Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 51, Number 163, Decatur, Adams County, 13 July 1953 — Page 1

Vol. LI. No. 163.

Three Decatur Residents Die In Fire - Man Killed In Blast

Rhee Pledged Against Truce Interference Truce Leaders Meet Tonight To Study Pledge From Rhee SEOUL. Korea, Tuesday, UP — United Nations and Communists meet at Panmunjom today in a critical session which may determine whether the Reds will accept South Korean President Syngman Rhee’s written promise hot to interfere with a truce for six months. Assistant secretary of state Walter S. Robertson. President Eisenhower’s personal envoy, prepared to leave for Washington, carrying -with him Rhee’s personal pledge. [ The question is whether the Communists will accept this pledge or whether there will be long days of wrangling that will .. delay the signing of an armistice while further lives are sacrificed in now fruitless fighting. It iS’believed that the Reds may make their position dear at the full sress truce session to he held at 11 a.m., (8 p.m. Monday c.s.t.) (Rhee pledged he would not interfere- in the armistice until the political commission has a chance to reach agreement. He said, however; he would take action if the conference fails to do anything about unifying Korea within a reasonable time. Rhee, in effect, gave the political conference 90 days to show proof of its intentions to unify Korea. Rhee’s pledge was considered strong enough, informed sources said, for Allied truce negotiators at Panmunjom to assure the Communists the South Korean government would'not obstruct the signing of the armistice. Lt. Geh. Xvilliam K. Harrison, chief U. N. 1 -negotiator, gave the Reds this assurance at the first of two meetings in the truce hut today. | North Korean Gen. Nara II handed Harrison a written reply, following a 30-lninute recess. Nam’s answer was hot made public. The two sides will meet again at 11 a.m;, Tuesday (10 p.m. e.d.t. Monda>->- . _ But shortly hefof® today’s meetings began, Radio Peiping, voice of Red China, charged that Rhee had made an agreement with the United States which freed him to “sabotage the armistice." Radio Peiping’s quarrelsome tone indicated there would be continued haggling at Panmunjom. with the Communists attempting to place responsibility for Rhee’s future actions on the United States, r ; The most important task ahead of the negotiators was setting of a date for the elaborate armistice signing ceremony. These are the major stages in - bringing a trtfce to Korea: 1. Signing of the armistice, with Clark acting for the U, N. and Gens. Kim II Sung and Peng Teh-Huai for the Communists. 2. Immediately after the signing. the Military Armistice Commission will take over. The first official act probably will be a meeting of. the Allied and Communist members at Panmunjom. 3. Within 12 hours of the signing, all fighting will stop. 4. Within 72 hours. Allied and Communist troops must pull back two kilometers (1% miles) from the battleline to form the demilitarized zone and destroy all fortifications with the zone. 5. Exchange of prisoners who •want to return home will begin “as soon as possible.” iTnm Paare Five)

Taft Recovering From Operation NEW YORK. UP — Sen. Robert A. Taft spent a restful weekend and is recovering from an exploratory abdominal operation performed last week in connection with a serious hip ailment, a New York hospital spokesman said today. < He is expected to remain in the hospital at least until July 22.

DECATUR DA ITA DEMOCRAT

Home From Europe WHILE GENERAL and Mrs. Ridgway look on, young Matthew Ridgway Jr., momentarily steals the spotlight from his Dad as he shakes hands with General Omar Bradley. General Ridgway and his family had just arrived at Washington’s National Airport from Paris, where he turned over the command of the NATO forces to Gen. Alfred Gruenther. Ridgway will take over as Army Chief of Staff in midAugust. Li j T

