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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1950)
4 ' 4 . A 0Dai" Wsistf Areas-. . Graeme irtoir'S Storm Fronts Rush Together; Five Deaths Credited to Gale i 4 v r . fiSth YEAR 12 PAGES The Orecon Statesman, Salem, Oregon, Satardar, January 14, 1950 PRICE Se No. 310 Wind Whipped Snow, Slushy Streets Contribute to Auto-Train Wreck in Salem w V .... ' V flashy streets, wind-whipped . snow and poor visibility - contribitoted to an aato-traln wreck at 12th and Center streets late Thursday morning, tleing up traffic and de ' layinr the train. No apparent Injuries-were suffered by Mrs. Harold Edsall, driver of a car owner by Adolph : LeBlanc, 29S N. 24th st Mrs. Edsall, a stranrer In Salem - staying with the LeBIancs, was proeeedina- west on Cen ter si. and did not see the train. Southern Pacific's north bound train No. 12, nntU the impact of the fronts of the ear and the dlesel locomotive. The ear was span around and crashed into the crossing wig-wag signal standard. Force of the train's stop snapped a knuckle of a coupling between two passenger cars which delayed the train for nearly an hoar. Time of the accident was 11:1S a.m. First aid crews and city police were called to the scene, left above. At right, sirs. Edsall is sitown as sne suu sal a tne wheel of the 1937 Ford sedan. giving details to train con dnctor J. B. Cobb. Portland. Later reports Indicated that Mrs. Edsall may have a back injury. Engineer of the train was W. C. Kirk. (Photos by Ityn Dill, Statesman staff photographer.) pickeir GJTP Apairtuinieinit Sflihe jPoBrehase . i odd Blind Scliool Building Due; Welfare Fund Hiked This Is ideal indoor weather. Outside the weather is. foul, "not fit for man or beast"'. The wind howls around the 'corner of the house and drives the snow slant wise across the window. Cars slide or slosh along eager to get under cover. .. , In former times on days like this the menfolk would gather around the pot-bellied stove In 1 the rear of the town store and weigh the fate of the. nation. Many I a powerful argument was voiced ; after a preliminary discharge of i tobacco Juice in the direction of the stove door or the sawdust-filled box that served as gobboon in the old days. ... And in the country on days like ;., this once the stock was watered and fed of a morning the fanner relaxed on the comforter-covered bunk behind the kitchen stove, : read the accumulation of papers and magazines, studied the mail order catalog or Just snoozed 1 awhile between meals. No weather ! for digging pos tholes or even for oiling the harness. Country folk seem better brac ! d for a storm than city folk. A ' motion . to negotiate with Robert Coates, Portland builder, for purchase of a lot in the pro posed extended capitol zone, was voted unanimously by members of the state emergency board, meeting in Salem Friday. The action by the board for purchase of a lot on which Coates has proposed construction of a 300,000 apartment house, came in the face of an opinion by At torney General George Neuner ruling that neither the emergency board or board of control held authority to purchase property .without sanction of the legisla ture. In a Joint meeting the emer gency board and state board of control also took the following action: 1. Approved expenditure of $300,000 to replace a classroom building at the state school for the blind in Salem. 2. Approved budget increase of $15,700,000 to the state unem ployment compensation commis sion to pay unemployment bene fits. 3. Approved budget increase of $4,175,000 for the state public welfare commission. 4. Deferred action on a request to spend $115,000 for an addition to. the nurses home at Eastern Oregon state hospital at Pendle ton. The opinion applied both to the apartment house site on North Summer street and the entire four-block area north of Center, between Capitol and Winter. Sen. William Walsh, emer gency board chairman, said he felt the board was Justified in working out some plan of pay ing a reasonable price for the Coates lot He emphasized he did not think the cost should include architect fees and other incident al expenses. Neuner, in his opinion to the board of control and emergency board, said definitely that neith er had authority to purchase the four block area or pay Coates $31,000 which he said he has in vested. Additional details on page 2. Snow, whipped by near record winds, spread damage, death and confusion across the northwest Friday and though the storm had not spent its full fury many areas were virtually isolated by Jrrjday night. It was a full scale blizzard which swept southwest over Oregon Friday and the U. S. weather bureau took the almost unprecedented step of issuing a livestock and blizzard warning. In Salem snow flurries continued Friday night. Two storm fronts, one idling along a line roughly coinciding with the Col umbia river and the other pushing in from the southwest tangled over Oregon rriday. the net result was a headlong rush of both