Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 54, Number 184, Decatur, Adams County, 6 August 1956 — Page 1

Vol. LIV. No. 184.

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STAFF SOT. MATTHEW C. McKEON and Emile Zola Berman, his civilian lawyer, stand at attention t as the court martial board sentences McKeon to nine months at hard labor, reduction to rank of private, forfeiture of >30.00 a month of pay, and a bad conduct discharge. The sentence may be reduced later by the secretary of the navy or the court of military appeals. "

Civil Rights Issue Upmost For Democrats Fight Overshadows All Other Problems At Party Conclave DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION HEADQUARTERS. Chicago (UP) —Chairman John W. McCormack convened the Democratic platform committee today With a blast at the Elsenhower administration for what he called weakness and appeasement abroad and broken promises at home. But McCormack pointedly failed to mention the issue that looms larger as the most troubletome sos the Democrats—civil rights. That issue threatens to split hie 108-man committee and, possibly, the forthcoming Democratic con vention itself. The biggest and most difficult job confronting the committee is to shape's civil rights plank that will please both the northern liberal wing of the party and the Southerners. As the committee met, Gov. Averell Harriman's campaign headquarters forecast that the convention will "emphatically rejected any tiop." _ The statement, Issued by Loyd Benefield, director of the headquarters, • said Harriman expects the convention to adopt a platform cyed to "the forward looking philosophy and objectives which guided Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.” It did not mention the civil rights issue, but the slap at "moderation” was plainly aimed at Adlai E. Stevenson, the ‘moderate" candidate for the presidential nomination who is being challenged by Harriman. Benefield did say that there is no intention to organize a “Harriman bloc” on the platform committee. But the Democrats won five consecutive presidential elections, he said, by adopting programs "refusing to compromise.” Southern spokesmen were hopeful that the convention, * which ■ opens Monday, would settle for something like the civil rights plank it adopted in 1952, with no specific mention of the high court, ruling. „ Former Democratic secretary of agriculture Claude A. Wickard. Democratic U.S. senatorial nominee from Indiana, was the first scheduled witness for the platform committee’s afternoon public session, which will dwell on farm problems. But the quadrennial fight between the north and south over the civil rights issue overshadowed all other problems. Whether an accommodation is reached or an explosion develops over this issue will determine the entire course of the convention and perhaps the (Continued on Page Five) INDIANA WEATHER Partly cloudy tonight and Tuesday. A little cooler extreme south tonight. Low tonight 66-65 north, 65-70 south. Tuesday mostly in the 80s. Sunset 7:51 p. m., sunrise Tuesday 5:51 a.m. 16 Pages

Decatur Dollar Day, Wednesday Free Parking

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McKeon Awaiting Sentence Review Sentence Receives Flood Os Protests PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. (UP) — The “death march” sentence of nine months at hard labor and a bad conduct discharge for marine S-Sgt. Matthew C. McKeon touched off a flood of indigation today. But the drill instructor, found guilty of negligent homicide and drinking in the non-com barracks, Seemed to take his fate philosophcally while waiting for The sentence to go up for review. Maj, Charles P. Sevier, marine prosecuting officer, said he will need about two weeks to prepare the record and deliver it to secreary of the navy Charles Thomas for review. McKeon, 31,. was kept busy Sunday at his cottage home receiving telephone calls from persons in all parts of the country who wanted to express sympathy. “I’d like to thank all the people in the country — honest to God, I would,’’ McKeon said. The sentence also Included reduction in rank to private and forfeiture of >3O of his monthly pay during his nine month sentence, which probably would be served at a Portsmouth, Va., naval rehabilitational base. But the sentence may be reduced or entirely —by (Oontinuea on Fags Vlv«) Vail Schnepp Dies Laie Last Evening Funeral Services Set For Wednesday Vail Schnepp, 72, of Union township, former employe of the Adams county highway department, died at 9:20 o’clock Sunday night at the Davis nursing home in Bluffton. He had been ill since suffering a cerebral hemorrhage two years ago. Mr. Schnepp worked for the highway department until 1953. He was a member of the Calvary Evangelical United Brethren church. A resident of Union township most of his lite, he lived with a brother, Charles, for three years, and had been a patient at the nursing home for 18 months. i He was born in Adams county June 10, 1884, a son of Frank and Hannah Barrone-Schnepp. His wife, the former Myla Miller, died Aug. 18. 1948. Only near survivors are two brothers, Henry G. Schnepp of Fort Wayne and Charles Schnepp of Decatur route 4. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p. m. Wednesday at the Zwick funeral home, the Rev. Burton Lange officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 o’cldck this evening until time of the services. Monroeville Girl Drowned At Lake ’ ANGOLA, Ind. (UP) — Barbara Sue Brown, 4, Monroeville, drowned Saturday night in front of the famhere when she fell off a pier, ily cottage on Lake Steuben near Her body was found in 4 feet ot water. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brown.

