Weather 4 Mas. Min. PreeJp. 35 JH .30 JOO 42 41 . trace Salem Portland . Ban Francisco '1$ 43 49 M VCVT I New York 41 23 J Jflk Villi i f:- Cuni t tW Crswtk f Ortfw i i Willamette river 9.7 feet. FORECAST (from U-S. weather bu reau. McNary field. Salem): Mostly clear today and tonight. Continued cool with the highest temperature to day near 43 and the lowest tonight tear 35. Salem temperature at 12:01 .m. today was 37. 1651 101st YXAB 10 PAGES Thm Oregon Statesman, Salem, Oregon, Monday Dwcunbw 24. 1951 PRICE 5c j - v fr. No. 271 EFOtr DMsfiinraas (PgnrS diM G)g)$fr) Tiraip w:$& : f POUNDDD Tennis era5 SffiECDS mDCffiS President Truman has referred the iteel wage dispute to the wage stabilization board. If It is not able tc resolve the controversy before the present contract runs out, December 31st, presumably the president will Invoke the Taft Hartley law and order a defer ment of the strike for 80 days pending further efforts to work out a settlement. He is on record as saying that a shutdown of steel production is not to be tolerated at this time. What is on the block is the whole wage-price-stabilization structure. After the steelworkers are the coal miners with a con tract running out the last of Feb ruary, and John L. Lewis has al ready backed up the demands of his one-time associate and present rival, Philip Murray of the CIO iteelworkers. And after the miners are all the other labor groups, organized and unorganized, with a stake in this issue. - If the wage block goes, the price block will go too. It may be that the concession will be only a notch or two; but whatever it is the re sult will be more inflation. Al though the steelworkers demand a "sizeable increase" Murray might be willing to settle for a modest increase. But the government au thorities know how contemptuous John L. Lewis is of wage boards and wage controls. When they treat with Murray they are look ing over his head at Lewis. The root of the trouble is that the country is not "sold" on the emergency. It wants guns and more butter at the same time. In fact it sees in the armament pro gram the prospect of bigger busi ness and higher wages Sure in flation is recognized at grave (Continued on editorial page.) i - , ; .. . Throngs of GIs Left Stranded At Terminals By The Associated Press GI' by the hundreds waited im patiently in airport terminals yes terday stranded or delayed as they tried to rush home for Christ mas. Fog over San Francisco, mixups In nonscheduled airline flights and Just the normal Christmas rush were some of the factors that slowed down the servicemen's trips. Some were angered not only by the possibility that they wouldn't be home for Christmas, but by the hours slipping away on their last leaves before going to combat In Korea. Among the latter were most of the several hundred service men stranded yesterday at Lockheed Air terminal in Burbank, Calif. They slept on floors and benches or went to hotels when non-scheduled planes on which they had bought tickets failed to appear or had no room for them. A terminal spokesman said bad weather had delayed some of the non-scheduled planes. Cardinal Spellmaii Celebrates Mass In Korean Chapel WITH FIRST CORPS, Korea, Monday, Dec. 24 -tP) Archbishop Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York today celebrated his first wartime mass in Korea in a chapel built from a bombed out quonset hut. A congregation of 600 soldiers jammed the newly built chapel. It was filled shortly before 7:30 ajn., when the Cardinal Spellman ar rived wearing army winter clothes and donned his mass vestments. Following mass. Cardinal Spell man stood outside the chapel and shook hands with every soldier, asking his name and home. He asked each to write' his name and leave it and relatives address so he could write them on his return to New York. last S;cp?i;;o DAY 'Point 4' Director Killed 8 Americans, 13 Others Perish in Iran Air Mishap TEHRAN, Iran, Dec. 23-6P)-Dr. Henry G. Bennett, director of President Truman's Point Four program, seven other Americans, and 13 other persons perished last night in an airplane crash during a blinding snowstorm just north of Tehran. I Mrs. Bennett was- among the victims. The American party was coming to Tehran for an official five-day visit! in connection with the U. S. Point Four program of technical aid for underdeveloped countries. The! tragedy cast gloom over the American embassy here which had prepared elaborate plans to entertain the Christmas i visitors. ; The four-erigined plane, which belonged to Egypt's