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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1920)
8 TIIE MORNING OREGONIAN, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1920 GIRL-BEATER FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULT Alvin Benoit Faces Term of 10 Years in Prison. SUNSTROKE IS DEFENSE Alienists Find ln Sane, Although Specialists Disagreed as to Responsibility. Alvin Benoit, whose brutal dubbins of 15-year-old Louise Bender as she lay sleeping on the night of June 2. lf20. aroused Tortland, was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon by a jury in the court of Cir cuit Judpe flasley yesterday after; noon after an hour of deliberation. This is conviction of a lesser crime than that charged in the indictment, which was assult with Intent to kill, but it carries a maximum penalty of ten years in the penitentiary. The jury was confronted with six alternatives in returning a verdict. Four were convictions of the crimes of assault with intent to kill, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery or simpl assault. Two were acquittals, one a plain verdict of not guilty, the other a verdict of not guilty on the ground of insanity. Srntrarr to Ue xt Week Sentence will be pronounced on the return of Judge Bagley to Portland from llillsboro some time next week. The crime charged against Benott had unusual features. Alienists found Henoit to be perfectly sane, though specialists disagreed as to the extent of his irresponsibility at the time of the attack on the girL No attempt to deny the act was made by the de fense, for Benoit made a complete confession the day following the as sault, though he professed to have forgotten all the details. In the effort to free Benoit. the claim was made that he suffered the night of the attack from recurrent sunstroke. Induced by working all day In the hot sun handling grain sacks, and drinking some wine at his home In the evening. It was said that Henoit had been sunstruck about six years ago while working in harvest fields and that he never had recovered entirely from Its effects. Wife la at Trial. Dr. W. T. Williamson. Dr. William House and Dr. C. J. Smith testified that a possible explanation of his act of June 2 was recurrent sunstroke, in the grasp of which he might have committed the crime without the slightest idea of right or wrong. Dr. Calvin W. White held that such an explanation, based as it was on the supposition that Benoit had sunstroke rather than a fainting spell years be fore, was unreasonable. He testified that the crime was similar to crimes by perverts which have been commit ted locally and that apparent premed itation disposed of the sunstroke theory. Benoit had admitted looking in at the girl's window several nights be fore the crime. His wife and baby, who -were out of the city at the time of the assault, were in the courtroom throughout the trial. Mrs. Benoit embraced her husband when the ver dict of guilty was read. MRS. BJORKLUND FREED (Continued From First Page.) DEFENDANT IN MURDER CASE WHOSE DRAMATIC RECITAL j MOVES JURY TO ACQUIT HER OF CHARGE OF KILLING HUSBAND i i i i I . - -'?:.:' - I ' - - - X-- hf' ;o J ' - vr;V v C "7- I. Jjyyy- , " . .1 k ' - - A ' , . - 1 i , . " f- ' ' ? i I - IS? SHORT, SNAPPY CITY OAMPAIGtM 111 STORE Gordon Nominating Blanks for Mayor Taken Out. ftgfSEsi'agOT. 1 : , ,,.z&&i?&y!&tsz MRS. FRANKIE HART BJORKLl'D. was denied by Mrs. Bjorklund. She last saw him sitting In a rocking chair in the room of their home, reading a letter, which she had just handed to him, in which she had re lated her reasons for desiring to end her life, she testified. At that moment she drew a revolver from a dresser drawer, pointed it in the general di rection of her heart, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. She remem bered nothing more, she asserted, until she awoke in the hospital. "It sounded like a street car bell and then I thought how near it sounded," she shuddered. "It felt like a great weight and the next thing I remember, I was being wheeled about somewhere." Bjorklund's body was found sev eral feet from the rocking chair when Harold Bjorklund, a nephew, entered the room. There was a bul let hole through his forehead, ranging downward, and powder marks on the skin. The revolver was two feet to the left of where Mrs. Bjorklund lay. face downward on the floor. The letter irw question was crumpled and clutched In the right hand of Mrs. Bjorklund. HuHband