The Daily Banner, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 January 1945 — Page 1

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THE DAILY BANNER "IT WAVES FOR ALL"

FIFTY-THREE BOARD DS INITIAL EET OF YEAR CTS UST AND NEW 3NTMENTS MADE| CKDl MISSION EHS

county's Board of -loners, all Republicans first time in the history unty, met in their initial 1945 at the court onday. Wallace Spencer, ember of the board, was as chairman. Ross Torr w member, succeeding Rice, and the third memRudolph Fordice. cts let by the Comers Monday included supplies for the county gs to the Modern Supply ny of Indianapolis; county upplies to Ray Trembly of gal Store, and county lumber to Phil Adamson. E. Williams was re-ap-as county attorney, ppointments were: ors —l. F. Brant and

t Fulford.

Operator—A1 Stone, -n Hazel Byrd, ital Trustee—Ted Brown, ty Physician—Dr. Schauppointment of Mr. Brown fill the vacancy on the board due to the expirathe term of A. J. Duff, e succeeds Walter Lear ator of the court house

Disaster Took 48 Lives

SINGLE COPT. S CENTS MERCURY HIT 2 ABOVE MARK Monday night was the coldest cf the present winter season when the Banner thermometer registered a minimum of 2 de-

grees above aero.

The mencury hov?red around the 12 above math the greater part of the day and then begin to slip downward as night fell. A bitting wind als > added to the discomfort of botn pedestrians and motorists throughout the day making it the oldest 2t hours since winter arrived.

GREENCASTLE, INDIANA, TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1945.

NO. 67

BUDAPEST HIT

BLOCK BY BLOCK BY RED SHELLS MOSCOW,/ Jan. 2.—(UP)— Thousands a Russian cannon and rocket Inns began levelling Budapest tmk by block today as the ReilArmy, Inflamed by the murde* of two of its emissaries, pnAaimed “no quarter”

rnered Nasi Elite ting on in the heart

REPUBLICANS FILLED COURT HOUSE JAN. 1

lor the

Guards fijfi of the cit

“Death

the Sovie

the last man” was war cry as word

EN, Utah, Jan. 2.—(UP) 'ic was resumed over the m Pacific Railroad today rials tentatively scheduled estigation Thursday into ck of the Pacific Limited *h 48 persons were killed others were Injured early in a disastrous rear end 22 milea west of here, i cars of ths two trains broken and telescoped the fast 20-car mail and section of the limited ough red signals, torpedo s and flares and ploughthe sleeper car at the the 18-car passenger sec-

spread th: ugh the rank that the .Nazis hai rejected a surrender ultimatun by slaying the two Russian < ficere who presented

it.

Half th city was in Russian hands at e start of the second week of treet fighting this morning, nd Soviet field 'dispatches sid the narrowing pockets h 1 by the axis defenders on bo sides of the Danube were bein pulverized by a continuous cket and artillery bombardrr it.

Throwir

the destn.

squarely

Army higl

German shellfire city and

inhabitants For the,tough Nazi Elite Guards whjconi prised the core of the Bumest garrison, the Soviet conrnnders decreed instant death nd it was announced that th< esponsible German officers inv ed In the murder of the envo would be hanged. More tha: ,000 enemy troops were killed Buda and the east

responsibility toi ion of the capital the enemy, the Red ommand ordered the I itions destroyed by a^rhatever cost to the remaining civilian

CAL BOYS MEET Scobee and John Harlan,

11 known Greencastle boys

the paratroopers meet,

a with the famous 82nd

Division that fought jest's 80 squ

ntly and well in Africa, Italy, Ireland and since joined them, England,

Belgium, HoNand and

y. When they returned to

John was assigned to

Ision. Loyd Scobee was the 20 men with Lt. Loyd ' who after a bloody battle :d and held intact the Nijmegen bridge in Hol-

bank sectio >f Pest yesterday

and anotht Hungarians running the than two di 6,300 men. After a w ing surpassii the battle fc

429—apparently were captured, (is losses in less to an estimated

These and other Republicans almost filled the court house Monday, January 1, whvn the new officers took up their official duties. Some spectators were on hand to offer their congratulations, as more GOf office holders were on duty than ever before in the history of Putnam county. Included in the group above are left to right—Seated—Mrs. Thad Jones, Auditor; Ross Torr, Rudolph Fordice, Wallace Spenter, county commissioners; Ray Vaughn, county highway superintendent. Standing—Left to right—Albert E. Williams county attorney; William Boatright, surveyor, John H. Alice, judge; Gilbert E. Ogles, county chairman and deputy secretary of state; Donus E. Denny, prosecuting attorney; Oner Akers, county clerk; Edward Maddox, deputy sheriff; Mrs. Rex Crask, treasurer, and Paul Grimes, Sheriff. Frank Cooper, county assessor was in the group on the end but the picture failed to include him. •

