Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 55, Number 83, Decatur, Adams County, 8 April 1957 — Page 1

Vol. LV. No. 83.

“WHAT, MORE PICTURES!’’ T 4 "'. "'■ ru. M \L r ' B f ’ ft Wk. vbfe >■ *■ ,4 jfl COLORADO’S 1957 EASTER SEAL GIRL. Kristen Castor, takes notoriety in her stride. Here she gazes at a photographer after finishing a candy sucker. The 2\i-year-old from Lakewood, Colorado was awaiting her regular physical therapy treatment at the Jefferson County .Easter Seal Center.

Bad Weather Slows Work On Utility Lines Many County Roads Flooded As Rivers Continue To Rise Snow, rain, and high water slowed repairs on the county’s electrical and telephone lines which were badly damaged in last Wednesday night's storm. The Decatur light and power company reported all rural lines back in service by 4 p. m. Saturday on a temporary basis. Two rural lines went out temporarily Sunday, and were restored to service. The repairs made so far have been temporary in nature, L. C. . Pettibone, superintendent, stresses. - Between 100 and 150 power poles Will have to be replaced. The Williams line was the last to be put back 1 in service Saturday. Only branch circuits wert reported down—no major circuits went out following the ice storm. The storm was the worst for the city light company since 1947, when personal disasters on the line crews slowed down work. The Citizens Telephone company reported that work was progressing on resetting poles on the De-catur-Monroe-Berne toll line, but that ice and snow had kept the linemen from keeping up with the pole setters. Towns Isolated The telephone crews worked until 1 p. m. Sunday, when blinding rains made it impossible to climb the poles. The DecaturMonroe line has been repoled as far as Connie's market, and less than one day’s work remains to connect it wtih Monroe, if the weather breaks, Ivan Heare, outside plant manager, said this noon. Pleasant Mills, Linn Grove, and Monroe are still isolated without long distance telephone service. Berne has one line reaching to Geneva, but none to Decatur or Monroe. The line crew reported fixing 80 * breaks in the 12 lines to Fort Wayne, and resetting 19 poles Severl sidelines which connect into the Fort Wayne toll line have also been repaired. One service man is being kept in Decatur for emergency service only. More than three-quarters of a mile of line is down in one stretch on the Pecatur-Berne line, and with 30 wires on a pole, and each insulator iced by the storm, work has progressed very slowly. On the main toll lines, four poles were reported down to Linn Grove, 19 to Pleasant Mills; seven on the Monmouth road; 12 south of Berne on the Tile Mill road; seven north of Berne on U. S. 27; and an unknown number on the Preble line. The telephone company, Heare •stressed, is trying to return long distance lines to service first, so that persons needing telephone service will be able to use a tine, even if they have to drive one or two. miles to get to a serviceable telephone. Report Poles Down Rural subscribers can expedite return of their service if, when reporting poles down, they bring in the number of the aluminum tag on the pole. This tells the telephone company the size, type, location of the pole, how many wires, and just what they will need to repair it, Heare added. A total of 14 men were working on the Monroe circuit this morning. Monroe could make some local calls, and some rural lines (Comizuoa on x-aga Bix)

