Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 March 1947 — Page 1
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58th YEAR—NUMBER 13
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Family Wip
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‘Welfare Bureau, ‘Torn by Strife, Fails in Its Job
Assistant Holds Post Without Examination; Children Victims of Department Feuds
First of a series. ; By DONNA MIKELS NCE a little Dutch boy discovered a leak in the dike. He stuck in his thumb and held back flood waters until
help came to cement the break. "Yoday all over Marion county, social agencies hold thumbs In leaks from the patchwork dike that is the community's child welfare _ program. The failure of Marion county to make permanent repairs to its child welfare structure is a glaring and tragic gap in community service. The thumb stopgap is effective only so long—then a trickle of maladjusted, pre-delinquent children pours into the community. ’, " ” » " s »
ONE OF the biggest “leaks” is one which grew to near flood pro-
portions this week—charges of “iron handed rule” in the county welfare |
department. The state personnel board reinstated a welfare worker who was fired arbitrarily by Arthur E. Wooden, welfare department director. In the course of the same hearing it was disclosed that: ONE: Robert Christy, Mr. Wooden's “executive administrative assistant” has held that post almost a year without taking a merit examination and with no previous qualifications. TWO: At least a dozen workers have resigned from the welfare départment in the past year in protest of Mr. Wooden's “iron rule” and supervision by the unqualified executive assistant. THREE: An order by Mr. Wooden to take five children out of a foster home with no explanation and no “conditioning” is against all policies recommended by the state welfare department and recognized 8S proper procedure. ’ s & =n ' B® n
’ THE WELFARE department is only one of the weak spots in the |
child welfare structure. Some other gaps stemi “from the inadequacy of the department; still others go uncorrected because of the overall weakness of the local program. Here is a general picture of other “leaks” program: 2 ONE: Undercover friction between public welfare and other social agencies and the “glossing over” such friction. TWO: An unwritten policy barring Negroes from the tax-sup-
in the child welfare
the county department of of
ported Children's Guardian home and failure to provide any insti- i
tutional space for Negro dependent children. THREE: Overlapping agency responsibility and failure to provide | basic care for neglected children. FOUR: A shortage of foster homes and institution space which results in child-shuttling. FIVE: Breakdown of adoption programs resulting in the’ growth of “wildcat” adoptions. Wildcat adoptions are those made independently without supervision from a child placement agency.
TOMORROW: The exodus of workers in the welfare department.
President Urs: Price Cuts to ‘Block Inflation
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WASHINGTON, March 26 (U.| | P.).—President Truman today asked | business to reduce prices awherever possible. He fears continued rising
On Pay Scale
Want Hike to Keep
prices might .touch off an inflation-| hold a mass meeting in Tomlinson ary spiral and another round of big hall tomorrow afternoon to decide . |the pay scale they will ask from Lthe school commission for ‘the ¢om-|the papers.
wage increase demantfs. Mr, Truman told his news conference he was satisfied with pres-| ent wage negotiations, particularly |
ing year,
ber industry. That agreement gave the United ask for an increase Rubber “Workers Union (C.'T.
Four Dead
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 1947
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. ¥ "ORECAST: Fair and continued enid tonight ; Yowest about 18, Increasing cloudiness and v warmer tomorrow.
Entered as Second-Class M Indianapolis, Ind. Issued d
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In Shooting Near Brazil
Husband Turns Gun On Self After Murders
Times State Service
BRAZIL, March 26.—A
| young lestranged wife
Teachers to Meet
Ahead of State Figure |
Indianapolis school teachers will | that.
Since the city minimum scale was the agreement reached in the rub-|above the state minimum this year,| farm with their daughter’: Lypachers indicated today they would | t6 keep ahead | (Continued on Pige #-Cotumn 51
0.) of the raise in state minimum pay
husband shot his and his father-in-law to death last ‘night on a farm near here.