New Congressman Ralph Gwinn Writes of His Experiences

of street fightin savagry even Stalingrad, the

Russians helcfcout 40 of Buda-

miles, including

most of the ^ bank section of Buda and ab eight square miles of Pes t total of about

TOO city blocl

Soviet troo] nade their deepest penetratic >f Pest Monday

advance from irran the Rakos ve miles from

ED IN GERMANY and Mrs. T. D. Gibson, 2, has received word from randdaughter of Indianaprs. Ruth Leslie, that her d, Bob, was killed in acGermany, December 4. Leslie was the father of ittle girls. STER SERGEANT and Mrs. Jacob Eitel have ed word from their son th Eitel that he has been ted to master sergeant. M neth Eitel, who has been ed In the Pacific theater, oute home and is expected ive daily. He will report to his Pacific post after rlough In the States.

Years Ago

IN GKEENCAWLE Crawford was driving a odge sedan. Sutton spent the day in apolis. Godwin was here from and Mrs. Cecil Brown, of dge, were guests of Mr. rs. Milt Brown.

with a 1*4 i the east that

lailway staticjfi

the Danube. In that ar were advanci

densely populjd

section of the >ital and all ac-

counts Indicat ing was doub the Nazis

Inside Bud

defense lines

enemy and at

storming a

along the rive

the Russians into the most and built-up

that the fightin fury, with verting every

house and off building into a miniature forti.

the Russians

broke through iree successive

' iw/i up by the reports were

fih, apparently

ink.

Front report rid the capital had become a charnel house littered with isands of rotting corpses a ighted by the glare from bur buildings and exploding amm tion dumps. Tanks and s impelled guns of the opposln miles clashed

head-on in the murderous Rus

eta, while the “katushkaa”

-rocket guns ought scores

of houses turn! the heads of tl

pants.

There was no of the city’s cl which was esti ;d

been swollen to 00,000 by an influx of refuge rom the surlounding count de. It was probably the fir me since the beginning of th x that civil-

scale have cross-fire of

ians on so gre been caught in two warring an

A dispatch fro i e newspaper Pravda’s fror irrespondent (Contlaard oa r Thre«>

down about Nazi occu-

on the fate population, to have

Greencastle friends of Ralph Gwinn, newly elected congressman from New York city, will be interested in the following experience which he has written, relative to f|nding living quarters in Washington where he has gone, and other conditions which he has found since being elected; (Failing to find a house in Washington, I called hopefully on an old friend who owns one. She said: “Hear my story and weep. I rented my house for six months and moved into a little apartment of a friend thinking 1 would make a few hundred dollars by the move. When the term was up I arranged to move back into my house. The tenant said, ‘Oh, no, the O. P. A. says we don’t have to move.’ I went to my lawyer. He said; Tt will be a long fight and then you may fail.’ Finally the x tenant , said'We will be generous. You can come back to your house and live on the third floor. When we are not using the kitchen you come down and get ynhr meals.’ That’s what I'm doing!” On my first trip to the Capital I tried to hail a taxicab. Taxicabs are busses. To stop one you wave your hands, or packages, or umbrella, and show great agitation. If one should stop, the driver ascertains if you arc going to the same place where a majority of his passengers are going. If you rfre not, he drives on. So if you have individual plans and purposes in Washington, you Just stand around in the cold on the curb and get nowhere. Finally I got a taxicab that was going to the Capital. Inside was a distinguished looking man, a professor from Purdue. He was testifying before a Congressional Committee, against an administration bill to appropriate millions of dollars to little colleges throughout the nation. The administration had been preparing for months the evidence favoring the bill. The evidence was all on one side, like a plaintiff's case in court. The Congressmen, without any appropriation of funds and no staff to prepare the cast on the other side, were th* helpless defendants. The professor had come from Indiana, in a hurry, to the rescue for the defendants. People say, why doesn't Congress supply itself with a sufficient staff to get information. They have the power to vote for such things.” But we have party government and the administration of the party in power does not want to strengthen Congress. The administration "Whips” in Congress oppose legislation to , strengthen the hands of Congress. It is overwhelmed most of the time by administration propositions and bills ^nd appropriations with no adequate facilities for getting information in opposition to the party and the administration in

