Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 51, Number 297, Decatur, Adams County, 18 December 1953 — Page 1

Vol. LI. No. 297.

Fires Bring j Tragedy, Loss, Info Indiana i One Child Killed;! Four Communities! Hard Hit By Fire ( By UNITED PRESS | Fires racing out of control in zero temperatures heaped tragedy and destruction on four Indiana communities late Thursday and today. A child was burned to death and the business districts of &ree cities threatened, amages tvere expected to exceed $300,000. Thq latest fire, at La Porte, was brought under control a couple of hours before dawn. Earlier, flajnes spared through large nf Mt. Vernon and Burlington, and a girl died in a home blaze bear North Vernon. '"About 32 persons were fleft homeless, just a week before Christmas. Firemen were hampered as hydrants and hoses iroze, and tjie water they poured on the fires formed giant icicles. \ The LaPorte fire caused about SIOO,OOO damage, and firemen fought it more than four hours. The midnight blaze destroyed? the interior of a shoe store and damaged two adjacent stores. T | Fire chief Jack Fender said; his men were hampered both by Iroz en hydrants and barred doors land windows in the rear of the shops. A 10f-year-old girl died in a home fire near North Vernon, although her mother was able to rescueftwo other children. The fire victim was Aneta Struben, 10, of Nebraska, Ind. &er mother, Mrs. Alice Struben,; 34, carried two younger children? to safety when fire blazed through the home but the roof then /collapsed. preventing’her from rescuing Aneta. The child’s body was recovered about five hours later. Mrs. Struben was taken to a Seymour pita If or treatment of barns-] on the arms, hands and face. The outbreaks at Mt. Vernon destroyed five buildings in the business section and an outlying residence, and at Burlington, a|kr Kokomo, four buildings were burned in another downtown fire.?No one was injured. Twenty-four persons were j'eft homeless in the Mt. Vernon bU?e, \ which razed two restaurants xfith I family Apartments upstairs, a tirostory five-family apartment, a HierI cantile building with ajfamily residence, and a home. Ice-covered firemen from Evansville and Mt. Vernon fought |the flames and estimated damage' at more than SIOO,OOO. They said’the blaze apparently broke out in.;the rear of the Friendly Case .And spread rapidly through low* antics under metal roofs. Hoosiers Shiver In Ls Sub-Zero Weather I ■ I-®' Warmer Weather l| Weekend Forecast I - INDIANAPOLIS, UP —Hoosiers shivered in sub-zero ■ weather Jfor the second day today, but weathermen promised a little relief Saturday and Sunday with fair skies and warmer temperatures. The coldest city was Bloomington, which, reported a low Os 5 below 1 zero early today. South Bend had 4 below, Seymoplr 3 below, and Lafayette and sidiana polls, 1 below. ?' It was the second straight night Indianapolis and Seymour £ recorded sub-zero temperatures?: By mid-morning the mercury climbed to 5 above at the Hosier capital and to 6 at Bloomington The day's highs \were expected' to hit 18 in the far north and |22 degrees in the south. . f Warmer air moving eastward was expected to boost Indiana s Saturday temperatures to in the 30s, after Friday night lows of 8 to 15. | The extreme north was expected to have more snow flurries this afternoon. South Bend already had a nine-inch accumulation that settled to six Inches of hard-pack-ed freeze. Logansport had fsix inches. __ ■ _ - k A five-day outlook indicated weekend relief from the year’s coldest weaker, but more 4hill was to set fin Monday. Through Wednesday, temperatures were to average one to three degrees ..below normal highs of 34 t<& 45 and lows of 19 to 27. \A little more snow was indicated for late Sunday or Monday in the north. Little or no precipitation wasfeexpected in southern Indiana. >

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

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U. S. ARMY Secretary Robert T. Stevens (left) presents the Congressional Medal of Honor to Mrs. Francisco M. Martinez, Fort Hancock. Tex., on behalf of her son, Cpl. Benito Martinez, 21, a member of the U. S. 25th Infantry division who was killed in Korea. Gen. Matthew* B. Ridgway, Army chief of staff, looks on at the Washington ceremony. Escorting Mrs. Martinez is Lt. Freeman Horner (right), Shamokin, Pa., a World W’ar II Medal of Honor winner.

