Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 53, Number 9, Decatur, Adams County, 12 January 1955 — Page 1

Vol. LIU. No. 9.

slOl-Billion Road Program n. k s GEN. LUCIUS CLAY, chairman of the President's advisory committee on a national highway program points out to Mr. Eisenhower some of the road improvements embodied in his group's recommended 101-billion dollar highway construction plans for the next 10 years. Mr. Eisenhower will ask congress on Jan. 27 to put the road building program into effect

Craig Baffles For Additional Toll Highways Factions Opposed To Governor Fight Indiana Toll Roads INDIANAPOLIS (INS) — Governor George N. Craig will roll up his heavy artillery tonight in his battle for additional toll roads for Indiana. The governor will preside at a dinner tonight at which a nationally prominent business analyst, -— Dr. Homer Hoyt, of Washington, D. C., will predict a brilliant economic future for Indiana if the pay road program is expanded. Dr. Hoyt has made a two-month study of the question. The toastmaster for the gathering will be Dr. Dillon Geiger, of B|oomington, chairman of the Indiana toll road commission which is seeking to build additional toll roads from Lake county to Jamestown, near Crawfordsville, and east-west through southern India ana to connect Cincinnati with St. Louis. , A combination of Jenner faction Republicans and Democrats in the termined to restrict future toll road operations. This group has its greatest strength in the senate in which Lieut, Gov. Harold W. Handley. and president pro tern John W. Van Ness are the leaders. It is —— .. -much weaker in the house which is run by backers of the governor —speaker George Deiner and GOP floor leader John R. Felghner. of Marion. The upshot, may be that the senate will pass bills clipping the wings of the commission which will die in the lower house. Rep. James S. Hunter, Democratic caucus leader of the lower body, reinforced an earlier statement by the ’■l4 Democrats in the senate in which a bipartisan legislative investigation of the toll road commission’s operation was demanded ’’lmmediately before further damage is done to the reputation of the state of Indiana and the interests of its citizens. Rep, Hunter, of East Chicago, Tuesday took the floor on a poinf of personal privilege to demand an audit of Indiana toll road com- —-==■ mission expenditures, z. — The lawmakers’ own expend)tUß&Syalso are a matter of concern to this 89th general assembly. Sen. Carl Moldenhau. Huntington Republican, indicated he will introduce a bill to increase the pay of state legislators from the present 11200 annually to Such a bill, if it should become law, would not be effective until the 1957 assembly. Sen. Moldenhaur argued that the legislators are out of pocket for many expenses, not only during the legislature, but for legislative meetings between assembly sessions. .Despite the public criticisih voiced during the 1953 assembly when the legislators gave themselves a $lO per diem pay raise, the 1955 session also will see one or more measures Introduced for pay hikes by. way of the daily expense reimbursement route. One such bill, now being drafted. would set the per diem at $25, or an increase in pay of $1525 for the 61 days? The legislators also took into consideration the state employes, including those paid by week, day or hour. A Tuesday blit In the senate would provide holiday pay (Continued on Page Five)

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

High*™ Building Program Praised Key Lawmakers In Praise Os Program WASHINGTON (INS) — Key lawmakers applauded today a presidential committee’s recommendations for a multi-billion dollar program to modernize the nation’s highways and promised action by this sesison of congress. Rep. George A. Dondero (R Mich.),. outgoing chairman of the house public works committee, said the nation “Just must have” wider and safer highways. Dondero declared: “It must be done. We have no alternative. We can save human lives in large numbers and prevent much of the destruction from car accidents which is now nearly four billion dollars a year.” The White House committee, headed by retired Gen. Lucius Clay, said that it all highway needs were to be met over the next 10 years, it wouM require gu expenditure of IQI billion dollars. However, the committee outlined a program costing only 72 billion dollars. The group specifically recommended spending 27 billion dollars for completion of a 37,600-mile interstate highway network. Os this, 25 billions would come from the federal government. The new Democratic chairmen of house and senate public works committees were out of Washington but ranking members of their units appeared firmly convinced congress must act to bringroads up to the requirements of steadily Increasing traffic. Sen. Edward Martin (R Pa.), (Continued on Page Eight) Gross Income Tax Collections Drop Drop Os $2 Million For Final Quarter INDIANAPOLIS (INS) — Indiana revenue commissioner Frank T. Millis today reported a drop of nearly $2 million in gross income taxes between the final three months of 1954 and the same period a year ago. However. Millis said that he does not anticipate any further decrease. He said the drop was due to an increase in unemployment Tn 1954, but that employment now is improved. . The gross income taxes for October - November - December of 1954 totaled $17,111,895, compared to $19,035,307 for the same three months a year ago. The commissioner said that gross income tax collections for the entire year of 1954 were $106,563,995, a decrease of $2,284,890 frem the 1953 calendar year. However, Indiana operates on a fiscal year which ends in June, and Millis estimated that the total for the 1954-55 fiscal year may be $4 million less than the sllO million reported for 1953-54. xc —-■ . <“■ Russians Agree To Release American WASHINGTON (INS) —The Russians have agreed to release another American serviceman held prisoner since. 1949 but have not yet set a time or place for his return to American authorities. The serviceman is 28 - year -old army private William A. Verdine of Starks, La., who disappeared in Berlin Feb. 3, 1949. with Pvt. William T. Marchuk, 38, of Norristown, Pa., who was returned to American lines on Saturday.

