Syracuse-Wawasee Journal, Volume 109, Number 28, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 2 February 1946 — Page 1

the News-Democrat receives daily ♦he - full leased wire service of United Press.

■c PER COPY? 20c PER WEEK

Relief Sale Here Yesterday Brings $9,000 Large Sum is Raised To f Provide Food For European Sufferers Receipts of the relief auction sale held yest-’.day at the Goshen community sale barn amounted to $9 381.78. It was reported today by th? committee in charge of the sale All proceed* are to oe used to 1 ir chase rulkd oats which is to b? ship;, d overseas to starving Poland. Sale officials said. the money received from the sale of contributed articles will buy ap-p.-tximauly three carloads of oat meal More than 1 000 persons were on " the grounds at all times yesterday and there was a steady flow .of jx*rsons in and out of the grounds. Sale officials were unable to estimate th< total number of persons in attendance. Cash Contributions A total of approximately 51.30 Q came in the. form df cash donations from groups and individuals Church contributions included $97 from the Bristol Methodist. S6O frem the Jim town Methodist $56 from the Middlebury Lutheran, and SSO from the Sugar Grove church. An additional $316 was added to th.» day s receipts by the lunch served on the ground.- by women in charge, of Katharine y.::. ' ••• .;;••• home ci -m<■:■ ration agent. A Bllh goat all but stole the show du: rdayk sale Billy gcats smelling as they do and this one. was no exception an unes-ti-matr-d number of persons refused to accept him onoe they got close to him. cheerfully paying whatever they bid and tossing him back into the bidding. Billy is still tethered at the sale barn, waiting for some one to claim him. He's going to got a workout tins afternoon however. Rav Messick. one of the fire auctioneers who donated their services. promised to lead Bitty down Main street at 12:30 p m today if no one claimed the animal by the end of the sale. Plan Dinner To Honor Retired City Employe Eugene Metzger who retired oa Dec. 31 as diesel plant operator at the City Light and Water Wbrks. a position he lield for almost 29 years, will be the guest of honor at a banquet at Henry's tea room next Tuesday evening.' The banquet ■ail! be amended by i approximately 40 persons including the board ©! publk works and safety. employes of the street departnt and of the off Iceland operating departments of the city UUI- - ity. Mr. Metzger, who is 75. was th? second oldest city employe in the number of years employed The oldest city employe in point of service is John Arehart. water works engineer who is serving his 39th year with the city. William Elliott, recently discharged after serving on an LST in the Cambbean Sea with a maS Arcond class rating has been employed by SupL John P. Stack to replace Mr Metzger Threat Os Power Strike Is Removed WASHINGTON <U» The threat ot strikes affecting 2 500.000 Ohio utility consumers was lifted today by labcr department announcement of settlement of the last of three power company Wage disputes. A labor department spokesman announced late yesterday settlement of a .dispute involving the Ohio Edison Co, and the Utility Workers Union tCIOt. • The settlement called tor wage increases of 15 cents an hour, as m the other two agreements. Bendix To Loy Off 2,000 Men Monday * SOUTH BEND. Ind.: (UK Some 2.000 employes in the Bendix Manufacturing company’s autemotive Y division will be laid off Monday I because of steel strike botetenecks ' m supply. George Stalk assistant general manager, said today. Stall said that the company's airplane' division would continue operations Bendix is a leading automotive brake supplier. The Weather INDIAIU- wni«ht Sunday

