Daily Free-Lance (Henryetta, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 52, Ed. 1 Friday, April 7, 1922 Page: 1 of 4
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1
Okl Hlsterlsal leoiety
DAILY FREE-LANCE
' Iff i
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VOLUME VII
HENKYETTA OKLAHOMA FRIDAY APRIL 7 1922
NUMBER 52
Uk-
CORONER’S INQUEST MAY
BRING FORTH NEW ANGLE
IN THE CASE BE JEAN DAY
Despite Day’s Denial There is Persistent Rumor
That There Was Another Person In the
Room When Beck Was Killed
By Associated- Presa
OKLAHOMA CITY April 7 —
County Attorney Forrest Hughes in
a signed statement to newspaper men
today concerning his investigation of
the slaying of Lieutenant Colonel
Paul Ward Beck by Jean P Day
prominent local lawyer and oil man
in the latter’s home here last Tues-
day said he believed Day fired in
defense of his home and not of life
and that the X-ray photograph of
the dead man's head indicates that
the army officer was not looking at
Day when the fatal shot was fired
Day had previously stated that when
he found Beck in the act of attempt-
ing to assault Mrs Day he struck the
officer on the head with a pistol aft-
er the latter had motioned as if to
strike him with his fiBt
Day also said that the revolver ac-
cidentally discharged from the im-
pact of the blow
The county attorney said that be-
fore any gun was fired or any blow
struck “Day saw something that
swept him off his feet” He added
that in kia opinion Judge Day bad
not told the whole truth concerning
the tragedy
"1 am frank to say” Hughes con-
tinued “that if Judge Day would tell
the whole truth no jury of red blood-
ed citizens would ever render a ver-
dict against him I am equally can-
did to say that I believe that so far
Judge Day has not told the whole
truth”
“The handkerchief which Lieuten-
ant Colonel Beck clasped in his hand
when the body was taken over by
authorities has ' significance in the
case which has been overlooked so
far” the county attorney said He
added that he did not believe that
there were any other persons present
at the time Beck was killed except
the three persons in the tragedy and
that the only purpose in bringing out
statements from other people who at-
tended the party in the Day home
which preceded the slaying was to
determine the mental attitude of Day
towards Beck This is not a mystery
in the case he added
“Previous to the shooting Day and
Beck had been the "best of friends”
Hughes said “What extraordinary
occurrence changed the mental con-
dition of one towards the other?
What caused Mrs Day after the
shooting to moan ‘Oh my honor’”
These two are vital questions in the
extraordinary tragedy
“In my opinion” Hughes continued
“there is not a doubt that intoxicat-
ing liquors were indulged in at the
Day home during the fatal night and
morning However 1 do not think
that Judge Day was in any way under
the influence of liquor at the time the
shot was fired"
Mr Hughes states that one thing
"absolutely certain” in his mind was
that the gun was discharged “while
immediately adjacent to the head of
Paul Beck"
“Whether or not the deceased was
shot from the front or back” added
the county attorney "is one of the
greatest questions involved in the
case The position of the lead in the
head of Paul Beck as shown by the
X-ray photograph would tend to in-
dicate that Beck was not looking at
Judge Day at' the time of Hie firing
of the fatal shot
“Judge Day said he Bred in self
defense Inasmuch If the shot wns
fired in defense it was in defense of
home and not of life”
The county attorney again reiter-
ated that he had not filed charges
gainst Day because the tragedy oc-
curred in the Day home and because
prior to the shooting the two men had
been the best of friends He ex-
plained that Day had requested him
to forget their friendship and not to
hesitate to file a murder charge
against him if he thought it his duty
Whether he will follow recommenda-
tions of the coroner’s jury he said
would depend upon the fact and cir
cumstances developed at the inquest
tomorrow
“In launching the investigation in
this case” stated the coonty prose-
cutor "I am fully aware that next
to honor human life is the most
precious thing this side of heaven
and I do not believe that any man
with nnhallowed hand should be per-
mitted to intentionally break into the
same house of life and shed its price-
less stream and then come clear upon
grounds that he acted on the sudden
impulse of difficulties”
Mr and Mrs M L Prickard and
Mr and Mrs Paul Anderson promi-
nent in local society circles who were
present at the party at Day’s home
were questioned at a special court of
inquest held in the office of W R
Withington county evidence attorney
today
Beck Never Hid Oat
FORT SILL April 7— “Paul Ward
Beck never did hide from anybody — He
faced death in line of duty too many
times for that”
Major R B Paddock relative ot
General Pershing snd a member of