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Wet Snow Adds To Woes Os Hoosiers Flooded Streams On Rise In Indiana » ) By UNITED PRESS 1 .•'A wet snow spread a slushy blanket of white up to five inches deep across Northern Indiana Monday and more heavy rain harassed Hoosier areas still in the throes of floods. Goshen got eight inches of snow r from Saturday night to early Mons day. But part of it melted and » only five inches was on the ground t in a soggy mess Monday morning. Warsaw reported 6 inches, Rochr ester 4H, South Bend, Fort Wayne s and Monticello 2, Lafayette, Bluff- - ton, Marion, Wabash and Portland > 1, and Winchester one-half inch. r Snow fell or was expected to fall . Monday throughout Hoosierland, r Temperatures were due to cool to below freezing levels over the • upper two-thirds of the state Monj day night, with clearing skies pro- . ducing frost tn the south and central portions. t Flooded Streams Rise Meanwhile, heavy rains dumped ' from one-half to nearly IVi inches ; of precipitation on areas from 5 north to south and prolonged • crests occurring in the Wabash ! and White Rivers and streams • feeding into them. ! The weatherman said, however, that despite the probability of new • •rises all along the line, they would . not be as high as those of last . week. t Hardest hit by last week’s floods ’ was the Wabash area where about ' 50 families were evacuated or moved out of their homes as the Wabash River crept up to nearly 22 feet, 10 feet above flood stage. Precipitation totaled 1.33 at Warsaw during the 24 hours ended 1 at 7:30 a.m. Monday, 1.29 at Rochester, 1.25 at Danville, 1.15 at 1 Jamestown, 1.11 at Monticello, 1.60 at Evansville and 1 at Scottsburg. ' A long range outlook by the weather bureau indicated the shower activity will halt at least temporarily Monday, although more rain is expected “around Friday.” Below Normal Readihgs The five-day outlook for the period Tuesday through Saturday called for temperatures averaging 8 to 12 degrees below normal highs of 59 to 65 and normal lows of 36 to 42. “Rather cool throughout period,” the outlook said- “Precipitation will average one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch as show-ers-around Friday." The rain and snow hit areas still staggering from a round of ice storms and windstorms that damaged trees, utility lines and buildings last week. Temperatures Sunday hit highs •anging from 36 at South.Bend to 71 at Evansville. The mercury dropped to lows ranging from 31 at Fort Wayne to 40 at Evansville Monday morning. It was expected to crest at highs ranging from 36 to 52 Monday, drop to low? 28 to 34 Monday night, and range no higher than the 40s Tuesday. INDIANA WEATHER Cloudy extreme north, snow central and rata changing to snow south portion this afternoon, ending through central , sections by this evening and south portion early tonight. Two to four inches of snow Rnßa ■lim- ♦ —a—Mm Alloa ■ UKciy accumuiauD* most oi central portion this afternoon. Windy this afternoon, diminishing tonight. Cooler most sections tonight with skies becoming partly cloudy and chance of frost south portion by Tuesday morning. Tuesday partly cloudy and cool. Low tonight 28-34. High Tuesday generally In the 40s. Sunset 7:16 p.m., sunrise Tuesday 6:17 a.m.

Rackets Group Meets Today In Closed Session Sharp Conflict On Hall Seeking Ike Backing From Beck WASHINGTON (UP)— The Senate Rackets Committee scheduled a closed-door meeting today to decide what to do about a mysterious witness described as “even more recalcitrant than Dave Beck.” r Simultaneously, a sharp conflict broke out over whether former Republican Chairman Leonard W. Hall asked Teamster President Beck's support for President Eisenhower's reelection campaign last year. Arthur Condon, Beck’s attorney, said Hall asked him about a month before the election to see if Beck would come out publicly for Eisenhower. Condon said he took it up with Beck who later endorsed the President. Hall Denies Charge Hall declared this “just isn’t so.” He said he recalled meeting with Condon, but didn’t “recollect anything in the discussion concerning the campaign.” Sen. Karl E. Mundt /R 4.6. a member of the rackets group ta- ■ vestigatlng Beck, described the ; conflicting statements as “coni fused verities.” He said he'knew i nothing about it personally, add- > tag, “I doubt if either political party would select Dave Beck as - its political advocate at the present moment.” I Mundt told a reporter the coml mittee was called into secret session today to discuss “a witness who will not produce his books.” Mundt declined to say whether the witness would be present at 1 today’s session, or even whether he represents management or la- ‘ bor. There were these other week- ' end developments on the rackets issue: —Robert B. Kennedy, chief committee counsel, questioned several persons la Chicago la eta g tag Nathan W. Shefferman, labor consultant for business firms and friend of Beck, who testified be- ' fore the rackets committee here, tuoatinuea on Paca Six) Two Are Injured In Wreck Early Sunday Two Others Unhurst In One-Car Wreck Two persons were injured in a one-car accident at 12:30 a. m. Sunday at the Bellmont and Piqua roads east of DecaturJames Carroll, 32, of Fort Wayne, driver of the car, sustained multiple fractures to his collarbone and a broken shoulder. He was treated at the Adams county memorial hospital and then removed to a Fort Wayne hospital. • Judy Kaiser, 15, of Fort Wayne, a passenger in the car, suffered a severe laceration to her chin, a laceration to the upper lip and internal injuries. She is still a patient at the local hospital. Joe M. Weeks, 20, of Fort Wayne, owner of the vehicle, and Barbara Peterson, 14, of Fort Wayfte, escaped injury. Carroll apparently failed to see the stop sign on the Piqua road. He said that he thought he saw water across the road and applied his brakes. The car went into a slide, skidded into a steel post, spun around and swerved into a ditch. Damage to the vehicle was estb mated at S6OO. Carroll will be charged with disregarding a stop sign and operating a vehicle while his license was under suspension.. The accident was tavetigated by sheriff Merle Affolder, deputy Robert Meyer and state trooper Al Coppes. Elmer Meyer, 52, of Decatur route two, was taken to the hospital this morning following, a one-car accident on the blacktop road one mile north of Preble, He was being held for observation. Meyer lost control of his car and the vehicle crashed into a utility pole. Damage was estimated at $l5O to thA car. The accident was investigated by deputy sheriff Charles Arnold and state trooper Gene Rash. A car driven by Henry Eicher, 17, of Berne route two, was damaged when he turned on a county road one mile south of Berne Sunday at 6:30 p. m. and crashed into the brick residence of Noah Schwartz. Damage was estimated at a total of $l5O. Eicher is to be charged with making an improper* turn. Sheriff Affolder and state trooper Rash investigated.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

