Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 50, Number 271, Decatur, Adams County, 15 November 1952 — Page 1

Vol. L No. 271.

Sniper Ridge Recaptured By U. N. Soldiers Hurl Chinese Reds F Off Vital Hill In | Bloody Battling SEOUL, Korea UP — United Rations infantrymen threw Chinese Reda from vital Sniper Ridge : ln a bloody eight-hour figfft today and farther west, recaptured Jackson Heights guarding the Chorwon Valley invasion roite to Seoul. It was the 15th time in a month of fierce fighting that Allied troops have knocked Chinese Reds Kfrom Sniper Ridge north of Kumhwa bn the central front. The victorious South Koreans vanquished their foes with bayonets, knives and fists. ■ North of Chorwon, other Allied soldiers won back Jackson heights at 8 a m. 6 p.m. Friday e.s.t, less . than two hours after they had iqst it. The peak is one of two that guards the Chorwon Valley, one of the traditional invasion gates Z to South Korea. ? r United Press correspondent Vfa _ tor Kendrick said that after the ROK’s tossed Jthe Communists oft Pinpoint Hili, ' dominant peak, on Sniper, they drove the Reds back another 400 yards east towards Rocky Po|nt. Here the- Reds took advantage o! the rugged terrain to halt their slow withdrawal. At;dusk, the two —Sides still werb exchanging small arms and automatic weapons fire. At 2 p.m. 11 p.m. c.s.t. Friday an estimated Red battalion Os about 750 men was seen about a mile northeast of Sniper Ridge. Allied guns, mortars , and air strikes' plastered the Communists, but Allied forward observers were unable to see the results, y American Sabrejets scored their first MIG-15 destruction in nine “days when one of the Russiahbuilt Jets was shot down in a battle /between four MiG’s and four Sabres. ' • | J — Receiving credit for the MIG was Ist Lt., Calvin C. Davey» of Flint, Mich. , F-84 JThunderjets, attacking Only 50 feet above the ground, dropped ‘ thousands of gallons of | napalm into a large troop concentration north of Pyongyang, the Nqrth JCorean capital, destroying more than 70 Kendrick said that bqth ROK and ; Communist troops reinforced their ranks during the \afterqoon and |t dark the Reds had about 200 men in the Rocky Point fight. f An American officer said.jfae situation was “not bad." ' |: South Korean soldiers battlhd from 10 p.m. Friday to 7. a.m. today in near-freezing temperstures to drive the Chinese from Pinpoint Hill, dominating feature $ of Sniper Ridge, ’? Shortly before dawn, the ROK’s surged over the crest with fixed bayonets. By 6:45 a.m., pushed the Reds back to the yoke 1 . Chinese-held territory on. the nbrth west edge of the ridgeline.’ And at 8:30 a.m., the ROK’s reported ‘ i the situation “all L A short distance east of Pinpoint other ROK troops fought about 200 Communists for | possession of Rocky Point, a small height on Little Flnger Ridge extending from Sniper. Neither side held tqe point and fighting was light and sporadic. , Far East air forces headquarters in Tokyo announced that three United Nations planes were lost in the past week, but none in aerial battles. Not one Communist MIG-15 was claimed shot dowi',. either. Os the three Allied Uplanes i ; lost, one F-84 Thuhderjet and oijm F-80 Shooting Star were shot down by Red anti-airenrft guns. A J light bomber was lost to “other causes?’ - ”

. ° 3'l rf' BULLETIN • AUBURN, And., UP—Threes men, believed to be instruct-, ors at Purdue Unhtersity en ; route to Ann Arbor, Mich., for. a Big Tenfootball game, were j killed today In a traffic acci-i dent ‘ \ ~ | The dead were Identified by 1 sheriff Frantr Carpenter of DeKalb county as? Robert Douglas French, 32; Gordon O. Arbuckle, 44; Howard Jeese Boyle, 44, all of West La* fayette. INDIANA WEATHER Fa|r te partly cloudy and mild tonight and Bunday. Low tonight 4045 north, 45*50 south. High Bunday 60-70. --- ‘ ;.. . jj' 11 l '[' , "T f Noon Edition

