Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 57, Number 152, Decatur, Adams County, 29 June 1959 — Page 1

Vol. LVII. No. 152.

Probe Georgian River Depths For Bodies Os Victims Os Explosion

MELDRIM, Ga. (UPD-Skin-divers probed the murky depths of the Ogeechee River today for more victims of an explosion that sent flaming butane gas cascading down on a river playground Sunday afternoon. At least 17 were dead, some of them children who had been swimming, boating and fishing with their parents and friends at the popular recreation spot near Savannah. Scores were injured, . some of them horribly burned. Many persons were unaccounted for but it was impossible to compile any accurate number. About a hundred were at the spot when -the accident happened. The tragedy occurred as a milelong Seaboard freight train rolled across a trestle crossnig the river — -ta wooden bridge supported by long pilings. Twenty-five feet underneath were a bathing beach and fishirig area, crowded, with men. women and children taking —. respite from the heat. A Caldron of Flames Suddenly, between 4 and 5 p.m. catastrophe struck. 'There was what one eyewitness described as “a funny noise” on the tracks above and the cars -began to plunge from the tracks. ’ From ruptured butane cars gushed thousands of gallons of .- liquid cooking gas, washing in a flood that looked like white ground fog over the recreation area. Some persons on the. river bank were too awestnick even to rim. Others fled. > v, .. A five-aere area was reduced in seconds to a scene looking as though it Had absorbed a direct bomb hit. Trees were blackened. The fire was so intense that young hickory nuts were loosened and the ground was covered with them. The two gas cars, their shells ripped asunder, still were burning this morning on the river bank. No attempt was made to put out the flames. Drag Biver for Victims The swift current of the river hampered efforts to probe the depths. A.T. Linton, director of civil defense and director of rescue |jgperations, said "It’s a mean river, the current is so swift, we can t

Truce Agreed To In Steel

: ' 1 NEW YORK (UPD—Chances of a peaceful settlement of the steel wage controversy brightened today, with tension between the negoiators eased as a result of President Eisenhower’s intervention. Taking advantage of a two week truce—which moved the strike deadline from Tuesday midnight until 12:01 a.m. July 15—Hie fourman negotiating teams of labor and management have agreed to step up their efforts to reach a settlement. Beginning Wednesday, when th6 negotiating teams resume theif talks, the joint eight-man conferees will hold morning and afternoon sessions until further notice. Although neither side shows any immediate signs of making major concessions, indications are that '‘realistic” collective will take place in the near future. No Furnace Banking All talks of steel mills banking blast furnaces and making other plans for a work stoppage died off after both sides bowed to President Eisenhower’s appeal on Saturday to bargain "without interruption of production” for another fortnight, if necessary. / The two negotiating teams, headed by R. Conrad Cooper for management and Union President David J, McDonald for labor, got together in friendly fashion on Sunday, went through the formality of extending current agreements until 12:01 a.m. July 15, and recessed until Wednesday. McDonald, meanwhile, will meet behind closed doors today with the union’s 33-member executive board, and will confer later in the day with his 171-man Wage Policy Committee. In spite of the revival of hope that both sides are about to

