Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 49, Number 307, Decatur, Adams County, 31 December 1951 — Page 1

Vol. XLIX. No. 307.

FOUR PLANES MISSING WITH 76 ABOARD

UN Ultimatum To Communists In Truce Talk Nb Armistice I? .Reds Refuse Ban Oji Airfield Use Panmunjom. Korea. Dec. 31.—(4JP)—The United Nations told the Communists today that there can be no armistice in Korea un less they accept a ban on airfield construction. » U.N. negotiators handed down \ the virtual, ultim tum in accusing the Communist* of seeking “not peace, but war, by demanding the right to repair and build airfields . in north Korea during a truce." U.S. Maj. Gen. Howard Turner charged in a stinging 200-word statement that the Beds wanted the airfields to enable . them to “strike suddenly and deep th. our rear.” u The U.N. will make no further concessions for an armistice unless the Reda drop their? demand, Turner said. “The failure of those negotiaI tions to make progress will be rightly , attributed to your 4 demand," Turner said. “When we shall resume progress is squarely up to you.” North Korean Col. Chang-Chun, San promptly countered thag the U.N: has •-‘high-pitched imagination.” He renewed his demand for the right to build air fields. ' The exchange in the armistice supervision subcommittee left negotiations tigbtlj%deadlQCked. However, both sides agreed to meet again at 11 a.m. Tuesday 8 p.m. today CST). The prisoner subcommittee like 1 wise failed to make any progress in its attempts to arrange an exchange of war prisoners. It also ’ scheduled another meeting for 11 а. Tuesday. U.S. Rear Admiral (R. E. Libby told newsmen after the prisoner subcommittee meeting that the Communists seemed to be “trying to welsh on their commitment" to provide. detailed inforination on 50.000 missing Allied war prisoners. . However, Libby told North Korean Maj. Gen. Lee Sang Cho that the Allies,would provide all the requested information 'on missing Communist war between Jan. 2 and 6. Navy Lt. Walter 1. Ellis, briefing officer for the U.N. delegation. , said the Communists hinted they would wait ifntil the Allies handed over this information before thev gave-further data on Allied prisoners. Meantime, a U.N. command announcement in Tokyo said that б. Communist war prisoners have died in Allied prison camps. The announcement emphasized that the total was only about 5 ‘percent of the 132.474 prisoners held by the I" X Baby Is Born To Woman Marooned " * In Car In Ditch Carrollton, 111., Dec. 31.— The stork winged his way through dense fog early today to bring a baby girl to a woman marooned in an automobile that plunged off the road into a ditch near here. Mr. and Mrs. Roger. M® BB ‘ Eldred, lIL, were driving to Boyd memorial hospital in Carrollton when their car left fog-shrouded route 108 and went into a ditch. Moss left the car and began walking for help. When he returned, there were two passengers in the car—hii Srlfe and a baby girl. He left again, thia time phoning the hospital. An ambulance and a doctor arrived 45 minutes after the birth. .The baby was placed in an incubator at the hospital. Both mother and child were reported “doing ’> fine." ■ j . — INDIANA WEATHER Mostly cloudy and warmer this afternoon and # tonight. . Rain, overspreading state tonight and Tuesday forenoon, changing to snow flurries and 1 turning much colder Tuesday/! afternoon. Low tonight 40 to 50 north, 50 to 60 south. High Tuesday 50 to 60 north, 60 to 70 south.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT < 4 ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMJI COUNTY } 4‘

