Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 49, Number 196, Decatur, Adams County, 20 August 1951 — Page 1

Vol. XLIX. No. 196.

KILLER HURRICANE RAGES INTO MEXICO

UN And Neds Trade Charges Os Violations . Subcommittee Is t Still Seeking To End Long Deadlock UN Advance Base Below Kaesong. Korea, Tuesday, Aug. tl.-MUPI-f-The United Nations and Communist j-commands exchanged charges of deliberate neutrality violations Monday white a cease-fire suhcommitten tried tb break the long deadlock over the fixing of an armistice line. * The Chinese Communists introduced a new angle into an already ik complicated situation by sending . letters to soldiers in the UN battle , like proposing that front line units arrange an informal armistice of their own While cease-fire talks continue. ; United Nations forces replied by capturing at least three key hills in the third day of a flaming hew offensive. , The atmosphere of the ceasefire negotiations, which had been pnimiskig, became less hopeful as the subcommitteemen negotiating the cease-fire line prepared to .hold their fifth meeting at 11 a.m. today (7 p.m. Monday CST)., .The North Korean -Pyongyang * radio acuse<L the United States of making a bargaining game out of the negotiations. It said that if the Communists had wanted to bargain they^would have demanded ~ a cease-fire ,l|pe along the Naktong ■ river in South Korea "where the UN troops held their little perimiter in the early dark days of the war. . North Korean Gen. Nam II charged that U&T forces ambushed a detachment of Communist troops Sunday inside the Kaesong .area and killed its commander. He demanded satisfaction. UN and Communist liaison officers investigated this incident. As the result * the UN command expressed belief that the ambush , -was staged by ' North Korean • troops, or civilians—or possibly even South Korean civilians —to. disrupt cease-fire talks. “The possibility exists that tkej shooting was the work of a politi-cally-guided civilian group operating under instructions to create an atmosphere\of tension which would tend to support the breaking of the current military armistice conference,” a UN command release said. So fay,- no reply has been announced to Nam 11, who demanded a guarantee against further neutrality/ violations and “severe punishment? of UN troops alleged to be responsible for Sunday’s ambush, r ■- A The four-man subcommittee held its shortest meeting—7o minutes — j in Kaesong Monday and adjourned until today apparently still deadlocked over the fixing of a ceasefire line. ' —< ' 'v ' . ~ George Fry's Funeral Held This Afternoon Funeral services were held this afternoon at Portland for George the peace, who died Friday night laster an extended illness. • Survivors include his wife, Loretta; six sons. Grant Fry of Decatur, Frederick of Fort Wayne, William of Chicago, Charles and Albert, both of Portland and Harry of Dunkirk, *ne daughter, Mrs. Mar garet Fink of Fort Wayne; 16 grandchildren; four great-grand-children and a brother, Jerry of J Flint, Mich. Home Is Damaged By Fire Here Saturday O' ' ■- Fire caused considerable-damage Saturday to the home of Loren Wigger, of 1728 Madison street, which broke out while, the family was away. Starting in the living room—"behind the davenport”-— fire, water and smoke damage resulted When firemen were bailed to extinguish the flame. Most of the “extensive" damage was done to the living room, to the furniture and the wills, but smoke damage'Was considerable in the rest of the house. Though no estimate was made of the damage, ft is known the house was insured.

DECATUR DA I I.Y DEMOCRAT ORLY DAILY MBWtFAFSII IN ADAMS COUNTY ' v

Mysterious Letters Propose Armistice UN Patrols Receive Strange Proposals , SOMEWHERE IN KGREA, Aug. 17.—Relayed by Censor) —(UP)— United Nations patrols all along the front have been receiving for three days mysterious letters proposing that UN and Chinese Communist front' line units arrange an informal armistice themselves while cease-fire talks continue at Kaesong, it was disclosed today. ■ The letters, ungrammatical and awkwardly composed, have been left in advance of the front lines where UN patrols would find them or have been delivered by Korean farmers who approach the patrols under a white flag. -Addressed \ to “Americans and British officers and men,” the letters are practically identical. They say: 1— 'Peace talks at Kaesong have been going on since July 10, but soldiers on both sides continue to die. 2— To eliminate needless casualties, UN and--Communist front line troops should talk to each other. 3— It is proposed that when UN and Red forces come into contact, they should wave white flags as a signal they are ready to talk. 4 — Replies should be\ sent through Korean inhabitants of front line areas, including any questions or demands for assurances. y s—At a time io be agreed upon, delegates of front line units should meet in no man’s land as “a friendly party,” each side to guarantee the other’s security "on the basis of military honor” to try to stop all fighting possible. One letter was signed “Chinese people's volunteer force” along with the signature of an individual whose Identity UN censocs withheld. \ One UN unit has received a copy of the letter each day" for three days. \The letters, though identical, are in different handwriting. All are in English. The ‘first was found by an advance patrol in a tin can mail box 4.000 yards in front of the UN lines, another was delivered by an elderly farmer carrying a white flag. . On the back of one envelope was written: * “Let us have a reply at one (once) please! Don’t hesitate! It’s time to decide?’ A farmer who delivered a letter to a patrol said he was approached by a woman while he was working on his farm near Yonchon on the west central front and told he had been “chosen to perform a mission.” He was taken to the nearest village, he said, where four North Korean soldiers gave him the letter and told him to take it to the UN front lines. One of the Notth Koreans appeared to be a company commander, he said:

