Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 61, Number 266, Decatur, Adams County, 11 November 1963 — Page 1

VOL. LXI. NO. 266.

V li ' . uLh. ! Iht -1 I aul «jp. c? fck ■« /¥ • Br ~ EMk^~^,,..*/» »r Bh jfe; tF*' i v BQI JPMB W !> ;■ awi Wk MeM? { t ■ - | 1 K 3 ■ I 888 MINE DISASTER — Rescue workers gather at the scene of a mine disaster near Omuta City, Kyushu, Japan. Workers attempting to get to the trapped miners from three separate entrance routes were hampered by heavy gas and the danger of rockfalls.

REDDY FEATHER SAYS: AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE "TODAY'S bECATUR BOY SCOUTS V COMMUNITY FUND Ik TOTAL IS GIRL SCOUTS gk $19,456.12 CRIPPLED CHILDREN SOC. LYa LITTLE & PONY LEAGUES LjjiA The Goal Is d s Kw $28,993 SALVATION ARMY MENTAL HEALTH W Fund COMMUNITY CENTER jL Still Needs AMERICAN RED CROSS $9,536-88.” Give The United Way

Girl Admits To Killing Mother

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (UPI) —A 20-y ear-old Fort Wayne office worker admitted today, police said, that she shot and killed her mother in the family’s farmhouse last Thursday. The admission of Miss Linda Ann Miller to the rifle slaying of Mrs. Florence K. Miller. .45, a Columbia City telephone operator, solved a mystery which developed five days ago when Kenneth W. Miller found his wife’s body slumped over an ottoman in the living room. Mrs. Miller had been shot in the back of the head by a rifle as she worked a television puzzle during her lunch hour. Her husband had been working in the barn and found the 'body when he went to the house to see why his wife had not gone back to work after lunch. Det. Sgt. Norman N. Pierce of the Ligonier Post of the Indiana State Police said Linda broke down this morning a few hours before the funeral of her mother and admitted she slipped into the house unseen by her father and fired the fatal bullet. Pierce quoted the girl as saying she built up resentment over her mother’s attitude toward her over a long period of time.

Christina Mailand Dies This Morning Mrs. Christina Mailand, 66, of Marion township, Allen county 10 miles south of Fort Wayne on U. S. highway 27, died at 12:50 a.m. today at the Adams county memorial hospital. She had been in failing health for the past year and hospitalized for a month. Born in Adams county Sept. 30, 1897, she was' a daughter of. Henry and Elizabeth DirksonReiter. She had lived in Marion township since her > marriage to .. Herman C. Mailand Nov. 12, 1922. Her husband precede? Her" GT “f death Nov. 17, 1952. Mrs. Mailand was a member of St. John’s Lutheran church and its Ladies Aid society. Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. James (Gertrude) Young and Mrs. Donald (Dorothy) Konow, both of Fort Wayne, and Mrs. James (Anita) Stock of Angola; two sons, Wilmer H. Mailand of New Haven,- and Eugene C. Mailand of Decatur route 1; • 20 grandchildren; two brothers, Paul H. Reiter of Fort Wayne, and Martin Reiter of Decatur route 1, and one sister, Mrs. Ella Schroeder of Decatur route 1. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Zwick funeral home an dat 2 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran church. The Rev. Edwin A. H. Jacob will officiate, with burial In the church cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. today until time of the services.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY ' _

Linda worked in a Fort Wayne office. Pierce said. She was questioned last Friday in a routine check of members of the family. It was determined she was absent from work on the afternoon of the slaying and she could not account for the time. Pierce said Linda was a suspect since Friday and she broke down in the Miller home in the presence of Det. Sgt. Howard Lightfoot. Pierce described the girl as “nice looking, brown-haired” and intelligent. He said she would be jailed on preliminary charges of murder. Linda showed remorse in recounting the tragedy but did not break down and cry, Pierce said. She lived alone in a Fort Wayne apartment since taking the office job some months ago, he said. Mrs. Miller was playing a television “bingo” game when she was shot, apparently without seeing her assailant. Pierce said the girl told authorities she parked her car on a road out of sight of the Miller farmhouse and walked across fields to reach the house so her father wouldn’t see her.