Plane Attacks Made On Costa Rican Capital City Machinegunned By One Plane, Two Bombs Also Dropped SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (INS) — A small plane machinegunned San Jose today and another dropped two bombs outside the Costa Rican Capital in attacks which the government charged were directed and abetted by the neighboring Nicaraguan government. There was no immediate report of any casualties. A small plane flew low over the ■capital and machinegunned the main streets at 8:15 a. m. (9:15 a. m. EST) 24 hours after Tuesday's airborne force seised tbr town of Villa Quesada 37 miles northwest of San Jose. Earlier a small single-engined plane dropped two bombs close to the railroad bridge crossing the river at Turrialba, 30 miles east of San Jose, on the road leading to the Atlantic port of Limon. The bombs aimed at smashing the Limon-San Jose rail and highway link missed and fell on a nearby coffee plantation. The local garrison fired at the plane but annarently did not hit it. Unconfirmed reports said that homes» wtste dropped .at other points in the small Central American republic headed by President Jose Figueres, bitter enemy of Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza. An unconfirmed report said that a rebel plane was shot down at Los Mojones. near the Nicaraguan frontier. In Managua, capital of Nicaragua, the government denied that it had anything to do with the attacks which it said were organized by Costa Ricans aiming to overthrow Figueres. A rebel radio station said to be in captured Villa Quesada and identifying itself by the call letters E.R.A.A. (Anti-Communist revoluntionary authentic radio station) broadcast calls for the Costa Rican people to arise against the Figueres regime. The station played patriotic music. The broadcasts by a man and a woman announcer said the rebels had attacked in the area of Punta Arenas, Pacific Coast port about 30 miles west of the capital, and at the Atlantic port of Limon after capturing Villa Quesada early Tuesday. Costa Ricans were Urged to keep away from military objectives, aid the revolution, and help capture Figueres and his government of(Continued on Page Eight) - Teen-Agers Confess Capital Burglaries INDIANAPOLIS (INS) —Juvenile Aid Division investigators tied ends together today in the biggest teenage crime solution in Indianapolis history. Lt. Harry Bailey said four new confessions by one gang brought that group's total burglaries to 56 1 and hiked the over all total for the last tew weeks to 125. Bailey added that the confessions added to a log jam and it would take police several weeks to get everything in order, investigated and verified. Meets With Civil Defense Personnel Advisory Council Will Meet Monday Mrs. Sherrod B. Stuckey of Indianapolis, coordinator of women's activities for Indiana civil defense, visited Decatur today to confer with civil defense personnel of Adams county. Plans for strengthening the sagging civil defense organization in this county w-ere discussed. Mrs. Stuckey’s suggestions for organizing women will be presented at a meeting of the civil defense advisory council Monday. ; Monday’s meeting will take place at 8 p.m. at the Decatur city hall. In addition to advisory council members, other key personnel will attend, invitation has also been extended to any other person of the county who is interested in aiding the civil defense program. • County director Jack Gordon has announced that a contribution of $25 from the Decatur Lions club has given the county the. beginning of a fund to finance civil defense activities. He expressed the hope that other clubs of the county would do likewise to give the organization a working fund until money can be appropriated by the county council.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Wednesday, January 12, 1955.

