Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 55, Number 116, Decatur, Adams County, 16 May 1957 — Page 1

Vol. LV. No. 116.

TEAMSTERS “BIG FIVE” MEET WITH MEANY

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LEADERS OF THE 1,400,000-member Teamsters’ Union, these five men held a closed conference with AFL-CIO President George Meany at which they discussed “general problems” at the labor organizations headquarters In Washington. Pictured as they arrived for the conference are <l. to r.) William Lee, Chicago: Joe Diviny, San Francisco; James Hoffa, Detroit; Elhar Mohn, Washington, D. C., and Thomas Hickey, New York. •

Beck Recalled For New Round Os Questioning Over Dozen Charges On Teamsters Head . For Misusing Funds WASHINGTON W — Norman Gessert, elusive kinsman of Teamsters President Dave Beck, failed to appear for a scheduled hearing before the Senate Rackets committee today. Gessert arrived in Washington but did not Show up at the Senate caucus room at the appointed time of'11:15 a. m. CDT. Shortly before noon, Sen. John F. Kennedy, a committee member, said Gessert wanted time to confer with an attorney before testifying. Sen, Kennedy said the committee would proceed with its earlier plan to recall beleaguered Dave Beck, who is possibly on the skids as Teamsters president, for questioning this afternoon about more than a dozen charges that he misused his union power for private profit. Seek Other Witnesses Gessert, a cousin of Mrs. Beck, is one of four persons the committee has been trying for weeks to subpena. He was finally nailed with a subpena Wednesday in Ellensburg, Wash., after he tried to flee from police and a U. S. marshal. The committee was almost certain to ask him what he knew of the whereabouts of the other missing witnesses including Dave Beck Jr. They were last reported to be over the Canadian border in Vancouver. Committee counsel Robert F. Kennedy said Beck—who invoked the Fifth Amendment 150 times in two earlier appearances — would be asked to explain testimony by a week-long string of witnesses that Beck used the power of his office and his union’s multiple millions of dollars to enrich himself and his>family. The charges were capped Wednesday .by testimony that Beck and his mysterious crony Nathan Shefferman failed in an effort to charge his own union an extra $71,500 for the, Capitol Hill site of his flossy headquarters—but that Shefferman then got a $12,000 bonus from the union for keeping the price down. The committee said that five weeks later Shefferman paid Beck SB,OOO. Shefferman, a management-em-ployed labor expert who admitted paying $85,000 worth of Beck's bills with union funds, testified in March he paid the SB,OOO in 1949 simply because Beck was “a generous man, a terrific personality and a very fine gentleman.” Debatable Character Reading There are sortie who quarrel with this character reading: —Beck is under indictment for evading $56,000 1950 income tax and is under investigation for later years. —The AFL-CIO Executive Council will try him Monday on charges of giving labor a black eye, and also will consider whether to make permanent its temporary suspension of Beck as an AFL-CIO vice president. —Beck's own union was reported to be considering a recommendation by its public relations firm to dump him as president. —The Rackets Committee has charged that Beck stele more than $322,000 from Teamster treasuries and that only when income tax investigators got on his trail did he call this a “loan” and begin—through complicated deals Coatlaued Pace Kight

