Czech Railroad Tragedy May Claim Lives of 186 Light Failure Panics Church Goers, 23 Die in Rush to Door TOLUCA, Mexico W) A light ing failure caused by a short cir cuit sowed panic during a Christ mas mass in a village church early Friday and 23 persons were killed in a rush for the doors. Some 200 more were injured as the crowd of 3,000 piled up around the two doors of the church in Temoaya, a mountain village 13 miles northwest of here. The parish priest, the Rev. Mose Cruz, attempted to quell the panic but without success. "Mass was just finished." he said, "and the congregation was leaving the church. Somebody I Twins Make Merry Christmas Merrier It was a Merry, Merry Christmas for the John Merrvs earlv ! Christmas morn when mama Merry gave birth to two little, twin Merrys at Salem General Hospital a boy and a giaL j Tne pair, which brings the Dtr mum mora At a funeral service the pastor may intone the words, "In the midst of life we are in death." Their truth, however, comes home most sharply when one picks up the paper and reads of the unexpected death of another who seemed in abundant, good health. So it was with the passing of Sen. Dean H. Walker of Inde pendence; and the early sense of shock was quickly succeeded with a realization of the great loss 'which Oregon has sustained in the sudden death of this vet eran leader of the Oregon Sen ate. Walker was indeed the dean of the Senate, the one longest in service, from 1935 through 1953 sessions; and with one term in the House (1933) before that He was dean also as the anchor for the Senate organization, a key figure in every issue of im portant state policy. His major assignments dealt with such sub jects as appropriations (he served regularly as member or chairman of the ways and means commit tees), assessment and taxation, education, agriculture. That Ore gon has kept its financial house in good order is due in very large riesn-ee to Walker's oversight and conservative management of state finances. His service in this field began on the House. ways and means committee in 1933, the one which pared expenditures to the bone because of the meagre state income during depression years. He saw the budget grow through the years, take on added burdens: public welfare, basic school fund support, building programs, higher education ex pansion. Yet in that period it was possible to wipe out an old deficit and provide adequate rev enues for all functions within the state's taxing structure. Walker would not claim the credit alone (Continued on Editorial Page 4.) Red Troops Press Attack In Thailand BANGKOK UP TTie Thai gov ernment Saturday proclaimed a State of emergency in all nine northern and northeastern states after reports thet Vietminh troops fcad attacked in force and with ? lanes. The reports said also rench forces were retreating to set up new defenses along the fclekong River which separates Thailand from Laos. The new French defense lines were reported about 50 kilometers (31.5 miles) from Thakhek, a Laos town on the Mekong opposite the Thai province of Nongkhai. The declaration of emergency vas decided upon at a meeting of the cabinet and high military officers aV the residence of Pre mier Phibun Songkram. The situ ation in Laos was considered a threat to the sovereignty of Thai land. Animal Crackers Bv WARREN GOODRICH "He's In bod shape. He's no ety forgotfeM.wtto b is, bvt stepped on a wire lying on the floor. There was a blue flash and the lights went out. "Then when the lights came on again, there was nobody in the church but me and the victims. I went around and administered the last sacraments to them. There was nothing else I could do." Most of the congregation were country people from the surround ing hills, many of them unaccus tomed to .electric lights. The crowd in the church was unusual ly large because of the Christmas midnight mass. Merry total to a merry four, were two among five Christmas babies born in Salem's two hospitals Fri day. The new little Merrys were named Carol Mary Merry, 6 ; pounds, 6 ounces (born at 2:23 a.m.) and John Scott Merry, bare- i ly over 5 pounds (born at 2:25 a.m.). Papa Merry, who was home with his other Merrys Friday eve ning, Mary Ellen Merry (4V4 years) and Jonette Merry (19 months), said he and his wife Paula were expecting the twins. Merry, a sheet metal worker for the Reimann Sheet Metal Co., said that "way back" on his wife's side there was record of