Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 57, Number 77, Decatur, Adams County, 1 April 1959 — Page 1

Vol. LVII. No. 78.

Historical Society Hears Prosecutor The history of the prosecuting attorney’s office, especially in the years before 1859, was presented to the Adams county historical society by Severin H. Schurger, prosecutor, Tuesday evening. Richard Mailand, of St. Mary’s township, was elected a member of the board to fill the vacancy left by the death of Dr. N. A. Bixler, one of the founders of the organization. Mailand also reported that at the next meeting he will be ready to give the history of the Bobo community in St. Mary’s township. Decatur In 1836 When the county was started in 1836, Decatur was but a small settlement of three to five log cabins, Schurger stated. The country was newly opened for settlement; the war of 1812 was Just 24 years removed, and the battle of fallen timbers was still fresh in the memory of men. Roads were almost non-existent; virgin timber and swamp lands hampered the movement of men. The St. Mary’s river was then the main artery of travel through the county. The Wayne was a mere trail, with fallen timber and overgrown brush making it almost impossible to travel. Monmouth was a stopping place for travelers. Anthony JUvarre, the part-Miami Indian given a grant of some 1,600 acres in St. Mary’s township, still owned his property here, and often visited it via the Godfrey trace. County Settled The years 1836-37 saw the greatest influx of settlers in the history of the county; most of the patent deeds were issued during those years. In 1836 Adams county was attached to the eighth judicial circuit court—this included most of northern Indiana at that time, and was later reduced to northeastern Indiana. On May 10, shortly after the county was organized, first election held, and business began in earnest, the first grand jury was chosen. It consisted of the following members, many of whose descendants still live here: Joel Roe, John Ross. Sr., Michael Roe, Bail W. Butler, William Heath, Sr., Jonas Pence, William Borum, Eli Zimmerman, Abraham Elifrits, Robert Smith, Jehu S. Rhea, Benjamin. F. Gorseline, Samuel Smith, William Ball, William Thatcher, Jonathan Roe, James Ball, and John Cortterline. No indictments were returned that’.year, and the court did not even' convene, as the circuit was so ligrge the judge could not make the rounds before the end of December.--— Court Organized On January 9, 1837, John K. Evans, an associate judge, presided at the first court session, which was held at the home of John Reynolds, located about where Yost’s gravel pit now stands, in Root township. Charles W. Ewing, of Fort Wayne, was then president judge, and John K. Evans and, Robert K. Rhea were associate judges, from Adams county. Under the constitution of 1816 the judicial set-up was more complicated than today. . ‘ At the time of the first court, commissions dated in 1833 by Gov. Noah Noble were entered on the court record. The first prosecutor listed was Thomas Johnson, of Fort Wavne. owner of the property where Decatur now stands. Three Indictments On April 15, 1837 the grand jury returned three indictments —all of them against county officials! The first indictment was against Enos W. Butler, a road supervisor in Root township. He had been charged with keeping the state road, built in 1835, from Mannheim (near (Continued on page seven)

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ADMITS SETTING WIFE AFIRE — Detective Lieut. L. C. Peterson (left) of El Paso, Texas, questions Airman 2/c Victor L. Blodgett who has declared he doused his wife* Iva Jean, 22, with gasoline and set her afire with his cigaret lighter. Mrs. Blodgett, in critical condition in a hospital, agreed Blodgett poured a glass of gasoline on her, but said she accidentally set fire to herself.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Mine Owner Is . Slain, Blame e * Mine Strikers BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (UPDKentucky state jpolice today arr rested Fred L. Gregory, 21, ol f Four Mile, Ky., on a charge ol " willful murder in the fatal shoots ing of a coal mine operator Tues--1 day. B Woodrow Smith, 44,- Flatlick, * Ky., was shot six thnes as he - ran up a hill near his mine, 20 miles west of here, followed by five or six men. Witnesses said 1 his attackers had been members -of a 20-car convoy of striking United Mine Workers Union memj bers which drove up to the small » mine on Stinking Creek. ' State Police Director Paul Smith " said Gregory admitted being ’ among the group est the Smith mine tipple, and has admitted talking to the motorman at the ■ tipple. He has not, however, ad--5 mitted the shooting. State police officials said earlier - today they would bring charges - against every one of the men i present at the /‘premediated first 1 degree murder.” t Gov. A.B. Chandler conferred i today with state Public Safety . i Commissioner Don Sturgill, ap- | parehtly to determine whether the ) National Guard should be placed 1 on alert to deal with renewed , strike violence at the mines. INDIANA WEATHER Occasional showers and t thunderstorms and windy this - afternoon and early tonight with chance of severe thunderstorms extreme south. Cooler tonight. Thursday f partly cloudy, cooler south k and central. Low tonight in i the 30s north and west, low 40s southeast. High Thursday ! in 50s north and central, lower 60s extreme south. Sunset i today 7:09 pm. CDT. Sunrise > Thursday 6:28 a.m. CD®. Out- - - —look for Friday: Fair and warmer. Lows 38 to 44. Highs 64 to 72. I .