To Honor Truman

KAI ' < v w* Wk* * Mn rs / Hamilton Holt, above, president of Rollins college. Winter Park. Fla., will be host to President Truman during the chief executives Florida vacation when Rollins college will award to Mr. Truman an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities. e Bradley Defended Against Charges Stelle However Still Insists On VA Reorganization WASHINGTON: (U.K President Truman today came to the defense • of Gen Omar N Bradley, veterans’ administrator with the statement t’iat he had his complete and unqualified support. Press Secretary Charles G. Ross said that President Truman felt that Commander John Stelle. of the American Legion* who yesterday demanded Bradley s removal. was not speaking for the Legion. The president considers, Ross ' tid, that Bradley has done a fine job under extremely difficult conditions. In other words. Ross said, the president is backing Gen. Bradley up to the hilt. Xoss vnhjntevred the information at his dally press conference. He made the following statement: •Gen. Bradley has the complete and unqualified support of President Truman. The president does not feel that Mr. Stelle is speaking for the .American Legion. He considers that Gen. Bradley has done a fine job under extremely difficult conditions. In other words, he is backing Gen. Bradley up to the hilt ’ All veterans groups except the? Les;ion also came to Bradley's defense. . Bradley, countering Stelle's charge of a "tragic breakdown" in t!-< viteran-administration. by inference traced the accusation to an argument over the location of a hospital in which Stelle was interested. “I suspect that the charge comes from* Stelle. not from the American Legion." Bradley said. Stelle said in New York that he would not insist on Bradley s removal if it was shown that congressional help was needed in cutting red tape. Buj: me did not retreat m his the VA. Stelle told a dinner meeting of the First district. New York department of the Legion last night that an immediate reorganization of VA was imperative. “Can our young veterans wait two years for their rights while Gen Bradley reorganizes?’’ Stelle i demanded. Meanwhile other ’ veterans’ organizations leaped to Bradley's defense. So did Gen. Dwight D. Elsenhower, chief of staff. wlm> promised to “fly anywhere’ anytime.' to support him. Chairman John Rankin democrat. Mississippi. of the house com- : mit tee on World war veterans' legislation. praised Bradley and labeled Stelle's charges “a grave inJUSt ICC " Bradley said he would welcome the congressional probe called for by Stelle, But he warned that time spent in digging out facts and figures lor investigator, would be time lost tn serving veterans. Bradley said Stelle had no complaint on VA operations prior to a telephone conversation on Wednesday. At that lune, he recalled. Strife re-opened an old disagreement ovei location of a 250-bed hospital at Decatur. Ilk Stelle. former Illinois governor, favored one location and Bradley's aides picked another. Bradley said he did not know whether the hospital incident was responsible for Strife's accusations. He merely was treeing the sequence of events, be indicated. He conceded, as Stelle had charged, that VA’s work in some categories was lagging. But he said that was inevitable in view of the fact the veterans* load has more than doubted in the months be has held office.

f fitter 4 7 _ i y _ 4G ®he Jferashßentocrat

VOLUME 10?

Price Policy Decision May Settle Strike President Confers With Bowles Today On Steel Increase WASHINGTON: (U.K President Tinman conferred today witl Price Administrator Chestei Bowles as government efforts t< end the steel strike apparentl. narrowed down to steel prices. Bound up in the conference pn sumably was the question es wheth er the administration feels it ce give the steel operators the pric boost thev sav is necessary to met Mr. Truman’s wage proposals. Also possibly involved was tr. question of whether Bowles wouk continue to head the administration’s fight against inflation Bowles hurried back from a South Carolina rest for today’s conference. Most sources believed Bowles would stay on the job until prices have been stabilized. But some thought he might resign if he felt a boost in steel prices would endanger the entire stabilization program. ’‘Meanwhile, government officials were expecting another White House move within a few days to break the steel stalemate—perhaps a steel price announcement along with .a fact-finding report. Mr. Truman proposed that the operators end the walkout of 750000 CIO steelworkers with an 18'• cent hourly wage increase. The Union accepted. The operators said, however, that they could hot meet the proposal without a substantial increase in steel prices. Board to Report The steel price issue also may figure in a report being prepared by thg president’s fact-finding board The report will not include specific recommendations because the board has not held public hearings. It will touch on steel wages and costs. OPA previously recommended a steel price increase of $2.50 a ton based on a study of industry earnings for the three months ending Nov. 30. U. S. Steel Corp, said that Reconversion Chief John W. Snyder subsequently offered an increase of more than $4 to head off the walkout. Snyder made it clear yesterday that he favored continuing price regulations in his reply to a complaint from Henry Ford 11. president <?f Ford Motor Co. urging an immediate erfU of controls. “I agree that the ultimate answer to our inflationary pressures is production.” Snyder said. “I cannot, however, agree that we can abandon price controls in the meantime. The dislocations and hardsliips that would result from such action would adversely affect our industrial development for years to come.” Snyder pointed out that Ford could win price adjustments if experience proved that present ceilings were too low Nathan P. Feinsmger. chairnO>n oi the steel fact-finding bpard? conference that he inferred that said after yesterday s White House Mr Truman “expected setaething to happen in the near future." It appeared certain that the first administration move to end the two-week strike would not be seizure of . the industry. ESCAPE FROM REFORMATORY INDIANAPOLIS: vUB Indiana state police today looked for two inmates of the Pendleton state reform* tor? who escaped yesterday. Richard Dodson. 29. Indianapolis. and Walter Lee Secrest. 18. Evansville, stole a state pick-up truck and drove north on Ind. 67 after their breakaway, the police said.

