Some deaths and miscellaneous articles from The Baltimore News, Wednesday, October 23, 1918:
TWO WASHINGTON COUNTY SOLDIERS FALL IN FRANCE
(Special Dispatch to The News)
Hagerstown, Md., Oct. 22—Private Charles E. SMITH, Company M, Fifty-fifth Infantry, was killed in action in France on September 26, according to a telegram received by his sister, Miss Margaret SMITH, from the lieutenant of his company. Private Smith enlisted in 1917, when 16 years old, and sailed for France last July. He was a son of C. O. Smith and is survived by his father and two sisters.
Rev. W. L. MURRAY, pastor of the United Brethren Church at Williamsport, has been officially notified of the death of his nephew, Private Arthur STOUFER, killed in action in France.
PAYS OVER $5,000,000 AS INHERITANCE TAX
(By the Associated Press.)
Louisville, Ky., Oct. 22—Attorneys for the estate of Mrs. Mary Lily BINGHAM here today tendered to Scott MAYES, Collector of Internal Revenue, a check for $5,384,084.67, which the executors have computed as the inheritance tax on Mrs. Bingham’s estate. It is understood the Federal Government claims approximately $8,000,000 as the correct amount. The check was accepted provisionally by the Collector.
Mrs. BINGHAM, formerly Mrs. Henry M. FLAGLER of New York, died at her home in Louisville, July 27, 1917. Her estate was valued at more than $70,000,000, the greater portion of which was left to her niece, Mrs. Louise Wise LEWIS, of Cincinnati.
SIX DEATHS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY
(Special Dispatch to The News)
Hagerstown, Md., Oct. 22—The deaths of six persons from influenza and pneumonia were reported in this city and Washington county today. The death rate is decreasing and the number of new cases of influenza, is less than half, health officials reported. Mrs. William C. EAKLE, 29 years old; Miss Fannie CARPENTER and Mrs. Mary DAYHOFF, 28 years old, died of influenza. William GROVE, Sharpsburg, and James F. GRIM, Dargan, died of pneumonia.
BANK OFFICIAL WHO DIED AT HIS HOME
Joseph J. FELDMAN
Mr. FELDMAN, who was well known in banking circles, died at his home, 2512 East Preston street, Saturday. He was chief accountant of the Metropolitan Bank of Baltimore. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Benevolent Legion. A widow, who was Miss Elizabeth FLEISCHMANN, survives him with five children.
FOUND DEAD ON FLOOR
Henry KAHLERT’s Body Discovered by Policeman Called By Neighbors
The body of Henry KAHLERT, 46 years old, was found on the floor of his home at 310 South Durham street yesterday by Patrolman PHERSS of the Eastern district, who was sent to the house when neighbors noticed that something was wrong. KAHLERT evidently had been dead for some time.
KAHLERT had been suffering from locomotor ataxia, and it is believed he was paralyzed and unable to call for help. Persons who occupy the upper floors of the house said they had not seen him for weeks. The body was taken to an undertaking establishment and Coroner SINSKEY is investigating.
"Bull" O’LEARY ILL
(By the Associated Press)
New York, Oct. 22—Jeremiah A. O’LEARY, Irish publicist, whose trial for violation of the espionage act began yesterday, was taken ill in the Tombs Prison during the night. The trial was postponed.
GEN. GARY MARKS DAY
Observes Eighty-Sixth Birthday By Attending To Duties At Office
Gen. James A. GARY, "Baltimore’s Grand Old Man," celebrated his eighty-sixth birthday today by coming to his downtown office as usual and receiving the congratulations of his son, E. Stanley GARY, and other members of the firm of James A. GARY & Co.
"There is too much sadness of heart around and too much suffering for me to make a festive celebration of my birthday," said General GARY. "We are, all of us, made of the same material, and I do not think that it is right to be festive in these times."
The General declared that he never felt better in his life than he does today.
"I have much to be thankful for," he said. "It is easy to say 86 years. One can just as easily say 96, but when we realize that only 5 out of 100 live to that age I know that I am experiencing a great privilege. I am enjoying life, and I want to enjoy it as long as I can. I am still as active as ever. I have a little difficulty in walking, but I still have as hearty a grip as ever."
General GARY was born in Connecticut in 1832. His father founded the Alberton Cotton Mills in 1861, and later the General became a partner in the firm. He has taken an active part in Maryland politics and became a power in the local Republican party.
