Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 49, Number 299, Decatur, Adams County, 20 December 1951 — Page 1

. ♦ . » \ # S' Vol. XLIX. Nol 299.1

PLAN AIRLIFT FOR AMERICAN PRISONERS

U.S. Officials Again Warn On Prisoner List Defense Department Nears Completion / Os Heartache List Washington, Dec. 20. —(UP) — The defense department hoped to complete today its heartache list of 3,198 U.S. servicemen reported by the Communists as prisoners of war in Korea. *j Pentagon officials cautioned anew that they di> not consider trustworthy the list supplied bf the Reds; President Truman-yesterday: urg- • ed the loved ones of missing American servicemen to •‘•treat this list with betause the United States has no way of determining. how “true or false” it is. ; , Personnel on the list of all serv-' ices except the army had been completely processed by the Pentagon ‘crew of 10 officers and 232 civilian employes working around the supplying home addresses and inext of kin. The defense departinent announced at 6:30 a.m. CST that about h.OOO names had been made public. The remaining names, it said, will be released:- as quickly as exhaustive checks are made on servicemen on whom some bit of information is lacking. " ; . I As of. 6:30 a.m., more than 3,000 telegrams had be.en sent to next of 4 kin. The telegrams were greater in number because some servicemen listed more than one person as yiext of kin, and telegrams were sent to all of them. J J The total of 3,198 names -supplied by the . enemy was a bitter contrast to the 11,051 American servicemen reported by the defense department as officially missing in action. The defense - department total includes 548 airmen, 284 marines and 47 navy men. 7 The 'Communist* list has 58 marines, eight navy men and 76 air force personnel. Notifications are sent to ne|t of kin as rapidly as the Pentagon checks the Communist list against itsown casualty list J The names over by the Reds then are given to the press, television; and radio. . The defense department said the kin of some army personnel on the Communisf list had not been notified immediately' because (1). their relative? are overseas 1 and would be notified tdday, and (2) further investigation Was required in cases where the next of kin was dead or for some other reason unavailable immediately. An army spokesman said a few men on the list had been recorded .by the United -States as killed in (Turn Ta Pare Five) .» - G.E.'f Christmas Display Friday, , Features Frosty •Frosty, the snow* man, is featured in ah attractive outdoor Christmas? display in front of the General Efectnc plant. on Ninth street. ’ f Frosty is shown waving a greeting' to Santa Claus as his reindeer pull him in bis sleigh up onto the roof of, the house to; the chimney. The reindeer are depicted ih an active moving position. The house is gayly lighted and decorated in true Christmas, fashion. In front of the house where Frosty Is cutting capers, there is also a beautifully decorated Christmas tree with many lights, recorations, and .ornaments. The lights will be turned on Friday evening and the public- is cordially invited to view the attractive display, which will be, kept lighted until - after New Year's Day. H. ' ; - ■ • i Peter Kipley Dies In Chicago Wednesday V Word was received here last , evening of the death of j Peter F. Kipley, 58, in Chicago. His death was attributed to a heart attack. Mr. Kipley -was'a brother of Mrs. John Neering and, Mrs. Florence Des Jean of South Third Street. Besides the two sisters, be is survived by his wife and two Funeral arrangements had wot been completed this afternoon. • >

DECATUR DAI LY DEMOCRAT 4 4 ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS BOUNTY f . < ii. —— —— - —— '

