Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 55, Number 30, Decatur, Adams County, 5 February 1957 — Page 1

' I ■— 111 ■ Vol. IV. No. 30.

MINE BIAST KILLS 37 £rsJ gpjinPy SCENE AT THE Bishop, Va., shaft of the Pocahontas Fuel Company's mine, where an explosion 2,200 feet underground killed 37 ' men. Force of die blast shooting up the shaft tore away one side of the above-ground structure.

hullac Uamc j/uiies nopcs Israel Will Follow Order Believes Israel To Follow Resolution To Withdraw Troops WASHINGTON (UP)—Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said today he has good grounds to hope Israel will »»mply with a United calling for speedywithdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the Gulf of Aqaba. 2 At his first news conference since Dec. 18, Dulles said the United States is not thinking of supporting sanctions against Israel. He said this government now is thinking only that Israel will comply with the U.N. resolution approved overwhelmingly last weekend. Asked he believes Israel will comply with the U.N. resolution to withdraw “without further delay,*’ Dulles said Israel is a country which has respect for the decent opinions of mankind. Israel, he continued, relies on the good will of the world. He expressed the opinion that Israel would respect the overwhelming vote in the U.N. for the withdrawal. Only Israel and France voted against the U.N. resolution compared with 74 votes in favor. Dulles said Egypt also could be expected to respect U.N. actions on the Middle East, such as granting Israeli sjpps the right to use the Suez Canal. Dulles said the world now seems to favor * compliance with UN. armistice decisions and that the world wants a period of tranquility in the Middle East. No Plans,to Resign Dulles was asked by a reporter whether the United 'States would “go to the protection of Israel” in the event of aggression even if this meant risking war with the Soviet Union. Without mentioning Israel directly, Dulles replied that the overall American policy is not to be deterred by fear of what the Soviet Union might do in any particular case. Dulles said the United States has repeatedly faced up to situations involving Soviet threats. He said this is the proper course to pursue. At his 40-minute news conference, Dulles also: < 1. Said he has no plans now to resign or retire as secretary of state. He defended the administration’s policies in the Middle East as honorable and predicted history would justify this estimate. .He said it. was heartwarming to hear President Eisenhower refer ? so him ’as aj foan of nnparalteled wisdom and knowledge. 2. There has been no discussion of a Big Three summit meeting of Mr. Eisenhower, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and French Premier Guy Mollet. But it would be normal for Mr. Eisenhower to meet separately with the British and French leaders in due course. Defends Tito Visit 3. Congressional delay on the Eisenhower Doctrine has not been serious yet. The delay may have weakened the psychological effect 'Cnatianxl <*■ page Five)

Decatur Dollar Day, Wednesday 9 A. M. to 9 P. M. Free Parking

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Probe Mine Blasi Fatal To 37 Men Gas Explosion Is Blamed In Tragedy k BISHOP, Va. <UP)—State and federal mine inspectors moved into this sorrowing coal town today seeking the cause of an earth-, jarring explosion that entombed 37 men in an underground labyrinth. An official of the Pocahontas Fuel Co. which operates the huge, highly mechanized mine on the West Virginia border, said it had been determined that a gas explosion killed the men early Monday. “We know that,” W- A. Fullerton, special assistant to the presldent, said; “But how it happened or what caused it we don’t know yet. Maybe we’ll never know." Rescue crews located the bodies of the victims after searching most of the day through smoke and gas in the debris - chocked tunnels and Monday night brought the corpses on a “death train” to the waiting relatives. The crew used gas masks and oxygen tanks in their search and in bringing the 11-car, narrowgauge train throu & b five mils? »f winding dark tunnels to the surface. “Some of the men were killed by the force of the explosion,” Fullerton said. “Some were buried under slate rock and sorqe died of asphyxiation.” The ill-fated members of the “graveyard” shift had been working 300 feet beneath a shaft entrance which the explosion wrecked and blocked in addition to shattering windows of buildings above the ground. The 140 other men in the mine (Coatlaued oi Pace Five) Receive Bids For County Deposits County To Receive Bids For Funds The board of finance organized by the county commissioners every two years for the purpose of determining the points of deposit for county funds was formed at Monday’s meeting of the commissioners. Kintz, president; Harley Reef, vice-president, and Roland Miller, The board will include John member. In the near future the boarti will advertise for bids from Adams county banking institutions on the deposit of county funds. In other business Monday, the commissioners received requests for linoleum flooring for the offices of county clerk Richard Lewton and the abstractors. The matter was taken under advisement. 5 A group of Root township. rest- . dents, including Marvin Fast, Omer Merriman, Owen Scott and Roy Johnson, appeared to reqaest the blacktopping of a portion of county road in that township. Another petition was filed by St. Mary’s township residents for construction of a short strip of gravel road near Bobo. The county home report was filed by George Fosnaugh, superintendent. The report showed an income of $342.20 during January. Residents at the home during the month included 21 men and seven women. *

