Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 53, Number 303, Decatur, Adams County, 27 December 1955 — Page 1

Vol. Lili. No. 303.

....•. ' ■ ) OPERATION MOP-UP! ' 5 JA” i'S lit • h tfy ■ Mh I • lii 1 OP I dKB ' ■' WIM» r. WITH THE GRIM TASK of rehabilitation before them, the residents of Yuba City, Calif., like so many other Northern California areas begin the mop-up operations after the flood. Thousands are homeless and untold property damaged are reported from Yuba City alone in the wake of the pre-Christmas floods.

New Disaster Threatened In Flooded Areas Toll Os Death And Destruction Grows < In Western States BULLETIN SAN FRANCISCO (INS) — Slxty-seven person* were reported dead or missing today In vast flood-ravagea areas of northern California and , southern Oregon. - New flood* during the day were expected to add to the - casualty list* and to the property damage estimate of $150,000000. There were thirty-five known dead in California and another 20 miming, in Oregon, there were 12 known dead. SAN FRANCISCO (INS) — The toll of death and destruction in week-long storms in northern California and Oregon mounted today and new disaster threatened along swollen rivers. There was a total of 66 dead or missing in the two states. The count of known dead in Cattfonria was 35 persons with another 20 missing. There were 11 known dead in Oregon. s The loss in property and damage to highways and railroads was estimated at $150,000,000. Areas in imminent danger of renewed onslaughts by rampaging rivers were: , 1. Yuba City, where virtual martial law was declared as a new cfest on the Feather river is expected to spill millions of gallons of water through a levee break which routed 8,000 persons from their homes Christmas Eve. 2. The rich delta country at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers where island residents and army engineers battled to strengthen levees against river crests rolling toward an incoming high tide in San Francisco bay. Other lowland areas to the south already flooded by last week’s record rainstorms, braced for further inundation following predictions of rain in the snow-packed High Sierra mountains above the 7,000 foot level. Yuba City townspeople, who had begun returning to their ruined homes yesterday, were ordered to evacuate again when both the Fea--4her and Yuba rivers began to rise alarmingly under the lash of a new storm. The death toll in the ravaged community rose to ten with the of four additional bodies as armed air force men and national guardsmen patrolled the streets with orders to shoot looters on sight. - . ’ Yuba’s twin city of Marysville on the opposite bank of the Feather river was not considered in any danger but in the upstream city of Oroville, army engineers alerted residents to stand by-for possible trouble. Threats of dew floods were caused by Monday’s brief but » heavy rains throughout most of the Sacramento valley, sending creeks and rivers rising anew. At one tijne the Feather river rose nearly three feet in one hour. , Federal civil defense administrator Vai Peterson, flew into Sacramento to confer with Governor Goodwin J. Knight on relief and rehabilitation measures ordered by President Elsenhower. Peterson, who was accompanied (Continued On Page Five)

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT » ,!■ ■■ ■ :* ■ '

15 Holiday Deaths On State Highways State Contributes To National Toll "INDIANAPOLIS (AnS) — A t least 15 persons died on Indiana highways during the long Christman holiday period that began Friday night and ended at midnight Monday night. Weather conditions were favorable, despite a light fall of snow in central Indiana on the morning after Christmas day. Latest victims of the road slaughter reported to -state police were William E. Mosier. 19, of 1 Loogootee, and Lois Kemp, 48. of Delpen. Mrs. Kemp’s husband, Claude, 51, is in serious condition in Memorial hospital at Jasper. The accident occurred when Mosier’s auto swerved across Ind. 45 and rammed the Kemp car head on. Charles E. G«ret, 17, of Atlanta, met death when his car went out of control on a gravel road nine miles southeast of Tipton. »J The crash of an automobile against the wall of a Wabash river bridge in the west part of Terre Haute cost the life of Mrs. ; Betty E. Hooker, 19, of Terre Haute. Her husband, Howard W. [ Hooker, 26, who was driving, was , cut seriously. Robert Lee Dilts, 28, of near ' LaGrange, died when his automobile went out of control on Road 9 rear the Indiana-Michigan line. A former resident of Mitchell was killed when an automobile struck a bridge on Road 37, two miles south of Bedford. The vic- ' tim, Russell Chastain, 46, of Detroit, Mich., was riding in a car I driven by Clayton J. Luttrell, 36, 1 of Mitchell, who was unhurt. James Edward Cole, 18, of Chicago, met death when a convertible driven by Letcher E. Bowling, 24, of Hammond, skidded off Road 52 and struck a utility pole two miles northwest of Earl Park, Benton county. Earl C. Embry. Jr., 42, of Indianapolis, died when his car ran eff an Indianapolis street and struck a utility pole. Two Indianapolis passengers in the car were injured seriously. They wete Mrs. Anna Louise Johnson, 43, and her husband, Raymond Johnson, 40. Two Elkhart men were injured fatally when '.the automobile in which they were riding struck a concrete fence post at a fogobscured county road intersection six miles northeast of Elkhart. The victims were Fred Leininger, 33. and Wayne Gall, 23. Charles Sinton, 27, of Elkhart, the driver, was hurt seriously. Another foggy road was responsible for the death of Jerry Hollingsworth, 20, of Dugger. The tragedy occurred on Road 54 a mile east of Dugger, Robert R. Rigsby, 60, of Anderson. was injured fatally when his automobile struck an abutment of the Muscatatuck river bridge on Road 31 two miles south of Crothersville. Joseph C. Dalton, 27, of Sylvatus, Va., was killed in a two-car crash on Road 16 two miles east of Brook, Newton county. Death came to 15-year-old Patty Jo Schlageter, of Peru, when the automobile in which she was a passenger skidded pff Road 31 a mile north of Peru and rolled over several times into a field. Seriously injured were the driver, Thomas Michael Gray, 15, of Peru who was too young to have a driver’s license, according to police, and. Terry Jackson, 14, of Peru, another passenger. William W. Meyers, 69. of Brookville, a pedestrian, was struck and killed on Road 52 near Brookville fay a car driven by (Oontieusa On Page Five) 4