Dulles Says Korea Truce Up To Reds - J I ; ' • ■ , - Foreign Ministers Os Big Three Hear ' : Report From Dulles BULLETIN WASHINGTON UP — The United States told Great Britain and Francis today that it would oe firrnly opposed to * the entry of Communist China into the United Nations or any relaxation of .the trade embargo against Ltnat regime, even if a Korean armistice is arranged. ' | WASHINGTON; UP —Secretary of state John Foster Dulles told the Big Three foreign ministers meeting today that a Korean truce is now up: to the Communists. , | x State department press officer Lincoln White said Dulles discussed the statement issued by assistant secretary of state Walter S. Robertson and South Korean president Syngman Rhee on South Korean participation in an armistice and “elaborated somewhat.”\ “Th<e secretary reviewed briefly the course of the Korean armistice negotiations I and emphasized that an armistice is now possible if the Communists want one,” he said. White said French foreign minister George Bidault and acting British foreign j secretary Ix>rd Salisbury expressed confidence in the armistice negotiations and “praised the patience, perserverance and tenacity of the U. N. negotiating team.” This morning's meeting dwelt almost entirely on the Far Eastern situation. Besides Korea, the three foreign ministers discussed the Indochina problem. As the third session of the foreign ministers opened, prospects tor an early truce lb the Korean war were offset by intelligence-re-ports that Red China, getting ready for new aggressive moves, had begun building up war supplies into Indochina. before shifting attention to the Far East, secretary of state Jolm (Tara To Pose Two) INDIANA WEATHER Mostly fair tonight ana Tueaday. Not much change In tem» perature. Low tonight 55-60 north, 57-62 south; high Tuesday 82-86 north, 86-90 south.

Heavy Death Toll In State Over Weekend Four Persons Die As Result Os Fires By UNITED PRESS A family of three killed in a Decatur house fire were among nearly a score of persons who lost their lives in a series of accidents during another deadly Indiana week end. Fire claimed four lives In the state. At least nine were killed in traffic. There was one drowning. Decatur and Mooresville were hardest hit by the rasp of fatalities. H . | : George Franklin Gilbert, 23; his wife, Norma. 22, and their two-month-old son Bruce were suffocated ini a fire at their home Sunday. : Another suffocation vicitim was Dale Carlock, 44, Indianapolis, who died when fire of undetermined origin swept his home. 1 At Mooresville, six-month-old Joyce Higgins, Detroit, was killed and her parents and a sister injured seriously when their car ran , off Ind. 67 Saturday. A second crash at Mooresville killed Harold R. Wiles, 16 r Mooresville, when his car collided with a truck. Police said Wiles failed to stop for a highway sign. At least two double traffic fatalities were recorded. Cpls. Wayne Woods and David Stephany, both 20 and stationed at-Ft. Knox, Ky., were killed when their motorcycle overturned, throwing them in the path of a truck oh U. S. 150 near Salem. The truck was driven by Arthur M. Pewitt, 28, Louisville, Ky.. police said. Mrs. Florence Lingenfelter, 44, Reynoldsville, Pa., and her daugh-ter-in-law, Donna Jean Lingenfelter, 17, were killed when their auto went out of control on U. S. 40 and struck a bridge near Cambridge City Saturday. | s Two other highway victims were children. Seven-yealr-old Pamela Long, Fortville, was killed and her father, Gene, 32, and sister were hurt when their car crashed into a truck on U. S. 52 near Arlington. The truck driver was Gale 'Rice, 31, Rushville. Barbara Dawn Snapp, 12, of Auburn, was killed and her grandfather, former Auburn police chief Daniel Martin Kreamelmeyer, 65, and another man were injured seriously Sunday in * head-on crash south of Ashley. State police said a car driven by Willis D. Hecht, 26, Ashley, collided with Kreamelmeyer’s as Hecht drove in the wrong lane of traffic. Arthur Elrhart, 51, Effingham, (T«ra To Page Two)

