The Daily Banner, Greencastle, Putnam County, 30 August 1943 — Page 1
+ + + + ♦♦ + + + + + + + + *1 the WEATHKB 4 V\AKM£K + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + {||
THE DAILY BANNER
VOLUME FIFTY-ONE
IT WAVES FOR ALL
army officials START PROBE IN MURDER OF WAC
t'ORP. NAOMI RIDING’S BODY FOl'ND in INDIANAPOLIS HOTEL ROOM SAT.
I
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 30.—(UP) —Army author!tiea shrouded with military secrecy today their investigation into the mysterious death of WAC Corporal Naoma L. Ridings, 32, Warm Springs, Qa., whose halfnude body was found in a hotel room Saturday night apparently slashed with a broken whiskey bottle. Investigating officers refused torelease further details after a preliminary investigation indicated that the pretty Camp Atterbury WAC, a former physiotherapist at Warm Springs, was murdered. Before entering the WAAC, now the WAC, Corp. Ridings was an auditor for the Federal Housing Administration in Washington. She arrived at Camp Atterbury March 6 from Daytona Beach, Fla., where she received her basic training. She was the daughter of Mrs. Male Little of Warm Springs, originally named Bullockville for one of her ancestors. Her former husband, Lawrence Ridings, was reported to be a soldier in overseas service. Mrs. Lillian McNamara, a maid, discovered Corp. Ridings’ body five hours after she checked in to spend a weekend leave at one of Indianapolis' largest downtown hotels. Her body was found lying, nude from the waist down, in a pool of blood near the door. Deep cut wounds gashed the head, throat and wrists. Police Sgt. Fae Davis said a broken whiskey bottle was the only weapon found in the room which could have inflicted the gashes. Six full Coca Cola bottles also were found in the room. Authorities were believed searching for an unidentified “dark-haired woman dressed in black’’ in connection with the slaying. Two bellhops Alfred Bayne, Jr., and Robert Wolfington, told officers they saw auch a woman in the room during one of several trips to the room to bring refreshments. Officers apparently placed less faith in a clue furnished by a man who identified himself as a Corp. Kaplan. While Mrs. McNamara was on her way to Corp. Riddings’ seventh floor room in the erroneous belief she had checked out, Kaplan telephoned the desk and reported that a woman was screaming in that room. After the body was discovered, detectives seized and questioned Kaplan but dismissed him, deciding he had no connection with the case. Later his report to the desk was contradicted by the occupant of a room adjacent to that of the victim. The occupant, a Jack Menaheim, said he was in his room all evening and heard no disturbance. Lieut. Wesley'Jones, Camp Atterbury public relations officer, said that Corp. Ridings enlisted in the WAAC in Washington on Dec. 31, 1942, and reported to Daytona Beach <>n Jan. 24, 1943. She was promoted last week to technician 5th grade corresponding to the regular army rank of corporal.
PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO CHARGES AFTER ACCIDENT Carl G. Elmore entered pleas of not guilty to a charge of reckless driving and an affidavit charging public intoxication when arraigned before Justice of the Peace Dent Chaney Sunday morning. The charges followed an auto accident on state road 43, just north of the city, on Saturday night. Lee Hall, driver of the car which it is alleged was hit by Elmore’s auto, filed the reckless driving charge. The public intoxication charge was filed by Sgt. Miller of the state police. Justice Chaney released Elmore under a $100 bond and set his trial for 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon,
Sept. 4.
Elmore appeared before Justice Chaney shortly before noon Monday and pleaded guilty to the reckless driving charge. He was fined $5 and costs. The intoxication charge was dismissed.
GREENCASTLE, INDIANA, MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1943.
NO. 268
RIOTS FOLLOW SUDDEN DEATH OF KING BORIS ANTI-GERMAN DEMONSTRATIONS OCCUR IN SOFIA; SITUATION IS TENSE
CLOVERDALE SCHOOLS TO RESUME WORK THURSDAY
mm
Aged Resident Called By Death Mrs. Thedoaia Sutherlin, 80 years of age, died Sunday afternoon at the borne of her niece, Mrs. Robert Crews 208 east Liberty street after an ill ness of two months. Mrs. Sutherlin a former resident of Mt. Meridian and a member of the Deer Creek
church.