Stassen Says Party Heads At Odds With Ike Claims Committee At Cross Purposes With Ike On Nixon WASHINGTON (UP) — Harold E. Stassen claimed today that the Republican national committee is at cross purposes with President Eisenhower over selection of the Presidents running mate for a second term. He said the GOP national committee has tried to “foreclose” any consideration of vice presidential candidates other than'Vice President Richard M- Nixon despite Mr. Eisenhower's stated wishes for “an convention.” Stassen made the statement at a new conference in his headquarters here. He announced that another GOP convention delegate, John J. Schroeder, from Missouri’s Ist District, had wired support for Stassen's campaign to get the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket for Gov. Christian Herter of Massachusetts. Stassen said it would be “premature” to attempt to count all the convention delegates who are supporting his campaign. Stassen stuck to his anti-Nixon campaign as more Republican leaders endorsed the vice president for another term. Stassen thus far has listed seven Republicans, five of them delegates to the GOP national convention, who, he said, are supporting Herter. Herter himself plans to nominate Nixon. said he made his views known in the party in February that an effort should be made to overcome "evident weaknesses” of a Nixon candidacy among independents, minorities and labor groups. But, when asked to say why Nixon might be weak in these areas, Stassen again replied that it was not his “place" to pass such a judgment. "Ask labor that,” he told one newsman. Stassen said he regarded as “very important” the statement by California Gov. (Goodwin Knight that an Eisenhower-Nixon ticket might not carry California. Stassen said Nixon’s drag on the ticket in Californa, the West Coast, and along the East Coast is more than 6 per cent. Sunday Stassen listed these supporters for his campaign: Carl Stieft delegate — at —large from St. Louis; former Gov. Robert Bradford of Massachusetts, also a delegate — at — large; W. Howard Clay, a chairmap of a Citizens —for — Eisenhower group in Kentucky in 1952; Elliott A. Carter, a delegate from New Hampshire; Richard M. Hanson, a delegate from Hamsey County in Min(Continued on Page Five) School Buildings To Close For Funeral W. Guy Brown, superintendent of the Decatur public schools, announced today that the school buildings and offices will be closed Tuesday afternoon tor the funeral of D. Richard Shaffer, high school custodian, who died Saturday evening.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, August 6,1956.

British Send Second Aircraft Carrier To - — Mediterranean Field k.” >7 r .