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Benson Renews Plea On Farm Legislation Seeks Lower Levels For Price Supports * WASHINGTON (UP)—Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson renewed his plea today for legislation to permit him to set price supports for farm crops at lower levels. He said this would benefit farmers by making their products more "competitive” in the market place and enable the government to relax, and eventually abandon, tight planting restrictions designed to hold down crop surpluses. Benson appeared before the House Agriculture Committee in the wake of a House vote Wednesday to kill the main provision of the administration’s billion dbllar soil bank program. Benson told a reporter before beginning his testimony that “it’s anybody’s guess” as to whether the Senate will overturn the House action. However, there was strong Senate support for an anticipated administration plea to restore the soil bank program. Rep. Harold D. Cooley (D-N.C.), chairman of the House committee, summoned Benson to ask what recommendations he had for new farm legislation in view of his contention that present price support and production control laws are “obsolete.” Benson, accompanied by numerous aides, appeared at the jampacked hearing room with a 16page statement. It was similar to one he presented Wednesday to the Senate Agriculture Committee. The prepared statement did not contain a specific recommendation as to how low Benson would like to have authority to reduce price supports for the basic crops. These props now range between 75 and 90 per cent of parity. Benson said Congress, if it chose, could give him wide discretion to set supports, leaving out entirely any mandatory minimum. Cooley earlier this week charged that Benson wanted the entire farm program scrapped. Benson denied that. But he said if farm price supports are permanently kept at high levels—“substantially above competitive levels" —the government will necessarily have to continue controlling farm plantings. “We should move in the direction of more freedom for our farmers to produce,” he said. The House - approved move to kill the main provision of the soil bank program at the end of this year faces strong opposition in the Syndic, The House took the surprise step Wednesday by a roll call vote of 192-187 during consideration of a $3,700,000,000 agricultural appropriation bill. It wrote into the bill an amendment prohibiting any further soil bank payments after this year to farmers for taking basic cropland out of. production. The amendment would 101 l the acreage reserve portion of the soil bank. Baxter Infant Dies Early This Morning Deborah Ann Baxter, infant daughter of James and Mildred Pierce-Baxter, of Wren, 0., died at 12:45 a m. today at the Lutheran hospital at Fort Woyne, 12 hours after birth. Surviving in additions to the parents is a brother, Donald Eugene Baxter. Three 'brothers are deceased. .The father is a clerk for the Pennsylvania railroad at Wren. Graveside services, conducted by the Zwick funeral home, were held this afternoon at the Woodland cemetery at Van Wert, O. I

Economy Drive Still Rolling In Congress House Committee Reduces Spending Plans For House WASHINGTON (UP)—The congressional economy drive today caught up, in a small way, with Congress itself. The House Appropriations Committee, which has been dealing out cuts averaging 7 per cent against the record-high budgets of the government's executive agencies, reduced by about 2.7 per cent next year’s spending plans of the House itself. , Small as it was—amoung to only $2,208,343—The recommended curtailment came as fresh evidence that the congressional economy drive was rolling unchecked, despite a stern new warning from President Eisenhower against unwarranted cuts. In the face of the President's news conference comments on the dangers of “trifling” with the national defense, House defense experts clung z to their dollar cut in Eisenhower’s request for new defense funds. They denied that the recommended reduction would in any way jeopardize military strength. Chairman George H. Mahon (DTex.) of an appropriations subcommittee handling the big military budget said as far as he knew no effort would be made to reverse the subcommittee’s tentative economy action. Cost of Lawmaking In other developments, the House Wednesday did its nowcustomary stint for economy by passing a pared-down money bill for the Agriculture Department. And the Senate—which in the past has tended to restore funds cut by the House — went the House one better in approving an appropriation bill for the State and Justice departments and the U.S Information Agency which made deeper cuts than the House previously had voted. The House committee did not make much of a dent in the rising cost of lawmaking. The total legislative budget—lncluding Senate funds not covered in today’s bill —still will run about 120 million dollars, up more than 12 milion dollars from this year’s outay and more than 36 milion more than it cost to run Congress in 1956. But in what was at least a gesture toward economy at home, the committee today trimmed the budget request for the House and some joint House-Senate functions from $80,678,628 to $78,470,285. A 15 - million - dollar item for members’ clerk hire was trimmed to $14,600,000, this year’s level. House committees, which wanted to pay staffers $2,386,000, were ordered to hold this to $2,270,000. House members will get their second television studio they wanted, but with fewer employes than planned. Consider Military Cut The committee approved unchanged a $7,500,000 outlay toward a new 64-million-dollar office building for members now under way. About 15 million already has been spent on plans and preliminary work. Mahon declined to comment on or to confirm the disclosure by other defense subcommittee sources that the group had tentatively agreed to sponsor a 7 per ceht cut in the President’s request for $36,200,000,000 in new funds for the military. 14 Pages

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, May 16, 1957.