* Decatur, Indiana, Monday, April 8, 1957.

Tornado Rips At Small Mississippi Town As 3rd Spring Storm Hits b ’

s Israel Plans 1 ; To Send Test ’ Ship In Suez r Planning Test Run Despite Warning By J Egypt Government By WALTER LOGAN United Preu Staff Correspondent Israeli officials said Monday they would go ahead with plans to send * a test ship through the Suez Canal ■ despite a Cairo warning that any ’ such ship Wild be “destroyed on the spot” i The Egyptian warning was printed in the Cairo weekly Akhbar Elyom and was directed at Israeli ships seeking to use either the Suez Canal or the Gulf of Aqaba. United Nations salvage vessels * removed the Egyptian frigate AbuJ kir, the last obstacle blocking the Suez Canal, from the harbor at ’ Port Suez Monday and started t towing it northward toward the p Great Bitter Lakes. The Abukir * will technically be considered an obstruction until it is sunk—out of * the main channel—in the lake. s Israel still was celebrating the arrival of an American tanker at f Eilat this weekend—the first Amer--1 lean vessel io sail through the - Strait of Than since' Egypt hffr posed a blockade in 1948. i The tanker, the 10,000-ton Kern - Hills with 16,000 tons of oil. passed . through the straits without incident and began unloading its oil at Israel's new port of Eilat while the nation celebrated. Might Use Force Israeli officials express cautious hope the passage of the tanker would lead the Arabs to relax their economic boycott but they proceeded with plans to develop the port city and to build a pipeline to bypass the Suez Canal. But Israel was keeping a wary eye on Egypt and Saudi Arabia, i Official sources have expressed fear that Egypt would ask the I U.N. Emergency Forces to leave the Tiran area and try to impose t another blockade. The answer to that has been Is- * rael’s assertion it would shoot its . way through the straits. ; However, Israeli sources said no 1 such drastic action was planned ■ in the test of the Suez Canal. The sources said more likely Israel would send a ship to the canal i and if it were halted or captured , Israel would lodge a vigorous proi test with the U.N. Security Council. Gideon Rafael, foreign ministry counsellor and recently special ad- ' viser to the U.N. delegation, con- ‘ firmed that Israel “would of course ' send a ship through” the canal. He said it was Israel’s right which would be used as a matter of course. U.B.S.R. Ends Boycott Egypt moved meanwhile to reopen the Suez Canal formally, and as it did so the nation entered a period of full defense alert against any form of “aggression." Air raid drills were held in Cairo, Alexan- ' dria and the Canal Zone and Cairo newspapers warned Israel to stop talking about war. Negotiations between Egypt and the United States over the terms for operating the canal continued and Egypt still had not published (Continued on rag« 3U/ •»

