Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 46, Number 68, Decatur, Adams County, 20 March 1948 — Page 1

VoIXLVI. No. 68.

FLOODS FOLLOW DEATH-LADEN TORNADOES

■ms County ■ging Out' ■n Damages Hnd Damage Mounts As Reports SHOW Wide Damage Ada»s county was still “digging ouFWday from damage wrought by th< most severe windstorm in more Rian a decade. Thereost of repairing and redamaged buildings mountinto the hundreds of thousfflids of dollars as owners franca 11 >' sought carpenters, bricMajers and other workmen to replace structures— especially those(vitally needed to house and livestock. "New reports of damage continuedjto flow into the city as this person or that surveyed his losses and began the herculean task of replacing. Although the center of the violent "Windstorm seemingly struck at Moproe shortly before noon yesterday, a further check revealed many bother parts of the county hit One person reported approximately 50 homes, barns and other SMHbgs damaged on the road ftoJb'U'ne to Petroleum in Wells BBL The Linn Grove area was a which suffered heavstudents at Pleasant Mills were reported injured, neiSK: iously. by flying glass when WMas in the building shattered force of the lashing winds. of the school attributed of many more students fact that the storm struck the noon recess when most children were in the baselunch. Reports of Losses •ABpough a detailed report of iosßs appeared practically imposAle, news of damage came froiß scattered sectors. A prize 4-HBnill, which won an award at the «-H show last year, was rekilled at the Oliver Painter home near Monroe. Three cows were reported killed at the Groce Tope farm in St. Mary's township. Huißreds of chickens and other doutestic animals and fowls were killed or had to be destroyed. In addition to two persons listed as fcjured yesterday, it was reported that Mrs. Lester Opliger suffired an arm fracture when a bullßing was demolished near Linn Seme of the damage reported: L. A. Graham farm, varied damHo ward Foreman residence, roof torn! off. ph L. Schwartz, section of unroofed. Oswald Nyffeler, part of barn roof destroyed. Of?pess Corner, cabin blown over. Wrve Smith home, partly un■»<i. implement shed, de■omas farm, home roof partly Jfci Hendricks farm, outbuild>nßß destroyed. Harry Crownover, barn roof off. damage listed above occurred in the vicinity of Monroe is in addition for the most Part to that reported yesterday. Residents of the Linn Grove community, whose homes or farms damaged include the follow*3r Ernest Strahm, George GattsMBk. Robert Joray, William isch, W»iing French, Ed Beeler, Ed Jg er ’ Henry Schlagenhauf, VerBraun, Walter Linn, Joe BaumHarve Neuenschwander, Bluhm, William Feichter, Runyon, Ed Culver. ■ Utility Damage Heavy John M. Doan stated to- ■ that a survey disclosed damage city light and power lines ■ greater than that created by J * ce storm in January. Scores 'y oles on company-owned lines 'Be blown over., >l- P6C^°n th o s ’de of the plant was also “blown (Turn To Page Six) 0 || WEATHER M Generally fair and mild toH*y fo'lowed by showers toBaht and Sunday. Warmer gß° ni ßht, little change tomor-