20 Persons Killed When Tornado Smashes Into Small Town In Texas

Four Indicted Men Refuse To Answer Queries Indicted Hoosiers Refuse To Answer Senate Committee WASHINGTON (UP)—A* U.S. Senate subcommittee ended a twoday hearing on Indiana highway scandals today with four indicted Hoosiers refusing to answer more than 100 questions on grounds their answers might Incriminate them. Sen. Albert Gone (D-Tenn.), chairman of the Public Roads Subcommittee, said he would recommend that the transcript of the hearing be sdnt to Atty. Gen. Herbert Brownell. Jr. Gore said he had no plans for further hearings but would consider them. Robert A. Peak, Milan, Ind., attorney, and Harry Doggett of Greensburg, Ind., a former official in the Indiana State Highway Department, used the Fifth Amendment this morning in remaining silent on 65 questions—37 for Peak and 28 for Doggett. ’ ' « Follow Smith’s Lead J'4 In so doing, Peak and Doggett followed the lead set Wednesday by termer highway chairman Vfi> gil W. (Red) Smith of Milan and former right-of-way chief Nile Teverbaugh of Monroe City, Ind., who invoked the amendment on all questions pertaining to their highway department activities. Peak, Doggett, Smith and Teverbaugh were indicted at Indianapolis May 3 on grand jury charges of embezzlement of public funds. Among questions Doggett refused to answer was one about whether he knew former Gov. George N. Craig, in whose administration questionable land-buying deals occurred. Craig and his wife once dined at the Doggett home. Peak refused to give the names of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Peak of Indianapolis, in whose name Peak sold to the state two back lots on an Indianapolis expressway route for a $22,000 profit. Affidavit Is Read After Peak left the stand, however, a subcommittee aide read an affidavit from Peak’s 69-year-old mother in which she said her son asked her and his father to let him use their names as owners of land he wanted to buy. One witness who did talk was Robert A. Quinlan, former owner (Coatlaued OB Pane Five) ■ „ ,■■■l...—< ■■ « Says Eisenhower For Withdrawal Acheson Says Ike For Korea Pullout WASHINGTON (UP) — A siz* zling dispute raged today between the White House and former Secretary of State Dean Acheson oMpr whether President Eisenhower recommended in 1947 that American troops be pulled out of Korea. Acheson, in a rare outburst against a government leader, charged angrily Wednesday night that Eisenhower proposed the withdrawal while he was Army chief of staff in 1947. He said the State Department opposed the recommendation “but eventually bowed to the insistent views of the military.” Presidential Press Secretary James C. Hagerty retorted that Acheson’s statement “missed the entire point.” He said the troop pullout—which was made in 1949 —was a “political decision, not a military one.” Hagerty ha<T planned to comment further today when he studied Achesop's statement in detail. But later he said he would make no additional comment “at this time.” Acheson’s remarks, issued through the Democratic National Committee, were prompted by remarks Eisenhower made while defending his budget in a televised speech Tuesday night.

