Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 52, Number 146, Decatur, Adams County, 22 June 1954 — Page 1

Vol. Lil. No. 146. ."—".x... ... . ... . ■ - ru’ -.- ,■ 7 ,i.ii

Son Pledged To Continue Dad’s Fight ■HHHHHHHHH ■■ u IP™ M t 1 ■ afr. J 1 Hr i |L I aBB 3j"” 7 H Br ''■ Hub WHILE GOVERNOR Gordon Persons consoles the wife of Albert L. Patterson, Alabama state attorney general who was shot down in Phenix City, the dead man’s son and former law partner, John Patterson r announced he would keep hie father’s campaign promise to “clean up” racket-ridden Phenix Cfty. He said he was available as a candidate for the post to which hi* dead father had been elected.

Initial Major Battle Shaping In Guatemala Government, Rebel Forces Claim Wins In First Clashes WASHINGTON (INS) —The state department said today rt has official Information that “several troop trains” of Guatemalan army regulars Have moved from Guatemala City toward Puerto Barrios and Zacapa, where fighting is reportedly going on. * TEGHGKWLLPA. « s>d “iW (INS) — The first major Kittle oT the Guatemalan revolt appeared to bi shaping up today as both the anti-Communist rebels and the leftist government of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman claimed victories in preliminary clashes. A high command communique issued in Guatemala City Mondaynight and heard in Tegucigalpa said units of the 6,000-man army were thrown against the uebels at the town of Gualan in Zacapa department. The communique claimed the rebels had been forced to retreat. Gualan is 17 miles from Zacapa City, the- capital of the department and an important rail and road hub on the route from "the Mexican Gulf to Guatemala City. To the south, insurgent troops of Col. Carlos Castillo captured the town of Esquipulas, site of one of Latin America’s most famous religious shrines. The anti-Communist forces then drove northwest toward Chiqub mula, the next major town on the road to Zacapa which apparently is the object of a two-pronged rebel drive. One rebel report said their forces already had captured Zacapa. The could not be confirmed immediately. — ___ Zacapa is one the main railroad line between Guatemala City and the nation’s only east coast port, Puerto Barrios. Two railroad bridges between Gualan and Puerto Barrios were blown up according to the rebel command, and reports from Guatemala City confirmed that rail traffic between the capital and the port had been halted. The insurgents also claimed occupation of Morales and Bananera, a banana town on the rail-line about halfway between Zacapa and the coast The government radio, however, claimed to have defeated a rebel detachment at Bananera. The Guatmealan government bulletin said loyal army forces had surrounded a rebel detach('mnt To Fnire Six) .J, w. ■ Summer Schedule Os Effective today, the summer schedule of hours will be observed by the Decatur public library, it was announced by Miss Bertha Heller, librarian. Hours tor patrons on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of each week will be from 13 o’clock noon until 6 o’clock in the evening. On Mondays and Saturdays the hours will be from 12 o’clock noon until 8:30 o’clock at night. • There will be no Sunday hours.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Funeral Wednesday For Clarence Bell Private Services For Civic Leader Private funeral service® for Clar\ ence E. Bell, business and civic leader of this city, will be conducted at the Black funeral home Wednesday at 1 pjn., with Dr. F, D. Whitesell, professor of theology at Northern Baptist Seminary, Chicago, -HI charge. Dr. ‘Whitesellisaforme? pastor of the Decatur Baptist church, of which Mr. Bell was a member. Currently the congregation is without a resident pastor. IMr. Bell’s death occurred about 1 o’clock Monday afternoon enroute from Roann to Chili, where he planned with Hoy and Ned Johnson PTf thl(k city U> complete details for the sale, of his parental farm. He took ill after eating lunch in , Roann and was pronounced dead when he reached the Dukes-Miami hospital in Peru. Death was at-' trilmted to a heart attack. In addition to his business affiliations here and iu Fort Wayne, he was a director of Secnrity Cartage Co., Fort Wayne and the Bellmont Trucking Co., of this city. Friends may call at the funeral home after 3 p.m. .today. Burial wHt be in Decatur cemetery. Fair Weather Over Most Os Nation Chicago Heat Wave Is Broken By Rain By International News Service Fair weather predominated over most of the country today while the heat wave in the midwest was tempered by heavy thundershowers. An 11-day heat wave was broken in Chicago early today by rain, During that period the temperature shot past the 90 degree mark each day. Hot weather continued in the desert southwest. Phoenix, Ariz.. had a high of 111 Monday. It was 112 at Yuma. Ariz., 115 at Blythe, Calif., and 116 at Needles, Calif., the highest in the nation. By comparison, Saulte Ste. Marie, Mich., had a cool 62. Moderate to locally heavy thundershowers occurred Monday in a band extending from eastern Nebraska across lowa to southern Wisconsin. Madison, Wis., had a deluge of 3.46 inches of rain in 24 hours. Showers also hit the northern Great Plains in the St. Lawrence Valley and around the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, a series of floods in lowa ha® forced more than l,Wf families to leave their homes and one person reportedly was drown- , ed. Heavy rains have swollen streams and the danger increased as the water rolled down stream. The situation was termed “extremely serious” by the weather bureau which predicted more thundershowers. • I A series of flood crests forced i 500 families to leave their homes at Sioux City, la. Mason City 11st- ! ed 300 as homeless and Fort Dodge ; 200. The small towns and Dee Moines and Webster City also were hit by the floods.

