Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 51, Number 75, Decatur, Adams County, 30 March 1953 — Page 1

Vol. LI. No. 75.

33 Killed In Nursing Home Fire Sunday | 32L Patients, One Nurse Victims Os j Fire In Florida LARGO, Fla. — Gov. Dan McCarthy joined demands for laws to regulate private nursing homes such as one here ti'at was swept by a pre-dawn fire, Sin- ’ day that killed 33 persons. | The state fire marshal's bffi|e, with experts on the scene sifting through ashes for a clue to hdw the blaze started, said if evidence of negligence is turned up it will be turned pver to the state attorney for prosecution. i W. L. Littlefield, operator of the i nursing home, disclosed meanwh|le that the fire was almost undfer control when a; blast of wind cdrI riecT it into a hallway. He said he and his wife had cared for a patient when they, found the fire in a front bedroom. : *'l used a fire extinguisher and almost had the fire out when .a strong wind whipped it into tie hall,” he said. w | He said they immediately began getting the patients out”. Twenty>e were rescued. Littlefield said # some of the victims were successful in reaching safety but ran back into the gaming building. J As investigators. probed through a mass of ashes, blackened bed ’■ frames and other debris, chairman R. Hosey Wick of the Pinellas county comtnission called for inimediate control legislation. | Littlefield said the fire roared through the, structure and killed the dazed and feeble inmates within 15 minutes. ? Ages of the dead inmates, 29 df whom were women, ranged from 65 to 91. ; ‘‘lt is regrettable that a catastrophe of this' magnitude had to happen to\awaken the legislature and the public in general,’’ Wick /said. ■ ■ » Don Jerlitfi,— deputy Florida fir| marshal, planned to interview wif jiesses, some of personnel of the home and others who dashed into the flaming structure to save those who lived. | The fire, whipped by a gusty wind, broke out shortly after S a.m. J 'i ■ , | There were occasional as flames reached after be<i . witnesses said. A nurse rescued one old woman, then dashed back into the flame| in response to screams of othersj, ahd died. A man was killed in - (Ton Tn P»t» T | Dr. Smith Condition Is Reported Grave The condition of Dr. W. K Smith, well known Decatur physician, was reported as grave today. He wass removed to the> local hospital Saturday morning after he was stricken at his home. ' • I - j ' ■ t - _ 1 - . ' I Warren Austin Is Slightly Improved BURLINGTON, Vt„ UP — The Condition of Warren R. Austin, f7s| retired ambassado? to the United . (Nations who suffered a cerebral! attack last Friday, was reported? improved but still grave today. , i A spokesman at Mary Fletcher? hospital where Austin is unden treatment said “the outlook fori complete recovery from the at-® tackpis good.” f «

Enroll First Grade Pupils On April 7 j Set Registration At Cathplic School Registration' of children in St Mary’s Catholic church parish whq( will start to school’next September will be held Tuesday, April 7, at the school, the yery Rev. Mkgr. J\ j. Seimetz,! plastqr, announced Sunday. The pre-schOol registration will furnish Msgr. Seimetz and the Catholic schobl faculty with the approximate number of beginners who will be enrolled next fall. / Last September, 48 children en tered the first grade on the opening day of school and next fall s enrollment is expected to be heavier. Msgr. Seimetz announced that children must be six years pf age by Sept. 15, 1953, if they wish to enroll for the fall semester. A rearrangement of class rooms will be necessary, it )vas indicated bjr the pastor, if thri enrollment, heavily exceeds last year’s total.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Ends Four Hectic Hours , — — TgsHHL • - j r i —1 MBH ; 3 * lit 4 W ' W WI ■ I I Of' . i ‘I : H 5 " ' - J WW WEEPING as shp hears'the news. Mrs. Ovella Sperry, former wife of 4'x-Flying Tiger pilot holand Sperry -(lower right), learns that he is safe— under arrest. Sperry stole a plane at the Gardena. Cal., airporj and radioed that he intended*to dive to his death. Then, for sous hours he had! a virtual armada of aircraft on a wlild chase over California towns 'rom the Los Angeles area to Mexico. He was finally ‘‘talked dow i” by the aircraft’s owner, landing at San v Diego where he was arrested. Sperry said he had “too many troubles.”

