La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959, April 24, 1945, Image 1

Historic Oregon Newspapers

La Grande evening observer., April 24, 1945, Image 1

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1945)

Page of 6 Next Prev Issue Next Text PDF JP2 (2.5 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Page of 6 Next Prev Issue Next

Newspaper Page Texti IF o n riiDim ummomi ' ; Weather Data for! 24 hours to 7 u. m., April 24. , Temperatures: . Maximum 51 Minimum 37 Precipitation 30 Forecast Sliowers tonight and Yi'ednesday. ESTABLISHED 1896 . I . Yank s Elgin Will Erect Modern SchoolsJiurReplace Old Building Razed by Fire Plans for construction of a new elementary and hijrh school In Elgin to replace the structure razed by fire Saturday night were announced today by school officials. While exact design, costs and other details were not avail able pending definite decision on various phases of the build ing project, it was revealed the school trustees contemplate erection pf separate one-story units to house the elementary and secondary grades instead of a single unit, such as that Stettinius Sees Hope1 for Success Of Security Parley SAN FRANCISCO,' April 24 (UP) Secretary ot Slate Ed ward R. Stettinius, jr., expressed confidence today the world se curity conference will succeed and Britain ro'-plcdgcd her sup port to Russia's demand for three votes' in the security as sembly. Britain Supports Russ . Britain's pledge was placed on record .by Maj. Clement R. Att lce,. deputy prime minister, who also expressed hope that the knotty Polish controversy might be settled along the linos of the Yalta proposal for broadening the base of the present Warsaw fcvvjHjM)- ,.,...y.rrt-i..iviaet .by. J0ther' schools- through Att eo sa d that since the Uk- ,,, ... , ,. i mine and White Russia both j hnv-s foreign ministers the Rus sian proposal that these stales J be represented in the security assembly is sound. 1 Foreign Secretary Anthony I Eden and Foreign Commissar V. M. Molotov arc -due here later i . by plane from Washington. ) Stettinius' sentiments were echoed by the veteran statesman, i Field Marshal Jan Christian j Smuts, South African premier ! tmd the only veteran of Ver j saillcs who is playing a major jf role at San Francisco. I First Session Tomorrow 3 The first plenary conference J session is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., PWT tomorrow. With scarcely -; more than 24 hours to go, the j big three found themselves in ; the embarrassing position of bo 'j ing unable to settle a misundcr j standing which they thought they 4 had cleared up last winter in i lV Crimea. , f Efforts to adjust the dispute in ( preliminary Washington discus See STETTINIUS . . . Page 5 Congress Acts To I Honor Roosevelt WASHINGTON, April 24 (UP) Congress today took its first j ctficial action on a scries of bills J designed to honor the memory of 1 Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 5 The house judiciary committee :f approved legislation to award the it. nation's highest decoration, the :,J medal of honor, to Roosevelt ! posthumously. ) The bill, offered by house "democratic Lcalcr John W. Me Cormack, Mass., proposes the .-.ward in recognition of linosc Nelt's "peerless leadership as commander-in-chief, his heroic courage as a pioneer of new fron tiers of freedom, his gallant and unselfish devotion to the service of his country, and his everlast ing contribution to the cause of world peace." A similar bill has Ken introduced in the senate. Bills also have been intro duced to make the late presi dent's birthday, Jan. 30, a nalion in holiday apd designate the little JVVarm Springs, Ga., cottage in V hich he died as a national . l-lirinc. RENT CONTROL SLAVED nncrrmtt- r,.. a..;i ,JVol"a. ctual operating expendi- .(UPl-Federal rent control wilt For the bureau of reclamation, "become effective May I in Doug- jg, rcc0mmonded an appropriation l? .,C0UT yJ McD2n tflrwn' $30,088,300, a cut of $14,754,500 Portland district OPA Rector, f.0m the figure approved by the announced today. Ibudget bureau. The next largest All rents on that date in Doug-jt, $9,945,690, was made in rec-Ja- county will be automatically I ommending $15,881,860 for the ret at the level of Jan. 1, 1S45. bureau of mines. mm Crack I wnicn was ournea Buildings that will be of latest design and will incorporate num erous appurtenances contributing to modem teaching practices, will te erected according to Superintendent J. E. Tolbert. Tolbert said a now shop will be included in the building pro gram. Nothing Saved from Fire : Tolbert said nothing was saved from the old structure, and that all records, books and other im portant documents were lost, en tailing a great volume of paper work to bring the school record great amount of work before the school records can again be put into working order. He said that when