THE WEATHER
CLOUDY TO NIGHT
AND TO MORBOW
Detailed Report, rase 8
VOL. 77—NO. 13.
ESTABLISHED
DEC. 4. I*7«.
POLICEMAN SHOT BY HOHL DIES;
GIRL AND $13,100 LOOT SOUGHT
Cincinnati Police Search for
Bank Money Stolen by Har
risburg Bandit Who Was Shot
to Death by Bluecoats—De
tectives Question Robber's
First Wife Who Was Bertha
Holtzman, of This City-
Hunting Now for Ivy Ormsby
—Chief Hutchison Is Helping
Ohio Sleuths—-Mother Plans
to Bring Body Here
The police of Cincinnati are searching to-day for the $13,100 stolen
from two banks yesterday by Frank G. Hohl. the young Harrisburg
bandit, who later was shot to death by Cincinnati police.
So quickly was this money concealed following the daring robberies
committed by the youth in two Cincinnati banks in broad daylight
that the detective force is convinced that he must have had an
accomplice.
Patrolman Edward Knaul, who was shot by llohl while trying to
arrest the latter yesterday, died at the City hospital in Cincinnati
to-day.
The police are searching for a w.pinan. whom they believe was the
bandit's confederate and to whom they think he managed to give the
$13,100 he obtained front the b&pks.
Colonel Joseph I>. Hutchison, chief of the Harrisburg police, who
gave information shortly after Hohl robbed a bank in Altoona, last
March, which led to the identification of the bandit as the former
Harrisburg youth, is aiding the Chi
Hutchison is trying to help locate t
information that may help in the
Hold's body his morning lay une
cinnati, but Mrs. Annie Hohl. the
IU6 Court avenue, this city, that
Ohio city to claim it and give it
funds but intends trying to obtai
Cincinnati. Her plan is to bring I
Hohl's wife. Mrs. Bertha Hold,
the youth married here in 1911, wa
last evening and closely question
name was Bertha Holtzman. She
the crime and that she did not kno
until she read in the papers of hi
she left Hohl soon after their m<i
as>ist him in his robberies.
The woman the police are seekin
was acquainted, and whom he is al
wife. The police believe she may
bandit's recent movements.
HUTCHISON GAVE TIP
LEADING TO ARREST OF
HOHL IN LAST APRIL
When the first report of the,
dariug robbery of the Union bank, J
of Aitoona, Fa., last March, was
n ade to the police in this city. Chief
of Police Hutchison was so impressed
with the daring of rhe robber that ne
immediately associated with the crime
the name of Frank G. Hohl, the Har
risburg bandit, who has'now paid the
penalty with bis life. The first clue as
to the identity of the Altoona robber
was furnished by Chief Hutchison and
on this information was the bandit
identified. The subsequent arresit of
Hoh! in SjJem, 0., was a direct result
of the information furnished by Chief
Hutchison.
Lieutenant Mellvane and Inspector
Turnev, of the Pennsylvania railroad
police in Altoona, came to Harrisburg
on March 24, the day following the Al
toona robbery, having learned that a
package had been sent from Altoona
to this city and believing that it con
tained the stolen money.
Tiie following lay Chief Hutchison
telephoned to Chief of Police Tillard,
of Aitoona, that he believed Hohl was
the bandit. He followed that long
distance call with a letter in which he
encJosed a photograph o»f Hohl taken
when he was in the Eastern peniten-:
ti.iry. The bank authorities failed to
identify the photograph but the board
ing house keeper ami the employes of
the restaurant where Hohl took his
meals in Altoona positively identified
the photograph and on the 'strength of
that the''• lookout" notices were issued
to all of the police departments in the
country. Also on the "look-out" were
pictures taken of Hohl when he was:
Coatinned oa Fifteenth Pace.
BS)t Star- Snkpcnkirl
ncinnati police at this end. Colonel
the loot and is attempting to obtain
eapure of Kohl's accomplice,
claimed in the City hospital, in Cin
vouth's mother, said at her home,
she hopes to be able to go to the
t burial. She said she is without
in a railroad pass to carry her to
the body here for burial.