Lenten Meditation (By Rev. WillisXlierhart, Monroe Methodist Church) “MARGIN OF VICTORY” “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isaiah 60:1. The Easter Season is the season of victory for Christians. We commemorate the time when Jesus Christ won the greatest of all victories. Christ was triumphant daily but the final and greatest victory was His victory over death. On the first Easter morning Jesus Christ was responsible for the most sensational news story that ever swept across our world. He rose from the dead! This same Jesus is the Christians* victorious leader. If He be for us, who can be against us? The Apostil Paul said, “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” A little girl was visiting a church for her first time. Noticing a Cross upon the communion table, she inquired, “What is that plus sign doing on that table?” Without realizing it, the girl uttered a tremendous truth. The Cross and the Christ of the cross are the plus—the difference between defeat and victory. Yea, Jesus Christ is the Marginn of Victory. -

Pakistan Reports Iran Bandit Dead Report Confession To Carroll Murder KARACHI, Pakistan (UP)-Pak-istan government officials said Monday Iranian bandit king Dad Shah is de&d. They also reported his brother Ahmed had confessed the murder of Mrs, Anita Carroll, an American whose husband and a companion were killed by the desert brigands. 1 The Pakistan Ministry of Inte- ’ rior said Ahmed, who was cap- ■ tured in Pakistan with his brother 1 Mohammed, confessed he mur- ' dered Mrs. Carroll two weeks ago ‘ Sunday shortly after she was kidnaped by the gang that had killed the American men and two Iranian helpers. 1 Ahmed said Dad Shah was killed ' on April 3 in a clash with Iranian patrols. Earlier Dad was thought 1 to have fled across the border ’ ahead of the hundreds of Iranian 1 state police. Deputy Secretary of the Interior 1 Hameeduddin Ahmad said Ahmed ! Shah confessed to slaying Mrs. ' Carroll during “rigid interruga--1 tion.” But he said a report from E Pakistani border patrol did not mention how the murder was comf mitted. The deputy secretary said 16 ’ persons, including one of Dad “Isbah s wives, 3 young boys and 13 other women had been arrested on Saturday by Pakistani militia at ! Kaurchakate near the border. ' Tehran reports earlier told of _ search parties finding the body of ’ another wife of Dad Shah, appar- ' ently killed during the flight because she was pregnant and could not keep up witht he rest of the bandits. Dad Shah was thought to have at least four wives. Iran asked extradition of Ahmed (Continue m Pase 81x) Hold Four Suspects In Bombing Os Bar Four Are Held On Murder Suspicion LOS ANGELES (UP) — A gas station attendant faces four suspects in the bombing of a neighborhood bar today in an attempt to identify two of them as the purchasers of a lethal can of gasoline. The fuel was thrown into the case with a burning book of matches Thursday night and five men and a woman died in the explosive flames. Four men who had been evicted from the Club Mecca shortly before the bombing are held on suspicion of murder. The service station attendant, Campbell Ledgerwood, told police Sunday “I think I might have sold a couple of those fellows the gasoline used in the bombing.” Police said the four suspects have admitted they were the men ousted from the club for making a disturbance. Detective Sgt. John A. Tidyman said they “are very frightened. We expect them to crack at any time under questioning.” Those under arrest are Manuel J. Chavez, 25, Clyde Bates, 36, Oscar Brenhaug, 44, and Manuel J. Herhandez, 18.