Agreement On Greek Shipping Made Last Week ■ i 1 ’’ ■ n Agreement Reached Before Disclosure 1 By Sen. McCarthy WASHINGTON, UR — Adminisr tratipn officials saip today an agreement was negotiated with Grteeiri through noitmalj diplomatic channels a wpek ago to stop Greek ships from trading with Red Thiy said the arrangements had been j completed 'before Sen. ; Joseph- R. McCarthy, R-Wis., announ|rid Saturday that he had obtained promises from the Greek owners of 242 merchant ships to cut off their trade With Red China, North Korea and Russia’s Far ' East jpprts. ’ : ” • Offjcjials said they did not know whetiejr McCarthy aware that the executive branch of the governmkpt had been negotiating with preece for sieveral months on the siii'ject. But they said the Greek sdiip owners’ must have known that their own government had a decree forbidding any Grieek national or ship to edrry st|akegjc materials to China." I Published reports that High officials of the Eisenhower administration i resented YMteCarthy’s ven' titre into diplomacy were met at the White House and state department With “no comment," Souides close" to mutual security directin' Harold E. Stassen inti* however, that ? he might have ipmething to say on the ad-i ministration's behalf during his appearance today before McCarthy’s senate investigating subcomjj mitted - ! ■ . Stasfepn was called before the subcotfijnittee for \ questioning about! Administration efforts tp choke i off trade Across the Iron Curtain.; Members, of McCarthy’s sub/Twrn To Bivht) Court House Closes All Day On Friday Offices in\ thd court'house will he closed all day Friday, April'3, in observance of Good Friday, it was lepmed today. The date was declared a legal holiday two years ago. The First State bank and most public offices will be closed all day. Local business houses usually close from 12 o’clock noon until . 3 o’clock in the! afternoon, during 3which time church services are held. The {Decatur public library will plose Thursday evenirfg at 7 o’clock And will remain closed until 3 o’cldbk f'riday afternoon. Miss Bertha; Heller, librarian, announced. Regular imail deliveries are Scheduled ;; The \Daily Democrat will be- closed from 12 until 3 o’- ; clock, fodt the \ Friday Democrat will be published at the regular time.

Attitude Unchanged On Conservancy Act Committee Meets Here On Saturday, The attitude of the Adams county educational committee on the proposed Maumee valley consprvancy district is the same now as it was to meeting of the Indiana general assembly, actording to chairman J. iM. Doan. This conclusion wag reached in a meeting Saturday afternoon. The ; committee reiterated that in promoting the 1947 conservahcy act, the Fort Wayne citizens civic association is demanding that all the counties involved, Allen, Wells, DeKalb, Noble, Steuben, and Adams, \“buy a pig in a poke by signing a blank check that can run into millions of dollars.” 1 The committee stated that some districts in Ohio, organized under a similar law, have done good work. A notable example is the Dayton district. In -the Dayton-case, the money for the survey was raised by popular subscription? The petition for the district was not circulated until the plan was fully developed. 1 \ An Ohio example the other extremb is the Scioio-iSandusky area. This district \ has been in Litigation for the past sixteen ypars. The Adanis county comnfittee has suggested that this proposed district follow the Dayton example by developing a detailed plan on which to base the petition. If this suggestion is followed, the propo- , sition could then be debated on its . merits. The i committee statement i 8: ' \ \ k “It is unfortunate that this pro- . ject is being considered at this ! time, as Adams County is voting 4 on soil conservation district, ■ and the two areI*-separate 1 *-separate projects and ( because the are confusing . to a lot of peqple. v , “If and when the 19£7 act is ] amended so all the people within a district are represented in es- . tablishing such a district, our attitude; may change, i “We feel that not only Adams • County, but the people of other counties within the district are not in favor of establishing such a project and the committee should remain very active.” J ' _____ ■' ! Young Boy Trapped In Vender's Cart EVANSVILLE, UP — Sevehi year-old John love of ice cream was the clue that led to discovery of his, body trapped in -a Good Humor man’s vending cart. The youngster ivas missed Saturday. An all-night search by hia (parents, Mr. and Mrs.. Herbert i Wilcox, fyiled to shed any light on ■ his disappearance. 1 Police found the lad Sunday in : a neighbor's garage where the • carts we're placed for winter stor- , age- The boy had crawled into a ■ cart, and suffocated when the door fell shut on him.

