Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 54, Number 24, Decatur, Adams County, 30 January 1956 — Page 1

Vol. LIV. No. 24.

RELEASE IKE-BULGANIN LETTERS "*** i. C3l SL-tfe.. jßi ' nu|l i|p 4 Jlro* »> wf I £ > < 1 K,' F., J ■? y ?r*yWißE:v * W A F ’'WlfslJlr* V' JI o -<>--- ■ ■^^%j E<Ma g^Hß^P^ ; —^.;-^* r . f ----'- ■ -.- *• ’ '•’ HO I :.- .-;.T. I PRESIDENTIAL Press Secretary James Hagerty passes out copies of letters from Russian Premier Nikolai Bulganin and President Eisenhower’s reply discussing a non-aggression pact between the two countries to eager newsmen. The Eisenhower reply did not flatly reject the pact, but insisted the 11. 8. fa more interested in deeds and acts rhther than promises. t .

— : —*~—r~--.-.-- .-- —- ——7—10 Women Die In Flash Fire At Baltimore

BALTIMORE (INS)—Police today identified two of the 10 women who died Sunday when a flash fire swept a wooden recreation hall where 1,200 persons had gathered for a church-sponsored oyster roast. The first victims tentatively identified were Mrs. Frances Cooke, 49, and Mrs. Gladys McKay, 41, both of the Baltimore area. ~,. . ... . Authorities were encountering difficulties in establishing identification of the badly-charred bodies "Which were taken to the Baltimore city morgue. A medical examiner said, however, that all of the victims were "adult women." An all-night search of the smoldering ruins just south of Baltimore failed - to reveal additional bodies. Firemen said earlier that ahother victim was believed buried under the debris. There were 230 injured or burned Jn tlie holocaust, and 130 were taken to four Baltimore hospitals for treatment. Os these. 18 remained in hospitals and two were in critical conditions, < The social event at Arundel Park, in Anne Arundel county, one mile south of Baltimore's city limits, was sponsored by a society of the BL Rose of Lima Catholic church. Eyewitnesses said the holocaust began with a small blaze in a ven tilating duct? running along the celling over the kitchen. It was believed extinguished. Then smoke began filling the hall and fire swept out over the ceiling. It was described by many as "an explosion." Flames swept through the big quanset-type hall and whgt started as an orderly move to the doors became mad panic. Fire blocked off the wide dou-ble-door front entrance In the frantic struggle to escape, men, women, and children were thrown out of windows, jumped or were literally tossed out of the rear and side doors. —~ ‘—v l * Stampeding crowds knocked men, women and children to the floor. Husbands and wives desperately sought each other frantically screamed for their children as the terror mounted. All emergency equipment—fire fighting apparatus and ambulances—were summoned from Baltimore and nearby communities by the Brooklyn community volunteer fire department, which arrived within three minutes of the sounding of the first alartn. This was at 5:14 p. m. Tuesday Deadline On Filing Returns WASHINGTON (INS) — T h e internal revenue service reminds farm operators that Tuesday is the deadline for filing employer's tax and inforfnatfon returns for 1955. Operators who paid 3100 or more in cash wages to hired workers during the year are required to file returns showing the name, social security number and wages paid to each worker. 1G Pages ’