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT OHLY DAILY NEWtPAPKR Ht ADAM* COUNTY

j Fire Wipes Out Family Jr ft : ' > ■ BBS Bjrj COMKETELY STUNNED and heartbroken, Aladdin Audette. 47. (center-bottom) sits with his daughter, Mrs. Dolores Marcia, 19 and his son Danifel, 21. only remaining meknbers of hta family after a fire in their Westport. Mass., home snuffed oijt the' lives of his wife, 'Mary, 44. and eight of their cnildren. Fire started in the kitchen (top) while the father and son at work and the victims died of suffocation, \ . • ' „.

Tass May Take Over Post As Senate Leader „■ - ' ' V Majority Leader In Senate Top Spot In Legislative Moves WASHINGTON UP -r-Sen. Robert A. Taft seemed just about ready to<\ay th pull up a big chain at the top council table of the Eisenbower administration. While a half dozen of his juniors were inanepverTng for the choice job of" senate Republican leader, the Ohioan dealt them a sudden jolt by passing the word that he may be interested in the post himself. ■ The- job is much more than a title. A majority leader traditionally, is the president’s leading and most authoritative spokesman in the senate. He qauifies automatically as one of the legislative “Big Four,’', which each Monday meets at the White House with the president, to receive, arid occasionally, give, the word on state affairs. Taft; quietly let it be known in Washington late Friday that if Sen. Styles Bridges of.N.ew Hampshire Wants the job, it’s hie. Rut if Bridges sticks by his ’(count me out” posit ion, Taft may move for the post. . ' ■ ' In all probability it is the Ohioan’s for the asking. He still is “Mr. Republican” to many of his party hiates, despite the shellacking he took froin Dwight D. Eisenhower at tlie GOP nominating convention last July. If Taft .decides he warits the job, there will h e token bjjpositiop at most. It is likely that the half dozen senators whose names are put forward, with of without their consent, suddenly will find they are uninterested. Taft fqr years has served as chairman lof the senate Republican policy committee, but those were years of adversity in which there was no welcome mat out at the White House for Republicans. It was the policy committee, working quietly and behind dosed doors, which determined the legislative stand most Republicans took on policy matters., Taft has made clear in conversations With Republican colleagues that? with a Republican in the White House this situation does' not prevail today. Presumably it 4-ill be Eisenhower at the White House, not the committee on Capitol Hill, which will make policy. And it will be the majority lead Or Who will sit at Eisenhower's elbow when legislative questions are up. It will be thb majority , leader ; Who will assume responsibility for pushing the Republican program through the senate. With that responsibility will come the function of advising the president on what will be possible in Congress. , . Before Taft’s views were learned Friday, Sen. William F. Knowland of California bld for the job—on Condition that Bridges, who (served as GOP floor leader In the last congress, takes tiimself out of contention. , Bridges’ inclination is'to'reject the post unless a unity-Shattering | squabble develops within the party on the matter. ■ , I

I ' ■ L ' . Expect Confirmatipn Os H-Bomb Explosion Official Admission Is Expected Soon WASHINGTON UP — Official confirmation of history’s first Hbomb explosion Is expected shortlyfaerhapa by President Tfuman eaiily week, a high source suggested today, if the atomic energy commission do it first. This source suggested that Mr. Tfaman may make Jiis Tuesday meeting with President-elect EV senhower the occasion for the anticipated announcement. , _ 'Many serylcemen involved in thfa faH'sl atomic tests at the Eniwetok proving ground in the Pacific already have reported in letters hoiiie that #n H-bomb was detonated on qr about Nov, 1. v | Ever since the first of these letters was published a week ago today, the AJEC has been under tremendous pressure to say something. far it has refused, relying on its past custom of issuing announcements about Eniwetok tests only wtyen the tests were conclud- ■ . ■ inasmuch a.* some official observers of this fall’s series are ifaw back home, it may be Inferred that' operations are over and that an executive announcement is in the woijks. J ■ i7 •' " ; ; (faie official source said Jfae AlpC has- been blood” ever since the tide of “eyewitness” letstarted flowing in ffam Enivyetok with their graphic descriptions of the fifat H-bomb blast. > This source suggested tHat a lot of peopfa would be happy if the official announcement, when it conies, was made “by the big boys.” He meant Mr. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. /, i Afaanwhile, there were grounds for wondering whether not one but two H-bombs were exploded at Eniwetbk. Uncensored letters from sailbr members of’ the test task force intimated that possibility.