August Gallmeyer Dies This Morning / Funeral Services To Be Wednesday August H. Gallmeyer. io-year-qld retired farmer, and a lifelong resident of Preble township,- died at 8:30 o’clock this morning, at his home, seven miles north of Decatur, following a serious illness of one week. _ \ \ t Born in Preble township March 9, 1871, he was a son of Conrad and Wilhelmina Gallmeyer, and was married to Louise Berning Oct. 14, 1897. Mrs. Gallmeyer died June 1, 1911. a He was an active member of the St. John’s Lutheran church. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. August Selking of Root township; one son, Martin F. Gallmeyer of Preble township; seven grandchildren, and one brother, William C. Gallmeyer of Root township. Three children, two brothers and two sisters are deceased. ■ Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Zwlck funeral home and at 2; 30 o’clock at the St John’s Lutheran church, the Rev. W. G. Sehwenn officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends at the Zwick funeral home after 7 o’clock this evening.

United Nations Forces Hit At Enemy Forces Blaze Os Fighting j Coincides To New Cease-Fire Crisis . Bth Army Headquarters, Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 21.—(UP)— Un(ted Nations infantrymen, tanks and artillery Mt, Ore Cqmmunists- and fought off savage counter-attacks Monday in a blase of fighting that coincided with a new crisis in cease-fire talks. Embarked on the biggest offensive since the' truce talks started July 10, the’ UN forces captured three key hills Monday. Enemy counter-attacks were beaten, off. . Front line advices told of hand to hand fighting and powerful UN artillery Action extended almost all, the way from the east Aast to the heights east of the cf ise-fire conference city of Kaesoi_t. UN infantrymen inctjbd forward in rain, fog and strategic points all along an front in the heaviest fightinfii since the cease-fire talks Kaesong July 10. ® The Communists putipp fanatic resistance. Allied tropps had to dig them out of theiuriioles with bayonets, grenades :y|l massed artillery fire. Tanks brought up to fire pointblank into bunkers. In one engagement,' Turkish troop? shot, bayonetted and even strangled Chinese in a bloody battle in an apple orchard. In the air,| U.S. jet fighters again roared over {northwest Korea near the Manchurian border in a defiant challenge to Red jets to cone up and fight. v American Sabrejets shot down (wo (Communist MIG-15 jets, probably destroyed another and damaged six without lose to themselves Saturday and On the ground, the allies pressed their new offensive from a point north of Seoul almost to the east coast. The Communists struck back in their first sizable counter-httack shortly after midnight (8 a.m. Sunday CST) southwest of Kumsong, their main central front stronghold. The initial impact of the Red assault slightly penetrated the allied line, but the UN troops regained their positions after a five-hour battle. The Communists withdrew. The allies scored their biggest (Tvra To Page Tfcree)

Nine Persons Killed J I . I . . In Traffic Mishaps. Motorists Crowd Indiana Highways By UNITED PRESS \ Hoosier motorists Crowded Indiana highways during another fairweather weekend and death claimed its share of them. At least nine persons died in traffic mishaps and another drowned - ' The drowning victim was John Milburn, 18, Bering, Mo., while swimming in a gravel pit north of Greenfield, where he was visiting. Mrs. Laura Mosshamer, 42, Fort Wayne, died following a two-car collision at a county road intersection southeast of that city Sunday. Four-month-old Rickey Lynn Smith was killed in a\head-on collision of two automobiles in Greenfield Saturday. . William\ Thompson, 33, Indianapolis, lost control of his car on U. 52 north of Lebanon, went over an embankment and was killed Sunday. Alfred Kelly Bricker, 15, Daleville.was killed in a truck-car collision on Ind. 32, east of Anderson Saturday. T J Ray Axiey, 47, Matthews, died Sunday from injuries received in a car-truck crash on lnd. 28, north of Muncie. A Tigard, Ore., soldier stationed at Ft. Knox, Ky., was killed when a car smashed into a bridge on U. S. 30 northwest of Knox. He was Cpl. William Hine, 21. Wilma Lairison, 22, Middletown, 0., was killed in Richmond Saturday in a three-car collision. She was riding with her brother and his fiance who were hunting the courthouse to obtain a mariage 11(Tara To Pace Six)

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, August 20,1951.

