HE DREAMED, AND THEN
Reporter's Yearning for
Thrill Pays Off at Last
By CHRIS KOWITZ, JR.
The story of the man who traveled around the world looking
for a four-leaf clover, then found one in his own back yard, may
be more than a fable after all. It can happen to a reporter.
At least it has happened to me, with several years of adventur
ous reporting as my world, a fugitive from law as my clover, and
the Capital Journal office
my back yard.
I've always had hopeful vis
ions of someday going out after
a "big" story and bringing back
more than a few scribbled notes.
That is, I've dreamed of actually
finding a lost plane, capturing
an escaped criminal, or tracing
down a clue which wouia leaa
to the solution of a crime. You
know, the way reporters do it
in the movies.
Serving' a? a Capital Journal
reporter this summer has pre
sented all sorts of opportunities
for this sort of thing. During
the last few months I have trav
eled hundreds of miles, stayed
ud night after night, and raced
to the scene of many news breaks
on thrilling reporting exploits.
But I had to come to my own
back yard the Capital Journal
office to find my four-leaf
clover.
I took off from a fog-shrouded
airport at the first crack of
dawn so as to be in the first air
plane to reach the site of a re
ported plane wreckage in the De
troit dam area last May and
spent the next several days fly
ing over that vicinity. But I
never spotted the object in ques
tion, which later was discovered
to be a patch of snow.
When John Pinson and Wil
liam Benson made their escape
over the Oregon state prison
wall during the wee hours of
Memorial day morning, I again
was first on the spot. A detec
tive and I arrived there togeth
er, and made a search of the
area barely .minutes after the
escape. Then for the following
two days and nights I went with
air and ground search parties
beating brush, crawling through
ditches, armed with a' gun
well as my pencil. But I saw
no hide or hair of the convicts,
who are still tree. m
The La Vista auto court was
robbed by armed bandits at
dawn a month or so later, and
in less than IS minutes after the
robbery I was there. But I
could find no clue regarding the
holdup men, who are also still
free.
I have memorized descrip
tions of men and cars involved
in many crimes, but I still had
to be content to just look for
them and write about their freedom.
Then Friday afternoon, just
as I was preparing to leave the
office and muttering of the lack
of news for that day, my four-
leaf clover bloomed not 20 feet
from my desk.
A man who had walked Into
the office a moment before mo
tioned me to a corner of the
newsroom and said: "I am Rae
Moore. I am wanted in Ohio on
a parole violation charge. I have
three years of a prison term
left to serve. I am turning my
self in to you."
The tears in his eyes told me
he was not joking.
That was all there was to It.
I took Moore to police head
quarters and fulfilled my long
desire to find "the real McCoy.'
. He was my man Friday.
noia everytning. two men
just escaped from the prison an
nex. G bye.
White Dwarf Stars Arouse
Interesting Observations
By J. HUGH FRUETT
(Astronomer, Extension Division, Oregon Higher Education System)
"In an old World Almanac I came across an article about a
dwarf star named after van Maanen of Mt. Wilson. It was smaller
than the earth and one cubic inch would weigh seven tons. Will
you give me some information on this?" (G. G. J Seattle).
This is just-one of a class of stars now called white dwarfs;
nj. iittn fair v "recently entire-7'-
ly unknown. Most of the long
known white stars are giants,
xtremely hot and luminous, and
for this reason visible from
great distances. Dwarf stars
have long been listed, but most
of them have been toward the
red end of the color scale.
The white dwarfs are very hot
itars, but because of their small
volume are not very luminous
The first one of this type was
discovered long before it was
ever . seen. .This may seem
strange, but tt came about in
this way:
Over 100 years ago when the
German astronomer Bessel was
working on stellar distances he
made many observations on Sir
ius, the brilliant star which glit
ters in the southern sky during
the winter and spring. He found
that it had a sort of wavy motion
and predicted that this was due
to an unseen companion star
which revolved around it. In
1862 Tlvin Clark, the noted
telescope maker, while testing a
new 18-inch refractor, spied the
tiny object, now known as Sir
ius B, nestling in the rays of the
brilliant star.
By methods too technical for
a popular article it was found
that this small star was so mas
sive that a pint of it if brought
to the earth would weigh fully
40,000 lbs. So unusual was this
that mathematical astronomers
thought surely they had made a
grievous error, but the most
careful calculations always
brought the same solution.
