Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 53, Number 18, Decatur, Adams County, 22 January 1955 — Page 1

Vol. Lilt. No, 18.

. fc ,. • • ' 'i Convicts End Four-Day Revolt |’!HI!! Sllll l III 1 lillllll I '' B|bhEJb * 1 WITH A PRISON GUARD on either side, one of the four convicts who, for four days held out in the Cherry Hill isolation section of Boston's Charlestown Prison, marches away from his “fortress” and back into the main building of the penitentiary. Fo Mowing conferences with a seven-man “commission” of clergymen and civic leaders, the revolting convicts ended their hold-outs, surrendering without firing a shot from their several guns, or any injury to their hostages.

Warn Os Tax Hikes Under State Budget Slash Necessary To Prevent* Increases In Indiana Taxes INDIANAPOLIS (INS) — While the lawmakers were in week-end recess today, legislative experts warned that unless the $669 million budget is slashed, Indiana faces tax hikes. The warning was voiced by senate president pro tern John W. Van Ness, of Valparaiso, and by Jack B. Reich, executive yicepresident of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce. Van Ness added that if current proposals are adopted, the budget may even rise to S7OO million. They include increased pay for teachers and school building financing, a $5 million veterinary school, a $3,500,000 Lake Michigan harbor allowance, a juvenile correction institution and a state office building. The house ways and means A committee and the senate finance cominittee will continue to whack away at the record high budget Monday. Reich said: “Recommended appropriations for expenditures during the 195557 biennium from the state general fund would exceed revenues to the fund by $58,222,00 and the unencumbered balance in the fund would be reduced from $81,666,000 on July 1, 1954 to $18,430,000 on June 30, 1957.” Reich added that there is no positive assurance that the legislature will transfer the s2l million remaining in the World War II bonus fund to the general fund to augment the surplus. He added: "Even if this is done it will not materially change the seriousness of the fiscal problem. It would serve only as a palliative." Reich added: “If Indiana is to keep its proportionate place in the employment picture, there must be created an average of 26,000 new jobs annually during the next 20 years. Thus, it becomes vitally important that we retain in Indi-aux-alitate-xutfmcattaxstractiiFe that will not place Indiaina industry at a competitive disadvantage with industry in other states, thereby resulting in a loss of job opportunities.” The houhe military affairs' committee on Monday night will hold a public hearing on the Korean veterans* bonus bill and advocates will fight vigorously any attempt to transfer the World War II bonus surplus to the general fund. The-Hines-King measure authorized payment of a bonus to Korean war fighters from this World War II surplus. The bonus would range from a S3O minimum for 90 days service to a S6OO maximum based on $lO month for duty inside continental United States limits and sls a month for overseas duty. Meanwhile, Senator Roy Conrad, Monticello Republican, said he has beet) able to change a number of votes on the toll road ripper bill in the senkte from aye to no. The senate roads committee is expected to bring the bill out on second rehding early next week a* aoon as Governor George N. (Continued on Page Five)

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Four Jet Pilots. May Win Release Have Best Chance Os Freedom From Reds UNITED NATIONS. N. Y. (INS) — • Four U. S. jet pilots, who have been jhiled but never “tried" by Communist China, were believed today to have the best chance of being released. Like 11 other imprisoned American airmen, the quartet was captured during the Korean war. But UN observers pointed out that the four jet fliers, have not been sentenced by the Peiping regime on any charge as were the 11 airmen and two civilians who were imprisoned as “spies” last November.

Tbe Chinese communists may decide it to be more politically expedient to drop plans for prosecuting the four aviators and possibly return them with a fanfare show of "magnanimity" on the part of the Peiping rulers. In this connection the family of one of the jet airmen, Capt. Harold E. Fischer, of Swea City, la., is one of the two groups of relatives which have expressed desire to take up the Red Chinese offer to visit their loved ones behind the bamboo curtain. The Fischers also revealed that they recently received a letter from their son in which he hinted that he might be released soon. No official predictions were available at UN headquarters on whether the Chinese bid meant the Red rulers finally had decided to free the 11 airmen and two civilians jailed as "spies” and all other allied prisoners. The general feeling, however, was that the Chinese Communists would act sometime in the future to “pardon" some — if not all —of the UN captives in the grand gesture intended to impress the west ern world with the “humaneness" of the Peiping regime.

