Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 47, Number 80, Decatur, Adams County, 5 April 1949 — Page 1

IXLVII. No. 80.

7 PERSONS ARE DEAD IN HOSPITAL FIRE

Ingress May Ilk On Arms |r Europeans Some Senators May Insist On Complete ■Treaty Information ■ashington. April 5 - (UP) - fl North Atlantic treaty for mil■‘coop, ration against armed ■ <k will be ratified, but there ■ some doubt today that con■s would go all the way in back■it up with arms for Europe. ■airman Tom Connally, I).. Tex., ■d his senate foreign relations ■nittee into executive session ■v to consider treaty hearing Kedure. He said the hearings ■< begin next Monday if the adKstration is ready to proceed at ■ time. He warned that ratifica- ■ must not be delayed "to long.” ■it ratification is weeks or ■ths distant. The senate may be ■moned finally in special session ■consider the treaty after its ■r business is finished. ■oubt about the treaty had to do ■ what is called its implementa- ■ To implement it, President ■nan will ask congress to auth■e a (2,000,000,000 or more ■tiding program to help arm ■ope against possible Soviet at- ■. Opposition to that spending ■ram is developing. It is based ■ some cases on tax-economy ■mils. in others the argument ■lust arming Europe is that such ■on needlessly would inflame the ■mliii. ■lie White House said today the ■ty would he submitted to the ■tie "very soon.” ■ was signed yesterday in an U■iite ceremony in the govern■t's catch-all auditorium on ConHution Avenue. The foreign min■rs and ambassadors of 11 states

with the United KHt“ were the first to sign. They Belgium. Canada. |Me.-.' Britain. Franep, Netherlands, Norway. Denmark. |Bl-'-i. Portugal and Italy. Secre|My us state Dean G. Acheson, who |Mnr signed for the United States, last in line. blasted again at the shortly before yesterday’s |®etnonies began. In ifotes to ItNorway, Demnark and Iceland. Soviet Union charged that the pact was an aggressive aimed at Russia. Peaking briefly before the signthe treaty. Mr. Truman said ■Haas a "shield against aggresn He denied that the'treaty to band the western nations the Soviet Union. Bl Twice in recent years," he ■ritinued. "nations have felt the blow of unprovoked agOur peoples, to whom our ■'frnments are responsible, dethat these things shall not again We are determined f bey shall not happen again.” senators are insisting that ven full in'ormation on plan to arm Europe before they W * skt,, l to consider the North treaty. Al] such | n f ornla . | (Tar- To Togo Kight) I WEATHER I I Cloudy; light rain south and I ?? Portions this afternoon, || ‘Ming tonight or early Wed- ■■ nesday and becoming partly ■ coudy Wednesday. Not much in temperature.

jSees Wife Escape From tpospital Delivery Room J -

■ “T’ no " : Arnold Aderman. * driw - watched his wife Et early ,oday from the deliv■7 n mos St - Anthony's hospital K. , 8 enT «'oped the buildin? E- « uninjured and gave birth Er/, ‘ D fcocr after ’•><■ was reE>int r fwme ,n lhe fol ’ E M c l[^ l ’* lCh ’ Aderman tells of ■ <Aa tLuT 01 * 0 AOER MAN ■ T ° Th * Vntted Pr e*'> Eery in ÜbOr ,B ”eE’ai »hen i? St Anihon >'’a ho* Endo. 'J' Krwn out of the E? U»i« ,towß • >»* E Tlm® », .’d her come down E < tod/ 0 ? w hon,e At i:M

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Ask County Board Os Parks, Recreation Petition Presented To Commissioners Adams county commissioners Monday ordered the customary legal cheeking of names on a petition calling for the creation of a board of parks and recreation to administer the county recreation program. The trustees of each . township presently have charge pf . the program. I In other business, the commis- , sioners awarded three contracts—- . one for a tractor for use by the highway department; another for a three-months supply of groceries to the county home; afid the third for insurance coverage of county-own-ed trucks. The commissioners will meet ’ later to consider questions not: ’ taken up Monday. Among these; will be whether the county offices | • will be run according to daylight! ’ saving or central standard time., The petitioners in favor of setting up a parks and recreation 1 board were represented before the i commissioners by Dennis Norman, i recreation director of the county: John B. Stoneburner, trustee of i Washington township; Charles Burdg, trustee of Union township;; ; Charles Fuhrman, trustee of Pre-| bie township; E. W. Busche; C.I i W. R. Schwartz, Jay Yost, August; Selking, Mrs. Carl Fry, Mrs. Harry . Crownover, Holman Egley, and L. ■ E. Archbold, couny agricultural agent. The petition was submitted in accordance with provisions of the state law of March 13, 1947. After the signatures have been investigated and public notice of the filing of the petition has been made, the commissioners will give remonstrators ample time to pre-; sent arguments against tae proposal. If the number of petitioners is larger than the number of those opposing, the county commissioners are empowered under the law to appoint the parks board. The

