Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 60, Number 302, Decatur, Adams County, 24 December 1962 — Page 1

Vol. LX. No. 302.

ih . ]■ jTTQB ■ ' - S' ■ ■ i B - i', tEw JH ■ vH FAMOUS LADY— Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, Mona Lisa, is uncrated in the National Art Gallery, Washington, D. C., in the presence of Jean Chatelelne of the Museum of France, left, and John Walker, National Gallety director.

Invasion Prisoner Tells Prison Life

(EDITOR’S NOTE; Hollowcheeked Cuban invasion prisoner, Edgardo Buttari Jr., 26-year-old son of a former Cuban secretary of labor, detailed for United Press International what a day was like in Fidel Castro'S maximum security prison on the Isle of Pines where he spent more than seven months with 213 other captured invaders. Here is the story in his own words.) By EDGARDO BUTTARI As Told To UPI MIAMI (UPI),,— For more than seven months, the day began about 6:30 am. with a push, a shove,a loud noise. Each day was like *nothe»v And the glaring light — the sun in the daytime and the electric bulbs when it was dark outside. About 300 ofJis.. =: some were political prisoners—were crushed in a cell maybe large enough to hold 50 beds. For bedding we had the floor. For covers, we had whatever clothes we had on, on that particular day. After our rude awakening by the guands, we waited for breakfast. Sometimes it came, sometimes it didn’t. We had to warm it up when it did come. Normally we were served coffee and bread, sometimes coffee and plantain. Sit And Wait The rest of the morning we just sat and waited to be mustered. Sometimes, for as long as a month, we would be given our breakfast at 11 a.m* our lunch at 12:30 p.m. and our supper at 2 p.m. Normally, however, we would get our lunch — usually cornmeal with nothing to drink—at about 1 pm. -After long hours of waiting we would be permitted" to take turns at the two shower baths provided for us. Then we would be served Suspend Business Here On Christmas Business will be suspended in Decatur Tuesday as local residents observe the birth of Jesus Christ. Practically all stores arid offices will be closed for the day, including federal, state, county and city offices. Only mail delivery Christmas Day will be special delivery. The First State Bank, the public library, and the Daily Democrat will also be closed. Only exception to tbe closing will be the theater 'and possibly some restaurants, confectioneries and service stations. Special church services will celebrate the birth of Christ. A midnight mass will be celebrated at St. Mary’s Catholic church, at 12 o’clock tonight. The mass will be preceded by a pro- ., gram of sacred music by the men’s choir, beginning at 11:40 p. m. Masses on Christmas day will follow the Sunday schedule with an extra low mass after the 6 and 7:15 masses. The high school girls will sing the 8:30 high mass, the grade school will sing carols at the 9:45 mass, and the men’s choir will sing high masses at midnight and at 11 a. m. Worship services will be held at the Zion Lutheran church at 9 o'clock Christmas morning. Several of the Protestant churches will hold special candlelight services from 11 until 12 o'clock tonight. Christmas programs were held in a number of the churches Sunday.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