l y ... ... ; — •Party Battle Looms ; On Foreign Policy t _ . •

; WASHINGTON (UPD — Repub- ! licans today challenged the con- . duct of U. S. foreign policy under past Democratic administrations as a result of an influential Demo- . cratic group's charge that the I GOP bungled world affairs. i The exchange threatened to • blossom into a full-scale partisan : battle when Congress returns t from its Easter recess next week, f The Democratic Advisory Count cil sparked the foreign policy de1/ bate by accusing President Eisen- ! howes of selling out his own for- ' eigmSpolicy convictions to GOP I “clients” who believe world leadi ership responsibilities can be discharged at “bargain rates.” It said the result has been a ■ “windfall” of opportunities for the i Kermlin and a "ruinous course” ’ for American diplomacy. Demand Strong Action ' The statement urged the Demo-cratic-controlled Congress to demand strong action and point the j way so the nation need not “sit in ‘ paralyzed horror for two more ! years ...” Republican National Committee 1 Chairman Meade Alcorn quickly ’ called the Democratic attach “massive irresponsibility” and “partisan poppycock.” His counter-attack included con-

Tornadoes Hit At * Texas, Oklahoma, A J 'l u J • TTV • At Least Six Die 0 • — . y — — ....

■ Report Dalai . Lama Is Safe

r NEW DELHI (UPD—The offis cial Chinese Nationalist Central n News Agency said today the Dat lai Lama has reached a safe place in Tibet and is personally d leading the revolt against the y Chinese Communists. h Reports in the Taipei newspae per said the Nationalist air force i was air-dropping encouraging leafd lets and minor supplies—“comfort items” such as toothbrushes, towels, etc., — to the rebels and planned to fly in Nationalist officials to .help the rebels. There was no word however that arms, ammunition, signal equipment and other military supplies promised by the Nationalists were being parachuted to the rebels. There also was no indication whether Nationalist planes were flying extremely long range missions from Formosa or were operating from friendly southeast Asian countries. There still was no official report on the whereabouts of the Dalai Lama, believed in southern Tibet near the Indian border. Dispatches from Kalimpong „ onthe Indo-Tietan frontier said Chinese Communists were searching for

duct of the Korean War under President Truman. He called it an r Asiatic war “brought about by executive confusion and error; a ’ war ended by this administration spedily.” He said the Democratic state--3 ment was “an invitation to aggres--1 sion, almost as regrettable as the s tragic declaration by the U. S. sec- ■ retary of state in 1950 that South ' Korea lay outside our defense perimeter.” Calls It “Cheap Trick” Dean Acheson was secretary of 3 state in 1950. He also is a chair- ' man of the 28 - member Democrat- * ic Advisory Committee on foreign policy which prepared the report. J Sen. Homer E. Capehart (R- --’ Ind.) called the Democratic report a “cheap and obviously partisan attack” which would have been “unspeakably reprehensible” - even in normal times. He said it - should be withdrawn and an apol- - ogy rendered to President Eiseni hower. b He said many of those who helped prepare the report “as advisers B to President Franklin D. Roosey velt and Truman . . . helped to lay f the foundations of a faulty policy i which led us to where we are at this moment. ”