Federal Jury Resumes Probe Os Red Spies Special Grand Jury May Return Added Indictments Soon NEW YORK (UP) -A special federal grand jury resumed deliberations today, indicating that additional indictments would follow those returned Monday against three New Yorkers accused of spying for Russia. The new indictments presumably would involve a number of unidentified co-conspirators in a vast spy network who the government alleges stole military secrets for Russia While working at American military installations in this country, in Germany and in Austria. XThe- vast scope of the spy ring disclosed Monday when the d jury returned espionage indictments against Jack Soble, 53; his wife, Myra, 52, and Jacob Albarn, 64. They were indicted under a section qf the espionage law that could send all three to the electric _ chair or to prison for life. Ten Russians Named Indicted as co-conspirators, but not defendants, were 10 Russians, most of them former employes of Uie Soviet Embassy in Washington. All are now out of this country. As diplomatic officials, the erabassye mployes indicted are immune from prosecution. But it was believed that further indictments would involve residents of this country who, like the Sobles and Albarn, would be prosecuted on espionage charges. The Sobles and Albarn, who were charged with entering into the spy conspiracy five years before they came to the United States in 1942, will be arraigned Monday. Their trial is expected to begin in about two months. Judge Would Decide If convicted on the first count of the indictment, the Sobles and Albarn could receive the death penalty. This count alleges that conspiring to transmit dbcttiwehts, photographs and other data relating to national defense to Soviet agents. Sentencing would rest with a federal judge. Although the indictments pictured Soble as a master spymaster who held clandestine meetings with Russian agents in the United States, Switzerland, Austria and France, the government said his income and those of his wife and Albarn were believed to have been less than that of an automobile mechanic. * So far, the government has declined to reveal the nature of the information which the Sobles, Albarn and the co-conspirators handled. It was indicated, however, that the information included highly-classified military secrets, apparently stolen by persons not yet indicted. Woman Pedestrian Is Killed By Auto LAPORTE, Ind. (W — Mrs. Dessie Paxton, 64, LaPorte, died in Holy Family Hospital Monday night of injuries sustained a few hours earlier when she was struck by an auto while crossing a city street. Authorities said Stanley F. Kuta, 18, LaPorte faced charges of failure to yield the right of way and driving without a license. Local Lady's Father Is Taken By Death Rev. Menno Amstutz Dies At Pandora, O. The Rev. Menno N. Amstutz, 65, pastor of the Missionary church at Pandora, 0., died unexpectedly Sunday night at his home in Pandora of a coronary thrombosis. He had been in failing health since September He was a natiyp of Berne, ariahad served as pastor at Pandora for the past five years. Survivingare the widow, RUla; three sons, the Rev. Pritchard Amstutz, Modesto, Calif., the Rev. Tilman Amstutz, Humboldt, Tenn., and Blanchard Amstutz, Wayne, Mich.; a daughter, Mrs. Marilyn Gerig, Decatur; eight grandchildren; two brothers, the Rev. Tilman Amstutz, missionary in India, and Omen Amstutz, Berne, and two sisters. Miss Elda Amstutz, missionary in India, and Mrs. Martha Heller, Elkton, Mich. Services will be conducted at 1:30 p. m. Wednesday in the Pandora Missionary church, with burial at Leo.

