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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1953)
' ; ' ; Tho Oatis Story Newsman Tells . of' Trial? Prison at Mauds of Reds POUNono 1651 I. 1 v No. isr,: 1C3BD YEAH . 3 SECTIONS-32 PAGES ' Tlx Oregon Stateszaqxu Salem, OrtOB. Stxndor September 13. 1953 PXUCE 10c . William N. Oatis stands second from left, between guards and ; alongside ether defendants in Prague court, in sketch by AP Artist John A. Carlton. OtP SfflMiQB A Mid-Century Conference on Resources for the Future is scheduled for Washington In the first week of December. It is sponsored by a non-profit organ ization called Resources for the Future, and is financed by grant from the Ford Foundation. Lewis W. Douglas, former di rector of the budget and former ambassador to Britain, is chair' nan of the conference. R. G. Gus- tavson. former chancellor of the University of Nebraska, is presi dent of Resources for the Future, the sponsoring group. The conference strategy com mittee has picked eight areas for consideration, and they will form the sections of the conference Among them are land uses and resources, water resources, ener gy resources, minerals (except fuels), etc. In some unexplained manner I was asked to serve on the committee setting up the pro gram for the section on water re sources, and spent two days in Washington last week working with other members of the com mittee. I know I can bring to the committee no expert knowledge In this .important field; but I may be able to speak from an ordinary citizen's viewpoint Chairman of our committee is Dr. Gilbert White, geographer, president of Haverford College; and the co-chairman is Dr. Abel Wolman, professor in Johns Hop kins university and specialist in water problems. Other members are Jean Breitenstein, authority on water law, Denver; J. M. Clark, professor of economics at Columbia; Gen. Warren T. Han num, chairman of the California Water Pollution Board; W. W. Horner, engineer, (Continued on editorial page 4.) 6MorePWs From Oregon By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Defense Department Satur day listed six more Oregon men till unreported after their proba ble capture by the Communists in Korea. That made , a total of nine Ore gon men that the Defense Depart ment has asked the Communists about. In addition there are 11 oth er missing Oregonians whose re latives believe they may possibly still be held by the Reds. The six new names: Airman 1. c. James L. Bell, son of Mrs. Georgina A. Lange, route I, Dallas. (Story on page 2, sec L) S. Sgt. Charles W. Crocker Jr., husband of Mrs. Roberta V. C Crocker, 529 N. 4th St.. CorvaHis. S. Sgt. Lee E. Erickson, husband of Mrs. Marilyn Erickson, route i. Oregon City. . Airman 3. e. Melvin B. Hays, husband of Mrs. Nellie E. Hays, Elitoo. 1st Lt Warren M. Hogg, son of sir. and Mrs. Henry R. Hogg, route 1 1, Portland. Capt. John C Moore, son of Mrs. Jane E. King, Portland. Rita Turns Down Million Dollars in Favor of 'Yasmin - LAS VEGAS? Nev.' Bl Rita Bayworth says there isn't enough money in the world worth sacri ficing her daughter's opportunity for normal Christian life in the United States, , . 5 - " " The film star made that declara tion in disclosing that Friday night she rejected divorce settlement which her attorney Bartley Crum, said involved approximately one million dollars for support of her child. Yasmin. 3. by Aly Khan. Crum said that Prince Aly con ditioned the settlement on exposing Yasmin to Moslem teachings when she is- 7, and having - the child brought to Europe for two or three months each., year. Unreported Farce of Czech 'Justice' Dooms Correspondent i (Sorter's note: When Wintut V. Oatls returned te thii cow try last May after aaere tlata tw years la Jail ta CseehosleTakla. It was an ewnced that lie wnu writ Us tn story l his experiences as a f ereira. earrespoadent ef The Associated Press and as a prisoner of Ute Conunamlsts. Now, alter rest, medical treatment and time for re search, he has written that story. Below Is the first article to appear wider Oatls owav by-line since April IS, 1951, five days before be was arrestee la Pragma.) .By WILLIAM N. OATIS ( Copyright 1893 by Tho Associated Press) Back home in Marion, Ind. I used to like the Fourth of July. Fourth of July. But in Prague, in 1951, I hated it That was the day we got the bad news. There were four of us, all employes