Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 August 1941 — Page 8
DEPUTY IS HERO IN PRISON BREAK
Kills 2 Oklahoma Convicts After Sheriff Is Slain; Four Lose Lives.
MCcALESTER. Okla, Aug. 11 (U. ° P).—Governor Leon Phillips, investigating the bloodiest break in the history of the Oklahoma Penitentiary, today praised W. E. Alexander, 45, a bald and rotund deputy sheriff, for single-handedly killing two fugitives, critically wounding another and capturing the fourth. The escaping convicts Killed Warden Jess Dunn. 46, and County Jailer W. B. Ford, 51. “I personally paid tribute to Rill Alexander” Mr. Phillips said. “Probably Alexander saved the lives of other citizens by stopping the convicts when he did, instead of letting them run away and terrorize the countryside.” Deputy Alexander fought two gun battles with the fugitives. In the first, he killed Claude Beavers, 38, who drove the automobile in which they fled.
One Begs for Mercy
In the second battle, half a mile from the first, he killed Roy McGee, $6, and shot William Anderson, 35. serving 27 years for armed robbery. The fourth fugitive, Hiram Prather, $3, a murderer and life-termer, threw down his gun and crawled | from the ditch in which they had taken refuge, begging for mercy. The break started yesterday morning in the exercise yard. Warden Dunn got a mysterious telephone call from the prison hospital, and he and J. H. Fentriss, an! Oklahoma City engineer working on the prison communications system, started across the yard toward the hospital. The convicts, concealed behind a flight of stairs, jumped them. McGee brandished a straight-edged razor. The others had daggers made from prison cutlery. They quickly bound Dunn's wrists with wire, and tied Fentriess with rope. Stabbing Dunn a few times to show guards at the gate they meant business, one shouted: “Throw down your guns, or we'll kill the warden.”
Guards Discard Guns
The guards threw down two rifles, a shotgun and a pistol and opened the gate. The convicts, prodding their hostages with the knives picked up the weapons, ran through the gate and fled in a guards automobile. : Alexander and Ford, warned of the escape by prison sirens, leaped into an automobile. At the prison gates, they picked up Robert Pollock, a guard. They cornered the cquvicts on a dead-end road, and Alexander jumped out with his rifle. “Billy, don't lose your head,” Dunn cautioned him. “Throw your gun down and let us by.” Alexander could see Dunn sitting between McGee and Beavers in the front seat of the automobile. (Alexander was a prison guard three years ago, and he said Dunn had talked to him about a break and said: “If there ever should be such a break and the convicts take me and if I tell you not to shoot, go ahead and shoot.” Remembering Dunn’s advice, Alexander said: “The warden can come by, but you damned Peckerwoods unload!” Deputy Empties Gun The convicts started shooting. A blast from the convict’s shotgun killed Ford. Alexander fatally wounded Beavers and wounded McGee, but he had emptied his gun. A convict in the back seat pushed Beavers aside whipped the automobile around and fled while Alexander reloaded. Alexander and Pollock cornered them again on a road where a bridge was under construction. The remaining three convicts leaped out and took refuge in a ditch. Pollock tried to shoot, but he had brought an empty gun and no ammunition. Standing in the road, with Pollock reloading cartridge clips for him, Alexander killed McGee, when he raised himself to shoot, and wounded Anderson. Prather crawled out, shoot, don't
The body of Dunn was found in the front seat of the automobile.
He had been shot three times in|?¥
the head with a pistol. Fentriss, in| the back seat, was not harmed.
COURSE IN GIVILIAN
oS FR
Slain
Warden Jess Dunn. . . . If I tell you not to shoot, you go ahead and shoot.
AWAIT CARAVAN OF WAR BUDDIES
309th Motor Veterans Begin Reunion Saturday in Indianapolis.
A caravan of more than 25 automobiles will roll into Indianapolis Saturday for the annual reunion of the war buddies of the 309th Motor Supply Train, 84th Division. The line of cars, representing companies of the division in the Northeastern part of the country, will meet at Columbus, O., leaving there at 4 a. m. (C. D. T). They will arrive here at 9 a. m, coming in over U. S. 40. The group will set up headquarters at the Hotel Lincoln and will be met there by division members scattered through the country who will be unable to ride in the convoy. Carl Rugenstein, 367 Grand Ave, and Jesse L. Grimes "of Darlington, Ind. are in charge of the local arrangements for the two-day affair. Their wives will be hostesses to auxiliary members. A dinner-dance is scheduled for the opening night of the reunion, followed by a banquet Sunday and a sightseeing tour of the City. The division members will make a special trip through the American Legion Headquarters. Six companies are represented in the division, with about 12 members living here,
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Tunic of a Barefoot Beggar
In Russia Looked Out-of-Style
MOSCOW, Aug. 11 (U. P).—The newspaper Pravda reported this incident from the front: A beggar, barefoot and apparently blind, squatted on the of a dusty road teeming with military traffic, singing an ancient Russian
® | folk sohg to the accompaniment of
an accordion. Frequently the begger beat his
breast, crossed himself and bowed
to sympathetic passers-by who tossed coins and bits of bread into his lap. ; Artillery shells crashed nearby and German planes bombed the road but the beggar did not move. Finally a Russian Major passed and noticed that the beggar wore an old fashioned home-spun shirt no longer in vogue in Russia. He saw suspicious over-patches on the beggar's trousers and noticed that the beggar’s feet seemed delicate for one who should be used to a The Major approached exclaimed: “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” (“Do you speak German?”)
He was arrested and confessed that he was a German spy who had been landed by parachute to report on the disposition of Soviet troops. His accordion concealed a radio transmitter.