fronts toward the southeast. With the rush were winds which touched as high as 80 miles an hour and snow By nigntiau inaay Threat to Fair Deal Seen in Move to Revive Powers of House Committee Malik Leaves U.N.Againover a Dispute LAKE SUCCESS, Jan. 13 -JP) Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Jakob A. Malik strode grimly out of the U. N. security council again todav after losing his fight to kick They are - forehanded. They have out Nationalist China's delega more than a day's supply of food uon. in the house, and have stocks of Malik said he would not come fuel and animal feed to tide over ck tne nationalists headed the winter. But the city gets all by Dr. t. F. Tsiang are ousted, gnarled up when winter storms He said also the Soviet union come. Snow slows i or blocks traf- ld t recogDize the legality c- " awBU4a.n"iJe!e:fwn of any council decisions ' made ITYKSSr 3 w't with Tsiang participating. chains and they get into trouble. Business -plummets while the storm lasts.. Those free to travel regret theyt didn't get away to the southland, i . There is beauty in the storm, that's true, the sweep of the wind, the whirl of the snow, the low, leaden sky out of which the snow-1 ouster resolution, flakes spill. There is nothing to do but stay Indoors and let the storm blow it self out This is the season for ic and snow and cold; so we may as well enjoy it as best we can. The poet 'says: "If Winter comes; can Spring - be far behind?" Well, sometimes in this country it can be. The Russian had . walked out Tuesday when the council refus ed his demand for an immediate vote on the Soviet resolution call ing for expulsion of the nation alists.'-- . Then Malik came back yester day and today to press for his BREAKS LEO ON ICE Frank Tullins, 4730 LaBranch ave., was in Salem General hos pital Friday night with a frctur ed right leg incurred when he slipped on the ke at his service station at 14th and State street about 7:50 pjn. Friday. j WASHINGTON, Jan. surprise move which could wreck much of the Truman fair deal pro gram in this session of congress was started today in the house rules committee., Informed congressmen beUeved tonight the move had a good chance to succeed. " " i ' Southern democrats and republi cans teamed up to force through a motion 9 to 2 asking the house to restore the committee's old power to bottle up bills. life and Death Power Working together, such a coali tion thus would have life and death power over large portions of Pres ident Truman's legislative pro gram. There was reported to be a great deal of sentiment in the house favoring a return of the commit' tee's power which was sworn away last January. The existing rule, permitting chairmen of other com mittees to by-pass the rules group and bring legislation to the house floor, reportedly was adopted for the very purpose of keeping the Truman program from being block aded. Raybnrn Worried : House Speaker Ray burn of Tex as, administration leader, appear ed glum over today's sudden turn of events but declined comment. The committee's chairman, Sabath (D-Ill) said he assumed the change would go through "if the coalition of republicans and southern demo crats prevails. Government To Give Away Surplus Food Animal Crackers March of Dimes Pre-Campaign in dalem Kally Scheduled Today "Oh, shut upl yotfV got a mater . ' ; ; Today Is March of Dimes "rally day" in Salem. j I At 11 o'clock this morning the first pre-campaign rally ever held in Marion county will get under way in the Salem armory j with Gov. Douglas McKay as the prin cipal speaker. j Howard Ragan, Marion county campaign chairman, hopes today's rally will help boost' the 1950 drive against polio, which officially opens Monday, to a successful con clusion January 31. This morning's program win open with Mrs. Edith Gunnar singing tne star-spangled banner and the raising of the American flag by a color guard from Salem's C bat etry, 4th 105mm howitzer battali on, of the marine corps reserve. Other speakers on the program will include: Dr. E. T. Hedlund 1 ot Portland, sUU rT'H chair man; Marion County Judge Grant Murphy and Salem s Mayor R. I. Elfstrom; City School Superinten dent Frank Bennett and Agnes Booth, Marion county superintend ent; and Mrs. David Wright, pres ident of the Marion county chap ter of the National Infantile Par alysis Foundation. A highlight of the session will be the appearance of three-year' old Jan Lynn Branch. Salem's poster girl, herself a polio victim. A dimes contest between Boy Scout troop 8 and Girl Scout troop 65 will be held this morning, each group ; trying to collect the most dimes irom spectators. Music will be furnished by the Willamette university band. The program originally was scheduled to be held on the Marlon county courthouse lawn but winter storms forced a change of plans. . WASHINGTON, Jan. IS The agricultural department is setting up machinery for giving away government stocks of sur plus perishable farm products. The products can be given to federal agencies, public