Man Gets Hour Off From His Work and Slays Rival for Love of Wife

1920

A growing coldness on the part of his wife roused the detective instinct in Achie C. Vance, watchman at a factory in a Chicago suburb. He decided another man was the explanation. Watching the back porch of his home thru a knothole in his barn of evenings when he was supposed to be at work, he found that Mrs. Vance regularly costumed herself in her best and went strolling. He shadowed her and saw that she generally met O. L. Vannier.

A few nights ago Vance laid off work for an hour and killed Vannier.

Tells of Shadowing.

He told the story in a cell at the Harvey jail. His wife occupies a cell close by.

"Saturday night I followed her as usual. As usual, I saw her meet Vannier. He is 30; I am 48.

"I had arranged with another watchman at the plant, Warren Dopkins, to sub more me until I had attended to my personal affairs.

"That night I hid behind trees and heard every word they said. I heard her say to him: 'Gee, I sure do love you.' And he told her the same. Then I went up and asked them what they meant.

Other Man Runs.

"Vannier started to run. You see, I had warned him to keep away from my wife. I drew my revolver and shot once in the air. I only intended to arrest him. I shot two more times. He dropped. I thought I was shooting in the air. But he had a bullet thru his body.

"Of course, I helped him all I could. I put him and my wife in a taxicab and took them to Dr. T. A. Noble. Then I reported back to my job and telephoned the police chief, James E. Tomlinson, he could get me when he wished."

Vannier died without regaining consciousness.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Note: The article as printed has Vance's name as "Achie," and we might hazard a guess that it could be Archie instead. I only saw one other article on this incident and that article used initials, "A. C. Vance." That other article says, "The shooting took place on the prairies near One Hundred and Fifty-fifth boulevard and Vine street at 12:20 in the morning." — Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Aug. 2, 1920, p. 1, for that detail.

Wedding Feast Is Turned Into Riot

1920

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania. — The course of true love ran rough for Michael Sheridan, who was married recently. The disturbing element was John Fogarty, a rejected suitor.

Fogarty wasn't invited to the wedding feast and resented it. At the height of the celebration the unbidden guest entered the dining-room and eyed the bride.

"She's mine," he announced to Sheridan. The husband wasn't convinced.

"I claim her," continued Fogarty, removing his coat.

The argument took active form. The feast ended, the guests fled, and the bride fainted.

Riot calls brought a squad of police. The belligerents heard the patrol gong, agreed to a hurried armistice, and joined forces against the intruders. The course of true love then ran rougher than ever.

It all ended at the police station with bride, groom, rejected suitor, and a stray guest, each in a cell.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Wife Kills Man Beating Husband

1920

ST. LOUIS, Missouri. — Frank Smrcka, 43, was shot and instantly killed by Mrs. Ida Shea, 24, while engaged in a fight with Mrs. Shea's husband, George D. Shea.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Lloyd and Fellow Reds Get Prison

1920

ALL TWENTY ARE CONVICTED OF REVOLT PLOT.

Penitentiary and Fines Meted Out to Millionaire Agitator and Comrades.

William Bross Lloyd and his nineteen fellow advocates of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" were found guilty of sedition in Chicago by a jury in Judge Oscar Hebel's court.

All were sentenced to imprisonment. Some received jail sentences. Others — including Lloyd — were sentenced to the penitentiary, some for one year and others for an indeterminate sentence of from one to five years.

In addition to prison terms, Lloyd and two others were fined $2,000 and two were fined $1,000 each.

The reading of the verdict found the defendants not unprepared. They had expected conviction, and when the first verdict was read finding Lloyd guilty, all made brave attempts to smile. Some succeeded. As each in his turn heard his fate, a look of nervousness appeared, hut soon thoughts of "martyrdom" apparently drove away the glooms. During the polling of the jury they seemed unconcerned.

The defendants and the penalties inflicted follow:

Prison Sentences and $2,000 Fine.

William Bross Lloyd, Winnetka millionaire, sergeant-at-arms in Communist Labor party convention, organizer, backer and leading spirit in the "movement."

Ludwig Lore, New York, editor of Class Struggle; helped draft constitution.

Arthur Proctor, Chicago, owner of Clarion book store, meeting place of radicals; member of county committee.