JUNIOR VISITOR JOBS OFFERED BY COUNTY
Applications for merit examinations for jobs as junior visitors on the staff of the Marion County
Welfare Department will be received by the State Personnel Bureau up to Aug. 28. W. Leonard Johnson, State Personnel Director, said qualifications for the jobs require applicants to have at least two years’ experience since 1930 as a paid social worker, two years’ experience in some allied field and two years’ college education. Applicants must be citizens of the United States*and residents of Marion County. Junior visitors investi-
LT ED
STUDENT MINISTER
Minister to 1700 Methodist students at Indiana University this fall is to be the Rev. Emery Parks, a former I. U. athletic star and now pastor of Bellaire Methodist Church here. He is to become associate pastor of the First Methodist Church in Bloomington on Aug. 24, in time for the beginning of the university year. The Rev. Merrill McFall has been
associate pastor for the last two school years, but this summer he succeeded Dr. C. Howard Taylor as pastor of the church. ; The Rev. Mr. Parks is the son o
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Parks of Bloomington and was graduated from Indiana University in 1934 after a career as varsity football player and track man. He was graduated im 1937 from Garrett Theological School of Northwestern University. His successor at Bellaire probably will be named at the annual Indiana conference of the Methodist Church here Sept. 10-.4. es
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FLYING STILL OPEN
A final opportunity for youths interested in flying to enroll in the third CAA supervised civilian noncollege pilot training course will be given tomorrow and Wednesday. . Sponsored jointly by the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Indianapolis Post 4, American Legion, the course still has a few openings left for additional enrollees before instruction is started in ground school classes. Applications will be received from 8:30 a. m. to 5 p. m. at the Chamber of Commerce offices on the second floor of that building, 320 N. Meridian St., on the two days. Interviews may be arranged for those who are unable to apply on those days by calling the offices. Those who enroll must be at least 19 and must not have reached their 26th birthday by July 1, 1941.
MICHIGAN WARDEN DIES CHICAGO, Aug. 11 (U. P) —Kasmir T. Pietrzak, 52, warden of the U. S. Correctional Institution at Midland, Mich., died of a heart attack yesterday at a Chicago theater.
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INVITE
Procress Report to the American Lop ec
N midsummer of 1940, General Motors received its first contract from the Government under the emergency defense program.
Now, with months of effort behind us, progress can be reported in terms not only of facilities at work, but also of actual deliveries
being made.
| | Every manufacturing division of General Motors is now engaged in supplying one or more defense materials.
Sixty operating units are actually in production on defense goods.
For defense production fourteen completely new plants have been erected, or are in the process of being completed. Thirteen plant enlargements have been made. In twentysix instances existing buildings have been re-equipped with machinery.
To train men in the special skills of defense, training courses have been under way since 5 the beginning of the ‘2 program; in one divi-
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~~
¥ sion alone, 4,500 men have been trained or are now in training.
All-important lines of supply to coordinate varied and scattered production facilities have been set up and put into operation. A study of eleven operating units shows
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that they are now buying parts and materials from 200 communities in 21 states. One division alone gets defense parts from 83 outside suppliers and raw materials from 37 others.
A picture of how volume is beginning to rise is seen in the fact that, whereas General _ Motors produced $78,000,000 worth of defense goods up to the end of 1940 (including work completed for the army and navy prior to defense program. contracts) it has produced more than $130,000,000 worth during the first half of 1941.
GI DEFENSE PRODUCT OELIVERIES SNOW CONTINUING INCREASES
"wes 10 "ne
4TH QuaaTes, "He Quantee ane ‘avantss,
What kinds of goods are included in this production?
CASE HISTORIES OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
Many facts about GM defense work, such as quantities produced and even types of work handled, come under the heading of military secrets. However, these case histories of two divisions working on defense goods give an indication of the progress being made.
MACHINE GUN CONTRACT. Contract announced September, 1940. Construction of new plant begun October 15, 1940. First machinery installed March 15, 1941. First gun produced (by hand) March 27, 1941. Guns are now being delivered in quantities.
AIRPLANE ENGINE CONTRACT. Initial order for liquid-cooled engines placed June, 1939. Ground broken for new plant in pear orchard and cornfield June, 1939. First delivery from this plant in May, 1940. First emergency defense order placed in July, 1940, and further plant expansion begun immediately. Engines now being shipped as fast as they can be used.
{ce A ——.
The list is long and varied. Among the products now bemg delivered by General Motors divisions are the following:
Airplane engines and parts ... Engines for submarines , and auxiliary naval craft . . . Military trucks of various specialized types . . . 30 and 50 calibre Browning machine guns...75 and 105 mm. artillery shells .. . Fuzes... Cartridge cases... Naval gun housings . . . Gun mounts for tanks . . . Control equipment for anti-aircraft guns . . . Bearings, spark plugs and electrical equipment for tank, truck and airplane use... A wide variety of specialized equipment including starter molors, dynamometers, control instru-
ment motors, elecirical.contvel boxes, etc. |
In addition to these things, now in regular production, numerous other important items *“ such as air-cooled aircraft engines, bomber * =~ « parts and sub -assemblies, rapid fire cannon, naval ordnance and the like are in the “pilot line” stage or approaching production within the next few weeks.
Not all problems are solved, not all difficulties ¥- surmounted, but the job is nevertheless under way — well under way — and each week more and more General Motors built equipment swells the total of America’s vast defense production.
GENERAL MOTORS
DISASTER?®
TRY A WANT AD IN THE TIMES. THEY WILL BRING RESULTS,