After emptying a German automatic pistol into_ their bodies, | he clubbed his 5-year-old daughter | and his aged mother-in-law with | the butt of the war souvenir as they fled the house.
Dies Early Today Then he ended his life by blow- | ing off the top of his head with a| | 12-g¢ -gauge shotgun. The little girl] died. early today at Clay sont hospital. The husband was Russell Bryan, {27, of 812 S. Grant st., a war veteran employed at a Terre Haute brewery. The dead were his wife, Betty | { Jean, 21; her father, John Maxwell | { Thompson, 77, and the daughter, | Judy Jean. | Lone Survivor The lone survivor of the farm | massacre and suicide is the moth~ |er-in-law, Mrs. Winifred Pearl
Thompson, 77. She is in the county |
hospital recuperating rom head
wounds and exposure, Both she ‘and the little rl had {lain outside the house for nearly three hours before they were found by authorities. | The tragedy took place on the | father-in-law’'s Clay county farm | eight miles northeast of Brazil on! | the Lena road. 'hours*after Bryan was served with divorce papers. Girl Beaten With Gun The bodies of Bryan and his wife were found on the back porch. Mr. | Thompson's body was in the living | room. | The little girl was found in the | yard of the Thompson farm home, | unconscious. Her hands and feet were frozen. Mrs. Thompson was found hiding in a wooded hollow several hundred | | yatds from the farmhouse. She had | run there from her sick bed and was suffering from exposure. Served With Divorce Papers Local authorities said the tragedy was the most gruesome they could remember. ; Clay County Sheriff Hubert Wells {said he had served Bryan with | divorce papers yesterday afternoon. { The 17-year-old mother-in-law gave | an/account of what happened after
Bryan, who had been estranged | | from his wife for some .time, was | not home when Sheriff Wells served | The sheriff left them under the door. His wife had gone to her father S About |
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a compromise raise... The rubber granted by the 1847 general as- Appointed Member
industry said it. probably would no# sembly. have to raise prices and might even | reduce them’ ls » ” n
[new pay scale,
possible inflationary consequences. Minimum Is $2000
" The President added that he| hoped business would see the hand- |
would not take place,
Industries already have cut the {ha city school board. prices of their products. He ex-] pressed the hope that other busis| nesses would follow suit. Mr. Truman was asked repeatedly about pegting legislation, including |
| teachers this year was $2000,
Iw college training.
sembly raised the
the portal-to-portal pay bill and ate minimum to $2400 in the prospective tax reduction. legisla-| ...ont session. tion. There have been reports that nr. Graig pointed out that |
he would veto these bills.
them until they get to his desk.
Times Index
6; Movies ........ 6
the city school system.
ATtsements ."
federation.
Eddie Ash .. .18 Obituaries ....12 i Boots ....... 21 Dr. OBrien ...9 Two Plane Survivors Business ...... 15 PF. .C. Othman. 1s
} Stay to Gudrd Mail
Classified .;20- -22| Radio imi Comics :....... 23 Reflections “ Crossword ... Editorials .....14 Scherrer ....., Fashions ......16! Serial Forum ,.i..:. .14) Side Glances 2
8
Gardening . "13 | Spelling Bee 53; gusting mail and cargo until ‘Meta Given . ..17, Sports . 18- 19] ground partieszarrive, the air trans. Hollywood ... 13 'Stranahan - RT port command, here said today. - Home Page . 10 Washington ..14| The other seven were removed
"Indiana News... 3! Lyle Wilson . ; ‘ 3 Weber Map, 2 “yesterday by helicop ;, | at, Stephenville;
The meeting tomorrow at 4 p. m. is sponsored. by the Federation of | Indianapolis Public. School teachers. | has been a ppointed to ‘the Indiana |fyily couched in‘ diplomatic lanMR. TRUMAN said he was com-| A salary committee of the federa-| state board of ‘examination and | guage and contained specific refer- | fight,” said the judge. ‘cerned over high prices and their | tion will present a recommended |
Seward S. Craig, head of Howe | writing on the wall so this spiral high school English department -and
| federation president, said if the reHe pointed out that some major port is approved it will be sent to work abroad.