Millionth Traffic Victim To Die Soon Expect Figure To Be Reochecf On Saturday jphicago, Dec. 20.-HUP)f-t “Victim X” went shopping, today for Christmas. But he won't live that Ipfcg-? \ . 1 A X” has only, two more da(ys to live. About noon pn Dec. 22“ be wilh.be killed in a traffic accident. fifhe county morgue will list Ms death as,a matter of routine, just like almost a million others. But “vjetim X.”*will have ope distinction. • | will i be the one-millionth traf-fic-death in the United States since the first wheezing,automobile marked finis td 7 a horse-drawn era of c<|nipkrative safety; It will be one o| kn expected traffic deaths during the Christmas holidays. 7' • | As-' °f midnight last niot, the .national safety council estimated tfiie nation’s overall motor: vehicle deaths since the turn of theiceutury ki 999,750. ;.A i TThe identity of “victim X” never w|ll be known. The millionth violin* could be almost anyone, the sapfty council said—a child darting across a street, a husband driving home from his day’s work, a doing the family shop-, ping » fie could be you. Li-Afonths ago the council estimated that the millionth traffic victim would die this month. But; the experts could not be sure, and hoped thAt a decline in the death rate m|sht forestall the event. hopes dimmed today and th#y estimated that 600 persons will die from 6 p.m. Friday until midnight Tuesday for the biggest holiday death toll in history. They predicted that the millionth victim would d z ie Saturday. By labeling “M-Day” and focusing national attention on it. the Council hopes that “Mr. Million” Will not die in vain. \ His death will occur just 51 year?, three months and eight days a horseless carriage claimed tho first traffic victim in New York Ci|y in 1899. Jh that accident, the first motor vehicle death recorded in this country, a man named H. H. Bliss stepped off a trolley and turned to help a woman step down. An automobile struck him and he died in Rftpsevelt hospital the next day. Hit has taken a little more than 50 years to kill the first pillion,” Ned H. Dearborn, safety council president. “But if traffic deaths ccgitinue at the present rate, it .will tajee only 30 years to kill the sec(Turn To Face Einht) < 1 Ray Brandyberry Is Taken By Death v 7 Long Illness Fatal At Home Os Parents Raymond D. Brandyberry, 45, of Beaver avenuerFort Wayne, dijd at ?:30 o’clock Wednesday afternoon at the home ofi bis parents' Mr. and Mrs._Frank Brandyberry, 315 North Tenth street in city. Death followed an illndss of two years. jHe was born Jn Berns Oct. 5, a son of apd Ada Bar-ber-Brandy berry. He attended the Decatur high school and Jived here feir a number of years. In recent j ears he had operated a grocery and meat market on Fairfield avenue in Fort Wayne. He was married to Marie Reffey Dec; 31, 1930. |Mr. Brandyberfy was a ipember of the Royal Arch ’Mason? and the Serine at Terre Haute, the Knights Tpmplar at Fort Wayne, and the county sheriffs reserve pisse. ’ j in addition*to his wife parents are a daughter, Janice Rpe, at home; four brothers. Gregg pf Fort Wayne, Robert of Bluffton nad Chester and Randolph, both of locator; and three sisters, Miss Klarcella Brandyberry, a major in tlfe army, nurses corps in France, Gertrude Waddy of Mineral Voells. Tex., and Miss Florence Bt>ndyberry of Decatur. Funeral services will be conducted’ at 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon as? the Zwick funeral I home, the Rfcv. Samuel I&meriek officiating. Biirial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends, may call at the fUheral home after 7:30 o’clock this evening.