board would consist of five members: the county superintendent,! ('■'urn To Poise Eight I — St. Anthony Fire One Os Worst In Hospital History By United Press The fire at St. Anthony’s hos ! pttal in Effingham. lIJ.. believed to) have killed 57 persons, was the nation’s second worst hospital fire. The most disastrous hospital; fire was the one which swept the, Cleveland Clinic hospital on May, 15. 1929, killing 125. Third largest death toll in a hospital fire was recorded after the Lake Forest Park Sanitarium in Seattle on Jan. 31,1943. in which 32 died. In other major hospital and asylum fires. 26 aged and infirm per sons died at the asylum of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Pitts-’ burgh on July 25. 1931, while 22 patients and three guards were kill ' ed in a fire at a hospital for the ! men’ally ill on Wards Island, New ! York, on Feb. 18, 1923. Other major fires in recent years and the death tolls were; Dec. 7, 1946—Winecoff hotel, At-1 ianta, 120. , June 5, 1945—LaSalle hotel, Chi i cago. 62. July 6, 1944—Circus fire. Hart ford. Conn., 168. Nov. 28, 1942—Cocoanut Grove night club, Boston, 488. Dec. 12, 1942—Barn dance at ' Knights of Columbus hostel, St. John's Nfld., 110.

our third chi d. We have Tom. 7,| and Janet. 5. My wife’s a blue eyed blonde. She's 25. She told me we ought to name the new baby 'Lucky.' She was the brave t thing I ever saw. I was home asleep about midnight when I heard the hospital was on fire. I ran the three blocks to the ho* pital. I knew she was in there. When I arrived someone was pushing at the screen on the delivery room window, just above f roof. It was June. Flames and smoke were shooting all around. The firemen put I the ladder up there. June knocked the screen out and crawled onto the roof. Then she started down the ladder. I <Taf« Te Pa<« ««•*«»

UN's General Assembly Opens This Afternoon I New Security Pact • Expected To Touch Off Heated Debate Flushing, N. Y„ Apr. 5—(UP)— I The United Nations general assembly opens today for another attempt to solve key wor'.d problems under the threat of an east-west , running battle over the North At- . lantic treaty. Ominous Russian protests against the 12-nation pact overi shadowed other major issues up j for debate as more than 400 dele- •! gates from 58 member nations prei pared to meet at 2 P. M„ CST. (A dispatch from Moscow said diplomatic observers believed Russian delegate Andrei Gromyko would introduce a resolution at the general assembly meeting condemning the Atlantic pact as a , violation of the UN charter.) Crucial issues which may he i brought up by the west during the ■coming weeks include the recent j trials of Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary and Protestant ■ clergymen in Bulgaria, and the I subject of the veto. Russia is certain to fight boih issues. Dr. Herbert Evatt, assembly president and Australian foreign minister, will open the session with a short extemporaneous address. ’ Anticipating new quarrels, Evatt oh the eve of the meeting issued a new appeal for cooperation In ■ the UN. Without this, he warned, I "it will be impossible to achieve international peace based upon justice and not upon mere power of force.” I All advance signs pointed to-