ONLY DAILY NRWBFAPRR IN APAMB COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, February 5, 1957

Senate Democrats Rip GOP Administrations For Financial Trouble

Egypt Leader Calls Parley Over Refusal Top-Level Military Conference Held On Israel Action UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. (UP) — Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was reported today to be holding top-level military conferences as result of Israel’s refusal to give up the Gaza Strip and territory along the Gulf of Aqaba. The state controlled Cairo Radio demanded that the United Nations impose economic and military sanctions against Israel to force its withdrawal and said the UN Charter provided this >course as result of Israel’s defiance. But all indications were that Israel was prepared to hold onto the area even if the UN does impose sanctions. Pinhas Lavon, secretary of the Israel Labor Federation, warned only Saturday that "sanctions may come sooner than we think. Any United Nations effort to get Israel out of Egypt were fa ths ; realm of Secretary General Dag ’ Hammarskjold’s quiet dip- ‘ TmfbKl Ambassador Ablw S. Eban put his case, before. Haff? marskjold in a 2% hour session ; late Monday. The situation was so delicate diplomatic sources said the Gen- . eral Assembly might be called back into session late this week to consider the Middle East situation again. A United Press Cairo dispatch (Continued on Page Eight) Former Governor Schricker Is 111 INDIANAPOLIS (ffl — Former Gov. Henry F. Schricker, 73, Indiana’s only two-time chief executive, was hospitalized today. Officials at Wabash Fire and Casualty Insurance Co., of which the white-haired former governor is president, said he has not been, feeling well the past few days. He was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital. Nature of his illness was not disclosed. , Urgent Appeal For Blood Donors Here Bloodmobile Unit In Decatur Friday An urgent appeal for prospective blood donors was re-issued today by Mrs. Ed Bauer, chairman of the Adams county Red Cross blood progranf Mrs. Bauer stated that it is necessary to schedule 55 more donors if the 127-pint quota is to be met Friday. The bloodmobile will be in Decatur that dpy from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m, at the Decatur Youth and Community Center. Hours which are still open on the schedule are 10 a. m., 10:30 a. m., 11 to 11:45 a. m., 12:15 to 12:45 p. m. and 1:15 to 3:15 p. m. Mrs. Bauer pointed out that the Fort Wayne blood bank, which serves the local area, is faced with an extremely low supply of blood at a time when the demand is high. She asked for the cooperatloaof iocal residents in tilling J the quota. The local area has been asked to provide the following amounts ■ of blood type: 0 positive, 38; A : negative, 10; B positive, 10; B negative, eight; AB positive, four, and AB negative, two. Any person having one of these types of blood is asked to call the j Red Cross office, where volunteer workers are now fa the pro- : cess of completing the schedule for Friday’s visit. Persons who : wish. to donate blood may also contact Mrs. Joe Hunter.

Investigate Cause Os Gas Fumes Here Business District Plagued By Fumes Two men from the state fire Marshal's office were in Decatur Monday and today conducting an i-wpection to determine the cause of the gasoline fumes which have plagued the Decatur business district for the past three weekends, i Ray Manor and George Vanzant, oistrict inspectors for the state office, were assisted by fire chief Cedric Fisher in making inspection tours of three uptown service stations. It is believed that possibly a leak in the storage tanks of one of these stations might be responsible for the unpleasant fumes which invade uptown buildings each Friday and Saturday. The inspection to date has included a static air test at each of the three stations, and tests which Show the presence of gas in- the main sewer now even though it is not as heavy through the week as it is on the weekend. The inspection will use the process of elimination to determine the source. Manor and Vanzant will leave this evening but will return Friday if the cause is not found today. Every effort is being made to trace the cause so that it can be corrected. but in the meantime 4q» persons who discover gas fumes in their basement are urged to use ventilation in order to prevent danger of explosion. Fire chief Fisher stated that the fumes have not been heavy enough to create a danger of explosion but they are extremely unpleasant and have forced many stores to leave their doors open all day Saturday. Paul Schmidt Wins Oratorical Contest Represents Decatur In County Contest Paul Schmidt, senior at the Decatur high school, won the school’s elimination contest Monday afternoon, and will represent D. H. S. in the annual Adams county oratorical contest, sponsored by the American Legion. The county contest will be held at the Decatur high school building Monday, Feb. 18. Miss Barbara Suttles was runnerup to Schmidt and will act as alternate for the county contest. Miss Sue Petrie and Jerry Kaehr were other participants who survived the first class eliminations, iff which 17 seniors participated. Deane Dorwin is Speech instructor at the high school. This is the 20th annual Legionsponsored contest. Each year the subject is some phase of the constitution of the United States. This is also the 20th year that Decatur high school students have participated in the contest. Indiana Tax Board Representative Here George Gable, a representative of the state board of tax commissioners, was in Decatur today at the county courthouse to conduct a public hearing on the additional appropriations approved recently by the county council. The appropriations being studied include $36,375 in the hospital operating fund, $23,224 in the hospital building fund, SIB,OOO for the purchase of a dragline in the surveyor’s department, $752 for the county highway department, sl3 for the county sheriffs department and S6OO for the county treasurer’s office. A report of the local hearing will be taken to the full board of tax commissioners, who will make final approval on the requests for additional money before it can be appropriated.