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, July 13, 1953,

George Gilbert, Wife, Infant Son Die Sunday, Blast Kills Lester Ross

Lester Ross Is Killed By Blast Sunday Willshire Man Dies J Early This Morning | Following Explosion ; Lester (Doc) Ross, 24-year-old resident of Willshire, 0.. died at 3:30 o’clock this morning at the Adams county memorial hospital of burns suffered in an explosion and subsequent flash fire at his home at 12:30 o’clock Sunday afternoon. Ross, his wife, (heir two-year-old daughter, Ciady Lou, and Ross’ eight-year-old niece/ Diana Sue Huston, had just finished eating dinner when they noticed an odor of gas and Mrs. Ross also stated that there was no hot water. The Willshire man went to the basement to inspect the bottled gas hot water heater. He founrj water on the basement floor and plugged in a sump pump. Spark! apparently caused when he mad® the connection for the pump ignited the gas fumes from the heater and a terrific explosion followed. The blast caused great damage to the Ross home and the explosion and flash of fire accompanying the blakt burned the. young man terribly, resulting in his death. Walls of ( the drome w*ere pulled apart by the blast 1 , windows were broken and, bricks in the chimney were scattered about the yard. Fortunately. 'Mrs. Ross, her daughter and the Huston child miraculously escaped injury. The 'explosion victim !as born in Wren, 0., Aug. 24, 1928, a so! of Clark and Mabel Shookßoss> and was married to Louise Miller June 26, 1948.

Mr. Ross was employed at the Salisbury Axle plant in Fort Wayne and served as a starter for the Rainbow Racing which sponsors races at Clem’s lake here. Surviving in addition to the wife and daughter are his father; eight brothers, Richard of Monroe, Rolen, Eugene. Gerald, Max. Ervin. Billy Joe and Leo, all of Decatur; and three sisters, Mrs. Walter Lister of Decatur, Mrs. Byron Thomas of Kansas City, Mo., and Mrs. Raymond Huston of Decatur. One son preceded him in death. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p. m. Wednesday at the Wren Evangelical United Brethren church, the Rev. Donaltj Martin officiating.. Burial will be in the Wren cemetery. The body was removed to the Zwick funeral home, where friends may call after 7 p. m. Tuesday. The casket will not be opened. License Bureau To Be Closed Tuesday The Decatur branch of the automobile license bureau will be closed all day Tuesday, Mrs. Dale Death, bureau manager, said today. Regular hours will be observed again Wednesday and the drivers* license examiner will be here all day for beginners” applications and examinations.

North Dakota Cop ; Killed By Gunman / Flees With Woman And Five Children 1 . i’ • BULLETIN PIERRE, S. D. UP —- South Dakota officials said today the suspected slayer of a New Salem, N. D., policeman, nas been caught between Bixby and Zeona in northwestern South Dakota. ~ ' PIERRE. S.| D. UP — State Police today manned roadblocks on every important highway in South Dakota to cut off a jwo-gun, trigger-happy killer who'murdered a North Dakota policeman and then fled with a woman and five whimpering children. State police headquarter? here expressed fear that the troopers would be at a, disadvantage in a gun duel with the slayer “'sipce “they couldn’t very well fire* 4 into a carload of children. The gunman, driving a cal identified as that of a Fred Werren-of Aberdeen. S. I). killed police chief Ed Mumby, 55. at New’ Salem, N. I)., Sunday night in a quarrel over payment of a one cent sales tax. He also took a farmer on: a nerve-tingling kidnap ride. The farmer. Walter Hoherz. 45, said today, “I’m still shaking.”

Hoherz was drawn into the bloody incident when Mumby approached him in a New Calera restaurant and said he needed-; a car to chase a gunman. ; :| .Witnesses said Mumby • whs called when the gunman sprayed five shots into another case where he had stopped to buy soft drinks. Th® case proprietor, Mrs. Ed Schmidt, said the gunman and his female companion protested ;at being charged the one-cent sales tax on four bottles of pop purchases for the children. Sb® said the gunman fired the scattered shots after leaving the case. ? U Mumby commandeered HOherz’ car and. with the farmer and an(Turn T« Pace Five) 1.