Only 15 years ago, astronomy
books still spoke of white dwarfs
as great rarities. Only 12 were
listed in a text of 1939; by 1941,
38. But the work of Dr. Luy
ten of the University of Minne
sota rapidly increased the num
ber, so that by August 1948 the
100th white dwarf was discover
ed. Since then others have
"come to light." The Harvard
Announcement Card of June 21,
1949, listed the 110th.
The attempted explanation of
these massive white stars is
Fire Damages
Idanha Store
Idanha, Ore., Aug. 22 Fire
damaged the Mt. Jefferson cafe
to the extent of $10,000 over
the week-end and also burned a
nearby dwelling. The buildings
were owned by Clyde Storey
who places his loss at $6500.
The cafe was operated by Mr.
and Mrs. B. B. Blan, away on
vacation, with an extimntpri ln
of $3000. During the absence of
me mans Mrs. Chester Storey
was in charge.
Wlllamina. Ore A110 99
Fire believed to have started in
a , defective flue destrnvri 9
homestead cabin in the Hillrreet
area five miles west nf
Sunday afternoon. An unidenti-
nea elderly man was the occu
pant who was able to salvage a
few articles, chiefly bed clothes.
The log cabin, on the Nolo
place, was built around 1902.
tost-THru ri
LIMITED
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1
LOS ANGELES
4 "LIMITED!" DAILY
Direct, Through No Local Stops
Air.Conditioned Coaches
Space Reserved No Extra. Fart
oni way sn.ra
ROUND TKIP . . .' . IS.eS
tlut T.itr.l Tut
Tier Art Na Lwr 'ami
this: Minute invisible atoms of
which all matter Is thought to
be composed are made up of
relatively heavy nuclei at con
siderable distances from which
light electrons revolve like
planets around the sun. The vol
ume of the atom under normal
conditions is thus principally
empty space and occupies great
volume. But for some reason
the atoms in the white dwarfs
have become stripped of their
electrons and the nuclei pack
tightly together. Many known
stars of this type are far denser
than Sirius B.
Is-V'
r- ...
1 i&sm
Sally Klein and Martha
Harper Win Championships
Thursday was a "peachy day" at the Portland Gas & Coke com
pany kitchen as 12 Marion county 4-H canning members com
peted in the annual Spreckles canning contest under the direc
tion of Anne Bergholz, Marion county extension agent, 4-H.
Sallv Klein. 14. Aumsville, and Martha Harper. 16. Brooks, were
junior and senior champions re
spectively.
Right Up Allen's Alley Fred Allen, radio comedian, vaca
tioning at Sea Girt, N. J., picked up a newspaper and laughed
and laughed. One of Allen's pet hates, radio giveaway pro
grams, had just been banned by the Federal Communications
Commission. Said Allen to newsmen, "They have taken radio
away from the scavengers and given it back to the enter
tainers." (AP Wirephoto)
ODDS: 8 MILLION TO ONE
Farmer Gambles All
On Movie-Writing Chance
By PATRICIA CLARY
Hollywood, Aug. 22 (U.R) A 50-year-old farmer who has spent
his life hammering on the gates to Hollywood gambled every
thing he owns on a last attack. Today he waited by the tele
phone to find out whether he won.
Vincent B. Capra started to write stories for the movies 30
years ago, when he was a youngs-
fellow of 20 and Mary Fickford
and D. W. Griffith reigned in
Hollywood. He wrote constant
ly, 20 stories a year, year after
year.
He took other jobs only to
keep himself and his family fed
while he wrote. After he saved
up a little, he quit and came to
Hollywood to push his stories
himself. He made 20 trips to
the plaster city, but he never
sold a story.
After 30 years and 600 wasted
stories, Capra said, he got tired
of waiting for the door to swing
open.
He sold "everything I own to
print his last story in 14 pages
of a movie trade paper where
studio executives will see it.
His chances against selling it.
a screen writers guild official
said, were "eight million to one.
"I want to find out whether I
have anything," he said. "I'm
forcing the Issue."
