Medford mail tribune., August 07, 1945, Page 1, Image 1

Weathei
FORECAST: Partly cloudy to
night and Wednesday with
evening showers niostlv in
mountain!. Little change in
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Temp.
Highest Yesterday mi
Lowest this Morning SB
Fortieth Year
I Acme Telephnto)
Jap hospital ship Is brought Into Allied port for examination after routine boarding party discovered unau
thorized contraband aboard, Including 23 heavy machine guns. 15 light machine guns, shells In boxes marked
"hospital supplies" and 1500 Japs Listed as patients, although examination ot bandages revealed no wounds,
0. S. Navy photo.
Japanese Hospital Ship Transporting Arms
Seized by Navy and Taken to Allied Harbor
By Ralph Teatsorth
United Press Correspondent
An Allied Pacific Port, Aug. 7
(U.R) A navy prize crew from
two seventh fleet destroyers
brought the Japanese hospital
ship, Tachibana Maru, into an al
lied harbor Monday after it had
been discovered to be carrying
arms, ammunition and other con
traband.
The Tach bana Maru was
boarded three days previously
and found to be carrying articles
In violation of Geneva conven
tion rules for hospital ships.
Without Violence
The seizure of the ship and its
voyage to this port was without
violence.
The navy turned over 1,562
patients, 13 officers and 63 men
of the hospital ship crew to U. S.
army authorities who placed
them In a stockade.
It was the largest single haul
of prisoners in the Pacific war.
Navy crews are still digging
out contraband hidden in the
ship's hold.
Official figures were not yet
available but scores and perhaps
hundreds of boxes of .75 and
.85 MM shells, fuses, rifles,
heavy and light machineguns,
KNIFE AND FORK
Organization of the Rogue
River Valley Knife and Fork
club in Medford is being com
pleted with a committee of spon
sors now formed, and invita
tions are being sent to prospec
tive members throughout the
valley, according to E. E. Schlotz
of Denver, executive field direc
tor of the associated clubs, which
comprise over 100 affiliates in
the United States and Mexico.
Included in the sponsoring
group are Mrs. C- Rcase Brainy.
Seth M. Bullis. Dr. George B.
Dean, Mrs. William H. Fluhrer,
William A. Gates, Herb Grey, E.
H- Hedrick, Harry Holmes, Dr.
B. L. Lageson. Waller H- Levcr
ette, John P. Moffat, H. B. Mur
phy, Porter J. Neff, Mrs. Justin
Smith, Eugene Thorndike, Rev.
George R. Turney and Frank J.
Van Dyke.
Branches of the knife and
fork club were formed last foil
In Salem and Eugene, and groups
are now being organized in Med
ford and Klamath Falls- The
national office secures speakers
for regional tours
Meet Monthly
Purpose of the clubs, accord
ing to Schlotz. is to meet once a
month in the evenings through
the fall, winter and spring
months, to hear speakers and
discuss questions.
The clubs are essentially din
ner groups, but the local or
ganization will start operations
without the dinner feature due
to catering problems. Member
ship will include men and wom
en only, but high school and col
lege age children will be per
mitted as guests.
Seven speakers, including
authorities on national and Inter
national affairs, war, travel,
science, finance, industry and the
professions, will be presented
during the first year.
Local clubs hase their own
officers and direct on who
govern the body. 1
United Preti
Jap Hospital Ship Carries Fake
grenades, bayonets, knives and
sabers were found on the ship.
Red Cross Label
I saw many such packages
wrapped in fiber matting and la
belled with large red crosses
such as are placed on medical
supplies.
Another article found on the
ship non - contraband but
unique was a bottle of Scotch
whiskey.
The seizure of the ship was
one of the most delicate naval
tasks of the war. It was the first
Japanese ship taken and the op
eration was carried out without
firing a shot.
The ship was first sighte by
Australian planes after it left
the Kai Islands, headed for Su
matra, on August 1. The naval
trailing and' search of the ship
was under command of Capt.