of The Associated Press in Czechoslovakia. I was the only American. The other three were Czechs translators and interpre ters. I was a foreign correspond ent, and the chief of bureau. On that sunny Wednerday morning, we w e r e led into bright, roomy, high-ceilinged hall of the courthouse at Pankrac Pri son in Prague. We were seated on a long wooden bench. It was like a church pew. And we would have made a proper quartet of churchgoers, we were dressed respectably in business suits, our faces were clean and we were quiet very quiet But there the resemblance end ed. Because we did not sit alone. We sat, each of us, between two tall, strapping keepers in the red- trimmed olive-drab uniform of the Czechoslovak police. And they packed pistols. We were their nrisonert. We stood accused of espionage against what the Communists call the People's Democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia, on behalf of what they call the American imperial ists. And we had come to the third and last day of our trial before the Senate of the State Court in Prague. Behind us sat two sparse rows of reporters, Czechoslovak and foreign, for Communist news papers and Communist news agencies. And behind them, fill ing ground floor and gallery. were citizens of Czechoslovakia. Eyes Front I had not got a good look at that audience, because for a defendant the courtroom rule Is eyes front, toward the judges. But only seven months before. when a group of .Roman Catholic clergymen was in the dock and I was in the press section, I had studied another audience that must have been much like it. And so I thought I knew what I should have seen if I could have turned around and stared: Two banks of color, like flowerbeds, above and below the clothing and faces of a crowd. Bright work shirts and house frocks. Sober woollens office garb. Pale faces, red faces, roker faces, dull faces. These were people the author ities had favored with passes to the courtroom. A ' few . were friends or - relatives of us de- endants. Two were friends of mine though I did not know then that they were there, and it was almost two years before I found out. They were observers or the U. S. Embassy in Prague Vice Consul Richard G. John son and Private Secretary Mary Horak. A Latter-Diy Circus, But most of those in the audi ence were holidayers from fac tories, cooperative farms or gov ernment offices. They were just there for the show. In ancient Rome, people watched lions maul the Chris tians. In old London, they watched the hangman spring the trap on thieves. In modern Prague, they watched propaganda trials. A man .could cite other ex amples, too, from other times and other places. But there is no need for that, because in each case the spectable is, in essence, the same. It is the spectacle of .people being -ruined something that might bill itself, with little ex aggeration, as "the greatest show on earth." ; The show was drawing to its close. On the day of my arrest, 72 days before, the, secret jpolice had told me: "If anyone opposes us, we ruin them." - ' - - r ' They had done a great deal in that direction already, on all of us. Now the court was about to finish the job. , There we sat, watching tht stage- set. Just in front cf us was the horseshoe-shaped witness stall where we had stood, one after another, to accuse ourselves. Be side that, to my right, a well dressed, rosy-cheeked girl sat as interpreter between me and the court. Beyond it rose a spacious plat form stretching clear across the end of the courtroom. 'Now and then a court functionary entered from a door at the rear and put some papers on a desk. Gradually the lawyers drifted in. The four advocates of the accused took their places to gether in a box on the right Sly faced, in old suits, they looked less like attorneys than like a seedy jury gathered hastily from among loiterers op the courthouse steps. ' State Prosecutor Josef Urvalek strolled in. He was a youthful looking man with black hair, a handsome face and a high, broad forehead. He wore a long black gown, and he seemed fond of playing tricks with it, shooting an arm out of the sleeve abruptly like Death pointing at his next victim. A Gross-Eyed Judge Finally, the five judges filed briskly in. trailing their black gowns. We were prodded to our feet, while we heard the spec tators rising behind us, and we remained standing till the judges were seated. In the middle