Wage Increase Is Refused To Steelworkers Union Spokesman Says Negotiations On Contract Flop PITTSBURGH (INS)—A spokesman ~for rhe UntteiF Steelworkers said today that negotiations with U. S. Steel “have flopped” and union president David J. McDonald told his 36-member executive board that the corporation has refused a wage increase. ’ The union i»' tree to, strike in eight days at the expWljon of fts contract with <l. S ( Steel and the wmWh of the industry. ’The spokesman denied that strike preparations have been undertaken. He added significantly however: “The men below don’t need any instructions.” McDonald told the executive board —the union’s ruling body—that the corporation offered an increase of “something less than five cents an hour" and that none of the increase could be applied toward wages. Presumably the “less than five cents’’ would apply to pensions and insurance. McDonald said that U. S. Steel flatly refused to discuss the so-' called guaranteed annual wageThe have kepi kec-* ret their demands on “Big Steel,” whose agreement with the union generally sets the pattern for industry-wide contracts. But a high-ranking USW official told International News Service earlier that the union wanted an eight cents hourly across-the-board increase for 600.000 basic steelworkers. Several sources bad stated pre(Tnrn To Page Five) Red Cross Issues Appeal For Blood Request Made By Fort Wayne Office The local Red Cross Office has received a letter from the Fort W’ayne regional office requesting more blood, according to an announcement by (Mrs. Wanda Oelberg. executive secretary. Mrs. Oelberg stated that the ■blood supply in the regional bank is dangerously low and an additional heavy drain is expected over the Fourth of July holidays. Hospitals are being limited in the blood available to them during the next few weeks. The local blood program, headed by .Mrs. Ed Bauer, requires an addition of at least 100 new blood donors tor the July 2 visit of the bloodmobile. This need is made more Übgent by tile recent appeal, from the regional center. Persons who desire to~be placed” on the list of donors for the next bloodimobile visit are asked to contact the Red Cross office. Mrs. Bauer or William Linn, who is in charge of recruiting new donors. - INDIANA WEATHER Fair and a little cooler north, partly cloudy south with scattered thundershowers near the Ohio river tonight. Wednesday generally fair. Low tonight 65-72. High Wednesday 85-90. I

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY ■im A.. Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, June 22, 1954. -Am 4. —— r-