Temperature Skids To Near Freezing South Bend Coldest With Reading Os 37 By UNITED PRESS The mercury skidded almost to freezing in Northern Indiana early today and took a vacation from summer-like readings. It was 37 at South Bend and 38 at Fort Wayne, 42 at Lafayette and 45 at Indianapolis, and 50 at Evansville. At Indianapolis, the temperature fell 31 degrees in 10 hours from a top of 77 to a low of 46 before midnight, then dropped only one degree the rest of the night. The chill readings came after a day during which the temperature reached a humid high of 86 at Evansville, 78 at Fort Wayne I and 68 at South Bend. Evansville! was the only point to report rain —a quarter of an inch for the 24 hours ending this morning. Scattered showers and thunderstorms were due all around Hoosierland today, tonight and Friday, and widely scattered showers Saturday. The mercury will crest at highs ranging from 57 to near 70 today, drop to a range of 46 to 57 tonight and hit highs of 58 to 74 Friday. A year ago today it was cold, too. The mercury hit 43 in Indianapolis last May 16, within five degrees Os an all-time low for the date’ which was set 53 years ago. Opening Saturday Os Reserve Center Formal Opening Os Army Center Here The formal opening of the U. S. army reserve training center, called “Fort Moses” locally by its members, will take place with an impressive program Saturday morning at 10 o’clock at the center, a half-mile north of Decatur on the Monmouth road. The public is invited to the program and the open house which will follow , until 4 p. m. ( Hie program will open with the assembly call and formation of > the flag detail under Ist. Lt. Marvin W. Stucky and M/Sgt. Robert : Ray. Captain William Gernand, commanding officer of service bat- 1 tery, 424th " field artillery battalion, will briefly give the history 1 of the local outfit, and will introduce the special guests. Mayor Robert D. Cole and coun- ' ty commissioners Harley J. Reef 1 and Roland J. Miller will wel- 1 come service battery to Decatur and Adams county. Richard K. Moses will present the key of the training center to the unit commander. Following the call to the colors, the national flag will .be raised while the Star Spangled Banner is‘played. Die group will then be conducted on an inspection of the new training center, formerly the Moses Dairy, and the open house will continue until 4 p. m. In addition to the regular military equipment, sheriff Merle Affolder and his civil defense unit 1 will display some of their communications and emergency equipment. j The military display will include the following; jeeps, three- ' quarter ton truck, 2% ton truck, one-quarter ton trailer, threequarter ton trailer, 1% ton trail- ■ er, % ton water trailer, .50 call- ' bre machine guns, .30 calibre ma- f chine guns, rocket launcher (Ba- J zooka); Ml .30 calibre rifle; .30 ; calibre carbine; .45 calibre pistol; .45 calibre sub-machine gun; and ' all personal field gear, including ' shelter-half tents. INDIANA WEATHER 1 Mostly eloudy tonight and Fri- ■ day. Chance of showers southwest tonight and over southwest < and extreme west Friday. Con- 1 tinned enol. Low tonight 40 to i 4$ north, 46 to 52 south. High < Friday 54 to M north, 66 to $4 1 south. Sunset 7:5$ p. m., aun- i rise Friday I:2s am. 1