Major Cities To Be Guarded By New Weapon NeW Anti-Aircraft Guided Missile To Guard Major Cities WASHINGTON, UP — Defense officials said today about 35 major cities from coast to coast will be guarded against enemy air attack by the army's. deadly new antiaircraft guided missile, the Nike. The nation’s capital will be the first city to be protected by the supersonic missile, which can track down and destroy high-fly-ing bombers. The army announced Thursday night that its first Nike battalion will be set up “in the near future” at Ft. Meade, Md.—midway between Washington and Baltimore. -Defense officials said the “Initial program” calls for Nike units eventually to be placed around about 35 of the nation’s "principal population and industrial centers.” The Nike defense network is expected to stretch in an arc across the top of the nation—or in the path of the most probable route of attack from Russian bombers in event of war. The full list of cities to be protected is a military secret. Military observers believed it likely, however, that the list will include such key industrial centers as Philadelphia? New York, Boston, Buffalo-Niagara Falls, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is known that the New York metropolitan area will be guarded by a Nike unit based at Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook. An army spokesman disclosed that construction of the launching site outside New York harbor is scheduled to begin in February. He indicated a temporary installation may be set up even before the permanent site is completed. The army said the missil, with a range of about 30 miles, will provide “a far greater degree of anti-aircraft protection than was ever before possible with the more limited altitudes of conventional anti-aircraft guns.” Jt pointed out that the slim, 20foot long radar guided rocket "can outmaneuver” enemy bombers or fighters “regardless of the eVasive action” taken by the planes. The cost of equipping a Nike battalion, it was learned, comes to $9,775,000 —about two million dollars more than for a/conventional anti-aircraft battalion. Much of the cost goes for the complex radar set and computers which guide the missile as it zooms upward at about 1,500 miles per hour. ~ . School's Christmas Program On Sunday \The annual Christmas presentation or the Decatur high school will be given at the school auditorium Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock. iNo admission is charged and the public is invited to attend. / This year’s theme is “Christmas the -world around," with the observance of Christmas in the Un’ted States and other lands to be featured. The music will be provided fry the high school choir and the freshman chorus, under the: direction of Miss Helen Haubold, supervisor of music in the ‘ Decatur public schools.

Os Honor For Her Son

Two Billion Income Slash For Farmers Income Cut Despite A Bumper Harvest WASHINGTON UP — Farmers suffered a two million dollar cut in income this year despite a bumper harvest, the agriculture department reported today. The value of the 1953 field crop was about 19 billion dollars, compared with the estimated $20,900,000,000 farmers received in 1952 when the harvest was the second largest on record. However, the 1953 harvest “virtually” equalled 1952 even though last summer’s devastating drought ruined thousands of acres of crops in important farm ares. The agri culture department said the 340,500,000 acresh arvested tn 1953 was one of the lowest in thalaat 10 years but record-highywta per acre boosted the volume. Although the crop quality was "good to excellent," farmers received generally lower prices for their produce, the department said. At the same time the departmntp redicted less meat in the butcher shops this winter and spring 'but refused to say whether this means higher prices for consumers. nt did say prices paid to cattle farmers should remain firm or increase. (Retail prices normally rise with farm prices. The corn crop, fifth largest on record, was estimated at 3,176,616,000 bushels. The wheat crop, at 1,168,5316000 bushels, is the fourth largest. . Only crops setting records in production were rice, sugar cane, oranges, cranberries, tung nuts and commercial vegetables for fresh market. Yields of many were above average. The corn crop brought farmers more money than any other crop—about $4X506,4 23,000 compared with $4,988,554,000 last year, Season average prices were $1.45 ab ushel compared with $1.52 a bushel last year. Trainmen Agree To New Wage Contract Cost-Of-Living Clause Is Dropped CHICAGO UP — The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen today became the first major union to discard the "escalator” clause labor contract after a trial of almost three years. yhe brotherhood, which represents 133,000 employes of the na-< ’.ion’s railroads, Thursday night announced it had accepted a five cent hourly wage increase and agreed to drop the cost-of-living escalator clause. The agreement with the carriers represented a drastic reduction in the trainmen’s original demand for a 37%-cent-an-hour increase. Other “operating” or service brotherhoods have made almost identical demands, and negotiations between them and the railroads were still underway. The trainmen had worked under the cost-of-living clause since April 1951, and had received a total of 13 cents an hour in increases as the government cost index spiraled upward. Negotiators- said the 13 cents would be made a part of the base wage of the trainmen. W. p. Kennedy, president of the brotherhood, and representatives of the railroads were pleased with the fact that the wage agreement, (•mtlama o« Paae Kl*ht>

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAME COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Fri

