MONTAGUE ,r ' .' (utj*. ^4 ! tj ^ J Testiaaony began today in thj”jase of John Montague, \ the Paul Bunyan golfer of Hollywood - who mb * accused of being A * i^~t5£vC /} LaVerne Moore, the robber. He is taking part in 2^ hold-up several years ago of a ^estwaran* run by a Japanese. A A The first witness today was that same Japanese. He told the story of the robbery, but could not positively identify Montague. He was followed on the stand by the former convict, Norton, who was one of the hold-up men, and served time for the robbery. Norton positively identified Montague as LaVerne Moore, and under oath told how the man who was later to become the super-golfer of the movie colony, had beaten an old man over the head. Today, that old man is deaf, as a result of the slugging. The testimony brought out the fact that Norton is a brother of the white wife of the Japanese restaurant keeper. In the stick-up he was robbing his brother —in—1awfs i while he was being identified - there was no change of expression on the impassive face of John Montague, friend and hero of movie stars. mmmm. KIDNAP Governor Quinn of Rhode Island has been a storm center recently - with his fight against the Narragansett Race Track and his sending of state troops to stop the horses from running* There loud denunciations and thundering libel suits a A And today Governor Quinn*s name figures in another affair, even more startling. It is revealed that he has received threatening letters recently, a menace against his life. Other statejofficials serving under the Governor have been similarly threatened. One of these officials is Louis Cappelli, Secretary of State. Today, two men came to the wwpt Cappelli home. The Secretary of State was not there. A housekeeper came to the door. They demanded the baby of the Cappelli family. She said the child wasn t home. They threatened her, said they*d kill her. There was a struggle. The woman fought and screamed - until the two would-be kidnappers became frightened and fled. The baby was not home - was away with the nursemaid. From Chicago comes the report — that they,ve located one oi tiie ransom bank notes paid for the release of Charles S. Ross, the kidnapped greeting—card magnate* fffty thousand dollars was paid, but the 72 year old victim hasn't been returned. The "Gn men have given out the serial numbers of in the billsthe ransom;and today Mrs. Clara Ludwig, a railroad clerk came forward with a ten dollar bill bearing one of the numbers. She too]f it to a Chicago newspaper which hai offered one hundred dollars for the first ransom bill found. The newspaper immediately informed the Department of Justice, ffuotr- In i£ew York the "G" men today opened a subway safe deposit box, a sort of place where you can tx&ssxk deposit things for safe keeping. From it they took 675 thousand dollars worth of bonds. This treasure was part of the two million dollars of the negotiable securities stolen in a series of bond robberies three years ago. ( ► K be en- ^n-^he--3BX~ta-frrail’ th&t—today led to—a»—ordinary- drab— eubway-^-safe "box ~==-^n*=S53s»taaa5and-t4»&<w, mmi - 2 At Mexia, Texas a boy has a nickel, and they are offering him six hundred and fifty dollars for it. Thirteen year old Carroll Wade noticed that among his nickels there was one the like of which he had never seen before. He took it to the local bank and asked them about it, and they recognised it as a 1915 liberty-head nickel. They called in a neuismatist, who confirmed the find — and offered six hundred and fifty dollars for it. Today I called Karl Freund, art dealer and specialist in antiquarian things. He told me that in 1913 the government minted just six liberty head nickels, no more — a mere thirty cents worth. Why? Well, Karl Freund told me it sometimes happens that a coin is designed, and when they mint some samples of it and (Sind that it isn't as good-looking as they thought it was, they don't stamp any more. Such coins then become valuable for their rarity. In the case of this Liberty head nickel, four are in coin collections, one was lost at sea, and the other the last one has now been found by the boy In Texas -.. ............. STOCKS Last night, in telling fee news from Wall Street, I made I! the remark that in the collapse of prices on the Stock Exchange, the little fellow was not hit so hard this time. That aroused a tempest - a Lomfeardraent of protests by telephone calls, telegrams and letters, I»ve been