C^tlifornia-to-Michigan—3y 2 Hours ' I COL. KEITH K. COMPTON of St. Toeeph, Mo., receives congratulations from Bendix president Malcomb (P. Ferguson, after piloting his F-8(» Sabrejet plane at, 555 .m.p.b., fronUMuroc, Cal., to Detroit’s Wayne major airport to win the Bendix trophy race, annual speed classic. He covered the distance in 3 hours, ZBlninutes. V

State Breakdown I On Welfare Funds ' Balance In County Funds In January INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 20—(UP) —The Indiana state welfare department figures that five counties will overdraw their county welfare funds by Dec. 31 and all but nine will have lower balances than they had a year earlier. A breakdown prepared by state director Maurice JO. Hunt’s office showed that if each county shares 40 percent of the loss of federal funds withdrawn because of the new anti-secrecy law, there will be overdrafts in Clinton. Dearborn, Hendricks, I Marion and Pike counties. ’ I ] The overdrafts Will range from $2,013 in Hendricks to $499,802 in Marion. .< The /estimated balances in 78 counties will be lower than the ' same date a year previously. Some 1 will he considerably lower and other balances will be only slightly less. Os the nine counties scheduled to show larger balances this year’s end than last, Allen county appears to be in the best shape—at least, on the surface. *■ Allen\ will have $257,298, compared with (last Jan. 1. Other counties with bigger balances will be Decatur, $25,257 compared with $23,818; Hamilton; $31,616 compared with $27,280; Jasper, $24,941 compared with $20,896; Lagrange, $26,194 compared with $lB,863; Lake, $89,883 compared with $63,782; Scott, $18,129 compared with $17,237; Warrick, $32,438 compared with $31,474, and Wells, $55,329 compared with $37,065. Some of these balances may look better on paper than otherwise. For instance, the Lake county estimated balance of sß9,r 883 seems large. But actually, Lake' county had $464,522 balance last month and most of that will be depleted by year’s end because the estimated additional cost per\ month due to the federal cut-off is a-ound $53,000. Presuming Adams county pays the 40 percent of welfare costs previously granted through federal government aid, there wjll be a $37,395 balance at the end of this year, according to figures projected by the state welfare department. This county’s balance January 1 was $43,187; July 1, the balance was $54,561. The state figures there will be an estimated additional monthly cost to the county of $3,013, thus (arriving at the $37,395 amount, making the January 1, 1952, balance $5;792 less than a year previous. The welfare department fijgules it will cost Indiana counties a total of $610,032 a month to shoulder the 40 percent share required by law when federal funds are withdrawn. It estimates the total balance In (Tara To Page Six)

Commissioners In . Special Session Members of the board of county were scheduled today to' receive bids for the erection of two bridge abutments, one of them in Washington township, the other in Jefferson township, as the principal order of business in their all-day special session. Early today the board inspected the Alt and Augsburger drain in Hartford township and approved the proposed bridge improvement project in Jefferson township, submitted to them by Dick Boch. No report was made following the inspection. GOP Solons Assail 'J Truman And Boyle Capehart, Bricker ' Demand Full Probe Washington, Aug. 20.—(UP)— Two Republican senators attacked President Truman and Democratic national chairman William M. Boyle, Jr., today, saying they have let /‘morality in government decline to the lotfest ebb in the nation’s history.” Sens. Homer E. Opehart of Indiana and ? John W. Bricker of Ohio, GOP members -of a senate subcommittee which investigated the RFC, demanded a “full congressional investigation” of Boyle. They also said that presidential aide Donald S. ‘Dawson should be “summarily dismissed.” Describing Boyle as the “fountainhead of favoritism and influence,” they said it is “entirely possible that an all-out investigation — would uncover new? scandals.” ' \ And they said the time has come to consider curbs on the activities of the Democratic national committee id government. Their denunciations were contained In a 113-page minority report. It was filed with the senate along with a 33-page majority report. Chairman J. William Fulbright, D. Ark., of the subcommittee which investigated the' RFC called the Capehart-Bricker report a “scurrilous indictment” and a “political diatribe.” Fulbright noted that Capehart and Bricker criticized Sen. James E. Murray, D.„ Mont., for helping to get an RFC loan for a Miami Beach hotel represented by his son, but did not mention the SIO,OOO paid to Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R„ Wis., by Lustron Corp., a heavy RFC borrower, for a housing pamphlet Fulbright said this showed' the “extreme partisan, political character of the (GOP) report” because it “overlooks one of the most interesting examples of private enrichment of a Republican jnsmber of the senate, while at the same time rehashing at length a case (Tara Ta Page Three)