W. H. Watson, Washington, D. C.
The prizemaster who led the
boarding party and commanded
the ship was Lt. Comdr. Ernest
R. Peterson, Council Bluffs, la.
Captain Polite
Peterson led an unarmed par
ty of six officers and 11 men
who boarded the ship from a
small boat at 6:50 a. m. Aug. 3
after the hospital ship had been
halted by an international signal
pennant flown by the destroyer.
The boarders carried crow
bars, hammers, wirecutters and
axes. The Japanese captain,
Yasuda Kirgiro, a merchant ma
rine officer, greeted the boarders
with great politeness and much
bowing. He received them in the
ship's salon and later took them
to the bridge.
Conditions among the patients
were appaling. Medical, surgical
and sanitary facilities were bad
ly deficient.
The stench of the ship almost
sickened this correspondent.
More than 1500 Japanese were
jammed together like sardines
on wooden platforms built in
CEILING ON PEARS
E AS IN 1944
Washington, Aug. 7 (U.R)
Ceiling prices for canncrs for
the 1945 pack of canned and
frozen pears in Washington and
Oregon will be the same as those
in effect last year, the Office of
Price Administration and the
Department of Agriculture an
nounced today.
Under the ceiling for pears
processors In Oregon and Wash
ington will be allowed to pay
$75 a ton on the number one
grade and $43 a ton on the num
ber two grade.
To participate In the govern
ment guarantee purchase pro
gram for canned pears, canncrs
must pay as much for pears for
canning as for raw fruit.
Valuable Left In
Rest Room Returned
Mrs. J. R. Barr. resident of!
Tulc Lake. Calif., laid her purse
down in a service station rest I
room in Ashland yesterday and
drove back to Tule Lake without
it. On arriving home, she dis
covered her mistake and fran
tically telephoned state police,
who in turn asked Ashland po
lice to look for it. One of the
Ashland police force entered the
rest room and found the pure
right whre it Had been left, in
tact with $80 in cash. $5,000 in
war bonds, and $11,000 in saving!
certificate!.
DFORD
Full Leaitd Wira
Patients
two tiers in two large rooms in
the interior of the ship. The ves
sel had never carried more than
700 passengers before.
However, only a few of the
Japanese were seriously ill and
most of them appeared plump
and able to fight. There were no
wounded aboard.
The hospital roster listed 550
cases of beriberi, 397 of malaria,
212 both beriberi and malaria, 60
of tuberculosis and a scattering
of other diseases.
CHINESE CAPTURE
E
Chungking, Aug. 7 (U.R)
Chinese troops advancing along
the West river in the direction of
Canton have captured the U. S.
14th air force base at Tanchuk
and opened a drive toward Teng
yun, 26 miles to the east near
the Kwangtun Province frontier,
a high command communique
announced today.
Another Chinese column oper
ating on the Kwangtung coast
line captured the strategic port
of Yeungkong, 125 miles south
of Canton and midway between
Hong Kong and Kwangchow.
This opened a potential life-line
to the South China Sea for
Chinese forces battling rear
guard Japanese garrisons.
Japs Withdraw
The newspaper Ta Kung Pao
reported Japanese troops have
withdrawn from the Luichow
peninsula to Canton during the
past fortnight.
The Luichow-Canton road was
cut by the Chinese capture of
Yeungkong, which lies athwart
the coastal road at a point where
it turns inland toward Canton.
The Japanese were reported to
be cvacuating.troops from Amoy
and neighboring small ports to
Swatow. From there they were
being transferred by junks to
Canton. Ta Kung Pao said the
enemy's objective was to build
sufficient strength in the Canton
Hongkong area to deny the al
lies us., of the southern terminus
of the Canton-Hankow railway.
Scientists Who Escaped Hitlerism
Aided in Harnessing Atom Energy
Washington, Aug. 7 (U.R)
Five scientists who escaped from
Hitlerism helped cheat Germany
of science's greatest discovery
harnessing of atomic energy
and possibly of victory in the
war.
Unfolding of the drama in de
velopment of the first atomic
bomb revealed today that these
exiles figured prominently in the
discovery of the explosive power
of uranium.