Rural Schools Close Early For Holiday Season Bad Weather Leads To Early Closing Os Rural Schools The Christmas holidays, for Berne and county school children, is officially in effect right now, but students of both Decatur schools will wait until Friday noon before “going on vacation,” The county schools, in fact; closed their doors early; today tot the most part, although many of the students did get to classrooms for the first time in a couple of days. AU schools, with the lone exception of the Decatur Catholic schools, will resume Wednesday, January 2. Catholic school officials, however, stated they would announce the resumption of classes later. While some of the students were getting to school today, most of the county’s roads were still blocked and driving was still hazardous. And the weatherman \ predicts that thte next few days will remain treacherous ones for motorists. He thinks rain, sleet, and a general freeze are none of it conducive to break-neck speeds. Much of it, indeed, is not even conducive to pedestrian traffic. . 7 However, there were many people in Decatur during the morning, none of them yet showing that last-minute harried look because of a forgotten purchase, but moat of them getting ready for the “great day.” # t It was also noted, according to a Daily Democrat survey of the situation,, that the slight rein pelting the snow made ideal snowballs. 'Enoch Arden' Case Reported In Atlanta Learns Ist Husband * Supposed Prisoner Atlanta, Dec. 20. —(UP) — The first “Bnoch Arden” case of the Korean war turned up heie today when a 2£year-old Woman, who remarried after her husband was reported killed in Korea, learned he is listed as a ComnihMst prisoner of war. “I just don’t krfow what to do,’-* stammered Mrs. Agnes Sasser. “I haven’t been able to think it all through yet.” - She'said she received a telegram from the defense department informing her that her first husband, Pvt. Walter Dixon. was7 wounded in Korea May 18, 1951, and died the next day. The woman who thought she was a widow, a native of Cullman, Ala., collected her husbind’s SIO,OOO GI insurance and remarried. » She was going through the Communist prisoner of war list Wednesday when she ran across h?r first husband’s name. “I’m sure it’s the same Dixon,” she said. “The serial numbers match.” \] She called Pfc. William Sasser, i her second husband who works with her in a machine record unit at Fort MacPhearson here, and blurted put the news. He was stunned. “The defense department told me Walter was wounded by bomb fragments at the front and died the same day,” sobbed Mrs. Sasser. “You have no idea how I feel. I just can’t believe Walter’s still (Tfl-n To Pane Ei«ht) Commissioners Meet In Special Session < Members of the board of county commissioners met today in special session, waarded all year-end claims presented to them, approved individual appropriation?, and made two appointments as appraisers of the county home Inventory. Palmer M. Augsburger, Hartford township, was appointed by commissioner John C. Augsburger,•• and Martin Blomenberg, of Preble township, was. Appointed by commissioner Lewis Worthman.; These men will accompany the commissioners, auditor ThUrman I. Drew and county attorney Ed A. Bosse to the county home January 1 where an inventory Os all livestock, equipment and feed and grain will be made.

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, December 20,1951. 1 1-- - - -- _ —' -1 . T ~ -rg- - ■ . - -•>- -

i . New Tax Sleuth Takes Over

I « FRANK W. LOHN (right) succeed Willfam H. Woolf (left) as chief of the Internal Revenue departmeif’s investigation division, a change announced in Washington by Internal Revenue Commissioner John B. Dunlap (middle). .Dunlap, shown congratulating Lohn. emphasized that WOolfs retirement has no connection .with tax scandals. .

Airliner Stowaway Home For Chirstmas J ■ . Th ■ \' ■ Navy Airman-Jlisks Suffocation Chance r Decatur, 111., Dec. 120—(UP) — A. navy airman who risked suffocation by stowing away in the baggage compartment of an airliner &atd today “1 just wanted to get home for Christmas and that seem-j ed the qqtekest way.” Glen C. Kull an aviation storekeeper stationed at Moffatt Field; near San Francisco, was found in the nose baggage compartment “of a Trans world Airliner yesterday as it started its ascent to cleajr the Rocky mountains. Kull was ordered out of the compartment and given a. seat with? the rest of the passengers for the remainder of the'trip. .Crewmen said he would ’have died of lack of oxygen had he re-: mained in that portion of the plane over the mountains. “I felt pretty comfortable in there among the suitcases,” Kull said. The 23-year-old sailor tried td' stowaway aboard another airliner Tuesday night. He was spotted end ordered away from the plane. He was seej^jyesterday again loitering around the field; A short; time later he disappeared. ; 'fl After the plane was in the air, the TWA sower radioed CaptainArt Nelson to search the ship oh the chahce that; Kull had made good his plan to? stowaway. j | Sure -enough, he wsa huddled ip the baggage compartment. “The guy who found me was smiling all over,” Kull said. “Hq told me, ‘come on back here. Yoh* are going to ride first class’.” Military policemen, alerted by at' radio message from the plane; were waiting for Kull when he alighted from the airliner in Chicago. They asked a few questions and then let him go when he produced a paper showing he was en(Tsrw To Pare Eirht) ■ ■ ' ' ' ' I Scheduled Zoning ] Hearing Continued j • • * '' i Zoning Violation Case Is Continued 1 The zoning board hearing of Ernest Foreman, Decatur, route 5; who allegedly divided an inlot in the west part of Decatur and sold each portion to different persons in violation of the zoning ordinance, was continued to January 8 at a special ’meeting held Wednesday night at city hall. Foreman was given the time to consult an attorney and the board, members authorized their attorney, Robert Anderson, td inquire intja the sale? of the two parcels of land. Foreman, at the meeting Wednesday night, said that the real estate firm which'handled the sale of part of the property told him the sales were legal. Each part of the inlot was sold for a residence. Board members informally advised Foreman to consult an attorney and “make restitution” to the purchasers of the back part of the lot to avoid “prosecution under the zoning ordinance.”