15 Persons Killed As Airliner And Private Plane Collide Today

UN Secretary Holds Silence On Chou Talks Leaves Tokyo For Return Flight, No Comment On Talks TOKYO (INS) —Dag Hammarskjold stopped briefly in Tokyo today enroute to «United Nations headquarters and maintained silence regarding his secret talks with Chinese Communists about prospects for the release of U. S. airmen imprisoned as spies. The UN secretary general land-' ed at Tokyo International airport from Hong Kong at 4 p. m. (2 a.m. EST) and took off for the United States an hour later aboard a U. S. military plane. He flew from Hong Kong to Tokyo -in a Scandinavian Airways plane. Enroute across the Pacific, he was scheduled to stop over in Hawaii where bis plane was due at 9:30 p. m. EST. At Toxyo, Hammarskjold’s aide, Per Lind, told newsmen there would be no statement about any progress made in the Peiping talks with the Reds until the secretarygeneral reaches New York probably late Thursday. Lind was asked whether any thought had been given to anxious relatives of the imprisoned flyers and he replied: “They have been patient so far and it is to their interests to have a little more patience.” Hammarskjold was met in Tokyo by PU Far East commander General John E. Hull, Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shlgemitsu and other dignitaries. ■ Most of Tokyo’s diplomatic corps was on hand to greet Ham-, marskjold at an airport reception in his honor. . . - , , The UN official maintained a self-imposed silence on any possible progress made during hlr talks in Peiping with Chinese Communist premier-foreign minister Chou En-Lai and other high Red officials. Before leaving Hong Kong he said he planned to make his report to the United Nations, explaining “this is neither the time nor the place to make any comments on my talks.” Reports from UN headquarters in New York quoted a UN spokesman as saying the mission to Peiping “has not failed” and that Hammarskjold “made progress.” Hammarskjold and Chou issued a joint communique when their discussions ended Monday saying the conference had been “useful” and they “established a basis upon which further progress can be made.” The UN spokesman pointed to this communique as a reason for some optimism and said he also based his comment on “other information we received at UNheadquarters which I am not at liberty to disclose.” Some Tokyo observers expressed the opinion that Hammarskjold may have been given a set of (Continued on Page Five)

Mothers' Polio March In Decatur Jan. 28

The Decatur -Mothers' March oh polio, a door-to-door solicitation for contributions to the March of Dimes polio campaign, will take place here Friday, Jan. 28, at 6 p. m. The four chapters of Beta Sigma Phi sorority are sponsoring the project, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Robert Lane. Her committee of representatives from each chapter includes Mrs. Fred Corah, Miss Mary Meyers, Mrs. John Holthouse and Mrs. F. A. Ellsworth. For the Mothers’ March the city wiH be divided into 17 zones, with volunteers assigned to each zone. Mrs. Lane announced that she

Congress Recessed, Organization Near Only Formalities Left To Congress WASHINGTON (INS) — Organization of the 84th congress by Democrats was virtually completed today, except for formalities, and Jhe house and senate prepared to get down to work. Senate Democrats and Republicans have selected their choices for the various committees —subject to formal and routine approval by the senate when it reconvenes Friday. \ House Democrats have also picked their men for committee work and the Republicans were expected to have their selections ready when the house reconvenes Thursday. Neither chamber met today. President Eisenhower submits Thursday a special message urging pay raises and other benefits for members of the armed forces and outlining the administration's new military reserve program. The message officially will to go to the house alone, since the senate will not be in session. Four more special messages will follow from the White House before the month is over. The budget message will be delivered Jan. 17; the economic report follows on Jan. 20. the administration's health proand the highway construction program is to be released on gram goes to congress Jan. 27. Mr, Eisenhoweer has already sent up messages urging extension and revision of the reciprocal trade agreements law, pay raises for federal employes, and postal rate increases. — When the senate reconvenes Friday. it will take up an anti-Com-munist resolution sponsored by S<*n. Price Daniel (D Tex.), and 53 of his colleagues. >.*■. The resolution denounces the Communist party in the U. S. as an instrument of the international Communist conspiracy and calls upon senate committees to continue to expose Red activities “diligently and vigorously.” Most committees are expected to be operating by next week. First State Bank Officers Re-elected The directors of the First State Bank of Decatur were re-elected at the annual meeting Monday afternoon. They are E. W. Busche, Earl C. Fuhrman, T. F. Graliker, H. H. Krnfickeberg and G. W. Vizard. Officers of the bank will remain the same as last year. Busche will serve as chairman. Gfidiker as president. Vizard as. vice-president and Krueckeberg as cashier. Assistant cash ie rs will be JL E. Glen ■_ dening, E. M. Caston and William Lose, Jr. INDIANA WEATHER Cloudy and colder tonight and Thursday with occasional snow tonight and snow flurries north portion Thursday. Low tonight 20-25 north, 25-32 south. High Thursday 25-32.

