
ster the tottering structure of the League
of Nations Is a powerful factor in Musso-
lini's favor. He may be depended upon
to exploit 1t to the full in driving with
the British a bargain that will crafty
most, If not all, of Italy's desires in
Abyssinia, however costly such settle
ment may be to the Ethiopians.
Evening star., 1935-06-25
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

of flight to escape from their enemies
and food was more plentiful on the
ground, the birds stopped flying and lost
their wings by default.
But this argument, Prof. Lowe holds,
can be turned against itself. The areas
free of carnivorous enemies were the
only places where originally f1ightless
birds could have survived, or where many
of them would have died natural deaths
so as to leave fossil remains.
A few, such as the ostricheS, overcame
the handicap Of lack. of wings by de-
veloping great running speed. Other
wise, as soon as the carnivores became
established the f1ightless birds dis
appeared.
A bird ball room, where nightly dances
are held-attended by all the birds Of
a certain species for 20 miles around
is described by Maj. r. E. Cheesman and
w. l.. Sclater, British ornithologiSts. in
their account of a recent Abyssinian
collecting trip.
The "ball room" was hollow in the
mountains at more than 5000 feet ele-
vation. There was small pond in the
center. The birds were wattled cranes,
a somewhat rare Aybssinian species. As
the bird hunters describe the scene:
First we saw a pair of these cranes
beside the water Toward evening they
were joined by pair after pair and
few single birds, coming from every di-
rection. All flew low, never more than
80 feet above the ground. BY dark 40
wattled cranes we're assembled in one
spot. and the dancing started. 1t was
a purely social and very friendly enter
tainment All were silent. One after
the other would spread its wings, run
little, give little jump and then bow.
That was ALL They we're not feeding
up to the end of daylight. 1t was pos
sibly more exciting after dark, as there
were sounds at intervals far into the
night. At sunrise not a crane was to
be SEEN"
They witnessed the same strange
phenomenon on other nights. They
estimated that all the wattled cranes
within q radius of at least 20 miles
must have attended.
Evening star., 1935-06-25

Birds, relatively speaking, have just
started flying.
They were flightless for most of the
250,O00 900 years, mere or less, since they
first appeared on earth and can be con-
sidered to have had efficient wings for
only about 100000 years.
Such flightless creatures as the ostrich,
or the chicken when it first comes from
the egg, probably represent an approx
mate picture of what birds were like
during the greater part of their evolu-
tionary history.
Such are the deductions of DR.. p. r.
Lowe, noted British ornithologist, from
consideration of the probable ancestry
of the bird race. His reasons are ad-
vanced in the current issue of the
ornithological journal Ibis.
"a study of fossil BIRDS" he says,
seems to point to the probability, or
even certainty, that flight was only a
recent, crowning feat in their evolution
and that for infinitely the greater part
of the total time consumed since they
first appeared they must be regarded as
f1ightless. 1t seems clear from the evi-
dence that flight, when it did come, came
with a rush as mysteriously and sud-
denly as did the Towering plants.
THE flying bird, the higher types of
mammals, the higher insects and the
higher plants all appeared together at
a period of feverish evolutionary activity
which appears to have set in toward the
end of the Cretaceous (about 75,000,0 900
years ago. after millions Of years of
evolutionary somnolence."
DR.. Lowe takes issue with those orni-
biologists who consider that such birds
as the ostrich once were able to ny,
but have lost this ability because of
countless generations of terrestrial life.
What happened, he Ses, is that they
missed the evolutionary bus" and re-
manned little more than -blooded
dinosaurs, while their close relatives took
to the free life of the tree-topS and the
clouds. There is little basis, he holds. for
the belief that present bird flight has
come down in a straight line from the
ancient flying reptiles, such as the arche-
opterix. These, DR.. Lowe says, repre-
sented one of Natures experiments IN
flight which failed. She did not con-
tinue along the same line of experiment,
but started all over again, millions OF
years later, along lines of fore limb de-
velopment, which finally succeeded.
He traces the ancestry OF the birds
to a family of dinosaurs, the eosuchia,
whose fossils have been found in Perman
age deposits in Africa, laid down about
275, 900 900 years ago. These were small,
crawling animals, mainly terrestrial, with
short snouts and covered with arnor
plates, which afterward became feathers.
Much more than the mammals, he holds,
birds retain in their structure the evi-
dence of their reptilian ancestry.
4 4
Flightless birds-the one outstanding
exception being the enthusiastically
have been found on islands where there
were few carnivorous mammals.
This has afforded one of the strongest
arguments for the claim that they once
had the power of flight and lost 1t. In
the easy-going existence afforded by the
island habitat, where there was no Esed
Evening star., 1935-06-25
Protests Cruelty to
Rented Riding Horses
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
I wish to call attention to the often
pitiful condition of the rented riding
horses in the District, and their abuse
by inexperienced riders. Curb bits are
used, with the snaffie bits often, and
in some cases spurs, on weak, tired,
wretched looking animals. If a horse
is hard mouthed or wild enough to need
a curb he should not be rented to an
inexperienced rider, and If he does not
need a curb 1t is wanton cruelty to
use one.
The park police watch for fast riding,
which is splendid protection for the
horses as far as 1t goes. The Wash
ington Humane Society has only two
agents, and there are many miles of
bride paths where neither the park
police nor the agents have a chance to
protect the horses. If the fair-minded,
horse loving public would help by re-
porting instances Of cruelty of both con-
dition and use of the riding horses, it
would lift burden of unnecessary suf-
fering from these patient, helpless
animals.
Animals, generally, have an under
standing, sympathetic friend in you and
in The Star, and hope by calling your
attention to the rented riding horses you
will use your great influence to better
their deplorable condition.
S. E. MOORE.
Evening star., 1935-06-25
Where Does Wealth Begin?

Discussion of heavy inheritance taxes
usually brings to mind the Doris Dukes
and the Barbara Huttons and the heirs
of Harry Payne Whitney who have come
into vast fortunes. There is little diff
Guilty in deciding, in such cases, what
wealth really means. While neither
Secretary Morgenthau, during the
bonus hearings, nor the President in his
"Share- 1.-The Wealth" message last week,
went into detail regarding possible rates
of taxation on inheritances, Mr.. Nor
genthau did make the suggestion that
''to subject all inheritances and gifts to
q system of rates similar to that of the
Federal income tax law" would consti-
tute program relatively simple
to formulate and to administer" He
gave this as an illustration: "On very
large bequests or gifts during a single
year-one million dollars or more-if the
existing income tax rates are applied
the total tax would approximate sixty
per cent"
But there should be a distinct differ
ence between rates of taxation on in
comes and rates of taxation on in
heritances. Wealth, represented by in
come, does not mean wealth as repre-
sented by inheritance. The tax on a
"surtax net income" of 100000 is
$4,000. If a 100000 legacy we're equally
taxed, considering the Federal inher-
itance tax alone. the surviving widow,
sor instance. would receive $4,000. II
Evening star., 1935-06-25

she were able to find the gold mine
represented in safe investment Of this
sum at four per cent. her annual in
come would be $2,ss0. AS a practical
matter, she would, of course, receive
less. If the inheritance amounted to
$4,000 the tax would take $7,700. leav-
ing a balance for investment of $4,000,
which might bring an annual income
Of as high as $1,000 year.
There is vast difference between
taxing incomes and taxing inheritances,
and the Barbara Huttons should not
be permitted to confuse the picture.