Prison Sentence and $1,000 Fine.

Max Deddacht, San Francisco, Cal.; member of the National executive and platform committee.

Jack Carney, Duluth, Minn.; member of National executive committee, editor and publisher of Truth.

Indeterminate Prison Sentences.

L. E. Katterfield, Dighton, Kan.; brains of organization, national organizer, practically prepared party's platform.

Edgar Owens, Moline, Ill.; State secretary; helped draft constitution.

L. K. England, Moline, Ill.; member of State committee.

Niels Kjar, Chicago; member of National executive committee and Cook County propaganda committee.

One Year in Penitentiary.

Samuel F. Hankin.

Morris A. Stollar, Chicago; member of county executive committee.

James A. Meissinger, Chicago; member county executive committee.

Charles Krumbein, Chicago; member of county executive committee.

Samuel Ash, Chicago, lawyer; one of organizers.

One Year in the County Jail.

Perry Shipman, Rock Island, Ill.; member of State committee.

Dr. Oscar J. Brown, De Kalb, Ill.; organizer, delegate to National convention and member of platform committee.

Edwin Firth, Indianapolis, Ind.; national delegate and organizer.

Dr. Karl F. Sandberg, Chicago; organizer and delegate to national convention.

Niels J. Christensen, delegate to national convention and member international relations committee.

John Vogel.

Plea of Prosecutor.

In his closing address Frank Comeford, special prosecutor, told the jurors that their verdict would answer the question in the first line of "The Star Spangled Banner."

"The people are waiting for your verdict," he said. "At another time the People waited to see if the flag of the United States had come down. They will wait tonight to see if you, the jury, hauls down the Stars and Stripes.

"If you find these defendants innocent in view of the uncontradicted testimony, then tear down the picture of Washington from this courtroom and put up the picture of Lenin; go to Springfield and tumble over the monument to Lincoln and in its place put Trotsky in marble; haul down the American flag from this courthouse and hoist the red flag; blot out from the memories of our children the National anthems and teach them to sing the 'Red International;' scrap our Constitution; clean Arlington of its headstone and build a new National cemetery; remove the dust of the anarchists from Waldheim and the dust of Czolgoscz from Buffalo; gather the dust of Benedict Arnold and build a new National cemetery."

The trial of Lloyd and his associates began May 10. Fifty-two court days were occupied in the selection of a jury.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Roumania Threatens War

1920

VIENNA, Austria. — Roumania has served an ultimatum on Soviet Russia, giving the Soviets three days to withdraw their troops from Roumanian territory, according to a Belgrade dispatch received here.

In the event of Russia's failure to comply, it is added, Roumania will begin general mobilization.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Warsaw In Danger of Russ Capture

1920

Red Advance Takes Fortress; Americans Prepare to Flee From Capital.

BERLIN, Germany. — The fortress of Brest-Litovsk, the stronghold 110 miles east of Warsaw on the boundary line of Poland proper, is reported to have been captured by the Russians.

Nothing has been heard from the Polish armistice negotiators since they were swallowed up in the darkness within the Soviet Russian lines on their way to meet the Bolshevist armistice envoys.

The Polish emissaries have been instructed not to concede any point that might endanger Poland's independence. It had been intimated in various quarters that the Bolshevists would insist upon a Soviet government in Poland before granting an armistice.

The delegates likewise are ordered to hold out against disarmament of Poland and are instructed not to concede any frontier lines.

Bolshevist cavalry pursued the 2,000 Polish soldiers, who, with forty officers, crossed the German frontier in East Prussia Saturday, according to advices received here. The Russians threatened to follow the Poles across the national boundary, but refrained when German authorities disarmed the fugitives.

A Cracow dispatch say a Soviet republic has been proclaimed in Kovno and that Lithuanian troops have mutinied, being supported by the Soviet troops there.

A large number of ships are arriving at Danzig daily from French and British ports with munitions which are being rushed to the Polish front, according to word received here.

Bolshevist forces which have been concentrated on the banks of the Narew River, with the apparent object of driving to Warsaw along the Bug River, have delivered a series of strong attacks. The statement adds that the Poles have repulsed the Bolshevists with heavy loss in the sector near Topieloe, the Russians abandoning eleven machine guns and leaving 500 dead.