of the bar sat Presiding Judge Jaroslav Novak. He was stocky, yellowish and bald, with bushy brows. From, somewhere. Judge Novak produced a round-topped black cap and, with both hands, placed it squarely on his head. The other judges followed suit I knew the tradition, and I knew what it meant: the court was about to pass sentence. The defendants," said Chair man Novak, looking at us, or past us "win stand." - Between the two guards, I was hustled to my feet With a quick jerk of his hand,' the jud on either side twisted my sleeve titht against my wrist tight enough to stop the flow of blood. Our custodians could not keep us from fainting. But if we did faint they were there to see that none of us. disturbed the decorum of the court by falling on his face. As Judge Novak began speak ing, I gathered from the inter preter that we all were convict ed. I had expected that Now I braced myself to hear what it would mean for me. . I knew enough Czech to catch the judge's meaning at once, ahead of the interpreter: Ten Years "William Nathan Oatis . . . jdeset let ... " "Deset let" 10 years. Ten years' deprivation of freedom," the interpreter fin ished. Ten years in prison. Ten years waiting, fighting time, struggling to set through each hour, mired down in a dreadful swamp of days, weeks. months, years. h Ten years. I looked across that awful gulf,, and I could not measure it It was as if I had just read that light . front some star system deep in space which takes billion years to reach the earth. , The figure was . beyond my comprehension. . - - I But one thing I knew; I had lost a big chunk put of my life. That thought hit me like a cold hard hand and almost pushed me over the rim of consciousness. My guts froze and the courtroom went white. (Oatis story contin ued oa page 9, section 2J Praise Heaped On Fair By LILLIE L. MADSEN Farm Editor, The Statesman The Oregon State Fair closed its 88th run Saturday night with a "most satisfactory week," Leo Spitzbart fair manager, said lust as the gates swung to. Attendance, which was about zoo behind for the year when the gates opened for the final days, changed the picture before the day was over and ended 707 under last year. "I'm very pleased with the en tire fair. I cant remember a bet ter one," Dr. Earl B. Stewart chairman of the fair board added to Spitzbarts comment savins he believed aU of the board mem bers felt the same way. Dr. and Mrs. Stewart of Roseburg, spent the entire week at the fair. Actual attendance Saturday was 21,087 as compared to Saturday's of a year ago at 18,843, making the total attendance for the 1953 fair 185,720. This compares with last year's final figures of 186,- 507. f igures will be re-checked Sunday, Joe Simeral, stated. Increase Saturday Rain Friday toward evening lowered mat day's attendance, but this was picked up again Saturday, leaving four days this year topping last year: Both Saturdays, and Wednesday and Tnursday. Monday, Tuesday and Friday were the down days. Race attendance continued about the same as last year's total of 21,104 but betting was higher. This was accounted for in part by the Meadows Race mem berships passes of Portland hon ored at the state fair gate. With the exception of Friday, when rain was in the air as the races opened, every day the betting was over the same days the pre vious year. Under Last Year While the rodeo's attendance at the 1953 show was 26,522 some what under last years total of 30,119, the night revue ran very close to last year's attendance figures of 29,005. Final unofficial count Saturday night of folk going to the revue this year was 28,568. Adults, with all the judging completed, relaxed at the Satur day jir -untile toward - evening when "packing got underway. Youngsters, on the other hand, scarcely realized that the fair was ending as skill in raising, feeding, exhibiting purebred livestock was paid off with trophies and free animals. Final judging contests started at 10 o'clock Saturday morning and final tabulations were not completed until late at night (See Story also. Sec. 1, Page 2) No Escape From Parents bACRAMENTQ, Calif. CT) Phyl lis and Alice Harris daughters "of movie folk Phil Harris and Alice Faye toured the California State Fair where the father headlines an outdoor show. At the penny arcade, one of the girls put a penny in a slot of a machine vending' movie stars pic tures. The picture she got? Phil Har ris and Alice Faye. Today's Statesman ' Section 1 , General news 2, 3, 5 Editorials, features -4 Sports . 