INDIANA WEATHER Increasing cloudiness tonight. Tuesday mostly cloudy and cooler with chance of light showers or snow flurries. Low tonight 27 to 34. High Tuesday 46 to 56. Sunset today 5:33 p.m. Sunrise Tuesday 7:26 a.m. Outlook for Wednesday: Cloudy and continued cool with chance of snow flurries north. Lows mid 20s north to low 30s south. Highs in the 40s north and central, near 50 south. Westinghouse And Union In Agreement PITTSBURGH (UPI) — Westinghouse Electric Corp, and the United Electrical Workers of America (UE) have reached agreement on a contract covering 6,000 employes in six locations. The old contract ran out Oct. 14 but it was extended on a day-to-day basis as negotiations continued. A company spokesman said the agreement is similar to those signed earlier by the Federation of Westinghouse Independent Salaried Unions, the International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IVEW). The phasic contract is for three years with a five-year agreement covering suph benefits as pensions, insurance and vacations.

Herbert H. Stoner Dies Saturday Night Herbert H. Stoner, 81, wellknown Decatur man, who resided at 222 Jefferson street, died at 10 c’clock Saturday night at the Adams county memorial hospital after a long illness. He was born in Lincoln Center, Kan., April 18, 1882, a son of Hubbard and Margaret ClelandStoner, and was married to Miss Helen Niblick Sept. 16, 1922. Their only son, John Hubbard Stoner, .was killed Nov. 18, 1944, in Germany, while serving his country during World War 11. Mr. Stoner, for many years, owned and operated restaurants in Cleveland and Chicago. He maintained residences in Decatur and in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Only near survivor is his wife. He was a life member of Scottish Rite, Masonic lodge and Medinah Temple Shrine, Chicago. He was a trustee of the Chicago Temple Methodist church and a member of the Union League club of Chicago. At his request, there will be no flowers and graveside services, conducted by the Zwick funeral home, identical to those for his dead soldier son, will be held at the Niblick mausoleum in the Decatur cemetery at 1:30 p. m. Tuesday, with the Rev. A. C. Uhderwood officiating. There will be no calling at the funeral home. Dorolhy Rumschlag Dies Last Evening Miss Dorothy Ann Rumschlag, 41, native of Adams county, died at 5:15 o’clock Sunday evening at her home, Decatur route 6, following an illness of eight months. She was bom in Adams county Nov. 25, 1921, a daughter of Lewis H. and Clara Heimann-Rum-schlag. She had been* employed for several years at the Maria Stein shrine in Ohio. Miss Rumschlag was a memter of St. Mary’s Catholic church, the Rosary society, Third Order of St.,Francis, Catholic Ladies of Columbia, and the St. Cecilia study club, whose members will serve as honorary pallbearers. Surviving are her mother, Mrs. Clara Rumschlag; six brothers, Brother Denis Rumschlag, C.P P S. of CaHhagena. 0., Herman, Jerome, Louis and Thomas Rumschlag, all of Decatur, and Cletus Rumschlag of Fort Wayne; eight sisters, Sr. Clara Ann, C. S. C. of Notre Dame, Mother Mary Catherine of the Glenmary Sisters of Cincinnati, 0., Sr. Jean Louise, C S.A. of Waunakee, Wis., Mrs. Margaret Becker of Decatur, Mrs. Esther Rosenbeck of Coldwater, 0.. Mrs. Dolores Schmit of Portland, Mrs. Rita Girard of Decatur, and Mrs. Monica Wyss of Fort Wayne. Funeral services, will b.e £gnducted at 9:15 a. m. Thursday at St. Mary’s Catholic church, with the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Simeon Schmitt officiating. Burial wilt be in the Catholic cemetery. Friends may call at the Gillig & Doan funeral home after 12 noon Tuesday until time of the services. The Third Order of St. Francis will recite the ro ®ry at 7:30 p. m. Wednesday, followed by the Rosary society at 8 p. m. Barber Shop Singers In Decatur Sunday Approximately 250 persons heard barber shop quartets from Decatur, Fort Wayne, and Union City Sunday afternoon at the Decatur high school, as the local barber shop quartet received its char-* ter in the national organization. Those who attended reported very high quality barber shop type singing from the six quartets which sang, and from the choruses, and hoped that more such meetings could be held in the future, as more become interested in old fashioned singing. ”

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, November 11, 196 3.