Senators Urge Education For American Reds Urge Reeducation Os Communists In American System WASHINGTON (INS) — The senate internal security subcommittee called today for a “reeducation” campaign to teach American Communists the error of their ways and make loyal citizens of them. If this fails, the senate group said, steps should be taken “to invoke the full penalty of the law against recalcitrants.” This formula was set down as a "twofold objective” for fighting Communism in the U. S. It is included in “A Handbook for Americans” which the subcommittee published to explain what the Communist party of the United States is and how it works. The booklet said the first objective of any anti-Communist program must be to convert the members “into the ranks of sane and constructive citizens,” It said this would be a difficult job since most of them are "hardbitten bigots” but added: it should be. attempted, since it is far tnore desirable to have a sophisticated, well-informed and loyal citizen who can contribute his knowledge and experience to the fight against Communism than onewho*is dedicated to defiance of the American government.” If conversion fails, the handbook continued, the second objective of the anti-Communist program would be to jpunish the calcitrants” both as a deterrent and as an example to others. In making public the 100-page volume, chairman James O. Eastland (D-Miss.) pointed to “the vast difference between the Communist organization and the American conception of a political party.” He said: the vociferous and vigorous assertions of the Communist spokesmen, it should be obvious that, as the handbook says, the so-called Communist ‘party’ is in fact, 'a Russian inspired, Moscow-dominated, antiAmerican. quasi-military conspiracy . . . ’ ” In a foreward, the subcommittee said it was putting out the document because "the average American is unaware of the samount of misinformation about the Communist party, USA, which appears in the public press, in books and in the utterances of public speakers.” The handbook reviews the historical' background of the party’s aims and organization, fitting it into the ’ underground activities of American Reds, and insisting that although their numbers are small they still are a serious threat. China Reds Build Up New Airfields Nationalist China Reports Activity * TAIPEI (INS)—General Wang Shu-Ming, commander of the Chinese Nationalist air force, said today that the Chinese Communists are rushing to complete three new airfields capable of handling jet planes. Wang sqid that/he Reds already completed six new airfields last summer. The three near completion, he said, were in Fukien and Kwangtung provinces. The air leader said that since the armistice in the Korea war, Scfviet Russia has given Red China a number of their latest type jet fighters—MlG-17s. Wang said the Nationalist air force, poised on Formosa to turn back any Red threat, is much stronger now than it was a year ago but still needs more 'jets. He said the most outstanding development for the Nationalists during the past year was in the field of training and maintenance. ? < ■ Factory At Hope Is Destroyed By Fire HOPE. Ind. (INS) — Damage was estimated at $200,000 in the Christmas morning fire that destroyed the Fishel Products company plant. Cause of the fire which destroyed the small Bartholomew county town’s only industry was not determined. Firemen from Hope, Flatrock, Hartsville and Columbus battled the blaze.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

■I J ■ Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, December 27, 1955.