6-8 Crossword puzzle 8 Classified ads 9-11 Radio, TV 9 Section 2 Society, women's .! 1-8 Oatis story (cont) 9 Garden news 10 Valley news 11 Section 3 Full color comics U.S. Radio Stations to Test Wartime Emergency System By JACK ADAMS . WASHINGTON tl CONELRAD, the tricky radio operation designed to thwart any effort to use broad casting beams to lead bombers on guided missiles to American cities,' win have its first national test next Wednesday. A middle of the night affair (1:30 to 4:30 a. m. local time) you wul have to stay up late or get up early to listen in on the pro ceedings, in which experts of Civil Defense, the Federal Communica tions Commission, and the Air Force win participate. Out of the experiment the three agencies hope to learn just -how good is the device worked out to keep an. enemy from- homing on a U. S. target by getting: a navi gation "fix" on a radio station in a large metropolitan area. In the last war. regulations called for a quick shutdown of an broad casting as soon as an enemy, ap proach was suspected. This robbed the enemy of direc tion beams but it also 'robbed Civil Defense ant hnri ties and the School Preparations , Meet Varied Eniotb i i i a t t' It's back to school time again, and from the look en Pat's face, he's not very happy about the whole thing, and can't see why bis tennis shoes and T" shirt (the one with Superman's picture on the chest) won't fill the bill on opening day, but his mother, Mrs. Francis Kuensting, St Paul, has other ideas. Pat and his "mom" are shown above enacting this familiar scene in one of Salem's stores. (Statesman photo.) Pennsylvania Provides Miss America for 1954 Miss Oregon Reaches Contest Finals (Picture on Page 8, Sec. 2) ATLANTIC CITY. N-J. A statuesque ' ash blonde Evelyn Margaret Ay of Ephrata. Pa. won the title of Miss America of 1954 Saturday night The 20-year-old Miss Pennsylvan ia had won a bathing suit prelim inary earlier in the week. One of the tallest girls in the Van Fleet's Son Believed Reds' Captive PANMUNJOM Uh 'Nine Reds who changed their minds twice head north Sunday beyond the "bamboo curtain" which still shields the mystery of what hap pened to more than 900 Americans, including the flier son of Gen. James A. Van Fleet. The" Pentagon in , Washington caused a surprise by announcing that Air Force Capt. James A. Van Fleet Jr., a B26 pilot, is among at least 917 Americans for whom the U. N. Command is demanding an accounting from the Reds. Hitherto there had been no pub lic indication that the son of the former U. S. 8th Army commander might have survived a B26 bomber strike near Sunchon, in northwest Korea, April 5, 1952. The nine North Koreans going back to communism Sunday are the first dispositions among more than 23,000 Reds who renounced Red rule after being captured dur ing the Korean war. The nine changed their minds again alter beingvbrought to U. N. stockades in the demilitarized zone. general public of a vital means of communication at a time when quick communications were most needed to keep people informed and to direct the civil defense'force. ' So CONELRAD was developed, a joint effort by the FCC, Civil Defense; the Air Defense Command and the broadcasting industry. The word, is short for "control of electromagnetic radiation. Its sponsors like to call it "planned confusion (for the enemy.) Entirely reversing the previous approach. ' the system needs as many stations as possible kept on the air, with the largest stations sharply reducing power and every station stifling promptly to a fre quency not its own. Thus an ap proaching enemy would be pro Tided with not one beam, but more than be could handle. The scramble renders the known direction find ers on planes useless. Only two broadcasting frequen cies will he used during an emer gency period 640 kilocycles or 1240 kilocycles and the station shifts wd be to either one of these two positions on the diaL 'V.i- . i Sec, , ' , -?' ) , I'M fiSrA '-'. '-fa - aai'I hi .. iiftiV. wMi Tt-k ii .. iti" n t- k. that means a new outfit for boys contest at five feet, eight inches, she weighs 132 pounds, has a 37- inch bust 24-mch waist and 36-inch hips. Miss Pennsylvania rose on an elevator as her name was an nounced. She wore a long, red, vel vet robe over her white evening gown. Receives Crown