Japan Disasters Taking 615 Lives Are Turned To Political Issue Today

Editors Hear Kennedy Aide

Bureau chiefs for the wire services and syndicates in Washington are 100% agreed that the Kennedy administration is giving greater freedom of access to White House information, Pierre Salinger, presidential press secretary, told 250 United Press International Indiana newspaper editors and their wives Saturday night at Indianapolis. Salinger spoke to the group at its fall session after he was unable to speak as planned at the spring session of the Hoosier State Press Association. The UPINE meeting started in the afternoon at 1:30 o’clock with talks on the sales tax by Dallas Sells, Indiana AFL-CIO leader, and a rebuttal by state officials. Following this, the managing editor of the Indianapolis Times discussed editorial comment and support for candidates in city elections, where there was either two newspapers or only one, and its desirability and effect. The discussion included comments and questions from those attending. Following this, Jep Cadou, veteran state political reporter, and Irving Liebowitz, president of UPINE. discussed the meaning of the city elections this year, and both attributed the vote to a reversal trend, the ins being thrown out, the outs being put into office. They mentioned that the “Democrat” elected mayor of Bedford had never voted in a Democratic primary, voted in the Republican primary this spring, and stated that political parties were mean- 1 ingless, just vehicles for election. They mentioned that the Democratic reply by advertising to Republican claims that the Democrats passed the sales tax had effectively removed the sales tax question as a political question in this election. Following the political talks, officers were elected for the coming year, and Boyd Gill, state UPI head, emceed the complaint session, or critique of UPI wire service to dailies in Indiana. At the meeting was the Chicago wire boss, who edits the regional wire. Reception at Mansion At 4:30 p. m. the group boarded two buses, and were taken Io the governor’s mansion, where they were received by the goyernor;Llebo w itz, ’ their wives,—TtndSalingdr. Present at the meeting were a number of administration officials, including Mr. and Mrs. Fred Striker. Mrs. Striker, state Democratic vice-chairman, and a frequent visitor at the governor's mansion, took several of the group on a tour of the mansion, including the $9,000 solid gold bathroom installed by former Gov. Ralph Gates, At 8 p. m. ihe banquet was held at the Travertine room of the Sheraton-Lincoln hotel in downtown Indianapolis. Liebowitz introduced Gov. Welsh," who, in a short, effective speech thanked the editors for inviting him and Mrs. Welsh to lhelr"meeting, and told how happy they were to be hosts to them at the mansion. Salinger started by explaining that "news management” first became a talked-about phenomena during the Eisenhower administration, and a committee appointed then by <■ Eisenhower reported about 1961 on nine different areas in which newsmen had trouble in access to news, in areas -cutting across every executive department. When Kennedy came into office. Salinger immediately looked into the report, called meetings with every department, and effectively eliminated 95% of the complaints, as bureau heads have testified. Many of the publishers, including Indiana’s Mr. Pulliam, Salinger stated, could easily find this out by calling their bureau chiefs and asking them, rather than fire broadsides about incidents that happened in the last administration, and have already

been corrected. Security Matters Salinger did vigorously defend the right of any executive to limit access of news to matters that deeply affect national security, the knowledge of which the U S. “hopes to keep from foreign powers—this was in reference to knowledge of offensive weapons in Cuba, kept from the press five days while the government decided what to do, and made the troop movements necessary to back up their words with action. Salinger criticized the press for not covering in greater depth many of the important events in Washington, such as the stockpile scandal, which he compared in magnitude with Teapot Dome and Elk Hills. Following his speech, he answered numerous questions, and won over his audience with his adroit handling of loaded questions from a group obviously not sympathetic with his political philosophy. Only one publisher, Joseph Nixon of Wabash and Peru, asked questions that could 'j* considered friendly and attempting to reach better understanding. Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Shraluka, Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Dick Heller, Jr., attended from the Decatur Daily Democrat. Allen County Youth Is Hunting Victim A 12-year-old Allen county resident was Adams county’s first hunting accident victim at 10:30 o’clock this morning, less than two hours after the season opened at 9 a.m. Samuel LaTurner, route 1, Huntertown resident, was taken to the Adams county hospital for examination and treatment of a single piece of buckshot that entered his face just below the left eye. How serious the injury is was still not determined at noon today. The youngster was due to be examined by a local physician in order to discover whether or not isurgery will be necessary to remove the buckshot. —, The mishap occurred in Blue Creek township-and is still underinvestigation by the sheriff's department. The boy was hunting with two older brothers, Dan and Scott, and Steve Miller and Don Egly of Monroe. <, An unidentified hunter was firing at a rabbit and a stray piece of buckshot struck the boy. The unidentified man came up to the boy, it was reported, and apologized, and then left with his group, failing to give his name: — Second Accident Kenneth Spillers, 4921 McClellan street, Fort Wayne, was treated .al Adams, county jnemorial hospital and released this morning after he was injured in a hunting accident in.. Root township. .near.. Saddle lake at aboilt 11:30 am. Nineteen bird shot pellets from a 22 calibre rifle were lodged in Spillers' right elbow when he walked into the line of fire of his nine-year-old son, K. C. Spillers. The accident occurred when Spillers jumped across a log and into the boy's direction of firing. He was treated at the hospital and .released to. the care of his doctor. Prominent Purdue 'Worker Is Stricken Hugh Heckard, well-known agricultural extension worker from Purdue University, suffered an acute coronary attack Friday, and is hospitalized at Home Hospital, LaFayette. Heckard worked closely with the Adams county extension committee in the selection of a successor fpr Leo Seltenright, county agent.