MISR air lines, tried doggedly last night to pierce the . overcast from Iran's first snowstorm of theseason. Finally, the Egyptian pubt was instructed to jgo to Basra, Iraq, or return to Baghdad, Iraq, where the plane had -taken off for Teh ran. It crashed into the base of a steep 10,000-foot granite range forming a barrier north of the capital. Therej were no survivors of the accident, the worst in Iran's history! The crash scene was five miles from the Tehran airport. j In addition to the Bennetts, other Americans aboard were identified as j Benjamin Hardy, Dr. Bennett's -public affairs offi cer; James T. Mitchell, audio visual specialist; A. C. Crilley, Dr. Bennett's special assistant; Louis Henrik Jordal, University of Michigan botanist believed to have been onf a mission for the United Nation! food and agricul tural organization (FAO); Jesse Lee Smith, Columbus, Ga., repre senting the Centennial Cotton Gin company; and Mrs. m i j e a n Schneidesgar address unknown). The other fvictims were six Iranians, the five Egyptian crew members, one; German and one Indonesian, f The Iranian government sent expressions of sympathy and con dolence to thei United States gov ernment. In Washington, the White House? expressed deep shock at the news of the tragedy. Dr. Bennett lft Washington last month. f Dr. Bennett, 65, who was on leave from his post as president of Oklahoma A. and M. college, at Stillwater, Okla., took the post as head of the technical assist ance program in November, 1930. The Bennetts are survived by three daughters and two sons. 72nd Redding Anniversary Due inj Albany Statesman News Service ALBANY, ifec. 23 On Christ mas day, Mr, and Mrs. L. B. Weaver will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary, and while no open house is planned this year, Mrs. Weaver Isaid their door is always open td friends. Mr. and MrsJ Weaver were both born in Illinois, Mr. Weaver at Winnebago Jaq. 25, 1857, and Mrs. Weaver at Dufand on Aug. 29, of the same year They were Snarried at Durand on Dec. 25, J879, in their new home. Mrs. ; Weaver prepared the wedding dinner for the wedding party and guests. In 1910 Mrf and Mrs. Weaver came to Albany. The passing years have dealt lightly with the well known couple, although Mr. Weav er is now confined to the house to a great extent. Mrs. Weaver does all her own house work pyith the exception of the laundry which is sent out. Their home contains many pieces of furniture i and dishes which would delights the heart of any collector of antiques. Among these is an organ, afgift to Mrs. Weaver from her father on her 16 th birthday. The only children of the couple died in infancy. However, Mr. and Mrs. Weaver have near them a foster child, a great niece of Mrs. Weaver, whoifs they raised. She is Mrs. Patricia- Bryant, who with her four children, give an added interest to the daily lives of the elderly couple. Mrs. Bryant's husband is in f Korea. TO.GIYE AWAY COAL. ' BONN, Germany, Dec 23-V The German f coal industry' an nounced today thai it is giving 200,000 tons of coal for free dis- Vibution to th4 poor of West .Ger many m tn next lew weeks. Fairview Pageant Depicts Christmas Hymns ---- -iiii-i,wij mm Mii-nl 1 m. .wi.MimimimimmmmrmmmmiimmHmm&mmmmmmmmmmmtmmmMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ."7 :- .'"'-'. - , ' f'-X V- - n. if ( :ir- ,;i't:Av'"l ?'ifrv I - i & )'t5ffvi 4". i1 Fairview school pupils observed the Christmas season with a pageant depicting the "Origin of Christmas Hymns," presented to the public and Fairview employes Friday night. Center piece of the pageant was the nativity scene with two of the pupils acting as Mary and Joseph, above. The same program was presented for the students Friday afternoon, and featured the school orchestra and choir. (States man photo). Frankfort Mine Explosion Toll Climbs to 101 WEST FRANKFORT, 111., Dec. 23-(P)-The known death toll in the West Frankfort mine disaster climbed to 101 tonight as the government began an inquiry into the disaster. Seventy-eight bodies have been recovered from the blast-torn tun nels of the Orient No. 2 mine, and another 22 were seen by rescue workers underground. One miner died in a hospital tonight of in juries received in the blast. There were still parts1 of the mine to probe. Even as weary rescue workers, some near exhaustion, wormed deeper into catacombs of the 50 foot deep shaft, Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman had 12 investigators at the scene. He himself flew here from Washington today with