Ldvetf Points To Huge Production Production Rate In America Increasing PROVIDENCE, R. I. UP — Secretary of defense Robert A. Lovett said today American industry produced more planes in the past three months than were lost since the* beginning of the Korean conflict; \ . More late-model tanks were accepted by the armed forces during July and August, ba said, than were lost In two years of fighting. Speaking at dedication ceremonies of Patriots Court at Brown University here, Lovett said the rate of American industrial acceleration during the 12 month period of partial mobilization was slightly higher than the best 12month period under full mobilization during World War 11. Lovett said the nation now is “entering into a period of lower military budgets” but added “if this orderly decrease is continued for a short period of time, we should reach a level which can be (Turn To Page Six)

Decatur, Indiana/Saturday, November 15, 1952.

44 Servicemen Killed When Air Force Plane Crashes Into Mountain

Dewey Standby Advisor For General Ike Eisenhower Ready For Tuesday Parley With Pres. Truman AUGUSTA, Ga., UP —Presidentelect Dwight D. Eisenhower got ready today f<f>r his important role in the forthcoming conference with the outgoing administration after a lengthy talk with Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of Eisenhower named Dewey his standby advise r on matters of “emergency temporary character" after meeting With him in the final important conference slated for the president-elect’s,vacation here. The conference with Dewey late Friday left Eisenhower’s four remaining days , here clear of any announced top visits before the president-elect flies to Washington Tuesday for a meeting with President Truman and cabinet members. Eitienhower conferred for four hours at his golf course retreat with the Republican governor who played a large part in winning the nomination for the former fivestar general. ' The president-elect announced afterward that he found Dewey’s “availability’’ as an advisor in top policy matters of an urgent nature “more-than gratifying to me.” In disclosing the part Dewey had agreed to take in the Eisenhower administration, the presi. dent-elect implied he had been unable to persuade the New York governor to accept a cabinet post. Eisenhower, in a statement read to newsmen afterward, said Dewey had “reaffirmed" his intention of remaining as governor and added: , • “This purpose, of course, precludes. at least for the present, any thought of requesting him to accept a post In the federal government” \ Besides reopening speculation about Eisenhower’s cabinet choices, this announcement opened a new field of speculation about the part Dewey will play in the presi-dent-elect’s pre-inaugural policy decisions. , While neither Eisenhower nbr Dewey revealed precise topics oftheir conversation, the presidentITwra To Page Six)

Doan Returns From Meeting Os League Plan Meeting With Gov.-Elect Craig Mayor John Doan, just returned from meetings* in Indianapolis with the* Indiana municipal league, reports some Important legislation affecting cities and town® in the state may be in the offing through the discussions held. Mayor Doan said the talks had to do with the taxes collected by the state from cities and towns, a small percentage of which; never find® its way back into them. The legislative department of the municipal league, of which Miayor Doan is a pant, will meet with Governor-elect George Craig December 1 and basic policy involved. It came out that of the 295 million of state-collected gross income taxes, nothing is returned to the cities and town® —who actually Pay 65 percent off those taxes. It was estimated that if only 10 percent was returned to the cities it would lower local tax rates by two cents. ( And in another instance, cigarette takes that never get back. The same situation exists in liquor license fees and gallonage taxes. After the meeting with the gov-ernor-elect a bill will be drafted for formal presentation before the next session of the state legislature.