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even get the hooks down.” Linton and sources of officials. 5 kkindivers and volunteers were J dragging the river for any further * victims. . ? Bw early morning, cranes had ' movJed most of the wreckage from the area. On the shores of the * river, several relatives of the vic--1 tints stood mutely, staring in J disbelief. 1 There were reports that as r many as 50 or 60 persons were * unaccounted for, but confusion at , the scene made it difficult to de--1 termine for sure. A rescue work- " er estimated that 100 persons 1 were in the area during the exI plosion. Os those not definitely counted among the dead or in- " jured it was not known how many I I fled, he said. r A' carefree summer's day f turned into a hell-on-earth when 14 cars of a mile-long freight 1 train plunged from a wooden tresJ tie into the crowd of swimmers 1 and picnickers. Two cars filled with butane, an inflammable gas, exploded — apparently touched * off by tho gaily-winking camp--5 fires of the victims-to-be. Cause in Doubt 3 A overheated "journal box,” 1 which contains wheel bearings, was blamed by some officials for 3 the train’s derailment, but others r said the cause would not be * known -for some time. ; But Harvey’s Fishing Camp, 10-1 1 cated two miles west of the small town 18 miles frbm Savannah, has c become a name of horror. It is ’ a place where small children . screamed and died as a searing 1 sheet of flame turned the quiet 3 waters of the Ogeechee into a 1 flaming liver of death and blast- ■ ed almost 300 acres of land. : For almost two hours after the 1 explosion smoke-blackened arnbu--1 lance attendants and rescue crews were unable to get closer 5 than 1,000 feet to the scene. " Ambulances and Army and Ma- ■ rine Corps helicopters were used ’ to transport the badly-burned victims to hospitals in Savannah, where one tragic scene followed ; another. Screams for Dead Son A mother, burned herself over her’ face and shoulders, ran screaming through the corridors ’ of Memorial Hospital in a frantic Continued -on page five

I‘— - ■ buckle down to give-and-take negotiating, management continued to argue its cause. Cooper Issues Statement Cooper issued a statement calling upon union leaders to "give ear to the public interest” and help combat inflation. “Whether inflating in America is to receive anotheh push from the current steel negotiations is the issue between us and the leaders of the steel union,” he said. “By the union’s own proclamation steel wages are now at the head of the wage-inflation parade. The Steelworkers could now, if they so choose, rest on their oars and give ear to the public interest.” McDonald called Cooper’s remarks “a rehash of the same old mish-mash.” Appearing on the NBC television show, “Meet the Press,” on Sunday Thomas Patton, president of Republic Steel, one of the twelve companies involved in the negotiations, said the entire steel industry is standing firm on a vow to negotiate any contract ha would increase over-all coss one cent. Patton said the industry had decided that this was the time to halt the nation’s wage-pushed inflation spiral.” Industry's position at the bargaining table is that any raise in labor costs would be inflationary. It has called upon the union to freeze wages for one year as an anti-inflationary measure. The union, on the other hand, contends that industry can grant “substantial” wage and benefit increases without raising prices in view of prevailing high profits. McDonald says he presented a “realistic” and “nbn-inflationary” proposal to industry last Wednesday but that it was rejected. ’ *

Girl Is Unharmed After All-Night Hunt

IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. (UPD —An all-night search of wild Upper Peninsula country by 250 veteran woodsmen aided by bloodhounds was rewarded today when 3-year-old Carol Van Hulla, Niagara, Wis., was found safe. The little blond, blue-eyed tot was exhausted but otherwise unharmed. When searchers came upon her on a roadway in the dense woodlands northeast of Norway Lake, she was munching on a candy bar. Carol disappeared late Sunday while on a picnic with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Van Hulla, at the Norway Lake picnie area. She apparently wandered away into the woods. The Dickinson County search and rescue squad, headed by the county sheriff and composed of experienced woodsmen and hunters, searched throughout the night and took up the search again this morning. A helicopter had been sent from Kinross Air Fbrcq Base. Bloodhounds which had trailed the little girl to a treacherous swamp area Sunday night and lost the trail, picked it up again this morning. They followed the new trail northeast from Norway Lake and came across little Carol at the edge of a black-top county road running through the woods. The spot wtiere Carol was found , was very close to the place where the body of 4-year-old Kenneth , Scott, Kingsford, Mich., was found last November. He had wandered off from his parents on a similar picnic, and was found several days later, dead from exposure. Carol was following the same woodland trail the Scott boy. apparently had followed. Amanda Richards Is Taken By Death Mrs. Amanda Ellen Richards, 86, of 721 Elm street, died at 3:25 o’clock Saturday afternoon at the South View rest home at Bluffton. She had been critically ill for the past weekBorn in Blue Creeic township Aug. 6, 1872, she was a daughter of John and Serenia Hemble-Evans, and was married to Frank Richards in 1902. Her husband preceded her in death in 1942. She was a lifelong resident of Adams ocunty, the last 39 years in Decatur. Surviving are one daughter, Mrs. Louie (Orie) Drake of Union township; two sons, Raleigh A. Rich ards of east of Decatur, and Sanford O. Richards of Fort Wayne; four stepchildren, Mrs. Delmar Richards of Comins, Mich., Harve Richards of Caldona, Mich., John Richards of Union City, Mich , and Charles Richards of Decatur; JI grandchildren; 16 great-grandchil-dren; one brother, George Reisen of Canton, 0.; one sister, Mrs. Lamom (Habzel) Parcell ot Grand Rapids, O.; two half-sistors, Mrs. John Everett of Colon, Mich., and Mrs. Edward Zellering of Union City, Mich., and two half-brothers, Hehry Evans of Vicksburg, Mich., and Zeke Evans of Decatur. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Zwick funeral home, the Rei. Emmet Anderson officiating. Burial will be in the Salem cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home until time of the services. Gordon Child Dies After Long Illness Sherry Gordon, three and onehalf year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gordon, South Bend, died Saturday afternoon in a South Bend hospital. She had been ill several months with leukemia. Among the survivors are grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Rauch, Decatur .Services will be Tuesday at the Welshiamer funeral home, South Bend, at 11 am.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IM ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, June 29,1959. — —-