Five Persons - Are Killed By Weekend Storms Thunderstorms Hit Portions Os Four States Qn Sunday By UNITED PRESS At. least five persons died in weekend storms which swept portions of the Midwest and East. Three of the victims died in northern Ohio and two in Pennsylvania. Violent thunderstorms Sunday lashed southern Michigan, northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and portions of West Virginia. In Pennsylvania and West Virginia, flood waters virtually isolated 50.000 persons, cutting off roads to Canonsburg. ’ Pa., and Clarksburg and Salem, W. Va. In Pittsburgh, downed power lines plunged more than 15,000 homes into darkness and property damage mounted into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. At Bakerstown, Pa., Miss Gertrude 'Staley, 40, was electrocuted while trying to replace a fuse aft- ' er lightning struck. Joseph Letcher. 41, Smithfield, ' Pa., drowned while trying to rescue two chTMreh caught in a flash flood on the Cheat River near Morgantown, W. Va. Rescuers saved the children. High winds demolished two houses at Uniontown, Pa., and ripped the roof from a three-story building at Pittsburgh. Severe thunderstorms and two small tornadoes hit northern Ohio. Harvey Wire. 64, and his daughter, Mrs. Helen Hardisty, 38, were electrocuted when lightning apparently knocked a power line down across the drivew-ay of their ‘horne pear Youngstown, Ohio. In Cleveland, Henry Rhone, 67„ drowned when he stumbled in a flooded alley. The weather bureau reported that two “small” tornadoes struck in a sparsely settled area north (Continued on rive) j High School Music Teacher Is Killed BELVIDERE, 111. (UP) — Mary McDowell, 47, Millersburg, Ind., high school music teacher for 22 years, and Mrs. Ora McDowell, her stepmother, were killed Sunday in a car-truck crash near here. Mrs. McDowell’s husband was seriously injured. Two Cases Os Polio Reported In Decatur Brings County Total To Eight For Year Two more polio cases reported over the weekend bring the total in Decatur and the surrounding area up to eight, according to an unofficial tabulation by local health authorities. The latest victims of the disease are Kelly Wimberly, 14-month-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Wimberly of 922 No. 12th street, and Jamas C. Basham, 28, of 1027 Master Drive, maintenance supervisor of Central Soya company. Neither had received the anti-polio shots. The Wimberly girl is a patient at St. Joseph’s hospital in Fort Wayne, where she was taken last week. She is suffering the spinal type of polio, which has caused paralysis to Ifer right leg. Basham is also suffering paralysis caused by the spinal type. His paralysis includes his arms and his legs. He was taken to the Parkview memorial hospital in Fort Wayne Saturday where ‘the polio diagnosis was confirmed.

_jti — Increase Is Sought |n Highway Budget Superintendent Asks $25,000 Increase A requested increase in salaries and an increase in estimated costs •of materials are shown in the budget request for the county highway department, submitted by superintendent Lawrence Noll. The budget proposal totals >283,500, an increase of about >25,000 over the >258,630 requested and approved last year. The budget for 1957 includes >87,600 in salaries and compensations; >29,400 in operating expenses; >148,700 in materials; >3,500 for ipsurance, and >14,300 for building and equipment. A total of >2,555 is requested in the 1957 budget proposal of the office of county prosecutor submitted by Lewis L. Smith. Last year >2.530 was requested and >1,930 was approved. The new budget proposal includes >1,300 for salaries and >1.255 for operating expenses. All budgets of county offices are due in the auditor’s office by Aug. 8. The county commissioners will meet Tuesday and possibly Wednesday to prepare their budgets which will be submitted to the county council later this month. Woman Water Skiier And Companion Drown BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (UP)—A woman fell from her water skis in Beanblossom Lake near here Sunday and drowned along with her companion who jumped after her in a rescue attempt. The victims were identified as Gordon Reilly,' 26. and Wanda Kratzer. 23, both-of Indianapolis. D. Richard Shaffer Is Taken By Death Employe Os City Schools Is Dead D. Richard Shaffer, 65, of 114 Grant street, an employe of the maintenance department of the Decatur public schools for the past 12 years, died at 5:30 o’clock Saturday evening at the Parkview memorial hospitaj in Fort Wayne. He had been ill 10 days with a brain tumor. A native of Allen county, he was born Feb. 9. 1891, to Amasa J. and Samantha Jane Pecbham-Shaffer. He was first married in 1913 to Lulu Mcßride, who died in 1941. He was then married Jan. 12, 1949, to Hazel Kiracofe. He lived at Cedarville from 1931 until 1941,. when he returned to Decatur and accepted employment with the school system. Mr. Shaffer was a mfember of the Church of God. '. / Surviving in addition -to the widow are a son, Richard J. Shaffer of Decatur; a foster son, Willard Mcßride of Decatur; five grandchildren: three brothers, Claude of Fort Wayne, Clyde of Warren, O„ and Edgar of Monroeville, and three sisters, Mrs. Raleigh Adams of Monroeville, Mrs. Columbia Guenin of Fort Wayne, and his twin, Miss Velma Shaffer of Fort Wayne. One brother Is deceased. Funeral services will be conducted at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Zwick funeral home and at 4 p.m. at the Church of God, the Rev. W. H. Kirkpatrick and the Rev. John E. Chambers officiating. Burial will be in the IOOF cemetery at Monroeville. Friends may call at the funeral home until time of the services.