■ ■■ ■", »r. — - Great Britain Reportdittle H-Bomb Fallout Refuse To Disclose Further Details On Hydrogen Bomb Test By DANIEL F. GILMORE United Press Staff Correspondent LONDON (UP) — Prime Minister Harold Macmillan said today Britain has succeeded in building a hydrogen bomb with “almost negligible fall-out.” Macmillan told the House of Commons that first reports from | the Christmas Island test site in- | dicate the explosion of Britain’s first hydrogen bomb “proceeded as planned.” These first reports, he said, indicate that the fall-out has been “almost negligible.” Macmillan refused to disclose any other details of the test in spite of a barrage of questions. The successful H-bomb test sparked a move by the opposition Labor Party to block the rest of the series planned at the proving grounds in the mid-Pacific island. Madnlllan curtly rejected any idea of calling off the current tests. Only Preliminary Reports j “I am bound to rfay In discussing the matters of nuclear disarmament we shall now be in a better bargaining position,” he said. Macmillan qualified his statement about the negligible fall-out with a reminder that at this stage there" were only preliminary reports on the local situation around the blast area. He noted that the explosion took place at a high altitude. The “nuclear device" tested was dropped by a bomber. “Scientific records are being collected fcr accurate evaluation,” Macmillan said. British afternoon newspapers gave prominent play to local and Japanese protests against the tests. British planes, ships and meteorological stations in the vicinity of Christmas Island watched for any change in the “ideal weather” that would upset plans that the radioactive fallout never reach inhabited land. Detailed Account Delayed Informed sources said that until the danger was past there would be no more details on the blast. Tokyo weathermen said their instruments recorded atmospheric disturbances “at least as heavy” as those caused by U.S. H-bomb tests at Bikini. This indicated the British explo(CouUnueo on Rachel Sprunger Is Taken By Death Funeral Services Saturday Afternoon Mrs. Rachel Sprunger, 85, died at noon Wednesday at her home in Fort Wayne, where she had resided the past 20 years. She had been ill for two years and her condition had been serious the past six weeks. Mrs. Sprunger was a member of the Evangelical United Brethren church at Geneva. Surviving are one son, Arnold Sprunger of Miami, Fla.; six daughters, Mrs. Preston Pyle of Geneva, Mrs. John Laymon, Mrs. Edgar Nomina, Mrs. George Wall and Mrs. Dale Butler, all of Fort Wayne, and Mrs. Dano Harris of New Haven; 24 grandchildren; • 30 great-grandchildren; three brothers, William and Sam Wittwer, both of Berne, and Hiram Wittwer of Monroe, and one sister, Mrs. Rosina Neukom of Decatur. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:30 p. m. Saturday at the D. O. McComb & Sons funeral home, the Rev. J. A. Weeks i officiating. Burial will be in i Lindenwood cemetery. Friends < may call at the funeral home as- < ter 7 o’clock this evening. 1

Four Workmen Hurt In Chemical Blast Investigate Series Os Chemical Blasts UPTON, N.Y. (UP)—lnvestigators today sought the cause of a series of chemical explosions that injured four workmen, one critically, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, one of the nation’s main atomic research centers. Six rescuers were overcome by acid vapors but did not require ’ hospital treatment. Officials .at the research center ’ said the explosions Wednesday — ■ the first such accident in the lab- ' oratory’s 10-year history— in- , volved highly corrosive acids but no radioactive material. Ironically, the blasts, which ap« peared to have done only minor damage, occurred as 200 nuclear scientists were sitting down in a nearby building to a lecture on "Radiological Hazards And Safety." The scientists, from the United States and Latin America, were unaware of ttie accident. Although none of the injuries involved nuclear radi oat niht,b-ael - volved nuclear radiation, the lab- ‘ oratory in which the blasts took ' place contained highly radioactive > materials, according to a spokes- • man for the Atomic Energy Com- ' mission which administers and finances the research center, situated on the former site of Camp Upton, 60 miles from New York Cfty. ; Thirty-five persons were in the so-called “hot" laboratory building when the explosions occurred • within a steel testing chamber. ■ Only 12, however, were in that section of the laboratory affected by the blasts. All quickly fled the building. The most seriously injured was Richard Johnson, 30, of Baldwin, N.Y., who had been standing closest to the equipment. He reContleued ee Pace Kick* School Patrol Boys Honored Wednesday Awards Presented To School Patrols Patrol boys from the three elementary schools of Decatur were honored in recognition programs at each school Wednesday afternoon. Awards were presented by Marion Kirkpatrick, a representative of the Chicago Motor Club. Students of the Northwest school who earned service pins were Dick Odle, captain; Richard Hakey, co-captain, and Totn Maddox, Ernest Sautbine, Dan Heller, Russell Augsburger, John Bedwell, ‘ Roger Bixler, David Riehle and David Magley. Lincoln school patrol boys who received the pins were Michael Nelson, captain, and Dennis Ahr, Ronny Kleinknight, John Sexton. Al Townsend, Fred Frauhiger, David Mitchell, Dennis Bollenbacher and Allen Scheiderer. At St. Joseph’s grade school, nine boys received two-year pins and 14 earned one-yeas service awards. The nine boys with two years of service include George Mulligan, captain, and Carlos De la Rivera, Donald Kitson, Philip Lose, John Meyer, Larry Mills, Ray Reed, Robert Trlcker and Edward Schultz. One-year patrol boys at St. Joseph were Ronald Baker, Gerald Heimann, Patrick Kelley, John Kohne, Ben Mendoza, Ronald Roudebush, James Rumschlag, Joseph Schurger, Michael Schultz, John Trlcker, Donald Ulman, Gerald Villagomes, Fred intsmaster and Jerome Geimer. All of Decatur’s patrol boys will 'be honored at the annual picnic sponsored for them by the Chicago Motor club Saturday at 1 p, m. at Worthman Field. Hospital Receives II Bids On Equipment j The board of trustees of the ' Adams county memorial hospital | will meet at 7:30 p.m. Friday to j open bids on a new X-ray table and other equipment. The equipment ] will be installed within 60 days.