Evelyn E. Brodbeck < Dies Early Sunday Mrs. Evelyn E. Brodbeck, 50, of Bobo, died at 3:30 o’clock Sunday morning in St. Joseph hospital, Fort Wayne, following an illness of two weeks. Her husband. Rufford A. Brodbeck, is also a patient in the same hospital. She was born in Convoy, 0., March 23, 1909, a dauglitec pf Albert and Grace Ramlfy-Burke, and was married to Rufford A. Brodbeck Dec. 24, 1925. She was an employe of Decatur Industries, and a member of the Decatur congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Surviving in addition to her husband are her mother, Mrs. Grace Burke, of Bobo; three sons, Lawrenefe of Fort Wayne, and Morris and Marcus Brodbeck, both of route 3, Decatur; six grand chil- , dren; six sisters, Mrs. ‘ Jesse (Doris) Daniels of Decatur. Mrs. Roger (Marjorie) Andrews of Fort I Wayne, Mrs. Harlo (Mary) Miller ' of St. Mary’s townjhip, Mrs. Roy 1 (Rosena) Schwartz and Mrs. Glen (Katherine) Isch. both of Bote, I and Mrs. G. M. (Bonnie) Alspaugh : of near Rockford, and four J brothers, Adrian and Verlin Burke, ’ both of Decatur, Jesse Burke of Sturgis, Mich., and Vaughn Burke J of Burr Oak, Mich. Her father, Albert Burke, died April 30 of this , year. A sister, Mrs. Lillian Martin, also preceded her in death. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Zwick funeral home, with Clyde Steele officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 prn. today. Plan Heart Surgery l For Decalur Child If transportation, perhaps a sta- * j tion wagon, is secured, arrangements will be complete for the . people who have offered to go to Indianapolis next week to donate blood for an operation for a fiver year-old Decatur girl. 1 Twenty persons have offered to ’ donate blood for the delicate heart surgery which little Deborah Ann Seitz, daughter of Mr: and Mrs. Raymond W. Seitz, is to i undergo July 8. Twelve of . prospective donors will travel to Indianapolis July 7. as they can • donate their blood the afternoon before the operation is performed, Mrs. Wanda Oelberg. executive secretary of the local Red Cross chapter, said this morning. Transportation to Indianapolis has been found for all but six donors. And a station wagon would do the trick. Anyone who would be willing to provide transportation for the six should con*tect the Red Cross. The Adams county chapter ofj the American heart association is providing the food for the donors. The Red Criss is checking the prospective donors for blood types, anl is helping to make, transportation arrangements. ' The surgery will correct a defect in the aorta, the main artery of the heart,, using the open heart method, which Aaron Yoder, also of Decatur, underwent a year ago this month. A heart-lung machine Continued on page live $70,000 Fire Loss At Elkhart Plant ELKHART, Ind. (UPD — Damage was estimated today at $70,000 in a fire which swept a onestory frame building housing the manufacturing plant of the £nsenada Mobile Home Corp, along U.S. 33 near Elkhart Saturday afternoon. About 10 trailers were on an assembly line in the plant when the fire started.