Run Down By Automobile
The police are today looking for the driver of the automobile which last night struck and injured George SPENCER, one of the attendants at Sydenham Hospital. SPENCER was found on the pavement of the brewery of J. F. WIESSNER & Sons by John GILL, a watchman in the plant. He was suffering from a bad laceration of the scalp and said that he had been struck by an automobile.
BRITTINGHAM SHOT WIFE IN JEALOUSY
Accused Her Of Seeking Another Man, Declare The Victim In Deposition
Mrs. Catherine BRITTINGHAM, who is in Marcy Hospital suffering from a bullet wound in her breast inflicted by her husband, Private Horace BRITTINGHAM, who later shot and killed himself Monday at their home, 1000 Hanover street, said in the dying deposition made to Patrolman George MAY of the Southern district that their quarrel was about a man whom her husband accused her of seeing.
Her statement was as follows:
"My husband and I quarreled when he said I was going to look for another man. He cursed me and called me all kinds of vile names and then struck me with his fist and knocked me on the bed that he was sitting on; held me there until he got his pistol out of his belt which was hanging on the wall in the bedroom.
"When he got his pistol I jumped up from the bed, but before I could get away he placed the pistol against my breast and pulled the trigger; but the pistol failed to shoot. I then pushed him away and ran into another room, but he came in after me, and while in the room he tried to shoot me again, but once more the pistol did not explode, although I heard the snap of the trigger.
"He then took hold of my hand and said: ‘Come on in my room; I will not harm you.’
"I did not want to go, as I was scared and excited, but he pulled me in and set me on a chair, and then pulled the trigger again; and it was this time that he got me. After I was shot it seemed as though I heard another pistol shot. I then ran down the stairs and out in the street, and that is all I can remember."
When Patrolman George MAY asked her how she felt she answered:
"I do not think I will die."
Physicians at the hospital say her condition is not improved.
Mrs. BRITTINGHAM was married to her husband for four years, but they have no children. He was a military policeman from Camp Meade. He died at University Hospital a few hours after he shot himself.
Will Dig Aunt’s Grave To Expedite Burial
Soldier And Sailor Volunteer To Prevent Delay Threatened By "Flu" Epidemic.
Determined that the funeral of their aunt, Mrs. Rose WOOTERS, should not be postponed until next Monday because the undertaker was unable to have the grave dug, Private John C. CARTER of the Seventy-first Infantry, Camp Meade, and Charles C. CARTER, second-class seaman in the Merchant Marine, will dig her grave in Mount Carmel Cemetery.
The young men, brothers, went to Captain MORHISER of the Northeastern district yesterday to obtain his permission, and he sent them to the superintendent of the cemetery. They explained that Mrs. WOOTERS died Saturday and the undertaker had told them the grave could not be dug before next Monday without aid.
Mrs. WOOTERS was the wife of Daniel WOOTERS, 944 Aisquith street. She had been ill for a week from influenza-pneumonia and her nephews happened both to be on leave at the time of her death. Surviving, besides her husband, are five children.
LOSES GOLD AND BONDS
Thieves Rifle Safe of Dr. T. B. OMAN—Loss Estimated At $1000
Dr. T. B. OMAN, a dentist at 111 West Lexington street, reported to Detective Captain McGOVERN yesterday morning that some time during Sunday night his offices were entered and the safe ransacked of $500 worth of Liberty Loan bonds of the first three issues and a quantity of gold bridge and plate work, also valued at $500, taken.
According to Dr. OMAN he placed all of the articles stolen in the iron safe but thoughtlessly left the building without locking it.
SAW EXPLOSION FROM AIR
Pilot SHANK, flying 4000 Feet Above Watched Walls Tumble
(From the Newport Times)
When Pilot Robert SHANK alighted from his mail plane at the aerial mail station in Belmont Park on Saturday afternoon he had an unusual tale to tell of his experiences in passing over the vicinity of South Amboy while the explosions were in progress. He was then flying at an altitude of about 4000 feet, which was not high enough to escape being hit by shells or his engine put out of commission if any of the missiles from the exploding plants chanced to come up in his part of the sky. The noise made by his engine prevented his hearing the explosions as he passed over, but he said that he distinctly saw the flashes of several and he could see the tumbling of walls and buildings and the smoke and dust following.
He did not veer from his course, but made a quick trip, almost a record one, leaving Washington at 11:37 A.M. and reaching Philadelphia at 12:57 P.M., an hour and 20 minutes, and making the trip from that city to Belmont Park in 46 minutes, or two hours and six minutes for the entire trip. Pilot Max MILLER took the air mail south, leaving at just the time one of the explosions had rocked the hangar in which his plane was housed, and he, too, expected to pass directly over where his plane would be in range of shells that might be bobbing skyward. This was a perfect week for the air mail service.