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

BULLETIN Greensburg, Pa., Mar. 20—(UP) —A twin engine plane crashed near Laurel Ridge mountain today killing five persons. State police said the bodies of two men and three women had been taken from the wreckage which lay in a forest 3,000 feet from the Pennsylvania turnpike. __O Ask Trieste Be Returned To Italians U. S., Britain And France Ask Russia To Amend Treaty Washington, March 20 — (UP) — The United States. Britain and France today asked Russia to agree to amend the Italian peace treaty to return the free territory of Trieste to Italy. The three governments made the surprise proposal to Italy as well as Russia. A copy of the United States note to the two countries also was sent to Yugoslavia. The three governments said they arived at the decision to ask return of Trieste to Italy because: 1.“.... discussions in the (United Nations) security council have already shown that agreement on the selection of a governor (for Trieste) is impossible.” 2. The three western powers have received “abundant evidence” to show that the Yugoslav zone of Trieste'has been virtually incorporated into Yugoslavia by procedures which do not “respect the desire expressed by the powers to give an independent and Democratic status *o the territory.” Under the Italian peace treaty, Trieste was split into two zones. The U. S. and Britain administer the northern zone. Yugoslavia administers the southern area. The three western powers said Anglo-American military authorities have acted as “caretakers” for the governor who has not been appointed as yet and for the “democratic organs of popular representation” as provided in a permanent statute for the free territory. “At the same time Yugoslavia has taken in the zone in her charge, measures which definitely compromise the possibility of applying the statute," the three powers said. 7 — o : BULLETIN William Krueckeberg, aged about 67, father of Herman H. Krueckeberg, cashier of the First State Bank here, died late this morning at the Lutheran hospital in Fort Wayne. He underwent an operation at that institution about two weeks ago. Mr. Krueckeberg was a prominent Union township resident.

Safe Driver Banquet Held Friday Evening Drivers Are Honored By Central Soya Co. The annual “safe drivers” banquet of the Central Soya Co., Inc., was held last night at the Riverview Gardens in this city. Awards went to Robert Judd, Wayne Peterson and Roger Beard, all of Decatur, for having completed the year without an accident. Everett Hutker, truck superintendent of the company, was in charge of the ceremonies. Other drivers in attendance were Leonard Johnson, Berne: Kenneth Shell and Harold Idlewihe, both of Decatur. A comedy slide film was shown and the drivers were guests of the company at the Fort Wayne Civic theater presentation of “Ten Little Indians.”

C. I. Finlayson, plant manager, and Norm Katt, personnel director, were officials of the company who attended the event.

Division Plan For Palestine Is Abandoned UN Trusteeship Proposed By U. S. In Scuttling Plan Lake Success, N. Y„ March 20 — (UP) — With the Palestine partition program scuttled, the United States appeared ready today to precs for decisive security council measures — including the use of armed forces if necessary — to keep order in the Holy Land. The United States tolled the bell for partition yesterday and proposed instead that the Holy Land be put under a temporary United Nations trusteeship. Although not a single country officially has accepted the U. S. proposals, UN officials and responsible diplomata said the partition program is now dead and Palestine will not be split jnto Arab and Jewish states. Zionlist leaders promised to take by blood and arms the permanent Jewish state they were promised Nov. 29 under the general assembly’s decision to divide the Holy Land.

Arab leaders generally appeared satisfied by the developments. Announcing it was scuttling completely the program which secretary of state' George C. Marshall reaffirmed only last Feb. 24, the United States called on the UN to take these steps: 1. Summon a special session of the UN general assembly. 2. Abandon Palestine partition as unworkable becamse it requires forceable implementation. 3. Agree to place Palestine under a UN trusteeship. 4. Order the UN Palestine commission to “suspend” its work on the Palestine partition program. 5. Open the way for Arab — Jewish conciliation aimed at establishing a permanent solution for Palestine which would succeed the proposed UN trusteeship regime. 6. Call a “military and political” truce in Palestine and enforce it with armed intervention if necessary. Zionists accused the United States of a sell-out and “a shocking reversal” of position. War To Continue Jerusalem, March 20 —(UP) — The Arab war against Jews in the Holy Land will continue unabated (Turn To Page Six) Q Gas Accumulation Blamed For Blast Remove All Bodies In Centralia Blast Centralia, 111., Mar. 20 —(UP)— Sheriff Tib Woolright said today that all bodies have been removed from the rubble of a two story bui'ding which exploded Thursday night, killing six persons and injuring 23 others. Police, firemen and volunteers dug through the torn timbers of what remained of a tavern, a pool hall and two upstairs apartments for more than 16 hours before determining that all bodies had been recovered. Police chief O. T. Bounds said the blast had been laid definitely to an accumulation of gas. but authorities had not yet determined the type of gas or its source. State fire marshals were conducting the investigation. An inquest into the six deaths was scheduled at 2:30 p. m. Monday. The three critically injured persons were reported “slightly improved” at St. Mary’s hospital today. They were Mrs. Esther Parks, 17, Frank Nichols, 59, and Leroy Grimes, who was a bartender at the P and G tavern where the explosion occurred. Part of the blast scene looked like a plowed field of farmland today, after bulldozers ajid wreckers had sifted a’l the rubble and dug even beneath the foundation of the building to make certain no bodies would be left in the wreckage. Bricks and debris were piled high on either side of the excavation.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday, March 20, 1948