ONLY DAILY NEWBPAPKR IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, March 30, 1953. — ■ i *

Chinese Reds Broadcast New Offer To Bring End To Entire Korean War L. _ _■ -■ ‘ L Hr ' . . * .

U. S. Officials In Close Study Os Red Offers Official Comment Delayed Pending Receipt Os Offer 1 i f I r ‘ pi J WASHINGTON. UP—The sthte department said today top officials Will take a long, hard look at l|ed t'hina’s offer tb hompromisie on ,|lrtf sticky prisoner issue that ruptiired Korean truce negotiations. 1. ; Until an official report of I|ed phinese Premier Chou ’En-LiFfr, hew “offer” is delivered Spokesmen said, there will be 'jho Official comment, -I a -j • The White fiouse sai4 President Eisenhower is “following” the Far Eastern development. > : The New ’China New-U Ageiicy broadcast a statement, attributed tjo Chou, saying the Chinese and North Korean Communists ire shilling to abandon their position that all prisoners must be forcibly repatriated. It was on this tpe truce im-phsse J f Official spokesmen here said E critical test of the Reds’ y will come in the impending tlationa on exchange of sd£k aiid wounded prisoners. If- t'jße Chinese show gtibd fdith in this transaction, the Unjt,ed Nations will agree’ quickly |o nfw talks aimed at ending way, , . lit : {Hopes for a break in the loftg deadlock rosp steadily during the wbek end as diplomatic experts looked in vain for any catch to thje ’latest enemy proposal. wary of Red “peaci* l ” gestures, they said it was much tob soon to be sure that R£d Cl|ina is sincere in proposing do resume truce 'negotiations and exchange sick and wounded iprisdheri. They said the fiyst step;—one wljich will test Red motives— will be! to work out the actual mechanics of the prisoner exchanggfe. 'Grin, Mark W. Clark. Far East commander, was expected to setld liaison officers to the truce talk city of Panmuhjom almost impri’ disjtely to get down to b!rass tajek| onkhis problem: The United Nations wijl insist that the exchange bf cariied out under the terms of the Geheva convention,, which pr<h vidies that sick and wounded prisoners of war can be oniiy with their consent. / ■ A strong indication that the Copimuni&ts are ready to accept these terms was seen in a Moscow dispatch, bleared through Russian censorship today. It revealed that the; (Soviet press, in telling its readers about the prisoner ex| change offer, deliberately callelf attention to the voluntary repatriation principle of ’ the Geneva Contention. i Officials said thajt if the Communists agree to exchanging sick; and; wounded on a vol-' untgry basis, the U- N. will have /Tant To P«*e Eight) r i ’ ’' I \ ! i'-?.

\ I ’ * ' s ■ v (By Rev. John Detwiler, Antioch- United Missionary Church) - \ * I HE IS OUR PEACE , ’ ' ' - • i . f ■ Romfonsa:7 ?1 ' ' “Therefore being justified by feith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesua Chj-ist.” (Romans §:1) ; Can w« obtain peace in a troubleo and war-torn wdrld such as we are living in -today? We are toreed to admit that the world situation at this time presents a very dark picture. There seems to foe little hope of obtaining any lasting peace until the Prjnce of Peace the Lord Jesus Christ, returns to earth again. • Howe,ver for the individual m-ati or woman, boy or girl, peace majy be obtained here and now. Aa pesus calmed the troubled sea \ by saying to it. “Peace, be still,’’ so He can speak peace to the troubled soul today. Then, though circumstances may be unfdeisant and troublesome,\“the p<ace of God, which passeth all I understanding,” fillfl the heart and ?mlnd enabling that person to Ilvo at peace with God, his fellowmgn and himself. This peace 1 is to be found bnly by enthroning ChiMst withib our own heart, for, is our.peace.” . .