Kidnap-Killers Die In Missouri Gas Chamber For Greenlease Slaying

Ike Talks Tax, Farm Policies With Leaders | Four Main Topics Are Discussed At White House Parley I WASHINGTON, UP —President Eisenhower took up the hot subjects of taxes and farm policies today with Republican congressional leaders. , ' The agenda of today’s meeting, the second in a series of three, also included foreign policy, atomic energy, the 4 e bt limit, and sot cial security. ' \ Sen. Bourke B. Hickenlooper (R-Iowa) told newsmen no conclusions were reached on foreign policy matters or proposed chang] es in the atomic energy act. He left the White House shortly after 11 a.m. with Sen. Alexander (R-Wis.) and Rep. Robert B. Chip? erfield. ' At the outset of today’s conference, Mr. Eisenhower issued the following statement: “The this morning will discuss four nialn topics ak follows f “The secretary of treasury will discuss taxes and the debt with the congressional leaders, r I “The chairman of the atomic energy commission will discuss pro? posed amendments to the atomic" energy act. Rep. W. Sterling Cole; (R-N. Y.) and Sen. Bourke B. Hickenlooper (R-la.) chairman ?and vice-chairman of the joint congressional committee on atomic energy will participate, in this discussion. - , “The secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, and the director of foreign operations administration, ' Harold E. Stassen, will discuss for-‘ eign affairs. Sen. Alexander Wiley (RrWis.), chairman of the senate; foreign relations committee, and Rep. Robert B. Chiperfield (R-lll.)] chairman of the house fpreign ajH fairs committee, Senator Hicken-] lopper and Representative Cole; will participate in this discussion.] “The secretary of health, , educa ? tion and welfare, Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby, will discuss social security and aid to the physically handicapped,! as well as continuing a discussion of the health plana of her department. ‘Rep. Carl T. Curtis (R-Neb.), chairman of the subcommittee on social security of the hou£e ways an'd means committee will participate in this discussion.” Agriculture Secretary Ezua T. Benson was scheduled to present the administration’s farm program this afternoon. J

Good Fellows Club Is Devoted To Aiding Needy

(Editor’s noto— ‘ln this, the fifth and concluding article on the work of the Good Fellows club, the Daily Democrat points up the fact that the Detta Theta Tau sorority reaches into every "needed” home in the community. The Good Fellows club, an offshoot of the Delta Theta Tau sorority, has files on hand and recollections in mind of some of the prevailing circumstances under which' some people must live in the city. Yet the members feel that somebow this Is a deterrent to theiy work, in that most people either don’t believe what they say or blandly ignore the fact that sucb conditions exist. Annually, club members are confronted with pathetic stories of strife and despair. They list the evidence and calculate the worth, then attempt to bring as much relief as possible. The Good (Fellows club has as its goal this year SI,OOO to be derived mainly from donations from the public. This sum has to be spread over a vast area, but an area nevertheless with sufficient, need to make such an organization as

y, December 18, 1953.

Indict Two Youths For Cyanide Murder Indicted In Death Os Lad's Parents NEW YORK, UP —A grand jury today indicted a 20>year-old youth and his 23-year-old pal for the cyacocktail murder of the young er boy’s wealthy parents Aug. 21. The Bronx county grand jury returned indictments of murder in the first degree against Harlow Fraden and Dennis Weprnan, charging that they killed Fraden’s father and mother by putting cyanide in champagne cocktails. Judge James M. Barrett ordered arraignment of the pair as soon as a psychiatric observation is completed Vt Bellevue hospital. The observation should be completed'in two qr three weeks, officials said. The office' Os Bronx Dist. Atty. George de Luca revealed today that the be-spectacled Fraden youth had been under suspicion since he called police several days after his parents death and reported he had found them in an apparent suicide pact. , Detectives had suspected the son from the icy lack of emotion at the couple's funeral and no apparent motive for their suicide, De Luca said. The parents, Dr. and Mrs. William Fraden, died within mlnutM after drinking the champagne cocktail into which their had poured deadly potassium Cyanide and a dash of bitters to kill the taste of the poison; Dennis Weprnan, 23, a would-be writer and frequent roommate of Fraden’s, had told police of the crime 24 hours before Fraden confessed.- Weprnan said he helped plan the crime and Had expected to get a share of his friend's $150,0(70 inheritance. The deaths of Fraden’s parents had been listed as “apparent suicides" after their bodies were "discovered” two days later by Fraden and Weprnan. Fraden was living away from home in a Manhattan apartment at the time. De Luca said Thursday night Fraden confessed he killed his parents “because, as long as he could recall, and before he knew anything about sex, his mother called him a ‘fairy’. . “This he strongly resented. Fra\ den further stated he, did not kill his parents for personal gain, because his parents gave him all the money he wanted,” the district attorney said. INDIANA WEATHER Partly cloudy and not so cold tonight. Saturday generally fair and warmer. Low tonight 6-15. High Saturday 33-38 north. 38-44 south.-