Local Man's Mother Is Taken By Death Margaret Inskeep Dies At Bluffton Mrs. Margaret C. Inskeep, 63, ■3TCT'TnTdffy^moTOHgTR _ ffdFTiom'¥ southwest of Bluffton following a year's illness. She was born in Wells county July 25, 1891, a daughter of Jacob and Arena Glass Thompson, and was married to Harry C. Inskeep Sept. 10, 1913. Surviving in addition to her husband are two sons, John J. Inskeep of Bluffton and James E. Inskeep of Decatur; two daughters, Mrs. Lucille Gay of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Mrs. Ruth Land of Churubusco; 12 grandchildren; one' brother, Oscar Thompson of Wells county, and one sister, Mrs. J. O. Gordbn of Wells county. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Thoma funeral home in Bluffton, the Rev. Vance Davison officiating. Burial will be in Fairview cemeterv. '• a INDIANA WEATHER Mostly cloudy with a few snow flurries tonight and Bunday. Somewhat colder tonight. Low tonight 18-22. ■ High Sunday 30-35.

Four Convicts Surrender tn Boston Prison Release Hostages Unharmed, Give Up Weapons To Group BY ERWIN D. CANHAM (Editor of the Christian Science Nlonltor, ~ spokesman for the seven - man Charlestown state prison riot negotiation committee.) — _ (Written for I. N. S.) BOSTON (INS) —To have the privilege of restoring hope to four desperate men threatening the lives of eleven others - and perhaps more-is the deeply humbling experience which seven Boston citizens had during the last 36 hours. Until almost the precise moment when Joseph A. Flaherty, Walter H. Balben, Theodore Green and Fritz O. Swenson pulled their guns from their dungarees pocket, slipped out the clips of bullets, and tossed them on the table before us, we did not know whether the. men would choose tragedy or hope. We had talked, back and forth, for some six hours to try and bring them to choose hope.

To the Rev. Edward P. Hartigan, Roman Catholic chaplain at the prison, the Rev. Howard P. Kellett, Protestant chaplain, and Dr. Samuel Merlin, prison doctor, goes the overwhelming share of credit for persuading the men- to disarm themselves and release their hostages. The four of usVho joined them in an earnest eAort to change the convicts' minds were deeply grateful for the privilege, for we had been chosen by the convicts themselves. They asked for Sumner H. Babcock, president of the Boston Bar Association, Patrick J. McDonough, -member of the governor's council, the Rev. John Grant, associate editor of the Pilot.- official organ of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston, and myself. It began at 11 p. m. Thursday night when my wife answered the telephone and said, “yes, he’s here.'' It was Warden John J. O'Brien, of the Charlestown state prison, and he asked me urgently to come at once to the state police .headquarters. There at the police headquarters, the group was told-by Rev. Mr. Hartigan - that the convicts had asked for us. that they wanted to talk over their situation with us. that they had respect for us in the community, and wished us to hear their story. We were driven silently to the prison, slipped in at an obscure door, and led in the dimness of the prison library. There the chaplain telephoned the convicts in the Cherry Hill block, told them we were coming, and without other escort we threaded our way through the no-man's-land beyond the state troopers to the barricaded door. Our guide tapped a signal on the window, the huge beam which propped it shut was pushed aside, and we stepped into the steamy, odorous, well-lit prison interior. And there, to my intense surprise, we saw a neatly arranged conference room: eleven chairs, no more and no less, set out in a circle with a table in the middle, a pad of paper and a pencil, and nothing much else. The four "desperadoes” politely took our overcoats and bung them on wire coat(Continued on Page Five)

Wells County Man Is First Traffic Death Os 1955 In This County

Eisenhower To Reveal Plans For Formosa Special Message To Congress Expected To Be Made Monday WASHINGTON (INS) — President Eisenhower is expected to spell out for congress Monday just how he plans to defend Formosa 'and, at the same time, avoid a shooting war with the Chinese Communists. Legislative leaders, such as chairman Walter F. George (D Ga.). of the senate foreign relations committee, and Sen. H. Alexander Smith (R N.J.), said they understood the President will send a special message on Formosa to congress Monday. Neither expects that a joint session will be called or that the President will appear personally. The main points of the presidential plan “leaked” after secretary of state John Foster Dulles briefed 12 leading Congressmen Thursday morning.