i ' ■ Little Indiana Town Rocked By Explosion Lewis Devastated By Ammunition Blasts LEWIS, o Ind. j- Explosions sirred “this devastated little vkiage |t about 30-minute intervals tqday military demolition teams detonated stacks of jive artillery shells and rockiets scattered bj an !ammunition traiin explosion Sstur'to- ' . J | k !j Today's blasts were carefully ex.ecuted to do no damage to already Shattered £nd all civiliians herded oi|t of the demolition area. However, town, x-as ‘■huot evacuated.! \ |i The lawns and streets of this .iboal mining coimmunity were littered with live shells! and rod ets /’Saturday night when (three ainmu- ’ hiltion cars on ai Milwaukee Road freight train bljew up v*ith tiearth-shaking force, injuring eight The initial blast caused f |24 cars to “disappear,” pbserVers I ibaid. ■. : \\ r !' | The stadcato blasts continued tor •hours, raining w-hite-hot steel on starting fires and daijiibging every structure i a town. » The job of picking' up the ive ammunition may take?several days, j £apt. William McGowan, camujmander of the joint army-navy uemnlition crews, said, “we won’t d<now until' noon .how many shells : kliere are or hoik long jit Will tike his to cipan this up.” r I* He said his men Went out in pmall search parties. < picked up Spells and- brought thefn to a c|? n ‘ ' fral blast area j where! they were ftack/’d and detonated. i ; He said he cpuld onjly estimate |hat “hundreds” of the) shells tiad already been found and blown up. fThe crews\ worked Sunday nlghf knd until 1:30 a.m. today un|er 1 floodlights. They resumed early tolar after a phort rest. ■ , (McGowan said Saturday’s! exiiloions, which continued, for ab(>ut ix hours and lejft only!' 10 houses abitable in this town of 400 pier- ; torn, could “have been! very ■ sdr|had they occurred in a larger pity like Terre Haute. Ind., whpre the ammunition cars joined the Milwaukee Road freight, , I Military Jnvestigatorsi had stjill got determined what caused Sfcturday’s accident and it was not |nown if the ammunition\cars had Jumped the tracks op caught fije, (|r both. _ 1 j i |*MfeGowan’s crews worked as a ifublic address system blared, “Do ijot becomd alarmed. Thesfe exfitosions are controlled.” : | L Six Men Are Killed tn Crash Os B-29 iANGRO DO HER&ISMO, Azores DP —Sax r inen were killed Sunday ifght and four were critically iatred when; a United {Rates B-!!9 ashed just south ofthe Lagens dhnerlcan-PjMftuguese lairbase near . Ifere. F fCoI. H. I; Smith, commander <pf ; the base, ijanpounced the casual j ties. He said there were 15 U. $. afrmen aboard, the plane. Fiyg escaped without serious irijury.

