Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 April 1952 — Page 1
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The Indianapolis Times
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63d YEAR—NUMBER 22
Stepmother Confesses Tying Up Sick Boy, 13 :
By United Press DETROIT, Apr. 3 — Police investigated charges today of an emaciated, scab-ridden runaway boy who said his stepmother tied him hand-and-foot to his bed each night. The boy, Michael Erwood, 13, was found hiding and hungry in the cellar of a neighbor yesterday. He had been there for nearly 20
He said she devised the truss to keep him from scratching sores on his arms and legs, He said the ropes were often so tight that he coyjdn’t sleep. ¥ “When it started to hurt I'd cry and then | she would slap me,” he told police, He said the | “only thing that did any good was some salve | the doctor gave us, but when that ran out
hours. His stepmother had reported him mother didn’t get any more.” missing. Taken to Receiving Hospital, the boy Z Mrs. Erwood admitted trussing the boy to
‘the bed, but said it was “for his own good.” “It was the only way I could keep him from irritating the sores. As for the salve, it was worthless,” she declared. She denied slapping Michael, saying "I love him as if he were my own son.”
weighed only 70.pounds and doctors said he was suffering from a serious skin disease, Michae} told police..that his. stepmother, Mrs. Eva Erwood, trussed him to his bed each night for three months. His wrists and ankles bore marks of ropes, authorities said.
Acts to Halt Chiseling in Gar Insurance
‘Public Seen Fooled On Liability Coverage
Indiana Insurance Commis-| sioner Frank Viehmann today blasted insurance companies
that “chisel” the public on automobile insurance. | He described this “chiseling’” as| # selling mere collision auto insur-| § ance to the unsuspecting public and passing it off for personal injury and property damage coverage as well, | Mr, Viehmann, in a notice to all companies selling auto insurance in Indiana, proposed a rule to re-
quire them to fix a red stamp on all policies that do not include public liability insurance for bodily injury or property damage. He said this will tell people it does not satisfy the requirements of the financial responsibility laws
. |sdnville, New Albany, Louisville,
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 1952
Limited WO
|
Service Into
Effect Here |
Emergency Messages Handled in Shutdown
BULLETIN DETROIT, Apr. 8 (UP)~The president of the CIO Communications Workers' Union called an “emergency meéting” of his executive board today to lay strike plans which would afféct the entire Hell Telephone net. work.
Photo, Page 3 Indianapolis wasone of three Indiana cities in which Western Union was able to]
resume limited service today after the nationwide communications network was shut down by a strike of 30,000 employees. { The limited service was being offered for emergency messages just 12 hours after the members of the Commercial SY elegypplers Union (AFL) walked off their jobs. Other cities in this area gettiig limited service are Jeffer-
St. bouis, Chicago and the Chi-| cago National Stockyards. A spokesman for the company in New York said that shortly after noon (Indianapolis Time) the company would He offering this limited service in 60 cities in 26 states. Pay the Issue The strike was called over a 50-cent hourly “package” pay raise which the company .said would put “the industry in bankruptey” if it were paid. The Communications Workers of America (CIO), meanwhile, postponed four days a scheduled strike by 41,000 telephone workers in Michigan, Ohio and northern California to “permit further”! negotiations. The strike automatically ved came a double threat to the telephone industry because the new 6 a. m., local time, deadline Mon-
Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice
CR Indianapolis. Indiana. Issued Daily. - .
PRICE FIVE CENTS
-
M’'Grath Kicks
Newbold
\
Out
Morris in Corruption Battle
Curt Letter
(Orders Files Given to FBI
J. Edgar Hoover May Make Probe Photos, Page 10 WASHINGTON, Apr, 3
Attorney General J. Howard McGrath today fired Newbold
[Morris for his job as the
administration's corrup tion hunter. : Mr. McGrath hand to: & re porters a brief letter He had
sent to Mr, Morris informing’ of the action. Although Mr, Morris: was net up more or less as an independent officer, he had the title of
‘assistant attorney general and
therefore was technically under Mr. McGrath's command. = Mr. Morris sent word from’ his office that he would see: Piperiens later today. There was no immediate comment from And the White House comment. But President meets the press at 3. dianapolis Time.) AE de Mr. McGrath declined to answer about the
ll
of Indiana. ; “In recent months the Insurance Department has received an inereasing number of complaints] from the public concerning meu financed automobiles,” Mr, Vieh-| mann said. “The large sumiber and the seriousness of these complaints point up the necessity of clarifying for the public the kind of coverage provided.”