Ignorance Os Crew Blamed For Crash Tehran, Fran, Dec. 31: —(UP) — Investigators have blamed ignorance of ? technical procedures by the Egyptian pilot and crew for the crash here Dec.. 22 that killed 21 persons, including Dr. Henry G. Bennett, U.S. point four director, his wife and six other Americans. . The report of the investigation by four international aviation experts was published yesterday. It said the pilot and crew of the fourengine Egyptian airliner were responsible because tjiey were* unfamiliar with the technical methods of landing by beacon signals. Allies In New Effort To Take Advanced Post Battle Fourth Day In Row To Take Position From Reds T J h Bth Army Headquarters. Korea, Dec. —(UP) —Tank- supported United Nations forces tried for the fourth straight day today to recapture an hill position on the western front. . They jumped off soon after dawn against Chinese forces Clinging stubbofniy. to the 1 contested height in west of Korangpo, 29 miles northwest of Seoul. U.N.. tanks and artillery laid down a curtain of fire and steel ahead of the advancing, infantry. The battle was the biggest since the start of the abortive 30-day cease-fire line agreement more ' than a month ago. Up to two Communist battalions —some 1,600 troops—were engaged. The Reds threw outnumbered Allied troops off the height last Friday, and the Allies have been trying ’to recapture it ever since. U.N. forces seized a hill lying between the .main Allied line and the lost height Sunday, but were halted there by the .Communists in Witter hand-to-hand fighting. Temperatures were below freezihg. A front-line briefing officer estimated that 200 Chinese Were killed Sunday alone. Allied ties were very lour, the officer said. ThVee small-scale Communist at-1 tacks were repulsed in the area Sunday night and early Monday. Farther west, other U.N. troops beat-off a light Communist probing attack in a 50-minute engage-* ment east of the truce conference village of Panmunjom early Monday, Only patrol action was reported from the remainder of the 145-mile Korean front. In the air, 1 eight American Shooting Star jets outmaneuvered 16 speedier Rpssian-built Mig-15 jet fighters and damaged one of them in a dogfight above Sunchon in northwest .Korea. All of the Shooting Stars returned safely to their bases. Maj. Carlos *N. Dannacher of Anderson, Ind., was credited With damaging the Mig. It was his Tir»t (Tur* T» Pane Three) Mrs. Eli Sprunger Is Taken By Death Former Local Lady Dies At Bluffton Mrs. Susan Sprunger, 85, former resident of Decatur and the widow of Eli Sprunger, died at 1:45 o’clock Sunday morning at the Wells county hospital at Bluffton, where she had been a patient for three weeks. Mr. and Mrs. Sprunger lived in Decatur for many years prior to moving to Bluffton 20 years‘ago. Surviving are a son, Leo iSprunger of Saginaw, Mich., a daughter, Mrk. Florence Sprunger Starr of Bluffton; five grandchildren; six .great-grandchildrep, and two sisters, Mrs. Fred Braun of Decatur aiid Mrs. Ves Gobe of Muncie. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Thoma funeral home in Bluffton, the Rev. Matthew Worthman officiating. Burial will be In the MRE cemetery at Berne. Friends may call at the funeral home until time of the services. |\ \