and pri vate relief agencies in this country and foreign relief organizations. Handling the give-away job will be the department's far-flung production and marketing admin istration wide? the terms of 'the 1949 farm act which went Into ef fect January 1. That act author izes donation of government sur pluses when they can no longer be held without going to waste. The department has more than $3,500,000,000 Invested in surplus es under farm price support pro grams. ; Commodities held by the de partment which might fall in the give-away class include: potatoes, dried eggs, dried milk and butter. The law sets up a priority list in making j donations. Top priority is given) the munitions board and other government agencies for ex- j change for materials not produced in this country. Next in line are the federal, state and local public welfare agencies, and private welfare agencies" operating in this country and its territories, in that order. Last on the list are private wel fare agencies assisting the needy abroad. - Agencies receiving surpluses must make sure that the products will not, get back into regular channels of trade to compete with price support operations. Also the agencies must not reduce their ex penditures for food as a result of the donations. Qark Found Innocent in Morals Case Don Clark, Salem taxi owner operator, was found innocent of a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a 14-year-old girl Friday by a Marion county cir cuit court jury. Clark said he expected to ask the ' city, council for renewal of his license to operate Capitol Cab company, with five cabs. In dis cussing the local taxi companies following a recent hearing, coun- cilmen had decided to await the court's verict before acting on Clark's permit. The jury, divided ten for inno cent and two for guilty, delibe rated approximately two hours before returning its verdict early Friday afternoon. Members of the jury were Henry Zorn, foreman, David F. Bates, Helen T. Kleihege, Cora P. Geer, Frank E. Logan, Sam Weese, D. B. DuRette, Anna M. Davis, Mary Dalke and Leare E. Humm, all of whom supported the verdict, and Henry Humpert and neima schart, who did not agree. Agreement of 10 persons on the jury is required for verdict in such a case. Clark was the only one who went to trial of 14 men similarly charged as involved with the girl. After being charged with statu tory rape, the other 13 pleaded guilty to reduced charges of con tributing to the delinquency of a minor and were sentenced. Holly Jackson New Captain of Mounted Posse Holly Jackson, Salem, today is the new captain of the widely known Oregon Mounted posse, the "Governor's Guard.". Jackson was chosen to succeed Lee Eyerly, who had boea-captain since the group's inception 12 years ago, at the election held inursday night 1 i . i-vcriy. wno asicea in rx re lieved of his duties because he is spending considerable time in Ari zona, was voted the title of honor ary captain. a nomas w. Alien, Salem, was chosen first lieutenant; Al Inglis of Dallas and John Lindeman of Salem were re-elected second lieutentenants; Walter Leth, Sal em, was named drillmaster. and Walter Zosel, Salem, was selected as the posse's representative in the Willamette Valley Horsemen's association. i Salem Portland j San francisco Chicago , New Yo Max. 51 48 Mtn. 3 Z7 33 3S 33 Predp. M .17 1JS Willamette river f M feet. . i FORECAST (from XJ-S. weather bu reau. McNary field. Salem): Mostly cloudy teday and tonight with wind and snow flurries. High today near 34. Low tonight Bear 22. SALEM FKXCrPITATlOM ThisTeai 11-23 h Last Year 21 JS Normal More Than One Foot in the Door You have more.than one foot in the door when you advertise in the Oregon Statesman clas sified section, you have a place at the breakfast table of thou sands of mid-Willamette valley homes. The following 3-line ad brought the right buyer to the right home the first time it ap peared in the Statesman col umns. BY OWNER: 4 B R. home Manbrin Garden. Reduced to S9200. Ph. or ae at ... Wayne Dr. , Use the Statesman classified columns when you want to buy or sell. Dial 2-2441 mountain passes throughout the state were closed by piling snow, worth and South Santiam, Willamette, Sex ton mountain, Siskiyous: and Greenspring passes were blocked along with the Columbia highway. Sunset highway and Wilson routes. Telegraph, telephone and elec tric lines caught the full fury of Friday's wind and snow and crews throughout the area were battling to resume services and hoping new storm threats would not arise. Offers Little Hope And the weatherman offered little solace to the snow covered northwest. Colder temperatures moved in on the heels of the rac ing -front and snow continued to fall on frozen highways and fields. The forecast for today and tonight was lower temperatures and more snow. Five deaths were attributed to the storm and highway conditions. A woman and her two children drowned near Kalama, Wash., in Cowlitz county, when their auto mobile went off the snow-covered highway