Nation’s Traffic Toll r - ■ J ' ' Over Holiday Exceeds Any Previous Period

Russia Claims | Reduction In Arms Spending ' I Soviet Parliament Whips 1956 Budget Into Final Shape 1 MOSCOW (INS) — The Supreme Soviet (parliament) whipped the ■ 1956 budget into final shape today for quick approval Wednesday. The budget was announced Monday by finance minister Arsene Sverev, who claimed it would cut ’ military spending in an effort to ~ reduce international tension. . The council of the union, one house of parliament, met this l morning. The other house, the council of nationalities, meets this afternoon to discuss the budget. One new proposal offered at Monday night’s session was to spend 803-million rubles (about S2OO mil- ' IlOffrinOre Xhan Sverev asked to Ihcrease the reserve fund of the , council of ministers. . This fund would be used for ur- , ban rehabilitation, school mainten- ’ ance and tuberculosis treatment. It was thought that the. budget [ session of the Supreme Soviet would be adjourned by Thursday at the latest to permit the deputies ' from the mart distance provinces ' to get home in time for New , Year's Eve. ‘ No time has been set for either premier Nikolai Bulganin or Com- ’ munist party secretary Nikita Khrushchev to speak on their recently concluded tour of India, Burma and Afghanistan. ( But it was thought that one of > the Russian leaders might speak ( on the subject once the budget was t approved. _ i . } John H. Heller Is Slightly Improved i The condition of J. H. Heller, ■ who suffered a stroke last Friday I night, was reported as slightly iin--1 proved today by his attending phy- ■ sician. i The veteran newspaper publisher. is a patient at Adams county memorial hospital. Two Anderson Men Die In Plane Crash ANDERSON, Ind. (INS) — Two Anderson men were killed when a light plane crashed onto a field . near Huntsville, Madiso# County, ; not far from the takeoff field. The victims were Paul H. Thompson, 41, the pilot, and Jesse I Johnson, Jr., 39. Both were employes of the Delco J Remy Division > of General Motors. Rites Held Today For Dennis Krick Funeral Rites Held For Wren Resident Dennis Krick, 65 t a resident of Wren. 0., since. 1939, died at 1:35 o’clock Sunday morning at his home in that town following a year’s illness. ■ He was born in Harrison township April 27, 189o> a son of Dayton and Emma Woods-Krick, and was married in 1920 to Bertha . Garwood. •Mr. Krick was a member of the Evangelical United Brethren church at Wren. Surviving are his wife: one daughter, Mrs. William Miller of Kendallville; two grandchildren; two brothers, James Krick of Willshire, 0., and Floyd Krick of Decatur. and one sister, Mrs. Ray Leßrun of Wren. <■« Funeral service* were held at 1:30 p.m., today at the Zwick funeral home and at 2 p.m. at the Wren Evangelical United Brethren church, the Rev. Walter Purdy officiating. Burial was tn the Willshire cemetery. r

I Korea, Red China Warships In Duel Open Act Os War Is Charged To Reds SEOUL (INS) —Top-level Republic of Korea navy officials held I a lengthy conference today discussing a gun battle between ROK and Chinese Communist warships. Dr. Hongkee Karl, ROK director of public information, charged the Chinese Reds with an “open act of war” in the clash which took place Christmas morning 70 miles off the southwest Korean port of Mikpo. There was a series of charges and counter-charges by both ROK officials and the Communist Peiping radio. A ROK coast guard spokesman denied a Communist report that two Chinese fishermen were captured by the crew of a ROK gunboat. Both sides agreed that four ROK coast guardsmen were captured by the Reds. Karl demanded that the Reds return the captives andw arned that the "strongest possible a'ction” may be taken if the men are not freed. Karl also expressed the hope that “our allied friends will join us in taking forceful and successful countermeasures. The United Nations Command, declined to comment publicly. The incident took place when a ROK patrol boat discovered, a Chinese Communist fishing fleet of more than a dozen boats inside the so-called “Rhee Line”-a zone which the ROK government claims exclusively for its own- fishing boats. Pilot Is Killed As Jet Plane Explodes Crashes On Highway, Woman Badly Hurt - .. LOS ANGELES (INS) —A pilot is dead and a woman in serious condition today from burns and other wounds suffered when an air force jet plane overshot Los Angeles International Airport and exploded on an adjacent highway. Capt. DwigWt M. Cook was fatally injured when his T-33 trainer landed on the wrong runway, had a flameout and skidded out of control onto Sepulveda Boulevard Monday. „ ’ The runaway plane crashed through a barrier, sheared off part of a radar building and hit three cars as if bounced onto the roadway 15 feet from an underpass. He ejected his seat from the plane as it burst into flames, but he died later in the hospital. In one car wa‘s”Mrs. Louise Lamontagne, 25, en route from her old home in Oakland, Calif., to a new one in Los Angeles. She suffered a possible skull fracture, chest and neck injuries. Her husband, Martin, 40, driving in another car ahead of her, saw the accident through his rear view mirror. He returned to his wife’s car and had to tear her loose from the steering wheel to get her away from the scene — she had Been frozen to the wheel by shock. Set Three Dates For Bloodmobile Visits The Red Cross has set three dates in the next five months for ,a visit of th? mobile unit to Decatur for the purpose of receiving blood from the volunteer donors, it was announced at the Fort Wayne office today. The un(t will be set up at the American Legion home here January 11, March 16 and May 24, abcording to the present schedule. INDIANA WEATHER Mo*tly fair tonight. Wednesday mostly cloudy and somewhat warmer. Low tonight 26-33. High Wednesday mid 40s north t* the low 60s south. _ ;