Panic-Stricken Citizens Take Shelter In Churches, 109 Are Killed In Jamaica

Condemned Killer Asks For Reprieve Young Killer Asks For Reprieve Springfield. 111., Aug. 20—(UP)— Harry Williams, condemned murderer who killed a guard and broke out of Cook county jail last week, today asked the Illinois supreme court for a reprieve. An attorney for the 20-year-old negro filed a petition for a write of error with the court clerk’s office, asklngwhat the court postpone Williams’ execution while the petition is beingntdnsidered. The high court convenes Sept. 10, four days before Williams’ scheduled execution for a rape-slaying. Williams slugged 43-yearold guard George Turley to death last Tuesday night and escaped from the Chicago jail. -He was the object of a citywide manhunt and was finally recaptured while riding a streetcar Thursday night. His lawyer asked supreme court justice Walter V. Schaefer in Chicago to postpone the execution last Friday, but Schaefer refused. However, he told the lawyer that he could file his petition for consideration by the court as a whole. Schaefer said the motion for stay of execution would be considered by the full bench In Springfield Sept. 10. Schaefer ordered the court to file the common law record of the case. Williams was convicted in Cook county criminal court of the murder a year ago today of Mrs. Mary Scott in Chicago. On last May 16 he was given the death penalty. ; Leighton said he gave notice of filing a writ of error May 23. But he said the court reporter had been unable to furnish him with a bill of exceptions necessary to file the writ. ■ | The lawyer said ‘ he must leave Illinois until Sept. 10 and cannot prepare the writ of error before Williams’ execution date. Leighton told the court that during his absence, the case will be handled by attorney George D. Carry, Chicago.

Jet Speed Records Made In Air Races > Detroit Draws Huge Crowd To Air Races Detroit, Mich., Aug 20—(UP)— Great new jet fepeed records went into the national air races books today and officials, spurred by public enthusiasm, began planning a far more ambitious carnival for 1952. t Highlight of the 1951’ renewal of the American air classic was the re turn to the United States of the world record for a 100-kllometer (about 62 miles) closed course. A mark of 635.411 miles an hour for the oval-shaped six-pylon course was set by air force Col. Fred J. Ascani, Rockford, 111., in a stock model north American F-86E Sabre fighter. \ .1 That figure eclipsed the previous record, 605.23 mph, held by John Douglas Derry of Great Britain. Ascani rang it up on Friday in a warmup run before the races were officially underway and yesterday for good measure he streaked around the pylons at 628.698 mph In the Thompson jet trophy speed event for the benefit of more than 100,000 fans. Another high mark for next year's contestants to shoot at when the race is held here again will be the Bendix transcontinental speed dash record of 553.761 mph set by Col. Keith K. Compton. St. Joseph. Mo., raising the previous record for the cross-country course by more than 24 miles an hour. Both Compton and Ascani pushed close to 700 miles an hour during portions of their flights, to border on the speed of sound. In the first renewal here since 1922, the carnival attracted 154,000 paid admissions on Saturday and (Tara Ta Page Six)