Welcome Rain Fo(cj Parched Southwest, Flash Flood Kills f Two In Colorado By UNITED PRESS f Soa-king rainS nourished, the cracked, almost lifeless soil in much of the Southwest drought 'bowl and touched, flash floods in Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. ’ i Agricultural experts said the rains may have broken the drougji f , the worst in history, at least tejnporarily. But West Texas, heart lot the critical area, got only teasing showera or no rain at all. A flash flood in the Colorado drought belt left two men dead late Saturday njght. The U. S. weather bureau Reported; "numerous and' ’substriutial" showers Sunday night. frd'rn Minnesota southward across Wisconsin, lowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and extreme North Texas, with xsome showers in Louisiana, New , England and the Pacific Northwest. Up to 5.60 inches of rain fill at Stillwater, Okla., and a minor flood there drove eight families from their homes and flooded basements of several buildings at Oklahoma A. & M. College. J J Another flash flood and strong (Tara To Pane Fear)

Airliner With 58 On Board Down At Sea Missing Airliner Carrying 58 Down In Pacific Ocean HONOLULU UP — A green flare of a type carried on life rafts was sighted in the Pacific 325 miles east olf Wake Island today in an urea where a missing airliner carrying 58 persons ently went down at sea. The flare, second to be seen in the area within about 24 hours, was sighted by crewmen of the Navy transport Barrett. The transport .also had sighted oil slicks and pieces of airplane equipment, giving further evidence that the missing Transocean DC--6B had gone down. The big plane carried 50 passengers, including 10 children, and a crew of eight. Sighting of the flare was reported by the Barrett four hours after it picked up an empty 20-man life raft of the type carried aboard •the missing plane. The aircraft vanished Saturday night on a flight from Wake Island to Honolulu. Early Sunday another flare was seen by a Flying Tiger military charter plane flying about the same route as that taken by the DCCB. A Navy spokesman said large life rafts carry green, white and red flares as standard equipment. However, authorities cautioned that the flares might have come from fishing vessels. In addition to finding the raft, the Barrett found foam rubber cushions of a type aboard the missing plane. Cmdr. T. O. Murray, operations (Tori To Powe Foor) J

Confesses To Fire Killing 15 Persons Confessed Arsonist Held In California \ Willows, calif;, up —a confessed arsonist, who started a forest; fire because he “had to have a job” fighting it. waited in county jail today to be charged with the deaths of 15 men killed in the paging blaze. Fourteen of the victims were missionaries who had volunteered to fight the fire. Stanford Phillip Patton. 26. broke down Sunday only after he was shown pictures of the charred bodies of the fir«y victims. He had been questioned for 34 hours, according to district attorney Clyde H. Larimer. *!Ckay,” Patton said. “I’ll tell you the true story. I did it. I did it. I started, the fire.” He told sheriff Lyle Sale he started the fire because he “had to have a job.” The blaze broke out last Thursday, trapping the 14 missionaries and one forest service employe in a canyon as they sat down to eat. Eleven other persons escaped by heading in another direction. \ Sale said Patton told of a series of personal failure*. 1 His wife, Portia, | took their ‘three sons to the home of her parents. he aald. He was $3,000 in* debt, his car was about to be repossessed and his landlord was about to evict him.

Stevenson Held At Gunpoint In Berlin Detained Half Hour By Reds In Berlin BERLIN. (UP) — The United States may protest to the Russians over the detention at gunpoint of Adlai E. Stevenson in East Berlin Saturday. An American spokesman said today a decision will; he reached soon. If the protest is made it will be sent by Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Timberman. Berlin’s American commander, to Maj. Gen. P. T. Dibrova. his opposite number in the Soviet command. Stevenson, Cecil B. Lyon, head of the office of the U. S. high commission, and five other Americans were detained for 30 minutes Saturday outside the ruins of Hitler's bunker by seven Communist police carrying tommy guns. The police surrounded the party and forbade it to leave after several members of the party took photographs of Stevenson in the ruins of the. bunker. Stevenson was warned. “If you move we will shoot.” The party was released after the »police confiscated their film. V Stevenson said he “enjoyed” the ! experience and was not nervous although the Communist police were. The unsuccessful 1952 presidential Democratic candidate left, Berlin by air today for the West Germany capital at Bonn.