the Good Fellows club seem a conv pletely vital adjunct of community life. There are stories like these: Os recent hospitalization which depleted the slim funds of the family, and there are several children wbo need clothing—badly. There is the aged, or the very young, and they have little but loneliness \to look forward to this year. > Rarely, If ever, does an | individual or family solicit aid for itself; others do, through anonymous let ters, the schools’ list of names, or from the trustee. And members always have racourse to their own files. (But practically every case is accompanied with a story tfrat comtains not only too much tragic truth but also the-tendency to tug at the hear strings. The members of he (Delta Theta Tau sorority, who know these stories intimately, nevertheless are practical in their analysis of the overall situation. \ They know they have but limited funds to work with, and they stretch them as far as possible while—at the same time—endeav(Twa Ta Paare Elaht)

Lanier Takes Lead In Vote For President ■ >'■ , Fourth Ballot Made Necessary In French Parliament Voting VERSAILLES, France (UP) — Right-wing premier Joseph Lanibl jumped into a strong lead today on a third ballot by parliament for, the presidency of the French Republic. But he failed to get the necessary absolute majority and a history-making fourth ballot became <necessary. The portly independent parly textile millionaire received 358 votes against 313 .for Socialist Marcel-Edmpnd Naegelen, bitter foe of the European army pact, and other measures for /a united Europe. But the man-wip wins must get 462 votes, and absolute majority of the members of the national assembly and senate who, in joint session, elect French presidents. Parliamentary experts predicted that the fourth ballot would make or break Lanlel. Socialists and Communists, who control one-third of the votes, aer dbad against Laniel, especially because of his right-wing internal policies. Many supporters of Gen. Charles de Gaulle oppose Laniel because he stands sponsor for the European army pact. Radical Socialist Yvon Delbos was third man on the third ballot with 255 votes. Foreign minister Georges Bidault withdrew from the race before the third ballot. -1 Bidault quit after } a morning round of conferences and released the 115 votes of his Popular Republican party to any man the members might favor. Parliament set an all-time record Thursday night by failing to (Coatlaurd ob Pb»«- Five) I • /, \ Mrs. Mary Holthouse Dies This Morning Funeral Services Monday Morning Mrs. Mary T. Holthouse, 85,. widow of John B. Holthouse, founder of the Holthouse Drug store, and well known Decatur citizen, died at 10:40 a. m. today at her home, 235 N. Third street, following a lingering illness, x Her death was attributed to hardening of the arteries. She had been ill for the past 18 months. Born in Sauk City, Wis., June 16, 1868, she was a daughter of John and Barbara Reuland. She was married to John B. Holthouse June 15, 1898. A devout member of St. Mary’s Catholic church, Mrs. Holthouse also was a member of the church’s Rosary society, the Third Order of St Francis and the St Vincent de Paul society. She is sqgvived by three daughters, Mrs. Jessie Brunton and Miss Margaret Holthouse of this city, Snd Mrs. Helen Kent of Galesburg, IL, three sons, John 8., Hugh and Robert Holthouse, all of this city. Two stepsons, Louis A. Holthouse of route three, and Felix W. Holt house of Louisville, Ky., also survive. Fourteen grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren survive. A brother, Walter Reuland of San Francisco, Cal., and one sister, Mrs. Julia Killeen, also of San Francisco, survive. Requiem man wUI be said Monday at 9 a. m. in St Mary’s Catholic church, \with the Very Rev. Msgr. jJ. J. Selmetz, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in the Catholic cemetery. The body has been taken to the Glllig and Doan funeral home, where friends may call after $ p. m. Saturday. The Rosary society will meet at the funeral home Sunday at 8 p. m. 4