Red Parliament To Debate On Foreign Policy Plan Major Debate On Foreign Policy As Session Opens MOSCOW (UP) — The Supreme J Soviet (parliament) agreed today to a majorj debate on Soviet for- ' eign policy at its first session since the upheavals in Poland and Hungary. Top leaders of the government and party, with one exception, were on hand for the opening meetings of both houses of the Supreme Soviet. The exception . was Defense Minister Marshal Georgi Zhukov who is touring India. Deputy Premiers Lazar Kaganovich and Georgi Malenkov, and Foreign Minister Dmitri T. Shepilov, whose health has been the subject of considerable rumors in the West, attended the meetings. Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Communist Party Secretary Nikita S. Khrushchev also were present along with other prominent party and government officials. > A West German blood specialist > was summoned hurriedly to Mos- . cow test Saturday, touching off an • international guessing game as to . the identity-of his patient. Daniel > Schorr, Moscow correspondent for the Columbia Broadcasting System, > said in a broadcast today the ail- , ing official is Vyacheslav A. Malyi shev. Malyshev is minister of machine building and a member of (Continued on Page atght) Eight-Year-Old Boy t Injured By Machine Steven Landis, 8-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Harve Landis of Kirkland township, is reported much improved at Adams county memorial hospital where he was admitted Saturday after being seriously injuried by a ditching .machine. The boy suffered a crushed pelvis and a bad gash on one leg. He was walking beside a ditching machine operated by his father late Saturday afternoon, when he apparently slipped and fell under the digging wheel. The injuried occurred before the machine could be stopped./ I —* — Heart Attack Fatal To Geneva Resident Funeral Services Thursday Afternoon William Carl Bauserman, 46, of Geneva, died of a heart attack Monday afternoon while on top of a 20-foot Indiana-Michigan Electric Co. pole at Poneto, six miles southwest of Bluffton. Death was first thought to be by electrocution, but a post mortem by Dr. Joy Buckner, Wells county cbroner, revealed death caused by a coronary occlusions Mr. Bauserman had worked for Indiana-Michigan pearly 27 year’?. Bluffton firemen worked with Bauserman for nearly an hour before Dr. Buckner pronounced him dead. The victim was born at Monroeville July 28, 1910, and had resided in Geneva nearly 20 years. He was : a member of Monroeville lodge 293. F. and A. M. Surviving are the widow, Louise; an eight-year-old daughter, Connie, and his mother, Mrs. Ada Bauserman, who_resided with him. Friends may call at the Hardy & Hardy funeral home, Geneva, after 7 o’clock thjs evening until noon Thursday, when the body will be removed to the Geneva Methodist church for services at 2 p.m., the Rev. Harold Schramm officiating. Burial wiH be tn the IOOF < cemetery at Monroeville.