A desperate struggle is going on west of Bialystok, on the Brest-Litovsk railroad, for possession of the line running thru Topczeja and Dubina and along the rivers Nurets and Zerzyce.

The fighting in the Brody region is reported by the statement as favorable to the Poles.

Many Americans in Warsaw have already shipped their baggage and household goods to Danzig, Posen or Prague in anticipation of an attack by the Russian Bolshevists. Many woman workers with American organizations in Warsaw, as well as the wives of American officials, have left.

It is believed that negotiations between the Polish and Bolshevist armistice commissions may be continued for two or three days, or even longer, and in this event the Soviet advance either from the northeast of the east, if maintained, would bring the Bolshevists dangerously near Warsaw. On the other hand, some military observers contend the Soviet forces will be forced to stop within a day or two by exhaustion and lack of communication or a desire not to invade Poland farther.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Wife Throws Acid on Mate's Face to Scar Him and Hold His Love

1920

NEW YORK, N. Y. — A frail little woman in her twenties sat in police headquarters and sobbed out a confession, say the police, that she had poured carbolic acid over her husband's face as he slept. She did this, she said, to disfigure him for life so she would not lose him to a "prettier woman."

When she learned that she had killed the man she would have saved for herself she fled, leaving her 8-year-old girl in a room adjoining the father's bedchamber. For weeks the woman was a fugitive from justice.

Mrs. Alexandra Sokolowsky, widow of Frank Sokolowsky, widely known organizer in the American Federation of Labor, who was murdered in New Haven on the morning of June 26, related this remarkable story.

Tries to Disguise Self.

She was arrested, wearing large tortoise shell rim spectacles to disguise herself and clad in a waist of flaming scarlet and a dark serge walking skirt.

Included in her alleged confession was a list of many dates on which the husband deserted her to seek the company of other women. It was the constant fear that she was losing her grip on the labor leader's love that led her to brood over her troubles and decide on a way to keep him to herself.

The woman's story follows:

"My husband was a big, handsome man. I killed him on June 26. He had been away since June 24 and I knew that he had been with another woman. He was so good-looking and such a great lover of women that I thought surely he would leave me.

Found Love Letter.

"He had come home a little after midnight and when I accused him of being out with another woman and told him that I had found a love letter in his pocket, he told me that I must leave him alone and that he was going out again.

"I often had been thinking of disfiguring him so that I could keep him. But I never had thought of killing him, for I could not have lived without him. When I got that last love letter that was addressed to him I was determined to do what I had planned.

"He fell into a doze and I took a pint bottle of carbolic acid and flung it on his face. I swear I didn't mean to kill him."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Serves 55 Years As Convict

1920

So What's a Mere Sixty Days to Man With That Record?

Frank Hood, 78 years old, heard Judge Hugh R. Stewart of Chicago sentence him to sixty days in the house of correction and grinned.

"It's easy for me to take," he told the court. "I've done time in every big prison in the country. My total time behind the bars is fifty-five years. Sixty days is a cinch."

He was found guilty of stealing a suit of clothing.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Kick in Brewery Malt Puts Man in Hospital

1920

Barrel Explodes and Driver's Ribs Are Fractured.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — A barrel of malt extract, a fluid explained by the police to be a byproduct of breweries and much reduced in content, acquired sudden strength as a result of the heat as it was trucked thru the Bronx.

Unmindful of the ominous sizzling that came from its interior, Theodore Kirchy, the truckman, banged the barrel down inconsequentially on the pavement at its destination. The barrel exploded, the flying staves whizzing thru the air around Kirchy's body. Two of them struck him, fracturing a rib on each side.

The rest of the barrel and its foamy contents disappeared for a moment. Then the malt began to collect on the pavement and some of the barrel staves came to earth. No one else was hurt. Kirchy was taken to a hospital.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Refuses Freedom for Prison Term

1920

ST PAUL, Minnesota. — Given his choice of freedom or an indeterminate sentence in the State reformatory by Judge Waite in Hennepin County District Court, Frank Kingsbury, 26 years old, chose the latter.

"I am of no use to myself or any one else the way I am," asserted Kingsbury. "Freedom would not do me any good. Maybe I could learn something at the reformatory."