Ceiling Prices On CoM Are Increased Boosts Ceiling IX Offset Pay Raises WASHINGTON, UP —The government has raised ceiling prices on sbft and jhard coal to offset the pay raises Won recently by John L. Lewis’ United Mine Workers. The office of. price stabilization announced Friday night that ceiling prices pn soft coal will be raised from 12 to 75 cents a ton at thef mines. Hard coal celling price® will increase from 40 cents to .s£3s a ton. The .soft :coal increases are effective immediately on sales tp re-, taiiers. Thqy are retroactive to Oct. ;1 on sales to other buyers. The . iticreades on hard coal—the type ;bf coal used for home heatipg —are effective Sunday. / tinder price regulations, retail cowl jdqalers will be permitted to raiaev prices; by the amount of increased cost to them, plus tjheir normal; percentage markups. Price 1 officials expressed doubt, however, thit all retail coal prices wphld jump because of Che higher ceilings- Soft coal is presently selling below ceiling levels, and price official reasoned that mine operators ;wfiuld hesitate to boost their ;»rices because of the |ilaCk demand- > # If there h ariy sharp price Increase, -pried officials predicted, it would §e foir hard coal which is presently sealing near ceiling levels: ' Thp higher ceilings are to cover the costs the sl.s(Fa-day \wage increase approved by the Wage stabilization board for soft coal miners. The increases for hard coal are based on the assumption that the wage board will approve the Phy increase for hard coal |nipers. OPS S aid farther price increases may be .necessary if economic stabilizer. Roger L. Putnam approves tbd'• fjall- $1.90-a-day wage increase origii|al|y won by the United Mine workers] ' ,

Five Persons Hurt |t B iMB' I In Train Collision j ' ■ ■ Manhattan Limited ( And Freight Collide LONDONVILLE, O. UP — Five persons Were seriously injured today whqn the Pennsylvania railroad’s. Crack Manhattan Limited collided with a freight train in mist shrouded darkness one mile west of here in north central Ohio. , Rescue workers said that the 98 passengers showed amazing discipline and orderliness when 11 of the 12 passenger cars went off the tracks some tilting badly, but all remaining upright. More than half a mile of track . was'torn up. ’One end of a passen- . ger egr Was pipped open. The two I diesel engines on the freight train ' and five bog cars were wrecked, i Deputy sheriff Harold Maxhimer said! a railroad official told him that a rail may have failed, causiing the New York to Chicago passenger train and the eastbound ’ freight train to crash. Miljicent Dpck, 51, of Two Harbors, jMlnn., passenger, and 'Slari- ’ apnd jCegalvo, .49, of Chicago, porl ter, -were among those hurt. Dock • suffered a fractured back and Cegafvo had chest injuries. They were taken to General Hospital at .Manbfield, O. | \ “I'never saw a more orderly ß bunch/’ Maxhimer, one of the first to leach the scene, said. “There was do shouting, no 1 Mdxhimer said the passenger 1 train brakeman had thrown a flare onto the tracks to indicate the train was in trouble when the collision ■ occurred. > '< ' Dr: pavid Boals and Dr. -Leonard ' Hautzenroeder, of Mansfield, cared for the injured at the scene. “The freight train jacknifed after 1 it hit the passenger train and more ! than a hundred yards of track were * torn up,” Boals said. , (Tara To Paso Six) ’ I