Believed Suicide. The theory of the defense is that Bjorklund, who once had deeply loved his wife, on reading her pitiful fare well letter and seeing her apparent tragic death before he could move to stay her hand, suffered a tremendous emotional reaction in which his dom inatlng thought was to end the mess he believed he had made of his life That he shot himself was the logical conclusion of that theory. The state sought to convince the jury, with what Circuit Judge Gatens commented in court was very scant evidence to support the belief, that Bjorklund was shot by his wife as he attempted to prevent her from com mitting suicide. The home life of Mrs. Bjorklund had not been happy prior to the tragedy. There had been several quarrels. Her husband had been attentive to other women and he had remained away from home for weeks at a time with out explanation as to his whereabouts, she said. ' The night before the shooting had been sleepless. Mrs. Bjorklund ac companied her husband to town, where he was to attend lodge and she to go to a moving picture show. They were to meet afterward. He did not meet her and returned home at 6 o'clock the following morning. Query Met With Reproof. "August, where in the world have you been?" was the greeting of Mrs. Bjorklund, according to her testi mony. "It is absolutely none of your busi ness. It is my business. You have the same privilege," was the alleged reply. It was the last straw of many months of ill-treatment, she declared, and she determined to end her life. She wrote the letter to her husband, told Mrs. Libby King, employe of the store, 676 Thurman street, that she did not believe th gossip linking the names or Bjorklund and Mrs. King, and asked that Mrs. King send Bjorklund to their rooms above the store. This was May 21, 1920. "August, can't you love me more? Can't you be more pleasant?" Mrs. Bjorklund testified she asked in a last hope that things might be bet tered. " 'Absolutely no' or 'Absolutely nothing doing.' I am not sure which he said." continued the witness. " I am stubborn and I am proud of it.' I asked him if he did not remember that he once said his life's happiness depended on me. and he replied, 'I admit I might have been crazy once." "Then I handed him the letter. which I had sealed in an envelope, and he opened it. I was standing by the dresser. I reached back of me. I knew if I was to kill myself I would have to do it then. I touched the revolver and the thought came to me, will it hurt? I heard the crash as I held the revolver up in front of me. There was something hot right here, and that was all." The witness' breath came quickly and her cheeks reddened. Her. voice shook more perceptibly. She' nenv ously tucked under her plain dark hat strands of golden hair which had escaped. She was not an unattractive picture. She is 1. - ucie wna jruui nusuituu wiicii yvu fired that shot?" demanded Collier. "My eyes were closed when that fire went through my body, but the last I remember he was sitting in the rocking chair." In the opinion of veteran court at taches, Mrs. Bjorklund was one of the best witnesses ever called to testify In the circuit court. The clarity of her answers, her straightforward re plies and her dramatic tale had a moving effect on spectators as well as jury. Were betting permitted in a courtroom it would have been im possible yesterday to have found the taker for any odds offered against the possibility of her being acquitted by the jury. Under cross7examination by Joseph L. Hammersly, chief deputy district attorney, Mrs. Bjorklund's story was unshaken. Questioned concerning her alleged desire to get control of her husband's property, . Mrs. Bjorkland replied: "August told me one time that his former wife, Hilda, tried to get his property, but that he .got a lawyer named Conrad P. Olsen to fix things so she could not touch it. "1 told him that he would never have any need for Mr. Olsen's services as far as I was concerned. Mr. Ham mersly, as I wanted only his affec tion. I did not want his property." The witness believed Ernest Bjork lund was responsible for much of her unhappiness. "I blame Ernest. He did not want August to marry. He had told my sis ter not to invite me so much to her place as then August would not meet me so often." "But was it not a fact that Ernest was responsible for j'our first meet ing his brother?" pursued Hammers ly. "Tea, I have to thank him for that." CAPTAIN LEWIS STEPS UP Credit