Mother’s March On Polio At 6 Tonight—Turn On Lights

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMB COUNTY

Snow Makes Indiana » Jj. ’ Highways Hazardous Special Warning Is Issued Motorists INDIANAPOLIS (INS) —A heavy snow blanket covered Indiana today just after the deepest snow of the season had almost melted. The Indianapolis weather bureau issued a special warning to motorists that snow, freezing rain and sleet has scourged Hoosierdom and made highways death traps. The snow apparently was deepest in central Indiana with more than six inches in some areasMany schools were closed and J business was bad in stores as chil- , dren and numerous adults remained in their homes. The buerau also predicted tern- , peratures ranging from tire tp 15 ( above zero for tonight with the , possibility of more snowThe highway death toll for the week-end was comparatively low. However, Mrs. Lorene Knight. 1 52, of Bedford, was injured fatally * when an automobile skidded in a 1 rainstorm, went off a curve and 1 struck two trees on the Tunnelton Road near Bedford. t~ —■ While Investigating a traffcl accident, state trooper Don- R. Turner, ’ 27, of Auburn, was struck and killed by a skidding automobile on Road 427, five miles south of Auburn- ~ 2 - — , Turner had just aided a wrecker in pulling a car out of the ditch. Robert Kelley, 26. of Auburn, driver ’ of the wrecker, who was standing ! beside Turner, suffered a broken ’ pelvis. Ora J. Miller, 19. of Fort Wayne, 1 driver of the skidding automobile, said the wrecker blocked his view of the red light on the police automoblie. He was held for question- 1 mg. ; Other Indiana residents were killed —hr accidents outside the j stale- , William Paul McNalley, 37, of Richmond, and Charles T. Dollins, ‘ 23, of Eaton, 0., met death in a two-car crash. Mary Leo Gibbs, ; 26, and Marguerite Stromm, 35, ‘ both of Cambridge City, Ind., were injured critically, and Ray Taylor, . 35, of Centerville, Ind-, was hurt ‘ seriously. ’ David G. Roberts, 63, and his wife, Ora, 59, of Indianapolis, died j in a collision on ice-glazed U. S. j road 131, 16 miles south of Kai- ( amazon Mich. Others killed were t the driver of the other automobile, ( Itobert A- Oreon, 66, and his wife, t Anita, 66, of Evrat, Mich Freezing rain also cost the life t of Eugene Cohlll, 32, of Gary, on f his 32nd birthday. His car skidded ( and overturned on an icy Gary street. Another*, weekend fatality was William E. Pillers. .24, of Warsaw, who was killed in a car — truck collision on U. S- 30 near WarsawA skidding automobile which hit a bridge abutment and a utility pole, then overturned, cost the life of 18-year-old Margie A. Hilkey, of near Auburn.

Former Truman Aides Angered Over Memoirs Says Truman Seeking To Run Again, Wants Convention Deadlock WASHINGTON (INS)—A group of ex-President Truman’s former close advisers — boiling mad at alleged “distortions of fat?t” in bis current memoirs —»charged today that he is “playing for a deadlock” at the Democratic convention this August. “Harry Truman has a burning ambition to be drafted for the presidency,” his one-time top strategist told this writer. “That’s why he is egging on Gov. Averell Harriman. Sen. Estes Kefauver and Gov. ‘Soapy’ Williams tq slay in there and pitch.” His former adviser said the man euver is designed to "stop Stevenson” and deadlock the convention to’such an extent that at the strategic moment a nomination of Truman can "suddenly start a stampede to him." “Truman honestly believes that his age — he’ll be 72 then — is no deterrent, because his mother was spry almost until her death at 94, he said. A chief topic of 5 conversation in political circles during the weekend has been the so-called "glaring untruths" in the latest installment of Truman memoirs. “I can’t understand why Truman wanted to tell such a story about the way that Alben U. Barkley became his running mate in 1948.” former senate secretary Leslie Biffle exclaimed. “It-just isn’t so.” Truman, in recounting the eveflts leading up to his nomination at the ’4B Philadelphia convention, wrote, that he called Supreme Court Justice. William O. Douglas in Oregon to offer him the vice presidency. He said Douglas called back the following Monday with a polite refusal. Then he continued: “At about the time I received Douglas’ refusal to run on the ticket, the senate minority leader, Senator Barkley, called me from Philadelphia. Leslie Biffle, the secretary of the senate, was on the phone, with Barkley .but it was the senator from Kentucky himself who asked me if I would object if he tried to be named for vice president.” -jHe said Biffle told him he was sure that Barkley could be nominated if he agreed. Then, Truman claims, he himself <»aid to x Barkley: "Why didn’t you tell me you Wanted to be vice president? It’s ah right with me.” But that isn’t the way Biffle and Barkley say they heard it. Actually, they insist, it was an open secret at the time that Truman was telephoning all over Oregon trying to locate Douglas to persuade him to accept. It was during tils period that Barkley — getting madder by the minute — made the now-famed remark: “I don’t want any warmed over biscuits.” INDIANA WEATHER Fair south, partly cloudy north with snow flurries extreme north tonight. Colder tonight, much colder south portion. Tuesday partly cloudy, continued cold. Low tonight 5-15. High Tueaday 18-25.

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, January 30, 1956.