The 51 other contestants threw confetti as she moved toward the center of the stage to receive the crown from last year's winner, Neva Jane Langley of Macon, Ga. "It's hard to express an emo tion that's so deeply set" the new Miss America Said in receiving the crown. . She walked down the 100-foot ramp in huge convention hall and bowed to the applauding audience of 5.000. White. Banner Across the front of her gown she wore a white, satin banner with gold letters, proclaiming her "Miss America of 1954. For her victory in the weeklong pageant green-eyed Miss Ay re ceives $50,000 in prizes, including a S5.000 scholarship personal appear ance fees, an automobile and a spe cial wardrobe. Four other runnersup in tho con test will receive scholarships of 13,000 to $1,500. The five other finalists, eliminat ed in the last round of judging Sat urday night included Miss Oregon, Patti Elaine Throop of Portland. Each of these five will receive a $1,000 scholarship. The non-finalists get a $100 scholarship each. In this group is Miss Washington (Geral dine Ann Lindsey of Seattle. Parents Die In Suicide Pact PORTLAND tn A young: cou ple, who left their two baby boys at The Dalles last Sunday, were found dead Saturday in their apart ment. Police said John Lewis Day 21, apparently killed his wife, Helen Lorraine, 19, and then turned a revolver on himself. The gun was beside his body. Day's father, Hubbard Day, said at The Dalles that the infants.. 18 and 7 months old, were left at his home last Sunday, and that the young couple had been on the verge of a separation. ' TiTX. Playoffs V ' At Spokane It Satan IS Coast League - At San Xncfo 3. Portland 3 At Hollywood S. Oakland At San rranciseo . Lm Angeles S At SatUe X Sacramento S American League - At Kw York 13. Detroit 4 ; ' At Washington 4. Cleveland 3 -At Philadelphia . Chicago S At Boston 1. St. Louis (U inn.) National League v ' At Milwaukee 2.' Brooklyn S At Chicago 7, New York 1 -At Cincinnati 3. Philadelphia 3 '' - At St. Imui T. PltUb'ga a ill Inn.) -J .it1' iV J like (Patrick Kuensting. Jndging Lewis Stone, Ator.Diesof Heart Attack 1 HOLLYWOOD un -Lewis Stone, grand old man of the movies, died of a heart attack Saturday night at his home. H was 73. Stone, onetime matinee idol and a Hollywood figure for more than 35 years, was stricken while chasing a group of teenage boys off his grounds. He collapsed on the sidewalk and dieo jwithout regaining conscious ness. fX moment before, members of the household said, he had been warned by bis wife, Hazel, against over-exertion. Mrs Stone said they had been annoyed earlier by a gang of boys who; threw garden furniture in the StoneS' swimming pool, Mrs. Stone told! police the actor was watching television at the time he. heard the commotion outside. Dets. ! Don Williams and Don1 Davidson said later that they had several boys at Wilshire district sta tion for questioning about the furni ture dumped in the stone pool. Stone was not only a veteran of the stage and screen but a veteran of two1 wars as well. He interrupted his acting career twice to serve his country, first as a commissioned officer; in the Spanish-American War and again as a major of cavalry and an instructor in World War I. His first picture was "Honor's Al tar," directed by the late Thomas Ince, ' j In later years he was best known for thej Andy Hardy series, with Mickey Rooney. . Among his early screen credits were scaramouche. "The Girl from jHontmartre" and "The Pri vate life of Helen-of . Troy." He was the unofficial dean of Hol lywood actors. He spent most of his film! career with Metro-Gold wyn- Mayef Studios, where "Stars in My Crown! "Key to the City, "Grounds for Mariage., "Banner- line.f'jjand "The Unknown Man" were among his recent credits. A : ROUNDUP QUEEN CHOSEN PENDLETON; LB - Rosa Use Spencer, a 16-year-old Nex Perce Indian, ,: Saturday was ' crowned beauty 'queen of the Pendleton Rotmd-Up. Goburg GI Over Hill Again; Almy Q Plans 'No Search Ft. fcAMPBELL, Ky. ID PvL Mil tons Mowdy of Coburg. Ore., has disappeared again. This tune .the Army Js not looking for him. 1 Officials said they would wait for him to return, explaining the Army j already has spent, nearly $10,000 in trying to keep Mowdy in uiuform. ; , , ; Offered Help ' ' ' i . He is the 17-year-old Oregon boy who last month told Oklahoma City police a sad story about being left without parents. Police and others were