classes are resumed tomorrow morning in the American Legion hall, Christ ian church and other similar places in the community, they will be equipped with textbooks and Other essentiol materials pro- out the county to cover the cm ergency. He said he spent yesterday and will be out today visiting other schools to obtain books and equipment which have been of fered to help the Elgin school continue in session without un due delay. Through this coop eration, it will be possible for the schools to complete the year on schedule, he said. Included in the equipment pro vided by thp other schools was some for the athletics activities, including baseball, which will be continued without interruption. Cub Scout Play Day to Include Soap Box Derby Preparations are being com pleted for the cub scout play day, to be held at Union county fair grounds Saturday, starting at 2 p. nr., with a parade in the grounds. A kite flying contest will be judged on distance and for the best constructed kite. Track events from 2:30 until 3:30 o'clock will be followed by a rof.p-box derby. The cubs have made their own racers and will be judged on the fastest, and the best built. They will race from the top of Wash ington street, three blocks down the hill. The street will be roped off for this event. Work done in March and April will be displayed in the Model barber shop. The articles to be on display are to be left there Wednesday. The event is city-wide and more than 130 boys will partici pate. Interior Budget Slashed Sharply WASHINGTON, April 24 (UP) --The house appropriations com mittee ' slashed $38,743,41!) from interior department requests to day, recommending that the de partment be given S102.602.G28 for the fiscal year beginning next July 1. The committee noted that the department's revenues, principal ly from power projects, were ex pected to reach $74,500,000 dur ing: the 1!I4G fisc.d year and ex pressed the hope that revenues ranuc LA GRANDE, OREGON TUESDAY EVENING, Probe is Launched Into Death Of North Powder Man Albert Bowman's Body is Found In Shallow Well State police today are investi faling the death it Albert Bow man, 58, wealthy stockman of the North Powder district, whose battered body was found yester day In a shallow well on his ranch on the Wolf Creek road, about 3 miles west of North Pow der. While the officers. District At torney C. R. Eberhard and Cor oner L. L. Snodgrass declined to suy there was any evidence of foul play, they said the circum stancos surrounding the case , are such that a thorough investiga tion was deemed necessary. ' The body was found by Earl Stigaulldc, a ranch employe. It was lying across a plank in the well, about 12 feet from the sur face of the ground, partially sub merged in the water. Well Opening Small The opening through which Bowman fell or was pushed, au thorities said, was made by ap parent removal of a 12-inch plank. The well had not been used recently and the pit was covered by several boards, they said. The authorities announced an autopsy is to be conducted late today by Dr. Joe Bceman, state autopsy surgeon, who came to day from Portland. - - EbernnVd'salct today H 'ls un l'kcly that an inquest will cc held. Bowman was born in the North Powder area of a pioneer family, and is survived by his widow, four sons and two daughters. Three of the sons arc in the arm ed forces. Allied Prisoner Mistreatment To Bring Punishment WASHINGTON, April 24 (UP) President Truman, in his first formal role as a member of the nig Three, sought today to pre vent further execution, starva tion or torture of allied nationals in the hands of the crumbling German army. At the same time it appeared that German forces no longer have the transport facilities to move prisoners out of the path of advancing allied, armies. This seemed to' be the reason behind the German offer accepted by this government to leave all prisoners of war in the camps where thev are now being held. 60,000 Yanks Held According i.o latest figures available,, some 143,000 British and GO.OOd. to 85,000 American prisoners still were in German i i nds as of April 17. President Truman joined last right with British Prime Minis ter Winston Churchill and Rus sion Premier Josef Stalin in a warning that anyone party to the maltreatment of allied prisoners "will be ruthlessly pursued and brought to punishment." This warning, in leaflet form, was dropped from allied planes during the night on German ter ritory still In German hands. Meanwhile, the house foreign affairs committee went to work See ALLIED . . . Page 5 Baseball Results National League R II E Philadelphia 000 100 010 2 5 2 New York 200 000 3()x 5 7 1 Rafftftisbcrgcr and Peacock; Hansen and Lombardi; HHR: For NY Ott 1st 1 on; 7th 1 on. For I'lia. Dinges 8th, none on. Chicago at poncd, rain. Cincinnati post- American League Boston at Washington, poned, rain. post- St. Louis at Cleveland post rened, rain. Detroit at Chicago, postponed, run. 