War Trappings Bound For Turkey 7V W ’BW .</ 11 I \I H < I illkV 1 I I S’ SS . \ /bh w ' lit Im AS PART OF U. 3. Turkish military aid program, 100 light tanks and other trappings of war are loaded into hold of the Turkish ship Yozgat at Erie basin, New York.

Heavy Wind Damage Reported In State Millions Os Dollars In Damage Counted Indianapolis, March 20. —(UP) — Literally millions of dollars in damage costs was counted in Indiana today as result of devastating tornado winds that swept across the state yesterday. Repair crews were out at daybreak today, restringing telephone and power lines torn down by the gusts. Others began clearing debris in areas where entire buildings were torn down. No one was killed by the storm in Indiana and comparatively few injuries were reported. Communities hardest hit included Kokomo, Logansport, Peru, Bunker Hill. Leo and Crawfordsville. Damage was estimated at $1,000,000 at Crawfordsville alone. Ten persons were injured in the Logansport area. At Bunker Hill, 70-year-old Clarence Ellers was seriously injured when an outbuilding blew over while he was in It. Pennsylvania railroad officials said seven empty cars of a freight train en route from Logansport to Bradford, 0., were derailed when a building blew from a field into the side of the second car behind the engine near Bunker Hill. The tracks were cleared this morning. Teletype communications were disrupted at Decatur, Portland, Bluffton and Warsaw. Jay county officials estimated $20,000 damage. Twenty barns in the county were leveled. Damage was comparatively light in the Shelbyville and Columbus areas. But farther west, at Bloomington, wind ripped apart two airplane hangers and damaged planes inside. At Clymers, an airplane at a small airport was swept into the air and left hanging in a tree. At Muncie, high winds caused a truck, loaded with iron castings, to overturn. The driver escaped with minor injuries. Roofs of several school buildings over the state were ripped assunder by the cyclone. The most serious was at Leo where a teacher and eight grade pupils were hurt. A brick wall left standing following a recent fire at a theater in Princeton was toppled to the ground, but no one was reported (Turn To Page Six)

Red Cross Chapter Given SSOO Bequest A check for SSOO has been received by the Sdams county chapter of the American Red Cross from the Aaron Reams estate, as provided in the will of the late Decatur resident. Other bequests in the will gave the following: George Morgan, a nephew, $1,500; Floyd, Luther and Marie Engie, SIOO each; Stella Burkhead, SSO; Salvation Army, $500; Methodist Memorial home, $741.11, the residue of the estate. 0 British Surrender Mandate On May 15 All Troops Out Os Holy Land Aug. 1 London, Mar. 20 —(UP) —Great Britain will surrender her Palestine mandate May 15 and have ah tioops out of the Holy Land by Aug. 1 despite the United States decision to abandon the idea oi partition, the colonial office said today. “Nothing in the new statement affects the determination of his majesty's government to terminate the mandate not later than May 15 and to remove all our troops by Aug. 1,” a colonial office statement said. The colonial office added that the “new situation” was being studied. An authoritative source said new discussions on Palestine will be needed in view of the American decision and Britain is prepared to take part in them. Diplomatic quarters believeu that the possibility of an amicable agreement between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was improved by the decision to abandon partition. Prime minister Clement Attlee and foreign secretary Ernest Bevin planned a weekend huddle before presenting* the newest developments on Palestine to a full cabinet meeting Monday. However, the British press recognized that the U. S. reversal put a new face on matters. All papers bannered the announcement and most of them reported a general feeling at Lake Success that Britain would be invited to remain in Palestine to carry out the trusteeship. Most British observers took an "I told you so” attitude, pointing out that Britain had maintained (Turn To Page Three)