power,

I am going to Congress to help correct that situation and to de-

fend the rights of individuals to make their own plans and manage themselves and their affairs without the encroachment of government plans and planning after the war. I want to belong to a Congress that will clear the road so that individual libertyloving millions of people making their own plans and following their own purposes will bring about a better society and greater prosperity than any over-all planning the smartest group of political planners in the worlc could make. It is my firm faith in the individual rlgiu ana r-*-apons.bility of the people that mak. s me glad to go to Congress in their defense. The people in the 27th District have faith in themselves and great fear of too much government. So I’m grateful they have sent me on their behalf. May I join you in the hope that the New Year will bring victory and peace. RALPH W. GWINN, Bronxvi lie, New York Congressman-elect, 27th District P. S. We leave for Washington on January 1st, party caucuses take place on the 2nd, and the Congressmen are installed on January 3rd, Though we do not know at this time where we are going to l.ve.

Draft Of 4-F’s Deemed Essential

l^£

MAYOR NAMES LOCAL BOARD ON AVIATION CITY COUNCIL HELD REGULAR SESSION ON MONDAY EVENING

Court Rejects Guilty Plea JNDIAN AFOLIS, Jan. 2 — (UP)— William Luallen, 26, convicted burgler, returns to the Indiana state prison today to complete his 10 to 21-year sentence, after failing to make police believe that he murdered WAC Cpl. Maoma L. Ridings, Aug. 28 1943. Luallen made several “confessions” to the murder of the 32-year-old Warm Springs, Ga., WAC, first accusing his divorced wife and then claiming that he had done the killing with a broken whiskey bottle in Cpl. Ridings’ hotel room. Deputy Prosecutor Leo T. Brown said that all of Luallen’s stories had been disproved, and Criminal Court Judge William D. Bain refused yesterday to accept the convict’s plea of guilty to the slaying. The Marion county grand jury had returned a nobill against the man. The murder remained a mystery, but Brown said that statements had been made in the case by two other suspects and they were being investigated. WOMEN NEEDED IN RED CROSS ROOMS THURSDAY Women are needed in the Red Cross rooms Thursday afternoon at 1:30 ©’’clock to fill housewives which go in the kit bags to be sent to the boys going overseas. The rooms are located oh the fourth floor of the court house in Greencastle. Elevators are available to take volunteer workers to the Red Cross rooms.

Jan. 2.—

(UPj—An administration request for new laws to tighten government controls on manpower, including a draft of 4-F’s for essential war work, faced the 79th Congress today on the eve

of its opening session.

The request, together with other recommendations to bolster the war effort on the home front, was made by War Mobilization and Reconversion Director James F. Byrnes in a 20,000word report to the new Congress which begins its two-year existence at noon tomorrow. Declaring that the nation’s industrial and manpower resources are still far from totally mobilized, Byrnes told Congress that that following legislation was needed to enable the war program to “ride on a horpe in-

stead of a mule”:

1. Authority to assign 4,000,000 4-Fs to war jobs as well as military service unless they already are engaged in essential

activity.

2. Authority for the War Manpower Commission to enforce its regulations limiting the number of workers employers may re-

tain.

3. Authority for the War Labor Board to enforce its decisions in courts without resorting to property seizure, thus permitting the government to treat “the Petrillos and Averys alike.’’ 4. Increased unemployment benefits for war workers who .nay be temporarily out of jobs when the war ends and adequate financial assistance in re-estab-lishment of small businesses discontinued as a result of the war. Byrnes also suggested revision of draft deferment standards lor men in agriculture in anticipation of increased calls by selective service. He said his first choice for fighting manpower shortages was national service legislation but that he would not request such a measure because “I am too practical to continue butting rny head against a brick wall.” Although warning that the nation must not make another *tno early start” toward reconversion, Byrnes suggested some modifications in excess profit taxes and on tax laws pertaining of depreciation allowances on equipment to help industry, and especially amall business, look to the reconversion period with greater confidence. The Byrnes report provided the first glimpse of the legislative program which the Roosevelt administration will propose to the new Congress as its part in speeding victory and laying the groundwork for enduring peace with economic proaperity.