India’s Bid To End Korean War Is Under Study Neutral Commission To Handle Prisoner Repatriation Issue UNITED NATIONS. N. Y. UP — India’s long-awaited resolution for settling the Korean was was in the hands of United: Nations delegations today for their consideration. , .{ The measure, which was not expected to be presented formally to the General Assembly’s main political committee before the middle of next week, was understood to call for a neutral commission to handle the war prisoner repatriation question Which stalemated the Panmunjom truce talks. \ l 1 I ■ India’s move in the U.N.’s big Korean debate was awaited, anxiously because the Indians were known to have sounded out Communist China on a possible pqace settlement and they had indicated, that they would not submit any' resolution unacceptable to Mao Tie Tung’s Peiping rtgime. The Indian resolution, according to informed sources, did pot mention specifically the proposal rumored- earlier as a suggestion by India that all prisoners should be freed bn ant island off Central Korea under the supervision Os the. neutral commission. I On the island, according to this plan, prisoners willing to go home would be given transportation and those refusing to go home would be provided with food, and shelter. Although this idea apparently did not appear in the formal draft of the Indian resolution, it was said to have been included in a lengthy memorandum included in working papers on Korea wjiich the Indians submitted to the United States and other U.N. delegations. Another' thesis put forward in '.memorandum form was the Indian conviction the \u.N. is spending too fnuch time trying to-do business with Russia on a Korean peace plan, according to informed sources. . India long has held that the Peiping regime is far more independent of Russia than the west be-' lieves and the memorandum was understood to indicate that a more direct approach to the Communist was needed. Delegates talked privately of the circulated Indian plan as the Foiltical Commit'tee met in a Saturday (Turn To Pare Six)

Rev. Walther To Be Installed Sunday Formal Installation On Sunday Evening The Rev. Ray J. Walther, new pastor of the First Presbyterian church of this city, will be formally installed ag resident pastor Sunday night at 7:30 o’clock. Rev. Walther delivered his: first sermon last Sunday, having to becatur 10 days ago with his family, including Mrs. Walther and three children from Tipton, where he was a Presbyterian pastor for several years. -- -i . The Rev. John Meister, the Rev. Robert McDanel and the Rev. William Rats, all of Fort Wayne; the ReV. D. R. • Hutchinson of Huntington and the Rev. Ware W. Wimberly of Wabash will have charge of the installation services. Each will have a special part in the service. Rev. Walthqr also will deliver the Sunday morning sermon at the local church at the regular time. Details arid formalities, necessitated by transfer of a. minister from one Presbytery to another, have been completed this week between! the M'uncie Presbytery and the Fort! \Wayne Presbytery. Decatur is, in the Fort Wayne Presbytery.

Probe Sea Collision Which Killed Five Attack Transport Rammed By Tanker PORTSMOUTH, Va. (UP)—A Navy court of inquiry convened aboard the USS Ruchamkin today to inspect gaping hole left by a sea colllteion which killed five soldiers in their sleeping quarters. Three officers were to > tour the Scene of twisted metal and oil sludge below decks, where troops and seamen were hurtled from their bunks as an oil tanker rammed the fast attack transport early Friday. AEmergency crews worked nightlong to keep the leaking ship afloat after it was towed to port from the site of the tragedy in a maneuver area for a mpek invasion fleet 55 miles off Cape Ifanry, Va. \ Divers went down- to inspect a leak sprung after the Texas Oil Co. tanker SS Washington knifed a 20-foot ga»h into port after quarters of the blacked out ship as it stood by for a mock coastal assault. The navy’ clamped a tight secrecy over the investigations but announced that the full-scale operations of the army-navy exercise “Seascape,” delayed far a day by the mishap, would get underway this morning. | Atlantic fleet headquarters said the tanker rammed into the Ruchamkin during a pre-invasion blackout fat 2:1'5 a. m. Friday, killing fivq members of an intelligence reconnaissance platoon and injuring 31 army and navy men. • “I was thrown out of my bunk dnd saw oil coming in the compartment,” said fireman apprentice Richard Kidney, JlB, of Staten Island, N. Yi “In no time at all it was up 4o my hips. “I used an escape hatch to get up the main deck. It was dark. There were guys lying all around the deck. I saw one man stuck in his bunk by bent metal. We used hacksaws and chisels to get him out.” ! Both ships remained afloat and the tanker proceeded to Philadelphia with its cargo of gasoline and fuel oil but the Ruchamkin, its engine room and two compartments flooded, had to be towed. :1 ■ f