The minmum pay for beginning | ~ That | as for teachers with—four years, The general’ as-| corr esponding |
But the | {new state teachers pay scale which President said he would not. discuss | yasomes effective with the fall term
| wiil bring additional state aid to
Of the 2068 public school teachers in Indianapolis, 1875 belong to the
NEW YORK, March 26 (U.-P.).— 2 Mrs. "Roosevelt 17| Two of the nine occupants of the 14 C-54 transport plane that -crash- . 5|landed on a snow-covered Newfoundland plateau Sunday are
. 4 from “the barren mountgin shelf
nie
‘Of Nursing Beard
Miss Dotaline E.. Allen, Sullivan,
registration of nurses by Governor Gates. Miss Allen, an instructor in nurses” education, replaces Miss | Olivia M. Dickhaut, Evansville, who | resigned to prepabe “Yor nursing The term expires
| Aug. 26, 1949.
It happened a few|
Eight More Pupils Survive Preliminary Spell- -Down
WAITING FOR WORD OF MINERS — Fellow miners’ stand by the tipple of the Centralia mine awaiting word of the fate of those trapped below. A hearse stands by, awaiting fo remove the bodies of any other victims that might be brought | to the surface. Officials fear the death toll may be II5. .
Acme Telephotos LONG VIGIL —Three women and a man — relatives of the trapped miners keep a long and lonely vigil in the wash house at the Centralia ‘mine. Relatives waited throughout the night — long after curious onlookers had gone to their homes.
| miners entombed and believed dead in the
TI
Fear Death Toll May Rise to 115; Crews Use Oxygen
Explosion Occurs 540 Feet Underground In Centralia, IIl., Shaft; One Body Recovered -
Survivor's Eyewitness Story, Page 3.
CENTRALIA, Ill., March 26 (U. P.) ~ Carbon menoxide gas balked rescue crews today in attempts to reach 114 Centralia Coal
Co. mine. Twenty. hours after an explosion rolled through. the mine tunnels 540 feet underground yesterday, only one . had been recovered. Of f "| 143 men in the mine when he blast occurred, 28 werd saved; Mine officials and federal Hor. | opectore feared the TSE wire ge
Rescuers Te oi of 20 of the 114 men 8
Interesting News On Inside Pages
1 | | |
Page
|U. S. Has Defense Plans Against (the mine. B were unable _Any Attacks (Congress News). A they
3'bring them | Warmer Weather Due Tomorrow 3{ong tie 10 The Surface. “on FD a i om; + hae : tunnels and rescuers were 1 od irl, 3, Dies Alter Whipping. ... 1 t; wear gas masks and ‘any
Teen Triggerman to Testify To- | oxygen. s
day Shs Asian sang ensinier ane evans 7 Ev - i en then they were able to > Tans Yare Fate Rests With |iiore less than half the mine bee
{fore their short oxygen Supply. Tyndall Urges Power Rate Cut 15 forced them out.