TOKYO (UPD - Japan’s weekend train and mine disasters. which claimed a total of 615 lives, turned into a political issue today. Opposition parties charged that the government was not paying enough attention to public safety. The charges hit in the final 10 days of national election campaigning, giving the race against Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda its biggest controversy thus far. A second b ain accident today increased concern over safety measures but caused no serious casualty toll. Only six persons were injured. _ • A police count today showed that the three-train crash Saturday between Tokyo and Yokohama killed 163 men, women, and children, and injured 71. A few hours earlier, an explosion in the nation's bigest coalmine complex killed 452 miners and injured 470. The shock vyas already fading. however, because Japanese are more inured to catastrophe than other nations. Ikeda Apologiees Ikeda personally apologized to his countrymen and sent teams of experts to find out what went wrong. The chief of the government railways submitted his resignation to assume responsibility for the crash, but it was not accepted. Railways Chief Reisuke Ishida was told instead to make utmost efforts to prevent a recurrence of the disaster. Only 36 hours after the first collision, however, two express passenger trains, carrying a to tai of 920 passengers, collided on another main line near the city of Yamaguchi. One of the trains had stopped because of a faulty brake. The other rammed it from behind. Blit the collision was not serious. The opposition Socialists, Democratic Socialists, and Communists issued statements charging that the government was over-concerned with promoting business and under-con-cerned with the safety of workers and the public. A government program to modernize the mines is in progress, but the Socialists charged it is inadequate. The explosion, however, took place in the nation's most modern mine. Wheel At Fault Investigators blamed the train wreck on a weakened wheel on a Yokohama-bound freight train hitting a defective -rail in a switch. —What—happened—then was—xa=_ tastrophe in neat split-second sequences. The wheel jumped the tracks, derailing three freight cars across two parallel tracks. An approaching commuter train braked to avoid them. Then a Tokyo-bound passenger train struck the freight cars, bounced off them, sheared the sides off one coach of the other passenger train and knifed at right angles through another coach, cutting it in half. Most of the people in the two coaches were killed instantly. Tn —the- mine?- -rescue -workers dug for the third day to locate the bodies of eight miners still missing; Work was suspended in ail pits until Wednesday as a sign' of mourning. Miners also planned a strike on the day of the mass funeral, probably next weekend. The mine disaster took place on the southern island of Kyushu, about 750 miles from the train wreck near Yokohama.

Open House Tuesday At Pleasant Mills John Brunso, principal of the Pleasant Mills elementary school, announced today that open house will be held at the school Tuesday evening, with all parents and other interested persons invited to attend. A meeting of parents will be held at 7:30 p.m., preceding the open house, whiqh will feature special music by the students, and serving of refreshments in the s c h o o'l cafeteria from 8 to 9 o'clock.

Indianapolis Blast

Toll Rises To 71

INDIANAPOLIS (UPI) — The death toll in a Halloween ice show explosion at the Indianapolis Coliseum rose to 71 tixlay as officials heard the story of events leading up to it from a concession chief whose warning saved co-workers' lives. Mrs. Cecilia Huffer, 72, Indianapolis, died this morning in Methodist Hospital, a few hours after the death of another elderly Indianapolis woman in the same hospital Sunday night, Mrs. Eleanora M. Ricketts, 81. Indianapolis Fire Prevention Chief Charles Hill said he had interviewed Wilbur Gauthier, 54. Indianapolis, who sounded the warning to colleagues in the concession area. The stand was beneath seats crowded with opening night fans of the gala “Holiday on Ice” revue, separated from them by 18 inches of reinforced concrete which was torn apart like cardboard by the explosion Gauthier spent more than a week on the critical list at Methodist Hospital and today was recuperating at home. As Hill interpreted Gauthier's story, gas leading from a propane tank was ignited by an electric heater being used by employes to warm the concession stand as they, dispensed soft drinks and popcorn. Gauthier said he noticed nothing unusual until just seconds be-