On his examination before sentence was imposed Kingsbury told how rather than be a burden to his parents, who already had a large family to care for, he had voluntarily become a derelict and a wanderer.

Even in court Kingsbury shielded his parents by refusing to give his true name.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Eugene Leroy Sought as Slayer of His Wife

1920

Arrest of Man in Mexico Seems to Solve Trunk Mystery.

DETROIT, Michigan. — Eugene Leroy, sought as the slayer of Katherine Jackson Leroy, whose mutilated body was shipped from Detroit to New York in a trunk June 10, and Oscar J. Fernandez are the same person. Twelve persons who knew Leroy here positively identified pictures of Fernandez received from San Antonio, Texas, as those of the man they knew.

Among those who identified the pictures were Patrolman Trumbull and his wife and the Pfister couple, and with whom the Leroys lived here.

The man known as Leroy is being sought on a charge of first-degree murder. These steps followed a dispatch from New York that Mrs. Leo Trumbull, wife of a Detroit policeman, had identified the body as that of the woman she had known as "Mrs. Eugene Leroy."

A warrant was immediately issued here for the arrest of "Eugene Leroy, alias O. J. Wood, alias O. J. Fernandez," for first-degree murder.

Then, via San Antonio, came word that Oscar J. Fernandez, believed to be Leroy, was under arrest at Saltillo, state of Coahuila, Mexico. Steps have been taken to extradite him.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Railroads of U.S. To Advance Rates

1920

WILL ADD BILLION AND HALF TO YEARLY EARNINGS.

Fare to Cost One-fifth More; Freight 25 to 40 Per Cent, Pullmans 50.

WASHINGTON, D. C. — Authority for the railroads of the country to increase their revenues by approximately one and one-half billion dollars has been granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Freight rates will be advanced about one-third, passenger fares one-fifth and Pullman charges one-half.

Coastwise and inland steamship lines and electric railway companies also were granted permission to increase their freight rates in proportion to the increase granted to the railroads serving the same territory. No estimate of the aggregate amount to result from these advances has been made.

May Go Up September 1.

The new rates, which are to continue in force until March 1, 1922, will become effective upon five days' notice by the carriers to the commission and the public, and they must be in operation before January 1. Since the Government guarantee expires September 1, the carriers are expected to bend every effort to put the advances into effect by that date.

Increases granted by the commission are designed to offset the $600,000,000 wage advance awarded by the railroad labor board and to provide the 6 per cent net income on the aggregate value of the railroad properties as permitted under the transportation act.

The aggregate value of all of the railroads was estimated by the commission at $18,900,000,000 as against a book value of $20,040,000,000 given by the carriers.

Increase Is General Thruout U. S.

The 20-per-cent increase in passenger fares, excess baggage charges and milk transportation rates and the 50 per cent surcharge on Pullman fares authorized by the commission will be general the country over.

Freight rate increases will vary according to territory, with 40 per cent in the East, 25 per cent in the South, 35 per cent in the West (from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains) and 25 per cent in mountain-Pacific territory (from east of the Rockies to the Pacific coast, not including Alaska).

The commission held that the increases were justified in view of the rapidly changing conditions as to prices and the necessity for providing adequate transportation facilities during and after the period of readjustment

NEW RATES EASILY FIGURED.

Travelers will have little difficulty in calculating from the present fare rate the amount of the new fare, With no surcharge complication, the new fare is simply one-fifth more than the old fare.

The following table illustrates the difference which the new rates will make in travel between Chicago and other cities:

To New York — Present rate: $29.40; New rate: $35.28; New rate with surcharge and Pullman: $45.00.

To Milwaukee — Present rate: $2.75; New rate: $3.20; New rate with surcharge and Pullman: $4.02.

To New Orleans — Present rate: $30.38; New rate: $36.45; New rate with surcharge and Pullman: $47.39.

To San Francisco — Present rate: $72.12; New rate: $86.54 2-3; New rate with surcharge and Pullman: $[*].

The freight rate increase means a levy of $12 per capita a year for every man, woman and child in the country.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Note: [*] Missing information. The other San Francisco rates are pretty certain.