She leaves a sister , Mrs. Minnie Lime of Danville and a foster son. Abraham Sutherlin, east of Green-
castle.
funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 ; 00 o’clock from thr eDer Creek church with burial in the Deer Creek cemetery. Friends •nay cAH at th home of the niece.
20 Years Ago
rOABTLK
,{ rick paving work was completed °n the National Road from Mt. Mer- ‘ ian west to the state road intersec-
tion. Fred
L. O'Hair was the speaker ' Un ng the intermission of the week-
> concert by the Greencaatle Band. aown Dy Ulc w
19 Perished In Mine Explosion BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 30. (UP)—The death toll from a double explosion that wrecked the Sayreton mine of the Republic Steel Co., reached 19 today and more than 10 of the 22 injured were in a serious condition. Rescue workers, several of whom were trapped in the second blast, believed the first explosion was caused by gas, but the company said the immediate cause was not known. One of the 19 victims was E. J. McCrossin, state safety inspector, .vho was killed while leading a rescue squad into the shaft about an hour after the first blast. He and three other rescuers were killed in the second explosion which filled the shaft wtih tons of rock and debris. One rescue worker said his miner’s lamp suddenly went out after he entered the workings. “The place was full of gas and one spark would have set the slope rock.ng again,’’ he explained. Another miner, F. W. Flippo, was blown 40 feet by the second explosion, while he was aiding the party searching for victims of the first
blast.
Although there were .reports of fire following the explosions, company officials declined to comment. A number of tne injured, however, were brought to the Norwood hospital here with serious burns. Nearly 150 men were working when the first explosion rocked the mine, the largest in this district, Sat-
urday night.
About 500 persons gathered around the slope as rescuers brought the dead and injured from the shaft, but most of the miners’ families, not notified until long after the explosion, slept through the disaster. Bombers Pounded Italian Targets ALLIED HEADQUARTERS. North Africa, Aug. 30.--(UP)— American Flying Fortresses wrecked the Orte railroad junction 40 miles north of Rome yesterday in the third straight day of attacks designed to smash the capital’s communications with the rest of Italy in advance of a possible allied invasion, it was re
vealed today.
(Radio Algiers said in a broadcast beamed to Italy that allied amphibious forces may strike Italy in the north as well as in the south and warned that aid and naval units are ready for a “new offensive which may start where and when they wish." The broadcast was reported by U. S. government monitors.) Hundreds of explosive and fire bombs dropped by the big four-en-gined bombers ripped up tracks, blew up freight cars and set fire to other installations at Orte, junction of the Rome-Florence line and a spur line
to Temi in the interior.
VVnile the i-ortresses concentrated on Rome’s railway arteries, American Marauder medium bombers renewed their assault on Torre Annunziata, west coast railway center on the Bay of Naples south of Mt. Vesuvius, yesterday and Wellington night bombers followed through with
another raid last night.