Plan Pressure To Halt Reds Ransom Moves Direct Pressure On Soviet Russia Planned By U.S. Washington, Dec. 31. —(UP) — The United States will bring pres, sure directly on Russia to stop Communist satellite countries from holding American citizens for “ransom,” diplomatic sources indicated today. They said a stern warning to Moscow to keep its minions in check is considered the most effective way to' prevent a repetition of Hungary’s treatment qf four U.S. airmen. The fliers were released Friday after the state department paid $121),000 In “fines” imposed on them -for‘crossing the Hungarian frontier in an unarmed transport plaice w"hich lost its way on a flight from Germany to Yugoslavia. One of Ahe ransomed airmen, Capt. John Swift of Glens falls; N.Y., wa% scheduled to fly here today en route to Syracuse, N.Y., to see his ailing father. Plans called for Swift to stop over in the capital for about an hour to talk to newsmen about his ‘ interrogation” by Russian and Hungarian officials. High officials still were conferring over #hat further steps this country should taketo make Hungary regret its venture in international “extortion.” Z t The state department already has fet&liated against the Red government by closing Hungarian consulates in New York and banning travel of American citizens in Hungary. While no final decisions have been made oh future strategy, diplomatic informants sized up the. possibilities this way; Warning to Moscow—very likely. As one diplomat put it. “if we are going to prevent a recurrence of this high-handed business, Moscow Is the place to go.” The state department set a precident by going directly to the Soviet foreign office to secure the release of the airmen held in Hungary. Charges against the fliers were knocked down from (Turp To .Pace Two) « Doctor Turns Down Health Commission i Declines To Serve On Truman Board Chicago, Dec. 31—(UP)— Dr. Gunnar Gundersen said today he had refused to become a member of President Truman's commission to study the nation’s health needs bes cause'the unit was a politiejsW “masquerade.” Gundersen. a member of the American Medical Association's board of trustees, sajd that his dame had been released without hl? approval by Mr. Truman. / , The LaCrosse, Wis., physician said he believed he was “correct in assuming that the commission is designed both in its majority memberships and in its objectives, to be an instrument of practical politics, to relieve President Truman from an embarrassing position as an unsucessful advocate of compulsory health insurance. “I certainly cannot subscribe to such a masquerade,” Gundersen said in a statement. He added that he had requested that his name be removed from consideration ap'a commission member. 1 Gundersen announced his decision yesterday the day after the White House had announced that the President' had named 15 ! prominent lay /and professional persons to undertake a study of the nation’s health problems., Among these problems were the adequacy of private and public programs designed to provide ways to pay for medical care. Another was how much thp federal government* should contribute to local governments fo(r health purposes. \ In Washington, \the White House said that Mr. Trqman had named Gundersen J to after being notified that Gundersen would be willing to serve. A spokesman said that no word to the contrary has yet t>een received, A, The White House did not comment on Gundersen’s charge tjiat (Turn To P*»e Tw«>

■ ■■■ ■ I . ■ ~ , Decatur, Indiana, Monday, December 31,1951.

r A Slim Christmas, ■ I■l ■ ' CAPT. JOHN L. §WIFT, of Albany, jf. Y., ope of the four fliers released Saturday by Communist Hungary, received oply one ■ present this past Christmas day. It was a photograph (above) of Jiis eight-week-old son. David, sent by his wife Jane, While he was slill behind bars. Two sets .of pictures were sent to Capt, Swift in cooperation with the Albany Times-Union. One set wetat to Hungary’s Prime Minister Rakosk Matyas, and the other wac sent through the States Department. . ,

1 :— — Slays Girl Friend At Church Service Mentone Girl Dead, Soldier Kills Self \Bourbon, 1 —(UP) — A jilted soldier home on Christmas furlough crept up behind his would-bei girl friend as fthe listened to a quiet church service last night, killed her with two shots in the back and then committed suicide. Two of the five shots fired by Pvt. Omer, R. Shoemaker, 24, went wild and one plowed through a pew and injured 12-year-old Judy Faulkner as 150 shocked churchgoers screamed. - JRuth Golden, 17, tin attractive high school junior apparently died instantly after Shoemaker fired one bullet into her spine and airother into shoulder. Shoemaker shot himself once in the head before stumbling from the Apostolic Gospel church, trailing blood. He drove hid car nine blocks, and killed himself wi(h another bullet. . ‘ Police said Miss; Go.den h:&l formerly dated Shoemaker but had toli him i/he wanted “nothing more to do with him” when he asked her for; a date earlier in the evening. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Artfhqr Golden of nearby Mentone, Ind., were among the parishioners (Tara Tq Pace Six)

Korean War Uppermost In Minds During 1951

Today’s dense fog that in its own way confuses the issue—id probably not indicative of any confusion in next year’s coming city business. Indeed, when councilmen —-andthere will be four new faces at th® council table for the coming four years—are swoffl in Tuesday noon by t Mayor John M- Doan, most of them will perhaps have a comprehensive sense of direction —they are nqt. looking for any fog. Maybe that 1951 bows out tonight under such conditions is not too strange; that 1952 will be cons siderably brighter in many respects in the city is always an official anticipation. But there are other things to look forward to in 1952; there are many other things to remeniber of 1951. There were the bodies of David Pollock and! Edwin Franz returned from Korea; there wer.e notifications of several youths wounded In action, and more recently the announcement that LeRoy Baumgartner was named on the Ccftnmunfst prisoner of war list Korea lb the paramount geographical place in the minds of many Decatur families; it probably