and rolled over into a pond. They were Charlotte War ner, 20, and her year-old daugh ter and two-year-old son. Rescue Falls The father, CpL Walter War ner, was driving them in a bor rowed car from their Titusville, Pa., home to his station at Fort Worden, Wash. Warner's desper ate effort to rescue them failed. He was under treatment for a frost-bitten foot. Several miles away, at Long- view, Wash., William S. Hayes, 45, a craneman, was electrocuted. In a driving snowstorm, he clim ed to the top of the crane to re pair a frozen collector, a sort of trolley wheel feeding power to the crane. He touched the live wire and was killed. An accident on the Lake Wash ington floating bridge outside Seattle brought ,the fifth death. The victim was Bert C. Heath. 40, of Seattle. He was tossed into the lake in a crash of skidding vehicles. The mercury stood at 2 below. it was snowing hard and there was a 40-mile an hour wind at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. All roads in that area were closed by 7 p.m. last night to everything but emergency n-anic. Can't Get Worse Wilbur F. Egger, Spokane county highway supervisor whose crews have been fighting to keep roads open, summed up the situa tion. "I don't see how things could get much worse',' he reported. On Vashon Island, in Puget Sound, a store building and a beach pottage near the ferry dock fell into the water under the pounding of the waves. Two Cashon-FaunUeroy ferries were unable to land at either dock and sought refuge on the sheltered side of Blake Island, near Vashon. Passengers landed and the two ferries with their crews pulled out for their Blake Island shelter. Wind Raises Havee The wind also raised havoc In Tacoma's harbor. The big waves broke logs loose from a boom and used them as menacing hammers along the shoreline between the city and the Tacoma smelter. One ix-uiui apartment house was va cated during the storm because we logs were hammering danger ousiy at tne piling under the structure. . Between 100 and 200 cars were stranded on Longview-Kelso aueeis in ia to 24 inches of wind piled snow. Taxicabs quit ODera ting. The cold wave from the north and the howling Pacific storm tmm the Southwest collided over Port- land and battled several hours for control or the city. The cold front eariy tooK control in northeast Portland, plummeting tempera tures to 15 degrees and piling up a foot of snow in a blizzard at th Portland airport. ' The southwest sector meantime had thawing tern peratures and some rain. Cold Wins Out By nightfall the cold gradually won and ice spread slowly over even the southwest portion. The blizzard raged on east of the city, stalling a Greyhound bus and seven automobiles on the Col umbia river highway, five miles east of Corbett. All were rescued. Nearly all routes out of Portland were blocked. An estimated 500 cars were stalled just east of Port land, but all passengers made it to shelter. 'Weather Eye' Glance Shows Northwest Crippled hy Snow QnlfITt It" A 51 Salem apparently fared better than most wc,i,B,i wCI areas of the northwest and Oregon in Fri day's paralyzing storm, but a weary 1 weatherman could forecast little but snow, cold and more wind Wr the city today and tomorrow. Most of Salem's heavy snow of Friday morning disappeared as temperatures warmed during the afternoon, but an early evening freeze and more snowfall had whitened the city under three inches by midnight. . Wind in gusts which reached 80 miles an hour in Salem Friday knocked down several trees and disrupted electric and telephone service. Both Portland Genral FJctrlc and Pacific Telephone and Tele graph had full crews repairing damage Friday night Trains were running behind schedule and most through bus schedules were cancelled Friday night. The Shasta arrived about mid night, two hours late; Trallways schedules were cancelled and blockd highways south prevented all bus travel into California. (Additional details also on page 5) Willamette Valley 'isStvSSL practically snowbound week end following en ( the worst wind a4 snow sterms in history Friday. Most areas reported several inches of anew from Friday mora ine's blizzard and the addition f freeaina tempermtare and mm snow guaranteed s near paralysing cover. State police reported travel threat-hoot the area hazardans Fri day night with Banders unable to cope with widespread iclnr and mvm packing. Both Santiam highway routes were closed to trafflo Friday afternoon and snow depths ranging from a few Inches U feet gav tvarnlnr to motorists to stay at home. Six inches of snow was re ported at Albany, Corvallla and Dallas, and many schools in the valley were dosed early Friday. (Additional details en pages 4 and ). O f 0On Ooftt Oregon's coast where it seldom f reez tC&UII VUUJl ef ors snows had plenty of both in Friday's storm. Astorians saw the thermometer sink to 22 degrees by 3 p.m. and by nightfall the town was virtually isolated with snow drifting on the Columbia highway and coast highway. Weather observers said it was the