Worldwide Peace Plea By President \ Worldwide Appeal On Christmas Eve WASHINGTON UP — President Eisenhower plans a worldwide appeal for peace on Christmas Eve. it was learned today from White House sources. The chief executive is scheduled to speak by radio and television from the White House on Christmas Eve during a one-hour program incident to the. traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the south grounds of the executive mansion. The program on which Mr. Eisenhower will appear ’ will be broadcast and telecast from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. ®ST. Mr. Eisenhower, speaking .from inside the White House, will make what hm aides described as “a prayerfil appeal for world peace.’/ They said the appeal would be qeyed to his current efforts to get Russia to join the (United States and other free nations in reducing the possibility of an atomic war. The speech will be brief — les* than four minutes. Then the President will join the crowd outside around the towering White House Christmas tree and speak again briefly as he closes a switch lighting the tree. He does not want to make his bid for peace against Christmas crowd frackground, hence his plans to speak alone and in the dignified surroundings of the regular White House broadcast room. Members of his staff said the President planned nothing startling, 'but merely wanted to sny during the holiday era of goodwi’l that he hopes the rest of the world will join the United States in seeking lasting peace. Strange Object Is Reported In Sweden Full Investigation Ordered By Sweden STOCKHOLM, Sweden UP — Sweden’s defense high command ordered a full-scale investigation today into reports that a saucershaped object whirled across southern Sweden toward Russian-control-led territory at a speed faster then sound. Capt. Ulf Christiensson, Swedish airline pilot, alerted the defense staff after he and bis mechanic said they saw a wingless, circular object Thursday only 300 miles from the Soviets top-eecret Baltic Sea rocket bases. Christiernsson’s report was made known only two days after the authoritative "Jani’s All the World’s Aircraft” said Russia has developed a rocket-powered plane for target defense. The defense staff, which governs Sweden’s armed forces, rushed the investigation. Gen. Bengt Norderskjold, air force commander, called in radar reports on all observations Thursday. Christiernsson said be saw the object, which was believed to be a missile, speeding over the town of Haessleholm in the main commercial airlane between Stockholm and Copenhagen, Denmark. A preliminary radar report indicated that heavy traffic in the 1 airplane prevented observers from deciding whether Christiernsson observed ordinary planes or an unidentified missile. As defense authorities awaited more complete radar reports, they requested Christiernsson to submit detailed drawings of what he said he bad seen. Intelligence sources previously have estimated that Soviet rocket production has been stepped up to 24,000 yearly. Christiernsson’s position at the time he reported seeing the object was only minutes away from a closely guarded Soviet Installation on the Baltic Sea. Swedish authorities believed So(Twb Te raas Ki«kt)

Price Five Cents

Dissolute Pair Executed In Gas Chamber Committed One Os Most Monstrous Crimes In Years JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. UP — Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady, who tortured little Bobby Greenlease before they killed him, died painlessly today in Missouri’s gas chamber. The dissolute pair who committed one of the most monstrous crimes in a'-generation went to their deaths with their bellies full of fried chicken, after a last sensuous cuddling spree that left Hall’s pale lips blobbed with lipstick. The great, gray prison by the Missouri River was quiet under a nearly full moon when Warden Ralph Eidson at four and one-half minutes past midnight clanged home the two-foot steel lever that loosed the deadly, almond-scented gas into the metal chamber. Mrs. Heady, 41, the respectable housewife who became an alcoholic held her breath for seconds. Then she gasped. Her head fell forward. Hall, 34, the wastrel son who took to narcotics, did not fight death. He breathed In the bright white fumes with no hesitation. Both were logged on the legal execution report as unconscious within one minute and 15 seconds after Eidson pulled the lever. Hall stopped breathing at 12:12 a.m. Mrs. Heady’s breathing stopped two minutes and 10 seconds later. Thus they died. It was 81 dsys after they had kidnaped and killed six-year-old Bobby Greenlease, son of a wealthy Kansas City, Mo., automobile distributor. They got $6<0,000 ransom—gn all-time record. Some $303,700 of that sum still is missing. If Hall knew where it was, he took his secret to the grave with him. He did not speak when asked If he had any last word. Hall had tortured the struggling, kicking child —etruck him in the mouth and attempted to strangle him with a piece of clothesline before shooting him through the head in a Kansas Wheatfield. He and his doub'le-chinned paramour were executed exactly one week before the Christmas anniversary of the birth of One who said: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me.” They died only a few hours after the echoes of Christmas carols floated through the near-zero-cold sight as hundreds of residents of Jefferson City paraded in a preChristmas procession. The carols could be heard in death,row. What thoughts they stirred in the minds of the doomed pair were imparted in secret to tl> Rev. George L. Evans, in Episcopalian clergyman, who spent five minutes with them just before they died. "They are prepared to meet Almighty God,” he said when he left the detention cell. "They are ready to go.” , Then Evans left the pair alone. A penitentiary guard turned his back. It was then, apparently, that Hall acquired the lipstick which smeared his lower face under his black mask when he entered the gas chamber. Shortly after 1 a.m., two big hearses, one black and one gray, Twa Te Pa** Etaht

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