Couple Freed i coe ce In Babys Death | Soin,
District. gineer Charles A. . Charged With Murder s anit, hile le 0 men ol’ ‘
there were two possible ¢ disaster of New-Born Infant hse caused the explosion; he dl | Mr. Herbert skid it was possi Two young people charged with hu not likely that the : murder in connection wi the was caused death of their new born infant in| foil wells a va hig ri i September, 1943, were freed today | The mine operators were wi in criminal court. lin an inspec report: March’ They were Robert Lowe, now 21 ipa : Inchestape in the tunnels years old, and Betty Jean Lowel inadequate. The rep t i 4
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now 19. They were indicted on first de. ine hag niot been § is gree murder charges Nov. 23, 1943,| mines to minimize the anger of after the baby’s body was found in} explosion from coal dust. White river on the southwest eee! Two of the dead were identifiéd of the city. within a short time after the The couple stated at the time. 3 - that the baby was born in the rear Brought te Surface '-
seat of an automobile in a nearby|
Only one body had been recovered 24 hours after the blast. | cornfield ‘and that. they: thought. it Ome was Mark Waisan . di d th. : 4 ¥ . . re Was es x bir » Child brought to the surface. The seconsl J de wy Ti d ave ren victim identified was H. A. Berges, [ yp ie en u ge slire Hin | [Awa The indictment was based upon!His body was found at the foot of 0 f the. theory that they were guilty | the mine shaft. as ein oat’ of murder for failure to provide; Most of those r given Rebukes Truman | g ir 0f Buchanan medical attention. The prosecutors first aid at a oe rest wera and In Gaming Cases office delayed trial of the case for|g Red Cross emergency station and . two years on the ground that a then released. None was in: serious . : r hem. . r Ma it M jury would not convict t condition. EEE President U ges | Municipal Judge Joe Howard TR y Quit yer Monday. attorneys for the de-i{ ners wag little hope. for. those Speed on Greek Aid cluded today that he is tired “of | Race in Harmony Move fendants filed a motion for dismis-| ti tn the mine. The last, |being the goat” in the repeated| sal of the casé on the ground thal! oe. eq were brought to the sum
: By NOBLE REED Moscow Parley Report .......... = .cies in gambling .cases. Réd Party Official ‘Bounced’. He made this extra-judicial ob
By HARRISON S SALISBURY servation this morning when’ asked! | why no convictions are obtained in|
United Press Foreign Editor President Truman today drew an | {innumerable gambling arrests where | { implied rebuke from |General Trygve Lie of the United [to operate. : | Nations. ; i The case of the city of Indidan-. Mr. Fruman was “obliquely criti-s2Polis agamsy 39 men arrested for cized for disregarding United Na: gaming in two Indiana ave. private] tions machinery in submitting direct clubs two _weeks ago faded out in pres BS, a0) ston jaisehges In Ms pout yesterday. o|dianapolis Bar association. “quarantine communism” program. y g Pp |" Considerable - support has
Mr. Lie's statement was care- | Or what? “I don’t want to start a political Pl
“But I'm | ence to neither the United States | tired of being the goat in these nor Mr. Truman, gambling cases.” / But it emphasized . that” the| He said the police had come into, United Nations could function ef-{COUrt ‘yesterday: without any evi-| fectively only if nations ‘resorted dence in cases against two alleged
to its machinery “even when the [gambling centers on the avenue. Charged wtih operating pr
Page | fumbling by law enforcement ae
maneuver involving
were renewed today.
| test.
2--Column 4) | mot | (Continued on Page 2~—Oolimn 2)
Red Cross Report
(Continued on Page 2
ment, Al Feeney,
terms,
By ART
districts. ners of some 20 city districts and
districts: Kirshbaum center—Dick Anderwith Betty - Zimmerman, 12, School 27, in second place.
“often.” / 10, of
retta Blackwell, 8t.
. Photos, Page 7
| Eight more grammar school pupils earned their way to the semi-finals | of The Times Spelling Bee in preliminary matches’ last night in. three |
Selected to bid for Indianapolis championship laurels against win-
Indiana’ World War Memorial auditorium are representatives of these
son, 13, School 32, was the winner of Dick corrected “leisure” which had been misspelled by Betty and then spelled
Rhodius community center—Paul Jump, ‘School 46, was, first, and LoAnn’s (Mars Hill) runnerup. Paul cor=rected “heiress” after Loretta missed the word. For his second finalist word Paul spelled “incomparable.”