The plan is to remove any possibility' of American involvement in a fight for anything less than Formosa itself by withdrawing Chinese Nationalist troops from small islands they now hold near the Red China coast. At the same time, the President wants a clear expression from congress that he has the right to order American forces to fight for Formosa and the Pescadores, which are considered vital to U.S. national interests in the area. It is hoped that such a clear American stand to defend the islands would deter a Chinese Communist attack. The most serious opposition to the plan thus far has come from Formosa where members of the Chinag Kai-Shek government have ruled out any withdrawal from “our territories without a fight.” The Nationalists said after an emergency cabinet meeting that it was their policy never to give Up any land the Chiang government presently controls without “exacting the heaviest price from the enemy.” —

The islands are politically important to the Formosan administration since a withdrawal would look like defeat or surrender and, (Continued on Page Five) Checks Mailed For Gas Distribution Decatur And Adams County Will Share INDIANAPOLIS (INS)—Checks totaling $14,058,798.23 were being mailed today to cities, towns and counties and the state highway department as their portion of the state motor vehicle funds. Most of the money comes from state gasoline taxes. Os this total, 53 percent, or $7,451,163.06 goes to the state highway fund; $4,498,815.43 to counties, and $2,108,819.74 to cit£h and towns. The period covered is the quarter of October through December. Auditor Curtis E. Rardin explained that an apparent drop of $1.3 million for the quarter as compared to a year ago is nothing to worry about. He said the 1953 figure included nearly SBOO,OOO of funds diverted through error which was returned. The checks going to counties include: ’ Adams $39,596.98; Allen $125,528.51; Delaware $80,238.25; Grant $59,299.61; Randolph, $47,715.53; The distribution to cities and towns included: Decatur $6,014.84; Fort Wayne $110,524.59; Indianapolis $353,37310; Marion $24,884,10; Muncie $48,375.96.

Would Defray Cost To Visit Prisoners Will Ask Congress To Defray Expenses WASHINGTON (INS) — Rep. Kenneth Keating (R-N.Y.) said he will ask congress on Monday to defray the expenses of relatives who wish to visit the 17 Americans imprisoned in Communist China. The State Department remained cool toward any acceptance of the Red offer allowing the visits, but indicated that it woqld not stand In the way of any kin who want to go. It was aounttui, nowever. whether many relatives of the 15 airmen and two civilians would be willing to make the trip. Only four have shown any definite interest in accepting the invitation. They are the 24-year-old wife of Capt. Elmer F. Llewellyn of Missoula. Mont., his mother, Mrs. H. L. Stlter of Vista, Calif., and the parents of. jet ace Harold Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fisher of Swea City, lowa. The Red Cross said it would aid the relatives in making the trip “including financial assistance" if it is needed. The Communist invitation, described bluntly by the state department as a “harrowipg dilemma” raised for propaganda purposes, was rejected by others tor various reasons. ~ The mother of Airman Harry M. Benjamin, Jr., of Worthington, Minn., said she did not believe she could get the money. Keating said, however, it would be tragic to deny families a chance to see the men because of lack of funds. With the U. S. continuing to put the heat on Red China to free the prisoners, reaction on capitol hiH dovetailed with the biting comment made by state department spokesman Henry Suydam about the offer. Suydam said: “it is by releasing those they hold that the Chinese (Continued on Page Five) Scouts Engaged In Annual Derby Today Klondike Derby Is Staged At Bluffton

"The crack of whips in the frosty air; the cries of ‘mush’: the yapping of sled dogs and the sleek, gleaming sleds glided one by one down the derby course.” The event is the annual Klondike derby of the south district of the Anthony Wayne council of -the Boy Scouts of America, held today in Bluffton. Several entries from Decatur and other Adams county troops will participate this afternoon in the event. __ Os course the cracking whips imaginations of some 300 Boy Scouts competing in the big winter event, to be held at the Wells cottnty state game preserve. Scouts from Jay and Wells counties joined the Adams county boys in the feature this morning, and the first sled and team "mushed” off down the trail toward the first outpost at 11 a.m. At timed intervals each sled followed on a rough and rugged course comparable to those staged in the far north with real dogs. The Klondike derby is a test of scoutcraft skill in a three-mile petrol whiter trip with a sled carrying all equipment, and pulled by scouts. During the trip each patrol encounters several obstacles at the outposts, where they find out how well they can solve some interesting problems in scouting skills. The outposts on this polar trip consist of grub stake outpost, knothole outpost, lost valley, pot shot gulch, Lat. 42N—-Long. 83W, Iceflow outpost, valley forge, and trail's end. Each scout and scouter participating receives an emblem, and hot refreshments will be served at the end of the trip.