Some” Progress By Ministers

WASHINGTON <UPI) — The Western Big Four foreign ministers made some progress today in their efforts to wrap up a package deal on Berlin and Germany to offer Russia at forthcoming negotiations. This was reported by West German Fareigd Minister Heinrich von Brentano as he left a twohour meeting of the foreign ministers. He said there were no real differences left among the four Western Allies on the question on how to clicker with the Soviet Union at the Geneva foreign ministers’ meeting in May and a possible summer summit conference. British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd and French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Mur-

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY v

Decatur, Indiana, Wednesday, April 1,1959.

i- him with planes and troops. 1 The Kalimpong reports also salt - the Red army had sent searci e parties to strategic points in Tibe 1 y to search monasteries in belief th< e Dalai Lama may have taken refuge in one of them. - Relations between India ant e Communist China, meanwhile grew chillier as the Indian gov t ernment voiced strong objection! ■ to the operations of the Chinese i Communist embassy in New Del - hi. Mme. Lakshmi Menon, deputy r foreign minister, told the lowei 1 house of Parliament it was “high H ly improper” for any embassy tc s criticize the government of the H country where it was stationed i She said this was nob the functior 3 of an embassy. She referred specifically to tht • embassy’s circulation of Peipinj t charges the Tibetan revolutior was being aided from Kalimponj ‘ —a charge denied officially bj ; Prime Minister Jawaharla 1 Nehru. »• ‘ The statemenfeame in debati e on a . Socialist j-Pgrty motion o e censure against the Chinese Com r munists. The censure motion i expected to come to a vote Thurs ~ day when Nehru is present ii Parliament Four Men Die ;AsAir Force 1 ■ Jet Crashes KILLEEN, Tex. (UPD—An Ail ~ Force KCI3S jet tanker explodec ' in flight and crashed Tuesday 5 night in an area swept by violen 1 thunderstorms and near the path 1 of a tornado. It flung the bodies of four crew men over 10 acres of dense wood land. ‘ The victims were: Maj. Jesst ’ L. E. Myrick, 44, Wichita Falls ‘ Tex.; Ist Lt. Rodney Anderlitch 1 25, San Antonio, Tex.; Ist Lt N. J., and T.Sgt. Herman Allisor ■ Philip C. De Bonis, 25, Newark * Clark, 45, Tampa, Fla. Myrick was the pilot and air - craft commander. The KCI3S i: used to refuel 852 Stratoje t bombers in flight. The plane wa: - from Bergstrom Air Force Base - near Austin, Tex. Policeman John Farr said th< * largest thing rescue parties fount s at the scene was one engine. • “They found pieces of bodiei f scattered over a wide area, bu f there is no way of telling if i t is one man or several,” F a r i _ -said

- ville had nothing to say to re • porters as they left the morning )' meeting with Acting Secretary ol - State Christian A. Herter at the f State Department. The four will meet this after noon for another session in theii • efforts to work out a fool-proof 1 bargaining position n Berlin, Ger - many and European security - They plan to present a genera report of their agreed position, sc • far as it has been achieved, tc ■ the 15-nation NATO council which v begins its spring meeting here | Thursday. Ajnerican informants confirmee 2 Von Brentano's statement thai there remained no major differ - ences among the Allies so far a; 1 general principles are concerned - * t