The Marauders literally blew to bits a large concentration of freight cars, touching off a big explosion and a half dozen large fires. Nearly 50 enemy fighters zoomed up to intercept the raiders, but 15 were shot down by the bombers and another by
LONDON, Aug. 30. (UP)—AntiGerman demonstrations were reported todpy to have broken out in Sofia after the sudden death of King Boris III left the nervous Balkan monqrcny facing Nazi demands for all-ouf axis cooperation. The Daily Express, in a dispatch from the Bulgarian frontier, said crowds were dispersed outside the German legation in Sofia and that the area around the building was blocked off by troops. London radio reports said the demonstrators shouted “down with Germany” and “we want peace.’’ A council of ministers headed by Premier Bogdan Filov controlled the country pending a meeting of the national assembly to name a regency for the new king, six-year-old Simeon II, a grandson of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. It was indicated that a tug-of-war for power would break out shortly. The German minister was said to have discussed the situation with the premier, then entrained for Belgrade to confer with Nazi officials. The Algiers radio reported a general strike in central Bulgaria and said two alleged communists were sentenced to death after an assault on a Bulgarian policeman. Bern dispatches said that a coalition of democratic and communist elements had been formed behind Nicholas Mushonov, opposition leader in parliament. A Cairo report indicated that Boris’ unmarried sister. Princess Eudoxia, might seize the opportunity to broaden her already strong influence. The position of Queen Giovanna, daughter of the Italian ruler, in the scrambled situation was not known. She and a corps of guardians named by the cabinet will be in direct charge of the king but under the Bulgarian constitution this group cannot be part of the regency. Boris, who died only a few days after a visit to see Adolf Hitler, was reported to have been bringing back demands from the Nazi fuehrer to go all-out in backing Germany, even to letting the Gestapo take care of alleged communist unrest. How Filov will meet the situation was not in-
dicated.
There were widespread reports that Boris was the victim of an assassin’s bullet. Axis and Bulgarian dispatches broadcast by European radios said he died of heart disease complicated by pneumonia. The fact he had heart trouble was a surprise inasmuch as he was known as a great sportsman who loved to do such things as drive locomotives at breakneck speed. Hitler sent messages of. sympathy to the queen and to Filov, mourning Boris as a “true friend and ally,” and radio Rome said the body was lying in state at the court chapel. The German news agency DNB said the funeral would be Sept. 5 at a place to be announced later. A Cairo dispatch quoted a “leading Balkan expert” as saying Boris, who
The Cloverdale schools will open on Thursday, September 2, Lee Walters, principal, announced today. The pupils will report at nine o’clock for their assignment and from than on. the regulation work will get under-
way.
The teaching staff is still incomplete, but officials hope to have alt vacancies filled by opening time. Mr. Walters also announces that school books will be on sale at the school building for the accommodation of pupils and the people of Cloverdale township.
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VILA NOW IN RANGE OF BIG YANKEE GUNS AMERICAN TROOPS CAPTURE ARUNDEL ISLAND IN PUSH AGAINST JAPS
• L.
DANES DEFIANT ^ AS NAZIS TAKE OVER COUNTRY SCUTTLE WARSHIPS AND DESTROY MILITARY DEPOTS IN WEEKEND REVOLT
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS Southwest Pacific, Aug. 30.—(UP) — American troops have captured Arundel Island bring Vila, last major Japanese base in the New Georgias, within close artillery range, it was announced today. Seizure of the island last Friday by unopposed Yankee jungle fighters paved the way for a quick attack on Kolombangara, site of Vila, by closing the over-water gap north of New Georgia to less than a mile across Blackett Strait. Reports did not indicate whether American guns already had been set up to blast Vila. The base and airfield, garrisoned by an estimated 8.000 enemy troops, lie’ in a cove little more than two miles from the northern edge of Arundel. v Japanese troops on Arundel appeared to have fled soon after their comrades evacuated Bairoko harbor, on New Georgia under American attack, and U. S. forces seized several small islands to the south last week. A coral island about 10 miles long and five wide, Arundel lies off the northwestern New Georgia and blocks the western ends of the eight-mile-wide Kula Gulf except for the narrow channel of Blackett Strait separating it from Koloniangara on
the north.
The latest success in the central Solomons closed a pincers on Vila since American troops hold Vella Lavella, north of Koloniangara. The news was tempered by slight reversals in New Guinea where allied troops the past few days gave ground at some points before fierce enemy counterattacks trying to save
that coastal base.
Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur’s communique said sharp ground fighting was in progress everywhere along the southwest and western approach-
es to Salamaua.