Veterans Advised On Getting Benefits Provided For Them Under GJ. Laws

Veterans of World War II were advised about benefits provided for them under the G. I. bill of rights at a meeting attended by 150 veterans hrid in the American Legion home last evening. Oscar Brown. Indiana Department Service Officer. was the principal speaker. His :alk was supplemented by John Ade. field service officer for the northern part of the state. Mr. Brown, who has had lone experience in handling claims, described the benefits that may be had by those who are eligible. and explained why many have been unable to obtain governmentguaranteed loans which they sought. Mr. Brown said that the mil r air AttaMmbtration will not aqprove loans leg hemes which

A CONSOLIDATION OF THE NEWS, TIMES. AND DEMOCRAT

GOSHEN. INDIANA. SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 2, 1946.

.Aw, . HLuXXIBI, i(j||i|| i *■' WO I®; OiWWll f J" i'

Hidden by the smoke of the m ?st disastrous fire in Syracuse histo y is the Pickwick block which forms one-fourth of the town s business di trict. The half-block building and all its contents were destroyed by fire early today, causing damage est mated at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Bodies Os Plane Victims Are Found

Dog Teams To Bring Out Remains From High Up In Mountains

ELK MOUNTAIN. Wyo.: (U.K A team of Alaskan huskies was en rcute from Fort Robbin. Neb., today to aid in the removal of 21 bodies found amid the scattered wreckage of a transcontinental airliner. The bodies, sprinkled with snow and strewn over a quarter of a mile area, were discovered late yesterday by a searching party which bucked freezing cold, snow drifts and gale-strength winds to scale the lI.OOU-foot E& niounhii: The United Air Lines said that a group of UAL men civil aeronautics authority officials and a postal inspector would set out at dawn for the crash scene, about ,1.150 feet from the lop of the mountain. They were to be followed by a te/ond party, carrying tobagganning equipment, and a dog teain of 11 huskies to assist in bringing the bodies down from the peak. Five. men. first to visit the frozen sepulchre pf the plane’s 13 passengers and three crew members, made their way dow.. ti " .'■teepslopelate r.:g’.y. to their find. Joseph and Ed Hicks, coal miners from nearby Hanna. Wyo.. reached the spot first followed within a few minutes by Allen Garbutt and Ray Lefforde, Elmo. Wyo.. and Stewan} England. Cheyenne CAA official. Covered With Snow Ttie seen? they described as one of lYczen death and unearthly silence. The bodies were partial v covered with snOw that had fallen since th? crash each Thur>da>. and piect-s yi tne planes motors and fuselage lay cold and stark against the white surroundings. Hie Hicks brothers said they counted 21 bodies scattered over a wide area on the face of the slope They said the clothing had been torn off most of the bodies, but that they were only “singed." indicating that the ship had not burned. “If there was a fire, it couldn t have been a big one " Joseph said. “It locked more as if a terrific blast of heat had occurred just as the plane crashed? T!>e men. cold and w<an .aft-r a daylong struggle against the elements, said they had encount(Continued on page 2. column 3.1