. a former Harrisburg girl whom
is found in Cincinnati by the police
led at headquarters. Her maiden
declared she had no knowledge of
>w of Hold's presence in Cincinnati
is exploits of yesterday. She said
arriage because he wanted her to
is Ivy Orrnsby, with whom Hohl
lleged to have represented to be his
»• be able to tell something of the
MOTHER SAYSHOHL WAS
A GOOD BOY BUT THAT
POLICE HOUNDED HIM
Frank G. Hohl's mother, Mrs. Annie
| Hohl, heard the first news of her son's
awful crime and its swift retribution,
as she sat in her home at 316 Court
street, this city, last evening. A Star-
Independent reporter was one of the
first to bear the distressing news to the
mother. She is a frail little woman,
and as she hard the story of the Cin
cinnati bank robberies committed bv
her son and his duel to the death with
the policemen, she wept softly and
sobbed until she shook with the agony
of it.
"He was a good boy," she said,
time and time again, denying with all
the vehemence of a mother's belief in
the goodness of her only son that he
was had. That she havl seen him, or
that she had heard from him since he
left Harrisburg months ago, ghe denied
emphatically.
This morning a telegram was re
ceived in Harrisburg stating that Mrs.
Hohl, mother of the dead bandit, had
written her daughter-in-law, Frank's
wife, in Cincinnati, on Monday, last,
telling her that she saw Frank in Har
risburg ltst week. When the mother
was shown this telegram to-day she
vehemently denied that she had writ
ten any letter of the kind.
"I have not seen Frank or Bertha,
nor have I written to either of them
since they left here before he was ar
: rested in Altoona and placed in the
Hollidaysburg jail."
Then she corrected herself. "I mean
that I have not seen my boy in Har
; risburg. she sobbed. "I saw him in
the Hollidaysburg jail on the Thursday
morning before last Faster, because he
j sent me word that h e was in trouble,
j and wanted to see me. I hoard he es-
Coatiaaed oa Flftrrath Pace.
HARRISBURG. PA., FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 1914—16 PAGES.
FRANK G. HOHL, AT 17 YEARS
II « ■MB
Harrisburg Bandit Who Was Shot To Death By Police After He Stole $13,100 Woman, Alleged to Have Been Wife of the Bandit, Hohl—She Is Being Sought j
From Two Cincinnati Banks Yesterday By the Police
FIRST WIFE OF HOHL DENIES
ALL KNOWLEDGE OF CRIME
By Associated Press.
Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. IS.—The
police here believe that Frank G. Hohl,
the dead automobile bandit, was a big
amist as well as a bank robber, sneak
thief and burglar. This theory was
reached at police headquarters last'
night astter the detectives questioned i
Mrs. Heir;ha Ho!h. the bandit's wife,
who was Miss Bertha Holtinmn, of
Harrisburg, Pa.
Mrs. Hohl denied that she knew
anything about the bank robberv here
yesterday until brought to her atten
tion through the newspapers; denied
that she knew Hoh! was in Cincinnati
and declared that he had left her more
than a year aigo because she would
not take part in his crimes.
f>he said she-was married in Harris-'
burg, March. 1911, to Hohl a few* d&vs
after he had been disjuissed from the
Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
Her maiden name was Bertha Holtz
nian an i she was born in Harrisburg. j
"Hohl was first arrested for steal-j
Continued on Thirteenth l'a«e.
HOHL MARRIED BERTHA
HOLTZMAX HEREIN 1911
Frank G. Hohl, the Harrisburg ban-'
dit shot to death bv the Cincinnati po-1
lice yesterday, married his first wife,!
who was Miss Bertha Holtzman, of Har
risburg, on Februarv 20, 1911, the cere
mony having been performed by Alder
man Charles P. Walters, at the mag
istrate 's office in this city. The bank
robber and slayer of a Cincinnati po
liceman, a short time before his first,
wedding, had been paroled from the)
Eastern penitentiary to which institu
tion he had been committed on a charge 1
of robbing freight cars in Lemoyne.
The girl he marrie 1 is a daughte" of
the Frank and Lucy Holtzman. So far
as could be learned the Holtzman fam-1
ily moved to Harrisburg from Lebanon j
county a do/en or more years ago.;
Frank Holtzman, now dead, was twice
married, two sons having been born by,
the first match, one of whom is George
Holtzman, of this city.
The wife of the bank robber was a
daughter by the second marriage. Frank :
Holtzman was a butcher by trade and j
lived in this city, at different times, on \
Cameron and Fulton streets. After i
the death of Mr. Holtzman his widow i
remarried and moved out of the city.
HOHL BLAMED FOR 810
ROBBERY IN KANSAS CITY
By Aaaociated Prest.
Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 18.—Photo
graphs of Hohl recently received by i
the police were identified last night by \
members of the Goldman concern as i
those of the man who robbed the store
of diamonds of great value. Another
photograph said to be of a Salem,
Ohio, woman, was identified as that of
the alleged female accomplice.