ward a struggle between Russia land the western powers on the legality of .the 20 year defense I treaty signed yesterday in Washington. Russia formally has protested the pact as an aggressive (alliance aimed at the Soviet Union (in defiance of the UN charter. These charges have been rejected by the treaty signers, and President Truman. I Russia's Andrei Gromyko has not tipped his hand on how or when he will condemn the treaty 'in the UN assembly. But delegates forecast the attacks would be touched off early in the session which may last six weeks. Tho assembly meeting is dn extension of the third regular session held at Paris la t Sept. 21 to Dec. 12- That meeting adjourned after it failed to complete work lon a 75-point agenda. Nineteen ; I Issues still remain, four more i 1 have been proposed, and others j (Turn To Page Eight) Lincoln PTA Will Meet Here Thursday Psychologist To Be Principal Speaker One of the year's most interesting programs is scheduled for the regular monthly meeting of the Lincoln Parents Teachers associa tion at the Lincoln school Thurs day evening, when Miss Louise Brumbaugh, school psychologist of the Fort Wayne school city, will be the principal speaker. Miss ( Brumbaugh is state chairman of. the mental hygiene committee for. P. T. A. and is noted as an exceptionally entertaining speaker. Her subject will be “Education for What." Thursday nights program will begin at 7:30 o’clock with a short business session, during which time election of new officers wii! take place. Complete plans for the p. T. A. safety program for Lin- ' coin school children will also be presented at the meeting. A report on the summer roundup and health examination being | I held this week, will be given by i the chairman. Mrs. D. Burdette Custer. Following the program, refreshments will be served The local P. T. A. organlxa’kn feels Itaelf fortunate to procure a speaker of the prominence and abi'ity of Miss Brumbaugh, and the officers urge that a targe attendance be present to hear her mcs-| sage.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, April 5, 1949

Father Grief-Stricken In Loss Os Family H - * ®W- •’} SiBfIHKBSn r W - ; M .M'.■ •:< ; /Al . .Au * St fl 1 w* " Wry • ■HBw GRIEF-STRICKEN Newton Einstandig, (top) whose wife and two tmJl children, were slain by his'father-in-law, is being assisted from his Detroit home by a detec!ive. Isaac Lubin, father of Mrs. Ruth Eiu tandig, suddenly went berserk, killing his daughter and her two children, Marcia, 3, and Marek, 8, (bottom.)

I Absconding Banker Nabbed In Florida Richard H. Crowe Captured By FBI Daytona Beach. F'.a., Apr. 5 — (UP)—Richard Henderson Crowe, ID-year-old New York bank official who disappeared March 27 with $884,660 from his bank, was captured here last night. Crowe surrendered without a struggle in a Daytona bar to agents of the federal bureau of investigation and local authorities. He told officers he had spent his I time as a fugitive at this resort lounging on the beach and visit ing bars. FBI agents said they recovered $54,798.63 of the loot he took from a branch office of the National City Bank of New York. The money was discovered in a ■ suitcase in the Daytona apartment : where Crowe had been hiding since last Saturday under the ' name of Richard Karr. ‘ Another $36,505 of the stolen i money had been recovered previ iously. And $39,850 more has been 1 'ocated but not recovered. A tight lid of secrecy was immediately clamped on Crowe’s arrest. Special FBI agent Edwin H. Duff told reporters here that he had been ordered personally bv FBI agent J. Edear Hoover in Washington to refer all questions on the arrest directly to Hoover or to rpecial agent Crawford Carson who is in charge of the FBI office at Miami. Local police professed to be in the dark about whether Crowe was even in the Daytona jail. Carson disclosed at Miami that Crowe will be arraigned later to . day at Tampa. , Crowe was charged with taking $193,660 in cash. The rest of the funds were in securitie*. Crow# reportedly told the FBI he carried off the securities just to make National City Bank officials angry. | He said he threw them into the Atlantic ocean. Crowe was traced through two new automobiles which he bought during his one-week splurge in the (Tara Tn Pn<r Twat • (Annual Eighth Grade Commencement Set Approximately 200 pupils are expected to receive their diplomas In the annual eighth-grade graduation to he held In Berne by the county rural schools, according to county' school superintendent Lyman L. Hann The graduation has been tentatively tet for May 21.

Report On Receipts Os Parking Meters Parking meter receipts for the calendar month of March did not | increase appreciably over the preI vious month of February, figures released today by city clerk-treas-urer H. Vernon Aurand reveal. During the month of March, motorists deposited a total of $1,091.15 in the city's 196 parking meters, while receipts for February totaled $1,036.54, according to Mr. Aurand. Allege Violations 01 Peace Treaties Protests Filed By East, West Blocs By United Press Diplomatic observers in Moscow said today that Russia probably will ask the United Nations general assembly opening In New York today to denounce the North Atlantic tceaty as a violation of the UN charter. They believed chief Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko would introduce a resolution condemning the 12 nations whg signed the hl dorkpact in Wa hington yesterday. Russia already has charged in I notes of protest that the pact vio ' lates the charter, is aggressive in intent and is aimed directly at the Soviet Union. Less than 24 hours after the ! signing of the treaty designed by the west to prevent World War 111, the easern and western blocs engaged in a flurry of protests over alleged violations of the peace agreements of World War 11. Russia, which sponsored the transfer of nearly 40,000 square miles of eastern Germany to Poland in 1945. formally protested aga'nst the cession of 52 square miles of western Germany to neighboring countries. Britain. France and the United States were expected to reject the Soviet protest. They authorited I the minor changes in the west German border without Russian participation, but they had consented when Russia acted unilater- ' al y to absorb a chunk of Germany for Poland. Communist Romania charged the United States wi h peace treaty violations The Bucharest government announced that it had sent the C. S. a note lest Thursday accusing it of preventing the return of property looted by the Germans during World War 11. That was the Romanian answer ! to an American-Britisb-Canadlan, (Tara Ta Tag* Eight)