BOLSHEVIST IS ARRESTED
CALIFORNIA TEACHER OF RUSSIAN HELD IN $20,000 BAIL
(By the Associated Press)
San Francisco, Oct. 22—William METLIN, said to be a teacher of the Russian language, was arrested at his home here by agents of the Department of Justice on a charge of attempting to spread Bolshevik propaganda, and an hour later was indicted by the United States Grand Jury. His bail was fixed at $20,000.
CHINATOWN HAS GOLD STAR
New York Celestials Honor Death of Compatriot
New York, Oct. 22—A gold star was added last night to the service flag in New York’s Chinatown in honor of Private Richard BUE, whose death in France from lobar pneumonia was reported. He is said to be the first Chinese to die with American forces at the front.
BALTIMORE OFFICER IN FRANCE WITH PERSHING
Lieut. E. C. BALLARD of Company C, One Hundred and Fourteenth Infantry, is in France. His home is at 1001 North Monroe St.
84 U.S. SOLDIERS GERMAN CAPTIVES
Maryland Officer in War Department’s List
(By the Associated Press)
Washington, Oct. 22—Names of 13 officers and 71 enlisted men in German prison camps were announced today by the War Department.
Lieut. Franklin JEWETT of Chevy Chase, Md., is at Karlsruhe Camp.
Stewart A. McDOWELL, West Philadelphia, is reported wounded at an unknown camp.
Lieuts. Alfred W. LAWSON, Brooklyn, and Henry B. FROST, Arlington, Mass., are in good health at an unknown camp.
Lieut. Horace W. MITCHELL, Corinth, Miss., also is at an unknown camp and Lieut. Herbert H. DOEHLER, Brooklyn, is at Landshut.
The remainder of the list of men from nearby States follows:
At Rostatt—Lieut. Edward SCHMELZER, Erie, Pa.
At Karlsruhe—Lieut. George B. HARDESTY, Jr., Pittsville, Pa.
Enlisted men:
At Limburg—John LENHART, Somerset, Pennsylvania
At Cassel—Agateno DESTIFANO, Canonsburg, Pa.
Reported in Good Health—Camp Unknown—Charles E. BEHM, Oldy, Pa.; Alexander UHIOLI, Reading, Pa.; Stowie R. FISHER, Diana, W. Va.; Isaac GOLD, Philadelphia, Pa.; William H. STAFFORD, Pittsburgh, Pa.
PROBING SUDDEN DEATH
Coroner Smith Investigating Case of William R. FORD
Because of a peculiar happening Monday one week ago, Coroner SMITH is today investigating the death Monday night of Wm. R. FORD, 51 years old, 1919 Hope Street, who died suddenly at the house before medical aid could be gotten.
On October 14 FORD was found on the street by the police in apparently a very ill condition. He said that he had taken bichloride of mercury tablets and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital. The physicians could not find any trace of mercury in his stomach and told him so. He then said he had not taken the mercury, but had intended to do so, and produced a bottle of the poison tablets.
He was then arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace, but was dismissed the following day by Justice Beach.
Funeral of O. A. BARTELS
The body of Private Otto A. BARTELS, who died of heart trouble last Saturday, following an attack of pneumonia, at Pigeon Point, Wilmington, Del., where he was assigned as a member of Company D, Twelfth Battalion, United States Guards, has arrived at the home of is parents, Mr. and Mrs. Franz BARTELS, 8 North Fremont avenue. The funeral will be held at 6 o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Seventeen soldiers from Camp Holabird will accord him military honors, and burial will be in Loudon Park Cemetery. Rev. Julius HOFMANN of Zion Church will conduct the service.
SHOT, HE SUES GUNNER
Countian Asks $5000 Damages For Injury He Sustained
Asking $5000 damages for gunshot wounds sustained at the hands of the defendant, Joseph STEVENSON of Baltimore county filed suit in the Circuit Court at Towson today against Howard ENSOR for that sum. The suit was filed through Attorney T. Scott OFFUTT.
According to the declaration accompanying it, Mr. STEVENSON was cutting corn on the estate of Duncan McCULLOUGH, near Glencoe, on November 17 last, when Mr. ENSOR, "without permission or consent of the owner of the property," was gunning for rabbits.
A cottontail jumped up before him and Mr. ENSOR is alleged to have fired his gun directly at Mr. STEVENSON. Several of the shot took effect in the latter’s body, "causing him great pain and inconvenience and expense for medical attention."