Government Os China Rejects American Plan Reject Withdrawal Os Chinese Troops Off Tachen Islands TAIPEH (INS) — The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-Shek decided today to fight to the death for the off-shore islands threatened by the Communists and rejected an American plan to withdraw troops from the Tachen islands. After a series of cabinet meetings in Taipeh, a Nationalist spokesman declared it was against government policy to give up without a fight any land the Nationalists now hold. The spokesman said the Nationalists will not evacuate any offshore islands without "exacting the heaviest price from the enemy.” — Chiang called his cabinet into emergency session after tiny Yichangshan island, only eight miles north of the Tachens, fell to a combined Red air - sea assault Thursday. The Nationalists said that all 750 defenders of Yichangshan were apparently wiped out but a toll of at least 2.000 dead was exacted from the Communists. The .Nationalists underlined their intent to continue the so-called “vest pocket war” against the Reds off the China coast by blasting Communist invasion fleet concentrations in widespread air strikes by planes of Chiang's air force. The Nationalists claimed "excellent" results in bombing strikes against Red shipping at conquered Yichangshan and at nearby Toumen, both of which might be used to launch an invasion against the Tachens some 200 miles north of Formosa.

Nationalist intelligence sources reported a massive buildup of Red ships in TachCn waters, probably the heaviest concentration since the “vest pocket war” opened. Returning Nationalist pilots said that at least 1,000 Red ships of various types were mobilized, ready for a possible assault on the main Tachen island and on nearby islets held by the Nationalists. In this raids, the Nationalists said “a large number" of Red ships were sunk including eight 500-ton vessels. The only concession aists made to Red invasion threats was to prepare immediately to evacuate non-combatants from the -tConttetMMd on Page Ttyee) Ross Lee Dies After One Week's Illness funeral Services Monday Afternoon 2 Ross (Shorty) Lee. 59, a resident of Decatur and vicinity most of his life, died at 4:45 o’clock this morning at the Parkview memorial hospital, Fort Wayne. Death was caused by a cerebral bemmorhage, suffered a week ago.

He was born in Wells county Dec. 2, 1895, a son of Henry and Nancy Diehl-Lee, and was married to Laura Garner Feb. 4, 1920. He had been employed in recent years as a truck driver. Surviving are his wife; two sons, Doyle and Donald Lee, both of Decatur; seven grandchildren; one brother, William Lee of Fort Wayne, and two sisters, Mrs. Daisy Qhler and Mrs. Flossie Dierkes, both of Decatur. One daughter, two brothers and two sisters are deceased. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday at the Black funeral home, the Rev. Stuart Brightwell officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 o’clock this evening until time of the services.

Gl's Mistreated By Foreign Courts Report Is Received By Senator Flanders WASHINGTON (INS) — Sen. Ralph Flanders (R Vt.J said today he has reports that American servicemen abroad have been mistreated in foreign courts. If the reports are true, Flanders said, he will ask the state department to "negotiate administratively” to remedy any abuses that have developed under the treaty allowing foreign courts to try U. S. military personnel for civilian offenses. ' TSefore and since the treaty went into effect, there has been controversy over whether or not military personnel should not be entitled to the same protections when being prosecuted, that they would have under the U. S. constitution.