Hospital Is Turned Into Blazing Death Trap; One Os Worst Hospital Fires

Senate Moves Slowly Toward Fund Passage More Amendments To Marshall Aid Renewal Defeated Washington April 5 — (UP) — The senate today defeated some more proposed amendments in its slow passage of the $5,580,000,000 .Marshall plan renewal bill. Administration leaders hoped the measure, now in its 10th day of senate debate, would be passed tomorrow. The house has yet to act on it. Spending for European recovery ended at midnight Saturday hut enough goods had been ordered previously to keep shipments going for a while. The first amendment defeated to- ! day was one by Sen. Allen J. Ellen- ! der. D„ La„ to require recovery ■ nations to repay with strategic ma- ■ terials one-fourth of aid they get j from the United States. The administration, which wants the renewal j bill, objected that Elknder’s proposal would set up a formula too inflexible to be. practical. It lost 58 to 22. , Other congressional deveiopt ments: . | "Remember 1950" — CIO . j president Philip Murray said chanc.l es of the administration’s Taft1 Hartley repealer are good in the house and not so good in the sen- ■ ate. His message to pro-Taft-Hart-ley senators was, “remember. ( there will be an election in 1950.” > Southern Democratic supporters I i of the Taft-Hartley law in the house ; I claimed 219 yotes against repeal in that chamber. They said 69 Demo-1 erats and 150 Republicans would | vote to keep the act on the books. | Money — The house appropria- [ tlons committee recommended that | congress vote $684,616,102 to run | the state, justice, and commerce de-! partmenta and the federal judiciary I in fiscal 1950. The total was 155,- j 407,354 less than President Tru-1 man asked. , Espionage — The military asked 1 , for a tough new anti-spy law to pro-; tect the nation against the "new . and strange" threat to American liberties posed by subversives and , others. Maj. Gen. Stafford Leroy Irwin, director of army intelligence. ■ asked approval of a proposed conn-1 ter-esplonage measure in behalf ot the three armed forces. Leaks — The house armed serv(Turn To Pace Mrveok Health Clinic Held i Here For Children PTA And Physicians Conduct Clinic Here The third annual health round-up of Decatur children began today at Lincoln school with the examina lions of 179 pre-kindergarten and | I second-grade children. Special eye i I examinations were given all first- ( graders. The examinations, held under the | ■ auspices of thq Lincoln Parent j Teachers Association, will be completed from S a m. to noon Wednes j day. Local doctors, all of whom donated lheir services, recommended i in the course ot the examinations what medical attention the children ; required. Miss Jean Shockley, conn-1 ty health nurse, explained to moth- j ers who accompanied their children. the necessity of following the doctors' instructions. Fourth and fifth graders will be examined tomorrow, at which time Dr Ben Duke will examine the eyes ot sixth grade children. All nre-eehool children who srlll enttr •chool next tall, and who were not examined today, may be brought by their mothers to the Lincoln school Wednesday morning.

Ten New-Born Babies Die In Disaster As Flames Scourge St Anthony’s Hospital In Effingham, 111. Effingham, 111., Apr. S—(UP)-A fire flashed through the 80-year-old St. Anthony’s hospital early today, trapping scores of helpless patients, and authorities feared that at least 57 persons perished. Ten newborn babies died in the disaster, one of the worst hospital fires in the nation’s history. Another baby was born dead after its mother was injured critically in jumping out of a window. At 1 p. m. 34 bodies had been counted and 26 identified. The fire started shortly before midnight in the basement of the three-story, brick building, which supposedly was