Much Rubbish Being Dumped On Roads Highway Head Asks Public Cooperation State highway employes ‘ who. are making a concentrated effort to keep 'the right-of-ways along state i roads presentable report they still are confronting trouble with cans and other rubbish being dumped along the roadways. Employes report that it takes twice as long to mow a strip, because of breakdowns to machinery due to the blades contacting cgns, metals and other pieces? of rubbish. ; Each week trucks are dispatched along state roads to pick up all rubbish which can be found, but high grass and weeds make this operation only about 50 percent efficient. True Andrews, subdistrict superintendent; reported. There are constant breakdowns of mowers while they are in operation, from hidden objects thrown along the roads. • 1 V There have been several prosecutions under the new law prohibiting the throwing of rubbish from automobiles, Andrews reported, and. his men have been instructed to watch constantly for violators. 1 ' Berms along all state highways in Adanls county have been levelled off and the grass has been mowed down. The crew of a dozen men will continue this beautification work throughout the summer months. Andrews also asked for coopera-; tlon of 1 local merchants in keeping the highways clean through the business district. Sweepings and discarded boxes and paper often are founds all along the streets, also is a violation of the new statute, Andrews said.

Price Five Cent*

Three Decatur Persons Dead In Home Fire '4 f . TH?' Gilbert's Mother i Escapes Death At Home A family of three are dead ami one In> the hospital after a fire, apparently smoldering for hours, swept the front portion of their tiny wood dwelling on South Tenth street near the Erie railroad tracks at 6:30 a. m. Sunday. Dea<| are George .Franklin 011i bert, 23. his wife. Norma Joline, . I 22. >nd their two and one-half ■ month bld son. Bruce Edward. In the county memorial hos- ’ pi tai suffering from badly smoked lungs is Mrs. Jess Gilbert, 68. George's mother. | Firemen were repeatedly thrown back from the building due to the oven-like heat that emanated, said fire chief Cedric Fisher. It took 20 minutes before any entrance could ;be made.- Smoke curled from around the edges of the tin roof, keeping the fire from bursting out the top. > I A short time after the firemen entered. the bodies of Mrs. Gilbert. the baby, and George Gilbert. were carried opt of the rear window. Meanwhile, the crumpled form of Mrs. Jess Gilbert was found 4y- - ing at the Toot of the rear winddw to the giving room, in a , dead faint. She slept on the second floor of the house and it was thought she had either jumped or fallen from the window. Mrs' Jess Plasterer, niece of Mrs. Jess Gilbert. was the first at the scene and said she spoke to someone ' who saw Mrs. Gilbert hanging by her hands from the upper window sill. ; J. . The intense heat that was contained inside the house by a thick plank Veiling, fireproof shingles along the outside walls,.and a tin roof, arid kept the firemen away, also virtually “baked” Jjlrs. Gilbert arid her baby as they lay in bed, as|eep. Fire Chief Fisher said the, fire apparently started on a davenport on the front pordh. There is, howa large hole burned in the kitchen floor of the house, indicating a fire that might have been smoldering, possibly all night. Probably the last to see the family alive was Mrk. Plasterer,' who lives across the street. She said she returned from church with her husband about 12:30 a. m. Sunday and could see tile young couple through the kitchen window feeding the baby. J In the elderly Mrs. Gilberts room the bed in which she slept was not turned down, according to Mrs, Plasterer, and her aunt was Wearing a house coat when removed to the hospital. Her condition T was described as “good” this morning. She could take no food at all yesterday, said a spokesman, because her throat was severely affected by the vol- = ume of smoke she had breathed. | ’ While Gilbert died of, first, second. and third degree burns all over his body, his wife, Norma, showed evidence of burns only on the shoulder, and the baby none at all. The terrific heat in the small room, however, arid the tire, removed all the oxygen in the air and saffdeated them. Mrs. GilToPaao Tw«)