HILLSBORO, Tex. (UPD At least eight tornadoes hit sleeping communities and homes over a front hundreds of miles long in Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday night. They killed at least six persons abd injured 67 others, four of them critically. A tornado that hit two communities between Hillsboro and Waco _ in central Texas, was worse than the other seven combined. It acd counted for all of the six dead h and 38 of the injured. »t That tornado blew an automo,e Wle from the road, killing Mrs. f_ C.B. Bruner, 27, wife of a James Connally Air Force Base flight j surgeon. It injured her husband . and two children. ” It drove so many splinters into 1S the body of A. Lee Harris, 71, of Bynum, Tex., that doctors at i Hillsboro said he looks like a “pin ’ cushion.” « ....... y 6 Hurt at Sliver City r The other tornadoes, and the i* damage and casualties they in- ° fileted included: e Walnut Bend and Calisburg. I Tex.—Nineteen persons injured, n Including two Seriously. Farm buildings and a natural gas plant e destroyed. Walnut Bend and Calisg burg are about 120 miles north of n Hillsboro. g Henderson, Tex.—None injured, y A garage and a home destroyed il and trees plucked up by their roots. ® “ Perrin Air Force Base, Tex.—A >f tornado touched ground, but no inl-‘ juries or damage reported. Perrin is AFB is north of Dallas, near the s- Oklahoma line. \ ih’ Silver City, Okla.—Sac injured, including one seriously. Terlton, Okla.—Damage but no casualties reported. Morrison, Okla.—Damage but no casualties reported. Rock Creek Lodge Resort—Four injured but none seriously. Rock Creek Lodge is on Lake Texoma, along the TexasDklahoma border. The central Texas tornado may have contributed to the crash of an Air Force KCI3S tanker near Killeen, Tex. Four or five crewmen' were believed to. have been killed. ■ r The tornado dead included: d Garnet Cain, about 50, Bynumy Tex. it Mrs. Minnie Lee, 78, Vaughan, h Tex. Harlston Stanford, 48, of f- Vaughan, Tex., a grocer. , Miss Mildred Stanford, 59, Harlston Stanford’s sister. e ■ ■ ■ 1, »Music Booster Club - Organized Tuesday ;t Forty-five persons met in the |S music room at Decatur high school at 7:30 o’clock Tuesday evening with school principal, Hugh J. Ane drews, and school superintendent, d W. Guy Brown, to discuss a newly organized association entitled the s Music booster club of Decatur Public Schools. ls The club consists of persons inr forested in music and of interested" parents of band members of - Decatur high school. Temporary officers were elected until a charter and constitution is drawn up. The officers include: president, James Webb; vice president, Mrs. Charles Chew; secretary, Doris Heath; and treasurer, Mrs. David C. Wynn. Last night's meeting was mostly to discuss future plans of the club and to form a constitution committee as well as temporary officers. James Webb, temporary president, said today that the basic g functions of the club will be to pro,f mote music throughout the public e schools and to help finance music functions within the city. The constitution committee comr prised of the following persons; >f Mrs. Chalmer Bollenbacher, Curt ■- Hill, Mrs. Frank Grice, Mrs. Char- '■ les Chew and Clint Reed, will preII sent at the next scheduled meet- ° ing a constitution and bylaws for ® the new organization. " The next meeting will be held e for all interested persons and band j parents Tuesday evening at 7:30 lt o’clock in the music room at Decatur high school. All persons inters ested in the proposed organization 1. who would like to participate, are urged to attend.

t Ben Harris of Bynum. > Mrs. C. B. Bruner, wife of an i Air Force doctor stationed aV > Connally Air Force Base, Waco, ' Tex. A twister picked the Bruner I car up and swept it from the highway. Her husband and two children were injured and in a ‘ hospital. Sees Funnel Clouds Highway patrolmen Dough HowI ard and A. D. Langston reported that they saw two funnel clouds. The community of Vaughan, . which was reported destroyed, is > south of Hillsboro. Bynum is t southeast and the twister del stroyed homes between the two points. ’ Highway patrolman Raymond ■ Wallace of Hillsboro, who drove • his squad car through part of 1 the stricken area, reported homes flat on the ground and the roacT filled with broken and sputtering > power lines. ■ “I drove toward Vaughan," he said, “but I had to stop and , wait until an REA (Rural Electrification Administration) , truck 1 came along to cut the broken • power lines. Two Houses Stand “Every house that I saw from U. S. Highway 81 to Vaughan, a i distance of about seven miles, • was levelled with the exception of two. These two were heavily L damaged. - “The service station and five i or six' hdrnes in Vaughan—about 5 all there is of the community — were levelled. There was further » damage west toward Acquilla.

>— - : Grabill Bank Robbed Os $4,000 Tuesday

t r GRABILL, Ind. (UPD—A bandit • who bragged he had “killed a 1 man this week” held up the Grabill Bank and robbed it of about $4,000 Tuesday in a crime staged . so quietly that customers didn’t realize anything was wrong. The gunman held up Ralph Clif- ’ ton, the assistant manager, and forced him to enlist the aid of a f teller, Roland Shaw, to fill a suitcase with cash. Only Clifton and Shaw knew of the holdup. Other employes and five customers went about their ■ business without knowing a holdup was in progress. ~, The bandit fled down an alley in this small town in Allen County. Police roadblocks and a state police helicopter failed to find the man. Police said bank employes told them the bandit staged the holdup ; on his senond visit to the bank. 1 Mrs. Marcella Stegler, a teller, 5 said the man calk'd earlier and - asked for the manager. When , Mrs. Stegler told him the manr ager was out of town, and that > Clifton was his assistant, the man r said he would return. When he came back, the bandit approached Clifton and ordered him into a private office. Clifton