It'll Take Weeks
Ag a result, Mr. Viehmann sent notices to 464 insurance companies that sell auto insurance in Indiana to attend a public hear-| ing on his proposed new red stamp regulation. The hearing will be held at 10 a. m. tomorrow| in the chambers of the Public]
LOCKS HERSELF IN—Mrs. Anella Edmonds. FE "She had “to beg for food. Ir. |
Juvenile Gang. Bilks snes rari Recluse Lover of Cats
house. By United Press threatened to kill all 12 of the It will take several weeks De-| HOUSTON, Tex. ADr. 3—A T0-lcats unless she forked over $150, fore the new regulation Will Delyear.olq widow, whose love for| igs Pollard said their activimade effective, Mr, Viehmann 1g has made her the victim of ties this time are so successful [teenage "extortionists threatening ina¢ Mrs. Edmonds “has to beg The new red stamp, which Mr. ito kill her pets, hid behind locked |¢op her own food.” : Viehmann hopes will, alert the doors in her home today. | “She gave one boy $20 when public to the fact that some tyPeS| pop the second time, police he told her he had a cat with of collision insurance do not ooty|sought to break up the juvenile |polio that had to be kept in an er personal injury or proper Y|gang preying on Mrs. Anella Ed-liron lung,” Miss Pollard said. damage, reads: {monds. But she refused even tol“Anq a few days later she gave “This policy does not provideitalk to officers, so great was her| $5 to another boy who said two automobile liability insurance for (fear, lcats had . fallen into Buffalo
bodily injury or property seu Miss-- Blanche Pollard, a‘ 50-/gayoy, and were being treated for age and does not satisfy year-old spinster who Hes with | |pneumonia ¥
quirements of the financial re- Mrs. Edmonds, called in police]
LOCAL TEMPERATURES
{originating
day coincided ‘with a scheduled walkout by 15,000 telephone installers d distributors of the Western Electric Co.
stallers and distributors involves employees in 43 states. The 200 members of Local 1, Commercial - Te (AFL), went on strike at 11:01 p. m, last night and started picketing the office immediately,
Sent by Supervisors - Arthur G. Dudley, local super'intendent, and the seven company supervisors had all messages in the Indianapolis office sent within 15 minutes after the strike started, he said. coming messages to Indianapolis! were delivered by telephone or special delivery letter. Elsewhere around Indiana, the state's 2000 workers stopped work at the same time as. in Indianapolis. Mr. Dudley sald all other telegraph offices in the state have| been locked up until the company gives the go-ahead for serice except in Jeffersonville and New Albany. He said the strike got under way in a friendly atmosphere here last night, and the workers put out extra effort to clear away the bulk of the telegrams before| they went on the called strike at 11:01 p. m. |
Baby Daughter
sponsibility laws of Indiana.” when the youthful rackefeers)| Rt
|drained away so much of Mrs. o . 36 10 a.m... 49 | Edmonds’ income that she was "a m...838 a Mma. 32 Quake Sways {forced to “beg for food.” 8am... 42 12 (Noon) 54 | $10 to $15 a Day 9a mm... 46 1pm... 57 Skyscrapers A group of boys first began haest imidity ...... 35% |
i. n (117) Working their extortion racket on MEXICO CITY. Apr.-2 (UP) Mrs. Edmonds last summer. By! A sharp earthquake rocked MeX-i,, “tio ics Pollard found .out jco’s Pacific Coast yesterday andiabout it and called officers, she s = it “must have estimated. their cat extortion seismblogiets a at the resort “take” was from $10 to $15 a day. caused grea | “The boys’ procedure was simple city of Acapulco. and direct, according to officers However, radio messages froMiand Miss Pollard. Acapulco, 200 miles southwest of | The youths would gather up| Mexico City, said there had been stray cats and appear one by|
dam- fone at Mrs, Edmonds’ door and no reports of casualties or threaten to kill the animal be-|
Eliminate Home | Hardships Now
If your present home lacks many of the modern conveniences that would make home making easier for you. « «+ If your home is either too large or too small , . . or . If you would rather live in another neighborhood . . .
age. ¢ observatonyl (fore her eyes unless she bought then, NOW i SE, TE The government ©O TO Y ) ou | said the shock was yaruclarly; The asking price varied, but| WANT. naa ok centered in the Pacific Price crept steadily higher as) SA A poanen next
the boys grew bolder because the! good 10-year-old ¢ country homes. Oil
frail woman bought the cats. | Liv Slec, not mod s-rm. and 4-rm
he Guerrero state coast. | : Oceanof t on’ lot 60x310 ft. Paved rd. 5 miles
The earthquake, lasting nearly |
y ov k 30 seconds, was felt strongly | hye. se amonds eventually it 55% TAORN. GA-5438. GA-9489 here. "Phat a Above is a ‘sample “of the Skyscrapers swayed visibly. at number varied from time many HUNDREDS of homes
the|to time; because the ®oys would ‘steal the animals she already had bought and sell them: back re- to her,
offered For Sale in the Classified Columns<6f today’s Times. From this WIDE SELECTION you should be able to select several for immediate personal inspection. SEE THEM NOW.