Truman Concerned Over Unemployment President Confers With Leader Os CIO Washington, April 5—(UP)— Philip Murray, head of the CIO, said today after a conference with ■ President Truman that the chief ! executive is somewhat concerned about the extent of unemployment Murray told reporters that the ! President "evidenced some conj cern” about the present unemploy!ment situation. He also said he urged the Presii dent to send a special.message to i the house and senate "amplifying” tpe administration program for . public assistance. The UlO leader said Mr. Truman promised to con- ! sider this request. The administration plan for pub- ■ lie assistance would call for the federal government to help all states care for needy persons, regardless of age. The house ways' and means committee has indicat1 ed it will pigeonhole the plan. On unemployment, the census! bureau reported last Friday the : number of totally Jobless was a ' little smaller in March than in, February. The bureau is expect-1 I ed to provide further details late i this week as to how many of the I March employed were working only I part time. Murray, who has been ill, said he ' went to the White House at the re('Turn To Page Flvet I Mayor Asks Aid In Tracing Gas Fumes Mayor John Doan has asked assistance from the Northern Indiana Public Service Co., which operates 'the gas company in Decatur, in an ‘ effort to trace escaping gas in sev-, rral blocks near the business section. Cedric Fisher, fire chief, and a crew of men have been hunting for I the solution to the escaping gas ■ problem for several days and It I lias not yet been determined whether the odor comes from sewer gas ! or from gas mains. Cooperation lias , been promised the mayor and work I will continue to trace the odors Gas fumes can be noted on Second street and also on Monroe street. The fumes are more offensive fol- • lowing rainy spells.

Nurse Relates Horror Os Effingham Hospital Fire

By LOUISE .DETERS (As Tod To I’nltcd Press) Effingham. 111., Apr S—(UPII was asleep in the St. Anthony's nurses home about a half block from the hospital when the fire i started. I was awakened at about mid 1 night by the most terrible screams i I’ve ever heard. I looked out of a window and saw flames coming out of the hospital office windows. 1 threw on a coat and called the o her two nurses who were in the home at the time, and we ran to the hospital. It seemed like tames were escaping from all over. They were coming out of every window and er»ry door in the building. The firemen had a few patients out by the time we arrived. We helped get ma: tresses from the i

Price Four Cents

fireproof and had its own fire extinguishing system. The cause of the fire was not known. The flames shot up a laundry chute and swept through all floors. Patients died in attempts ■ to crawl through thick smoke | and flames that filled the corridors. Others died in their beds, some with their limbs ’ in casts or suspension slings. > Fireman Charles Jaycox said I about 12 patients jumped from windows, killing at least one and ; | Injuring several. Others were • helped from first floor windows. At least 15 persons were injured in escaping from the flames, • I police said. ’ Mrs. Wenton Sidner, 22, who I was in a delivery room annex waitr ing to have a baby, jumped screamr|ing from a second floor window. ! She suffered a broken back and right arm. Her baby was born , i dead an hour later. The bodies of nine other babies were recovered from the ruins ,1 and taken to an improvised . morgue in a hall near the hos--1 pital. Authorities said that anothi er. newborn child of Mrs. C. J. Springer, died in the flames. Mrs. Springer escaped by jumping from , a window. Much of the interior of the building collapsed. Floors and ceilings were piled on the bodies and authorities said the exact death toll might never be known. The hospital records were destroyed. Hours after the flames were put out firemen were digging through the debris and carrying bodies to an improvised morgue. The Rev. John J. Goff, pastor of St. Anthony’s church, connected with the hospital, said the best estimate of the number of persons in the building at the time the fire started was 134. These included, he said. 108 patients. three nonpatients, a Miss Mary Kessler, and 22 nuns. Rescuers’ check lists showed that 57 patients and 20 nuns escaped. Miss Kessler died in the flames. The dead included Miss Fern Riley, 21. a nurse who refused to leave the babies and died a heroine apparently trying to save them, firemen said. Others report-d dead included the Rev. C. C. Sandon. chaplain at the hospital; two nuns. Sisters Bertina and Eustachia; and Frank (Tara To Page Se»ea>

hospital storeroom in back of the building and spead them on the ground. The firemen yelled to the patients to jump on the mattresses. but I don’t know how many actually jumped. The patients who jumped were iaken to the storeroom, and wo gave morphine to those who were in a lot of pain. There were a lot of them. _ As soon as ambulances from ho* pita’s In other towns began arriving. we put the patients on the ambulance stretchers and took th-m to nearby homes. There wasn't mneh we could do. Everybody felt so helpless. We called the rHa’i-w of the patients as soon as we got their names It was just horrible. Everything i went so fast.