hopes enough women will volunteer that it will be passible to complete the canvass in an hour. Women’s organizations in the city are being contacted to recruit volunteers. Any woman in the city who is willing to help in the door-to-door campaign is asked to contact Mrs. Lane or a member of her committee. Volunteers will be assigned to the zone in which they live. Decatur residents who wish to contribute to the Mothers' March will be asked to turn on their porch lights. Proceeds will .be turned over to the polio fund to help Decatur reach its ?3,000 goal.

Ike Satisfied .On Disposition Os Ladejinsky First News Parley In Nearly Month Is Held By President .WASHINGTON (INS) — President Eisenhower said today that when he first heard the facts in the Wolf Ladejinsky case he had serious doubts that the land reform expert should be given security clearance by the agriculture department. . * The chief executive stressed, however, that he never formed a personal conclusion in the ease and appeared satisfied with its disposition. He told a news conference that when agriculture secretary Ezra' Taft Behson read a summary of Ladejinsky's background to him he told him: That would scare me. The former agriculture attache in Tokyo has been given a new job by the foreign operations administration as a land reform expert for underdeveloped areas of Asia. The President also made these points at his first question and answer session with newsmen in nearly a month: 1. Staunchly defended Vice President Richard M. Nixon against Democratic charges that he used smear tactics in the congressional zs q rvi no i . t aHipa 1 g 11. 2. Agreed that the big question he must answer in deciding whether to seek a second term is whether it is his duty to do so. Mr. Eisenhower said this is a question he alone can answer and Involved determining just what is his duty at a particular moment. 3. Branded as bosh the inference that because he may favor holding a September nominating convention in 1956 he plans to be the Republican candidate. 4. Said the U. S. would normally not use atomic weapons in a smallscale police action aimed at halting Communist aggression in some part of the world. 5. Declared smilingly that former Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York spent most of his time during his recent White House visit extolling the joys of life as a private citizen. The President took issue with a reportfer who said that Ladejinsky was appointed to a sensitive job in the foreign operations ad(Continued on Page Eight) Vote Death Penally On Chicago Grocer Charged Murder Os Wife And Children CHICAGO (INS) — A criminal court jurjLjijLChicago imposed the death penalty Tuesday night on Vincent Ciucci in his fourth murder trial stemming from the death of his wife and three children. The jury of nine men and three women deliberated two hours and 10 minutes before returning a verdict convicting 29-year-old feiucci of the murder of his son, Vincent, 9. It is mandatory upon the judge, Arthur J. Murphy, to sentence Ciucci according to the jury’s recommendation of death and the electric chair. Defense attorneys James Doherty and Arthur O’Donnell immediately made a motion for a new trial ahd Judge Murphy set a hearing on the motion for Jan. 25. The verdict climaxed efforts of the state through four trials to obtain the death penalty against the former grocer. Ciucci previously had been found guilty in the slayings of his wife. Anne. 28, and daughter, Angeline, 4, and was sentenced to 20 and 45 year prison terms, respectively. A m Ist r ial was declared last September when he first went on trial for murdering his son.