Report Foreign Aid Assistance To Be Slashed • ’ ' ■ ■ . \ f Republican Leaders _\ Issue Report After White House Parley ' WASHINGTON, UP— Republiccongressional leaders reported oday after a White House conference that the $7,500,000,000 foreign aid program proposed by former President Truman ; definitely will be cut. I They also said- a “drastic cut” of overseas personnel in the mutual security administration already is under way. , The meeting with President | 'Eisenhower was attended b'y foreign aJd chief Harold E. Stassen. Senate GOP leader Robert A. Taft said Stassen was unable to give the amount of foreign aid proposed for the fiscal year beginning July 1. But the Ohio senator said there was “no question of a cut’” in the $7.500,(M}0,000 item submittal by ex-President Tru- ■ man. , ■ ,' \ Taft said Stassen and his staff also are studying how much money can be eliminated from a ’ $10,000,000,000 carry-over ■ in. for- ! elgn aid appropriations. Taft said Stassen already has ordered, a “drastic cut” in persoh- ' nel overseas. He listed as an example g J5 0 percent slash in total personnel of the mutual security* administration’s Paris office. ! \ Other highlights from the Presi-' dent’s weekly meeting with top house and senate Republicans: 1. Taft said the leaders report-' ed to the President they would “do everything possible” to reach congressional adjournment by July 3 and certainly no later than Aug. 1 the date for adjournment called for in the reorganization law. Taft said at present a fall session of qongress did not likely. The President will issue an executive order this w-eek removing policy-making federal officials from civil service. Taft said the original order would have affected “several hundred” persona but a revised plan drafted by the new .civil service commission &hairi (Twi-w Te Pa*« Elxht)

George G. Flanders Is Taken By Death Retired Post Olfice Clerk Dies Saturday George G, Flanders, 82, well known retired Decatur post office employe, died at 10:30 o’clock Saturday night at the Adams county memorial hospital, where he had been taken two days earlier following a severe heart attack. My. Flanders, w|jo had been a resident- of Decatur for more thafo 50 years, became an employe of the post office Sept.\l7, 1907, and retired as dispatch clerk Sept. 30, 1935. He was born in Cincinnati, 0., Sept,; 20, 1870, a son of David and Alpha Gladden-Flanders, and was married to Jessie Carlisle Jtpe 3, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Flanders celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1947. Mr. Flanders was a membrir of the First Methodist church in this city. C >. * Surviving in addition to his wife are a son, Carlisle Flanders of Ashfbrk, Ariz.; bne daughter, Mrs. Gladys Lawrence of Peru; one grandchild and two great-grandchil-dren. Fuireral services will be conducted at 2:3b p.m, Tuesday at the Flanders home. 313 South Third street, the Rey) Samuel Emerick officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. The body has been removed from the Black funeral home to the residence, where friends may call until time of the services. A

UN Leaders Elated / At Peace Prospect Red Delegate Says Offer Interesting UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. — Chinese Communist Premier Chou En-Lai‘s declared readiness to negotiate the war prisoner problem that deadlocked Korean truce talks took the United Nations by elated surprise today. The Chinese Red leader carefully, Sidestepped tke U. N.’s own Compromise peace formula, put forward by India last fall and approved by a 54-5 vote in the general assembly His declaration, however, appeared to .fall in line with a Mexican resolution proposed last November. but never acted upon. The Mexican measure, like Chou En-Lai’s statement, called for prisoners refusing to be repatriated td their’ homeland to be sent so a neutral country. First comment on Chou En-Lai’s declaration came from Russian Delegate Valerian A. Zorin as hC entered a secret session of the five permanent members of the securi-, ty council, who were making a “last chance” effort to agree on a successor to •secretary general Lie. “interesting”, was Zorin’s re|action. gained the impression Zorin and Soviet Ambassadefr to Washington Georgi Zarubim who w-as attending a general assembly session on personnel policy, had no previous knowledge of | the Chinese Communist move. V. K. Krishna Menon, author of the Indian peace formula, welcomed the declaration. Menon commented the Peiping declaration, if was official, might open the way, to a mure hopeful future. Representatives of the Big Five powers went into their secret session shortly after 10:30 a.m. and a spokesman who left the meeting said they wiere “not talking about Korea”' but only the question of a neW secretary general. ' v - . : ... - - • • Holy Week Services Al Catholic Church , Schedule Announced By Msgr. Seimetz’ 1 The schedule of Holy Week services was announced ' Sunday by the Very Rev. Msgr. J. J. Seimetz. pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church. High mass and procession with the Blessed Sacrament will foe held Holy Thursday at 7:30 a. m. There will be adoration of the !H<j4y Eucharist throughout the day and a prayer hour from 7 to 8 o’clock in the evening. The mass of the presanctified will be said at 7:30 a. m. Good Friday. The Three Hours will be observed from 12 to 3 o’clock in' the afternoon, Cohgregational Way of the Cross will be made at 12:45 and 1:45 p. m.- A blessing with a. relic of the True Cross will begin at 2:30 p. m. ( A sermon on Christ’s crucifixion will be given at 7:30 o’clock Friday evening. On Holy Saturday,-, the services will begjn at 6 a. m. with lighting of the Easter fire and blessing of water and the Paschal candle. High mass will be- celebrated at 7:30 a. m., during which Holy Communion will be distributed. The Easter masses will be at 5:30, 7t30, 9, and 10:15 a. m.. the latter followed by benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. ! The heating of confessions will begin Wednesday and continue through to Saturday evening. Holy Communion will be received by members of the parish Easter Sunday. INDIANA WEATHER Cloudy with showers tonight ending Tuesday; a little warmer tonight. Low tonight 35-43 north, 44-52 south. High Tuesday 48-52 north, 52-60 south.

