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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1952)
t ro)M m MM 27 LOSS TO FRUIT SDODH I7 i cra pttn szs nno retell ft Texas Highway Disaster Scene; 23 Persons Hurl Cars Hit Head-On At Crest of Hill Waco, Tex. (U.R) Two Greyhound buses collided head on and caught fire at the crest of a hill, south of here early Mon day, killing at least 29 persons, injuring 23 and leaving five per sons unaccounted for. Fifteen servicemen were among the injured. Geryhound Bus representatives said as best they could determine there were 37 on the San Antonio-bound bus heading south and 20 on the north-bound bus bound for Dallas. ' Third Car Seen ' Sheriffs deputies and Waco police believed a third car might have caused the crash,' worst bus accident in Texas history and second worst accident of its kind in National Safety Council records. Greyhound Vice President O. Massey said, "The fault for the accident lies with the north bound bus or its driver." On Wrong Side He said the accident occurred on the west side of the highway, putting the northbound bus on the wrong side. Massey said he had not re ceived any report which would indicate a definite cause for the crash and doubted that even a thorough investigation would show definitely what happened. Most of the bodies - were burned beyond recognition and the State Department of Public Safety sent experts here irom Austin to try to establish identi ties. Both Driven Killed Both drivers were killed. They were identified by a Greyhound spokesman as M. B. Herring, Dallas, and Billy Earl Malone,' Waco. Herring was driving the south bound bus headed for San An tonio and Malone the north bound bus en route to Dallas. Both drivers had been with the company about a year. It was the first accident for either driv er. Officials at Connally Air Force base said all the Army and Air Force personnel had been brought there for treatment. They said only three servicemen, Sgt. lc Alonzo Shelton, Cpl. Louis G. Marniquec and Airman 2c James C. Miller, required hospitalization and that their condition was not serious. Reports on the condition of the other survivors were not im mediately available. Picture from Hades Two Waco policemen, H. C. Garland and J. K. Smith, saw the southbound bus pull out and had gone to the edge of Waco to check the bus again regarding two suspects they sought to ar rest. They were about five . miles away when the buses collided and burst into flames. Garland said "it was a picture out of hades. When we got there it looked as if only one bus was involved, they were so jammed together. "Both were on fire and blaz ing sky high. There were bodies scattered over the road, some of them in ditches, some of the bodies on fire." See Story on Page 9 Car Driver Reported Involved in Dispute Fred Warner, 318 Newtown street, was x-rayed and released from Community hospital this morning following an argument and fight at Gold Hill about 6:45 a.m., according to state police, Warner, a driver for the local Yellow Cab company, went to Central Point and picked up George T. Parker, Camp White, and a number of events followed at which the men ended up in Gold Hill and became involved in a fight with each other, ac cording to police. No citations were issued. CP. Rural Fire Group Council Set Meeting Central Point A meeting will be held this evening at 7:30 o'clock in the city hall at Central Point between the board of direc tors of the newly-formed rural fire district here and the city council, according to officials of the rural fire district. Both groups will discuss pos sible mutual aid and the source of protection for the two areas (rural and city), and a report on rural-city cooperation elsewhere in the state will be . made by Councilman Bill Abbott and Fire Chief Oran Chastain. Medford United Presi Full Leased Wire 47th Year 10 Pages Footprints, Bed Believed Dunkias Found Near Fire Fugitive Apparently Fled After Blaze State Police Capt. Paul Parson said Monday that footprints, a bed and meat apparently belong ing to fugitive George Baker Dunkin were found Sunday where Dunkin's camp fire had spread out of control about 20 miles from highway 62. Dunkin is wanted for the slay ing of State Policeman Phil Lowd on June 24. Caused by Dunkin The fire burned over a small area before it was controlled, Parson said. He "said it unques tionably was started by Dunkin, although not intentionally. Parson said officers sent to the scene found a bed of . moss, boughs and ferns where a man had undoubtedly slept the night before. Strips of abandoned jerky were found near the fire and strips of meat were found