offering help for him to get through" school, when he was ex posed Aig. 21. ' The (Army said it had believed Mowdy had "drowned and spent much time and money in trying to find hftn, and then additional mon ey in sending soldiers after the No.2 Job!; Bi Soviet : Med J I By TOM WHITNEY f - LONDON (fl Nikita S. Khrush chev, 59, a stocky one-time boss of. the Ukraine, has been elected first: secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, the Moscow i radio announced Saturday night, t . , , This gives him control over vast party machinery and makes him: the second most Important man in Russia. He ranks right after Pre mier Georgi M. Malenkov, the chief of the party's Presidium. ' Joseph Stalin used a similar post as secretary general of the Central Committee to make himself dicta tor of the Soviet Union. Without the title, Khrushchev ac tually has headed a five-man secre tariat of the Central Committee since last March. At that time Mii lenkov, who had taken over as sue cessor to Stalin, resigned the Cen tral Committee secretaryship td concentrate full attention on the premiership. ; Beria Was No, t Lavrenti P. Beria was regarded as the No. 2 man under Malenkov until he was arrested last June, ac cused of being a traitor, and dis missed as internal affairs minister. Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov it the third man in the Soviet hler archy. I A stocky, round - faced, blunt spoken Ukrainian. Khrushchev was first named one of the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Un ion in December, 1849. - -1' ' He then left Kiev, moved to Mos cow and gave up his jobs in the Ukrainian party. He took over the; leadership of the important Mos cow party organization J keeping at too same time his Job as a secre tary of the Central Committee. . 1 Malenkov in Power! 1 Another of the secretaries of the Central Committee i at that time and the most Important after Stalin was Malenkov. It was believed that in practice it was Malenkov who was running the party machin ery in the latter years of Stalin's life. : . f j The question now is whether; Khrushchev takes his orders in this post from Malenkov or makes in dependent decisions on his own. - If he has the power to make his own decisions, he can make ap pointments of his owa men through-! out the party apparatus as Stalin did- when driving for supreme au thority, i Friendly with West ' . j Khrushchev has been considered! fairly friendly with the West. j He wears rough clothing and his manners are unpolished, but there is an air of quiet strength about nun. He was born In April. 1894, the son of a coal miner in Kursk, near the Ukrainian border. As a boy. he herded sheep and worked in mills and mines. He bad no formal edu cation. ( He joined the Bolshevik Party hi 1918. He fought in the Ukraine la the civil war. Afterward he went to an industrial school. His ability as an organizer raised him swiftly in party ranks. Snow Falls In Midwest By The Associated Press The Midwest's first light snow of the season fell Saturday near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., as cool Canadian air. pushed south across the north ern Great Plains and the Great Lakes. Temperatures fell as much as 30 degrees as the cool front advanced. Readings ranged from the low 40s near Lake Superior to the mid 60s, in the Central Plains. Max. Mia. Precipf - 7 trace? aleaa Portland 7 - SO MO : San rranciseo so Chicago S4 SB trace-, 89 .00 i 63 .71 i New York 7S FORECAST (from U. 8. Weather Bureau. ktcNiry Staid. Salem)! iiriy monunf ciouaineaa. otnerv wis fair and warmer today. tonlahV and Monday. High today 82 to MJ low tonight 41 to 4L Temperature ISM em. was SS degrees. , BAXjnc mcmtATioir Z Slaeo start of Weather Yax Sept S This Tear Last Year Normal trace JO M ' boy when he was discovered in Oklahoma City. i . Mowdy. ducked away from his guards en route back to Ft. Camp bell and has not been heard from since. Thought Home At first the Army thought he went home to Coburg. but his mother there, Mrs. Marie LeNinl, said she had not seen or beard from' him.. , 1 v ' "The present status of this pro dlgal GI is uncertain,! though hav ing cost .the government close to five figures, his welcome to Ft. Campbell will be unique, but un costly when and if he ret umi. Up on his return he will be presented a bin for the transportation of the guxrds and himself, said a FL Campbell P10 release. 1