'lil!lil!!!!!!ll:li!!!;!iili;;:!tlS!i!!!l!ll!!!l!lllll' Unioi and Wallowa Counfei nner Bavarian i ; , -mtm 1 1 ' ' 1 i ' ? V ' THEY CANT WIN Previously damaged la at earlier attack, the Jap cr'uUtr shown above put into Singapore harbor and got a tem porary bow, permitting it to proceed to "safety" in Jap home waian, .But a U. S. Air Apaches B-25 group, led by LI. George R. Schrrlidi of Gooding, Idaho, caught the vessel a second lime in the China, tea. this time fatally, and scored direct hits with 500-pou'id ' bombs which, as photo shows, finished off the Nip ship. Stores Will Close Tomorrow For Paper, Can Collection Business will be suspended in La Grande tomorrow afternoon, and many residents of the community will turn their attention to the salvaging of waste paper and tin cans, both of which arc vitally needed to supplement the nation's paper and tin supplies, v ' ii'i ' " ' J'- 'Most of the "business 1 houses Senate Approves 6 -Months Training For 18-Y ear-Olds WASHINGTON, Apr. 24 (UP) The senate today adopted an amendment to the selective service extension act requir ing six months pro-combat training for 18-year-olds. ' ' The action was taken by vole of 50 io 25, despite appeals by administration leaders thai tho amendment would hamper the war effort and perhaps en danger "thousands of Ameri can lives." The amendment requires six months pre-combat training for ail inductees under 19, but pro vides that the navy may assign 18 year-olds io vessels for com pletion of training, even though the vessels may ultimately be engaged in combat. 3 Marine Airmen Bag 16 Japanese ABOARD ADM. TURNER'S FLAGSHIP OFF OKINAWA, April 24 (UP) Three marines becames aces in 20 minutes of aerial combat about 60 miles northwest of Okinawa last night. They were Maj. George C- Ax- tcll, jr., 24, commanding officer ol a marine fighter squadron who shot down five Jap dive bomb- i'is and damaged three others; Maj. Jefferson Davis Donah, 24, who sent 6 bombers crashing in to the sea, and Lt. Jeremiah J. O'Keefe, 21, who bagged five bombers. Donah is from Hood River, Oie. His wife lives in Riverside, Calif.. Marshal Petain Stand Trial on BERN, April 24 (UP) Mar shal Henri Philippe Petain, chief of state of the defunct Vichy government, fled into Switzerland from Germany to day preparatory to surrender ing to French authorities. A Swiss government an nouncement said Petain had been granteS permission to en ter Switzerland on his plea that he wished to return to France to ansr charges of treason. TlS 89 - year - old marshal, hero of World War I, crossed the border at St. Margrethen on Lake Constance at G a. m. in a nine-car caravan after spending the night at Bregenz. He went there from Sigmarin- APRIL 24, 19.15 will close for the day at 2 p.m., and trucks manned by members of the Junior chamber of com merce and boy scouts and cubs will start immediately thereafter on the collection of salvage male rials. Scouts Will Aid Dannis Miller, waste paper chairman of tho junior chamber, sa! J scouts and cubs who arc to paiticipatc in the collection will be released from school for the afternoon upon application by their scoutmasters. The boys, who have been collecting waste paper for some time, will accom pany the trucks to the storage places. As the trucks make paper col lection trips they also will pick up boxes and packages of cans which arc placed at the curb by householder?. Lynn Bolinenkainp, co-chairman of the county salvage com mittee, said the junior chamber group will handle the can salvage tomorrow, and that in the future collections will be made by tho local waste disposal collectors. Collection Calls Arranged Miller said it will be impos sible for the junior chamber's col lectors to make a house-to-house canvass he-cause of the lack of facilities, but that anyone who has a sizeable amount of paper, securely tied in bundles not ex ceeding 50 pounds, may notify the chamber of commerce, tele phone 8, before 2 p.m. tomorrow and an effort will be made to pick it up. Business houses which have paper for the collection are' re quested to place it on the curb or in Hie alley to expedite hand Set' WASTE . . . Page 5 to Surrender, Treason Charge fccn. seal of his puppet govern ment. Petain will wait in Switzer land for instructions from Par is as to the ISne and place of his surrender, tb(j Swiss an nouncement said. lie is wanted f'O' trial as a tiai'or in surrendering France to Germany in 1940 and sub sequently collaborating with the Nazis. His trial was to have been held in absentia next month, but tho Swi.s an nouncement means that he will be on hand for ( opening. ' (In Paris the French govern ment announced that it had sent a note to Switzerland fix ing the date and place for Pe tain to cross the frontier into France.) FIVE CENTS Li Lines Menace Last Nazi Fortress PA