The allied air campaign to wreck enemy shipping throughout the southern Pacific area reached a new high with 66 enemy barges and luggers destroyed and the sinking or damaging of four other larer vessels, includin a 7000-ton freighter bombed off Kavieng, New Ireland. Allied aircraft carried out new attacks on the Samoa waterfront near Salamaua and again raided Hansa, major shipping point 250 miles northeast of Salamaua.
I H ,'t*
U. S Air Forces Official Photo. DYERSBURG, TVnn., A fighting crew member of the army's powerful and bedt-known airplane is Sgt. Robert C. Vickory of Cloverdale. Did., who is completing his training here aboard a Flying Fortress and will soon head into combat with the rest of his 10-man crew. A graduate of the Army Air Forces training schools, Sgt. Vickroy for the past several weeks has been a member of the Second Air Force which trains heavy bombardment crews for aerial warfare. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Cliff Vickroy of Cloverdale, Sgt. Vickroy is an armorer-gunner aboard the Army’s prize" bomber. As an armorer he keeps the guns and armament on the plane in repair and top-notch working condition, while as gunner he may be placed in any of three positions, in thv tail, ball-turret, or in the waist of the bomber. In civilian life Sgt. Vickroy was a farmer. Chief ambition of his and the others in his cre w is to return to their jobs and families after they have paid their “respects" to the Axis. Already specialists in their jobs before entering the Second Air Force, pilots, radio operators, aerial engineers, gunners, navigators and bombardiers learn to work and fly together as a team through a rigid and intansive course designed to prepare them for every phase of combat flying. While at the Army Air Base here, which is the farthest east in a chain of Second Air Force bases covering the West and Midwest, Sgt. Vickroy has spent many hours in ground school and in the air with his “teammates." Flying both night and ifay missions, they have practiced tactics and studied the latest method^ of fighting under officers and men who are air heroes of overseas battle brought back to this country to pass on to the training crews the wisdom of their batle experiences. “Nothing can beat the ability and enthusiasm of Sgt. Vickroy and his crew,” said one ribbon-bedecked veteran of the present war now on duty here as an instructor. “The men of that 10-man combination spell 'bad news' for the enemy.” Commanding General of the Second Air Force is Maj. Gen. j Davenport Johnson. Col. E. T. Kennedy, World War I pilot, commands the installation operating here in the cottonficldj of West Tennessee.
was 49, did not die a natural death and that a story he was shot by a I
Bulgar policeman was very likely | LOCAL GIRL INCLUDED correct. Exiled Balkan leaders in IN PURDUE GRADUATES
Cairo believed the event would result
in the Germans tightening their control in Bulgaria. DNB, in a Berlin broadcast, said all the army was required to take an oath to the new king. A court mourning of one year was ordered. Boris had escaped two attempts on his life since becoming king after ,bis father abdicated in 1918. He died at 4:22 p. m. Saturday.
WINS ACQUITTAL Edgar Miller was acquitted Saturday afternoon by Justice of the Peace Dent Chaney on a provocation charge filed by James Brattain. The case resulted from an alleged altercation which occuned on the evening of August 21. The hearing was conducted at the city hall by Justice
Chaney and Miller pleaded his own ^ Lafayette defense. instructor in the department of
Mrs. Elwood Kalin, formerly Miss Frances. O'Hair, daughter of E. R. O’Hair of this city, was among th 1 ; 501 graduates participating in Purdue's 71st graduation exercises in the Purdue Hall of Music on Sunday, Aug. 15, the date being in accordance with the speed-up program of the university. Mrs. Kalin was a distinguished student while attending Purdue, which she entered as a sophomore, Sept., 1941, and was elected a member of Omicron Nu. national home economics honorary society last year. She received a B. S. degree in the school of home Economics with 62 other graduating
seniors.
Mrs. Kalin became the bride of E. W. Kalin, Pleasant Ridge, Michigan August 22, 1942 and they have since been making their home at 510 Wood
Mr. Hahn
IMPORTANT MEETING WILL (BE | HELD WEDNESDAY EVENING |
j horticulture, Purdue University.