President And Dulles Confer With Twining Ike Holds Unusual Conference Today With Two Leaders WASHINGTON (INS) —President Eisenhower held an unusual conference today with secretary of John Foster Dulles and Gen. Nathan Twining, air force chief ; of staff. The White House declined to say • what the meeting concerned, but indicated it was a highly confideni tial national secuirty matter. L White House news secretary - James C. Hagerty said Monday's - conference between Dulles and the President touched "in a very gen1 eral way” on the Christmas prol posal by Pope Pius XII for a world ban on atomic weapons. ; He had no comment on the PresiI dent’s reaction to the proposal, - which received unprecedented dis- > play in the Soviet press. Hagerty said today's meeting did not concern the Pope's proposal. He also told a news conference the Monday meeting "was merely a full general discussion of world . , conditions.” I Hagerty gave the impression that i the southern trip recommended by . Mr. Eisenhower’s doctors may be [ back in the picture again, though > he declined to say so directly. b The President said in a letter! i to Key West, FlaJ Chamber of ; Commerce-last week that it now looked as if he would not be able to go south. - Indicating that he would have something to announce in the near future, Hagerty said today: “I do not have any plans to announce at the present time, but that does not preclude anything one way or the other.” The Augusta National Golf Club at Augusta, Ga., is considered the most likely spot for the President to stay if he decides on a southi ern trip. I — — Commissioners Wind Up Year's Business The county .. commissioners I wound up county business for 1955 with a special session this morning at the Adams county court house. Four claims were allowed during the brief meeting which closed the year for the commissioners. Mrs. E-lMcClure Dies At Wren Home Funeral Services Set For Wednesday Mrs. Anna May McClure, 89, died at 2:30 o’clock Monday morning at her home in Wren, O. She had been seriously ill since last Tuesday. Born in Van Wert, 0., May 20, 1886, she was a daughter of Charles and Katie Ann McGill. Her first husband, Oscar Bell, preceded her in death, and she was then married in 1902 to E. E. McClure, who survives. Mrs. McClure was a member of the Wren Evangelical United Brethren church. Surviving in addition to her husband are two sons, Roy Bell of Van Wert and Lohnes McClure of Wren; three daughters, Mrs. Charles Dull of Wren, Mrs. John Furry of Elida, O, and Mrs. Orley (Gehres of near Ohio City, O.; nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren, and one sister, Mrs. Addie Sheets Pitser of Decatur. Funeal services will be conducted at 2 p. m. Wednesday at the Zwick funeral home, the Rev. Albert Swenson officiating. Burial will be in the Wren cemetery. Friends may call at the tunejrfcl home until time of the service*. »