As Least 60 Are Injured By Tornado I • ‘ Silverton, Texas, i Hit Late Wednesday, Night By Tornado SILVERTON, Tex. (UP)—A tornado that looked like a berserk , cloud of red sand smashed into Silverton late Wednesday night, killing 20 persons in the town and ; its outskirts and Injuring at least 6 Highway Patrol Capt. J.W. Blackwell said 19 were killed in , Silverton itself. He said at least . 58 were injured. In addition to these, Mrs. E.E. Puckett, 30, who Hves near Silverton, was killed and her two children hurt. ’ "It dipped and popped and , looked like red sand boiling and rumbling when it hit,” Mrs. Billy . Stevens said. “It looked like a real L low cloud that had a belly on it . and then it began moving through . town,” The tornado was one of at least ' a dozen that rumbled around over . the Texas Panhandle Wednesday . night, injuring- at least six other . persons and shattering homes and , barns at scattered points. ' Family of Five Dead Twenty - five homes were de- ► stroyed in Silverton, a .town of ' about 850 residents. Fifteen more I were badly damaged and another 15 slightly damaged. A cotton gin J was destroyed, along with four i grain elevators and a barracks , that in cotton picking season houses Mexican workers. The tornado disgorged pieces of lumber and furniture from the homes it wrecked for a mile around. There was nothing except the foundation left of some homes. Five members of one family were reported killed. United Press correspondent Tom Higley said six bodies were loaded into one pickup truck. The dying and injured were parcelled out to hospitals in larger towns surrounding it. - Dr. C.H. Black said he had treated 50 or 60 persons himself, ail covered with mud and suffering from shock, head injuries and cuts. The more seriously injured were sent to larger hospitals at Lockney, Lubbock, Dimmitt, Tulia and Amarillo. Blackwell’s figure of 58 injured evidently included only those in serious enough condition to be kept in hospitals. Bus Turned Over The tornado hit the southwestern part of the town’s residential section. Higley said it looked as if the funnel smacked squarely upon five houses in a row. There was nothing left of them but the foundations. "Cart looked as if a giant had picked them up in his fist and crushed them,” Higley said. ‘1 saw two cars that had been picked up from a street and dropped 100 yards away in a field. “There were two big tank trucks 75 yards off the road in a field and a school bus was turned over.” The tornado knocked out Silverton’s communications and lights. State police units from Amarillo and county and local officers from surrounding towns rushed in with portable generators and radio transmitters. Among the Injured treated at Lockney Hospital were five members of the Joe D. Gallington family. Three other members of the same family were hurt, but not badly enough to remain in the hospital. All Are Critical , Claude Witten of the Plainview Hospital and Clinic said the injured were “badly beaten up.” Five were treated in the Plainview Hospital. One of these, a boy about 14, died shortly after he was received. "The ones we have here are an severely injured,” Wittea said. “They have brain concussions, lacerations all over their bodies. All of them are in critical shape. "The one who died was beaten -i up all over. It looked like a house fell in on him. “So far, none of the relatives has shown up, but we’re assuming (Co ß tteae4 ee Pa«e Five)

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