John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers. On hand, too, was John Forbes, director of the U. S. bureau of mines. Together the three went down in the timber -shattered mine for a quick look. When Chapman emerged from the pit, he said he was on his way to the state capitol at Springfield to confer with Gov ernor Adlai Stevenson. He plans to return to Washington tomorrow. The rescue work at the large sprawling mine near West Frank fort a city of sorrow this Sunday before Christmas moved along slowly. The volunteer workers, most of them veterans of the coal pits, la bored under intense heat and fought a treacherous foe the same deadly gas which caused the explosion two miles back from the shaft some 550 feet below the surface. All except three bodies have been identified. Many of them were horribly mangled by the great blast which shook the mine's 12-miles of tunnels about 8:30 p.m. Friday. Rooming-House Blaze Fatal to Man at Reedsport REEDSPORT, Ore., Dec. 23-(P) A body, believed to be that of Denny Hartsford, a logger, was found today in the charred ruins of a combination restaurant and rooming house here. Fire broke out in the building early last Friday. A waitress ran from room to room awakening about SO guests and directing them to safety. It was thought everyone had gotten out of the building until the body was discovered today. Hartsford was a logger for the Gardiner Lumber company. Salem Temperature Dips Below Freezing Salem temperatures dipped again Sunday with a midnight temperature reading- of 27 .degrees and a low of 25. expected this morning, McNary field ''weather men reported. -The weather was expected to stay clear and cool today with temperatures ranging between 42 and 25 degrees. IHtungarv Fines 4 U.S. Fliers $30,000 Each BUDAPEST, Hungary, Dec. 23-J)-A Hungarian military court convicted four American fliers for: Violating Hungary's borders and fined them each 360,000 forints (about $30,000) today. A government announcement said they confessed and acquiesced in the verdict. If they cannot or will not pay, the announcement said, they will have to go to jail for three months. There was no immediate hint as to when or whether the fliers . would be freed. It was unlikely that two captains ad two ser geants would have the equivalent of $120,000 in their pockets. "It is a complete surprise to me," said U. S. Minister Christian Ravndal when informed of the development by newspapermen. "We had no idea when a trial would be held. I really can't give any comment now." U. S. legation officials have not been permitted to see the fliers, who were forced down in Hun gary November 19 while on a flight from Germany to Yugo slavia by Russian fighter planes stationed in Hungary under the peace treaty. The court ordered the plane, a C-47 confiscated with all its equipment, which Hun garian officials said proved the fliers meant to help spies and di versionists in Hungary. The fliers are John J. Swift of Glen Falls, N. Y., Capt. David H. Henderson of Shawnee, Okla., T. Sgt. Jess A. Duff of Spokane, Wash., and Sgt. James A. Flam of Kingsland, Ark. The government's announce ment said they admitted that they "violated the Hungarian border near Gyula on November 19." It said they could not give a "satis factory explanation" why they possessed military maps of some parts of the Soviet Union and the people's democracies, nor why there were parachutes in "super -fluo'is numbers," a radio trans mitter and bundles of warm blankets in the plane. Gen. Dean Spent 20 Days Without Food Before Capture; Red Newsman Tells of Interview By ROBERT B. TUCKMAN PANMUNJOM, Korea, Dec. 23-(JP)-'A Communist correspondent, who said he interviewed Maj. Gen. William F. Dean in a North Kor ean prison camp only two days ago, related today that the long missing 24th Division commander saved his last bullet to kill him self rather than be captured in the summer of 1950. But the general was betrayed by two English-speaking Koreans who at first befriended hint only to hand him over to North Korean troops. Wounded and faint from 20 days without food, Dean was quickly over-powered before he could use his gun. Xt The dramatic and detailed ac count of Dean's capture on Aug 23, 1950 and the amazingr story of the month Dean spent eluding the Reds in South Korean hill were told by Wilfred Burchett, 40, correspondent . for the Paris newspaper Ce Soir. An Australian by birth, Burchett served , as an allied war correspondent in south east Asia and - southwest Pacific war theaters during World War II. Burchett's