Business Bulletin From Decatur C. C. The month of May in Decatur kept abreast of most figures from April in statistics from the industrial division of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce, but figures were well ahead of data accumulated in May a year ago. Nine industries reported the following data. • Industrial empolyment in the city dipped a mere 10 persons from the April, 1959. total in May, as 1,643 were employed. The 1958 mark for May was topped by 197 persons. In industrial payrolls, the May, 1959, total was $702,763, or $88,094 more than the 1958 total, The decrease from the April total, amounted .to $23,560. Meters Increased An increase^, was noted in electric meters, including rural, last month over both previous figures. The May 1959 total was 4,013, whi'e April’s mark was 4,008 and thr previous May number was 3. <n. Increases were alsb noted in both water and gas meter. Water meter numbers for this May are 2.560. an addition of four from April and five from last May, i while in gas meters, the. May mark was 2,447, or an increase] of five in the April mark and 97 on last May’s meters. Including rural telephones,,. Decatur area residents added, three to the April total of 6,413 and 205 to last May’s mark. The current May’’number is 6,416. , Direct poor relief cases increased one in May over the April number of 21, byt decreased six from May, 1958. The number of persons .involved decreased 'by 31 on the April mark pf 48, but decreased by 26 on the May, 1958 number. Cost of poor relief, however, was ' substantially reduced over both previous- marks. The May, 1959, total was $1,385, a seduction of SSOB from April and $425 from last May’s total. The number of births dropped off in May from the April total with 43 being born compart'd to 50. while the total <?f last May was increased by 12. Deaths remained stable as nine were reported in each column. Carloadings Dropped Total carloadings dropped in May as 1.493 were reported compared to 1,671 in April and 2,141 in May of 1958. Carloadings-in, however, increased on the April figure as 678 were* recorded in May, which was 258 morejhan the April number, but 377 less than last May’s number. Carloadingsout showed April having the largest number with 1.251, while May 1958 had 1,<>86 and last May with 815. . May, "1959, led in building permits with 19, an increase of seven over both other figures, and substantially increased in total value over both previous figures. The May, 1959, total value of building was listed as $59,120, while the April mark was $36,650, or $6,280 more thart the May, 1958 mark. Former College Music Head Dies Sunday INDIANAPOLIS (UPI) — Miss Elsie MacGregor, former head of music departments at Franklin and Indiana Central Colleges and well known as a Hoosier church organist and choir director, died Sunday in a hospital here. She was S native of Bluffton. ( INDIANA WEATHER Partly cloudy south, cloudy * and cooler with occasional showers north tonight. Tuesday partly cloudy, warm and humid south, cloudy with little temperature change and occasional showers north half. Low tonight 60 to 66 north. 66 to 74 south. High Tuesday ranging from 70s extreme north to 90s extreme' south. Sunset today 8:17 p.m. Sunrise Tuesday 5:20 a.m. Outlook for Wednesday: Hot and humid south with increasing temperature and humidity north. Lows 65 to 75. Highs 85 to 95. ...AY" ■' ' ’i ■' ' >-