Given Police Officers for Work Taken in College. Following the filing of evidence that he had taken courses in college, the municipal service board yesterday gave Captain H-r A. Lewis credit for two years in college In his examina tion for captaincy of police. Captain Lewis was not informed that education was a factor in the ex amination and when told of this fact hastened to send a letter to the civil service board, giving his educational qualifications. Captain Lewis will be raised from sixth place on the eligible list to third place, it is understood. Dr. Boucbet Pleads Xot Guilty. Dr. Norman Bouchet, charged with the murder of Mrs. Ruth Richards, was arraigned yesterday before Pre siding Judge Tazwell and entered a plea of not guilty. Bouchet shot him self after the alleged crime and has since been in the hospital. Ralph M. Brady, charged with killing Roy Con ner through driving an automobile carelessly, was allowed ten days in which to plead. GEORGE L. BAKER IN RACE Dan KellahcT Is Expected to Toss Hat Into Ring at About Last Minute; More May Enter. There promises to be a short, snappy municipal campaign for mayor and city commissioners. Nominating blanks for Herbert Gordon's petitions were obtained at the city hall yesterday and were immediately placed In cir culation. This was taken as final evi dence that Mr. Gordon had decided to enter the race for mayor. George L. Baker, incumbent, has al ready filed his candidacy to succeed himself. Dan Kellaher, ex-state sena tor and ex-city commissioner, will blossom out as a candidate for mayor about the last day for filing. This assures the voters of at least three candidates in the field for. mayor. There may be more, hut if so the dark horses are well blanketed so that they are not even suspected of entering the race. Mr. Gordon, in addition to being a candidate for mayor, is also a candi date for representative in the legisla ture from Multnomah county and his candidacy for both positions will be voted on by electors in the November election. This is perfectly legal inas much as Mr. Gordon's name will not appear twice on the same ballot, his candidacy for mayor being on the sep arate municipal ballot. Hotel Men Back Candidacy. " Back of the candidacy of Mr. Gordon is said to be a group of hotel people and contractors and also a consider able number of landlords. Mr. Gordon has opposed the zoning law and made a strenuous fight for its repeal in the 1920 session of the legislature. Those who favor abolition of the zoning sys tem will probably affiliate with the Gordon camp. As Mr. Gordon's friends have figured out the proposition, if he is elected mayor and also elected to the legis lature, he can serve through the 1921 session as a member of the house and then resign in February. The mayor does not take office until July, so sit ting in the legislature would not in terfere with the duties of mayor. Mr. Kellaher is expected to have a burning issue of some sort when he makes his campaign. The line of his attack will, presumably, be governed by the position taken by Mr. Baker and Mr. Gordon on whatever issues they may raise. Four Oat for Commission- For the two commissionershlps there are four candidates in sight. Commissioner Mann and Commissioner Barbur have filed, with Mr. Mann win ning the first place on the ticket. Dr. T. L. Perkins will be the third aspirant for one of the commission positions. Yesterday it was rumored that J. B. Zigler, who has taken a great deal of interest in water-front matters for a number of years, would be a can didate. Mr. Zigler has been living at Banks, Or., but has moved back to Portland. Mr. Zigler, if a candidate, is expected to raise some issue to at tract the attention of the voters. is to elect Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy to encgress from this district. Dr. Lovejoy will make an aggressive campaign, it was announced, and will speak at the Kussellville grange "and at a banquet at Gresham tonight. She will also speak at a meeting in the home of Mrs. Cora Bunch. 