supper. It was macaroni. Always macaroni. For as long as I can remember. It was terrible, just terrible. Then the waiting again, always with a warning we must be very quiet. Makes Chess Board Once we managed to make a chess board out of cigar boxes and we played chess. Very little body harm was done to us — shoves mostly—although on one occasion or two we saw some of our companions in prison being beaten up by guards. The Communists don’t try to break ypu by force. Hiey just bother you to death. They give you something one day and take it away from you for the next two months. We never received mail. Somehow, though, we managed to keep, informed generally of what went on in the outside world. We learned with glee about the Cuban blockade. But nobody will ever, ever believe things that happened to us happened to humans. We weren’t just worms, as Fidel Castro called us. We had to be pigs to exist in that. It’s a wonder only one of us died. Filthy Conditions Enrique Borras, who was 41, died from a stomach pain in July (of 1961). It may have looked like a natural death, but he would have lived if they had taken him to a hospital. Instead, they just let him lie on the floor and get worse until he died. Conditions were filthy, There was no soap, no toilet paper, little water and everybody stunk. Despite the hardships, I do not remember that any of us ever lost our faith — we would be rescued some day from that horrible cell. Now that we are here, thank God, we would be willing to go back again to try to liberate our country from that oppressor. Mrs. Minnie Gage Is Taken By Death Mrs. Minnie Gage. 87, of 338 Line street, widow of George A. Gage, died at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at) the Berne nursing home following an illness of six months of complications. She was born in Monroe May 2.1, 1875, a daughter of Jonathan and Druscilla Engle-Burkhead, and was a lifelong resident of Adams county. She was married in 1895 to George A. Gage, who preceaed her in death in 1953. Surviving are two grandchildren: two-great-grandchildren, and three sisters, Mrs. Belle Hocker of Monroe. Mrs. Lola Parriah of Mongo, and Mrs. Sarah Gould of Decatur. One daughter, Mrs. Charles Burke, died in 1959. Also deceased are two brothers, J. N. Burkhead and one who died in infancy, and a sister Mrs. George Heddlngton. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Friday at the Winter-egg-Linn funeral home, the Rev. Charles M. Hill officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 2 p.m. Thursday until time of the services. Good Fellows Club Previously Reported ..... $796.32 Psi lota Xi 25.00 Joe & Roger Geimer 5.00 Friend from Monroe ..... 1.00 . Total $827.32

Snow Forecast For Nation On Christmas Day By United Press International Weathermen today packaged up a white Christmas prediction for much of the nation, but warned of hazardous driving in many areas. There was new snow from the central Rockies to the central Appalachians and rain southward through the Gulf and southeast states. Only Florida was clear and warm. Snow was expected to spread into the Middle and North Atlantic states but clear skies were predicted for the Far West, northern Plains and Rockies. Most of the nation would get below - normal temperatures for Christmas, the weathermen said. A huge mound of arctic air crested over the lower Ohio Valley and another mass of frigid air pushed down from the Yukon into the western half of the nation. These were the forces responsible for the deep freeze. Snow spread from Utah, Nevada and Colorado and from South Dakota down through northern Texas. A narrow finger of snow extended eastward through Arkansas and into Mississippi. Sleet and freezing rain made driving hazardous in west central Texas. Houston had 2.5 inches of rain. Four to five inches of fresh snow were oh the ground at Floydada, Tex., and some spilled over into New Mexico. One inch fell at Lubbock and Midland, Tex., in six hours. Another snowfall left an inch in Wyoming and small amounts in Nevada. In New York, seven inches of snow fell in a nine-hour period at Boonville, and a 45-mile-an-hour wind whipped the snow and cut visibility to almost zero. Boonville had 27 inches of snow on the ground. Up to 12 inches were expected to fall around Watertown and Pulaski, N.Y. Snow flurries were expected across the Great Lakes into the eastern Ohio Valley. The temperature dropped to 15 below at Drummond, Mont., early today. It was 7 below at •Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., and 3 below at Chicago. The temperature was only 17 at Louisville, Ky.; 18 at St. Louis, Mo., and 20 at Kansas City, Kan. The mercury tumbled to 20 below at International Falls, Minn., Sunday. The Weather Bureau warned of a cold wave for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and said freezing temperatures were expected as far south as Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Messenger Robbed Os Sack Os Mail CHICAGO (UPI) — Two armed men today robbed a bank messenger of a sack of mail he was delivering from a post office to the bank. - , First reports immediately after the robbery said SIOO,OOO in registered mail and as much as $50,000 in cash was involved. A bank official said later the mail was not registered and there was no cash in the sacjj. The only money involved was in the form of checks made out for deposit, the bank official said. Roy J. Knockemus, 59, Lincolnwood, Hl., told police the men drove up in a car as he was carrying the sack of mail on his oneblock route from the Ravenswood post office_tp the Commercial National Bank. He said one of the men reached out of the window of the auto and stuck a gun to his head, forcing him to get into the car. Knockemus said they drove him a few blocks then dumped him out into the street. BULLETIN ' David B. Heller, advertlaing manager of the Decatur Dally Democrat, suffered what appeared to be a heart attack this morning, and was taken to the Adams county memorial hospital where he is in oxygen, and will Undergo furthertetfta later this afternoon. ft >■' INDIANA WEATHER Cloudy and not quite so cold tonight, chance of occasional snow late tonight. Tuesday cloudy and not quite so cold with occasional snow likely. Low tonight 8 to 15 north, 12 to 20 south. High Tuesday in 20s. Sunset today 5:25 p.m. Sunrise Tuesday 8;04 a.m. i • Outlook for Wednesday; Snow Tuesday night sad Wednesday, little temperature change. Low Tuesday night low 20s, high Wednesday near 30.