One was a woman physicist,
Dr. Lize Meitner, whom the na
zis ousted as a non-Aryan after
si had made early discoveries
of radioactive barium which led
to the finding of the explosive
U-235, the rare uranium twin.
She passed her exile in Scandi
navia. ,
Working in this country with
Sir James Chadwick, Nobel prize
winner ami chief scientific advis
er to British members of the
American-Uritish-Canadian pol
icy committee on development
of the atomic bomb, were two
refugee German professors. They
1 jSsS&
MEDFORD- OREGON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1945.
MARSHAL PETAIN
IS
Dicker With England to Keep
Fleet Out of Axis Hands
Is Claimed By Witness.
Paris, Aug. 7. (U.R) Marshal
Henri Philippe Petain was de
picted in court today as nego
tiating a secret agreement with
Great Britain while maintain
ing a pretense of complete col
laboration wi I the nazis in 1940
41. Jacques Chevalier, education
minister at Vichy, testified tnat
he himself was the go-between
in the negotiations, culminating
in an agreement with Britain to
ease the blockade of France in
return for a pledge that the
French fleet and colonies would
not be handed over to the nazis.
Sought Allied Link
Another former Vichy official
testified that Petain told him in
February, 1944, that he wanted
to unite France with the allied
administration in Algiers.
The witness was Francois Mar
tin, former radical socialist dele
gate in the chamber of deputies
and a departmental prefect un
der the Vichy regime.
Martin said that when the
Vichy militia took over power in
January, 1944, he asked to be re
lieved of his duties. He had a
talk with Petain in February,
and quoted the old marshal:
"You are doing well to leave
You can lay down your duties,
but I am charged with duties
that I cannot hand over to any
one. I have taken a pledge not
to leave France. I am a prisoner
of the Germans.
"There are some things I can
not do because if I did I would
be taken off to Germany. I want
to bring unity between ourselves
and Algiers. r
DOE
Newport News, Va.. Aug 7
(U.R) President Truman re
turned to this country today,
exactly a month after he left
to attend the momentous Big
Three conference at Potsdam.
Aboard USS Augusta With
President Truman, Aug. 7 (U.R)
President Truman, jubilant over
the development of the powerful
atomic bomb, expects to arrive
in Washington tomorrow to be
gin preparing his report to the
nation on the Big Three meeting
at Potsdam.
No definite date has been set
as yet for the Presidents radio
address but it undoubtedly will
be made within a few days after
his return. Mr. Truman is ex
pected to take occasion in his re
port to warn the Japanese again
that destruction from a new
source awaits them if they stay
in the war.
FIREMEN EXTINGUISH
SMALL GRASS BLAZE
City fire fighting equipment
was called to the corner oi mo
doc avenue and East Main street
about 2:30 p. m. today to ex
tinguish a small grass fire. No
damage was reported.
were Dr. Otto Robert Frisch,
nephew of Dr. Meitner, and Ru
dolph Ernest Peicrls.
Frisch, born in Vienna, was
driven from Hamburg university
in 1933. He went to London.
Later he collaborated with Dr.
Meitner in Copenhagen In atom
ic research. They worked at the
institute of Prof. Niels Bohr, al
so a Nobel prize winner, who
was snatched from his occupied
homeland to work with U. S.
scientists. Frisch returned to
England shortly before the war
and became a British subject in
1943.
Peicrls, born In Berlin, went
to England in 1933. He was nat
uralized in 1940. He holds a pro
fessorship of applied mathemat
ics at Birmingham university,
England.
The fifth refugee was Dr. Al
bert Einstein, whose theory of
relativity showing the relation
ship of energy, matter and speed
of light played a part In crea
tion of the atomic bomb
Ein- j
stein came to the U. S. in 1933.
Atoi ic Bomb Damage So Great
Full jcope Not Yet Determined
Broadcast From Tokyo Reveals
Return to School
Drive Started For
Nation's Children
Washington, Aug. 7 (U.R)
Three government agencies to
day opened a back-to-school
drive aimed particularly at high
school ace youths who have
taken summer jobs.