Price Five Cenh

Peiping Radio Broadcasts New Offer Os Peace Proposes Return t Os All Prisoners Wishing To Return k TOKYO. Tuesday. (UP) — The Chinese Reds broadcast today a new offer to end the entire Korean war. A Peiping broadcast j quoting Chinese Communist Premier Chou Eff-Lai proposed that s all prisoners whq want to return will be sent home. The others would be turned over to a “neutral state” to have their future “justly settled.” It was an apparent surrender by the Reds on the long-stalemat-ed issue of volofttar repatriation of war prisoners — the only olr stacle in the way of an armistice. It followed by only 48 hours a Communist proposal for immediate repatriation of sick and wounded -! 1 Gen. Mark dark’s .repb’ to that proposal Was expected momen tarily. V Immediate unofficial react ioi was that die Allies will take t long look aj the new other Chou's statement came as fight ing on the Korean war front al ready was reaching a faster ( tempt with the advent of spring. It was, however, regarded as particularly significant since Choj: only last week returned Moscow conferences with Russian Premier Georgi M. Malenkov. v He pointed out himself that repatriation issue was thg only •thing in dispute and claimed that had armistice negotiations not been interrupted for more than five months a solution might, have Wen found long ago. j “Now, inasmuch as the U. -N. has proposed to settle in accordance with article 109 of the (Geneva convention the question of exchanging sick and injured prisoners of war during the period of hostilities, we consider that subsequent to the reasonable settlement of that question it is entirely a matter of course that a smooth solution to the whole question of prisoners of war should be achieved, provided that both sides are prompted by real sincerity to bring>rbout an armistice in Korea in the spirit of mutual compromise,” Chou continued. , Chou said the North Koreans have always held —and continue to hold—the view that the only solution to the prisoner question is to repatriate all of them. But in view of the fact that prisoners now constitute the onlybarrier to agreement, he said, the Reds “are prepared to take steps to eliminate the differences -on this question so as to bring about an armistice in Korea.” “To this end. the government of the Peoples Republic of. China and the government of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea propose that both parties to the negotiations should undertake to repatri- . | (Tori To Pace Ktc*t> S Less Than Fourth Os 1 Spring Taxes Paid '. \ With less than 25 percent of the current tax bill paid. Richard Lewton, county treasurer, is anticipating a rush 'the last month. About SIOO,OOO ,ol the $600,000 spring tax payments has been paid in the treasurer’s records show. Final day for paying the spring taxes without a penalty is Monday, May 4. Treasurer Lewton said the usual custom. of keeping the office qpen Saturday’ afternoons would start Saturday, April 11, and continue April 18 and 25 and May 2. The treasurer said that during the last several days of tax paying time, his , office ' also would remain open during the noon hour. At present the office is Hosed from 11:80 a.m. until 1 p.m. Additional cashiers and clerical help will be placed in the office for the last two weeks,’ it was announced.