twins. Mother and children were said to be do ing "fine" at the hospital Friday night The Merrys live at 3240 Fisher Rd. Other Christmas surprises for Salem parents were a son at Sa lem General to Mr. and Mrs. Char les Feskens, 4680 Macleay Rd., and a son to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Halfman, 4180 Macleay Rd., also at Salem General. A boy was born to Mr. and Mrs. George A. Coen, 3233 S. Liberty Rd., at Salem Memorial Hospital. Hospital officials said late Fri day night that no other Christmas children were expected and, for the most part, "OB" (abbrevia tion for obstetrics) floor was re latively quiet Perfume Gift Blamed for Wife's Suicide MODESTO. Calif. OP Mrs. Kathleen Vinyard was disappoint ed Thursday night when she un wrapped a Christmas present a bottle of perfume from her hus band. Joe. She flew into a rage. Friday morning, Mrs. Vinyard, 38, died a short time after her husband found her in their closed garage, the auto engine running. Police Capt. William Coulson said she killed herself. Mrs. Vinyard had complained, Coulson said, that it was the fourth straight year she had re ceived perfume from her husband. Blaze Strikes Albany Home j Statesman Newt Service ALBANY Fire Friday night destroyed a small one-stonr house just "north of here on David Ave nue and placed its lone occupant, George M. Jimmerfield, 58, in a serious condition, at Albany Gen eral Hospital. An attending physician said the man suffered third degree burns about the face and body. Neighbors called the Albany fireman when the blaze was dis covered at about 7:20 p.m. and took about two hours to extin guish. Cause of the fire was not known. It was believed that Jim merfield was overcome by smoke and unable to get out of the burn ing house. PARIS TROUBLED PARIS m Paris went through Christmas .without airport facili ties and mail sorters due to con tinuing strikes for more pay. Ermine Battling Suit too pZot' But Agent, Not Army, Orders SEOUL (Jt Actress Terry Moore reported early Saturday j she had been ordered out o Ko rea, where she is touring with a show for service men, but the an nouncement of the order appeared to be a little premature. Miss Moore, who had been or dered not to wear a Bikini bath ing suit made of ermine in her Korean shows, wore the much discussed pieces in t Christmas night show for men of the 10th Army Corps. Early Saturday she made the announcement she was ordered home, leaving the Impres sion that the decision , was the Army's. Later, however, Johnny Grant, Los Angeles disc jockey who is managing the troupe in Korea, said tht so-called order was not 'Curtain' Shields Size of Disaster VIENNA, Austria tfl A Christ mas railway disaster in Czecho slovakia has killed perhaps as many as 186 persons, according to reports penetrating the Iron Curtain Friday night. Signs point ed to it being one of the world's worst rail disasters. The first official announcement made by radio Prague said "many persons were killed or injured" when the Bratislava-Prague ex press crashed into another pas senger train near the Morovian village of Jsakvice. ' Officials at Scene High Czech officials sped to the scene to conduct an investigation but gave out no exact figures on the death toll. Police officers at Hustopice, who said they were in charge of iden tifying victims, told The Associa ted Press in Vienna by phone that "more than 100 persons" perished in the crash. A telephone operator at Brno told The Associated Press by phone that she overheard Czech officials place the death count at 186. This would make it the third worst rail disaster in history 600 Died in 1917 The French news agency rec- ords the No. 1 disaster as a troop train wreck in the Alps in 1917 when 600 were reported killed. World War I censorship plugged the news until the war's end, the agency said. 4 . The second worst rati disaster occurred in another Iron Curtain land Poland in 1949 when 200 persons were killed. Railway officials at both Brno and Prague refused to comment on the extent of the death toll but the extensive emergency measures taken by Czech authori ties indicated it was a major ca tastrophe. Near Czech Border Radio Prague announced that Interior Minister Rudolf Barak and Traffic Minister Antonin Pos posi had left Prague for Sakvice to investigate the wreck. The fact that two top ministers went per sonally to the scene was a further indication of the seriousness of the tragedy. Sakvice is a small country town about 12 miles north of the Austrian-Czech border station of Breclav Lundenburg ) . (Additional Details on New Zea- ' land Crash on Page 2.) 