overwhelmed with indignant replies that the little fellow did get hit as har as ever, big margin or no big margin. So today I put in a series of phone calls, to people of finance, asking for ellucidation. There was, for example, Broker D. H. Blair of Wall Street, s IS I who told me I was all wet. He said the fifty-five percent margin under the S.E.C. merely made the small buyer get hooked all the harder. One analysis I got went something like this: The fifty- five per cent margin gave the small investor a feeling of big margin security, was taking 3ust much of a gambling chance as ever. X phoned the Securities and Excnange Coromission in Washington today, asked them about it and was told that the policy of the S.E.C. with reference to the price collapse in figures concerning Odd lot STOCKS - £ buyers — figures which some interpret as indicating that the little fellow was not ruined so frightfully after all. But the S.E.C, itself does not give out this interpretation. ItTs policy is — silence. Meanwhile, the ]tfall Street news is that prices continued to rise this morning, as they did yesterday, a rebound from the heavy fall. Then this afternoon they leveled off, profit taking. And the market closed with;a rising trend again. o Among other events in autumn — there*s the beginning of the music season. So it * s appropriate to have a story from the world of melody, orchestra and voice. Let*s have an opera story. From whom? That»s easy. A book has just come out,said it*s already a best seller, a volume entitled ’’Men, Womea and Tenors” by Madame * Frances Alda — Madame Alda, so long a star at the Metropolitan Opera House. I’ve asked her what was the most dramatic moment of her brilliant career, and she has come down from her Waldorf Tower studio and is here at this moment to tell us. I believe, Madame Alda, you said it was in the old city of Parma. ALDA:- Yes — at the Verdi festival. I was invited to sing in the yearly opera season dedicated to the music of that great composer. The audiences are about the most critical aa singer can face, L.T,: - So itTs a real triumph to make a success there? You were telling me that your first experience'there was somethingof a shock. ALDA: On my first evening in Parma I went to a performance at tne opera house. They were playing a little mown opera Verdi’s LORELY. Zepelli was the soprano, and she sang beautifully. But in: the middle of a difficult aria she cracked on the top note, and instantly the theatre was filled with hissing and jeering. Then the audience began to sing. With the soprano standing on the stage, they sang the ario through for her, as if to show her how — the whole crowd in unison singing the melody perfectly, note for note. I’ve never witnessed anything so frightful for a singer — and on the following night I was to sing HI GO LETT 0 L.T.And yet you scored a triumph, made a hit, with that most difficult audience? Which illustrates the magic of a beautiful voice. ALDA:- Yes -- but ^ think there was something else, ^n the last act I was applauded, got an ovation — before I started tc You see, it was an Italian audience, and they were used to fat, pudgy sopranos. 1 was young and slender — had that youthful figure. In the last act of RIGOLETTO, dressed as a boy, I wore a trim fetching suit with tights, — and I looked exceedinglyly well in tights. When the Italian audience saw me, they burst into applause. L.T.:- Oh, I see, shapely limbs help a beautiful voice even at the Verdi Festival. That,, Madam Alda, is indeed a bit of insight into the lofty art of music. And your book is full of that kind of insight I No wonder it!s a best seller. ^The United States today joined in a formal diplomatic action to block the war that threatens because of a stamp, a postage stamp. The State Department announces that we are joining Venezuela and Costa Ek Rica in trying to prevent a clash between Nicaragua and Honduras. The trouble is because of a mere postage stamp issued by Nicaragua. On the stamp a map of that North American republic was printed. The map included a Honduras. Therefore tonight the A a armies of both nations are on the march to the disputed frontier — and the United States joins in an international move to prevent anrffilraryfraJcat.ybatefrlaac their clashing in battle SPAIN, Tonight the troops of General Franco are storming Into the City of Gljon. Their advance Jaii patrols marched In today. The last hours before the capture are described