Death Car Driver Is Held In Jail ‘ The driver of the car which was involved in the car-truck mishap in which two Ohio children were killed in Decatur early morning is still being held in Adams county jail on a coroner's writ for reckless homicide. X coroner’s inquest will be conducted when a blood sample is returned from being processed and county persecutor Severin H. Schurger returns from an Army reserve officer’s training school, Elmer* Winteregg, Jr., county coroner, said today that Lester Cable, 33, of Dayton, O„ will be held without bond until the date is set for the inquest. He said |hat Schurger is expected to return to Decatur some time today. < Daughter’s Body Claimed The body of Cable’s daughter, Shellia Marie Cable, 13, of Cincinnati, was taken to Dayton this morning after laying unclaimed at the Zwick funeral home since the accident Saturday. Friends and relatives contributed "the funds for the funeral, which will be conducted Wednesday at Worst-Shank funeral home in Dayton. The mother of the child could not be located.The body of Cable’s stepson, Harold Lewis' 10 was taken to Coldwater, Mich., for services and burial by his mother, Elizabeth Cable, when she arrived in Decatur Saturday to verify the identity of the dead children. The Cable car rammed ihto the rear of a truck which was stopped in the northbound lane at the Erie railroad tracks Saturday at 2:55 a.m., killing the two children and injuring three others besides Cable. The impact sheared off the entire right side 4>f the car and caromed 65 feet gWay in the southbound lane. Skidded 125 Feet Police saib that about 125 feet of “indefinite” skid marks were laid down by the car before the point I of impact. I The injured children were released from the Adams county memorial hospital Saturday after being treated for superficial lacerations and bruises. Cable was treated for head bruises and shock. The police apprehended him at the hospital after he told nurses that he would use the fire escape to get away from the hospital. The city, sheriff and state police arrived and escorted Cable to a cell at the jail. , .0. e John Kirchenbauer Is Taken By Death Services will be -•• conducted at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Van Wert, 0.. for John Kirchenbauer, 72, who died Saturday in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Fort Wayne, after an illness of two and one-half years. Mr. Kirchenbauer was born September 11, 1886, in Wren, 0., and was an employe of the General Electric company before retiring seven years ago. He was a member of St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed chu rc h in Harrison township. Van Wert county. He resided in a Fort Wayne nursing home before entering the hospital. Surviving are two brpthers, Har-, old and Lester Kirchenbauer, Van Wert, and a sister, Mrs. Anna Fegley, Decatur. Friends may call at the Alspach funeral home. Van Wert, where services will be conducted Tuesday mgrning, the Rev. Paul Graeser, Van Wert, officiating. Burial will be in St. Paul’s cemetery in Harrison township, Van Wert county.

Soviet Exhibit To Open Tonight I

I r - NEW YORK (UPD—President i Eisenhower makes a quick visit 1 to New York today for a firsthand look at the new Soviet ex- 1 hibition and a possible meeting 1 with one of the Kremlin’s top 1 three men. s There was speculation that So- ' wiet First Deputy Premier Frol < Kozlov, who opens the exhibit officially tonight, may have flown : from Moscow with new word 1 from Premier Nikita Khrushchev s on the Berlin, impasse. Kozlov arrived Sunday after an 1 H-hour flight direct from. Moscow i aboard the pride and joy of So- 1 viet aernauts, the immense TU--114, the world's largest commer- < ciai airplane. < Kozlov opens the exhibition in t the New York Coliseum tonight t with Vice President Richard Nix- < on looking on. The exhibition will f last 40 days. Next month Nixon s opens a similar American show i in? Moscow. Trip Gains Importance Kozlov’? trip to New Yorkj< gained even more importance t upon the sudden announcement 1 Sunday that the President would 1

I h B ess anSM .■.. .?SaKfexs® ■ JM Mr I IIBIy •* ' aBR ’ JJR / DEDICATION AT CORNWALL— Queen Elizabeth II shown as she pulled the rope to unveil a monument in the center of the St. Lawrence Power Project Dam at the United States Canadian border officially opening the $650,000,000 project. At left is Vice President Nixon and at right Prince Philip.