40,000 Left Homeless in China Blaze HON6 KONG UT) Fire that started Christmas night in the squatter area of Kowloon burned itself out Saturday, leaving more than 40,000 homeless, causing 2 deaths and more than 50 injuries. Officials of the Hong Kong fire brigade estimated that more than. 6.000 dwellings, some of them little more than huts, had been destroyed in the Sekkipmei dis trict which has been congested with war refugees. Both victims were women war refugees. The fire started about 9 p. m. Christmas night and burned until after dawn Saturday, despite ef forts of the fire brigade and sev eral score volunteer fighters. It was the worst of a number of 'fires which have swept the squatter district since refugees began thronging into the area from Red China several years ago. Some Chinese newspapers esti mated the number of homeless at 70,000, but officials put that figure as far too high. Firemen as usual were handi capped with lack of water. Mrs. Pierce Marks 80th Birthday Today Mrs. Walter M. Pierce, wife of the former governor of Oregon, will celebrate her 80th birthday today. Mrs. Pierce, state librarian, un til her retirement in 1929, lives with her husband at 4561 Dallas Rd. He is 92 years old. Max. Mirt. Precip. .43 JJ .M .42 3S .00 .60 35 JH . 38 27 00 Sales Portland , San Francisco Chicago New York . 49 29 .00 FORECAST (from U. S. Weather Bureau. McNary Field. Salem): Mostly cloudy with early morning and evening fog. High today near 44 and low tonight near 33. Temperature at 13:01 a. m. was 37 degrees. SALEM PRECIPITATION Slure SUrt f Weather Year Sept 1 This Year Last Year Normal 18.89 9.75 - U.92 an "order" but a "reauest" from Hollywood Coordinating Commit tee which arranges shows for servicemen.- v The request, .Grant said, appar ently was based on "the miscon ception . that Miss Moore per formed a strip act, which of course is not true." Grant said "everything seems to have been straightened out" and I feel certain that Miss Moore is going to continue the tour." Miss Moore was one of the members of the troupe, which did a show at noon Saturday for offi cers and men of the 10th Corps artillery headquarters but she did not wear the controversial fur Bikini. Miss Moore had been warned that the ermine Bikini would sot 103RD YEAR, 10 nJL Shubert Taken By Death NEW YORK Ml Lee Shubert, president of the vast Shubert the atrical enterprises, died Friday at the age of 78. He died just four days after en- i tering Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment of a circulatory dis turbance. The hospital said death was caused by "the complete fail ure of the circulatory sfystem." Lee Shubert was one of three brothers whose far-flung theatrical business at one time was estima ted conservatively to be worth $400,000,000. One Survivor The eldest Drotner, bam a. anu-1 bert. died manv vears aao. ! The youngest brother, the orrty i survivor now oi me iamous irio of showmen, is Jacob J. Shubert. ' generally known as "J. J." ! The careers of the brothers were closely interwoven so much so that the life story of Lie Shubert was also largely the life story of Sam and J. J. The three left Syracuse. N. Y., j as young men and invaded Broad-1 way. ! They became engaged in a vio lent war with the old Klaw & Er langer booking business, then known as "the combination." Brake Up Combine Tk tMob utat a tifftiilf rtn A i hut th thro Shnhprt brothers V broke the combine and emerged eventually as the most powerful single group operating in the the ater. As the Shubert brothers gradu ally broke the hold of the combi nation, they built many theaters in New York familiar to theater goers throughout the nation. These houses included the Forty Fourth Street, the Lyric, the Shu bert, Broadhurst. Booth. Ply-, mouth. Morosco, Bijou, Ritz, the Forty-Ninth Street, Nora Bayes, Forrest, Maxine Elliott and the Al Jolson. No Worries Keep Man, 103, Young PORTLAND Charles Mack of nearby Troutdale says he lived to be 103 because he's "dumb." "When you're dumb," he ex plains, "you've got nothing to wor ry about so you keep on living. It's worry that takes a man down." Mack, vigorous and alert, cele brated his 103rd birthday Wednes day. Among his other advice on how to live long is don't over drink or overeat. Mack, a former