STBELTON FOOTBALL 'STAR'
NAMED FOR WEST POINT
Frank Morrett, Who Plays on the
Bucknell 'Varsity, Nominated By
Congressman Kreider—Fasnacht Is
First Alternate and Carl, Second
Congressman Kreider, of this dis
trict, will to-morrow send to the Ad
jutant General of the U. S. A., in the
War Department, Washington, his nom
inations of the candidates from the
Eighteenth Congressional district, for
the cadetship of the United States
Military Academy at West Point. He
will name as principal Frank Mor
rett, of Steelton; first alternate, Wal
ter K. Fasnacht, of Palmyra; second
alternate, Paul Carl, of Williamstown.
Frank Morrett is a son of Jacob
Morrett, of Steelton, an employe of the
Pennsylvania steel works and was born
in ojteelton. He is twenty years old,
i and in 1913 was graduated at the
j Steel ton High school, standing high.
He was a prominent member of the
.Tee>ltoii football team, and played in
all of the big gomes while at school,
being a fine athlete. In the fall of 1913
he attended the North Carolina Uni
versity, but at the beginning of the
present year he passed the exams, for
entrance to Bucknell University where
he is now in his first vear course. He
is a member of the fiucknell foottball
team and played in Harrisburg with
the team against Gettysburg. While at
Steelton he was regarded as one of the
Continued oa Thirteenth Pace.
GONE TO CUT CITY'S TREE
Mayor Royal and City Commissioners
Start for the Mountains in Two
Autos This Afternoon
Harrisburg will not be without a
Christmas tree for its Municipal cele
bration on Christmas Eve, for this aft
ernoon at 1.30 o'clock a group of mem
bers of the Tree Committee left Police
Headquarters for the Bovard tract,
which is located in the mountains seven
miles above Dauphin, to select the inas
sire line which will be admired by all
Harrisburg,
The party, which consisted of City
Commissioners Bowman, Lynch, Taylor
anil Royal, and the Mayor's secretary,
Clarence O. Backenstoss; Robert W.
Hoy, chairman of the committee; Hub
ert Gorman and C. M. Kaltwasser,
started for the Bayard tract in two of
the city automobiles.
After the tree has been selected the
Mayor will take an ax and start to fell
it, after which a regular woodsman
will complete the job and bring the
tree to Harrisburg in the early part of
next week.
IVY ORMSBY, SOUGHT BY POLICE
* v-i
j* r
GRANTS 5%
INCREASE
ON FREIGHT
Interstate Commerce
Commission Accedes
to Application Made
by Eastern Railroads
RESTRICTIONS ON
FEW COMMODITIES
Carriers Permitted to Make Advance
Except in Rail-Lake Traffic, Bitu
minous Coal and Coke and in An
thracite Coal and Iron Ore
Washington, Dec. 18.—The Inter
state Commerce Commission to-day
granted the application of the Eastern
railroads for a five per cent, advance
in freight rates, excepting on certain
specified commodities. Commissioners
Harlan and Clements dissented.
The carriers are permitted to make
the applied for advances in rates ex
cept the rail-lake-and-rail, lake and
rail and rail-lake traffic; rates on bitu
minous coal anil coke; ratos on anthra
cite coal and iron ore ami rates that
are held but unexpired orders of the
commission.
After further consideration the com
mission permits advances to be made
also on tement, starch brick, tile, clay
and plaster. On these commodities no
advances were permitted by the decis
ion of August 1.
Specify the Increased Rates
Joint rates between official classifi
cation territory and territory south of
the Potomac and Ohio and east of the
Mississippi may b e increased not to ex
ceed five per cent.
Interstate rates to and from New
England also may be increased not to
exceed five per cent.
While present existing differentials
among various Atlantic ports are pre
served the rates between any two of
them also may be increased five per
cent.
The decision says:
"While we differ as to the relative
importance to be attached to the vari-
Coattaned oa Thirteenth P>(t.