House Passes t? . Tax Measure

WASHINGTON (UPD — The House, rushing to beat a Tuesday midnight deadline, today passed by *voice vote a compromise tax, extension bill designed to avert a ’ three-billion-dotiar revenue losfe. The measure would extend for another year the existing* tax Tates on corporation profits, pnd Excise : levies on such items as whiskey, i beer, wine, cigarettes,,automobiles : and auto parts. Without the legis- | lation, the rates would drop July 1. Senate action was expected later today. The compromise faced a possible floor fight from senators demanding amendments to repeal the federal 10 pet cent travel tax and to raise taxes on corporate dividends. L Other congressional news: Farm: House - Senate conferees today approved a compromise bill providing $4,686,600,000 for farm aid during the new fiscal year starting July The conference committee also toned down a proposal that would have put a $50,000 ceiling on price support loans that any farmer could receive in 1960. The compromise would allow farmers to receive more than this if they agreed to repay all over that amount or to cut their production as much- as 20 per cent. Airports: President Eisenhower signed a bill extending federal aid to airports for another two years. It preserves the current rate of 63 million dollars a year. Interest: The House Ways and Means Committee gave tentative approval to a new plan for lifting |Of interest rate ceilings on gov- ■ ernment borjids. As, approved, the Democraticsponsored measure would give the President power to raise interest rates when he felt it to be “in the national interest.” Eisenhower had asked

fly to New York to visit the exhibit today. It was reported that Kozlov was holding his schedule today open for a meeting with Eisenhower. Kozlov, as first deputy premier, shares the Kremlin No. 2 spot with Anastas Mikoyan, also first deputy premier. The Soviet exhibition is a sixacre 12 million dollar show extending over three floors of the sparkling Coliseum. Labelled the “Soviet exhibition of science, technology and culture,” it is devoted to Soviet life, works, culture andthe pursuit of politics. Tonight’s opening is purely ceremony. The public gets in Tuesday. Spectators will be “touring the Soviet Union without having to leave their own country,” according to the show’s director general, Alexei N. Manzhulo. Hie slice of Soviet life it shows is full and happy. Sputniks and Printed Advice The first floor is devoted to daily fashion shows. As you come up the escalator to the secondfloor landing, the scene is spectacular with sputniks and printed

Six Cents

ifor flat repeal of the current ceiling of 4V< per cent on long-term bonds. Equal Time: Chairman John C. . Doerfer of the Federal Comnfunica- . tlons Commission t old; a House subcommittee the FCC’s “equal time” rule should be repealed by , legislation. The rule requires a ’ television or radio station to givq equal time to a political candidate even though his opponent appears in a routine news broadcast. Local Man's Sister Dies In California ~ i Mrs. Gaylord Richey, 56, Encinitas, Calif., formerly Os Van Wert, 0., died Friday afternoon in a San Diego hospital following hn extended illness. The body of Mrs. Richey, who had resided in Van Wert, is being returned to the Cowan and Son funeral home, Van Wert, for services and burial. Arrangements ate incomplete. * Mrs. Richey was the former Verona Mary Stevens, daughter of the late Sheriff and Mrs. R. B. Stevens, and a native of Wren. She was a graduate of Wren high school. Surviving in addition to the husband ar? a son, Robert S. Richey, Wren: two daughters, Mrs. Robert Tuttle, Hicksville, 0., and Mrs. James Shock, Encinitas; two brothers, James Stevens, Convoy, 0., and Ralph Stevens. Decatur; and 10 grandchildren.

O I advice. Straight ahead are four tall Kelly green panels each bearing a legend in bright gold. Sample: “let there be-friendlier relations between the pcope of the Soviet Union and the United States of America.” And: "The foreign policy of th<* Soviet Union is a policy of peaceful co-existence of states with different social systems, a policy of preserving and reinforcing peace, of developing eonpmic and cultural relations with all countries.” Through the panels is the big “industry and agriculture” section. Center stage is a full-size model of the first Sputnik and the nose "cone of Sputnik II (which carried the dog Laika). Overhead, as though whizzing through space, is Sputnik 111, also life-size. And over all.watching down from on high, is a huge pictured bust of a bald, goateed, studious looking man — “Vladimir Lenin, founder of the world’s first socialist work- > ers’ and peasants’ state.” Below that' legend is this: “All power in the Soviet Union belongs Ito the working people of town and 11 country.” , - S 5 ■' .