tavern operator, says he hasn't had a drink in a long time. "I used to tell a big glass of whisky for 10 cents," he says. "Think I'd pay 50 cent for a glass now?" Morning Fog On Forecast Weather outlook for Salem and vicinity today didn't look too warm at midnight when the U.S. Weather Bureau predicted a high of 44 and a low of 33 degrees for Saturday. Highest temperature in Salem for Christmas day was 43 degrees which dropped to a 37 low before the day ended. Today was slated by weathermen to be mostly cloudy with early morning and evening fog. Weather must have been worse in the Medford area, though, be cause United Air Lines had to cancel its regular flight 155 when Medford was "socked in." This flight originates in Portland, go ing to Medford in the evening, remaining overnight and return ing the next morning. for Cold Korea, Actress Home be allowed after a Hollywood pub licity picture and announcement that she intended to strip down to it for the Korean service men had brought a storm of protests from church groups in the United states.; .; :;. The actress said she had worn the suit Christmas night after it had been approved by LL GenJ cruse Clark, commanding officer or the 10th Corps. However, an aide to the gen eral said Saturday General Clarke bad not seen the suit before the show and had neither approved not disapproved it. t . The tth Army denied it or any of its lower commands had is sued the order for Miss Moore to PAGES ap'Sf Poaiftlhi eirdl F)ri TB No fc. z - imtMx ttUjjSYV Tuk...nl..:. 1. 4V m-m. mm A -'' : L. Moore, Silverton, but schoolwork must be continued. Sharon is continuing her sixth grade studies with the assistance of Mrs. A. B. Swigart, (above right) one of two teachers at the Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital east of Salem. (Story on page 2.) Discovery to Take Lethal Kick From Atomic Materials Said Basis for Ike's Pool Offers PAS Paris-Presse, one I of the leading afternoon newspa- pers of Paris, said Friday Presi- inently. dent Eisenhower's proposal for a ! Paris-Presse said President Ei U.N. atomic pool had been made ; senhower was prepared to turn possible by an amazing new dis- j over the secret of the discovery covery that atomic materials can to Russia, and that this would ef be "denatured" to remove their fectively remove Russian fears destructiveness. j that atomic material it might con- The paper did not give either i tribute to the world "nuclear the source of its, story nor details ; French Fidit To Turn Back Attack by Reds SAIGON, Indochina t French troops fought all Christmas Day a powerful new Communist-led Vietminh drive aimed at reach ing the Thailand frontier and cut ting Indochina in two. A French army spokesman said elements of two Vietminh divisions had been identified as taking part in the new drive toward Thak hek, on the Mekong River fron tier between Thailand and Laos, one of the three French-protected Indochinese states. The French population of Thak hek was asked by officials to ava cuate to Savannaket, 200 miles to the south. The spokesman said the invad ing units, which apparently start ed their drive in North Annam, were about 60 miles from Thak hek. The drive was being pushed at the narrowest part of Indochi na, which at this point is only about 100 miles across with Thak hek as the farthest point in' the interior. Thakhek is approximately 240 miles south of Hanoi and domi nates the Meking Valley to the south. It is just across the river from the Thailand town of Lak hon. Toddler Falls To-Death in Yule Tragedy WARREN. Pa. (l " Mr. and Mrs. Donald Mervine awoke ear ly Friday to take their only son to see his Christmas presents, but instead found him dead on a land ing at the foot of the stairway. Coroner Ed Lowrey said the boy, James. 