Meeting in regular session on ths first day of the Nsw Year Monday evening, t ie c ty council transacted business on hand with Mayor Walter Ballard presiding. The following councilmen were also present: Kenneth Bryan. Ward Mayhall, Herbert Graver, Cscil Fellers and Rex Thorlton. Mayor Ballard announced that he had appointed a Greencastle Beard of Aviation Commissioners composed of the following members: H. H. Broks, Jacob E tel, Kenneth E. West, and Joe

B. Crosby.

A contract for the purchase of 400 feet of 2 1-2 inch hose and 250 feet of 1 1-2 inch hose for the fire department was awarded the Bi Lateral Fire Hose Company of Chicago on a bid of $1.20 for the 2 1-2 and 85 cents for the 1 1-2 inch, a total bid of $692.5$ The council also approved a motion to have Judge J. H. Alice of the Putnam circuit court, appoint three disinterested freeholders to appraise the old Seagrave fire truck which is to be offered for sale. A petition by H. E. Williams to repair canopy and roof at 216 south College Avenue was granted by the council. The annual report of Fire Chief William Lawrence for the year 1944 showed a total of 115 calls with a fire loss of $10,067. 85, or $2.13 per capita. The council went on record praising the department for holding the fire damage to this small figure

BULLETIN HAZI TROOPS

HIT HARD BY PATTON'S MEN

LONDON, Jan. 2 (UP)—Gordon Fraaer of the Blue Network, in a dispatch earried by the Ameriean radio, reported today that the Germans had latinehed a heavy attack against Ameriean forces in the Saar Valley. Eraser -aid the spearhead of j (he attaek, which hurst into action before daybreak, seemed to be aimed at Wulferdingen, about ;8 miles southeast of Saarbnicken. He added, however, that it was too early yet to see how serious the German threat was.

CRUSH COUNTER - ATTACK OX BASTOGNK: WHEEL NORTHWARD

New Mystery Balloon Found

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 2 (UP)—Army officials remained alert today on the results of thvir examination of a large balloon hauled from a moutainside 38 miles southeast of Portland. A federal bureau of investigation agent and an army derholition squad took possession Sunday afternoon of the balloon found by an unidentified resident three mites from Hilockburn ranger station in the area of a large power plant and the Bull Run Headworks of Portland’s water system. The balloon, reported unoffically to have been unmarked, was fouted in a tree, which was chop ped down to permit recovery of the sphere. Dozens of natives looked on, but the FBI agent banned photographs and turned away reporters seeking to inspect the salvage. Unofficial destriptions indicated the balloon was similar to the Japanese paper craft found near Kalispell, Mont., three wevks ago. Discovery of the Kalispell balloon was followed last week by the finding of a second mysterious lighter-than-air craft near Tacoma, Wash. Details of that balloon were not disclosed, but sonw? sources said it might have been sent up by a U. S. weather bureau station. The FBI said any information as to the origin of the latest balloon would come from army sources, if at all.

G-MEN NAB TWO GERMAN SABOTEURS NEW YORK, Jan. 2.—(UP)— Edgar Hoover, director of th“ Federal Bureau of Investigation, warned today of a new “Intensified” effort by Germany to send saboteurs to this country as he revealed the arrest of two agents landed a month ago by submarine on the coort of Maine. The men, arrested in New York, were William Curtis Colepaugh, 26, a native of Connecticut with a discharge from the U. S. navy, and Enrich Gimpel, 35 a German citizen, interned for a time in this country but sent home as an exchange prisoner only to return as a spy. They landed Nov. 29 in Frenchman

oay.

The two men, trained In espionage and sabotage in Berlin. Dresden and The Hague, were equipped with $60,000 in United States currency, forged birth certificates copied after those of the Connecticut department of health, forged discharges from the U. 3. navy, secret Ink and other paraphernalia. Both were carrying .32 caliber pistols when arrested and had assembled party* for a short wave radio

transmitter.

“The landing of these two men end of the two Japanese balloons in the northwest and other matters I cannot disclose at the moment for reasons of security in-

dicate that the German govern- munique and

ment has a very intensified program of training and sending agents into the western hemi-

sphere,” Hoover said.

The FBI chief said he was confident that no others had been landed at the same time as the two now in custory. The balloons referred to by Hoover were discovered at Kalispell. Mont., and Portland, Ore. A third balloon was reported by two youths at Tacoma, Wash., but its origin was never an-

nounced.

The balloon found at Kalispell was made of processed paper covered with Japanese characters and carried an incendiary device. Severed cables indicated that it might have carried a rage for passengers. Hoover paid the purpose of the balloons had not yet been determined. “It is at least conceivable, however,” he said, “that they were released for the purpose of smuggling enemy agents into (his country.” Hoover asked the public to alert itself against possible spies and saboteurs. “A great many people have an idea this war is over,” he said.