HIS, April 21 (UP) American third army troops broke open the outer defenses of Hitler's Bavarian redoubt I on a broad front today and rammed an armored spear head up to the Danube river on the western outskirts of Kejrensburjf. Kast of Ucjrensbui'if, the 11th armored division in a 23-milo snurt along- the Cham Ueiren road leached the area of Arnesreidt, 35 miles from the Austrian border and SM miles north of BerchtesK'aden, I Ll. Gen. George S. Patlon's I Third army tanks and armored : troop carriers j .'ached the north western bend of the Danube op posite Regensburg the old Na poleonic city of Ratisbon this afternoon after a 10-mile advance through weak and disorganized enemy opposition. A few Nazi snipers battled the speeding American armored col umns along the west side of the historic river, but were cut down. Field dispatches indicated the Germans were planning a delay ing fight on the eastern bank of the- Danube and inside Regens burg, where the enemy was re ported throwing up barricades Seo THIRD ARMY . . . Page 5 Okinawa to Be Key U. S. Base For Drive on Japan By United Press The Tokyo domestic radio said today that 2,100,000 per sons in Tokyo had beon mado "disaster victims" during the American raids on tho Japan ese capital from March 1 to the middle of April. Tho 'broadcast, recorded by FCC, said 510,000 homes had been destroyed and sevon wards in the industrial section oi lho city woro "mostly in ruins as the rosult of firos." American forces have conquer ed three quarters of Okinawa island and are preparing it as a key base for the next phase of the march toward Japan and the China coast, Adm. Chester W. Niinitz said today. A fleet of 150 superfortresses, meanwhile, smashed for the first time at the huge Hitachia aircraft rl'JU in the Tokyo area and ground forces in the Philippines col Japanese forces in two on Mindanao and continued a virtu ally unopposed drive toward the principal city of Davao, Niinitz' communique said war ships and carrier planes contin ued to bombard Japanese posi- tir ns on southern Okinawa hut said more was no lurlncr report of progress by ground forces, temporarily stalled before enemy nofrnses three and a half miles north of Nalia. American bombers attacked J;. panese positions throughout Luzon where ground forces p.essi'd closed to Baguio in the north and scored new gains in I In- sector 21 miles northeast of Manila. Man Hunter and Fugitive Slain I'ltK.'K, Utah, April 21 (UP) A nine-hoor gun battle between a "harp-shooting mental patient and 15 .sheriff's deputies was end id today with the fugitive and S. II. Bliss, a veteran sheriff, dead, o A posse of deputies and slate highway patrolmen so out ys Iciday in search of Angus Hobb, reei ntly di.seh.'iigedomenlal hos pital patient, in coiifieclion with tile ambush murder of Vordcll Pac: 35 year-old rancher. They tiaeked him to the hills, corner ing him on a fari(t)two and one half mill's northeast of here. Hobb kept his searchers pinned down behind a railroad bed for nil'.? hours before one (if their bullets wounded him fatally. Juncture American Reported WITH U. S. FIRST ARMY, Germany, April 24 (UP) A linkup of the Red army and the American first army may be expected tomorrow. It is impossible to give the exact location of Russian columns reported pushing through weakening German resistance, but it now seems reasonably certain that the long awaited meeting will come tomorrow. While there is no guarantee that the meeting will take place tomorrow, there are several reasons to expect it then. At least two non-German columns have been observed by airmen. A German colonel in charge of a large prison camp marched his 12,000 charges into the American lines today and said he was giving up his pri soners because the Russians were ncaring his camp. LONDON, April 24 (UP) Russian siejre forces were reported late today to have driven into the Charlottenburg area of West-Central Berlin, apparently after knifing clear, through the heart of the devastated and tottering city. - "The imminent fall of Berlin," a Moscow radio commenta tor said this evening, "will break tho last vestiges of resist-, mice, the last convulsive throes of the wounded monster." it Unofficial advices reported that' the siege ring had been" closed around Berlin in a grand by two Hod armies, trapping any nazi leaders who stayed: to see the death of their capital. '') In what Moscow called Ber lin's lad hours, a United Press dispatch from tho Soviet cap ital reported that the Red army and' the U. S. first army had mado the long-awaited junc tion from east and west some B0 miles couth of the German capital. Tho report lacked of ficial confirmation by an ex pected joint statement in Mos cow, London and Washington on the subject, A Soviet-American junction severing Europe and cutting off rtprlin and northern Germany from the national redoubt in the south was expected to