veterarv propose to, buy at excessive prices. Many banks also have been prevented troni making loans by the terms of their charters and all must abide by’federal or state banking laws and regulations. Mr. Brown advised all veterans .to be in no hurry to buy homes at present prices, and tq consider carefully business plans before borrowing money. The government gives its guarantee to but one lean, he emphasiacd. Mr Brown wai. equally enifrtiati’’ in urging all veterans to take advantage of educational benefits which are offered. , „ On Feb. 15 Fean Bechtel, of Garrett, past Inc’iana Department commander, will’speak at another veterans’ meeting m the Legasf

AS FIRE DESTROYED PICKWICK BLOCK

Men Who Took Okinawa Return

1,800 Veterans of 96th Division Land In Los Angeles Today

LOS ANGELES: <UK Eighteen hundred Deadeyes’ of the* 96th division, which the late Lt. Gen. Smon Bolivar Buckner credited with “breaking the back of the Japanese defense,” were scheduled to land here today. The „ Deadeyes, who went into Leyte on Oct. 20. 1944, as a green, raw division, will be met by Maj. Gen. J. L. Bradley. Rolla, Mb., their colorful commander. And their own “occupattoix girl," tough pisr-il-packing Movie Star Marjorie Main also will be on hand to greet the arrivals. ' Seventy-two days after the Leyte invasion the 96th went ashore on Okinawa in the deceptively unopposed "love day” assault of Easter Sunday. April 1 1945. On the Kakazu defense line it won the first presidential citation of the Okinawa campaign. Ten days later, the division's now-hardened troops were suffering the heaviest casualties on the island as they hammered ? against the underground Shur-Yonabaru defenses. The 96th. unrelieved in the campaign. suffered 7.300 casualties and lost 1500 officers and men killed for the 31.000 dead Japanese it left m its wake. General Buckner, later killed by a Jap sniper, credited the 96th with “breaking the back of the Japanese defense.” A reserve outfit in peacetime, the Seth was trained at Camp Adair. Ore. Its ranks included men from Michigan, the Dakotas. Texas. Arkansas. Minnesota. lowa and Illinois. Two Burglaries Are Reported Here One break-m at a filling station and a probable thefi, of tools at a hardware state were reported to Goshen police this morning. At the Pure Oil service station, comer of Jefferson and South Main streets. Ray Millet, manager. i<port’d tlvat S2O in nickels was stolen when a thief or thieves entf.ed through a back window by breaking a giaaa pajie. Nothuig rise wac reported taken. The robbery occurred sometime alter closing Friday evening at 9:30 and reopening of the station tins mbmmg. P' D Mayi-e. proprietor ri the •en Hardware, fist Lincoln avenue reported that a box of pipe tools, valued at S6O was missing troni his place oi business. Looting for them this morning. Mr. Mayse found them missing and believed that they had been stolen. Awarded SIOO,OOO Damages For Burns HARTFORD. Conn.: (UK Mrs. Catherine R. Martin 35-year-old former professional dancer, was awarded SIOO,OOO today by an arbitration board for bums suffered tn the tragic circus (ire here July 6. 194! in winch 168 perished and more than 600 wyit injuredIt was the highest award made by tiie board, which has so far approved claims against the Ringling Brothers & Bamum and Bailey Combined Shows, Inc., totaling several mlllioix