FIRST BABY OF YEAR Sharon Kay Scobee, daughter of Mr. and Mr*. William Scobee, Oreencaatle, R. 4., wa* the first Putnam county baby to be born in 1945. She arrived at the county hospital at 3:gp A. M-. Monday.

JOSEPH M’CORD TAKES STATE FINANCIAL POST

Joseph McCord, Greencastle, appointed by Governor-elect Ralph F. Gates as director of the state department of financial institutions, took over as acting director today, to fill out the unexplred \?ight days of A. J. Stevenson's term, Mr. Stevenson having resigned to enter private law practice in Danville, Governor Henry F. Schricker asked Mr. McCord to begin his new duties earlyi to avoid any break in the continuity of the direction of the financial department's affairs pending the change on January 8, when Gov-ernor-etect Gates takes office.

PARIS. Jan. 2. (UP)—The Germans were reported pulling out of the western half of the Ardennes salient at top speed today as American Third Army forces crushed a Nazi counterattack on Bastogne and wheeled northward into the sagging enemy flank on a front of more than 15 miles. A field dispatch timed at eight o’clock this morning two a. m., CWT) said all contact had been lost with the Nazi armored divlsiions that had been holding (he western tip of the salient and that the Americans were advancing eastward against light rear guard resistance. United Press War Correspondent Boyd Lewis reported the German withdrawal which apparently ended for the time being Field Marshal Karl von Rundstedt’s threat to the Meuse

river line.

Apparently alarmed by the growing threat of Lt. Gen. George Patton’s Third Army assault on their southern flank, the Nazis were believed gathering their crack panzer units in the center of the Ardennes ir. preparation for a new attempt to break through the American ring—perhaps north toward Liege and Antwerp or south

against Patton’s troops.

Lewis’ censored dispatch did not specify the location of tha American forces advancing against the nose of the German talient. The Yank counter-drive at last reports, now more than 36 hours old, had punched back some 12 miles from positions only four miles east of the Meuse to recapture Rochefort, 24 miles northwest of Bastogne. Headquarters spokesmen declined to. specuteL* svhoUyer the new assault was a diversion to weaken Patton's drive in the Ardennes or the beginning of a full-scale offensive to split the third and seventh army fronts. Meanwhile, the Shaef corn-

field dispatches

from Patton’s attack front—all delayed 24 to 36 hours by censorship— said the third army was grinding steadily into the southern flank of the Ardennes Salient in a broadening front north, east,

and west of Bastogne.

Veterans of the American ninth armored division gave the Nazis a resounding beating in the wooded hills southeast of Bastogne New Year's eve, halting a powerful armored force that tried repeatedly to cut the supply corridor below that town and isolate Patton's advanced

spearheads to the north.

Attacking nil day Sunday and

M’ontluiiDil mi I'm;'** Tour)

12-Year Old Girl Becomes Mother

FT. WAYNE. Ind., Jan. 2 — (UP) Ft. Wayne polire today held a 17-year-old youth on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a 12-year-old girl who yesterday gave birth to a five-pound, nine-ounce baby

daughter

Physicians said both the baby

and the mother, admitted to a lo-

“Ihis landing should dispel thati^j h 0S pjt a i Sunday for treatfeeling. Obviously, the German | men ^ 0 ( nn apparent tumor, were

government doesn't think so. “It is important, I think, to

STATIONED IN INDIA Mrs. Ruby McCullough has received word from her husband, Pvt. Dan McCullough, that he is now stationed in India.

Indicate the necessity of immediate reporting to the nearest FBI office of any suspicious activities of any character noted by persons in this country.” Hoover revealed the arrest of Oolep&ugh and Gimpel at a press conference last night. Their assignment, he said, was to mingle with service men in bars and pick up bits of valuable information which they planned to transmit to the enemy. They had not yet attempted to send any Information, he said.

LIBRARY HOURS

Beginning January 2 the public* library will be open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 a. m. and 6:00 p. m. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10:00 a. m. to 6:00 p. m. ahd open again in the evening from 7:00 p. m. and 9 p. m.

doing well.

The mother was the youngest on record in Ft. Wayne hospitals. She was only 11 years old when she became pregnant.

® Todays Weather ® @ and © © Local Temperature © ©©©©©©©©©© Clear and very cold today, becoming cloudy and not quite so cold tonight and Wednesday. Occasional light snow tonight and Wednesday.

Minimum 2

a. m

a .m

a. m

noon

p. m