Midwest States Hit By Floods; 38 Persons Die In Less Than 12 Hours

Ask Lewis, Owners To Meeting Monday Meeting Called By Federal Mediator Washington, March 20.—(UP) — The government will make a lastditch effort Monday to end the soft coal strike without recourse to the Taft-Hartley law. Federal mediation director Cyrus S. Ching has wired the disputants to meet with him here to try for direct settlement of the six-day-old walkout which, he said, threatens “serious consequences to the nation.”

There was no immediate indication from either mine chieftain John L. Lewis or the coal operators whether they would show up. The operators said yesterday they would negotiate the pension dispute, but only if Lewis ordered his men back to work. For two days, president Truman has been studying recommendations that we invoke the emergency strike provision of the TaftHartley law in the coal walkout as he did in the meat-packing strike and the threatened atomic energy strike. Under this provision, he can halt a strike for about 80 days. The coal strike already has idled at least 20,000 workers on coalhauling railroads across the nation. And three steel companies have been forced to cut production. Lewis’ reply to the operators’ ultimatum may be to instruct his 400,000 1 United Mine Workers to stay away from the pits all next week out of respect for victims of the 1947 Centralia, 111., explosion. Under the contract clause permitting “memorial” work stoppages, Lewis probably would have to give Ijis notice today if he wants the miners to spend Holy Week in a safety demonstration matching last year's. It was pointed out that a mourning period, with a fixed termination, would enable Lewis to put the striking miners back on the job without admitting he had signaled (Turn To Page Five) Dr. 5. M. Rabson To Speak Here March 30 Pathologist Speaks On Cancer Problems Dr. S. M. Rabson, chief pathologist at the St. Joseph hospital in Fort Wayne, will address a meeting of Adams county women at the Decatur high school auditorium at 8 o’clock Tuesday evening, March 30. This event is being sponsored by the Decatur Woman's Club in co-operation with the county cancer society. The subject of Dr. Rabson’s talk will be “Cancer — and the Woman.” In addition to the speaking, there will be motion pictures and at the close of the meeting an open forum wWI be held for the purpose of answering questlcrs on cancer. All women are in-1 tel to attend the gathering, whicn promises to be highly interesting and instructive. Dr. Rabson is a highly qualified authority on the subject of cancer and is a member of the board of directors of both the Allen county and Indiana state cancer societies. Following his graduation from the New York University college of medicine, he pursued post-graduate work both here and in Vienna, Berlin and Paris. In the years before the war he was assistant professor of pathology and pathologist to the tumor clinic of the postgraduate medical school and hospital of New York University. At St. Joseph hospital, Dr. Rabeon has developed a laboratory which has won the approval of the American medical association for a residency in pathology. This re(Turn To Page Five)