REVIEW OF 1911
BY PROF. WERT
Interesting Events of
the Year in Harris
burg Arranged in a
Chronological Order
DEATH'S HAND
HEAVILY FELT
Growing Number of Civil War Veter
ans Answered the Last B«oll Call—
Volunteer Department Kept the
Fire Loss at a Low Total
BY PROFESSOR J. HOWARD WERT
This year's record of daily occur
rences oif special local interest lias been
compiled along tho same lines, sub
stantially, as those presented to tihe
Star-Independent readers in previous
years. Harrisbung, as the Capital Oity
and a great railroad center, continues
to be the chief convention city of the
Sftate. Hence special attention has been
given in thds compilation to national
and State conventions, reunions and
meetings <*f a fraternal, religious,
political, educational, business or so
cial character, including also special
excursions of large bodies of visitors
to this city. Oif these 60 have been
catalogued, although of necessity, many
of a minor ch t -rao(AW have been omit
ted.
Of all the assemblages here mention
ed tihe most impressive and pathetic
was the one in which the veterans of
the Civil war removed the battle flags
they once followed, to the place pre
pared foT tihem in the State 'a Capito>l
building. The greatest assemblage was
the one attendant upon the meeting
of the State Firemen's Association.
An effort has also been made to re
cord the leading facts in the religious,
fraternal, industrial, educational and
Continued on Sixth l'age.
Aged Recluse Feels Winter's Chill
Marietta, Dec. 18.—Isaac Metzler,
an aged recluse and veteran of tihe
Civil war, was found in a serious con
dition this morning, having fell some
time last night w*hile retiring and al
most frozen to death. He is about 76
years of age and during the summer
months has one o»f the finest gardens
in the community from which he gains
a livelihood in addition to receiving a
pension.
t
POSTSCRIPT
PRICE, ONE CJiNT.
400 PERISH
AS GERMAN
SHIP SINKS
Cruiser Freidrich Karl
Goes to Bottom Dur
ing Recent Sortie in
the Baltic
RUSSIA SILENT ON
GERMAN VICTORY
Amsterdam Dispatch Says That Some
of British Destroyers That At
tacked German Raiding Squadron
Off British Coast Were Sunk
Petroprad. Dec. IS.—lt is semi
officially announced that the German
armored cruiser Freidrich Karl was
sunk during a recent sortie in the Hal
tic. Two-thirds of her crew are said
to have perished, less than 200 men
having been saved.
Several reports recently said the
Freidrich Karl had struck a mine while
coning out of a German port in the
Baltic and h&ti sunk. She was a cruis
of 5,8581 tons and was built in Ham
burg in 1902. Her complement was
about 557 men. «
British Destroyers Sunk
London, DeiJ. 18, 3.10 A. M.—An
Amsterdam dispatch to Renter's Tele
gram Company contains a German of
ficial statement which, claims that soma
of the British destroyere, which at,
tacked the German raiding squadron off
the British coast were sunk. The com
munication follows:
"The retreating cruisers were at
tacked by four British destroyers, one
of which was sunk. Another disap
peared badly damaged.
"At another point another English
destroyer was sunk."
An official statement issued by the
British Admiralty last night makes no
mention of any British warship having
been lost. The British statement said
that the light cruiser Patrol and the
destroyer I>oon, which were among the
British ships that attacked the Germau
cruisers, were struck by Shells and lost
five men in killed and fifteen wounded.
Russian Silent on German Victory
London, Dee. 18, 3.25 A. M.—Nf
definite news has yet come from the
Russian side of the Great German vic
tory in Poland reported in Berlin ami
Vienna. The Russian official headquar
ters report received Inst night gives no
information on the subject and the cus
tomary long Petrograd dispatches deal
ing with the military operations in this
district are absent from the London
newspapers this morning would seem to
indicate that a censorship has been im
posed at Petrograd.
LUTE WAR NEWS SUMMARY
The German armies which invaded
France and Belgium are said by the al
lies to be yielding slowly but steadily
To-day's official French statement, llk<
its recent predecessors, reports victor
ies here and there along the battle line
It is stated that the allies have mad*
a further advance in Belgium, although
the report that they had captured
Westende, near Nleuport on the Belgian
coast was not confirmed. Several Ger
man trenches have been taken, it ii
also stated, although the admission ii
made that the Germans blew up a
French trench in the Argonne.
The German War Office denies that
further ground has been won by the al
lies. It states that French attacks have
been repulsed and that in the Argonnt
7,500 prisoners were captured.
The German statement adds little t«
Continued on Thirteenth r»gf.
WALL STREEI CLOSING
New York, Dec. 18.—The closing
was irregular. Profit taking was again
in evidence during the final hour, prices
yielding from the best. Stocks moved
steadily downward in the early deal
ings, but recovered in large measures
later on announcement that the Inter
state Commerce Commission has grant el
freight increased to Eastern railroads.