School Bus Is Hit By Truck, Driver Killed I One Child Is Badly Injured As Trailer Crashes School Bus MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (UP)- , The trailer of a big truck smashed into a COol Spring Twp. school bus Monday, killtag the driver, Emil Michaels. 60, R.R. 3, Michigan , City, and injuring 12 pupils. The bus was carrying about 35 grade and high school pupils to Michigan City parochial schools. State police said the trailer of a big truck, driven by Elmer W. Pagels, 35, Rolling Prairie, came loose from its tractor and swerved across U.S. 421 into the path of , the bus about five miles south of here. Only one pupil was hurt badly. [ He was a 6-year-old boy polio victime wearing leg braces. A car driven by Lawrence L. , Hanna, 17, Michigan City, crashed t into the rear of the trailer. Hanna . who was enroute to Jackson Twp. High School with his two sisters, ; Sue. 14, and Nancy, 15, sustained ] a. cut lip. 5 “I. saw a puff of smoke on the ! truck,” Hanna said, “and I t tnought he blew a tire. The next thing I knew the bed rammed into t the school bus and I slammed on f my brakes and hit the bed as it . was broadside on the road.” The flat-bed steel hauler hit the I bus on the left side and knocked . it 20 feet into a ditch. Beverly , Novak, 16, R.R. 3, Michigan City, was dazed in a hospital with her head bandaged when she told a newsman; “1 was looking down and the next thing I knew the bus started to swerve. I heard some screams and looked up and saw the bed coming toward tty bus.” The bus was taking the pupils to St. Mary’s Catholic High School and St. Paul’s Lutheran Grade School. One of the pupils, Donald Heidep, 6. polio victim, was injured critically. He sustained possible internal injuries and both of his braced legs were broken. Others treated in Doctor’s Hospital were Joyce Nowatzke.ls. (UoaunuM on raw oi*/ Charge Mother With Slaying Daughter Woman Is Held For Mental Examination CHICAGO (W — A mother charged with killing her young daughter after throwing a birthday party* for the girl was held Monday for a mental examination. Authorities said Mrs. Charlotte Balke, 32, held her daughter, Betty Ann, 12, over the kitchen sink and strangled her with one hand while drinking a glass./ of salt water with the other. A 9-year-old witness to the Saturday night slaying, said Mrs. Balke asked for the glass of salt water in the belief both she and her daughter were epileptics. The mother choked her daughter as she sipped the water. The witness, Linda Mollison, a cousin of the victim, told sheriff’s police Mrs. Balke became enraged with Betty because the girl put her hair up in a “pony tail.” Mrs. Balke’s husband, George, 34, said his wife had been emotionally upset since her 9-year-old son Jbad undergone an operation. Balke said he left the house during the afternoon to avoid discussing her imagined ailments with her; . ■ Mrs. Balke was found by police kneeling over the dead body of her child and mumbling: “Betty was supposed to kill me, because she was Satan.” r Mrs. Balke was charged with murder and transferred to the Elgin State hospital. Authorities said the woman went in a daze, and apparently was unaware of the slaying.

Death Sentence On Youth Is Commuted Governor Os lowa Commutes Sentence DES MOINES (UP) Gov. Herschel C. Loveless Monday commuted the death sentence of convicted cop-killer Warren (Jack) Nutter, 19, Freeport, Hl., to life imprisonment. Loveless signed the commutation papers three days after the lowa Supreme Court denied Nutter a rehearing on his conviction for killing officer Harold Pearce, 52, on Jan. 5, 1956, at Independence, lowa. Loveless said the decision to commute the death sentence was “not arrived at on the spur of the moment." He said he had requested transcripts "Os the entire case “within a matter of days after taking office as governor.” However, he said he held the commutation papers in his desk since “early February.” “This change in penalty is not in any way to be interpreted as condoning the wanton taking of human life,” Loveless said. The governor said he commuted the death sentence because of . Nutter’s age and his “broken home” background. 1 Nutter shot Pearce to death in the Buchanan County jail at Inde- , pendent while trying to free four r other teen-agers arrested with him ■ a rew nours •aruer. iney were i arrested on suspicion of drunken , driving and burglary. Nutter climbed out of a restroom window, took a shotgun out of his car and returned to the jaiL He leveled the gun on Pearce and ordered him to put down his gun. His attorney told the lowa Supreme Court he became “panicky” when Pearce started walking toward him and fired. PeaVce was killed almost instantly. « • The Supreme' Court called it a “ruthless and vicious” crime and said it found no grounds for leniency. Heavy Wind Damage In Cities Os Area Repair Crews Busy Restoring Service High winds ripped through many cities south and east of Decatur Friday as repair crews in a large area worked on storm damage. Wire news service to the Portland Commercial-Review was not restored by Saturday although only 15 telephone poles were reported down in the district by the United Telephone company. Toll 'service to Geneva, Salamonia, and Pennville was restored by Saturday, but Bell Telephone service to Muncie and Indianapolis was still out. In Jay county the baby twister struck at Redkey and Polihg. A home was damaged in Redkey by two falling tree?, a shed demolished, roof torn from a home, and many street lights damaged. In Randolph county, Union City and Saratoga were hardest hit, being along the Ohio border. Four power poles in the Sarasota area were knocked out, but service was restored by Saturday afternoon. Many barns and homes were damaged. In Van Wert, 0., the winds Friday ripped off a 12 by 25 foot section of the roof of the cattle pavilion of the coimty fair grounds.Other damage occurred in the area. In Bluffton, one garage roof was reported blown_off, but apparently the major portiori of the wind-hail Storm missed that city. High water from the Wabash river flooded many city basements with firemen (Coatlnued on Page Six) I No Meeting Tonight For Decatur Lions Harry Schwartz, president of the Decatur Lions club, announced this morntag that there will be no meeting of the club this evening because of the concert of the Civic Music Association. The Lions will meet at the regular time next Monday evening.