Anthony Eden Arrives In Washington To Talk Peace With Eisenhower

New High Is Reported In Arms Oufpt More Than Billion Dollars In Nuclear Materials In U. S. WASHINGTON (INS) — The atomic energy commission reported a new high in weapons production today and revealed the U.S, has stockpiled more than a billion dollars worth of nuclear materials for future operations. The AEC, in its 19th semi-annual report to congress, also expressed hope of harnessing H-bomb reaction at temperatures “comparable to those in the sun” for the creation of peacetime power. The report formally notified congress of the government’s plan to stage new nuclear tests in the Pacific this spring. It said the test series in Nevada last spring “opened several new and promising avenues for weapons research and development.” A chart of the commission’s spending showed that in fiscal 1955 alone $254 million worth of atomic materials, mainly uranium, went into the government's reserve stockpile. This brought the total value of "inventories!’ : to one billion 100 million dollark Further increases are scheduled in the uranium "inventories,” which already are sufficient to assure full-scale operations for several years if overseas sources are cut off. Weapons production fell —off from 3258 million in 1953 to 3251 million in 1954, but climbed back to a new high of 3260 million for 1955. The budget for such “special materials” is to rise from 3785 million to more than a billion dollars a year. The commission warned that “many years” may be required to achieve “the containment and control of thermo-nuclear combustion at temperatures comparable to those in the sun.” * ■ ■ - Former Local Lady Dies At Warren, 0. Mrs- May Fisher, a former Decatur resident, died at 7 15 p. m: Sunday at the home of a daughter, Mrs Charles Parker of Warren, O. Mrs. Harry King, of Decatur, Is a niece- Funeral ararngements have not been completed. Rural Schools Close Because Os Snowfall Adams Central Only Rural School Open Highway crews got an extra dose of work while students in most of the county schools received an extra free day as a result of heavy snow last night and this morning. Several inches fell last night and today on top of the ice hnd snow already on the ground from last week’s snowfall. State and county highway crews are busy today clearing off the roads and in Decatur the city street crew is also working to sand slippery intersections and to clean snow off the streets. State police reports indicate that all of the roads in the area are slippery with packed snow and that travel is dangerous. According to reports on county roads, drifting has made some of them impassable and most of them are in bad conditions. All county schools were closed this morning with the exception of Adams Central schools. Berne and Decatur schools also remained open. * «

Asks Handley Run | sot Congress Seat Attempt To Divert From Governor Race INDIANAPOLIS (INS)—A campaign is in progress today to divert Lieut. Gov. Harold W. Handley from the Republican gubernatorial contest to the nomination for congress from the third district. When Handley was in South Bend tor a speech last week, he was approached by Thomas E. Bath, '"Str- Joseph county GOP chairman and member of the Governor George N. Craig Republican faction, and asked to enter the congressional contest. Both Bath and Handley confirmed that the effort was made by Bath, who said: “I suggested that Mr. Handley run for congress. He lives in LaPorte and would be a strong candidate, certain of election. He is well and favorably known In the district and has a powerful indorsement from Carl Mullen, president of the Indiana State Federation of Labor." But Handley said: “I have never been interested in running for congress. I don’t want any part of it. I talked with Mr. Bath and told him that was the situation. I have t/> decide whether to return to private business or to run for public office, ts I decide to remain in <>olitiea, it won’t be to run for congress." The answer generally was regarded as meaning: “For governor or nothing.’ ’ Handley is affiliated with the anti-Craig group of the party; He has not yet announced for governor but has campaigned as much as any of the announced aspirants. Bath may have had two motives in approaching Handley. One would be to boost former Mayor John A. Scott of South Bend for either the nomination for governor or lieutenant governor and the other would be to pave the way to obtain nomination of the strongest Craig-inddrsed gubernatorial hopeful. Like Handley, Scott has (Continue*! on Sight) Juries Are Drawn For February Term Juries Are Here This Morning Jury commissioners Ed Berling and James Gattshall, and county clerk Richard Lewton met this morning to draw names for the grand and petit juries of the February term of Adams circuit court - - —- - - The 12 members of the grand jury are Woodrow Kelly, Jefferson township; Jane A. Berning, Root; Martin Bienz, Union: Ora K. Ratcliff. Washington; Robert Everett, Union; Paul McAhren. Decatur; Charles N. Hoffman, Kirkland; Cleo Hartman, Berne; Dent Baltzell, St. Mary's; Kenneth Nash. Decatur. Root; Glen Dubach, Hartford, and Adam Bixler, Berne. Serving on the petit jury will be Robert J. Baker, Root; Elmer Allison, Union; Paul Butcher, Jefferson; Ralph W. Rice, Root; Richard B. Ogg, Decatur; Leonard Liechty, Preble; Max E. Odle, De-catur-Washington; Roland J. Miller, Union; Herman J. Bixler, Geneva; John H. Grove, Kirkland; Harvey C. Tinkham,. Blue Creek. Theodore S. Heller, Kirkland; Fred Soldner, Washington.; John S. Aspy, Geneva; Ralph K. Eckrote, Hartford; Fred Baumam St. Mary's; Chester C. Bryan, Blue Creek; Emmet J. Owens, MonroeWashington; Roy E. Barpes, Hartford; Frank Kuntz, Berne; Elmer Fuhrman, Preble; Adrian 0. Burke. St, Mary's; Voyle H. Hill, Kirkland, and Albert W. Agler, Berne.