Lodge Will Confer With Hammarskjold Will Discuss Talks Held On Prisoners UNITED NATIONS,.N.Y. (INS) —Dag Hammarskjold is expected to confer with U. S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., before making any pub|kc announcement on his "mission to Peiping.”„ The UN secretary general currently is winging his way toward the U. S. from Tokyo, where he made a brief stop-off to change planes en route from the; Red China capital via Hong Korig. UN headquarters announced that shortly after his arrival Hammarskjold would discuss with Lodge his Peiping negotiations on the release of 15 imprisoned U. S. fliers and other captive UN personnel? The UN chief will give Lodge a first-hand account of his talks with premier Chou En-Lai and will convey any counter-demands Chou may have made as conditions for freeing the men. Lodge, who successfully presented the case of the imprisoned American airmen before the UN assembly, conferred Tuesday in New York with U. S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles. The two officials discussed Hamniarskjold’s mission and reportedly agreed to withhold public comment or to plan new moves until after consultations with the secretary general. UN unformants said the conference with Lodge was being arranged at the initiative of the world organization, indicating that Hammarskjold might have something important to convey to Lodge. Speculation on the result of the secretary general’s negotiations took on a rosier tone after a UN spokesman said Hammarskjold had "made progress” In his talks With Chou and that his mission was not a failure. Student Killer Is Held Without Bail Bechtel Held For Grand Jury Action SWARTHMORE, Pa. (INS) — Robert B. Bechtel, 22-year-old proctor of a Swarthmore College dormitory, was held without bail for the grand jury today for the rage-killing of Francis H. Strozier. 19, a sophomore. Bechtel, who reportedly told authorities that he felt ‘‘persecuted’’ by the pranks played upon him by the students in the dormitory, pleaded not guilty to a charge of premeditated murder and waived a hearing Tuesday night in Swarthmore Borough Hall. Early Tuesday morning, police charge, ■ Bechtel went on a shooting rampage with a rifle and a pislol in the dormitory, firing seven shots, one of which struck Strozier in the temple. Bechtel surrended to authorities meekly following the Shooting. Police quoted hipi as saying that he worked himself into a rage because of the hazing by students under his charge in the dormitory. College officials said Bechtel wks a “near genius” and was majoring in psychology, preparatory to entering the ministry. Meanwhile, it was reported that he had once -been a patient at Norristown state hospital for a week in 1950, but was "paroled” to his mother, Mrs. Helen Bechtel, of Pottstown. Nationalist Planes Bomb Red Islands TAIPEH (INS) —Chinese Nationalist bombers pounded Communist held Islands off the China coast for the second day today and returning pllote reported their missiles started big fires among Red installations.

13 On Board Liner Killed Al Cincinnati Pilot, Co-Pilot Os Private Plane Killed In Crash CINCINNATI (INS) Fifteen persons were killed today when a Trans-World Airlines plane collided with a private plane two minutes after taking off from the Greater Cincinnati Airport in a freezing drizzle. Thirteen of the dead, many of them burned beyond recognition, were aboard the twin-engine passenger plane—a Martin Skyliner—which was bound for Dayton, 0., and Cleveland. The pilot and co-pllot of the pri- ■ vate plane, Arthur "Slim" Werkhaven and Eddie Agner, of Sturgis, Mich., were both killed. The air control tower at Greater Cincinnati airport said it had no flight plan on 'file for plane. One report said the plane belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Van Lennet of the Castleton Farms, a Kentucky horse racing center. Eyewitnesses said the two planes collided in a ball of orange flame just south of the airport and fell to the snow-covered ground one half mile apart The planes fell In a heavilycovered beech wood area and the flames spread to the trees and melted the snow. Police and firemen at the scene reported all aboard the commercial airline were burned beyond recognition. Aboard were 10 passengers and a crew of three. TWA officials said the crash was the first domestic fatality for the line since 1944. A spokesman said over 14 million passengers had beear carried without an accident since then. The private plane was identified as a DC-3 flying from- Battle Creek. Mich., to Lexington, Ky. The mid-air crash occurred just two minutes after the TWA craft was al rborne. Rescue workers from the airport and three nearby communities, ... sped to the scene but were hampered by the dense woods. State police said the bodies and parts of the planes were scattered about the area. The airport is located in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. A funeral home in Erlanger, Ky. some 10 miles from the scene, was prepared to receive the bodies. Passenger List NEW YORK (INS) — TWA in New York issued the following list of 10 passengers and three crew members killed aboard the airliner which collided with another plane today after taking off from Cincinnati: Passengers ■. ?. * Joseph Cohen. Consumer. Steel Producte-Cor Cleveland, Ralph Z. Emig. 6523 Crestridge Circle, Cincinnati; R. H. Leler, 1710 Clavey Rd. Highland Park, 111. C. W. Neu, 3802 East Street', Marymount, O. John L. Hague, 720 Greenwood, Cincinnati. Harry C. Reinwald, 5555 Averett Ave., Chicago. H. Rooney, Lewiston, Idaho. Robert Sobul, 106 Ashburton St. (Continued on Page Eight) Band Booster Fund Previously Reported $464.47 Donna Smalt (band mem- - : her) , 1.00 Kathy Cole (band member) .....5.00 TOTAL $470.47 Contributions can be made by sending any amount to Band Booster fund, care of Hugh J. Andrews. principal of Decatur high school. All money received will go tc ward the purchase ofnew uni* ■—- forms for the Decatur high school band. 4 z''

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