Good Fellows Club Previously reported ---—-$911.18 Holthouse A Schulte ; 5.00 Two Sisters — 8.00 Mr. A Mrs. Raymond Kohne 10.00 Mr. A Mrs. Roy Archbold 5.00 Decatur Lions Club 10.00 A Friend J &0 TOTAL -$949.68 LeFevers Pleads Guilty To Charge Judge Takes Case Under Advisement Reid LeFevers, 25, of Fort Wayne; pleaded guilty to the charge of reckless homicide at his trial before Judge Myles F. Parrish ih the Adams circuit court. Robert S. Anderson, attorney for the defendant, asked the court for leniency in this case. The judge took the matter under advisement and said he would hand down a ruling when he had “fully Studied all the evidence presented today’7 • \ He remanded LeFevers to the Adams cuonty jail, where the latter. has been confined since his return here about a month ago. At his arraignment November 24 on the charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide, LeFevers, through Anderson, entered a not guilty plea. “Following the summing up in the case by Anderson and prosecuting attorney Severin Schurger for the (state, < Judge Parrish pointed out that he “constantly” advised the matter should have been placed before a jury. ’ The; matter referred to by the judge resulted in the charge? and today’s guilty .plea; following the accident which occurred September 8, the LeFever car rammed 4 head-on with one driven by Mrs. Irene J. Baker, of Fort Wayne. . - A passenger in the Baker car, Savon A. Smith, also of Fort Wuyna, was fatally injured. LeFevers testified at his trial ted ay that he had pulled out of his lane of traffic when he assumed that a preceding ; truck’s horn honking was a signal t ib pass. The- LeFever car scooted into the left lane, and according to LeFever’a testimony, was unable to return to the right] hand side, or avoid hlttlbg the oncoming car. In asking the court for leniency for LeFevers, Anderson said that the young man had never had a traffic Accident before, had made every effort to comply with the court. ,7 i The defendant received facial wounds , and a fractured knee that leaves him permanently crippled. LeFevers’ wife and less thah a year old son sat npxt to| jthe defendant during this morning’s trial. Noting the defendant attorney’s reference to the young man’s family, the emotional conflict® at the time of the accident, and the prosecutor’s agreement in these remarks, Judge Parrish admitted that i|i “is true, hej has been a model?; prisoner; to me it> is true that he is a model defendant But this is hot s matter of sympathy, but one of justice.” He remanded LeFevers to jail until, a final decision is made, after he had “fully studied all the evidence? \

Order Mass Airlift Os Prisoners Into Japan If Armistice Reached * 1 !■> ' > I' . ( ' ' ■ '