story, tinged only ' in a few places, with Communist propaganda, agreed generally New Sub-Zero Front Moves Into Midwest By The Associated Press A new sub-zero cold front moved southeast Sunday through the northern plains states. Forecasters at Chicago said zero to 10 below weather was due Sunday night in Illinois, Indiana, upper Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. It was even colder than that early Sunday at Wausau, Wis., where the mercury dipped to 16 below. Fair weather prevailed over most other sections of the country. Traffic conditions continued hazardous in the middle west, es pecially in Illinois, due to icy and snow-packed roads. The weather moderated Sun day over the southern plains and western Gulf states; the central and southern Mississippi valley and through the Ohio valley. Over this area temperatures have gone as much as 10 to 20 degrees above Saturday's readings. Some of the readings reported Sunday include: Grand Forks, N. D. -26; Fargo, N. D. -25; Duluth, Minn. -14; Glasgow, Mont. -20; Seattle 30, and Greensboro, N. C. 20. with earlier reports of Dean's saga, which had been pieced to gether from both Communist and friendly sources. The story began with Dean's fight alongside his men as on rushing North Korean tank col umns took Taejon July 20, 1950. It told how Dean fought his way through a road block, out of flaming Taejon, after telling his men they must never surrender. Although injured himself, the hus ky general, then 51 years old, helped carry out wounded men to safety. Then, Burchett said. Dean wandered for a month in the rug ged hills of South Korea, without food for 20 days . and losing 60 pounds. Injured, ailing,-and even unconscious at times. Dean was surrounded six times, and each time broke out, Burchett said. Burchet told how Dean carried his .pistol with him during the anguished days he spent eluding! the Reds. He saved and carefully polished his last twelve bullets. These were Dean's words, as Burchett quoted them in the Pyongyang prisoner stockade: "I was absolutely determined never to become a prisoner of war. Pre-Yule Activity NearEnd "Twas the night before Christ mas . . Pre-Christmas activities will shift tonight from the stores and offices to the homes of area re sident! as preparations are com pleted for celebrating the anni versary of the birth of Christ. By 6 p. m. tonight most stores will be closed to permit clerks and workers to spend Christmas eve with their families. Some stores including Miller's will close at 4:30 p. m. Stores will remain closed Christmas day. State, county, and city offices will be open today but most will be staffed by a skeleton office force necessary for limited oper ations. Federal offices except for the postoffice will not operate today. But for postal employes the day will see a flurry of activities de signed to get Christmas mail de livered before Christmas day. Kegular deliveries were made Sunday to keep the heavy flow of mail from jamming post office facilities. Clear Skies Forecast Weathermen couldn't promise a white Christmas, but they ex pected it to be a bright one. A high pressure area spread into the Willamette valley Sunday bring ing sunny skies and cooler tem peratures. The weather bureau at McNary field said it looked like the weather would stay that way for tne next couple of days Lack of precipitation .either rain or snow, promised some salvation for people planning out-of-state or across-the-mountains trips for the holidays. All major highways were reported in normal condition for the season Sunday. Little new snowfall was recorded over the state on the weekend. While residents made final preparations for the holiday, Sa lem merchants were looking back on a highly successful Christmas season. One merchant said Christ mas business was just "about equal" to last year. Institutions Ready Parties and dances have been scheduled at several state institu tions in Salem tonight. Special Christmas eve programs are planned for the Hillcrest school for girls and at McClaren Boy's school. Special Christmas dinners, tur key and all the trimmings, are slated for state institutions. At Oregon state hospital 3,000' pa tients and attendants will have distribution of gifts. Several in stitutions will have Christmas trees and distribution of gifts Christmas eve. The Salvation Army will dis tribute gifts to inmates at the Ore gon state penitentiary. The state purchasing department reported it had-purchased a liberal supply of nuts, candies and oranges for the Christmas holi day