Hundreds of people ran into streets in alarm. But no damage, was reported in Mexico City. Government instruments : 0 corded the epicenter as 213 miles Miss Pollard said the boys besouthwest of Mexico City, almost gan reappearing at Mrs, Ed in a line with Ac a line with Acapulco, 'monds’ door in February. They
‘We'll Do Our Bost To Keep Him In
By JOHN V. WILSON
N EMBITTERED widow vowed today she would !o second-degree murder.
“keep in prison for life” the 48-year-old painter who shot her husband to death. “He should have had the electric chair,” mented Mrs. Effie Pruitt. Criminal Court Judge Harry O. Chiamberlin sentenced the slayer, Walter D. Belcher, 2333 Roosevelt, Ave., to life imprisonment late yesterday. The widow told how shg watched in horror as Belcher, described as being drunk, killed Leonard Pruitt, business agent for Painters, -Decorators and . Paper Hangers Union (AFL), last Apr, 16.
. , . 1} ~ . { - ji . 4 ! - . i i“ Se a wits » } a x |
remember being there.”
calmly com- Mrs. Pruitt ‘protested
prisonment. ; Vowing to fight any
ar
"Dear Joe:
office should not permit Belcher to enter thé plea. insisted repeatedly to Deputy Prosecutor Wendell Martin not to accept anything but guilty to first-degree murder. The higher charge carries a possible death penalty. Both degrees of murder call for “mandatory. life im-
Of Pitcher Killed |
| DETROIT, Apr. 3
(UP)-—The
{baby daughter of Detroit Tiger
pitching star Art Houtteman was
{killed today and his wife and her! {mother seriously
injured in an automobile accident near Cleve-
land, Tenn. | Y Houtteman's {former swimming star,
Bheila, a Was reported in critical condition. Her| mother was seriously injured. No| other details of the accident were immediately available. Houtteman boarded a plane in [Florida for Ch for Cleveland, |
—————— qin |
Linked fo to Reds’ Bail NEW YORF¥F, Apr. 3 (UP)—A| United States attorney disélosed | {today that the bail forfeited for!
wife,
four fugitive Communist’ leaders Other Features:
{was supplied by Dist. 65 of the
Distributive, Processing and Of-
(fice Workers Union (Ind.).
You Know’
BERLIN, Apr. 3 (UP) — Eagt German Communists promised “Dear Comrade 8talin” today to fight “American warmongers,” {prevent West German rearmament and unify the country.
In an unusual court move, Belcher pleaded guilty Asked by the Judge if ‘he fired the fatal shot, Belcher replied: “From what they tell me, I must have. But I don't
that Prosecutor Fairchild’s She
future parole attempt by
Belcher, Mrs. Pruitt promised: Sein
we
hd I
The threatened strike by the in-|
legraphers Union
In-|.
{U.
| Butler schedules Military Ball {Fashion tea from an artist's
_.
Cpl, Carl E. MGs. igh) 20, of Tou Crosk All, Rist for the ga Wats ds a While. on a raid of a Communist
bitten on own here being treated TE USN, a ger by He received the "Dp Heart for the unusual wound, iy
Today's News The Thos Lover Hexes Hubby
Local
BATTLE WO
Page 2 Pinned in car for more than = | hour after wreck ........vs 8 Park Department to aid Times
Spelling Bee
Br United Rrons. Amadio finally explained he h TURIN, Italy, Apr. 3-=Police notized the husband every night sald today that a’ handsome 31- lon the pretext this would bring year-old Itallan hypnotized: ‘'his/Pack visions of the past. girl friend's husband evéspanight| Amadio and his girl friend were so that they could make love un- arrested on charges of adultery. Page|disturbed. S. geared for “all event- All went well, police sald, until] Report Red Forces Face
ualities” in steel crisis .... 2/the suitor's own wife became | 4 Killed In Chicago apartment suspicious of her husband's night- Indo-China ‘Dunkirk’
fire «+. 3]ly departures for "seances and PARIS, Apr. 3 (UP)—The tide magic lessons.” The jealous wife put tetas! battle definitely has turned
on the trail of her husband, 28ainst the Communists in north24|Gluseppe Amadio. They followed | lern Indo-China, French Minister
{him to his 25-year-old girl friend's Jean Letourneau said last night. 24/apartment” and summoned Mrs.| nu. [eourneau, minister for
vesesneranene 22
National
Editorial Stalin busts out the old dove « « by Ludwell Denny little bit. of Dutch history . » by Andrew Tully .