Severin Schurger Is Named By Democrats For Appellate Judge

Slight Living Cost Increase Reported Today Higher Food Prices ? Increase Cost Os Living During May WASHINGTON (INS)—The govj ernmety. reported today that the nation’b jCost-of-living rose slightly during May tor the first time in four months. Due mainiy to higher food prices, the Ihbor department's consumer price index inched up from 114.6 per cent of the 1947-49 average in April to 115 percent in May. Because of the hike, one million railway workers will not have to take the one-cent an hour pay cut that would have been necessary under escalator clauses in their work contracts if the index had dropped. —lact Ancriiat tKo intlot haHulUVc ItttrtAug Uni, tXT93 txtxjrxTak titttt been relatively stable, hovering around 115. But there had been no monthly increase until last month.. Food costs went up eight-tenths of one percent during May, with fresh fruits and vegetables, meal and coffee pacing the rise. S The bureau TSTTHSSF said, that sane -if theses jl w iiiwkw uIo sIl: - of declining in June. “ • 7“ Housing costs also went up slightly in May, the department said, but the three-tenths of one percent climb was largely due to figuring in once-a-year costs sych’ as real estate taxes and fire insurance. The department said that outside of food and housing costs-, “other groups of goods and services were substantially unchanged during the month.” The department said that coffee prices continued upward during May to reach an average of sl.lß afid that they were “still on the way up but at a slower rate” in June. Six Youths Leave For Army Service Six Adams county men left this morning for Indianapolis for Induction into the armed forces under selective service. They include Raymond Lee Zurcher, Allen Christian Zurcher, James Richard Dubach, Robert Lee Gelsel, Waldo Conrad and Neil Claire Thomas.

e > College Student Tells Os War In Guatemala

(Editor’s note: Ragged peasant “citizens’ committee-man” armed with tommyguns and murderous double-edged machetes have arisen in Guatemala to fight the anti-Com-munist insurgents. Two Harvard business school students on vacation who were arrested, manhandled and fired upon in a drive through most of Guatemala, tell for the first time in this exclusive article of the conditions in the western halt of the country. Frank E. Baker Jr., 24, of Cambridge, Mass., a Korean war naval veteran and Jerry Fabry, 24, of Paris, a French naval veteran a,nd also a student ,/et out on a 11.000inile Boston-to-Riode Janeiro motor % trip*-Slid got cuught in the ception.) By FRANK E. BAKER Jr., (Dictated to 1.N.8. by Telephone* ■GUATEMALA CITY (INS) — I have just driven through the western part of war-torn Guatemala and along with a companion have been arrested, manhandled, and put under almost constant police guaid among trigger-happy police and peasants. W companion on thts gruelling 220-mile trip from the Mexican frontier to Guatemala City was

i Mysterious Death Os Youth Probed Revealed Probing Will Os Late Father , CHICAGO (INS)-An Inquest ingto the mysterious death of 20-year-Old Montgomery Ward Thorne, heir to a Chicago mail order comI pany fortune, has revealed that the youth was probing bls father's twill at the time he died. ilis fiancee, Maureen Ragen, 18, to whom he had willed half his estate a few days before he was found dead Saturday in his Near North Side apartment, testified at the inquest Monday that despite the discovery of two hypodermic needles Thorne was not a narcotics addict. Further testimony disclosed that: 1. Thorne had confided in his attorney, Jay Stough, that he was being followed and that he was certain he would not live to be 21 years old; 2. He had sold his blood on two occasions because he received only 8150 a month from his father’s 32,600,000 estate; 3. That Thorne had been’arrested by his mother, Mrs. Marion Thorne, as “a dope fiend and a drunkard;" 4. That his fiancee and her mother “never saw any needle marks on Thorne’s arms” and that he aever smoked, only rarely drank a highball and never touched coffee. • Stough, the youth’s Attorney, aaid chat Thorne was Mvestigattwg the handling of his father’s-estate and that he learned the original will was missing from the probate court's file. ■ ' Miss Hagen said that -narcotics paraphernalia found in Thorne's apartment and puncture marks discovered on his arms were “planted." Other developments at the Inquest included Miss Ragen’s statement that “now I’m afraid that they’ll get me too.” Authorities learned that after leaving his fiancee Friday night, Thorne attended a party across the street from his aparttnent until 4 a.m. and that he was last seen by Suzanne Rooks, a champion water skier whom he met t,in x Florida. It was learned that Miss Rooks telephoned ThortuQ mother shortly after the youth’s body was discovered, offered her sympathy and informed her that she had seen “Monty early this morning, about four o’clock, at a party at my house across the street . . . he looked well and normal.” The inquest was continued until next Monday. (t'Oßtinued On rage Five)