Four Workers Killed As TV Tower Falls Experts Puzzled By Collapse Os Tower 5 f 2 UP3S Collapse enss2a 2-5.. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UP) - The collapse of a new, 1,206-foot tower of one of the South's mo»t powerfill television stations with a loss of four lives puzzled the experts today. The slender structure for no apparent reason began to snap 300 feet up with a “splintering’’ noise and “collapsed like an accordion” Monday afternoon, hurling the four workers to their deaths from 700 feet up. There was only a slight wind. , The tower was built for WSMTV, known as the home of the “Grand Ole Opry,” by the General Electric Corp., and was virtually complete but had not been put into use. The victims were identified as Donald Kinnan, 25, of Tucson, Ariz.; Robert Lee, Klrshner, of California, Mo.; Ray H. Maxwell, 27, of Palatka, Fla., and George Treslar, 30, of Memphis, Tenn. Kenneth Tutor, 28, a steel rigger, said he had just loosened eight of 12 guy wires which balanced the tower upon a tiny'ball base because “the wires had been singing in the wind.” The tower began swaying and breaking up at a point where some of the gtiy wires were attached. The upper portion thundered straight downward. The lower section crashed outward. Witnesses said that in breaking up, the tower made a “splintering" sound that was louder than the noise it made when it hit the ground. The falling girders crushed three parked trucks and a car and flying debris damaged three other cars. A 300-foot section skidded down a hill, stopping just short of some homes. County Polio Fund Total Is $3,381.35 Incomplete Report Made By Treasurer The 1957 polio fund total now stands at $3,381.35, according to a report by the fund treasurer, Herman H. Krueckeberg. This amount is far from complete, since it includes only Decatur and a few rural area reports. Additional donations to the Mothers March bring the proceeds from that project up to $1,154.98. The previous total reported a week ago was $2,175.68, and since that time an additional $1,205.67 lias been turned in. The additional amounts include $37.41, Mothers March; $lO, Berean Class of the Baptist church; $lO, Woman’s Club of Decatur; $133.78, Girl Scout balloon sale; $12.92, town of Monroe cannisters; $187.58, Adams Central school; $15.50, Chamber *of Commerce dinner fines; $13.33, Boy Scout balloon sale; $52.08, Boy Scout potato chip sale additional; $5, American Legion Auxiliary, and $3, Girl Scout troop 22. The annual polio dance brought in a total of $50.25 to the polio fund. Other additions to the fund are $118.95 from Kirkland township; $108.63 from the Catholic schools of Decatur; $54.12 from Decatur high school; $181.07 from the Apostolic Christian church; $150.28 from the Decatur Lincoln school, and $61.77 from the Northwest Elementary school. INDIANA WEATHER For and rain south tonight,, occasional rain or freezing rain north. A little warmer tonight and Wednesday. Wed- , nesday cloudy, occasional rain ordrizsle. Low tonight in the „ 30s. High Wednesday 36-42 north, 42-48 south. Sunset 6:10 < p. m„ sunrise Wednesday 7:48 a. m. " '

Six Cents.

Charge Slate Plunged Info Financial Woe Senate Minority I Rips Republicans On Financial Woes j INDIANAPOLIS (UP) — The In, , diana Senate Democratic minority ripped into former Gov. George > Craig's administration today for . plunging the state into “financial chaos" and charged the present administration proposes a rescue at the expense of the “small” taxpayer. Minority floor leader Matthew Welsh of Vincennes made the charges in a prepared statement read in the Senate. He said Democrats “will propose this week a series of measures which could, if adopted, restore to the state the financial Well-being it enjoyed un--1 der the Democratic administration of Gov. Henry F. Schricker.” Welsh said Republicans were to ‘ blame for cutting in half the “once J safe state cash surplus left by the frugal Democratic administration.” . I * He said the Craig administration > showed “flagrant disregard of the - financial integrity of the state" in - State Highway Depart, ; [disbursements from Craig’s conment affairs, the use of state-own- ? ed cars by state employes, and - tingency fund as compared with 1 that of Schricker. s Would Hurt "Little Man" The new Republican adminis--1 tration proposes, if the newspaper 1 statements are accurate,” Welsh r said, “to increase the taxes for 1 all of the people of the 'state and f oarticularly the low-income people by dropping the SI,OOO exemption on gross income tax. This will cost every taxpayer $lO more a year.” Welsh said also a Sales tax would hurt the “little man” with no exemptions for food, medicines and other necessities. Welsh’s attack brought an Immediate reply from Sen. John W. Van Ness, his Republican counterpart. Van Ness said the Democrats should remember that many of our tax dqjlars go to Washington “under programs primarily instituted by Democratic admin- : istrations." Van Ness said the GOP would “meet the crisis forthrightly.” "If the people of Indiana were not satisfied by what was done in Republican administrations, why is it they keep returning us to the Statehouse?” Van Ness asked. Hope for Broader Pay Earlier, union leaders expressed hope that some form of extra unemployment pay would be legalized by the Legislature this session. Two bills in the Senate and two in the House were classified as “supplemental unemployment benefit” bills, although they differed on how the benefits would be distributed. The fact that two of the bills were introduced by Republicans indicated SUB was not a dead idea because Republicans held overwhelming control. Indiana CIO President Dallas Sells and other union loaders presented their case to Governor Handley Monday. Sells said later he considered the meeting “a step In the right direction” in labor's efforts to get a pro-SUB law,. . Handley said he "learned quit? • Contino—* -vnt Herbert D. Jackson Dies At Zanesville, O. Word has been received here by relatives of the death of Herbert D. Jackson, 68, of Zanesville, O. He was an uncle to Mrs. Harold Dolch, Harry Fortney and Frank Fortney, all of Decatur. Funeral services will be conducted Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock, at Zanesville.