999 East Main street, Tuesday night. She will have other speaking engagements, the committee stated, as she expects to reach as many voters as possible dur ing her campaign. She will outline her principles and declare what she will endeavor to accomplish, if elected. MORROW CAMPAIGNERS BCSY W. W. Smead Prcdiots "Victory for Stan Held in County. W. W. Smead. chairman of the Mor row county republican central com mltteewho called yesterday at repub lican state headquarters, reported that the republicans of that country were well organized and active. "We are going down the line for the entire republican ticket. Harding and Coolidge will carry the county by 3 to 1. Stanfield will also carry the county in good shape. Our people are vitally Interested in the tariff and they feel that Harding and Stanfield's position for protection for our agri cultural and livestock Interests are sound and just." Leonard Krause Is Secretary. Leonard Krause has ' been selected as secretary of the executive board of the republicancounty central commit tee. He succeeds Lynn B. Coovert, who resigned and moved to Bend, Or. The appointment was made at the meeting of the executive committee Thursday night. The meeting also discussed finances, County Chairman Day reporting that the expenses of the campaign are exceeding the estimates. Judge Stapleton to Speak. Judge G. W. Stapleton will be the principal speaker at the next meeting of the Sellwood-Moreiand republican club, to be held in the Se-llwood com munity house Monday, September 27. according to an announcement by Charles B. Turlay, president of the organization. The principal speakers at last Monday's meeting were Colo nel James J. Crossley and .Judge Kanzler. Republican Club to Meet. The U. S. Grant Republican club will meet tonight in the- Brooklyn school. George H. Caldwell will be the prin cipal speaker. L. P. Morrow will show stereopticon pictures of the French battlefields. The part the women are playing in the campaign will be outlined by Mrs. Clara French. Alleged Wire Deserter Taken. VANCOUVER, Wash., Sept. 24. (Special.) Dennis O. Sullivan of Portland, wanted in that city for deserting his wife, was arrested here late last night by the sheriff and re turned to Portland, a constable com ing over to escort- the prisoner back to Portland. MISS ELSIE COLLINGWOOD and I Miss Lillian Moss were honor guests yesterday at a tea given uy ju. Armur x. oruwu si Her numc in Trinity place. Miss Collingwood s the niece of Mrs. W. W. Cotton and Miss Moss is the niece of Mrs. John Forest Dick eon. Both girls have been extensive ly feted this season. Mrs. Cotton and Mrs. Dickson pre sided at the tea table, and Mss Helen Page assisted. A coterie of society maids and young matrons attended. . An attractive event of last night was a party g'ven by Miss Florence Knapp, who entertained at the F. C. Knapp residence on Willamette boule vard tor Miss Mildred Broughton and Allan C. Hopkins, Those entertained included members of the bridal party for the wedding, which will be sol emnized next Monday. Covers were placed for Miss Broughton, bride elect; Miss Marian -Reed, maid of honor; Miss Ruth Cushlng, brides maid; Miss Genevieve Shaver, Miss Martha Ide, Charles Lemcke, best man;William Simmons, Arthur Lee, ushers; Frank Davis, Edward Sara mons, Mr. Hopkins and the hostess, who also is to be a bridesmaid. Another smart event of yesterday was a tea for Miss Edith Fullerton of San Francisco, whose hostess was Mrs. Adolph Neu. Mrs. Gorrlll Swi gert and Mrs. Harold Dekum Gill pre sided at the table. Mrs. William Lines was hostess yesterday at an. Informal tea for Miss Dorothy Hiller of San Francisco, who is the guest of her cousin. Miss Isa bella Gould, and who is being enter tained extensively. Mrs. June McMillan Ordway has moved to 675 Flanders, corner of Twenty-first street, where she will resume her literary work. She has leased her home on Crosby street. where she resided lor over 40 years. Mrs. W. S. Jewett. who is spending some time at the Hotel Portland en tertalned with an Informal dinner party in the main dining room Thurs day evening. Covers were placed for seven. Interesting visitors in the city are Mr. and Mrs. "Vernon Bailey of Wash' lngton, D. C. Mr. Bailey is connected with the United States biological sur vey and is here on business tot the government. Mrs. Bailey is better known as Florence Merriam Bailey, author of "Birds of Western North America" and other works on birds and bird life. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey will speak at the first meeting of the Audubon society to be held in Central library, Saturday, October 2. Mrs. Otto Binswanger left on Thurs day for California. Prior to her de parture Mrs. A. Frank gave in Mrs. Binswanger's honor a luncheon and bridge party at the Benson. Miss Winifred Smith, who has been visiting the Jay Smiths this summer, will leave soon for her horns in Sagi naw, Mich. She will accompany Miss Jessie Smith, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jay Smith, east to Oaksmere where Miss Jessie will at tend school. Mrs. Milton E. Kahn was hostess at recent luncheon nt tha T.in,in Country club. 9 Miss Nell Tierney of Hawthorne avenue is visiting her brother, Frank Tierney, at Walla Walla, and she will attend the Round-up at Pendleton. m The marriage of Miss Dorothv "Ran kin and Harold Buckland is set for this afternoon at the home of O. M. Rankin. Rev. W. G. Eliot will officiate. The Travelers' Protective societv will give a dance tonight in the Mult nomah hotel. For tasty French dressing or mayonnaise use imported Pompeian Olive Oil HAYS SENDS LETTER HERE Campaign Declared Moving With Splendid Certainty. T. H. Tongue, chairman of the re publican state central committee, yes terday received the following letter from Will H. Hays, republican na tional chairman: "The republican campaign Is mov ins on -with a splendid certainty com mensurate with the importance of the cause. While' this is true, we all of course want to do everything we can to make the victory overwhelming. "Daily the qualities of our candi dates become more and more pro nounced. Daily are the people com paring candidate Cox of whom I have nothing to say with Senator Harding, the great American an American in every fiber of his being. as faithful as Washington, as humble as Lincoln, and as unafraid as Roose velt our leader, our candidate and our friend. "I hope you will not forget to make every possible use of those lines from Senator Harding's speech of August 28: " 'Steady, America! Let us assure good fortune to all. " 'Let us be done with wiggling and .wobbling. "Personally I thank you for all you are doing. DRY QUARTERS ESTABLISHED Anti-Saloon Leaguers, Prohis and W. C. T. U. in Fenton Building Headquarters of the Multnomah county dry congressional committee representing the state prohibition committee, the Oregon Anti-Saloon league and W. C. T. U., have been established in rooms 313-14 of the Fenton building, with Mrs. Ada Wat lace Unruh. executive secretary of the state prohibition committee, in charge as secretary. E. A. Baker, president or tne Anti-baioon league, and Mrs, Mattle Sleeth, state president of the W. p. T. U., are the other members of the committee, the object of which TOW Carnation. Crrc our rrocty has if T3k IT -a IVLLUC from . Contented cows PREVENTION OF FIRE WILL BE PREACHED Every Man, Woman and Child to Hear Gospel. HUGE CLOCK TO BE BUILT Daily Losses From Blaze to Be Re corded With Total Xnmber of Calls Every 3 4 Hours. Efforts to carry the gospel of fire prevention to every man, woman and child in Portland will be made during fire prevention week, October 4 to 9. A committee of representative busi ness men, as well as various organiza tions, have been recruited by Fire Marshall Grenfell to aid in the carry ing out of the plans of the campaign. The lessons of fire prevention will be told from the pulpit on Sunday, October 3. Slides will be shown in the motion-picture theaters. Speak ers will appear before the civic clubs at their noonday luncheon, and school children and Boy Scouts will be re quested to participate in various ways. s Climax to Be Saturday. The climax of the week will come on Saturday, when the fire preven tion parade will be held and in the evening when an entertainment will be staged at the public auditorium, to which the public will be admitted without charge. Usually a waste paper day is a feature of fire prevention week, but because the Junior Red Cross officials have requested that they be permit ted to handle waste paper in order to raise money for humanitarian work, the waste paper collection has been turned over to that organization. A huge clock will be erected in the downtown district on which the daily fire losses will be tabulated and the total number of fire calls every 24 hours will be shown. Fire Marshal Grenfell and H. P. Coffin will handle this clock. It ia planned to run a lar-3 aerial fire truck to the clock each noon when the markings will be made. Aaron Frask in Charge. Aaron Frank has been placed in charge of the fire prevention parade and, in addition to obtaining the co operation of the various fire com panies in the way of entries, Mr. Frank is seeking entries from busi ness firms. The fire prevention show will be 600 million minutes saved Pi R SO hours each day by choosing H-O for their OatmeaL Steam cooking in the Hornby Kitchens eliminates hours of cooking in your home. This table is from U. S. Health Education Bulletin No. 2. See bow Oatmeal leads in nourishment! Oatmeal...... 