be an- LONDON. April 24 (UP) Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels tonight issued a pro clamation as gauleiter of Ber lin exhorting the German sol diers and people to stave off the Red army until reinforce ments arrive, nounced formally soon by Wash ington, Moscow and London. , Early End. Predicted , . A poll of high Soviet officers in iMoscow revealed that they believed all German resistance north of Berlin and south of Dres den will be crushed in tho next foilnighl, leaving only tho re doubt to bo conquered. (Washington military obser vers estimated it would take lho allies about three weeks to cloan up northern Germany ox cept for holdout port cities and posribly six weeks to conquer lho southern rodoubt.) The BBC reported that Mar See MOSCOW . . . Page 5 Soldiers Over 42 To be Discharged WASHINGTON, April 24 (UP) The war department announc ed today that army enlisted men 42 or over may he discharged from the service upon applica tion. Applications for discharge by I such men will be rejected only if tney are undergoing disciplinary action or require further medical rr surgical treatment, the war department said. Eligible soldiers overseas who apply will be returned to the United Slates for discharge at the earliest practicable date. Tile war department estimated approximately 50,000 soldiers are eligible to apply. The new policy does not apply to officers, but there already is provision for surplus officers to be discharged. The navy, meanwhile, said it planned no such blanket dis charge moves until the Japanese war has been won. Man Stricken On Train Succumbs Stricken with a sudden illness while on his railroad run Sunday, William Henry Malone, 5.1, Union P.-cifie hrakeinan, of 70H M aye nue, was taken to SI. Anthony's where he died yesterday in ;u Pendleton hospital. a He was born February 20, !li!2 in Hollenbiirg, Kansas, and had resided in La Grande 34 years. He was a member of tho Brotherhood of Itailway Train men and Kci-wgl i" World War I. Survivors include his widow, Edna, five childign, Arnold in routh Pacific with the paratroop ers, gArlin in the navy in the soulii' Pacific, Orvan with the seventh army in Germany, and Lavaughn and Hcrschol, both of La Grande, one grandson Qi La Grande and a sister, Mrs. .Jna Ilichnrn of Cove. FutU'TSl services will be held id 2 p. m. Friday in the Snod grass Funeral home. Interment will be in the Cove cemetery. of Soviet, Forces Is j by Moscow scale encirclement maneuver, Italian Naval? Base Taken ! By Americans ROME, April 24 (UP) U. S.. fifth army troops captured the big Italian naval base of La Spczia today" and crossed the P6 river at sovcral points north bf Bologna. ' Ji, At least 40,000 prisoners were., captured by Gen. Mark Clark's swift-moving 15th army group.--. La Spczia, with a peace-time population of 89,000, has a large, harbor and was the Italian navy's chief baso. Modcna, 23 miles northwest of Bologna, also was taken. . ;: ..-z British eighth army units cap.- tured, Fe rra r a and Bondlno, -southeast of the Am-cricah post, tlons on the Po. ' ; Allied air forces ' pounded re-' treating German columns day and night, turning the northward flight into a rout. Authoritative sources said, "German communications now epparently are completely dis rupted." The only real resistance at I ha moment was in Ferrary where tho nazis were fightina back grimly with self-propelled guns and automatic weapons.aal brnie Pyle Marines in Jap Kimonas Give Writer a Laugh (Editor's Note: In addition to. the story which appoars here to-' day, wa will print several others' which we have just received from! Ernie on Okinawa. We believed he would have wanted us to. AS a great roporler, a great news paperman and a great person, he would have wanted his stories to go through, despite his tragic, death.) ..- By ERNIE PL YE OKINAWA (By navy radio)- ll'a marvelous to sec a bunch of American troops go about mak ing themselves at homo whereveri' they get a chance to settle dowty,' (or a few days. ;.,' My company of First division Marines dug in at the edge of a' bonib-shnttcrcd village. The vil lage was quaint and not without' charm. I was astonished at the similarity with the villages of Sicily and Italy. . . Tho town didn't really seem -' oriental. The houses were ', woqden one-story buildings... surroundod by little vegetable 0 gardons. Instead of fences, each lot was divided by rows of shrubs or trees. The cobble stoned streois wore just wide onough for a Jop. 'They were winding and walled on tjBth sidos by head-high stone walls.' A good part of the town lay shattered. Scores of tne houses Seo PYLE ... Pago 8 WAR WORKERS STRIKE DETROIT, April 24 (UP) Production of vital war mato, rials again was nailed at - thci main plant of the Kelscy-Hayes. Wheel Co. Today when moroi than 2,000 workers walked off their Jobs in protest against thf." discharge of 13 employes.