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, December 24,1962.

Mercy Airlift Os Cuba Invasion Prisoners Is 1 ,' '• f ' - f In Final Phase Today

Heavy Firing, - In Katanga

ELISABETHVILLE, Katanga, The Congo (UPl)—Heavy firing broke out here today between Katanga gendarmes and United Nations Ethiopian troops. The Katanga forces shot down a U.N. helicopter and took all nine persons aboard prisoner. The fierce fight, in which heavy machine guns and lighter weapons were used, lasted about half an hour and touched off wholesale panic among the capital’s African population. Katanga President Moise Tshombe told a news conference “There were no known casualties on the Katanga side.” United Nations officials had no immediate casualty report to make on the clash that broke out near the giant Union Miniere mining installation. During the exchange, the Katangese shot at a U.N. helicopter, forcing it to land and the three Swedes and six Indians aboard were taken prisoner. Katanga officials said one of the passengers suffered a slight leg wound. At one point the firing seemed to cover a half-mile stretch at the plant. African residents of Elisabethville ~ fleiT the "City" for their ramshackle “communes” in the suburbs, abandoning bundles, bicycles and food in their flight. Tshombe claimed the Ethiopian U.N. troops advanced into a slag heap guarded by Katangese at the mining plant and opened fire. He claimed his gendarmes only fired into the air while awaiting further instructions. Katanga officials said several rifle bullets ripped holes in the fuselage of the U.N. helicopter. It landed after missing some high-tension wires. Indian Gurkha troops of the U. N. force remained on the alert facing Katangese in the area where the helicopter landed. One officer reported the situation was “tense.” DECATUR TEMPERATURES Local weather data for the 4 8 hour period ending at 11 a.m. today. Saturday Sunday 12 noon 33 12 midnight - 34 1 p.m ....... 34 1 a;m: 2 p.m 36 2 a m. 37 3 p.m 34 3 a.m 36 4 p.m 34 4 a.m. . . ... 32 5 p.m 33 5 a.m 30 6 p.m 32 6 a m 30 7 p.m 31 7 a m 27 8 p.m. ........... 32 8 am.............-27 9 p.m 33 9 a.m. 24 10 p.m 33 10 a m 24 11 p.m 34 11 a m 24 Sunday Monday I<2 noon 24 12 midnight -18 1 p.m 24 1 a.m 15 2 p.m 23 2 a m 14 3 p.m 24 3 a.m 1 4 4 p.m 22 4 a.m 13 5 p.m 22 5 a m 13 6 p.m 20 6 a.m 13 7 p.m 20 7 a.m.—.13 8 p.m. 18 8 a.m 13 ~ 9 p.m 18 9 a.m. - 14 10 p.m ; 18 TO a.m 15 11 p.m 18 11 a.m 20 Precipitation Total for the 48 hour period ending at 7 a.m. today, .0 inches. The St. Mary’s river was at 1.07 feet. ■—— —■ " T