: Jerry Fabry, a graduate of the I 'Ecole Polyteclinique in France and i like myself a naval veteran and i student at the Harvard business • schools. We had started out in our British • -MG sports car for a run from ■ Boston to Rio de Janeiro and all > went well until we hit the Guatemalan frontier. That was last Saturday, and the ■ insurgent invasion of the eastern . part ot. Guatemala had just oc- , curred. I Opposite the 1 (Mexican frontier i town of Ta-pacbula we reached the . Guatemalan frontier. The customs men made us drive • into a big, dark building. i They stood on a platform above ted rubber hoses in their pockets, s They pulled everything out of the > ear. They frisked us, even exI amined the lining of our coats. -We explained to them that we ■ were "just college guys on a vai cation.” They let us keep our cameras but I confiscated our pocket knives. 1 After many hours of questioning and examination of our papers i They let us into the country with i a warning that “North Americans. *. (Continued On Page Eight)

Secy. Benson In Attack On Sen. McCarthy McCarthy's Bid To Federal Employes For Data Scored STATE Pa. (INS)— Agriculture secretary Ezra Taft Henson, in an attack apparently aimed at Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, denounced today "the husterical preachings of those who 'would destroy our basic freedoms under the guise of anticommunism.” Though he did not mention the Winconsin senator by name, Benson left little doubt that he had McCarthy in mind when he said: "The trappings of the totalitarian state — neighbor spying against neighbor, children informing against parents and government employes reporting undercover to seff-appoihteff guardians of our se* curity t- such manifestations of moral decay must find no honored place in our way of life.” Benson was presumably referring to McCarthy's public invitation to federal employes to come to him with any information they have on “graft, treason, corrup- ■ tion. m Ceßjinunism” even though i the executive department might have classified the data as secret. Benson spoke at the annua) meeting of the American dairy science association at State College. The secretary discussed in detail the problems of the dairy industry. including the perplexing matter of Surpluses. But he declared: “The matter of -surpluses is Insignificant along-, side the great question of our time: whether man shall at long last achieve peace among men.” The secretary, in the industry phase of his address, reported rhilk production at. an all '- time high, with surplus continuing to pile up despite increased consumption under reduced support. . He declared also that the farm ‘ commodities "in trouble” today are those which the government at(Tun T® Pace Five) Launch Fund Drive For Lehr Family Decatur C. Os C. To Sponsor Drive The Decatur Chamber of Commerce, by unanimous vote of its directors, will spearhead a drive for funds for the widow of Waldemar “Fritz” Lehr, former displaced person, who was electrocuted at his liome in Union township last Friday. •Mrs. Lehr and a four-year-old son, Hans, were left without funds and with no near relatives in this country. The Lehrs came here two years ago, sponsored by the Immanuel Lutheran church. Lehr was employed at Klenk’s ever since coming to this country. The retail division, industrial division and general division of the Chamber each contributed S2O to start the fund at W- Numerous other friends have given small amounts and these will all be placed in a single fund. Contributions may be mailed to the Fritz Lehr fund, post office box 1, Ddcatur, They will be .collected and tabulated each day by Fred Hotter, executive manager ' of the Chamber, and when the drive closes the money will be turned over to the Lehr family. Board members have asked all persons to contribute small ainounts to the cause. All monies collected will go into the fund and the Chamber will .bear the expense of collecting the money. The drive will last for at least two weeks, it was said by Chamber officials, and starting Wednesday a complete list of donors will be i published in the Daily Democrat.