HIS RIVAL A SAILOR
Ex-Policeman Says His Wife And Bluejacket Were "Spooning"
A husband contending that he had caught his wife "spooning" on the sofa with a sailor, and the wife declaring that her husband had hit the sailor with a hammer, while the sailor kept his lips sealed, brought a puzzle before Justice TORMOLLAN at the Southwestern Police Court yesterday.
Justice TORMOLLAN heard the evidence, thought the matter over and decided to dismiss the case.
Chester W. DILWORTH, a former policeman, but now a contractor, is the husband; Mrs. Mary DILWORTH, 28 years old, 1523 West Lexington street, the wife, and William THOMPSON of Brooklyn, N.Y., the sailor.
When Patrolman WHEELEY reached 1523 West Lexington street Monday night he found DILWORTH and his wife quarreling and the sailor unconscious on the floor. At the station-house DILWORTH placed a second charge against his wife, but it also was dismissed by the Justice.
DILWORTH and his wife have been separated several months. He went to the house to see his wife and while there he claims she received a telephone message that caused him to become suspicious, and so when he departed he left a chauffeur to watch the place.
A short time later he was called by the man and told that a sailor had entered the house. DILWORTH says he entered and found his wife and the sailor spooning on the parlor sofa. The wife says he used a hammer on the sailor, but DILWORTH says he only used his fist.
MUST NAME NEW MEN
(Ogle MARBURY Says Somerset Election Appointments Are Illegal)
Ogle MARBURY, Acting Attorney General, has written to Henry J. WATERS, president of the Board of Election Supervisors for Somerset county, advising him that the election officials recently appointed by Messrs. LANKFORD and FORD, the former claiming to be a legal member of the Board, must be made over again.
The Court of Appeals recently decided that Mr. LANKFORD had no right to the office, but that it rightfully belonged to John W. RIGGIN, who was named by Governor HARRINGTON after the Senate had rejected his original appointee, L. C. QUINN.
ROMEO, 86, WEDS GIRL OF 25
"I Am As Fit As A Colt, Says S. H. RUNDLE, Who Has $5,000,000
(From the New York American)
Samuel H. RUNDLE, 86 years young, a millionaire, and Mrs. RUNDLE, who until Saturday morning was Miss Gladys A. BROWN of Washington and New York are the romantic hero and heroine of Danbury, Conn.
Danbury learned yesterday that Mr. RUNDLE, whose fortune is estimated at upwards of $5,000,000 stepped blithely over to Greenwich on Saturday, paid a dollar for a marriage license, and was quietly married an hour later by a clergyman.
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Plans for an elaborate honeymoon were hastily canceled on "account of the influenza epidemic." Instead the couple motored to New York, where a wedding breakfast had been prepared. With fuss or ostentation, and declaring himself as "fit as a young colt," Danbury’s oldest citizen and bridegroom gave a theater party in honor of his young bride.
"I’m a lonely old man," Mr. RUNDLE explained last night to a reporter for the American, "just a horribly lonely old man. I didn’t know I was doing any wrong in marrying for love’s sake. My dear wife, to whom I had been married 50 years, died four years ago. One boy is dead, the other is married and happy and I rarely see him. All that I have is this big house, with its gardens and paintings and curios, and the faithful servants, who have been here half a century. I was growing old and morbid and heartsick and very tired in this prison, and then, during June, an old friend came to see me and with her came this bright, pretty and talented girl.
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"I am not a sordid old fool, and I believe in the honesty and love of my fellow beings, and just loved this bright, cultured, talented, laughing girl because she brought sunshine into a house of melancholy and cobwebs and swept them out with her smile. And she said she loved me. It was all so simple.
"She isn’t mercenary. My doctor said I would live five years longer if I married her. He had known me all my life. I have never been sick a day. There was no need of consulting anyone but her, and so I went to her mother’s home in New York and asked her to be my wife, and that is all."
SHE STOOD ON HER DIGNITY
Sweet Girl Snubbed Rich Private To Dance With Poor Lieutenant
(Special Camp Meade Dispatch to The Baltimore News)
One of those young persons whose parents had warned her never to dance with any military man who was not an officer was present at a little social affair arranged by the Knights of Columbus recently. Pursuing her mother’s instructions, she declined the invitation of a good-looking young private, at the same time accepting the arm of a second lieutenant who asked her to dance.
"I think you made a mistake in not dancing with that private," remarked her partner. H is of a good family and one of the finest men in the world."
"I couldn’t think of dancing with him."
"Well, you missed a turn with a first-rater. I ought to know; I was his chauffeur for three years."