2, apparently fell down seven steps during the night. He died of a broken neck. Lowery said the parents told him the child was too young to fully appreciate Christmas and 4hey doubted if he was search ing for Yule presents. They were unable to explain his being out of bed. Babson Report Next Thursday .. The Oregon Statesman will publish Roger W. Babson's Business and Financial Out look for 1954 next Thursday. It will contain outstanding forecasts covering such impor tant topics as: General busi ness, commodity prices, taxes, tiade, labor, inflation, farm outlook, stock market, real estate, politics. -' ' . We are calling this feature to your attention because we believe that every one of our readers will find it of inestim able value. ' POUNDID 1651 The Oregon Statesman, Salem, Oregon, Saturday. December 26, 1953 Handicap to Studies - r I iv K '(A i 1 wiimini r 11 - .1 J cl. mr of the reported discovery in the i article which it displayed prom bank" would ever be used against the Soviet Union. (In Washington, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Commis sion said he had no comment on the report.) The newspaper said American scientists had made the discovery and had perfected means for "emasculating" plutonium and other nuclear material which goes into an atomic bomb. Fissionable material thus "de natured" could never again be used for military purposes, the article said, but would be unim paired for peaceful civilian pur poses. The paper said the process was too complicated to explain in lay men's language, but takes the leth al kick out of nuclear material. It added that President Eisen hower was convinced the system Young College Editors Start Russia Tour NEW YORK Of A second group of seven young college edi tors left Friday for a three-week tour of the Soviet union. Richard E. Ward of New Ro- chelle, N.Y., managing editor of the University of Chicago "Ma roon," said his companions hope to visit areas not included 'in the first group's tour last summer. He mentionad the Crimea and the Caucasus in southern Rus sia. "We will try." Ward said as spokesman for the group, "to tell the young people we meet about life in this country and hope to be able to exchange informa tion on the different modes of liv ing." The tourists include: David Barney, Portland. Ore., editor of "Reed Quest," Reed Col lege, Portland. DAMAGE IN BLAZE BOMBAY, India (J) Eight peo ple were injured and damage es timated at more than half a mil lion dollars was caused by a fire which started in the timber mar ket at Poona Friday night and spread over 20 acres of the heart of the city. Chain of Events Keeps Valley Police Force Busy on Otherwise Quiet Christmas Holiday A chain of events was touched' off through the Salem area in an otherwise quiet late Christmas night and included escape of six boys from Mac Laren School at Woodburn; burglary of a Salem home and theft of an auto. . The boys' escape was apparently) unrelated to the other events. Salem police received word at 10:50 p.m. that the boys had gotten away about an hour previous. At 11 p.m. city police got a call that the home of Page Stevens, 610 D. SL had been entered and a 38 caliber revolver, holster and wrist watch taken. Entrance was forced through a window. At 11:13. p.m. city police received word that a 1951 model car owned by Joseph W. Dougherty, Aums j . f 1 u . was struck with TB last June and ; would work before he proposed be fore the U.N. General' Assembly on Dec. 9 that the United States, Russia and other nations with the . secret of the atomic bomb turn some of heir material into a peace ful pool. Paris-Presse said the new dis covery opened up new horizons for human progress which stag gered the imagination. Wavell's Son Ambushed By Mau Maus NAIROBI. Kenya un Maj Earl Wavell, 37. son of the late Field Marshal Earl Wavell. was killed by Mau Mau terrorists Thursday night. He was leading a Black Watch patrol investigating the beheading of an African loyal to the British when his patrol was ambushed by the Mau Mau, a secret organiza tion whose members have sworn to drive the white man out of Kenya, Wavell fell early in the encounter. An African policeman was killed and two police officers were wounded. The Mau Mau casual ties were five dead and four cap tured. The late Field Marshal Earl Wavell commanded the ' British North African campaign during the first part of World War II and later commanded British forces fighting the Japanese in Burma. He died in 1930. Section Hand Dies Of Bullet Wounds KLAMATH FALLS LP A Mex ican railroad worker, Unzueta Cruz, died here Christmas morn ing from wounds suffered when shot early Thursday. Police have few clues to the identity of who shot him. He and another man came out of a tavern. Someone fired a pistol and Cruz fell, unconscious. The gunman sped away in a car. Today's Statesman General News 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 Society News 3 Editorials, Features. 4 Sports News 6, 7 Comics 7 Radio-TV 8 Classifieds . 