Steelworkers Begin Return As Strike Ends Last Os Leading Producers Signs Contract Sunday PITTSBURGH (UP) — The advance guard of 650,000 United Steelworkers union members trooped back today to the nation’s steel mills, idle since July 1. With the end of the $2 billton strike, steel consumers awaited word of the increase they will have to pay as their share of the settlement cost. Steel price announcements areexpected early this week. Iron Age magazine predicted boosts would be about sl2 to sl3 a ton. The average price now is $l3O a ton. The five - week steel shutdown came to an end Sunday night as the last of the big 12 producers signed contracts with the USW. The strike was the costliest in the industry’s history and it interrupt- . ed a record production boom. [ Industry sources believe there is i only a remote chance of equalling I last year’s production record of 117 million ingot tens despite a record first haff of«. 6 million tons. Full capacity operations will not be resumed for about three weeks. Maintenance crews worked at top speeds during the weekend to get the mills ready for returning workers. U. S. Steel Corp., the nation’s largest producer, began cooking coke Sunday as a prelude to steelmaking. Steel will be poured from the giant open hearths late today or Tuesday. A U.S, -Steel spokesman said the firm would reach 75 per cent of capacity next Saturday and the 90 per cehtlevel in two weeks. He said the climb back to full capacity after the second week would be “relatively slow." The millworkers will be called back on the job as production returns to near normal. Many of the workers felt they would “make up” for five weeks lost pay in the industry’s rush to catch up with (Continued on Page Five) Christ Miller Dies Saturday Afternoon Funeral Services Tuesday Afternoon Christ Miller, 73, of Union township, five and one-half miles northeast of Decatur, died at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Adams county memorial hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage suffered one week previously. A resident of Union township most of his life, he was employed by the Adams county highway deL partmeut until his retirement in 1951. He was born tn Union township , Nov. 7, 1882, a son of Joseph aryl Catherine Barkley-Miller, and was i married to Hannah Wherry Oct. 6, 1903. Surviving in addition to the widow are one daughter, Mrs. Fred Bittner of Union township; one grandchild; one great-grandchild; , two brothers, Ora and Forest Miller of near Monroeville, and two sisters, Mrs. Minnie Crissenberry and - Mrs. Ruth Shifferly, both of near i Monroeville' One daughter is de- : ceased. Funeral services will be held at . 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Zwick I funeral home, the Rev; Carlyle • officiating. Burial will be in i the IOOF cemetery at Monroeville, i Friends may call at the funeral home until time of the services.

Express Concern On Reserve Program . Military Manpower Cut Brings Concern WASHINGTON (UP) — Congressional sources were concerned today that a deep cut in military manpower nnder study at the administration would be the death blow to the faltering new reserve program. Supporters of a strong reserve program point out that when the standing forces are cut back, it is more important than ever to beef up the reserves. Their concern raised speculation that the administration might make a new attempt next year to enact a modified form of universal military training (UMT). What congressional action is taken, if any, will depend largely on international events. The situation at present shaped up as follows: --The administration is seriously considering a reduction in the standing forces, perhaps as much as 800,000 men by 1960. This would mean a drop in draft calls and possibly the elimination of the two-year draft, due to expire in i 1959. —The new reserve program, I which is supposed to raise an uni precedeated ready reserve of 2.9. million men by about 1960, is barely creeping along on a voluntary basis, far short of its goal. It depends largely on the pressure of the draft on teenagers and on the output of men from the regular forces who are now compel led to spend time in the reserves. A cut or an elimination of -the draft and a cut in the standing forces would thus undermine the reserve program. William C. Macke Dies In Arizona Funeral Services To Be Wednesday William C. Macke, retired farmer who formerly resided near Preble, died Friday night in his home at Tucson, Ariz., where he had moved in December, 1951, because of ill health. He was a member of the St. Paul’s Lutheran church at Preble while residing in this city, and was a member of the Faith Lutheran church in Tucson. Surviving are, his widow. Sophia. of Decatur; three sons, Clarence and Elmer Macke of Decatur and Gilbert Macke of Eugene, Ore.; a daughter, Mrs. Ervin Go> ler of Fort Wayne; a sister, Mrs. Minnie Heine of Fort Wayne; three brothers, Martin, Herman and Fred Macke, all of Fort Wayne, and five grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at ! 2 p. m. Wednesday at the Roden- ' beck funeral home in Fort Wayne, with burial in Concordia Lutheran cemetery. Friends may call at 1 the funeral home after 7 p. m. Tuesday. I Former Decatur Man . Dies At Fort Wayne Oscar Jones, 85, former Decatur ’ resident, died Sunday at the Lutheran hospital in Fort Wayne. He was a member of the North Highlands Presbyterian church, the Moose lodge, a 50-year member of the Red Men lodge, and a member of the Modem Woodmen in Decatur. Surviving are the widow, Daisy, and a daughter, Mrs. L. E. Martin i of Fort Wayne, Friends may call at the C. M. Sloan & Sons funeral home after 7 p. m. today. Funeral arrangements have not been completed.