i' ‘ J 1 South Korean Leader Slain By Assassin Apparent Victim Os Revenge Plot From Anti-Rhee Group SEOUL (INS) —South Korea’s counter-intelligence chief was shot to death in Seoul Sunday apparently the victim of a revenge plot by anti-Rhee terroristsMaj. Gen. Kim Chang Yong, 38, was shot twice in the chest and once in the chin by two gunmen as he left his home en route to work. He was dead upon arrival at a Korean Red Cross hospital HIS driver was also wounded in the arm but will recover. Gen Kim was credited with foil- ' ing a plot last October to assassin- ’ ate President Syngman Rhee by nine members'of the “Blue Shirt gang” and it was generally believed that other members of the gang carried out the assassination [ plot. t However, speculation in Seoul t also included the possibility that . Communist gunmen may have cut , down the counter-intelligence .chief who had been instrumental in breaking up many Communist con- _ spiracles. , Tight security measures were instituted in the still war-ravaged city of Seoul under orders of President Rhee and Republic of Korea police began an intensive search df all vehicles in the area, ’ The youthful general’s driver told police he had just pulled out from Kim's residence when he encountered ah army vehicle blocking the narrow streetHe sounded his horn but no one appeared to be in the army car and Gen. Kim .stepped out of the back seat of his own automobile to investigate. Hje was immediately fired upon. The driver said the assassins wore ROK army uniforms but gave little other detail. Gen. Kim, ’a former guerrilla fighter in Manchuria, joined the ROK army in 1945 and went directly into the counter intelligence corps He rose swiftly up through the ranks. , ’ . . Mrs. Louise Bucher Dies This Morning 96-Year-Old Lady □s Taken By Death Mrs. Louise Bucher, 96, a lifelong resident of Root township, died at 4:45 o’clock this- morning at her home six and one-fourth miles northeast of Decatur- She had been Hi for the past seven weeks. .. She was born in Root township March 16, 1859, a daughter of William and Sophia Neadstiue-Knapp. Her husband, Christian Bucher, died March 29, 1935. Mrs. Bucher, one of the county’s . oldest residents, was a member of St Peter’s Lutheran • churchSurviving are three daughters, Mrs. Jacob Wagner, with whom Mrs. Bucher made her home, Mrs. O. P- Nyffler of Richmond and MrsHerman Franke of Hoagland; four sons, William Bucher of Arcadia, i Calif., C. F. Bucher of Decatur, Henry Bucher of Fort Wayne, and Harvey Bucher of Preble; 18 grand- . children; 19. great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren Funeral services will be conducted at 1:30 p- m. Wednesday at the Zwick funeral home and at 2 p. m. at St. Peter’s Lutheran church, the Bev. F. W. Droegemueller officiating Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 o'clock'this evening until time of the services.