Katherine F. Lenroot, chief of
the labor department's children's
bureau, said the goal was to in
crease high school enrollment by
250,000 boys and girls this fall.
She said enrollment over the
country had dropped steadily
since the start of the war, but
that the back-to-school drive last
year had checked the downward
trend.
TOLL
Portland, Ore.. Aug. 7 U.R)
Raging flames today continued
taking their toll of timber at fire
areas in western Oregon and
threatened the water supply of
two towns.
On the Forest Grove front, fire
fighters from the Portland army
base, slate forest service crews,
loggers and Forest Grove volun
teers battled to save the city's
watershed as flames approached
a third of the 2600-acre area.
And a few miles away, the Hills-
boro water supply was threat
ened by fire which Sunday jump
ed out of bounds on Scroggins
creek.
U. S. forest servicemen today
were strengthening their lines
north of the Siuslaw national
forest as a new branch of the fire
raced out of control down the
north fork of the Trask river
and across the old 1933 burn
reaching to within 12 miles of
the protective area.
New Fire Sweep
A new fire is sweeping up the
slopes of Hcmbre ridge in the
Jordan creek sector threatening
to connect with another at the
summit and outflank fighters,
who so far have been successful
in holding fire lines at that spot.
Flames were racing along the
very edge of the Nchalem river
while soldiers and loggers fought
to prevent a river crossing that
would eat into valuable timber.
Fifteen known fires were rac
ing through timber in Douglas
county, eight of which were
burning north of Diamond lake
in the Umpqua national forest.
streeTMing
work to start
Work on the opening of the
southern end of Ivy street from
Twelfth to Monroe streets will
be started Wednesday by city
street crews, Frank H. Rogers,
city superintendent, said today.
improving of Twelfth street
from Ivy to J street will also be
begun at that time, the superin
tendent said.
8-Y ear-Old Girls
Solicit Funds For
Overseas Soldiers
Beverly Yarndle and Esla
Ault, both eight years old, will
be outstanding workers for the
next Red Cross drive, according
to Seth Bullis, chairman of the
local Red Cross chapter.
Bullis' statement was made
yesterday following an Investi
gation by city police of a report
that the girls were carrying on
an unauthorized collection from
city homes to raise funds for the
Red Cross.
A total of 66 cents was collect
ed after the little ladies over
heard talk at the local Red Cross
center about raising funds for
soldiers overseas and had begun
work in earnest to do their
share.
Moscow, Aug. 7 'U.R) Pre
mier T. V. Soong of China was
expepied to arrive today for re
sumption of the Chinese-Soviet
talks Interrupted by the Totsdam
confcicnce,
Tribune
United Press Full
Richland, Wash., Residents
Forbidden Interviews with
Visiting News Writers.
By Willard D. Eberhart
United Press Correspondent
Richland. Wash.. Aug. 7 U.R)
"It's atomic bombs."
That was the boxcar headline
in the little Richland weekly
newspaper yesterday that broke
the big news to the 17,000 resi
dents of this village who work
at the Hanford engineering proj
est where the previously top se
cret weapon is made.
But the habit of secrecy was
so strong among them that some
40 newsmen who arrived last
night even had difficulty getting
street directions.
To Inspect City
Today reporters were to at
tend press conferences with Col.
F. T. Matthias, director of the
project, and other officials. Lat
er they will Inspect more thor
oughly this model city with its
bright new shops and homes.
Security regulations so far
preclude visiting the production
area at Hanford.
Richland residents, even
though they knew little about
the nature of their own jobs, had
been warned repeatedly against
discussing the project, and elab
orate typewritten instructions to
visiting newsmen officially for
bade interviews with them.
Police Patrolman W. N. Gas
way said he had no Idea what
the army was doing at Hanford.
"I don't want to know," he
said. 'If a person knew too much
he might land in jail, I don't
care what it is as long as lt
smashes the Japs."
The news was received here
with enthusiasm, but residents
seemed to feel that some of the
excitement of living here was
gone with the secret.