Speed Up Issuance Os U. S. Passports Department Meets Rising Travel Trend WASHINGTON (INS) — The state department’s passport office is meeting the rising travel trend by converting passport issuance from the old-fashioned personalized service into a mass production operation. Miss Frances G. Knight, who succeeded Mrs. Ruth B. Shipley as director of the office last May, is guiding a floor-to-ceiling reorganization of the office. It is expected to show surprising results in the handling of the 1956 travel volume. She said her immediate goal — and one now believed clearly in eight ,— is issuance of a passport within one week after a passport application reaches the office. This is in spite of the fact that travel is rising like creeping flood water. In fact, the passport office expects to issue 600,000 passports in 1956 as compared .with 500.000 in 1955 and only a little over 300,000 five years ago. Miss Knight commented: “I am looking forward to 196 when, if the present trend continues, we probably will be issuing a million passports a year. If we reach that mark, I want the passport office to be so organized as to give the maximum service! to the public.” The reason behind reorganization of the passport office is the situation that arose last summer. Demands for passports rose to such a high level that the office was completely.,bogged down. It took as long as six weeks to get a pas% port. There were loud and long complaints, and some people reportedly tried to travel without the necessary documents. I ... . . . . ; Youths Electrocuted At Fort Wayne Plant Open Investigation Into Boys' Deaths FORT WAYNE, Ind, (INS) —A complete investigation was underway today in the electricution j death of two teen-age boys in a I Fort Wayne industrial plant. The bodies of Richard Rudnick, 15, and James K. Brgwn, 16, were found Sunday Inside a wall that surrounds the American Iron and Metal company. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rudnick and Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brown, both of Fort Wayne, reported them missing Friday. Authorities said they had been dead 12 hours when they were found by three other boys. A preliminary investigation indicated the boys climbed the salvage firm wall and then touched a power pole guy wire which carried juice from a broken insulator on a ®3,000 volt power line. “ . • r / ■. Stork Misses City On Christmas Day The stork passed up Adams coun» ty and failed to bring even one Christmas baby, according to a report from Adams county memorial hospital. However, there were three babies born at the hospital Monday. Christmas weekend. Anthony Falk Dies At Arkansas Home Mrs. Minnie Holthouse of this city has received word of the death last Friday of her nephew, Anthony Falk. 54, at his home in Jonesboro, Ark., following a heart attack. Mr. Falk, president of the Bank of Jonesboro, was born in Decatur, a son of the late Mr ~ and Mrs. Fred Falk. He is survived- by his wife, Billie, and five' sitters and a brother. Funeral services and burial were held in Jonesboro Monday.

Slaughter On Roads Exceeds All Records i Traffic Toll Soars i To 583 Deaths On Christmas Holiday CHICAGO (INS) — More Ameri- . cans died in traffic accidents over j the ChristnAs weekend than during . any other holiday in the nation’s I histopy. . With the toll for the three-day holiday at 583. Ned H. Dearborn, - president of the national safety i council declared today: t “Let us hope and pray that the t weekend slaughter we have just experienced will cause all of us to t make and keep a New Year’s reso--1 lution to drive better, not only over > the New Year’s holiday but from 3 here on in. ) "How much longer will a civil- . ized nation create or endure this mass mayhem?” ) The trarnc toll is almost certain > to top the 600 mark when final . tabulations are made, he said. And Dearborn, who earlier had t predicted 560 traffic deaths during j the weekend, said: j “We may have dreamed of a ’ white Christmas but we have made j it*-black with a record of death, destruction and disaster on highways.” x Besides zooming past the previs ous record of 556 traffic deaths s during Christmas, 1952, this holi- 1 f day turned Into a tragic one for ? the families of 170 other persons h who were killed in fires and other a accidents. But the traffic deaths overshdowed Yuletide celebrations most grimly by accurring at the rate of about seven in every hour from 6 j).m. Friday to midnight Monday. Texas led the states with a toll of 50 dead in traffic accidents; followed by California and Illinois with 45 each; Michigan with 42, and Ohio with 39. The safety council had hoped, that drivers returning home from weekend gatherings with families and friends would be careful. But 1 as the final hours of the weekend ‘ waned, the traffic accident rate continued just as high despite ur- ’ gent and frequent appeals for safe- ’ ty through newspapers, radio i broadcasts and television newscasts. A number of traffic officials 1 throughout the nation listed drink- n ing and the “hurry to get some ' place” as two of the factors responsible fpr the huge number -of 1 highway fatalities. 1 Los Angeles police arrested more than 3,000 drivers for being in an intoxicated condition. In Chicago, ’ 92 drunken drivers were arrested 1 over the weekend. The previous ’ high was 50. Muncie Youth Saved From Leap To Death Job Promised Youth Atop Water Tower MtNCFE, Ind. (INS —A 19-year-i old youth who startled Muncie with a Christmas Day death threat went to work today building a new life for himself. Richard Stanley perched for more than an hour on a 100-foot " water tower and threatened to leap to his death before firemen and police coaxed him down with promises of food and a job. * Patrolman Lloyd Wagner and • assistant fire chief Walter Hole 1 talked Stanley into dropping a " switchblade knife with which he threatened to stab himself and into : climbing down from the tower. ’ An auto repair shop co-owner, James L Kelly, volunteered to 1 teach the youth the mechanic 1 trade. Kelly said people were so kind to him vAien his home was ’ destroyed by fire last Christmas (Continued On Page Five) J ■ V '«■ " •

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