Ran Six Cents To 15 Millions In Few Months

1920

Charles Ponzi, "Coupon Wizard," Defies U. S. to Learn Secret of His Alleged Legal Scheme.

1920

BOSTON, Mass. — "It is my secret. Let the United States find it out if it can."

This is the challenge of Charles Ponzi, the "coupon wizard," who leaped into international fame over night when the world discovered that he had run 6 cents into $15,000,000 in less than a year by an astoundingly simple — yet astoundingly mysterious — scheme. Ponzi insists that his business is perfectly legal and so far has paid off every investor who demanded his money back. He declares that he has neither fear of a financial crash or of punishment.

Ponzi's remarkable business is, so far as is known, based on the use of the international reply coupon, authorized under the international postal agreement as the medium for taking advantage of the difference in rates of exchange.

"I simply buy international coupons," explained Ponzi to the district attorney. "They are exchangeable into stamps and I take care to buy them where the rates of exchange are such that $1 of American currency is really worth $4 or more in the native currency. I therefore get $3 clear on the transaction and can well afford to pay back the original $1 and 50 cents additional as interest to the investor. My margin of profit is enormous, but I have the system and the offices abroad. The investor's margin of profit is tremendous in proportion and he has no responsibility and is entirely certain of his money.

Hit on Scheme Year Ago.

"I hit upon the scheme just a year ago in August, when I thought of issuing an export publication on a small scale. I wrote to a friend in Spain regarding it, and in reply received an international coupon, which I was to exchange for stamps to send a copy of the publication to my friend.

"The coupon cost about 1 cent in United States money in Spain and I could get 6 cents in stamps for it here.

"My secret is how I cash the coupons," says Ponzi. "I do not tell it. Let the United States Government find it out if it can. I do not think that it can."

Will Make $40,000,000 More?

The "wizard" asserted that he intended to open an office in New York city immediately and probably in other big cities. He coupled this declaration with the assertion that "there is thirty or forty million dollars more, to be made out of his scheme, but it must be made quickly." And since difficulties have arisen here he says he will have to go outside New England for the money he needs to use. He said he "feared the postal conference in October would formulate an effective check" to his operations.

All day long clerks in the modest office of Ponzi poured cash into the hands of customers who had lost faith in his international postal exchange scheme.

It was after 4 o'clock when one of Ponzi's attaches stuck his head out the door and shouted inquiringly to the crowd:

"Anybody else today?"

Nobody answered and no one else entered the open door. The door was shut and locked.

Paid Back $500,000 in Day.

It is estimated the total returned to clients in one day was in the neighborhood of half a million dollars. The cash was brought from the banks by the "wizard's" employes, under heavy guard, and a huge businesslike revolver rested at the elbow of one of the clerks who "stood guard" over the paying-teller.

Ponzi's secretary, Miss Lucy Meli, says the office has paid back $2,000,000 to investors this week. About forty per cent of this amount, however, was on accounts that had "matured," meaning that the customers were returned their own money and the promised 50 per cent profit agreed within ninety days, but which had been paid steadily in forty-five days.

In spite of close search the nature of Ponzi's business remains a secret to public officials, and he stoutly maintains that he will continue. While he is busy paying off an army of claimants the authorities are searching the files of the telegraph offices to determine if Ponzi has cabled orders of purchase or sale to representatives in Continental Europe.

Scheme May Soon Be Known.

Uncle Sam has set in motion every Federal governmental investigating agency.

Uncle Sam has called to work with him the United States embassies and consulates in Europe and in all the countries that are included in the international postal agreement and deal in international reply coupons.

"I came to this country seventeen years ago and landed in Boston with $2.50. My family is a fine old Italian family and I am university educated.

"Landing in Boston with such a small sum of money, I was downcast I didn't have a friend in the city nor a relative in the country, so I went on where my ticket carried me — to New York. There I did manual labor. Then I moved on to Pittsburgh in search of some friends who I believed were there. I didn't find them, so I went on from place to place, working now as a clerk in a business office, next as a grocery clerk and often at more menial tasks.

"Back to Boston I came again in January, 1917. I went to work for the J. R. Poole Company, merchant brokers. My salary was $16 a week. It might interest you to know that I own the company today, and intend to incorporate it for $10,000,000.