8, 9 Church, Valley News 10 ville, had been stolen from the' 1500 block of South 12th Street while Dougherty was going for an other load of Christmas packages. Local authorities called state police headquarters and descrip tion of the stolen autojwas on the state radio at 11:20 p.m. No 'sooner had the description gone on the air than the state's Albany car radioed back that he was driving right behind the ve hicle. He stopped it and placed its occupants in the Albany jail. The men in the car were iden tified by Albany police as Harold Ellis Crowe, 21, Grand Island, Neb.; Lee Joseph Barth, 27, and Jack Richard Homann, 22, Port land. . Barth gave no home ad dress. Albany authorities : said the three admitted a burglary in No. 271 Traffic Claims 228 in First Thirty Hours By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Traffic accident deaths on the nation's highways threatened to set a record for the Christmas holiday season as the toll mount ed steadily Friday night. At least 272 persons had died in all types of holiday accidents during the first 30 hours of the holiday period, which began at 6 p m. (local time) Thursday and will end at midnight Sunday. Of the total, 228 were killed in traf fic accidents, 23 in fires, and 21 in accidents of other type. The record holiday traffic death toll was 556, during last year's four-day Christmas period. "Unless motorists put on the brakes, it's going to be the most tragic Christmas in history for traf fic accidents," Ned Dearborn, president' of the National Safety Council, said Friday night as the toll climbed. The council had predicted 510 would die in traffic accidents dur- V nouaay Penoo. The figures told little of the Doiz- nant human tragedy. At Versailles, ! Ohio, a Christmas auto accident j left two children orphans. A moth- er and her four youngsters died in their flaming home near Flat Rock, Mich. Three young boys were victims of another fire at' Gloucester, Mass. j At Packwood, Wash., the task ! of recovering bodies of two. broth- j ers,- drowned when their car i plunged into a lake, fell to a third brother who operated a car wreck- er service. An unusually heavy flow of Christmas traffic made the holi day hazard greater than that of the usual weekend. Carter Harrison, 5 Times Chicago Mayor Succumbs CHICAGO Ul Carter H. Harri- rAn fin. t m n wm ....... 1 died Friday. He was 93. Harrison, who served as col lector of internal revenue for the Chicago district from 1933 to 1944, died in his Chicago apartment. A Democrat, he bore the same name as his father, also mayor for five terms. The younger Harrison was first elected to the chief city post in 1897 and retired after serving four consecutive two 'year terms. He returned to the office of the mayor for a four year term in 1911. Auto Mishaps Take Liveof 3 in Oregon " By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Holiday traffic accidents in Ore gon had claimed three lives late Friday night. Mrs. Virgil Harrington, about 40, Benton City, Wash., was killed about 20 miles north of Ontario, near the Idaho border. A car driven by her husband swerved out of control on an icy stretch of Highway 30 and crashed at 12:30 a.m. The husband and their daughter, Karen, 8, were not injured but suffered shock.' Near Oakridge, southeast of Eugene on Highway 58, an auto mobile flipped over and plunged into Salt Greek, killing. Herbert C. Nelson, 33, San Francisco. His companion, Georgia Harris, 33, also of San Francisco, crawled from the car, flagged down a mo torist, and was treated here for non-serious shock. Laura Joseph Douglas, 53, of North Hollywood. Calif., was killed outright Friday night when her automooue ran oil a highway 35 miles south of Roseburg. She was alone in the car. Au thorities said the woman was en route from North Hollywood to a new home in Sutherlin, Ore., when the accident occurred. Salem and a .38 caliber revolver and a wrist watch were found in their possession. While all this drama was un folding, state police received a call from a Gervais resident who said three boys had come to her home and asked for needle and thread to repair their clothing. While the residents were getting the items they called police, but the boys ran away before authori ties arrived. The six vouths who escaped from the Wbodburn school are I Guy Wilbur. LaRue, 17: 1 Wilbur rnomas uoweu, is; rnomas tart Ash, 16; Thomas Edward Lee, in; cnanes i nomas nacvagno, 18, and Wayne Carland Elliot, 18. None were believed to be dangerous. PRICE 5c leave Korea. Ik' '