Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-01-17
Laundry of 7 900 Customers
CIutters Bankrupt Plant

Unfond remembrances of wartime
laundry delays are haunting about
1000 Washington area housewives
these days.
The laundry in question was de-
posted at 10 establishments which
went out of operation last week
when w. D. Towards, Inc, was de-
clared bankrupt in District Court.
A visit to the Howard cleaning
plant at 1347 South Capitol street
disclosed literally hundreds of thou
sands of pieces of linen and articles
of apparel lying around in varied
degrees of being cleaned-left just
where they were when the offices
closed.
Most of the articles were bundled
and marked, ready for washing.
Others, still wet, were packed
into vast washing machines Some
were overlooking from dryers. In
another room, stacks of clothing
stood ready to be ironed.
Attorney Views nightmare"
There are also some 1000 dresses,
suits, coats and trousers in various
stages of being dry cleaned in an
other part Of the plant.
ct looks like a housewives night
mare just before washday. doesn't
it?" sighed Joseph A. Roney. Wash
ington attorney.
The court named Mr.. Roney i'm
partial receiver for assets of the
bankrupt corporation. Seeing that
all the laundry and dry cleaning is
returned to it's rightful owners is
one of his jobs-"certainly the big
gest and most immediate" he said.
Mr.. Roney added that the house
wives think so, too. His office stan
at the Woodward Building, he said,
has been kept busy for the last few
days dealing with telephone calls.
Holding down the plant Office by
himself is Carroll F. Allen, manager
of the corporation, who was per-
suaded by Mr.. Roney to stay on and
help with disposition of the laundry
and cleaning.
Mr.. Allen said telephone calls also
take up most of his time at the plant
and added that they continue to roll
in at his home at night.
The Star yesterday tried period
ically for about two hours to reach
John A. Bresnahan, District referee
in bankruptcy, before it was learned
his telephone, too, has been pretty
completely tied up by the laundry
queries.
"Lssuppose because people heard I
was the referee, they thought I
could get their laundry back" he
said, "I can't. don't have anything
to do with it." Mr.. Bresnahan
estimated nearly so calls came into
his Office yesterday about the situa-
ton.
At the plant, Mr. Roney outlined
this plan for returning the laundry:
AS soon as possible, all the articles
will be sorted and bundled. A special
crew of part-time employees went to
work on that project last night.
Three Return Points.
Laundry taken in at the nine
District offices will be available at
the plant Office. That which came
from stores in Hyattsville and Col
lege Park in Maryland will be
assembled at the College Park store,
at 1915 Baltimore boulevard. That
submitted in Alexandria will be re-
turned to the store at 522 King
street. /
Meanwhile, Mr. Roney emphasized
it won't do any good to visit either
stores or the plant Office until the
goods are ready. He hopes that will
be by the end of next week.
At that time, he said, advertise
ments announcing the fact will be
put in newspapers, and notices will
be placed in windows of all the stores
affected. He also urged anxious
owners not to telephone ITO
see how things are coming along"
Laundry will have to be returned
just the way it is, Mr.. Allen added.
Housewives might find finished
shirt, wet socks and some towels
that haven't even been touched IN
the same bundle" he commented,
"but we can't possibly finish them.
Alec affocfad uero az other stores