Last-Ditch Move To Avert Steel Strike CIO President Says Strike Inevitable 1 Washington,7f)ec. 20 — (UP) — The government today opened lastditch talks aimed at heading off a New Year’s ; day steel strike, but CIO president Philip Murray said a walkout still appears “inevitable.” Federal mediation chief Cyrus S.' Ching met with Murray and negotiators for 10 key steel Companies. , sEne chances seemed remote for any agreement onnhe union’s deNfand Tor An 18%-cenl hourly wage increase and other benefits. Murray, who also heads the powerful United Steelworkers union, said as he entered thp meet-\ Ing that he still stands on an earlier statement that a walkout is “inevitable.” Ching and John- A. Stephens, chief U. S. Steel Corp, .spokesman, had nothing to say, ; The union’s contracts expire Dec. 31. Murray has said his men will not work beyond that date unless a new agreement is reached. F strike would deal a crippling blow to the defense eftvrt. Steel production would be iost, for about a week longer than •he duration of a walkout?because it takes some three days to bank furnaces before a stoppage and another three days to return to production. Murray has warned that his 1,000,000-member union will walk out Jan. 1 if a new contract has not been reached on the union’s tertpe. The industry has shown no inclination to bargain on the union’s wage demands in the face of the government’s refusal to grant any compensatory increase in steel prices. Indiana Is Warned Os Colder Weather ' ’l. ’ ‘ ' *■ ' r Os Dangerous j Driving Conditions Indianapolis, Dec. 20 —(UP)— Indiana was pelted with snow, sleet and feezing rain today as temperamoved upward, but U.S. weathermen issued a special warn- » ing of “much colder” weather to- . night. The mercury started to climb early today as snow fell. When /temperatures neared the freezing point, the snow became mixed with sleet, then changed to freezing rain and rain. : : • The state’s death toll attributed to the siege of cold weather jumped to 28, and weathermen warned the mixture of elements, especially upstate, will “cause considerable glazing and make highways dangerous.” Temperatures—after rising to 32 degrees and higher during the day —are to drop tonight to somewhere near five degrees above zero. By areas, the special forecast warned of snow, 4 sleet, and freezing rain InTthe north today with snow tonight, rain in the central portion today and snow toniiht, and rain and sleet in the south today and snow tonight.-, ' . The warmer temperatures turned snow-packed highways into slush in many sections, and tonight’s icolder weather was certain to freeze it. Weathermen said northern Indiana may get two to four inches of snow (TsHi Te P»s» j L Aeolian Choir Trip Tonight Is Cancelled The scheduled appearance of General Electric Aeolian choir at the Fort Wayne Veterans hospital tonight has been cancelled because of weather, conditions. However, the. choir will meet at the high school <t 7 o’clock to go caroling, following which the choir’s Christ- , mas party will be held.

Autumn Rocks US. In Final Severe Storm Wind-Driven Snow ! Whips Large Area; Cold Will Follow u By United Press i Autumn rocked the nation with a final-round going-over today of blizzards, cold, rain and sleeU And winter was all set to climb into the ring to deliver a knockout cold punch. i 'j I Winddriven spow, with blizzard conditions in South Dakota, swept a large area from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains. Drifted snow up to 12 feet deep marooned 300 persons in Tripp county, South Dakota. A three-way disaster of blizzard, 4 flood and fi<e struck Conerbrook, Newfoundland, as all of New England was plunged into a severe freeze with sub-zero readings -in hundreds of localities. Snow, sleet and rain lashed a vast area stretching from southern Illinois, down the Mississippi to the Gulf and eastward into Georgia. West of the snow, the coldest weather of the season slowly marched eastward. Haven, Mdnt., reported 25 below, Minot, N.D., 17 below, Valentine, Neb., 10 below, and International Falls, Minn., five below. The triple disaster in Newfoundland was the tag end of a storm that had roared all the way across the nation from the Pacific northwest. A waterfront warehouse in Cornerbrook was wiped out ih a $1,000,000 fire Tuesday. Winds up to 100 miltee an hour yesterday whipped ths^still-smouldering fire and drove waves over the docks’. , All waterfront buildings were flooded. Schools closed when the waves smashed Windows in the buildings. At ohe school, children fled in terror amidst flying glass. Several were ch|, but none seriously. 1 ' “All traffic in the area was brought to a standstill by the wind, waves and blizzard. At nearby 7 otephensville, “ 150 families were driven from their homes by the water. There was no transportation or communications in or out of the town. The railway station was under water Food and fuel were rationed in the South Dakota ! towns of MillI (Tarn T® Paae Six) Mrs. Mary Groh Dies At Local Hospital *7 • Funeral Services Saturday Morning Mrs- Mary Groh, 71, who lived with; a “daughter, Mrs. Jay Rauch, three and oneihalf miles southwest of Monfoe, died Wednesday Jn the Adams county memorial hospital following a month’s illness. A daughter of Fred and Fannie Ruffrßeinhart, she was born Dec. 13, 1880. Her husband, Henry Groh, died Oct. 28, 1950. She was a member of the Apostolic Christian church. Surviving are another daughter, Mrs. Helen Smekens of Muncie; a son, Floyd Groh of Bluffton; six grandchildren; three great-grand-children; five brothers, Fred Rein-; hart of Ossian, Henry of Bluffton, Samuel of Fort Wayne, and Emil and Reuben, both of Monroe, and four sisters, Mrs. Joel Liechty of Linn Grove, Mrs. Samuel Hersclfey, Mrs. Tillie Hannl and Mrs. Dave Kipfer,, dll of Bluffton.’ Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Rauch residence and at 10:30 o’clock at the Apostolic Christian church, the Rev. Samuel Ascftliman officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. The body Fill be removed from the Jahn funeral home to the residence at 5 o’clock this evening.