in a small stream. Left Meat Behind Parson said that Dunkin, ap parently realizing his fire had got out of control and spread, became alarmed and hurried away from the area without re covering the meat. Parson reported that four of ficers were searching the imme diate vicinity of the campfire today for Dunkin. The fire was sighted by a lookout and is on state forest patrol protected land on Brush creek near the head of Elk creek. - ' Major Livingston Succumbs at Home; Last Rites Tuesday Major Achibald R. Living ston, 83, died at his home on Old Stage road yesterday afternoon after an extended illness. Fu neral services will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal church Tues day, Aug. 5, at 11 a.m. and it is requested that no flowers be sent. Final services will be held later at - the family home in New York. The retired officer, who had lived in Oregon since 1925, was born November 10, 1868, in New York. He -was graduated from the school of mines, Col umbia university, receiving a degree in engineering, and later was an engineer with the Em pire Zinc company at Cannon City, Colo. Served in Wars He served with the United States First Volunteer Engineers in the Spanish-American war at Puerto Rico with the rank of captain. Later he saw service in France during World War I with the 152nd Colorado Infantry and 115th Engineer corps with the rank of senior rnajor. Major Livingston was a faith ful communicant of St. Mark's Episcopal church. He had taken an active part in church affairs for many years, and at the time of his death held the office of warden emeritus in recognition of his "great service to the church." Major Livingston is survived by his sister, Miss Ann P. Liv ingston, with whom he "made his home, and by relatives in New York and other eastern states. Stevenson Brands Report 'Nonsense' Springfield, 111. (U.R) Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson Monday branded as "nonsense" charges that the "left wing" of the Demo cratic Party had taken over his campaign for the presidency. The Democratic presidential nominee made the comment at a news conference at which he also declared he was unafraid about the possibility of Southern States cutting loose ,from the Democratic Party. He held the news conference standing at a lectern on - the bandstand of the Leland Hotel ballroom which has been con verted into a press room for the Stevenson campaign MEDFORD, OREGON, Europeans Report Mystery 'Objects' BY UNITED PRESS Europeans became talkative about flying sau cers again Monday, but spoke of the mysterious "objects" with less concern than sky gazers in the United States and Canada. France reported the greatest number of discs seen over the week-end, more than 20, to lead the European standings. There were several re ports from Italy and Iran, also. Newspapers Take It Lightly European newspapers generally took the "sightings" lightly. Some used the tongue-in-cheek technique in reporting the presence of discs spinning across the skies at incredible speeds. Other journals covered the incidents with an editorial shrug of the shoulders. Eut on this side of the Atlantic, authorities listened seriously to every report. ' Maj. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, U. S. Air Force's director of operations, said Sunday night that although flying saucers "do not enter into the defense problem of this country," the Air Force "feels a responsibility" to check each report. Objects Believed Not 'Solid' Ramey said that the Air Force was "reason ably well convinced" the objects were not "solid." He again stated that the mysterious circles and lights in the skies "very definitely" are not a product of the U. S. Air Force, but predicted the government soon would be able to determine the source of the lights with special cameras. VITAL Seoul, Korea U.R) United Nations warplanes smashed a vital North Korean military headquarters at . Pyongang Mon day, destroying one Communist MIG-15 jet and damaging an other that made a vain attempt to break up the raid. 1,002 Migs Downed Screening American Sabrejets tangled with 17of the Red swept wing jets. Monday's two claims, together with belated credit for a jet shot down Friday, brought the total of MIGs claimed de stroyed or damaged, by the Far East Air Force to 1,002. Fifth Air Force Headquarters said two waves of fighter-bombers flew more than 275 sorties over the North Korean Head quarters. The nature of the headquarters was not disclosed. The Air Force described it only as "vital." Its location was given as northeast of Pyongyang; the North Korean capital. Number of Planes Not Told The Air Force also