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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1954)
TEW MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Wednesday, Dtetabr 1, 1954 Love-Crazed North Bend Man Killed By Cops While Caressing Picture of Dancing Girl Los Angeles (U.R) A love crazed Oregon man was shot to death today in a gun fight 'with police who tried to arrest him as he stood on the stage of a de serted burlesque theater and caressed pictures of a dancer he called "my red-headed angel." Police identified the man from a driving license as Roger Wing Whittier, 26, North Bend, Ore. They said he apparently was driven into a distraught state of mind by his unreturned love for a beautiful red-haired stripper. The dancer, shapely Loretta Miller, 25, appears nightly at the theater, the New Follies. She said she never had met : Whittier but had received two rambling, two-page letters from him in which he expressed his love for her. The first letter arrived Friday, Miss Miller said. Part of it read: "I've been worshipping you from afar. I have a gun and 300 rounds of ammunition and I will force my way backstage just to hold you in my arms. I don't want to go through with it though, as I won't want to put fear in you. I don't want to see terror Jn your face." Miss Miller had police protec tion that night. A second letter Force laboratories in Washing ton. ; :. Sylacauga Mayor Ed J. How ard, apparently unaware of the Air Force's- plans, said the nine pound object would be placed in the state Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. But the 32-year-old Mrs. Hodges : and her husband said they planned to demand that the Air Force return the stone-like object to them as a souvenir. Heard Explosion ' She said she was lying on her sofa when she heard the explo sion that was plainly visible to persons from Atlanta .to Green ville, Miss. A few seconds later she said, the meteorite came tearing through the roof of her home. Mr. Hodges, who was, later treated for shock and bruises, said she ran outside after re gaining her composure and saw, about a mile up, "a kind of boil ing smoke." Alabama Woman, Struck by Meteorite, Demands To Keep Object as Souvenir Sylacuaga, Ala. U.R Mrs. Hulett Hodges, the first known person ever struck, by a falling meteorite, demanded today that the Air Force return the one that ripped into her home and injured her. The meteorite, six or eight Inches in diameter, fell through her roof leaving . a three-foot hole and struck her on the hip and hand Tuesday afternoon. She was only slightly injured, however, by the object that may have been one of many that fell from a 40-mile high explosion visible in three states. Crew Examines Object A helicopter crew from Max well Air Force Base, Ala., flew to Mrs. Hodges' home to exam ine the object and the Air Force said it would be taken to Air Bomb Discovered In Engine Room Of British Sub ,m . EXAMINING EARS OF CORN which had been declared tops &t Chicago's International live Stock Show, these judges are about to disqualify entry because some of kernels were glued to cob. From left: Floyd Kiner, Harry T. Ryan, J. C. Hackleman, Carl Borgeson, E. S. Dyas and Lewis C. Saboe. (hUernatiomd London (U.R) A saboteur planted a bomb in the engine room of Britain s round tne world" submarine- Artemis at sea last week, endangering the lives of all the 60 men aboard, it was reported today. The explosive charge was dis covered in time to prevent what might have become an unex plained disaster like the sinking of the Artemis sister ship Af fray in the English Channel three years ago. Seventy-five men perished when the Affray went down. Tampering Confirmed The Admiralty confirmed that the main engines of the Artemis have been tampered with," but added "there was no damage." Naval officers declined further comment except to say the 1120 ton submarine has been ordered back to its Scottish base pending an investigation. T;- ; ; . . The Artemis, a long range, snorkel-equipped submarine op erating out of the Firth of Clyde, was cruising the Atlantic west of "Britain when the bomb was dis covered last Wednesday. It was not certain whether the sabotage charge was planted before or alter it sailed. I arrived Saturday. It warned her that she might . "get a thrill knowing that as you dance on stage there will be a gun on you." Officers arrested a man in the audience over the 'week end. They told the dancer they had the letter-writer, but she refused to press charges when she learn ed he was unarmed. "After all," said the dancer, "the letters were rather am biguous and lead one to the con clusion that the writer was defi nitely neurotic." She said today's gunfight on the stage was "amazing." The gunfight occured at 6 a.m. Whittier apparently climbed over an iron gate to enter the theater through the front door... Only the police and Whittier were in the theater. Received Phone Call An anonymous telephone-call sent police to the theater where officers saw Whittier - on the stage. Detective Ronny Nathan said Whittier, holding a .32 Span ish automatic, was "caressing" a picture of one of the theater's dancers. Whittier threatened to kill anyone who bothered him, Nathan said. When police ordered Whittier to drop the gun, he fired a shot, nicking Nathan's left ear. The detective and uniformed officer R. L. Raymond fired three times. One shot struck Whittier in' the heart and another hit him in the head. Whittier, described by police as "ruggedly handsome" and about 6 feet 2 inches, had scrawl ed three inscriptions on the stage in chalk. The inscriptions, in foot-high : letters, read, "Lo retta, dearest angel face, good bye angel face." Real Shooting Match Penciled across the pictures which he had torn from a bill board in the theater foyer was: "Angel face, all I can do is wor- hip you." Polics said Whittier had 100 rounds of ammunition on the stage. "It looked as if he were set for a real shooting match." said one officer. ... ' In a pocket police found a six- inch hunting knife, honed to razor sharpness. Whittier also had a bus ticket for San Fran cisco. A bullet ripped through a timetable in a shirt pocket. ;, ltyearslNotyears! H$& Imagine! f 10 ' ,t F " i ?' C Iji i Wli,, j i tteZowjj gives V- Weca"se thu t OnLA.C" jTMi f 4 tilwy ' i'"' s;TTie;Bourbon-man'8 Bourbon ' T BHE STRAIGHT 60VS80N WHISKER PBOOFeUfcQUAXER DISTIUIUS COIWWVUWBCHCUUHVWAN JUST NORTH OF MEDFORD i Nobody But Nobody Can Afford Not To SHOP DUNHAM'S : If W f 'Sfc . .MPm&,,r ' ' it SWh '' . , Your Billy and Ruth "AMERICA'S FAMOUS TOY CHILDREN" TOY STORE FOR SOUTHERN OREGON HEY KIDS!! 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