as an Inferno breaking loose. The Socialist leaders fled, trying to get away by sea. The Anarchists stormed Into control, for a reign of terror* Those Reds knew the fate that awaits them from Franco - the firing squad. So they had their last hour of rage. But the morejnoderate elements rose ag&lnst them, and freed the political prisoners* And together they fought off the Anarchists. The city was a battlefield - until the Franco patrols appeared. ^The Anarchists fled to the surrounding anci) hills,/^he hills,/^he moderate elements received the on-coming troops with cheers. ^The city has been captured by Spaniards- Franco has sent his Italian allies to the battlelines of eastern Spain •) The fall of Gijon wipes out the last of organized resistance to the Rebels along the Bay of Biscay. remains parties of desperate Reds, still holding out in a narrow circle of the hillSp^pgefsrrtnti,’tcr-flght t.» ttee ond rather than -fgge-tfae WifUllfe Jquad.^ Some of the Amztzxix Asturian miners, those Anarchist dynamite throwers, have taken refuge in the deep mines, tor-reslst“to the-i-ast* } ~tts CHINA The two campaigns in China were in full fury today, Shanghai^and in the north. At the metropolis on the China coast, the Japanese are smashing withgayage drives, while the troops of Nanking are resisting with stubborn bitterness - ^the less perfectly equipped Chinese often presenting human flesh and blood against the mechanized weapons of Nippon/^ In the north, the Chinese are described as on the offensive - the Chinese Bed army. Theije the Communist regiments are said to be driving the Japanese back at various places on the long drawn out fighting front. The. stories tell how they have annihilated Japanese detachments,^and are cutting gaps in the battlefront where the Mikado’s generals conunanfi^^They say the Chinese Red army has the most efficient fighting units on the Chinese side - and also able generals. These Communist generals have interesting names. One is called "Hundred Victory Wei”, because of the.number of battles'h*d**=*M»> And Communist r\ A General Ml Chu Ten is nicknamed the "Red Napoleon," A. A RUbolA / Election news from Soviet Russia, wheji the Red regime is busy preparing for the coming of democracy, with voting, candidates, ballot boxes and all that] . Today*s announcement 1 ) of executions,—— 55* / 45 were shot in Siberia and ten condemned in th4 Black hea region. It^dwsy^ seems to come under the heading of Red electioneering. Elective gz vote getting no doubt — because here news from the Stalinsky electrical district of Moscow. There'the workers s^S. passed <£> resolution* today, nominating a candidate for the Council of People* s Commissars. Who is the candidate? Why Josef Stalin. The Red Dictator has never officially held a^taNHHariM* post^—Jife is merely the General Secretaty of the Communist Party. Now however, the pre-election word is that all over Russia they are nominating Stalin for all sorts of offices, tfcd; a write-in movement is afoot — to write his name in on ballots everywhere. Elect Stalin to everything — that sbems to be the Red democratic slogan, as the executions continue. FOLLOW RUSSIA Let^s go on to something that was said at the Vatican today, by a high ecclesiastic. Monsignor Constantinl, former apostolic delegate to China. He told an audience at the Gregorian University that Communism would destroy itself jts own destructiveness,kill itself because of the way it kills. These are his words s ^The longer Bolshevism goes on the more likely it will be that it will kill itself with its inhuman excesses.w Reports come that the American visit of the Duke of Windsor may have a business meaning - that he may join up with some big American industrial concern. Several are mentioned. However that may be, his Ex-Majesty is going to see plenty of America - series of is stated works over here. His representatives have cabled Secretary of feta* Interior Iekes for information about P*W,A* housing projects. I don’t know what kind of cooperation the Department of the Interior will give the former Edward the Eighth, what kind of public celebration, but the prospects seem a little sour - judging by what Secretary Jokes said today. "I understand that the Duke Is coming over incognito,” quoth he, ” and I would not want to embarrass him* We are not handling his publicity. study of housing. Dispatches from abroad list a whole definitely tha inspect a number of the government public