A
Cees
| The Melody Lingers On , , , |Amadio. an editorial cartoon by Tal- Bursting into the apartment, I ne Srouiated ae romero PUrL La iii Sasa 24 the raiding party found the girl owers of high commissioner, a Ts, ort friend’s husband fast asleep in Pe OTT held by the late poris {the living room. Amadio and y
Page the errant wife. were in an ad- Mapstial Jean le Latire De Tas
Bo’s Great Deeds Will Linger {joining room. Reports from Saigon said the
On Beis crssisanarcrrriaing Not even the noise of the raid, Communists were fighting to Two: mane hurlers due’ from 33 ihe shouts of Mrs, Amadio and avoid being driven into the sea pragaiasainisennd the of the girl friend in a “little Dunkirk” 70 miles
Chuck Davey's TV bout here Kk | mew tiedndaBlb She ancl wakened _ Bleeping. husband.’ southeast of Hanof,
Southpaw rolls 300-game.... J Amateur baseball season tp SLATE MAY 3...00000iavsrinn 3 Unnecessary slide breaks Monte Irvin's ankle ...
Women's
screams the
Today's thoughts for food are sweet Market basket and menu ideas
Assess ans
viewpoint — Gene
impressions
Feingold's
Amusements ......... 14, 15 Butler ....... sesanaarsas 15 Editorials .....c0004 sees 24 In Hollywood ...cee00de0 14 Robert Ruark «......¢. . 23 Moviez ..........vvvviss 14 Radio. Tél#vision —— 20 OCIeLY . iiss visndaned 7 . % Ba Bovola ...cooivnvises 23 : . “ls BPOPLE -iee.ovnvun a 33 WIDOW AND SLAYER—'Keep him in prison for life," said Earl Wilson .......00000 23 . Effia /Pruitt (left) at the murder trial of Walter D. Belcher fright), who shot her husband to death.
Women's
“AS long as my daughter or I am alive, and he comes up for parole, we'll do our best to" keep him in prison.” Mrs. Pruitt broke down in sobs at the trial as she faced Belcher, flanked by his family, and related how she almost became his second victim. She testified Belcher rapped. at the Pruitt door at 4724 E. 10th St. and shot the union official without uttering, a word. “Then he pointed the gun at me," Mrs. Pruitt said. “I dodged behind the door and screamed to my daughter Judy not to move Low "Walter Belcher fired another shot. at me. the woodwork.” Police Se Ray Peak testified he forced: Belcher’s other witnesses,
stood the slaying climaxed nated out of union business.
“From my investigation, of liquor.
“But it hit
dorks > : in
So That Wife Can Play!
He (Belcher) had been drinking heavily. even passed out during questioning by detectives.” : Mrs. Pruitt said the trial came as a surprise to her, She said she was informed to appear in court with only: four hours’ notice and did not have a chance to ring
the - letter was m FBI Director J. Ba Hable: Deputy Atty, Gen. Devitt Joseph Duggan wi i Aly “Gon on rong ES Mr, ‘Moran a ances before the House investigns tors, and Assistant Atty, Gen, James M, McInerney, Mr. McGrath declined to stats what the next step would be, There was a Possibility that the ny ig Mr. Hoover might now e e_job of “clearin evildoers owt of government, ¥ r. Hoover's presence McGrath's ping bi sn ney General's request that the files of Mr. Morris’ office: be turned over to the FBI, seemed to support this theory. Mr. Morris’ dismissal came two months and two days after he was named, on Mr. McGrath's recommendation, to head Mr, Tru anticorruption came paign
| Givesg ‘Free Hand’ Mr. Morris and Mr. McGrath {fell out mostly over the detailed financial questionnaires dhat ‘the {former sent to the Attorney Gene
| eral to be filled out by Mr. Mee ‘|Grath and 595 other Justice Dee
partment officials and emplo A Mr, McGrath als a) the Questions naires, Mr. McGrath told a House ne vestigating subcommittee day that if he had it to do again he would not have recomse mended Mr. Morris and that he had not decided yet whether hs would answer the financial’ fuel tionnaire. Mr. McGrath, himself, had sala Feb.. 1—the day Mr. Morris waa - sworn in—that the New York ate torney would have a ‘perfectly free hand.” Mr. Truman had asked Cons gress to give Mr. Morris subpena powers and authority to grant immunity to certain witnesses. But both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees refused, Each, in fact, has approved sep» arate bills to set up an investie gator independent of the execus tive branch.
Prison'—Widow’s Vow |
car to curb in the 300 block S. Illinois St. a short tims. after the shooting. He said Belcher told him: “Go ahead and shoot me. Belcher’s attorney, Andrew Jacobs, said he under<.
I'm thé man you want”
“differences that had origi"
wn
In refusing to let Belcher testify, Mr. Jacobs sald:
this case is one of the wages .
1