Third Spring Snowstorm In Western Area Rockies And Plains States Are Buried Under New Snowfall v By UNITED PRESS A twister ripped a rural Mississippi community in Dixie’s •‘tornado alley" Monday and storm clouds dumped heavy, wet snow on the Midwest and East. The tornado cut a swath 4 miles i long and Vt mile wide near Tupelo, Miss. It destroyed one home, one barn and a machine shop and damaged other homes, but most residents had taken refuge in , storm cellars and no one was reported injured. A belt of heavy snow fell from Illinois to New York state, and - the storm forced many schools to ’ close in northern Ohio. ' The snow piled 10 inches deep in Toledo, Ohio, and there was — 1 inches at Goshen, Ind., 6 inches * in central Illinois and 3 inches at Erie, Pa. The Rockies and western Plains t states dug out from under as < much as a foot of snow left by r the third spring snowstorm to hit it; the area la as many weeks. e Colorado Hard mt » Winter refused to give ground to spring. The mercury fell to 7 1 degrees below zero at Eagle, ? Colo., and ’Denver thermometers s registered a frigid 9 above, a new I all-time record low for April 8. . It was 5 above at Cheyenne, Wyo., ■ equalling a low set in 1875. Freezing temperatures were pre- . dieted as far south as Tennessee i Monday night. , Another snowstorm was sweeping across northeastern Kansas, northern Missouri and southern lowa. The Weather Bureau predicted a four-inch fall in the area and said strong northeasterly winds would make highway conditions treacherous. * The storm swept into Kansas and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles during the night after dumping an average of one foot of new snow in much of Colorado. Wyoming and Nebraska Leadville, Colo., with 36 inches of snow on the ground, had the heaviest accumulation. Gusts up to* 50 miles per hour whipped the snow into giant drifts strong winds ripped dust clouds at Liberal and Jetmore, Kan. The across southeastern New Mexico. More Snow Due Heavy rains soaked eastern sections of Kansas and Oklahoma northeastward to the Great Lakes region, with one-quarb?r to onehalf inch reported in a six-hour period during the night. Weathermen warned the rain will turn to snow today in most of Oklahoma and Missouri while considerable blowing snow is expected in the Central Plains. Showers and thunderstorms also are seen for the Ohio Valley, where many streams flooded in recent heavy rains. Flood waters receded in Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, (CoßUaacd oa Paste Five) St Mary's River Is Near 20-Foot Stage The St. Mary’s river reached 19.8 feet at Decatur this morning, and is expected to be over 20 feet by tomorrow, Bessie Pomerenke, local weather observer, reported " to the United States weather bureau at Baer Field today. The river reaches flood stage here at 15 feet. Between one and two more inches of rain and snow is expected to fall today and early tomorrow in the watershed area, fore- , ing the local river higher. BULLETIN PARIS W) — A fully loaded regularly scheduled Air France twin-engine DCS airliner Crashed on takeoff at Biskra, Algeria, Monday, Air France officials announced. The 32 persona on board were killed. Biskra is about 200 miles southeast of Algiers and 1H miles southwest of Constantine in northeastern Algeria.

Six Cents