Town Grew Fast
Before the army moved In
three years ago, Richland was a
peaceful wide spot in the road
with 250 inhabitants. A general
store and service station and
not much else. Now it has neat
streets, comfortable homes, a
bright neon-lighted shopping dis
trict and 68 times more people.
The government erected all
the buildings, including 3,375
homes housing 4,303 families.
and 25 dormitories containing
986 beds.
Home rent ranges from $33.50
a month for two bedroom du
plexes to $67.50 for four bed
room single homes. Men pay
from $13 to $22.50 for dormitory
rooms.
Boys Face Burglar
Charges in J'Ville
Three brothers, 10, 12 and 14
years of age, have been turned
over to Juvenile Officer Robert
M. Elder on a charge of burglary
at Jacksonville. According to a
report by the sheriff's office, the
youths entered a house where
they stole about $100 worth of
camping equipment and also en
tered a cabin where they took a
billfold containing about $1.50
In change and some other small
articles.
The loot was cached In a de
serted cabin near Jacksonville,
where all except the money was
recovered, the sheriffs office
and state police, who investigat
ed the case, stated.
The youths were given six
months' probation to their par
ents. Chickenpox Tops
Disease Report
Communicable diseases In
Jackson county declined in num
ber last week with only seven
new cases of chickenpox, three
of measles and two of whooping
cough listed on the report of Dr.
A. Erin Merkcl, health officer,
for the week ending Aug. 3.
Medford lists six cases of
chickenpox and Howard district
one, Central Point has one cae
of measles and Medford two. and
Medford and Howard each report
one new case of whooping cough.
Leased Wlri
Tot Has Perilous
Jaunt on Tongue
Of Dad's Trailer
Frank Walton was today
convinced that a guardian
angel hovers over his three-year-old
daughter, Karen,
after the youngster survived
a mile and a half ride perch
ed side-saddle style on the
tongue of a trailer fastened
behind her daddy's car.
Karen climbed aboard the
trailer tongue as Walton
was leaving his mother's
home on Franquette street,
and rode happily to the Wal
ton home at 404 S. Peach
street, unaware of the dan
ger. The little girl was no
where near when Walton
started to enter his car, and
on reaching home he was
shocked to hear a familiar
"Hi, daddy" from Karen
who still sat atop the
ton?ue.
START 139 FIRES
INFORESTAREAS
At least 130 forest fires were
started in southwestern Oregon
Sunday evening and Monday by
lightning from three electrical
storms in the area covered by the
state forest patrol and Rogue
River National Forest, according
to reports at the two headquar
ters m Medford today. Both of
fices slate that additional fires
are expected to be reported to
day. Scattered generally through
out the district, the slate forest
patrol had dispatched men to
about 80 fires, the two largest of
which are located just south of
Rogue View Inn. Three thunder
storms, passing over Sunday eve
ning, Monday morning, and
Monday evening, concentrated
most heavily in the southwest
district around Josephine coun
ty, and Applcgatc-Murphy-Pro-volt
area, tho patrol headquar
ters says. The fires are generally
small, they add, and state patrol
crews are being assisted in con
trolling them by logging crews,
farmers and army ground troops.
In addition to the 15 fires re
ported to the Rogue River Na
tional Forest Service headquar
ters Sunday, 44 new fires were
reported this morning, and men
were dispatched to control them.
Of the new blazes, 1 1 are In Ap-
plegatc district, 20 in Butte
Falls, and 13 near Union Creek.
Rain was spotty in the forest
area, but lightning struck gener
ally all over, the reports Indi
cate.
Several sections of Medford
were without lights for short In
tervals last night as Copco crews
worked to repair lightning dam
age to power lines and poles.
Downtown business houses were
in darkness about 30 minutes
when lightning struck an oil
switch near E. Main street, and
buildings at the airport were
without lights most of the night
although power was maintained
on the runways, a Copco official
stated today.