Some 400 Americans reportedly have been prosecuted in foreign courts. Flanders did not disclose the cases on which he had complataHs,, bist he mentioned the names of Richard T. Keefe, of East Riverdale, Md. and Tony ■Scaletti, of Coraopolis, Pa. Keefe and Scaletti allegedly beat up a French cab driver and took his taxi. They were sentenced to five years solitary confinement at Melum, France. Under Frencn procedure, Keefe's lawyers argued, Keewe was “Compelled to give evidence against himself,” which he would not have to do under the fifth amendment. Lower U. S. courts held that they have no Jurisdiction because Keefe is not in American custody. Sen. John Bricker (R Ohio,) Who fought the treaty at the time it ratified, said the sentence is more severe than the men would receive, in the U. S. Flanders said he will not try to upset the treaty even if abuses are found, but instead w(ll urge the secretary of state to try to negotiate for corrections. Bricker said he believes the U. S. should withdraw from the treaty at the first opportunity, which will be in about three and a half years. The pact provides that after it has been in effect four years, any ..signatory nation can give notice and withdraw a year later. Critics of the treaty declared that about the same time that Keefe and Scaletti were convicted late in 1953, a Frenchman got a five-year sentence, not in solitary confinement, for the murder of an American. Annual Polio Dance Here Next Thursday Tickets Available For Benefit Dance

Plans have been completed for the annual polip benefit dance to be held at Sunset Park Thursday, according to an announcement by 'Cliff Brewer,' who heads the dance committee. Brewer stated that ticket sales have been progressing well although quite a number of tickets are still available. Donations of $1 per person entitles anyone to a ticket for the affair which will Include dancing and special features. Many prizes will be given during the evening, including several door prizes. Orchids will be presented to each lady who attends the Brewer and his committee said thatevery effort is being made to make this the most outstanding polio dance ever held in Decatur. It is hoped that this dance will aid Decatur in reaching the polio fund quota of $3,000. Tickets are available at Holthouse Furniture store. Wertzbergers’s, G. E. Murphy Store, the Why Store. Holthouse Drug Co., Western Auto store, Pioneer restaurant and the Kroger company, and from Gene Rvdell. NOON EDITION

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Chas. McFarren Os Poneto Dies Last Evening Fatally Injured In Collision Os Pair Os Cars Thursday Adams county recorded its first traffic fatality for 1955 with the death of Charles T. McFarren, 77-year-old Poneto man, who died Friday at 5 p.m. in the Wells county hospital. McFarren died of skull fracture and other Injuries sustained in an auto accident Thursday on an Adams county road six miles northwest of Bernf. McFarren’s car was struck broadside by a car driven by Chester Isch, 35, of Bluffton route two.. Th® accident occurred when McFarren lost control of his car as he approached a bridge. Isch and a son were slightly injured. The accident victim was a member of the Methodist church and the IOOF lodge of Poneto. He is survived by four sons, Ernest, Earl and Ralph McFarren of Bluffton and Frank McFarren of Jersey City, N. J.; two daughters, Mrs, Mary Harris, Monroe route one and Mrs. Margaret Hughes, Bluffton. Also surviving are 33 grandchildren; 30 great-grandchildren, four brothers and three sisters, including Mirs. Opal Smith of Berne. The body is at . the Mcßride funeral home In Bluffton. Funeral services will be conducted Monday >t 2 p.m. in the Poneto Methodist church with the Rev. Dewey Zent officiating. BUMaI will be in the McFarren cemetery. Dlanninn Uasrtnvzc rlanliing ncanflyS On Formosa Pad Heavy Senate Debate Expected Next Week WASHINGTON (INS) — Secretary of state John Foster Dulles* testimony next week on the Formosa defense treaty will signal the opening of the senate’s “great debate” on the administration's policy toward Red China. This was implicit today in announced plans to launch hearings on the Formosa pact within hours after the expected receipt of a presidential message laying down this government’s plans for dealing with the Communist threat in the Formosa area. Senate foreign relations chairman Walter F. George (D-Ga.) said DullSs probably will appear in a closed session Tuesday, and that the senate may begin debate that same day on the Southeast Asia defense treaty. The eight-nation SEATO treaty, first of several defense pacts to be considered by the 84th congress, was approved by a 14-1 vote of the foreign relations committee Friday. Sen. William Langer (R-N.D.) who has consistently opposed such arrangements, was the lone dissenter. Just how quickly the big debate will get under way on the senate floor will depend largely upon th® actions of senate GOP leader Wil-

liam F. Knowland (R-Calif.) The Republican floor chief has been the chief critic of administration policy concerning Red China. He (Continued on Page Five) Band Booster Fund Previously Reported $693.47 Mrs. Bess Erwin (in memory of Eva Acker) .... 10.00 Chas. Morgan Family ... 5.00 TOTAL. $708.47 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 toward the purchase of new uniforms for the Decatur high school band.