Urge Congress To Probe Atrocities Congress Probe Is » Urged By Mbdden WASHINGTON, UP —The chairman of a special house committee whicji investigated the Katyn massacre on congress today to investigate Communist atrocities ,in Korea and behind the Iron Curtain. Rep. Ray J. Madden, D,-Ind., said congress, through its investigating committees, should keep attention; focused on “international? Soviet crimes.” “That’s the only way to wake up the United Nations and get it to take action against Russia's systematic program of genocide which is aimed at obliterating entire nation® behind the Iron Curtain,’’ he said. Madden made the remark as his comniittee completed a 14-month investigation into the brutal massacre. of several thousand Polish leaders near Smolensk, Russia, early in World War 11. The committee concluded that Russia —not the Germans as the <BOXIOIB had charged — committed the massacre. Even If Russia is never indicted before the international world court of justice, Madden said, the committee's work has been worthwhile. “I personally feel that since; we started our investigation ( the Communist massacre® ip Korea have subsided,” he said. “T believe the committee’s work has contributed to a slow-up of Russian international crimes.”

Price Five Cents

Americans Die As Big Plane Crashes Friday 37 Were Veterans Returning .To Front After Rest Leaves ! TOI£YO UP — Forty-four servicemen, 37 of them U. S. army soldiers returning from rest leave in Japan, were killed when an air force C-119 “Flying Boxcar” crashed into a mountain near Seoul, Kbrea, the Far East air forces announced today; The twin-engined plane Friday rammed Into Mount Yebong, a 2,000-foot peak only a few minutes away from its destination, an air- " port in the Seoul area.* An army spokesman said the 37 passengers were all Americanarmy men who were returning to Korea after a five-day rest andrehabilitation leave in Japan. The other seven aboard were Sir force crew members. Names of the dead were withheld pending notification of next of Kin. A. ground pLtfty that reached the rugged terrain where the crash took place 20 miles east of Seoul reported there were "no The toll was the largest in any Military plane crash since * the start of the Korean jwar. ’ The terrain in which the plane crashed was so rugged that helicopters could not land. The search party had to carry the dead down the steep slopes on stretchers and then walk miles to where vehicles awaited.

Korean farmers in the area said they saw five parachutes stream, from the plane seconds before the plane hit.the mountain. Apparently* the men who parachuted were able to save themselves. Personal effects sca 11 e*r e d throughout jhe area included pictures of wives, children and other loved ones. pnd Christmas presents for them bought in Japan. Patricia Scott, correspondent for the Tokyo Nippon Times, reported from the scene that she saw charred bodies strewn among the wreckage, indicating the plane had burned on crashing. She said some of the victims were wearing partly opened parachutes. A rescue party started carrying the Head out of, the rough, mountainous crash scene on the-slopes of Mount Yebong this afternoon. Members said it will take hours to complete the slow, taring job. The air force said the C-119 was last heard from about 2:40 p.m. 12:40 a.m. e.s.t Friday, when the pilot reported by radio he was approaching the Seoul area airport. At the time, the ceiUng was about 8,000 feet, some 6,000 feet higher than the mountain into which the plane crashed, but there were scattered clouds at about 1,200 feet. An aerial search, started soon after the plane became overdue, was called off because of darkness Friday night, but was resumed this morning. The plane was found soon after about! 20 miles east of Seoul. A ground rescue team arrived at the wreckage this afternoon. Early reports said the force of the erash scattered debris over (Turn To P«xe Six) Cost Os Election 64 Cents Per |Vote Ab each citizen cast his vote in the last general election, 64 cents came out Os the county coffers, according to an accounting released by the county auditor, Thurman I. Drew. ss Drew said the election cost tho county approximately 16.350, the claims for which will lie heard in Monday’s meeting of the county commissioners for that purpose. Although an actual comparison was not made, the total figure is thought to be one of the highest in the history of the county—due to the tremendous high vote percentage, 82 percent, and the number of people who to the polls, over 10,000. 1