HAD SUNDAY ALARM
The city firemen were called to
Mayor Walter BaMard announced
today that there will be an important j 106 east Poplar street at 11 o’clock meeting at the American Legion | Sunday morning. Smoke from a dehome Wednesday evening, September. fective pipe on a hot water heater 1, at eight o’clock of all Auxiliary J was reported by Fire Chief William police and firemen. | Lawrence. There was no damage.
Nazis Withdraw On Sea Of Azov LONDON, Aug. 30. (UP) Tin Germans today announced the evacuation of Taganrog on the Sea of Azov, southern anchor of their crumbling defensive line in Russia, and military observers believed tin: Nazis have begun a general withdrawal of the Donets basin to the Dnieper river line. The German garrison quit Taganlog last night “in execution of measures for shortening the front” after destroying all war installation in the town and harbor according to plan an official news agency dispatch broadcast by the Berlin radio said. The hedgehog defenses of Taganrog, 35 miles west of Rostov, stopped both the 1941-42 and 1942-43 Russian winter offensives and its evacuation came as a surprise to military quarters in London since thlre had been no indication of an immediate threat to the city. However, the German broadcast spoke of Soviet attempts to “disturb” German troop movements and asserted that German naval forces In thi Sea of Azov sank two out of a fore • Of six Soviet motor gunboats southwest of Taganitig an indication that the Russians launched a coordinated land and sea drive against
the port.
Bedford Mystery Case Is Solved BEDFORD, Ind., Aug. 30. (UP) — A love triangle was blamed today for the false report that a 20-year-old girl was drowned in an abandoned quarry here and which led to the dragging of the quarry for 24 hours. Lawrence County Sheriff John Peyton said the clothes belonging to Miss Mary Newton. 20, Bardstnwn. Ky., were found near the PMB quarry, but they were thrown theie by a rival for the affections of ar unnamed Bedford man. Peyton, who also declined to name the girl tvho threw the clothing onto a ledge near the quarry, said Miss Newton had been contacted at Wau-
kegan, III.
The Bedford man had a suitcase full of her clothes in his car, preparatory to taking them to her at Waukegan, when they were discovered by the other girl, described by Peyton as “a nice, young local girl.” The two were driving by the quarry when the clothes were found, Peyton said, and in anger the girl threw them out of the car. A passer-by found them and reported to poltce that he thought someone had drowned in the quarry. The 25-foot deep water was dragged for a day before Waukegan police notified Peyton that the girl was
safe there.
The clothes were idenLued by Miss Newton’s sisters.
Navy Requires More Manpower
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UP) Available figures indicate today that heavier manpower requirements of the naval forces are contributing in part to the approaching draft of an estimated 446.009 fathers. Navy department statistics of present and planned strength of the navy, marine corps and coast guard show that better than one-third of thv men drafted this month, and who will be inducted during the remaining months of 1943, will be into those forces. Reliable sources, who declined to give actual figures, said this was a higher ratio than in the early part of 1943, and, it was believed, this is duo to the rapid expansion of the seven-
ocean fleet.
While navy demands increase, army demands are slackening at a comparable pace. There already have been assurances that the army is leveling off and that its future manpower needs will depend on the number of battle casualties and the rate of loss through sickness and noncoaibatnnt deattp, as well as .dis-
charges for other reasons.
As of July 31, the combined
strength of thy navy, marine corps |
and coast guard enlisted personnel j sumahly were sunk
STOCKHOLM, Aug. 30.—(UP) — German military authorities were reported in full control of Denmark today, hut some 40 Danish warships had slipped through their hands and nearly all military fortifications, depots and stores were in ruins. Upyards of 30 warships wewc scuttled in tlieii nucjors, no was sunk by German bembers as it tried to flee and nine ethers reached Sweden safely, reliable eyewitness reports said. Miiitaiy and naval installations were blown up by their garri-
sons.
King Cnristian A and members of Premier Uris Scaveniu.s’ government were believed in German custody as Gen. Hermann von Hanneken, commander of the occupation forces, set himself up as virtual fuehrer of the country Adoil Hitler once regarded
as his “model protectorate.’’