I ' ' ■* 1 11 . 'J ■ — ■ ■■ ——— ‘ Strike Os Teachers Continues GARY, Ind. (UPD—Three of the board, Avery vice president and ers and school administrators • five members of the Calumet Twp. Busse treasurer. would handle the instruction. High Metropolitan School Board re- Nearly 130 teachers—more than school principal Harold Strickler f signed today in connection with a four-fifths the total faculty — said many mothers had volun3 strike of teachers at seven schools walked out Tuesday at five ele- teered to teach to keep the ‘ over policies adopted by the mentary schools and two high schools open. " board. - schools in nearby Calumet Town- “I do not feel the students are f Clarence J. Greenwald, a Gary ship. at fault in any way,” Strickler = attorney, Lester H. Alvey, and They threw up picket lines said. “I feel they are unfortunate ■ Arthur N. Busse authorized the around the schools and urged stu- victims of an unfortunate situa- ? board secretary to deliver their dents to stay home. More than tion.” : resignations to Lake Circuit Judge half of the 5,000 pupils did so. A spokesman in Schuur’s office Felix Kaul, whose duty it is to The teachers said they were pro- who would not give his name said • appoint new members to fill un- testing school board policy on the ‘‘situation today is much Uke ; expired terms of the elected offi- working hours, transfers, salaries, it was yesterday,” t cials. sickness and school rules. He said strikers returned to Meanwhile, non-union teachers Thomas Dalton, president of the their picket lines as they did - and volunteers resumed classes at Calumet Township Teachers Fed- Tuesday when the strike started. • the schools while the striking reg- eration, representing the teachers, He said all seven schools were r ular faculty members paraded in said the school board refused to open but only one class was operpicket lines for the second day. recognize the union and tried to ating at the junior high school 1 The three board members quit pressure teachers into signing and the high school. 1 after a closed session late Tues- new contracts. The teachers, parents and 9 day night with union officials. School Supt. Earl J. Schuur school officials met Tuesday night - wfyich broke up without agreement vowed classes would be held as to discuss grievances, but the - on a plan to settle the issues cited scheduled today for senior high meeting ended *ith no agreement, i by the teachers’ union as responsi- school students and the ’first six Schuur warned the teachers b ble for the walkout. grades. they could lose their state teachGreenwald was president of the Schuur said 14 non-union teach- ing licenses.

• GARY, Ind. (UPD—Three of the ■ five members of the Calumet Twp. Metropolitan School'- Board ref signed today in connection with a 3 strike of teachers at seven schools ‘ over policies adopted by the " board. , ' Clarence J. Greenwald, a Gary 3 attorney, Lester H. Alvey, and ‘ Arthur N. Busse authorized the 3 board secretary to deliver their 3 resignations to Lake Circuit Judge Felix Kaul, whose duty it is to ■ appoint new members to fill unl expired terms of the elected offit cials. Meanwhile, non-union teachers • and volunteers resumed classes at • the schools while the striking reg--3 ular faculty members paraded in picket lines for the second day. 1 The three board members quit 1 after a closed session late Tues--0 day night with union officials, - wtych broke up without agreement - on a plan to settle the issues cited i by the teachers’ union as responsie ble for the walkout. Greenwald was president of the