Holiday Death Toll Is Under Estimate

By United Press International With the .quiet of Christmas Eve at hand, Americans were on the way to celebrating their safest Christmas holiday period on record. - 2 The National Safety Council had estimated between 650 and 750 persons would die in traffic accidents during the 102-hour holiday period from 6 p.m. Friday until midnight Tuesday. “If the present trend holds” said Howard Pyle, president of the safety council, the total would be as low as 550. This would be the safest Christmas holiday on record,” based on miles driven and cars on the road. The council has been keeping records for 26 years. At 10:30 a.m. EST United Press International had counted 336

Truman D. Dudgeon Is Taken By Death Truman D. Dudgeon, 82, retired farmer and resident of Willshire, 0., for the past 16 years, died at 4:10 p.m. Sunday at the Van Wert county hospital, where he had-been a patient one week. He was born in Adams county Dec. 6, 1880, a son of Douglas and Minerva Stacy-Dudgeon, and was married to Pearl Jones Sept, 25, 1902. His wife preceded him in death April 14, 1920. Mr. Dudgeon was a member of the Bethel Brethren church, four miles east of Berne. Surviving are four daughters, Mrs. Herbert (Nora) Byer of Kimmell, Mrs. Calvin (Cecil) Stephenson of Dayton, 0., Mrs. David j Florence) Carr and Mrs. Laurel (Edith) Bowen, both of Willshire; one son, Robert Lee Dudgeon oL Geneva; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; one brother, Arlie Dudgeon of Fort Wayne', and one sister., Mrs. Edna Lawson of Rockford, O. One daughter, Mrs, Bernice Gase, is deceased. Funeral services will be conducted at 9:45 a.m. Thursday at tfie Zwlck funeral home and at 10:30 a.m. at the Bethel Brethren church the Rev. Kenneth Russel officiating. Burial will be in the Mt. Hope cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. Tuesday until time of the services. New Sewing Machine Stolen From Auto • iAn unknown person will have a new sewing machine for Christmas as a “present” from the Wayne Clouse family, residents of route 6, Decatur. Clouse had purchased a new sewing machine, valued at $70,. for his tyife ’fbh Christmas Saturday evening, but someone definitely lacking in Christmas spirit stole the new machine from Clouse’s car. He had purchased the machine at a local store and 15 minutes later left the present in his car in the Schafer parking lot on N. First St. He left the vehicle for only an approximate 10 minutes, but long enough for someone to grab the gift and leave. When he returned he found the present gone, and reported the theft to the city police at 8:50 p.m. - - The machine was still in file original box, and gift-wrapped. As one of the investigating police officers stated. “It takes all kinds to make up a world.”

traffic deaths since the holiday period started at 6 p.m. local time Friday. <■ The holiday traffic death breakdown: Traffic 336 Fires 47 Planes 8 Miscellaneous 35 Total 426, Totals 394. California led the nation with 29 traffic deaths. Illinois had 27 fatalities, and state officials feared the toll might be second only to the black Christmas of 1956 when 56 persons died during a similar period. Other states' traffic toll included Texas 24, New York 14, Georgia and Florida 13 each and Indiana 12. j■ '