withheld the number of planes involved. Crew Speeds Outdoor Opening of 'Caesar' Ashland Shakespearean festival staff and company mem bers worked the clock around last night and today to put the office, shell and stage in order after yesterday's storm and at the same time prepare for to night's opening of "Julius Cae sar." At noon Bill Dawkins, exe cutive secretary, said that plans were going ahead for the open ing with the fervent hope that there would not be a repetition of last night's disaster when the violent storm forced the com pany to move to the Lithia theater. - While moving of the costumes, properties and lighting equip ment to the Lithia was a major task, the box office was the worst hit by the storm. Dawkins and his staff, with water coming through the front door and through the roof at the same time, had to hurriedly move tickets, racks and other supplies to the substitute theater. After the Sunday night per formantf? was over, work began at once on cleaning up the office and moving everything back to the festival shell and the small hours found the staff still busy. Dawkins said that while ad vance ticket sales on "Caesar" have been heavy, desirable seats are still available. Curtain time is 8:30 p.m. . Salem (U.R) Rogue Valley Properties, Inc., has filed articles of incorporation here to do busi ness in Medford, Ore. Signing the articles to develop land and to deal in land transactions were Dorothy McQuat, Carol Conner and Lavonne L. Watkins. Capi talization was listed at $5,000. MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1952 RED TARGET A "sortie" is one combat trip by one airplane, but one plane could make more than one sortie during a-day's attack ; ; ; Pilots, returning from, the in itial "assault reported "excellent results." The first wave flew 190 effec tive sorties. The U. N. planes dropped 185 tons of high ex plosives and 3,500 gallons of napalm and fired 15 rockets and 15,000 rounds of machine gun and 20-millimeter ammunition. Pilots said they destroyed 39 buildings, an anti-aircraft gun and four machine gun positions. Two buildings were damaged and approximately 70 hits were observed in the target area. Pressure Maintained Monday's heavy attacks were Shady Cove Gas Station Burns Shady Cove The Mobiloil service station here was destroy ed by fire early this morning with practically, complete loss of fixtures and -a large stock of tires, according to Al Andre, dealer, who operated the station for M. M. Huggins of Medford. Cause of the fire has not been de termined. The fire was discovered about 1:30 a.m., and requests for help were telephoned to the Medford fire department and the State Forest Patrol, neither of which were able to respond. The Cen tral Point Rural Fire Depart ment was contacted through the Southern Oregon Conservation and Tree Farm association and acting fire chief Oran Chastain and two. aides sped to the scene with equipment which made it possible to save other buildings in the area. According to information here, the station, which was cov ered by insurance, will be re built at once. Pacific Security Conference Opens Honolulu, T.H. (U.R) For eign ministers for the United States, .Australia and New Zeal and formally open the Pacific Mutual Security Conference Monday to solidify their coun tries' unified pledge to protect each other from "armed aggres sion." Secretary of State Dean Ach eson, Australian External Af fairs Minister Richard G. Casey and New Zealand External Af fairs Minister T. C. Webb were to open their first conference today. The meeting, set at Kaneohe Marine Air Station, scene of the first Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was organized to "work out the machinery" of the tri-. party agreement. Tribune United Press Full Leased Wire No. 116 Seeing in Sky Ramey said the Air Force would continue to investigate every report to the best of its ability and without "frantic fear." Shortly after Ramey concluded his talk, Wash ington newspapers and radio stations reported they had numerous telephone calls from persons who had seen strange lights over the capital. Official observers reporlel they saw nothing. Canadians Keeping Score . The Royal Canadian Air Force, using the strategy of its U. S. counterpart, assigned an in telligence officer to keep score on all reports of "saucers" or other objects. Saucer sightings are reported in Britain about once every three weeks. A couple at Melrose, Mass., said Sunday that Britons had seen flying saucers as long as 291 years ago. Told in Old Book Mr. and Mrs. Raymond G. Mason said they have a book, published in 1821 and entitled "The One Hundred Wonders of the World and . the Three Kingdoms of Nature," which devoted a paragraph to the first evidence of a "saucer" over England. On Oct. 22, 1661, two mock suns and a halo were seen in London, England, about 11 a.m.," the book's chapter on "Astronomical Refraction" said. These silver discs had tails of a white color. They were evidently red toward the true sun. but pale" whitish at the opposite sides.' hit the latest in the U. N.'s decision to keep pressure on the Reds, even though the armistice talks and ground action are stalled at the moment.