6,500 Force S.S00 A vheat cereal 2,200 Graham flour . S.iOO Barley 1.150 Rye flour.. 1,150 Cornmeal ...... 1,350 Macaroni ..... 1.S50 Another cereal. . 1,550 Farina ........ 1.S50 White tttuat flour 1.S50 Hominy. . .... 1.1SO Rice white) 1.1SO Cornflakes ... 1,100 THE H-O COMPANY Dept. B. Buffaloj N. Y. "I want some more' Send ytjttr grocer 9 name and w will lead you free, enough H-O for a meal for tix yereoua Hornby's Oatmeal handled by a committee composed of Frank McGettigan, manager of the Orpheum theater: Fred Brockman and T. H. Williams. While it will be the purpose of the show to emphasize the need of preventing conflagrations, the programme will be entertaining and Interesting. Other committees appointed by City Commissioner Bigelow to aid in carry ing out the plans for the week are as follows: Speaking committee, Fred Carlton; Ministerial association. Rev. Ralph C. McAfee: Noon Day clubs. T. H. Will- lams; publicity, Frank H. Bartholox mew, James McCool, James D. Olson and John T. Jarmuth: display win dows. Captain Fred Roberts, H. B, Boardman. Lieutenant Edward Boat right, William Cooper and Captain Fred Day; school inspection work, fire marshal's office: slides in theaters. A. Ij. West; Boy Scouts, William Kent; finance, I. L. Webster, G. II. Kffinger, George D. Schalk and Fire Chief Young. Phone your want ads to The Orpgo- nian. Main 7"70, Automatic Sf-9S. Will TT Vote? Labor is torn by conflicting feelings as it prepares to vote in the approaching Presiden tial election, if we may judge by the papers that claim to speak for it. It is told by Mr. Gompers that Cox is labor's true friend; it is told by Republican leaders that Harding's ejection will mean prosperity and the "full dinner-pail," and is assured by more radical advisers that Debs or Christensen is the only true apostle of freedom. Anyone who can poll all or even a large part of the labor vote would, of course, win hands down, but how the worker will vote after all this contrary advice nobody seems to know. No one, at least, is predicting the election of Christensen or Dabs, so the choice narrows down to the two journalists from Ohio. An interesting omission is the absence of any appeal to the workers to vote for this or that candidate to restore the workman's beer. Telegrams sent by THE LITERARY DIGEST to the Labor press, for light on the prob able complexion of labor's vote this year, bring replies that give an impression of. cross cur rents and confusion. However, at this stage of the campaign, it is undoubtedly the only line that the public can get upon the probable attitude of organized labor in the coming election. The leading article in THE DIGEST this week, September 25th, presents the subject in an interesting arfd comprehensive form. It will be read with interest by hundreds of thousands of men and women. Other illuminating articles in this number of THE DIGEST are: Full Text of the League of Nations Covenant This Article Is Presented at This Time So That the Public May Have in Easily Accessible Form the Text of the Document That Has Been Made the Issue by the Republican and Democratic Parties. "As Maine Goes" Will the Country Go? League Verdicts in the Primaries America and Germany as Shipmates The Timber Famine British Labor's Stand for Soviet Russia Troublesome Mesopotamia Greece in Turmoil Woman's Hand in Maine Voice of Canadian Independence To Use Niagara Without Marring It A Medical Defense of Pie Machinery Ousting "Harvest Hands" Labor Doing Better Work Europe's Ills Diagnosed by Anatole France Stephen Foster vs. Franz Shubert "Diplomatic Victories" of the Vatican The Lambeth Plan for Church Reunion America Is Eating More Candy How Obregon Cheated Death and His Enemies Germany Very Much Alive While Austria Stagnates Glimpses of Ireland Under British Repression Movie "Extras" Whose Lives Rival Screen Romance On the Trail of the White Rhinoceros Topics of the Day Best of the Current Poetry Many Interesting Illustrations, Including Maps and Humorous Cartoons September 25th Number on Sale Today Newsdealers 10 Cents $4.00 a Year i Sarlt of . f iDisiirrictioai toll It !:! a Reader of J V 'raae Literary IB FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY (Publisher of the Famou NEW Standard Pjctionary); NEW YORK V