the “death bridge party” at the Day
home made that comment on the as-
sertios by Judge Day that Beck hid
behind curtains when Day returned
from taking guests from the party
and saw the officer struggling with
Mrs Day ‘
“It was not tike Paul Beck to hide
behind such flimsy things ss curtains
when caught in a tight place”
Paddock said he attended the
theater and bridge party with the
Days’ Beck and others but left be-
fore the tragedy
Coroner’s Inqaeat Tomorrow
OKLAHOMA CITY April 7— The
question of whether to admit the pub-
lic at the hearing of evidence tomor-
row in the coroner’s inquiry into tlw
slaying of Lieutenant Colonel Paul
Ward Beck arose today in the coun-
ty attorney’ investigation of the case
which has turned to an analysis of
the statement of Jean P Day capi-
talist and lawyer who said he struck
the officer down with a pstol when
he found him making improper ad-
vances to Mrs Day in the Day Rome
here early Tuesday
Justice of the peace A W Mc-
Williams before whom the inquiry is
to be held said he favored conduct-
ing the hearing in a large court room
in order to accommodate those in-
terested in the case
Forrest Hughes county attorney
however expressed a desire to rule
out “morbid cariosity seekers” and
hold the inquiry in a small court room
in the justice’s office An snnmeice-
rnsmt as to their decision in the mat-
ter is expected some time today Die
hearing is set for 2 o’clock tomorrow
Eight airplanes bringing the mili-
tary board of inquiry and other army
officers from Fort Sill where Beck
was stationed as assistaant command
nit of Post Field aviation section
we expected to arrive hev sometime
before the inquiry The army board
of two other officers besides Major
Thomas G Laiphior its head It
was appointed to investigate Beck's
death by General Rimest Hinds
commandant of FoH Sill
Lieutenant Colonel Beck’s son a
lieutenant in the army ordinance corps
in Watertown Massachusetts and
nephew Lieutenant John Beck will
be here for the inquiry as will the
ranking physician at Fort Sill and
Major R B Paddock of Fort Sill The
latter attended the informal enter-
tainment at the Day home which pre-
ceded Beck's death
Major Lanphier yesterday ordered
the body held here until after the cor-
oner’s inquestl
County Attorney Hughes said to-
day he did not believe Day had told
all the facts surrounding the tragedy
in previous statements and he is
seeking to check Up certain “hidden
angles” which authorities believe
would throw additional light on the
cafie The rumors tjiat another per-
son was in the house at the time
Beck met his death was emphatically
denied by Mr Day
Berth Shot in Back
OKLAHOMA CITY April 7— Lieu-
tenant Colonel Paul Ward Beck
handsome Post flying field command-
8nt killed by Judge Jean P Day
who declared Beck had attempted to
attack Mrs Day was shot from the
back Sheriff Ben Dancy declared late
yesterday
Dancy declared he based his state-
ment on the direction taken by the
bullet as he said it was disclosed by
i X-ray photographs of Beck’s skulL
"Impossible” was the comment of
j the millionaire politician when told
of Dancy’s statement Day reiterat-
jed that he killed Beck while Beck was
(facing him and evidently about to at-
tack him
I M F Meadows federal prohibition
agent added another sensation to the
I case by announcing he wag turning
results of his investigation into re-
ports of liquor at the pre-tragedy
party at the Day home over to the
army board of investigation
- Both Day and Mrs Day denied '-
ports of liquor at the Day home party
Other reported angles of the case
county authorities are working on
were branded as “gossip” by the cou-
ple Day also denied that a “high state
official” attended the party and as-
serted the list of names first given out
was complete
Mrs Day was near collanse again
yesterday It seemed problematical
whether she would be Bble physically
to testify at the inquest She was
not allowed to see' anyone under phy-
sician’s orders
Day was also showing the strain of
the tragedy He looked years older
was haggard with dark circle under
his eyes
Officers at Post Field where Lieu-
tenant Colonel Beck v
By Associated Presa
DU BUN April 7— The “Mexican
politics” which the newspapers have
been talking about will always be
rampant in Ireland under treaty
agreements because the Irish people
are against the treaty Eainonn De-
assistant j Valera declared in an address yester-
conrmandant ordered that the bodyday at Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown)
of the army officer be held here until
Saturday in order that his son Lieu-
tenant Paul Ward Beck Jr and
Lieutenant John Beck a nephew
could attend the coroner’s inquest set
for Saturday Both will accompany
the body to Washington after the in-! place as the government of the Ha-
guest ! tiona
ROBERTSON SAYS DENNIS IS
INNOCENT AND CAM RUSSELL
WILLING TO PAY TO PROVE IT
By Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY April 7— A