Senate Group To Study Plea For New Draft Ask Administration Lay Military Cards Before Congressmen Washington, Mar. 20 — (UP) — The administration was on notice today that it will have to lay its military cards before congress if it wants favorable consideration of the new draft plan. Members of the senate armed services committee said they want to know just how close the administration thinks we are to war. Then, they said, they will be in a better position to decide on President Truman’s request for revival of selective service and for universal military training. The committee hopes to get some answers when it meets behind closed doors next week with secretary of state George C. Marshall and defense secretary James Forrestal. With both the senate and house in recess until Monday, these were the developments: Palestine — Some congressmen expressed fear that U. S. abandonment of the Palestine partition plan might doom the United Nations. The American action provoked cries of “sell-out” and "betrayal” on Capitol Hill. Foreign Aid—The house foreign affairs committee approved a $6.205,000,000 “single package” foreign aid bill that will go to the floor on Tuesday. It includes the European recovery program, aid to China, military assistance to Greece and Turkey, and a contribution to the international children’s fund. Veterans — The problem of states’ rights confronted a house subcommittee that is trying to tighten controls over the GI training program. The subcommittee is considering a plan that would give the veterans administrator a veto over state-approved school lists. At present the states have the last word. And some members object to taking the privilege away from the states because (Turn To Page Three) -0 Story Os Heroism Arises In Storm Wife Saves Husband Trapped By Timbers A story of heroism arose today from yesterday’s storm which struck near Linn Grove and other places in Adams county. Mrs. Fred Driscoll, wife of a farmer living near there was the heroine of the story. It was reported that Mrs. Driscoll, finding her husband trapped under a huge piece of timber from the fallen barn, rushed to his aid. Unable to extricate him without help at first, she secured a shovel and dug the earth out from under him sufficiently to relieve the pain of the pressure and finally enough to release him. He is now in the Adams county hospital here suffering from compound fractures of both legs but is thought to be recovering. A plane, owned by John Rogers, of the Decatur Aviation, Inc., airport west of here, was badly damaged when the wind flipped the ship over on its back. Lewis L. Smith and other owners and co-owners of planes at the field were stationed there most of the day in their successful attempt to keep planes from being pulled loose from moorings.

Price Four Cents

Illinois Hardest Hit As Two Towns Virtually Levelled By Friday's Storm By United Press Severe floods hit the midwest today in the wake of tornadoes that cut wide swaths of death and destruction across eight states yesterday. Torrential rains accompanying the tornadoes forced rivers out of their banks, adding to the misery of storm area residents. The violent weather conditions killed 38 persons within less than 1? hours. Thirty-four died in tornadoes. Four persons drowned in Tennessee as result of floods. More than 600 were injured across the eight-state area. A score were near death from their injuries. The Red Cross, the army and state national guard units rushed relief to the thousands stricken by storms and high water.

Illinois suffered worst. Twin tornadoes rose out of Missouri, left two dead in that state, and then leaped over into Illinois to leave 28 dead amidst the tangled ruins of a half dozen towns, two of which virtually were levelled. There were 16 dead at Bunkel Hill, 111., eight at Fosterburg, t»4 at JJillespie and two near Alton, according to a United Press check. Only a few buildings remained standing today at Bunker Hill and Fosterburg. The Red Cross also listed 28 dead in Illinois but broke the total down to 19 at Bunker Hill, seven in the Fosterburg-Alton area of Madison county, and two at Gillespie. Three other persons were killed by twisters in Ohio and one by high winds in Michigan. The twisters also injured persons and caused damage in Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The Red Cross at St. Louis reported that 440 persons were injured in the Missouri-Illinois disaster area and that 254 were hospitalized. It said 829 families were stricken, either by the death or injury of relatives or through loss of their homes. A preliminary report on property damage issued by the Red Cross said 440 houses were destroyed in Missouri and Illinois and another 443 homes were damaged. Reports of "considerable” looting were received from throughout the Illinois tornado area today and the 209th field artillery of the Illinois national guard was called out to guard property. Lt. J. B. Armstrong, USMCR, attached to the 221st marine fighter squadron at St. Louis-Lambert airfield, reported that a man told him his wallet, recovered from the ruins of his house, had been emptied of the $2,000 it contained. Persons who had remained dryeyed yesterday during the immediate work of rescuing relatives and friends from the ruins of their homes gave way to tears today. They wept silently as they at(Turn To Page Three) O Begin New Schedule At Den On Monday The Den, which has been operating under a curtailed schedule the last several weeks because of the oil shortage, will begin h new schedule Monday, it was announced today. The popular student recreation center will be open Monday. Tuesday and Thursday nights from 7 o’clock until 10 o’clock, and Friday night from 7 o’clock to 11 o’clock. The Saturday schedule is from 2 o’clock to 5 o'clock in the afternoon and from 7 to 11 o'clock at night. There will be no hours on Wednesday or Sunday, it was announced. The present schedule has called for three nights a week, but the new schdule which is effective Monday will be in operation until the close of schools in May.