Nominated Severin H. Schurger Federal Jury Indicts Berne ■ ■ J HF W ■ ■ Bank Robber Clark Is Indicted By Federal Jury In South Bend Court An indictment against Richard E. Clark, Berne .bank robber, hae been returned by the V. S. grand Jury in South Bend, It was announced Monday. , Adams county prosecutor Lewis Lutz Smith said that he has been advised by.federal authorities that a detainer warrant will be placed on Clark, who is being held in the Adams county jail pending further proceedings against him in the circuit court here. The grand Jury indictment charges .robbery of $12,601.98 from the First Bank of Berne May 29 and putting the lives.of bank employes in jeopardy with a gun. — , Clark, a resident of Celina, 0., was arrested in that city last Tuesday as a result of investigation by Indiana, Ohio and federal officials. A search of his house uncovered over $9,000 of the stolen money and other evidence pointing to his guilt. After several hours of interrogation he admitted Jits guilt and signed a waiver of extradition. He was brought back to Adams county and formally charged with armed robbery. The court placed him under a (Turn To Page Five) Civil Defense Meet Set Here July 8 Mass Meeting Here For Civil Defense . ... - - - ~~ - r: —, . The mass meeting of representatives of all parts of Adams county to reorganize civil defense in the county has been definitely set for Thursday night, July 8, at the American Legion home In Decatur. The city council and Mayor John Doan had originally set a tentative date of June 29, but field men for the civil defense organization told Mayor Doan Monday taht it would be impossible for federal representatives to be here prior to July 8. ■ The mayor’s office today sent letters to : 40 Adams county service ehrbs. veterans organizations and civic groups in Decatur, Monroe, Berne and Geneva asking that all interested persons plan to attend the meeting. Several earlier attempts to organize the county have lacked interest from various groups but recently interest has risen and it ip believed that a good attendance will turn out for the newly scheduled meeting. Plans for a complete organization in each township will be made and a new county organization also will be formed. ■» ■ ' . ' :

Price Five Cenh

Local Attorney Nominated At State Conclave Democrat Platform Assails National, State Republicans INDIANAPOLIS (INS) — Th<s Indiana Democrats got down to action this afternoon with quick nomination of six out of 10 candidates to be selected during today’s weather-fagged state convex- - . tion. The convention also adopted a slashing platform attacking President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Gov. George N. Craig, and also picking out the state’s half-billion-dollar toll road program for special attention. Six of the nominees who will represent the Democratic party this fall are: Arthur Kinser, of Bedford, stat* treasurer; James P. Murphy, of Fort Way®*, supreme court judge; Severin H. Schurger, Decatur, and, Samuel Fiewell, South Bend, for appellate court judges, second district: Herbert Lamb, Terre Haute, state superintendent of public instruction. and Joseph Klein, Gary, tlwk of supreme and appellate courts. / • Tiv' sis were nominated by acclamation since they were unopposed, but the process of selecting the remaining four nominees was slower. Contests exist for the nominations of secretary of state, auditor, and the two first district appellate court judges. But the preliminaries to these brief contests were long and laborious, and the delegates listened to many thousands of words from four speakers and in the convention resolutions. A convention 1 resolution said: “We deplore the enormous profits that are being realized' by eastern financial snydicates and pledge to end this unreasonable profiteering in bond sales and' lush construction and engineering contracts. We propose to place the administration of the toll road commission on a true bi-partisan basis and remove its administration from unchecked control by either political party. We advocate a ‘watch dog committee* to stand guard over its activity. “The Democratic party deplores the belligerent manner in which the present Republican administration is forcing toll roads upon the people of Indiana. We further recognize that this being done without regard to the wishes, rights or desires of the people of this state.” The platform also cited current unemployment and billions of dollars lost in depleted farm income. Among the specific recommendations of the resoutions were: Liberalization of state welfare allowances and of jobless insurance and workmen’s compensation payments. - . Elimination of the state property tax. prohibition of new state taxes "in the absence of an emergency” and opposition to any general sales tax. "Serious consideration of a bonus for Korean veterans. Vigorous enforcement , of antimonopoly and fair trade practices .legislation. Repeal and replacement of the Taft-Hart ley act with a fair labor relatiohs law and enactment of a. state "Little Wagner act.? A state compulsory fair employment practices law. Repeal of the present Indiana utilities compulsory arbitration law. « . An Increase in state distribution to schools to guarantee the minimum foundation, program of education for all children. A constitutional ’ amendment making the office of state superintendent of public instruction appointive. Establishment of a state veterinarian school. A constitutional amendment 4o reapportion representation in the (Ceatleeed Oa Page Kight)