Most of his other stories like
those of other unknown authors
-never could get past the
Fisherman Burned
In Boat Explosion
Astoria, Ore., Aug. 22 VP) An
explosion shattered a gillnet
boat here yesterday and pinned
a fisherman to the burning craft
Firemen said workers on the
Union Fishermen's Co-op can
nery dock lifted the deck house
from Willie Lappalainen, Aber
deen, and tossed him into the
the river to extinguish the
flames on his clothes.
He was being treated in the
Columbia hospital for burns
Firemen said they would ques
tion Lappalainen on what may
have caused the explosion.
Marsdens Leave Monmouth
Monmouth Mr. and Mrs
Wallace Marsden have sold his
home to Elmer Ensz of the so
cial science staff of the Oregon
College of Education, and have
moved to Eugene where Mr.
Marsden will operate a large
apartment house which he re
cently purchased. Mr. and Mrs.
Hildenbrand will continue to
operate the hardware and groc
ery business.
studio front desks, he said. But
the latest Hollywood reporter
delivered his plot to the mahog
any desks of Samuel Goldwyn,
Louis B. Mayer and Frank
Capra (no relation).
"I want them at least to read
it," he said. "Then if they don't
like it, I'll give. up."
His story, called "The Green
Thumb," is about two boys who
came home from the war and
bought a farm.
"It glamorizes farming," said
Capra, who had a San Jose,
Cal., farm. "I lived the part."
The center section of the re
porter cost Capra $200 a page.
The total was about as much as
he'd get if he sold the story. '
"I sold my farm, sold every
thing, to pay for it," he said.
If he doesn't sell the story,
he'll go away quietly.
1 wont write any more
movie stories," he said. "I'll try
writing books.
Reapportion
Group Formed
Portland, Aug. 22 W) Labor
and two political organizations
are backing a move to reappor
tion Oregon's legislative seats.
Two farm organizations may
join.
At a meeting sponsored by the
AFL State Federation of Labor
the groups decided to sponsor an
initiative measure to go on the
ballot in November, 1950. The
federation had voted at this
summer's convention to promote
the reapportionment.
Represented at the meeting
here Saturday were the state
CIO, Young Democrats and
Young Republicans of the state,
the State Grange and the Farm
ers Union. The Grange and
Farmers Union have not yet for
mally endorsed the idea.
A committee to study proce
dures was named.
Mrs. Maryolive Maddox Cor-
vallis, former city extension
agent, 4-H, in Portland, scored
the girls closely on their vari
ous steps in canning and their
finished product which was a
pint of peaches.
Following Sally very closely
was Joyce Graham, 14, Wood
burn, who will receive a blue
ribbon award.
In the red award group. Dar-
lene Zumstein, 10, Roberts, and
Nellie Harrington, 11, of Silver
ton, were all very close.
Miriam Brown 12. Stavton.
Esther Crites, 14, Darlene
Crites, 11, Francine O'Conner.
11, all of Silverton. and Phyllis
Shields, 11, of Aumsville, com
pleted the group of contestants.
Martha Harper was the only
Busses in North
Still Stalled .
OlvmDia. Aug. 22 (ff) North
coast Greyhound buses still
were stalled today by an em
Dlovs' strike that is now nearing
the end of its linn weeK. .
Hopes for resumption of serv-
ice pending arDiiraiion 01 mc
controversy were abandoned
Saturday when Governor Lang
lie said he was unable to get
company officials to agree to arbitration.
Langlie said the union was
ready at all times to submit to
arbitration all issues which they
considered were involved." The
company, however, insisted that
some phases were a managerial
function and not subject to arbi
tration, the governor said.
T.anelie said the pudiic service
commission and otner siave
agencies will take such steps as
may be possible to start opera
tions.
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Capital Journal, Salem, Ore., Monday, August 22, 1949-17 ,
senior contestant competing in
canning peaches and a pint of
green beans.
Inez Zumstein, 15 and JoAnne
Evans, 13, from the "Canny
Canners" canning club at Rob
erts won the canning demonstra
tion contest on their "Preserva
tion by Cold Pack". Evelyn Hen
nies, 13, and Irene Thomas, 13,
representing the "Cherry Can
ners" of Cloverdale, placed sec
ond with their demonstration on
"Packing Peaches."
The champions in this contest
will represent Marion county at
the State Fair, September 5-11.
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All these girls will have can
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