Annual Dinner Held At Court House Employes of the court house and their invifed guests today held their annual last-day-o£-theyear dinner in court house corridors.; The of the day whs celebrating' the birthday of county assessor Alf»£rt Harlow, who announced that “I am. 54, and I won’t tell you how much less or more.” Mail Received From Prisoners Os War 500 Letters Rushed To U. S. Families ! By United Press Five hundred letters marked ’’prisoner oT war mail—expedite” were rushed airmail-special delivery to homes throughout the nation today. it was the first batch of POW mail released from Chinese Communist camps since the truce negotiators at Panmunjom agreed on the exchange. ft came into San Francisco in a bright yellow army courier sack. San Francisco postmaster John F. ; Fixa personally delivered the first letter of the group to Mr. and Mrp. Paul F. Schnurjpf San Francisco. It was from Pfc. Paul F. Schriurt. Jr.‘, 22, a prisoner of the Reds since Dec. 1, 1950. Schnur spoke of a “very nice Christmas” planned by the POW 1 * in this camp. Several other letters (Tant To Pace Six)

wijl continue to' be so. for many months yet. Still, there were perhaps two incidents which greatly affected the community, one of them the shock of ' Decatur superintendent of. schools Walter J. Krick’s death last June as be was returning home fropi a fishing trip. The people of the city mourned the beloved educator whose leave-taking was always “Well, I’ll see ya,” and will neVer be forgottenaa\ The other was ttssibly the manner in which Mayor Doan was reelected in November. There was much controversy prior to election, day—as there always is anfi will bp —and experts were having a truly difficult time ; with their predictions. But the city reelected Republican Doan over Democrat John B. Stults by a 705 margin, one of the largest recorded in the city in recent years. Coming along with Mayor Doan Sere three Republican councilmen, ugh Engle. Don Gagp and Adolph Kolter, while Democrats Ed "Bauer and Al Beavers, the lone candidate to retain his |«eat at the council (Turn T» Pace TWo)