worst storm since 1918 at As toria. The wind was up to 50 miles an hour and nearly foot of snow fell. Farther south wind reached 75 miles an hour at Newport, ripping off roofs of old buildings, snapping power and telephone service and smashing some fishing boats ashore. State police warned motorists to stay off the Sunsjet and Colum bia river highways. On nearby Wilson river highway snow was SO inches deep by mid-day.' i Southern Oregon ts was almost Isolated Friday night after heavy snows closed all passes leading Into the Kogve valley section and stopped traffic In the Klamath basin. i State police reported thee 99E closed south of Ashland, the Green Springs between Ashland and Klamath Falls, the Redwood highway between Grants Pass and Crescent City and 99E between Roseburg and Grants Pass. . - i Klamath Falls recorded 14 Inches ef new snew.et bring the level total to 80 Inches. The city was snowbound and state police had set up road blocks to prevent anyone from leaving town and getting strand ed amidst drifts. Drifts ap to 12 feet high clogged the Klamath Falls Lakeview highway. PnctAI-n tffrmn CerIil Oregon apparently was fc.ClOk.CIII UlUgUII taking the brunt of the north west's worst storm of the winter Friday night. Wind up to 78 miles an hour accompanied heavy snow at Redmond and the barometer there dropped to the lowest level ever reported. Farther south at ChemulL winds whipped snow at a 75 mile an hour clip and the Southern Pacific railroad had all its snow equipment out. Drifts 12 to IS feet high were reported in the Cascades from Che-, mult to Crescent Lake. Late Friday night, State police reported high way 97 closed at Chemult Travel on highways in the area was block ed by drifting snow. . West Washington jSJSfis care the storm's fury In western Washington Friday. A dozen or more fishing boats in moorage were suns er grounaea as wind velocity stepped ap to 69 and 70 miles an hoar. The moorage was constructed to protect boats from southwest storms. This one, worst of a bitter winter, struck from the Northeast. five deaths were attributed to the storm. A woman and her tw children drowned near Kalama. At Longview, a craneman was electro cuted when he came In contact with a trolley wheel feeding power t the crane. Another victim was tossed Into Lake wasningion near neaw tie In an ante accident on a floating bridge. - , Inlinrl ETmnifA Weather-weary Inland empire resU iniaflU bill pi It? dents caught the full force of the blizzard Friday. Roads in all directions out of Spokane were closed tight. The state patrol set up blockades almost at the city limits to tell motorists they could not get through. Snow blocked an underpass pear Post Falls, Idaho, stalling 150 cars at that point and marooning 200 persons. fcane airport was closed Friday afternoon, bus lines cancel led trips and trains were running far behind schedule throughout the, area At least 80 inland empire school children had to spend the night away from home when their busses were unable to make runs in snow blocked roads. Bike Auction Slated Today A public auction of 28 unclaim ed bicycles is scheduled at 10 o'clock this morning in the mu nicipal shops at 13th and Ferry streets. The bicycles were picked up by city police and held at least 60 days. No owners have claimed them. Sale of unclaimed property was authorized recently by a new city ordinance. False Accident Report Results In Real Wreck Eddie's ambulance of Salem went out on an accident call Fri day night and ended up in one. The collision at Fairgrounds road and North Calitol street, in volved the ambulance with an auto driven by Mildred J. Becker, 3770 Pleasant View dr. The rear fender of the albulance was smashed but the vehicle could be used in an emergency, owner Eddie Barrett said. Incidentally, the "accident re port" Eddie was answering turned out to be a false alarm.' The Hulsey News, published by the three sons (12, 10 and 7) of Salem Associated Press Corres pondent Paul W. Harvey, Jr comes in 'for a nice pat-on-the-back cage in the winter issue of "The AP World," published at The Associated Press headquarters in New York. Monmouth Voters Approve Sewage Disposal Plant MONMOUTH, Jan. IS Voters Thursday approved measures to build a sewage disposal piant, in- , crease water reservoir storage and boost taxes to replace fire equip- ment - The sewage disposal plant pro posal carried 177 to 20; the new reservoir measure was approved 140 to 20 and the tax for a new fire engine passed 135 to 59. Work on the disposal plant and reservoir will start when weather permits and the new fire equip ment will be oraerea unmeaiaxeiy. Fifty Cars in (Giant Wreck t TACOMA, Jan. 13 A long string of cars were slowly grind ing up Tacoma's long, steep and snow-covered Pacific Avenue hill about noon today. The lead automobile went Into' a spin, caromed Into the car be hind. Within a few moments some 50 automobiles were Jammed to gether In a great mess of mashed fenders. It took several -hours to neel the cars away from the jumble. 11