BULLETIN HAVANA (UPD—The airlift to Cuba of the goods being exchanged for the Cuban invasion prisoners has been completed, a Pan American World Airways spokesman said today. MIAMI (UPD—The mercy airlift bringing Cuban prisoners of war back to their loved ones entered the final phase today, ending a heart-stopping delay caused when Fidel Castro insisted on making sure personally that he had all the ransom goods. The bearded Cuban premier demanded every promised pound of the first payment on a S7O million ransom in drugs, medical supplies and foodstuffs before he permitted continuation of the flights to freedom. The Red Cross said that the goods finally all had been delivered. After that, starting at 9:25 a.m. EST, the first plane carrying 109 captives imprisoned in”-the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion was permitted to take off. It was followed by a second plane carrying 108 former prisoners. Added to the 425 freed Sunday, this left only 471 prisoners still in Cuban hands. Four more planes, an official said, simultaneously would speed from Miami to the San Antonio de Los Banos air base, 25 miles from Havana, to continue the shuttle to safety for 688 captives still in the hands of the Castro government. ” Officials apparently were concerned that unless they stepped up their flight’ schedule they might run into more inexplicable delays such as occurred Sunday when 425 of the prisoners taken in the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion finally were brought to Miami. The first delay lasted almost 11 hours as Premier Fidel Castro personally inspected manifests of supplies promised in the S7O million ransom he demanded. Then, although plane crews had hoped to work all night if necessary to shuttle out the remaining Cubans, imprisoned for more than 20 months, there was another closing of the Sugar Cane Curtain. Planes waited in Cuba from 7:27 a.m. Sunday until 5:07 p.m. before the first one was permitted to leave. Four plane loads were flown out but, after the last'one landed fit Homestead Air Force Base at 8:48 p.m., there was a halt in the activity. Th® officials announced belatedly at 12:30 a.m. that there would be no further flights until later this morning. ‘.‘This will be the happiest Christmas of our lives,” the liberated captives agreed after four planes carried them through velvety skies Sunday night to the arms of their loved ones waiting in Miami. « They were ready to fight again for the liberation of their homeland “after we fatten up a little.” But the clean-shaven if shaggy patriots worried fretfully over the fate of those they had left behind. They knew they had reason. Because their own families had waited through nearly 11 anguished hours Sunday while the bearded Castro personally held up the first departures. ' Castro inspected perishable medical supplies, 12 loads flown in by cargo plane. Then he scanned the manifests of the black-hulled World War II freighter African Pilot which in midafternoon delivered trie bulk of the early ransom supplies he had been promised. : Finally Gives Consent Only then, lounging in a brand new U.S. • automobile beside the isolated San' Antioni de los Banos Air Base 25 miles from Havana, did ee finally gave Jus consent for the departure of The first plane load of prisoners. According to ore released prisoner, Castro’s deliberate stalling ceased only after a heated portest by New York attorney James B. Donovan. Enrique Ruiz Williams, who arrived here on the first plane, said Donovan pleaded with Castro “to let the first plane go.” According to Ruiz, the Cuban premier finally waved his arms wildly and shouted: “All right. And use, all your , planes. Get them out of here.”

Dock Workers Out On Strike

NEW YORK (UPD — A strike by 75,000 dockworkers brought shipping to a near halt today at East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports. Leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) confident of a quick victory, turned down President Kennedy’s eleventh-hour appeal for a 90-day truce he had urged “in the national interest.” The dockworkers helped shippers load and unload cargoes in the feverish last hours of port activity Sunday, then left piers from Maine to Texas at the appointed hour of 5 p.m. EST. An 80-day “cooling off” period ordered under the Taft-Harley Act expired at that time. In answer to Kennedy’s warning that the strike would “choke the economy and cut the nation’s lifelines with the rest of the world,” the ILA replied it would be “fruitless” to delay a walkout for three months of talks. The union promised to continue handling all military cargo. The main issue in the deadlocked dispute was over the size of work gangs. The New York Shipping Association (NYSA) wants the gangs reduced from 20 to 17. The ILA claims such a reduction would result in 5,000 longshoremen losing their jobs. Predict Short Strike Thomas W. (Teddy) Gleason, vice president of the ILA, predicted the strike would be short. “They’re very weak, we’ll lick ’eih fast,” he declared. Similar views were expressed by ILA officials in other cities. In New Orleans, ILA Local 1418 President Alfred Chittenden estimated the strike will last only 8 to 10 days because “the country can’t take it” any longer. A, Virginia dock foreman said a settlement will come “after the holidays when everybody will be more- suitable to concentrate.” The speeded-up Sunday work schedule made it possible for many freighters to complete cargo handling before the strike deadline, and move out to sea or drydock. Other vessels were left with cargoes only partially loaded or put ashore, and still more ships arrived in ports .after the deadline with goods that will remain in holds for an indefinite period. The Coast Guard announced in New York that boarding parties will examine the contents of all ships reported carrying “dangerous or hazardous” commodities. The inspection will be made to assure that proper safety precautions are observed, Coast Guard spokesman said. One vessel under close watch was the Peruvian freighter Amazonas, anchored off Savannah, Ga. The Amazonas was carrying a cargo of highly combustible fish meal which could ignite spontaneously if stored for a long period. Token Pickets Appear The Coast Guard said that between 50 anch6o ships remained in berths or at anchor in th£ New York port area as of 6 r /m. today. About 70 others departed Sunday and during the pre-dawn hours this morning. Token platoons of pickets appeared at some docks in the New York-New Jersey waterfront area Cuban Crisis Voted Top Story Os Year CHICAGO (UPD — More than 9,000 weekly rind small daily newspaper editors polled by the Publishers’ Auxiliary said Cuba was the top story of 1962, which they termed “the newsiest year since World War it.” ' Other top choices, in order? were: ’ ■ ' h - - Mississippi, Glenn and Co. space shots, elections, thalidomide, death of Eleanor Roosevelt, Billie SoJ, Estes, Telstar, death of Marilyn Monroe and Ecumenical Conference.