Due Tonight
The final report meeting of the alty nomination. :
WRIGHT o'clock tohight at Tpalco hall. | ration. organization has intensified efforts tt . during the past few days to met [VV ooc, out. the $322,000 goal set for; Indianap- | |oli§ and Marion county, Hugh K. Duffield campaign chair-
nine county townships April 18 at
Viers, 12, of School 47, won laurels over Cliff Scott, 12, of the Potter Fresh Air school. “She corrected Cliff's misspelling of ‘ Physical” then spelled “postal.” » Keystone community center — Bessy Waldon, 14, of School 21" rst and Colleen Freeland, 13, of School 39 runnerup:. Colleen missed out on the word “exists” which Peggy corrected and then correctly spelled “barely. ol Joel 3 aim. . iu 2 a. mi 28 am, “fh am ] - The Yules state that When: there Ami. 12 (Noan)
the goal is aftained until reports SE are in tonight. Although additional |" e police dep
was | CAmpaign headquarters since the |
been ‘reached, he said.
. LOCAL TEMPERATURES. "|vors," he said.
A Mp, yeu.
Rumors of a Republican party | the possible tained the motion. | withdrawal of Earl Buchanan, West side industrialist, from the mayor- [returned more than three years ago,
Secretary "ot even. tlie law of average seems |alty contest in a “harmony” move
“The compromise talk ‘in connec. ow. bBave. two. sigldred.. tion with ‘M?.“Buchanan’s rumored! #
Iplan to withdraw involves William ‘Flood Strikes Gérmany | H. Wemmer, president of the In-
been | ling up behind Mr. Wemmer to| {enter the G. O. P. mayoralty conThis Suppor was originated |
(Continued | on \ Page 2—Column 8) Berlin seekipg food and shelter,
Al Feeney, Former Sheriff, Enters Race for Mayor
‘Pledging elimination of graft and racketeering in the police departformer Indiana safety director and sheriff here two today announced his candidacy for the Democratic mayor=
He is the third-candidate to enter Red Cross campaign will be at 6: 30 thee race for the Democratic nomiThe other two are George Every member of the campalgn | Dailey, attorney, and Joseph G. and former city
Mr, Feeney, who led the Demo-| leratic ticket when elected sheriff] seven years ago, said that if elected iman; said today that it will be ooo he would “clear up promptly” impossible * to determine whether | or ges of grift and shakedowns in
contributions have been received at| . Tr rei he morale | ing members of the force that prolast meeting the goal has not yet | | motions and job security depend upon ability rather than agents of .[those willing’ to pay for specia) fa-
(three terms of court have elapsed face af 10:30 last night. They | without, trial. the last miners found alive in. Special Judge Dewey Myers sus- gas-choked tunmels. TTA. Centralia Police Capt. Orin | ton said “It looks like the restof: men still in the mine are done tor Counts 20 Bodies William Nolte, leader of a crew :.of. 12. miners. came. un. shaft at 4 a. m. today. He Th 'had counted 20 bodies in a nah {which extended for two Patloe from the bottom of the shaft... » The mine is two miles south of Centralia: in the heart of the ich Southern Illinois coal fields. . It was the first major Tilinols mine disaster in 15 years. If all of those still in the mine are found dead it will be the state's worsh mine. accident since Nov. 13, 1008,
(Continued on Page 2—Columa a
Major U.S. Mine Disasters
By UNITED PRESS A Major coal mine disasters in the United States: Monongah, W. Va. Dee. § on
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Shortly after the indictment was |
ithe couple was released on $1000 | bond each. They were married im- | mediately upon: their’ release and
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BERLIN, March 26 (U. P.).—Two hundred persons were believed dead lor missing today and more than {20,000 homeless in Germany's worst [flood, in 150 years. Refugees from | {the Oder river valley poured into
CANDIDATE—Al Feeney. former state safety director and sheriff, seeks the “ nomination for mayer:
‘He said he was entering the con- | ar best an» paudiiate 88 1 Suction of of the Demotratic party.