Terms G.O.P. Ouster Report As Political , Report Blasts At MacArthur Ouster, Far East Policies Washington, Aug, 20. —(UP) — Sen. J. William Fulbright, D.. Ark., said today a blistering report by eight Republicans of the senate MacArthur investigating tee was “99 percent political.” Eight of the 12 GOP members condemned President Truman’s discharge of Gen, Douglas MacArthur, bit at administration far eastern policies as a “catastrophic failure,” an demanded “liberation and unification” of Korea as the price for peace. - *. The report pointed up the opposition faced by the administration in nursing along the Kaesong truce talks. The report said any truce based on the 38th parallel in Korea would leave the Communists in control of tis nc/rthern half and be a Chinese Communist victory. Fulbright said the “mounting criticism” of the administration in such severe terms indicated GOP “desperation in regard to the next presidential election.” But Fulbright admitted he thought Mr. I Truman’s abrupt methb<r of firing MacArthur was “inexcusable” and “very bad judgment.” Sen. Walter F. George, D., Ga„ said he doubted whether there is any substantial degree of unanimity among committee members on “the most important" issues of the seven-weeks inquiry. c That appeared to be an understatement in view of the report of the eight GOP senators. George maintained that Republicans and Democrats were far apart on “the most important areas” and it would do no good to publish a flock of individual findings. i However, Sen. Brien McMahon,, D., Conn., planned to issue his own conclusions shortly and there was a probability that it would be, subscribed to by other Democrats. Sens. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and Leverett Saltonstall, Massachusetts Republicans, reported they could not subscribe completely to the findings ,of their GOP colleagues. Saltonstall issued a statement accusing Mr. Truman with “lack of Judgment and foresight” in firing MacArthur, but abstaining from much of the severe criticism on U.S. far eastern policy meted out in the eight-man report. The eight-man GOP report said that anything less than a complete victory for the United Nations forces in Korea would be a "de(Tira Te Pawe Six) Clarence B. Hoblit Dies This Morning Former G.E. Worker Dies At Willshire Clarence B. Hoblit, 69, a retired employe of the Decatur General Electric company, died at 7:30 o'block this morning at bis home in Willshire, O. He had been in failing health for several years and serious for the past two weeks. He was born in Montgomery county, 0., June 6, 1882, a son of Perry and Betty Fryback-Hoblit. He was married to Pearl Harper in 1911. Mr. Hoblit was a punch press operator at the G.E. plant from June of 1923 until June ‘of 1945, wjiemhe retired. / He was a member of the Masonic lodge at i Willshire. His wife is the only near surviving relative. ' The body was removed to the Ketcham funeral home at Rockford, O. Funeral arrangements have not been completed.

Price Five Cents

. Hurricane Bursts Across Yucatan Peninsula From Gulf Os Mexico MERIDA, Mexico, Aug. 20 — (UP)—A killer hurricane caused “widespread damage" as k raged across the # Yucatan peninsula today and panic-stricken inhabitants of this provincial capital took shelter in churches and public buildings. ’ The hurricane bad killed 109 persons when dt raked the Caribbean island Os Jamaiea. <* The New Orleans weather bureau reported at 10 a.m. CST. that' the hurricane had burst across the Yucatan peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico and was about 30 miles northwest of Merida. 1 As it moved across the peninsula it lost, part of its strength tnd its maximum .wind velocity) was 75 miles an hour, within 30 miles of the center. Gales extended outward 200 miles to the north. ”... But it (the hurricane) will increase in size and intensity over | the southwest Gulf of Mexico this afternoon and tonight," the weather bureau warned. "Extreme caution is advised all vessels in the southwest Gulf of Mexico between latitudes 21 and 2«.” _ High winds and sheets of rain lashed' Merida, a city of 100,000 popuHtion. as the hurricane crossed the peninsula. Weather officials said the hurricane was losing force as it moved across the peninsula toward the Gulf of Mexico coast at 15 mph. They predicted it would hit (he coastline north of Campeche about mid-day. Mexican airlines and the weather service, whose radio* circuits were the only communications link? with the Mexican “mainland,” reported “widespread damage” to flimsy native villages in the hurricane’s path. They had no reports of loss of life, however, because of primitive communications in this center of the ancient Mayan civilization. Telephone and cable connections were inoperative across the entire peninsula. Airline service 'was suspended. The Isla de Mujeres (Island of Women) and Cozumel island, where a large air base huilt by the United States during the war now is held by the Mexican aip force, took the first blow of the storm as it swept out of the Caribbean last night. "Moderate damage” to the two islands was reported by weather officials, but “there was no known life.” Only scattered villages and hardwood forests were in the hurricane’s path across the peninsula. “It may cut a wide- swath.” a government official said, loss of life should be low.” This capital and its nearby port of 15,000 are the only pofrulated areas of any size on the entire Yucatan peninsula. There are no roads connecting this remote area with the rest of {Mexico. Ultil the advent of the airplane, ships were the principal link with the rest of the country, j •

Late this year, the-capital was connected with other parts of Mex- 1 ico for the first timfe by a single railroad line. • ' > * W’hen the storm hit Jamaica Friday night, it had winds up to 130 miles an hour, but the weather bureau expected it to lose some of its force as it swept across Yucatan. Rescue workers at Kingston mill were digging bodies from she debris of the popular resort today. Thousands were homeless and damage was estimated as high as <20,000.000. Jamaica’s British Gov. Hugh Foot described the huricjfael as 1 ’the worst storm ever to bit the island.” INDIANA WEATHER Showers and scattered thunderstorms north and central portions, partly cloudy extreme south tonight. Tuesday showers and cooler. Low tonight 62 < to 66. High Tuesday 73 to 78 north, 80 central, 86 extreme south.