Uniled Stales 6th Fleet Sails Out Os Naples Fear Western Oil Interests Next On Plans From Egypt LONDON (UP)—A second British aircraft carrier left today for' the troubled eastern Mediterranean where Iraq’s action supporting Egyptian seizure of the Suez Canal roused fears that Western oil interests may be next on the list for nationalization. Units of the United States 6th Fleet pulled out of Naples this morning for "routine” exercises and a French naval force stood by at Toulon ready to leave on “eight hours notice.” » .In Damascus, all Syrian newspapers carried an official announcement by an army spokes- - . man that Syria has mobilized its armed forces “to face all possibilities at the side of Egypt.” The leader of Syria's Moslems announced simultaneously that “a . holy Arab war against the West will be legal if the West attacks I Egypt in tne dispute over the Suez 1 ’ Canal.” s Thfi 22,«J0-ton British aircraft carrier Bulwark sailed from Portsmouth this morning for the Mediterranean with an air group including jet-powered Seahawk fighters and helicopters. At the same time, 11 ships of the U.S. 6th Fleet, headed by the 39.800-ton aircraft carrier Randolph, sailed from Naples for an undisclosed destination. U.S. Navy spokesmen tried to minimize movements of the 6th fleet; but Rome diplomatic circles presumed that the elements which sailed this morning were headed in the general direction of Suez. Later, a navy spokesman said _ the ships would be out for “several days” on a routine exercise. The sailing from Naples coincided with bannerlines in the Rome afternoon newspaper Momento-Sera over a London dispatch saying, “Soviet warfleet enroute to Arabian ports while British ships go to Cyprus.” Earlier, vairo newspapers bannerlined reports from Damascus that the Soviet Union had asked (Oonnnuea on Page Mgbt) Herman Meyer Dies Laie Saturday Night Funeral Tuesday For Retired Farmer Herman Meyer, fl, retired farmer and carpenter, who resided four miles southwest of Monroe, died at 11:15 o’clock Saturday night at the Adams county memorial hospital after a long illness. He was born in Well county but spent most of his life in Adams county. Mr. Meyer was a member of the Winchester United Brethren church northwest of Berne. Surviving are the widow*, Louise; two sons, / Robert H. Meyer, of Inglewood. Calif., and Paul H. Meyer of Berne route 2; tour daughters, Mrs. Harvey Preston of Kenosha. Wig., Mrs. John B. Holthouse and Mrs. Frederick Dellinger of Decatur, and Mrs. Ellis > Converse of Decatur route 4; 19 grandchildren and 12 great-grand-children. ’ « / Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Winchester United Brethren church, the Rev. Lawrence Dellinger and the Rev. Paul D. Parker officiating. Burial will be in the Ray cemetery near Monroe.' Friends may call at the Yager funeral home in Berne until time of the services. ■ —— '■ ■-■*!'. ll . l lU.i l * »■

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