Price Five Cents

Na Progress Made In Negotiations On Truce; Reds' List Os Names Studied Panmunjom, Korea, Dec. 20 — (UP) —Orders? were issued today for a mass airlift of American prisoners of war |to Japan if a Korean armistice is concluded. Truce negotiations are deadlocked, and the chance that the prisoners will be freed by Christmas becomes daily more remote. But Gen. James A. Van Fleet ordered all major staff sections*of his Bth army to concentrate on. plans to receive, care for -iand transport to Japan Iby plane the 3.198 American prisoners listetU’by 4he Communists as in North Korean prison camps. No progress was made Thursday in the truce negotiations. Talks on the terms of enforcing An armistice agreement, to prevent cheating, remained static. The allies refused to resutae discussions on ap exchange of prisoners by the United Nations command and the Communists until 4he “pitifully small” list furnished by the Reds Is studied and analyzed. Under Van Fleet’s order, all UN prisoners will be “identified first on their reception in the allied lines and then will be given a preliminary medical examination and ( new clothing. Ther<e will be no questioning of them. Then the American, and probably all the other don-Korean prisoners, will be flown to Japan at once. The „ freed South Korean prisoners will be turned dver to their medical officers. In Thursday’s truce discussions here, the only progress made was to turn over to staff officers, for the moment, negotiations on terms of enforcing an armistice agreement. : ; The staff officers of both sides will report to the chief truce negotiators on any progress they make. They will try to draw up a set of principles satisfactory both co the U. N. command and the Communists. Col Don O. Darrow and Communist Col. Chang Chung San siarted to > work Thursday. They will meet again Friday morning and report this afternoon. . ; The staff officers’ session began after the subcommittee adjourned at 4 p. m. (1 a. m. Thursday CST). The J subcommittee met twice Thursday for a total session of three hours' and. 10 minute 1 hat bogged down in flaring Comnufllst tempers and made “no. progre?s.’-’ After .meeting for about two hours, the staff officers-adjourned until 10 a. m. Friday (7 p. m. Thursday CST). s L All major sections of the Bth army finished plans for the reception, care and transportation of the 11,559 allied prisoners, Including 3,198 Americans, listed by the Communists as, available for exchange under possible armistice terms. At the same time* thb Sth army made, plans for the possible northward movement of 132,474 Communist prisoners it holds. i ' I‘ 1 1 ' J-A ’ ■ 7j ' I INDIANA WEATHER K Rain tonight and rain becomL In J mixed with anow Friday. A little warmer tonight, turning colder Friday. Low tonight near 32 north, 42 south. Falling temperatures Friday.

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