SEVEN CENTS

and along the Texas coast. But most ILA locals indicated they will not organize picket lines on a regular basis until Wednesday. Tugboat crews helped move several freighters in and out of New York harbor berths following the walkout deadline. They reported that since no picket boats were observed, there was no reason to refuse service, according to the Moran Towing and Transportation Co. Fears that seamen’s unions may order members not to cross the ILA picket lines led the United States lines to send its luxury liners, the United States and the America, to drydock at Newport News, Va. A spokesman for the line said this was done to assure adequate maintenance of the ships during the strike. Both ships were scheduled to leave on ’ cruises which were canceled. a Three Os Honda Family Injured A Sarasota, Fla., family, father, mother and daughter, were transferred from the Adams county hospital to the Luthern hospital in Fort Wayne early Saturday evening, following a three-car accident on U.S. 27, two and one-half miles south of Berne. The daughter, Robbin Renae, five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James O. Wilson, Sarasota, Fla., was the most seriously injured of the three. The little girl suffered a severly lacerated face, and was immediately transferred to the Fort Wayne hospital. She was listed in poor condition later Saturday evening, but was reported as “doing better" Sunday. The father, 27 years of age, and mother, Sandra Wilson, 24, both suffered sever facial arid mouth injuries, and the mother also received a broken jaw. They were .also transferred to Lutheran. County Man Arrested Gordon Leroy Farlow, a 41-year-old resident of route 2, Berne, was arrested for driving left of cep ter, by the investigating officers, ana cited into Berne justice of the peace court, to appear January 15. Farlow suffered abrasions and bruises, in addition to shock and a possible concussion. He was unable to remember anything that h able to remember anything that happened leading up to the accident. Driver of the third car involved, Walter C. Schug, 57, route 1, Berne, escaped the mishap without injuries. Strikes Broadside Schug was southbound on 27 and had stopped to make a left turn into his driveway, as the northbound Wilson auto, a small sports car. was approaching. Farlow was approaching the Schug car from the rear and when Schug time, he pulled his car to the right, saw he wouldn’t be able to stop in attempting to get out of the path of the Farlow auto. Farlow’s "car, however, struck . the left rear of the Schug car, and careened off it at a direct left turn,*and was smashed broadside by Wilson, who was unable to stop in time. z , Belts In Use The Indiana state police and sheriff’s department, J who investigated the 6:15 p.m, mishap, agreed that undoubtedly there would have been fatal injuries in the Wilson car if the couple had not been wearing seat belts at the time of the mishap. Both Wilson, who was driving, and his wife, had seat belts on, but the young daughter was sitting on her mother’s lap and was thrown into the windshild and then out the door of the car, after the impact. The Wilson’s 1960 model sports car was estimated at a total teas, as was Farlow’s 1953 vehicle. The Schug car suffered only SSO damages.