move to establish a plan to be used in
obtaining the return to Okmulgee of
Fred Cl Dennis former state bank
commissioner who was indicted by
a grand jury which recently investi-
gated the failure of state banks in
Okmulgee county was launched here
today by Campbell Russell chairman
of the state corporation commission
Dennis was indicted jointly with Gov-
ernor J B A Robertson of accepting
a bribe to permit the Guaranty State
bank to operate after it was found
to be insolvent
Mr Russell announced that he had
deposited in the Tradesman Nationa’
bank in this city the sum of $100 to
remain for a period of ninety days
to be paid to any person sr personr
who would deliver Dennis' to Sheriff
Frank Sowers of Okmulgee county
In a short statement the commission
chaiftnan said hs favored providing
opportunity for Dennis to "clear his
name of saspicion” and asked a hun-
dred “good citizess” to join with him
in his invitation
FATHER OF BOY
AXMAN KILLED
DIES SUDDENLY
By Associated Press
CONCORDIA Kan April 7— L
II Tremblay a farmer living near
St Joseph this county’ five of whose
sons were hacked with an ax early
Tuesday resulting in one’s dath and
the probably fatal injury of three
others was found dead at the home
of a neighbor early today where he
had been staying since the crime
No trace of poison was found about
the room or about the body The
coroner is making an investigation
this morning and holding a post
mortem
Mr Tremblay grew suddenly ill
last night when experfs from the
state prison put him through a se-
vere grilling in connection with the
crime
Officers expressed the opinion that’
Tremblay committed suicide and then
advanced a theory that he took the
drug sometime last night According
to physicians Tremblay’s injuries
not sufficient to have caused his
death and until last night it was
thought he was recovering from them
Tremblay’s death took place at the
home of Joseph Bachand the neigh-
bor who found the sons lying near
death and bleeding in the yard Ba-
chard removed the four younger
children from the house and exting-
uished the fire which had been set in
the father’s room -
Tremblay was questioned at length
last night by finger print experts who
came here from the state prison at
Lansing
DVAIERASAYS
“HEX” POLITICS
RUIN IRELAND
"If the people do not want 'Mexi-
can politics”’ he said they must re-
move the treaty by the roots and if
they want a stable govemmen pend-
ing its removal they must allow the
Dail Eireann to take its rightful
Russell's action resulted from th§
statement made by Governor Robert-
son in the course of an address be-
fore a meeting of the democratic state
central committee here yesterday to
the effect that he believed Dennis to
he an honest man The chairman as-
serted in a satement that the gover-
nor “ought to know he and Dennis
having been very closely associated in charging operators with breach of
financial transactions” contract” The union itself be eharg-
Rnssell’s statement follows: ed wa breaking the contract be-
“Our governor has sated in a pub-
lie address that he believes that Fred ln £reat producing districts of
Dennis is an honest man The gov- th‘conPtry outside of Ohio Illinois
emor ought to know he and Deonis Indiana and western Pennsylvania te
having been very closely associated scales
in financial transactions Dennis It would be “financial suicide be
should have an opportunity to clear i added for the group he represented
his name of suspicions This can-"
not be done in tha Bermuda Islands
Mexico or Patagonia I am for pro-
viding the opportunity Will net one
hundred good citizens join in this in-
vitation T”
G L Dark cashier of the Trades-
man National bank said Mr Russell
to continue making Its wages cm the
basis f the interstate agreement for
which negotiations had not Veeu be-
gun and he accused the union leaders
of “autocratic abuse of power m call-
ing the national strike”
For central Pennsylvania
tors who employed 43000 of the
had deposied the sum of $100 la the' striking- miners Watkins said them
bank for the purpose named (was no disposition to “break the or- g as i
ii
INTENSIFY CONFUSION
AND BITTERNESS” LEWIS
SAYS OF iYATKINS’ TALK
Miners Leader Says Operators’ Spokesman lias
Long Been Trying To Break Relations
Between the Miners and Operators
By Associated Press
NEW YORK April 7 — Statements
of the bituminous coal operators in
refusing to negotiate a central agree-
ment with mine unions made by T H
Watkins a bituminous mine operator
of Pennsylvania before the house la-
bor committee at Washington yester-
day were attacked here today by
John L Lewis president of the Unit-
ed Mine Workers of America Mr
Lewis said Mr Watkins’ declarations
served merely to “intensify the con-
fusion and Bitterness now existing”
Mr Watkins was quoted as having
said that it would be “financial suit-
cide” for the operators in each dis-
trict to enter any agreement with
miners not based on conditions in that