--. .. :.:,..- 14 Auto Mishaps Occur in Storm About 14 automobile acciuc.ns occurred within the Medford city limits Sunday afternoon and eve ning during the storm, according to city police. All available man power checked only the follow ing five with no report yet on the ether nine. An accident occurred at 5:10 p.m. in which Bernard Duane Boyd, 17, of 1120 East 11th street, was cited for violation of basic rule. when his car made a left turn from Bartlett street on to Fifth street and went out of control, skidding across the street and colliding with a park ed vehicle owned by Barbara Fry, 902 Beatty street, accord ing to police. Another citation was issued at 4:35 p.m. against Curtis Ray Holzgang, 16, of 626 pWk av enue, for following too close when the car he was driving, according to police, hit the rear of a car driven by Lonnie Low ell Hanson, 23, Medford airport, which had stopped for a pedes trian at Sixth street and Central avenue. At 5:17 p.m., Jack Eldred James, 30, of Cave Junction, was cited for following too close, police reported, when his veh icle ran into the rear of another, driven by William Robert-Kask-ell, 408 Beatty street, which had stopped for. the traffic light at East Jackson avenue and North Riverside avenue. At 7:45 p.m., Donald Eugene Kimmel,' 26, of 721 Narregan street, and Jay Jay Elliott, 31, of 2325 East Main street, were in volved in a rear - front collis ion in front of the Esquire theater, when Kimmel's" vehicle was hit by Elliott's because of wet brakes from crossing flood ed areas, according to police. No citations were issued. At 9:15 p.m., James Richard Welty, 18, of 237 Gira'rd drive, and Clyde Gail Rose, 26, of Keno, were involved in a two car collision when Rose's car was hit from behind at the rail road tracks on Main street after a second stop, according to po lice. No citations were issued. State police reported a one car mishap during the storm. They said a car operated by Laurence Lee Briggs, route 1, box 118, Talent, turned over on Highway 99 in the vicinity of the Voorhies railroad crossing south of Medford. According to police, Brigg's car skidded and , overturned when he started to pass another car but then cut back into his- own lane. Little damage to the car and no in juries to the driver were report ed. " . - Weather FORECAST: Evening thunder storms. Otherwise warm and humid through Tuesday. Low totnifht 60. High Tuesday 90. Temp. Highest Yesterday .. 101 Lowest this Morning 60 Prec. to 4:30 a.m. Today 47 TV Transmitter Near Corvailis Suggested by Board Recommendation Made At Meeting Ashland (U.R) An inter institutional television commit tee Monday recommended early establishment of a state-owned television transmitter on Mary's Peak, west of Corvailis. The committee, appointed by Chancellor Charles Byrne of the State Board of Higher Educa tion, made its recommendation at a meeting of the board here. Proposes Coordination The committee report, result of a five-months study, proposes TV programming coordinated with state-owned radio station KOAC. It was estimated the TV outlet would serve an audience of 394,000 persons. The report said an initial capital- outlay of $649,835 would cover cost of a transmitter, studios at Corvailis and Eugene, a kinescope record ing unit and av remote mobile unit. For an educational TV outlet in the Portland area, the commit tee recommended cooperation with the Portland school district and the independent higher edu cational institutions through the educational channel reserved for that area. Any funds for state education al TV operation .would Jiave to be appropriated by the Legisla ture. The report said the Mary's -feak location was one of the best on the Pacific coast and would permit direct broadcasts from both the University of Ore gon at Eugene and Oregon State College at Corvailis. In addition to the original costs, the report estimated $116,- duo would be needed for annual engineering and programming 'expenditures. Members of the committee are D. Glenn Starlin, University of Oregon; Grant S. Feikert, Ore gon State, and James M. Morris, general