Handkerchief Is Identified Today

Owned By Soldier Who Never Had Been In Chicago Before CHICAGO: (U.K T Sgt. Seymour Sherman, 22, New York, today identified as his a handkerchief found near the scene of the kid-nap-siaying of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan. Sherman, en route to the east coast aboard a troop train, was met at Orland. Park, a Chicago suburb, by police detectives who hoped he would be able to assist in- solving the three-week-old slaying. Police emphasized that Sherman himferif was no* a suspect and had been on a troop transport somewhere ip the Pacific on Jan. 7, the day of the kidnaping. The handkerchief, bearing the name “S: Sherman" and the numbers 3168, was identified by Sherman as one he had owned and marked with his. name and the last four numerals of his army serial number. 3143168. Sherman told Police Detective Tim O'Connor that the handkerchief probably had been borrowed by some one in his outfit cm- lost in the GI laundry. He identified it as one of a dozen he received some months after entering service. The handkerchief, still considered the most important clue in the case, was found in an alley about a block froiii the Degnan home. It had been attached to a length of picture frame wire which, police believe, was used to strangle the child before her body was dismembered and parts of it thrown into lour different sewers in the neighborhood. Sgt. Sherman said he never had been to Chicago before but had corresponded with a girl here, the sister of one of his army buddies. Sherman, who was stationed overseas in India and Malaya, said, he had known nothing about the case until newspapermen boarded his train at Kansas City. The train arrived in Chicago shortly after 5 a. m. today, and he was taken to a military barracks to rest . before answering additional questions. Chief of Detectives Storms said Sherman would be granted a special furlough to stay in Chicago, if police felt his presence would aid in solving the slaying. In oilier developments, police continued questioning of Irving W. Smit’i, 45. a handyman employed irt the Degnan neighborhood. Police Commissioner John Prcndegast said he had been cleared by a lie detector test, however, and would be released sometime today. SEEK LIQUOR PERMIT LAGRANGE, Ind.; The town board in Lagrange has been asked to decide at its meeting Monday night whether a 12-year-oid resolution banping the sale of liquor by the drink here will be dropped and a new resolution adopted. The request was made by the American Legion who desire to obtain a liquor permit in addition to wine and beer for their new basement clubrooms. PLEADS GUILTY INDIANAPOLIS: <UK A plea of guilty to a second-degree murder eharge was on tile in Marion criminal court today on behalf of Ollie Thomas. 34. in the shooting death of his wife. Willie May, 23. Thomas faces a life sentence If

A Community Newspaper for the People of Goshen and Its Vicinity. Home News First.

NUMBER 28.

Pickwick Block In Syracuse Is Destroyed By Fire Early Today With Enormous Loss

Modern Building Occupying Half Block Is Destroyed By Flames First Discovered Early This Morning In Cocktail Lounge

Fire of undeterm ned orig n wiped out one-fourth of the business district of the lake resort town of Syracuse today, destroying the ultra-modem Pickwick block which was built 10 years ago at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars. The entire building was burned out and th& loss was estimated at "close to $300,000" by William Blank, of Terre Haute, recently d.scharged army a r force captain, who was manager of the Pickwick theater and the P ckwi'-k cqck + ail ? •

