This fixed the problem. I did have to "apt-get install intltool" before I could successfully build geany but that was simple. No more crashing when going to the File menu and I've also re-enabled "Snippet completion" and "Autocomplete symbols" without any problems.
Here is a snip from my new geany's "Help-> Debug Messages": 09:14:02: Geany INFO : Geany 1.31, en_US.UTF-8 09:14:02: Geany INFO : GTK 3.22.11, GLib 2.50.3 09:14:02: Geany INFO : System data dir: /home/rwp/geany_russ/share/geany
After I quit geany I see some Gtk-WARNING messages in the shell window from where I started geany. I've attached them to this post. They seem benign.
Much obliged to you elextr.
relayman357 [errs.txt](https://github.com/geany/geany/files/1430837/errs.txt)