extension division. Building Requests The building committee of the Board of Higher Education ap proved building requests to the 1953 legislature totaling $9,455, 000 for 13 buildings. The overall figure is up from $8 J 80,000 because, of increased construction costs. Largest building proposed is a School of Dentistry at the Uni versity of Oregon in Portland costing $2,200,000. Second larg est is a Physics-Chemistry build ing at Oregon State for $1,500, 000. Third largest is the first wing of a Biological and Agricul tural Science building at Oregon State college costing $1,300,000. Lightning Bolt Hits Near Auto Traveling On South Highway Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Annala and son James, visiting here from Hood River, reported a lightning, bolt hit near them Sun day evening on the highway be tween Medford and Ashland. Annala said "it looked like sparks dribbling down the sky." He said all lights in the Phoe nix area went out then and the car ahead of him nearly swerved off the road. The Annalas, here for the Shakespearean festival, were in a lighter hail storm Sat urday evening at Crater Lake park. Food Prices May Be Driven Because of Drought, Livestock Diseases Washington (U.R) Food prices, already at an all-time high, may soon be driven to ev en dizzier peaks by the drought and livestock disease epidemics now stalking the nation's farms, officials said Monday. -Outlook Bad A worried spokesman for the Office of Price Stabilization summed up the outlook in one sentence: "Th6 food, price sit uation certainly . looks bad for housewives." j ; He pointed out that under the new controls law, all fruit and vegetable prices are entirely ex empt from price ceilings, and the OPS has only limited power to check increases on other food items. Agriculture Department offic ials said the future supply of pie URE I ML CI An estimated fruit crop damage of $250,000 to $500,000 was reported today from Sunday's severe rain and hail storm, accord ing to County Extension Agent C. B. Cordy. He said only about three per cent of the expected crop suffered damage. Cordy said the damage was not as great as the ferocity of the . storm would indicate, because the hail was confined to a rela tively small area. The storm was centered in Medford and in the area south and west of there. Peaches, Pears Damaged Both peaches and pears in the area were damaged, Cordy said. Damage varied considerably. In some areas there was practically none; in others it was very severe. His preliminary estimate how ever, that the bulk of the Jackson county fruit crop was unharmed. The weather bureau said the center' of the storm was bounded by a line running roughly from Community hospital to Matlack's store to Griffin creek. Bob Church, in charge of the Medford office of the weather bureau, said this was the worst hail storm in the past eight years. He added that many "old timers" consider it the worst they've ever seen. This storm appeared more harmful to those in it, but damage did not compare to that which occurred during the great hail storm of 1948, Cordy said. Some of the damaged fruit may still be salvaged and sold at a lower grade, he added. The worst feature about hail damage to fruit crops is that most of the fruit must be picked and sent to the packers, according to Cordy. This greatly increases the time and expense spent in sorting and packing. Weather Bureau Lists .47 Precipitation The official weather bureau report listed the precipitation as only .47, but unofficial estimates in the center of the storm rang ed from one to four inches. The official reading is taken at the airport, which did not feel the brunt of the storm. The temperature fell from 101 degrees to 69 degrees in four hours. A sudden drop of 18 de grees was reported between 5 and 6 p.m. Gene Kooser, Weather Control pilot, reported this morning that this storm would have been no worse than that of May 12 if he could have kept two cloud seeding planes in the air. A P-40 plane was grounded by mechanical difficulties. Kooser said they made four forced landings with the plane, trying to keep it flying. One plane flew throughout the rain and hail, but "it was just too much for one plane to handle," Kooser said. He said he hoped to have both planes in the air today. He said a storm nearly the equal in vel ocity and fierceness of yester day's is predicted. Buildings Flooded Two to three inches of water raced through several down town buildings, according to the police. The street, public works and ire departments cooperated as a public service in removing much of the water. Three inches of water came into the police and water