Insists Business Is Legal.

"I insist that my business is entirely legal, even tho it may not be strictly ethical. It will continue as long as there is a marked difference in the rates of exchange among the governments of the world. As the rates 'close up' the interest I will be able to pay will decline. But there cannot be any loss, I insist, for I have provided against loss to investors by the creation of a large reserve in stamps and foreign currency.

"My operations are now going on in nine different countries. None of the foreign stamps are now being redeemed in this country, nor do I intend to do so.

I buy international coupons in immense quantities — by hundreds of thousands, by millions — and exchange them for postage stamps.

"I looked around for some connections here and abroad. I explained my plan to a certain party and he was interested. I had a one-room office where I began doing a little exporting business on a small scale, and there, with a few thousand dollars, I began the present concern, the Securities Exchange Company.

Began Last December.

"We really began operations in December. I began as I am still doing; I gave investors a note guaranteeing payment with 50 per cent interest in ninety days. However, I made all payments in forty-five days. I was safe in giving the notes and I am safe in giving them now, for I have built up a reserve.

"Within a month the few thousands had grown to nearly ten thousand dollars. Persons who received their first profits immediately told their friends, and they told their friends — and then the deluge. Everybody wanted us to take their money.

"When the volume of business increased I took three rooms in the building and recently I acquired a large interest in a trust company — really a controlling interest.

"The peak of my business was reached in May, just two months ago. Now my receipts are about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a day in the Boston offices, and a total of $250,000 daily thru branches in other cities. What I pay out varies from day to day. I have just given my cashier in Boston $200,000 with which to make tomorrow's payments."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 1-2.

Note: Unfortunately my copy of this newspaper is missing a couple sections, interesting bits, and I can't figure out entirely what they are. After the paragraph where Ponzi says, "Let the United States Government find it out if it can. I do not think that it can," there is a paragraph, and take into consideration the words of nearly an entire line are missing, "While refraining from giving any clew —— [tran]saction, Ponzi —— said. —— is all very simple. First, the psychology of greed. Then, the psychology of fear. Men and women are children a few years older." Drop down to the paragraph that has the sentence, "Uncle Sam has called to work with him the United States embassies," etc. There is an entire line missing. But the sentence starts off, "It will —————- is a veritable bonanza king or something else." Then that leads into all the Ponzi quotes.

Villa Surrenders; Now Cantu Rebels

1920

Governor of Lower California Heads Revolt With 1,000 Armed Men.

MEXICO, CITY, Mexico. — Col. Esteban Cantu, governor of Lower California, is in open rebellion, Gilberto Valenzuela, subsecretary of the interior, has admitted. The importance of the movement was discounted by Valenzuela, who said the government could handle the situation.

Cantu, governor of the northern district of Lower California, announced he had issued a call to all citizens of the district to arm to resist "invasion," following reports that troops were being sent to Enzanda, on the west coast, and to an unnamed point on the gulf coast.

Governor Cantu said he had 1,000 armed men at his disposal, including soldiers of the regular army, reserves, and police, and equipment for more. The equipment, he said, includes rifles, machine guns, and three field pieces.

Three thousand Mexican federal troops are reported on the way to Lower California, Cantu said.

The reported dispatch of the troops would be in line with recommendations made a few weeks ago to Provisional President de la Huerta by Baldonero A. Almeda, who was appointed by the provisional government as successor to Governor Cantu, but who never took office.

United States Consul Boyle announced he had wired the State Department at Washington urging that the United States offer its good offices in an effort to prevent hostilities between troops of the Mexican provisional federal government and those of Governor Cantu of Lower California.

Francisco Villa, bandit leader, has surrendered unconditionally after a conference with Gen. Eugenio Martinez, commanding the Torreon military zone. With about one hundred and eighty men he is entrained for Torreon, where they will disband.

Villa was restored to full citizenship and will return to Chihuahua, his old home, it was understood. Villa also was given a yearly allowance by the Mexican government, the report added, and his men were restored to citizenship, allowed a year's army pay and given farming lands.

Villa will return to private life, the message added, and have no future military connections.

Carl Haeglin, American president of a brewery at Sabinas, who had been held by Villa for ransom, has been released, the report added.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.