Non-Scheduled Airliner With 40 Passengers Is Missing Sinbe Saturday

Spiritual Emphasis Schedule is Listed Week's Services To Open Next Sunday Local ministers and church choir* will participate in the leadership of the union spiritual emphasis week services which will begin next Sunday evening in lhe. Zion Evangelical and Reformed church. In the ’ Sunday evening service the 4Ovoice choir of Taylor University, Upland, will give a concert of sacred musjc. During the groups wJU be as follow's. ■Monday: Presiding, Rev. Lawrence Norris; dev.otionjil leaders, Rev. Jonas M. Berkey and Rev. M. T. Simon; jhe First Methodist church; ushers from the Missionary and Nazarene churches; welcoming committee, Rev. Herald J. Welty and Rev. A.C.E. Gillander. Tuesday: Presiding, Rev. William C. Feller; devotional leaders, Rev. John E. Chambers and Rev. ,H. J. Welty; choir of the Presbyterian church; ushers from the Church of God; welcoming committee, Rev. Romaine D, W r ood and Rev. F. H. Willard. Wednesday: Presiding, Rev. Dwight R. %McCurdy;, devotional leaders,’ Rev. Samuel Emerick and Rev. William C. Feller; Decatur »high school chorus; ushers from the Presbyterian church; welcoming committee, Rev. Jonas M. Berkey and Rev. Lawrence Norris. Thursday: Presiding, Rev. F. H. Willard;' devotional leaders, Rev. Lawrence Norris and Rev. Romaine D. W6od; choir of the Bethany Evangelical United Brethren church; ushers from the Bethany Evangelical United Brethren churlch; welcoming committee, Rev. M. T. Simon and Rev. Samuel Emerick. Friday: Presiding, Rev. Robert H. Hammond: devotional leaders, Rev. A.C.E. Gillander and Rev. Jonas M. Berkey; choir of the Trinity Evangelical United Brethren■ church; ushers from the Baptist chjurch; welcoming comipittee, Rev. Dwight Cfarn To Page Flvr) J Suspend Business To Greet New Year Church Services Tonight, Tuesday business in the city and county will be pretty much at a standoff Tuesday, although several fraternal and social organizations, have planned .ways and means of in 1952. City councilmen will meet at noon Tuesday sot swearing-in ceremonies, then adjourn until January 8 for their regular meeting. Members of the county board of commissioners, the auditor and county attorney, as well as appraisers. will meet Tuesday to take the inventory at the’county home. Other than these two items on the agenda, there is little else listed. While taverns expect to do a booming business tonight with folks preparing to bolt head-long into the New Year, Tuesday promises to )>® fairly quiet. And as far as some of the celebrants are concerned! —it had better be. i \, There will be a union Protestant watchnight service ,at the* Zion Evangelical and Reformed church, the Zion Lutheran churth has services scheduled tonight;«nd Tuesday morping, and there are three New Year’s masses scheduled for the. St. Mary’s Catholic church. Several organizations ,'have previously announced special dances tonight, most of them confining the ballroom dandies to their own membership. There are countless private parties also planned. Business tvill/ close its doors again Tuesday,/no postal sefyice, no banking h</urs* and no Daily Democrat. Fon sports saps, there will be the, annual four-team tourney at the Decatur gym Tuesday afternoon and night.

Fog Blanket Ups Midwest Traffic Toll Fog Stretches From lowa To Ohio, To Continue Tuesday By United Press z u ' ; A blizzard roared into the northern plains this New Year's eve and the midwest was blanketed by heavy fog that boosted the holiday traffic toll. <= The hazard was expected to strike by nightfall in portions of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. The fog stretched from lowk to Ohio, “socking in” southern Wisconsin and and northern Illinois and Indiana. | The bad weather .was,' expected to prevail through New Year’s day. Since 6 p.m. Friday, 131 persons had been killed 4n holiday traffic. Twenty-four others died in fires and 42 in miscellaneous mishaps-to give the nation a total 01 197 accidental deaths. / Rainstorms in the Colorado mountains loosed a series of snow-and-land slides ip which two dtnen were missipg and at least 400 persons marooned. 1 Highway travel and communications were disrupted. Seventy-six persons were smissing aboard four aircraft that disappeared during’ the weeken-’ over Pennsylvania, Arizona an’d Texas. Two persons were killed and six injured in a head-on collision in the fog at Mascoutah, 111. The fog also was blamed for the death of Donald Neff, 40, Land O’Lakes, WiSi, whose car collided with another auto in fog at Union. Mo. The fog grounded all planes at Chicago’s Midway airport and numerous other airfields in the midwest were forced to halt operations. It was so murky in downtpwn Chicago that the Civic Opera building was Invisible from the .United Press offices in the Daily News building 175 feet away. Forecasters said visibility would remain poor most of the day. The blizzard in , the west was spawned from a storm center hovering over /eastern Colorado. The ktorm was pulling cold air southward from Canada and was Oxpebted to send the chill racing eastward toward the Atlantic coast tomorrow. But for today,. the cold stayed close to the Rockies and .the Great Lakes region enjoyed unseasonably mild weather which helped melt* the area’s deep blanket of snow and raised this fiiorning’s severe fog. Indiana's Holiday Traffic Toll Eight Rain And Fog y Adverse Conditions By United Press / New Year’s celebrants, some of them not too alert, joined the holiday traffic on Indiana highways today, rain and fog posfd a thread of adverse motoring conditions during the first hours of 1952. Traffic accidents’ accounted for eight deaths in the state since counting started at 6 p.m. Friday, and a miscellaneous death boosted the state’s holiday violent death toll to .nine. Dale. Striwser, 49, Petersburg, was killed Sunday when an explosion shook the Wabash fiver ordnance works near New port. Officials pinpointed the b’ast in a nitrator house, which js\ part of a high explosives plant. \ Geraldine Decker, 17, Dunkirk, was killed early today vvhen- the car in which she rode swerved out of control and struck an abutment on a county road west of Portland. Her companion suffered minor in<Turn To Pace Three)