district that “consumers have grows
weary from constant failure vto get
deliveries from union mines “that
Mr Lewis’ testimony before the house
body had been very misleading" and
that in the anthracite fields “these
labor lords have geen guilty of abuse
of power in sailing strikes when mine
owners were meeting the every call
for meetings and negotiations”
To these charges Mr Lewis re-
plied: “Statements or Mr Watkins are
characteristic and typical which be
has followed ' for some time He is
engaged in a factional quarrel with
operators in Central Pennsylvania
The lose of tonnage which Mr Wat-
kins ho bitterly compared is largely
due to his furious warfare with his
competitive rivals”
The miners’ executive declared that
Mr Watkins for some time “has
been engaged in frantic effots to de-
stroy the relationship between oper-
ators and miners m Central Pennsyl-
vania His utterances were dictated
solely by his selfish and personal in-
terests “
Watkins Makes Statement
WASHINGTON April 7— A de-
fense of the bituminous coal opera-
tors’ position in refusing to negotiate
a central agreement with the miners
anion was given by T E Watkins a
spokesman for Pennsylvania prodne-
ers before the house labor commit-
tee in its invesigation of the coal
strike
At the same time aa intimation
was given by Attorney General
Daugherty through a letter from him
which was read into the record that
the mine owners would face no pros-
ecution under the anti-trust laws if
they again saw fit to fix national
wages in the industry by such an
agreement
Chairman Nolan of the house In-
vestigating committee also made pub-
lic telegraphic messages from repre-
sentative operators in the central
field which he said indicated a spir-
it of willingness to meet the mca in
their own districts
Watkins attacked the united mine
workers' as “setting up smoke
cause it refused to meet mine owners
ganization of the united mine work-
ers because it might be replaced by
an organization more violent” but he
declared the union’s leaders were
“grossly ignorant of economic law”
The union fields had been con-
constantly losing business to the non-
union fields he asserted and even
the union men had been forced by
idleness to leave their organizations
and go “to the other fields
Operators also intended Watkins
continued to abolish the “check-off”
system by which they collect the un-
ion dues out of payrolls “because the
union ought to be made up of volun-
tary members” He declared fluctu-
ations in supply and demand which
brought intermittent employment to
workers were “less in coal mining
than in any other basic industry”
Turning to anthracite issues Wat-
kins said:
- “These labor lords have been guilty
of abuse of power in calling an an-
thracite strike when the mine owners
were meeting their -every call for
meeting and negotiation
'Unfortunately a union leader
ean'thold his place unless he finds
tfrihvances to press and fight”
As to earnings he cited Pennsyl-
vania payrolls which he said showed
entire mine crews “averaging better
that $10 a day work during 1921”
while non-union fields had success-
fully cut wages leaving the miners
and operators in the ' union fields
nothing but the crumbs of business
Union proposals for five day weeks
and six hour days and for national-
ization of coal mines Watkins said
indicated a tendency to succumb to
definite communistic principles
LAND SLIDE IS
TAKING EVERY
THING WITH IT
By the Associated Press
HOODRIYER Ore April 7—
What is believed a land slide of con-
siderable proportion is visible on ML
Adams in Washington across the
Columbia ' river from hare A large
slide on the west side of the moun-
tain near the summit was visible
plainly and seems to grow hourly
LOS ANGELES April 7— A land
slide about ten acres in area is mov-
ing down the mountain side near the
head of the Toponza Canyon about
twenty miles from here according to
reports reaching here The landslide
began moving slowly yesterday aft-
ernoon and late last night was con-
tinuing at approximately the same
speed
' At 10:45 last night the mass was
said to have moved 600 feet from
its original position and buildings
fences trees and shrubs and a sec-
tion of highway are all moving with
it with no change in their relative
positioas
PLANES CLASH
3 PASSENGERS
2 PILOTS DEAD
By Associate Press
PARIS April 7 — The Ia£s and
London aerial exprsss collided in mid
aiir this morning ever the village 'of
Phieloy 70 miles north ef Paris The
pilot of both airplanes three passen-
gers end one rrechatac were killed in
the wreck that fe’ x'am:og ti li e
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Hall, George Riley. Daily Free-Lance (Henryetta, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 52, Ed. 1 Friday, April 7, 1922, newspaper, April 7, 1922; Henryetta, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2327012/m1/1/: accessed June 29, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.