Homage Is Paid To Nation’s Veterans

By United Press International Forty - five years, another world war and countless crises after the first Armistice Day, the nation offered homage today to those who paid the supreme price in quest of peace. With a blast of steam whistles in Albuquerque, N.. M.,.with a hushed chapel service at Wheaton College in Illinois, with a quiet tear in many homes absent a loved one, the country offered its respects on this Veterans Day of 1963. There were parades in practically every community across the land. But in many veterans hospital wards, it was only another day for those left maimed or mute by the cruelties of man’s inhumanity to man. In Washington. President Kennedy was to take part in ceremonies at Arlington National ceremony. Gen. Matthew Ridgway, former Army chief of staff, received the National Veterans Award in ceremonies at Birmingham, Ala.. Sunday night. The award, originated in 1954, goes to the American who has distinguished himself most as a -veteran- during the. .current., year. . . It also was during 1954 that Congress- -changed the-.;-name from Armistice Day to Veterans 15 ay and broadened its scope from only the anniversary of the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, to honor all those who had fought in all the wars of the United States. More than 200 persons attended Veterans Day ceremonies in Duffy Square In r New York Sunday in front of the statue of Father Francis P Duffy, the World War I Champlain of New York’s 165th Infantry Regiment of the famed Raintxiw Division. The service was in tribute to the lost battalion and the other heroes of New York's 77th Division in two world’wars. Thomas Kelly., president of the Medal of Honor Association and a World War II veteran, was among those present. Taps sounded at State and Madison in Chicago, and the intersection known as “the world’s busiest” observed a mo-

SEVEN CENTS

fore the gas exploded into a roaring fountain of flame and destructive force which sent concrete and victims as high as 50 feet in the huge auditorium. He said he heard a hissing sound, a fact borne out by other workers, and then saw one of the three liquid petroleum tanks in the stand tip over. Gauthier said he shouted to warn other workers when a “blue fog" began covering the floor. Then he ran. The explosion caught hijn jtist outside the stand and covered him with massive chunks of concrete and other debris. Hill said he learned from the Discount Gas Co., which supplied the suspect tanks, that the tanks are equipped with a safety valve that is designed to open when the gas inside is heated above 130 degrees. However. Hill said he believed the foree of the escaping gas shoved the tank over on its side and the gas spread across the floor to the heater and was ignited. The tank, apparently, was warmed past the danger point by a popcorn warmer. Hill said heat from some other source ignited a second accumulation, causing another explosion. An official report of the explosion cause was pending an investigation by Purdue University experts who began study of the tanks and valves today.

ment of silence. There was no mail delivery during the day, and in many states, governmental offices were closed and schools were dismissed. Most stock exchanges were open, although the New York cocoa, coffee and sugar exchanges, the New Orleans cotton exchange and associates were closed. 500 Persons Attend S. S. Banquet Here More than 500 people heard Dr. John „A. Hoffman, of Wheaton, 111., address the Adams county Sunday school banquet Saturday night at the Decatur Community Center. A total of 494 dinners were served, and many came later for the speech and entertainment. Rev. Gerald Gerig was master of ceremonies, and several top musical numbers were presented by various county groups. Sunday afternoon, workshop sessions were held for Sunday ' ■ 'sffTnot" teachers at Geneva, with an evening program at Berne. ..,.Dr„. Huffman.. well.known' editor and correspondent on religious Matters, spoke at all sessions. In Thursday’s Democrat, his picture was inadvertantly run on the back page as the Rev. Emmett Cox, who spoke Sunday at Bobo, while Rev. Cox's picture was run on the front page as Dr. Huffman, in the article concerning the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the Sunday school conv< tttitin. Tractor Mishap Is Fatal To Farmer EVANSVHJ.E, Ind. (UPD — Elmer Naab. 42, Evansville and Vincennes area farmer, was killed Saturday when his head hit the top of a doorway to a shed as he backed his farm tractor into the building. Naab’s bod£ was found slumped over the steering wheel about five hours after he is believed to have been killed.