at all institutions. (Christ mas church services story on page 2). Slide Blocks Columbia Highway for Nine Hours HOOD RIVER, Dec. 23 -UP)- A slide blocked the Columbia River highway for about nine hours to day. State police said the slide hit the road five miles east of Viento at about 6 a.m. A 60-ton boulder had to be cut up and hauled away be fore the highway was reopened at about 3 p.m. "I was determined to kill 11 North Koreans. The twelfth bul let was for me." It did not turn out that way. Near Chinan, about 80 miles south of Taejon, he was led into a trap by two Koreans who had fed and sheltered him. When North Korean soldiers closed in with their rifles. Dean drew his gun, but one of his "friends" grabbed his arm before he could shoot. The long chase was over for the Congressional Medal of Honor winner. The long months of im prisonment in semi-isolation stretched ahead. Most of the time. Dean was sick, Burchett said. His left 'shoul der was broken. He suffered from dysentery or an acute intestinal infection, and finally malaria. However, Burchett asserted Dean regained his health last September. . Burchett said he found Dean -in good health last Friday. They talked for three hours in a two room cellar that is his prison. Dean asked, Burchett said, about his wife in Berkeley, Calif., and his son and daughter. He told Burchett that last Aug Holiday Accident Toll Climbs to 318 By The Associated Press As the early hours ef the lang Christmas holiday slipped past, the nation coon ted its mounting list of dead victims of riolent accidents. Traredy visited hundreds of families erasinr Yuletide joy with at least 318 lives lost in a variety of accidents, principally traffic and fires. Traffic mishaps killed 235 persons, while 48 were lost in fires and 35 died in mis cellaneous accidents daring the period from 6 pan. (local time) to 11 pan. EST Sunday. The national safety council forecast 606 traffic deaths In the 108 hours ending at midnight Tuesday. That is the highest prediction the council ever made for a holiday period. Cascades Slide Halts Traffic on SP Main Line Salem train traffic was idle on the main north-south lines of Southern Pacific railroad after tons of rock and dirt crashed on a freight train south of Cres cent Lake, derailing seven- cars and blocking main line tracks through the Cascade mountains early Sunday. No trains had passed through Salem up to midnight last night. The slide occurred 32 miles south of Crescent lake at 4:40 a. m., sta tion agents said. The first of four northbound passenger trains was expected then to reach Salem by 1:30 a. m. today. Delayed were two, northbound sections of the Cascade passenger train, the Klamath, the Shasta Daylight and all freight traffic, of ficials said. No one was injured when the slide struck the train which was standing on a siding. The cars, however, tipped on to the main line tracks which run alongside. Blocked tracks delayed the ar rival of north and south bound trains all along the route. The south bound Shasta Daylight was rerouted through Rose burg and Ashland, Ore., and will arrive in San Francisco several hours iate. Retail Price Rise Continues SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23-(iip-Retail prices were increased throu out the west from October 15 to November 15 and, in a number of cities, reached an all-time high level. Max Kossoris, western di rector of the bureau of labor sta tistics, reported today. During that 30-day period of both goods and services hit new peaks in Los Angeles and Seattle. In other cities food prices were the principal factors in the rises. Both Salt Lake City and Denver reached new all-time highs for retail food prices in November while Portland missed the all-time high of last May by .2 of a per centage point. Portland was the only city re ported that did not show a new price peak in some category, and Portland's food price level rose 2 per cent during the October-November month to 251.8, just one tenth of a cent below the all time high reached in May of this year. TRUMAN TO FLY HOME WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 -UFh-President Truman will fly home to Independence, Mo., tomorrow to spend Christmas. ust 25 his thoughts were of his wife. That day marked one year that he was captured. It also was his silver wedding anniversary. BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 23-C3) Mrs. William F. Dean, tears well ing in her eyes, positively identi fied today a picture from a com munist correspondent as that of her husband, the long-missing commander of the U. S. 24th di vision. "That's my husband, all right," she cried happily when shown an Associated Press wirephoto of the general. "There's no doubt about it Dean, missing since July, 1950, was .named on the communist prisoner of war list handed United Nations command truce negotiators.