Pinto Colvig On
Radio Tomorrow
"Pinto" Colvig. Jacksonville's
most famous musician and self
confessed "corniest clarinetist,"
who has long been In demand in
Hollywood for funny noise back
ground in moving pictures, will
perform on the Phil Harris show
Wednesday at 7 p. m. on NBC
stations. Colvig today wired his
musical crony, Fred Strang, of
Medford to notify friends.
SIMPLE FUNERAL FOR
SEN. JOHNSON MONDAY
Washington, Aug. 7 (U.R)
Simple funeral services In ac
cordance with his own wishes,
will be held In San Francisco
Monday for the late Sen. Hiram
W. Johnson, R., Calif.
The body will leave here by
train Thursday night, arriving
in San Francisco Monday morn
ing. It will lie in state during
the day at San Francisco city
hall. Burial will be In Cypress
Lawn cemetery.
A senate delegation 'will be
named to attend the services.
Ou The
Mall Tribune
Want Ad Way
Oulck Remits
At Small Coit
NO. 116. j
"Considerable Number" of
Houses Demolished and
Fires Kindled, First Word.
Guam, Aug. 7 U.R Tokyo
said today that American atomic
bombs descended on Hiroshima
by parachute yesterday, explod
ed before reaching the ground
and caused such great devasta
tion that authorities still have
not ascertained its full extent.
Japanese propagandists said
that the use of the new weapon,
was "sufficient to brand tha
enemy for ages to come as tha
destroyer of . . mankind" and
"public enemy number one ot
social Justice."
Homes Demolished
An Investigation was under
way Into the extent of the de
struction in the world's first
atomic bombing, Tokyo said.
First reports showed that a "con
siderable number" of houses had
been demolished and fires broka
out at several places, the broad
cast added.
The broadcast, coming almost
36 hours after the raid, said tha
destructive power of the neur
weapon "cannot be slighted," bus
claimed that Japanese authori
ties already were working out
"effective counter-measures."
"The history of war shows thai
the new weapon, however effoo
tive, will eventually lose lit
power, as the opponent Is bound
to find methods to nullify its ef
fects," Tokyo said hopefully.
Think More Dropped '
The enemy version of the at
tack said a small number ot
American planes dropped a
"few" of the new-type bombs.
It was announced officially at
Washington that only one bomb
was dropped. It was apparent
that the Japanese could not be
lieve a single plane and a slngla
bomb could cause so much de
struction-
Tokyo attributed the American
use of the atomic bomb to im
patience over the "slow progress
of the enemy's much-vaunted In
vasion of Japan's mainland."
In view of the gallant resist
ance of the Japanese forces as
exemplified by the battles of
Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the ene
my's hope of a quick battle and
a quick decision in the forthcom
ing battle of Japan's homeland
has been well-nigh frustrated,"
the broadcast said.
Barbaric Method
"In these circumstances, tha
enemy began to employ a bar
baric method as a last and des
perate resort. By employing a
new weapon designed tq mass
acre innocent civilians, the
Americans have opened the eyes
of the world to their sadistia
nature."
A Jnpanese Imperial head
quarters communique also con
ceded that "new-type bombs"
had caused "considerable dam
age" Guam. Aug. 7 (U.R) A fleet
of 125 Superfortresses hit tha
Toyokawa naval arsenal with.
880 tons of high-explosive bombs
today while smoke still belched
from atom-bombed Hiroshima,
300 miles to the west.
Radio Tokyo said 40 Iwo-bascd
American Mustang fighter-bomb-erj
led by a lone B-29 almost
simultaneously bombed and
strafed military Installations and
"cities" in the southwest section
of the Tokyo-Yokohama area for
an hour for the fourth time in
five days.
Several British planes parti
cipated in the Tokyo raid, Tokyo
said. It marked the first time
British land-based planes hava
been reported In action over the
Japanese capital.
From Okinawa came a belated
report that 400 bombers and
fighters of the Far Eastern air
force had utterly demolished
what appeared to be robot plana
launching Installations and other
military targets at Taramiiu In
southern Kyushu. The city it
self was left a sea of flames, air
men said.
PROPAGANDISTS
SAY NEW WEAPON
IS ENEMY NO. 1