de partments and basement of city hall. The only damage reported was dampening of police rec ords. Sgt. Clyde Fichtner said the complete damage is not yet known. A police investigation showed the roof of Woodbury Medford Hardware company, 703 Soutli Grape street, was caved in by the storm. Excess water accumu lated on the roof until the weight was too great. The pres sure forced the door open, caus ing the police at first to suspect a burglary. Ashland Has Water Much mud and water flowed into Ashland's Main street dist rict, but no damage was" report ed to police. The plaza there was covered by nearly two inches of mud. The fire department flush ed . out the streets and clogged sewers. The Medford weather bureau said .60 inch of water fell there in a half hour. Little hail was reported in Ashland. An estimated 1,200 to 1,400 telephones on the .Medford ex change were out" of operation this morning. Jack Creager, manager of the Medford office of the .Pacific Telephone and Telegraph company, said today beef, milk, corn, potatoes, pea nuts, vegetables, peaches, cucum bers, berry crops and many oth er foods is jeopardized by the drought which has scorched crops from Maine to Mississippi. Too Early To Tell They said it is still too early for an accurate estimate of how much food will be lost because of the prolonged, dry spell. But it does not take an expert to see that the situation adds up to shorter supplies and higher pric es in general. Equally alarming to official Washington is the' epidemic of vesicular exanthema which has broken out in hog farms of 16 states. Chairman Harold C. Cooley, (D-N.M.), of the House Agriculture Committee said that "millions of consumers" will suf- j Lli&ST; this was the worst storm damage he could recall in this area. At least 15 cables were out of operation during the night, he said. Cable crews have come from as far away as Eugene to help get the Medford telephone system working again. Creager said that a prediction of when service would be restored is im possible. He said the search for leaks in the cables might be slowed down if the cables are dried out by the sun. Transmission Lines Out Lightning put four California Oregon Power, company trans mission lines out of commission last night. The main Medford line was not damaged so few lights in town were put out. But lights are still out in certain out lying districts, according to Bill Tucker, of Copco. . . Twenty-two lightning fires were reported .burning on state forest land by the Medford office of the state forest patrol. The biggest fire, near McLeod, was around five acres and was under control. About 15 fires were un der control and men have been sent to the others, it was report ed. . Fires .have centered largely in the northern part of the coun ty and in the southwest corner. The forest patrol was temporar ily without a radio yc-terday' when the power was off there. There were 15 fires reported in the Rogue River National for est. All of them were said under control this morning. The largest was halted at 10 acres. Forest of ficials said that considerable rain had fallen at all the fires. Three lightning-caused fires were reported in Crater Lake National park. None had been reached yet, but they were all small. Hail stones were reported to be as much as an inch in dia meter in the Griffin creek and King's highway district. Gardens and corn fields out there were badly battered, and irrigation ditches were flooded. Bull Found Dead A registered Hereford bull was found dead on the old Hanley ranch this morning, supposedly as a result of having been struck by lightning. ' Marshall Nursery and Florists, 12th and Newtown streets, suf fered heavy damage in broken glass by hail. .It also beat through the roof . of the retail store, according to Owner J. Ver non Marshall. He estimated the loss around $3,000. Heavy dam ages also was reported at Rogue Valley Nursery on. Franquette street where considerable glass was broken. To New Highs fer unless the disease is stamped out quickly. "The epidemic now endangers the nation's supply of pork and could very easily result in sub stantial increases in the price of pork and pork products to con sumers," he said. Prices Going Up An OPS official'"said fruit and vegetable prices would nor mally be dropping fast at this time of the year, as the bounti ful summer harvest poured into the grocery stores. Instead,, pric es are going up, mainly as a re sult of short crops. ; He said the drought may have the reverse - English effect of causing a temporary drop in beef prices if farmers are compelled to send their cattle to market prematurely for lack of feed.