School Teacher Testifies At Murder Trial

INDIANAPOLIS (UPD - A school teacher testified at the murder trial of Mrs. Connie Nicholas today that several seconds elapsed between the revolver shots that killed Forrest Teel. Mrs. Edna Smith was the closest things to an eye witness to the i slaying of the 54-year-old drug ; company vice president, who had , broken off a 15-year affair with the tiny divorcee. Mrs. Smith, a sixth grade . teacher with more than 25 years , experience, was attracted by the sound of “high and excited” voices coming up from the drive- • way below her apartment. She stood in a window looking ■ down on Teel’s white Cadillac and then heard explosions which she first thought were firecrackers thrown by teenagers. Heard Three Shots She was not able to make out what the voices were saying. 1 “How many explosions did you hear?” asked Deputy Prosecutor 1 Francis Thomason. "There were three," Mrs. Smith ! said' ‘"Die noise of the first ricoi cheted off the walls. Then there r were two more.” ; “How much time elapsed between them?” ! "Seconds,” she said. I "How many seconds?" i “A few seconds. That’s all I can : say.” "Then what did you see or hear?" "I saw a person get out of the white car and run across the 1 street and get into another car. It started up and drove off.” “Then what happened?” i “The white car started up and ' came out of the driveway. There was a terrific screeching of-tires ; and the sound of metal and then t a" terrific crash.” ” ' ■ ■ Describes Miss Mowrer r The prosecution was establishing that Mrs. Nicholas ran away

- said the man shoved him against a wall and rammed a pistol into ’ his stomach. ' “Do you like to live?” the man ' asked. Clifton nodded. "Then ■ don’t do anything wrong because I’ve already killed one man this ’ week,” the bandit warned. 1 Shaw filled the suitcase and was 1 ordered to walk to the entrance ■ with the bandit, who grabbed tire t money and ran out. The bandit was described as 1 about 30 years old, dressed in a brown hat and brown suede ' jacket, weighing about 165 pounds and standing about 5-10 in height. Doubt Republicans To Fill Ticket By Monday ( Republican city chairman John Doan stated Tuesday that although the Republican central committee I can still fill the tfbket before April i 6, he does not believe that they • want to do so. Doan stated that there had been i much talk about a “citizens tickJ et/' ami that it was possible there : would be no Republican standardl bearer this fall if a citizens ticket i is formed.

Six Centl

from the mortally wounded Teel and probably even heard the sound of his auto crash as It spun out of control. Mrs. Smith and her husband lived in the apartment directly across the hall from Laura Mowrer, 30, Teel’s new girL He had spent the evening there while Mrs. Nicholas waited outside for him. On cross-examination, defense lawyer Charles Symmes asked Mrs. Smith if she knew Miss Mowrer had a “visitor” that evening. ‘‘No,” she said. ‘‘Describe Laura Mowrer.” “Well, she was about two inches taller than me, slender, intelligent, quiet, about 30.” An earlier witness was Dr. Ralph McVaugh, Pendleton, Ind., dentist, who said that as he drove along the street at the slaying scene he saw Teel’s car careen into a pole “tike a chicken with its head cut off.” Prosecutor Phillip L. Bayt announced that the state would not introduce Mrs. Nicholas’ suicide notes into evidence because they are ‘‘self-serving.’’ The defense said it might. Tells of Gun Purchase Mrs. Smith was followed on the stand by Eugene Scheier, state police employe in charge of records of firearm sales. Scheier said his department received a gun license on July 24, a week before the slaying, made out to a Connie Nicholas and sold by the B & G Swap Shop. It was sent back, Scheier said, with instructions to put down die full name of the owner and then was returned signed "M.B. Nicholas.’’ Mrs. Nicholas’ actual name 'is Minnie Belle: ’ The coroner who performed the . autopsy on Teel was scheduled as ’ next witness. Earlier, a furniture store owner testified he was the driver of a “mystery” car seen at the scene of the slaying. Farm Prices, Costs Show Slight Boost WASHINGTON (UPI) — Both farm prices and farm production costs rose slightly in the month ended March 15, the Agriculture Department reports. The increases were .4 per cent for prices farmers received and one-third of 1 per cent for prices paid by farmers. That matched exactly the declines registered in each category a month ago. In each month, the price changes were insufficient to disturb the parity ratio showing the relationship between prices received and prices paid. The index of prices received was nearly 5 per cent below a year ago, and the index of prices paid was up nearly 2 per cent from March, 1958. The parity ratio was down 6 per cent for the 12-month period. •».. The most important price increases in March were reported for cotton, beef cattle, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, and wheat. Partially offsetting were lower prices fur milk, eggs, lettuce, and strawberries The overall increase in farm production costs stemmed from higher prices for feeder livestock, farm machinery, and tractors.