Says Naw Tried To Silence Him

Officer Testifies He Was Asked To Change His Story WASHINGTON: (U.K Navy Capt. L.- F. Safford charged today that the Navy Department tried in 1945 to get him to change his testimony thaK navy intercepted a Japanese “winds code” message foreshadowing war with the United States. Safford said a Navy Department representative—Lt. Cmdr. John Sonnett—“tried to make me be-' lieve I was suffering from hallucinations a bout the "winds message.” Witnesses throughout the Pearl Harbor investigation have agreed jthal the Japanese in November. 1941. informed their diplomats abroad that if a break was imminent in relations with the United States, the words “east wind rain" would be included in a Tokyo broadcast. The dispute is over whether the Japanese later actually sent the “east wind rain" message. Safford yesterdaf declared publicly that, they did and that he saw the message. He had said the same thing in earlier secret, investigations. Today Safford testified that Sonnett came to him last year and tried to get him to change the testimony he had given in previous inquiries, »Sonnett was representing Adm. H. K .Hewitt, who was making a new inquiry at direction of Secretary of Navy James Forres tai. He said that Sonnett tried to get him to change his testimony io make it confirm with that of other witnesses. “His purpose seemed to be to get witnesses to reverse testimony.” Safford said. “He tried to make me believe I was suffering from hallucinations; that I ought to change my testimony and wind up the affair.” Safford said he became convinced that Sonnett was acting as “defense attorney” for the late Secretary of Navy Frank KnoX and Adm. Harold" R. Stark, former chief cf naval operations. BOY IS KILLED HAMMOND. Ind.: (U.K. A ,17-year-old boy was killed and 22 persons injured last night when a southbound Shoreline Co. bus and an eastbound streetcar The dead boy was Fred Foreman, Hammond. He was hurled through the windshield of the bus and under the wheels of the streetcar. The bus caught fire after the accident.

HF " -W r z —i AafiuMPfo&fciCTdsa sfiEz F/ \ V

If be was looking at the right time Mr. G. BOR must hav< eea his shadow thkj morning, and that means six more weeks of winter weather, according to the old superstition. The sun wasn't out very long and wasn't very bright, so maybe well have a touch of spring too, now and then.

ONE SECTION—B PAGES.

lounge: This estimate -by Mr. Blank would include contents. The blaze,, discovered at 4:40 a -m. by Town Marshal Peck Stine and Joel Wilt, whq with his wife occupied a fiveroom suite of rooms on the second floor of the building, swept through the theater, lounge, the Pickwick art gallery, the Syracuse Journal newspaper office, the Pickwick playroorq, the Pickwick bowling alleys, the apartments of Mr, and Mrs. Wilt • and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Grieger, and four unoccupied apartments. Many Send Aid Eight fire departments sen-b trucks and men to the scene of the blaze and after the ’town s water supply had been virtually exhausted, tvater was pumped from Syracuse lake. The town's electric light and “ I power, furnished by the Northern Indiana Public Service company was knocked out for several hours and about half of the community's telephones were out of commis- j sion. , , ' Firemen from Goshen, Warsaw. North Webster. New Paris. Milford, and Leesburg assisted the ~...» Syracuse department after B!*acuse’s fire chief. Joe KajX>. had notified surrounding departments of the seriousness of the’blaze. Goshen sent five men and the Elkhart township pumper to Syracuse about 5:30 a. m. Firemen Dan Ganger and Willis Kistler took the township unit and they were later joined by Roma C. Munson, John Long, and Fire Chief Forest M. Laufraw. J While the Goshen truck was in operation at Syracuse. -Elkhart sent its No. 2 engine company to Goshen to serve as a “stand-by" unit. The Elkhart unit returned lb Elkhart" about 10:00 a. m. Marshal Discovers Fire When discovered by Marshal Stine, the fire had centered in the cocktail lounge and it was "a roaring inferno,” Stine Reported. He ran about a half-block to the telephone office to sound the alarm At about the same time Mr Wilt also telephoned the Syracuse fire station reporting that he smelled smoke in his apartment. He and his wife and the Griegers z experienced no difficulty in escaping from their apartments before the Hames reached them. / Practically nothing was salvaged from the building. Blank said the loss to the theater would be close to $45,000, to the lounge and sand- ( wich shop, $30,000, the six bowling' alleys. $30,000, the art gallery $35,000. and the Journal office $30,000. “■(Contiinied on page 2. column 1.)

SIX MORE WEEKS

jThe old saying is that if the yhmndhog ires his shadow hell pop back into his burrow and six more weeks ot winter will lollow, whereas a cloudy day on Feb 2 would mean an early spring was coming. Then there arc those who say the whole thing is a lot of poppycock- i