Five Cents

C-47 Feared Down , In Arizona, Report 19 West Point Men - On Missing Plane } By United Press Search planes flew over the Allegheny mountains. the raindrenched Arizona desert and the California coast today in search of four planes missing with 76 persons aboard, y > , ‘ One of the missing planes, n. C-47. feared down in Arizona, was carrying 27 persons. Sources at Hamilton air force bash said passengers included 19 West Point Cadets returnings east after holiday leave*.* Another of the missing craft was a C-46 non-scheduled airlines, crarying 40 passengers, which disappeared Saturday night on a flight from Pittsburgh to Buffalo. Fog which disrupted , a search began lifting, and military-and civilian planes took off once again to criss-cross «the area frdm Pittsburgh to Cdna/la’. . ' The third missing plane., had been unreported since last Wednesday enroute from Wash., la Fairfield, Calif. : The n/ military plane • carried eight per- * i sons. ■ After several - days csf* drenching rains, the weather cleared and ,100 planes went, aloft to rearch for the missing craft. A single-seater F-s‘l tighter also was missing somewhere between. Phoenix and El Paso, Tex.' At Wabasso Beach, Fla., an army sergeant said he saw a ‘‘big, two-engined plane” disappear info the water 1,000 yards off ahore, I.' but a search of several hours, by the coast guard failed to substantiate the report. • a The C-47 missing in Arizona radioed Williams air force base near Phoenix that it planned' to • make an instrument landing, but never was 'heard from again. A search was organized earlyr today,- with the March air force base rescue squadrdn in general command. Lt. Kerr, mission commander, said me rescue units included about 15 'military planes and 20 civilian craft. The Hamilton field report that several- West Point Cadets were was not confirmed immediately by y other sources. "However, many cadets had spent their holi- • .day leaves at home on the we£t . coast, and it appeared likely they could have, takei) advantage of their privilege to travel aboard a military plane. The search was centered north and west of Phoenix in the belief strong southwesterly winds had blown the craft north of its course. The plane was enroute from Hamilton to Williams air base, The search for the missing C-46 in\ the east centered over the mountainous country, of northwestern Pennsylvania. (Five military planes took- off frbm Westover Field, Mass., to search' the fogshrouded mountains this morning and .to advise about 40 other military craft and 100 civil air patrol p’.aries whether the weather would permit full scale resumption of the search. , thereafter military planes - at Olmstead Field, Pa., (Tunji To Po»e Two) ' August J. Wiegman Dies At Fort August J. Wiegmam 58, native of Adams county,' died Saturday night, at St. Joseph’s, hospital in Fort Wayne. Surviving, are his w ; fe, Catherine; three 'sons. Des- . ter. Fort Wayne, Eugene, with the navy at Orange, Tex., and ' Kenneth? with the navy in Korea; a s:epson, Herbert Tons of Fort Wayne; a grandson, and twn sisters. Mrs. Caroline Hecki.—n of and Miss Wilhelmina of Fort Wayne. Funeral services will be held at 4:30 p. m. Wednesday at Jhe Chal-fant-Perry funeral home, the_Kev. Herman H. Heine oftlcfatipg. Burial will" be in Greenlawn memorial park. Friends ishay call at the funeral home afjter *7 p. m. today.