-A communist correspondent told AP Correspondent Robert D. Tuckman of interviewing Dean' in a North Korean prison camp only two days ago. Mrs. Dean, informed earlier of the interview, said the quotations sounded- like Dean particularly a joke about his "German goiter." She also confirmed that August 25 was their wedding anniversary, as the communist correspondent reported. Mexico Scene of Tragedy TIJUANA. Mt -tw -Pi- Fire turned, a ga-- Chxistznsai party for poor : children into a screaming death trap fin which at least 41 Dersona rrifet Kr. i.- night i One man was reported rm-t and it was believed his body and possibly that of other v-t-m the hot ruins. I The Miguel Alernan hospital treated 88 persons and ; reported 32 In serious condition. Most of the dead and injmr4 were women and rhiMrn r- A. D. Alberto Rojo, imder-oUree-tor of the hospital, said. - i.ne poor cmidren $rere geitiasj presents from the Christmas trs, on the stare of th - auditorium of the Old coliseum ounaing, when the fire s tartest. -Survivors said t-r ---. started scuffling near the tree msA knocked it over. This caused ttim electric lighting to short and start the blaze. j A different version came from an official source, however. Dis trict Attorne- rnnHim rrt-. jr said an investigation indicated the fire started from a cigare? droppef"under stairs near the tre. asianon said the death toll m the highest for any fire in Mexi co's history. I " -Just A Little Fire" K . - - It was just a little fire at first said 13-vear-ekM Tnnr u4. whose mother was among the vie- uuis. ine cruia was carried out oi the building by a man. She didnt know him. j "Nobody was afraid right away" the child said. Men started throwing' beer ess the bumine tre utn - -. "- laughing as they did so. - instead oz going out, the flame leaped up and ignited the curtail on the stage; then roared up t the ceiling. . .. . A crowd, estimated "by authori ties as from 300 to 400, was seated uieauicr type seats in we naxi and in a balcony surrounding it. Most of them were! women and children. Screams Heard J As the flames roared upwards, screams broke out. There was s quick movement in the crowd ancl- the rush for thm -it tt,rtl Alarm spread throughout the halL it naa two doors out one was locked. t The only open exit was dowst f Vl a ft-rtnt cf air. 4a tk. .... , The rush to - that I door, with men, womea and children tum bling from the balcony to j ch in, caused a crush that closed rL Then, the lights went out. Complete Panie From then on, the surviver said, panic became complete. Little Lenor Medrano said sh didn't know what happened ta her mother. She became sepa- rated from her ' in the darkness lighted by the terrifying glow from the fire. She was being, crushed under the mass of humanity in the stair way when the man lifted her m his shoulders and carried her out. "It was horrible, horrible, hor rible," said Louis ALarid. an nouncer for radio station XEA2 which had studios in the buildings ne roia ox ma sing nis way irosa the structure ahead of the maiat rush. "AH was madness, he de clared, i Pressure Tee Lew The single fire company f the border city of 40,000 ; reached the scene but found that water pres sure was too low for it to check the blaze. j The firemen were met at tb entrance by the rush of maddened humanity, as it pressed out crush ing women and children beneatlt it. I "Everything was delirium," said Salvator Urqutza, reporter for S Tijuana newspaper who assisted many from the building. Some jumped from the win dows, he said. Those who wersv injured in the fall crawled across the street to avoid being tramped upon. The building destroyed was sr concrete and wood structure. The Christmas party was a annual affair, arranged h-r Drivatar charities. j Woman Twice !. ... WEST FRANKFORT. HL, Dee. ! 23-(P)-For the second time in 29 years West Frankfurt's Orient Nev 2 mine has made 48-year-old 11m Goldie Sandusky a widow. v . Her second, husband, Stanley Sandusky, 49, was on of the oca lost in Fridioriiight's;explcd-v Twenty years ago her first hus band, Noah. Avery, was killed in -a caveih thereTJ - - " M T - K .1 AXJrW PUCtKTATIOM Stace Start ef Weata Ta. . This Tear Lt Year .ormar . S2.4S IS 41 Mine Widows