Testimony Opened In Abortion Death Nolo Contendere Is Pleaded By Three PHILADELPHIA (INS) — Mrs. Gertrude Silver, 49, and Milton and Rosalie Schwarts today pleaded nolo contendere to charges of abortion and conspiracy in the death of Mrs. Silver's heiress daughter, 22-year-old Doris Jean Oestreicher. A spokesman for the district at- j torney’s .office explained that a person who pleads non contendere ( is merely saying “I do not contest the charges” without actually ; pleading guilty. The plea rules out a jury trial, and Judge Vincent A. Carroll immediately began taking , testimony to determine the sen- 1 tence. The prosecutor's aide explained , that if a defendant pleaded guilty, such an admission could later be used in possible civil actions growing out of the case. Mrs. Oestreicher died last Aug. 24 in the Schwartzes’ north Philadelphia apartment just two months after her marriage to Earl Oestreicher, a Miami Beach traffic patrolman. The mother admitted recently that she arranged for the abortion, but insisted that she did so at the request of her daughter. Mrs. Silver said Doris Jean irad come up from Florida with the story fhaf her husband mistreated her. Schwartz, 49, a bartender, and his wife, Rosalie, a hairdresser, were arrested on charges of abortion, conspiracy and perjury, and they were to have had a separate trial on the perjury count. They were accused of performing the illegal operation in their apartment following several alleged telephone calls between their apart- 1 ment and the Silver mansion in suburban Melrose Park. Pathologists testified at an inquest that Mrs. Oestreicher succumbed within minutes after a ' “foreign substance” had been in- 1 troduced into her body in an abortion attempt. i Four Accidents Are : '■ ■ I Reported In County Slippery Highways Blamed For Wrecks i The slippery condition of roads ( in the area contributed to a rash of one-car accidents in Adams ( county over the weekend, accord- ( ing to a report from the sheriff’s ( office. . —- Saturday afternoon a car driven. . by Malcolm Douglas Gray, 25, Os Elmhurst, Long Island, N. Y., went out of control on U. S. highway 27 about two miles north of Decatur. ‘ Damage was slight and Grey was not injured. A car driven by Elvera M. Habegger, 34, of Decatur route three, was damaged Saturday evening on ( a county road a mile and a half northeast of Decatur. The car ' skidded on ice, left the road, went over a bridge into a creek and turned over. Damage was estimat; ' ed at 3500. - " * About 31.500 damage was caus- ' ed to a 1956 model car driven by Richard Zeigler of Hartford ' ship when he crashed on U.S. 27 ' a mile and a half north of Geneva Sunday at 3:30 a.m. Zeigler lost 1 control of the vehicle on a curve. The car rolled over, damaging ' fence on the Lee Miller property; 1 The left front tire of a car driven by Robert L. Franklin, 26, of 1 Oak Park, 111., blew out and caused a wreck Sunday at 9. a.m. on 1 U.S. highway 224 about six and a i half miles east of Decatur. The ' car swerved across the road, hit J a utility pole and turned over in < a ditch. State trooper Gene 'Rash i assisted sheriff Merle Affolder in i investigating the accident. i <

' Five Cents

Leaders Os Free World Discuss Peace Moves - Pres. Eisenhower Rejects Paper Peace Offer From Russians WASHINGTON (INS) — British prime minister Sir Anthony Eden arrived in Washington today for talks with President Eisenhower and said he is "quite sure” progress will be made toward a true peace. The prime minister was met at the Washington National Airport by secretary of state John Foster Dulles and all British commonwealth ambassadors in Washington. Eden said he was "quite sure we will make a serious and positive contribution to peace” through mutual understanding of issues to be discussed with the President. tn his brief statement, the prime minister did not list any of the issues to be discussed. British foreign secretary Selwyn Lloyd followed the prime minister to the microphone inside the airport terminal and said: “It is absolutely clear to me that the hope for a peaceful world depends on the friendship of our two countriea.” a Eden said that although the current visit was arranged some months ago at the invitation of Mr. Eisenhower, "I don’t think it could be more timely in view of recent developments.” ( » This appeared to be a reference to the Russian offer of a bilateral treaty of friendship with the U.S. and with Soviet economic and political offensives in the Middle East and South Asian. Eden flew to Washington from New York in President Eisenhower’s plane, Columbine 111. He arrived in New York this morning aboard the British liner Queen Elizabeth after an Atlantic crossing. ' ‘ The two leaders are expected to review problems all ovetfthe world as they relate to the newest phase of the Communist “peace offensive” and the continuing Soviet economic offensive. The meeting comes at a newturning point in the cold war. Last week, the Communist nations offered a whole series of two-nation friendship pacts with individual Western countries, including the United States. The opinion within the U.S. government was that the reds were offering a "paper peace” to various Western nations in-an effort to lure them from their ties with anti-Communist alliances. Mothers To March On Polio Tonight In Annual 'Drive About 100 volunteer "mothers." will brave the cold and snow this evening to make the annual Mothers March on Polio. Volunteer workers will canvass the entire city going, from door-to-door to solicit donations to the 1956 March of Dimes fund. Ait Decatut residents are asked to.turn on their porch lights at 6 p. m when the march will begin. The lights will help the volunteers, especially since the snow and ice will make walking difficult The entire project is expected to ba completed in an hour. Donations collected by the volunteers will be taken back to their zone captains and then to the First State Bank for final tabulation. It is hoped that Decatur residents will be generous with their contributions tonight so that-the Decatur goal of $3,000 can be reached. The Mothers March is the final project of the month-long polio campaign activities.