Hanneken ruled under ruthless martial law that banned all gatherings except church meetings, outj lawed strikes and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew. Resistance will be met with the “reckless use of arms” and inciters of strikes will bo executed, Hanneken warned in a proclamati >n. indignation and anger were reported sweeping the tiny monarchy, but the people were helpless in the face of overwhelming German arms. Royal guards at the Rosenborg bai racks near Copenhagen and at Amalienborg castle resisted when German troops sought to take over, but finally ceased firing when King Christian from his summer residence at Sorgenfri, outside Copenhagen, ordered resistance halted. Sorgenfri at the time was surrounded by the Germans. Several Danes and Ger-
mans were killed in the clashes.
Though there were no further reports of resistance, it was believed likely that similar Incidents occurred
at other Danish gairisons
Telephone and telegraph communiactions between Denmark and Sweden still were cut off, but eyewitnesses who reached this country said that a threatened general strike either was called off or failed, as trains still were running and inter-urban trolley cars and telephone service still were
lunctioning in Copenhagen.
At least 20 of the scuttled warships were sent to the bottom by their crews at the naval docks at Copenhagen, including the 3.500-ton armored coast defense ship Peder Skram, nine submarines, two new coastal destroyers and two torpedo
boats. v
Denmark’s second armored coast defense ship, the 3,800-ton Niels luel, attempted to escape from Ise Fjord, but was attacked and sunk by German bombers. The crew was rescued and taken to Hamlet's castle, Kron-
borg, at Hclsingoer.
The other 10 scuttled ships pre-
in other Danish
was 2,038,000, while on Dee. 31 this ] harbors.
is expected to reach 2,624.000, an increase of 586,000. This would mean a monthly demand upon selective servlet for 117,200 inductees. It was also known that combined calls of the army and navy are averagifig 300,000 a month, and will continue to average that number through December if selective service estimates prove correct when the actual
All Danish warships on patrol duty, acting on long-standing orders to scuttle themselves or flee to Sweden if the Germans seized control, took refuge in Swedish ports. Eight one torpedo boat, five patrol boats, one minesweeper and one small craft put in at Landskrona and one pa-
trol boat went to Mnlmoe.
The patrol boat at Malmoe had
calls come through far November and aboard , 0 officerfl an ,| B2 ,, n i l3t ed
December. It already has been re-, vealed that the October call is “n !
shade lower” than 312,000.
In addition to the demand for enlisted personnel, the Navy will require an additional 30,800 officers. Under present regulations, few of these will come from the age groups under 35, (except for flight officers. Some, too, might come from the present enlisted ranks and in such cases replacements would be neces-
men of the Danish navy, seven Danish policemen and three coast artil-
lery men.
Reliable eyewitness reports said the Danish soldiers blew up all military stores and depots and demolished all fortifications except the Middelfgrt fortress outside Copen-
hagen. ,
Hundreds of German troops patrolled the streets of Copenhagen and
sary thereby Increasing a bit the th>- 1 °ther Danish cities and machine-gun mand for inductees. j posts guarded important intersec-
During the present and the remain- j ing months of the year, the Navy's | enlisted personnel will increase by
491,000 man, the Marine Corps by 77,000, and the Coast Guard by 18,000.
ROTARY 1’K'NIC
Tha annual Rotary picnic will l«> held on Wednesday, September first, at the home of Floyd Hemmer in Putnamville. These events are anticipated eagerly by Greencastle Rotarians
and their families.
Following the dinner, then? will be games and other entertainment.
Captain W. J. Fuson ot Washington, D. C., is here to spend a seven | day leave with his family.
& Today’s Weather A A and A A Local Temperature A
Warmer tonight.
Minimunv 6 a. m. 60 7 a. m. .. .. 62 8. a. m 70 9 a. m 75 10 a. m HO 11 a. ni 84 12 noon 87 1 p. m 90 2 p. m. Mt
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