Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, April 25, 1955, Image 1

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Medford mail tribune., April 25, 1955, Image 1

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1955)

Page of 14 Next Prev Issue Next Text PDF JP2 (5.1 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Page of 14 Next Prev Issue Next

Newspaper Page TextTab if P n ' frn ail mm MB GSedl China May Use Jailed Filers 'for Bargaining Agemte Bandung, Indonesia -flJ.R) Communist China today reject ed the American terms for a con ference on the Formosan crisis and there were strong sugges tions Peiping might use 11 im prisoned American fliers as a bargaining point. Peiping radio announced the rejection and said the U.S. State Department's answer to Premier Chou En-Lai's bid to sit down and discuss Formosa "put for ward a series of unreasonable prerequisites for such negotia tions." It listed these as the partici pation of Chiang Kai-shek, the call for an immediate cease fire !.n the Formosa Strait, the imme diate release of "all American spies" and the acceptance of a U.N. Security Council invitation to discuss the New Zealand pro- ' posal on the Formosan issue. Prisoners At Issue But at the same time, Prime Minister Mohammed Ali of Paki stan said he thought Red China might release the 11 imprison ed American fliers if Peiping to negotiate the Formosa crisis. Ah hmted strongly he had made progress in convincing Chou to release the prisoners in the course of a long talk he had with the Red Premier. Observers said Chou's report ed willingness to discuss the re lease of the Americans was a strong indication the Commu nists hoped to use their imprison ment to win concessions on other points. The flood of developments on the Formosan crisis made it more and more evident that the talks between the United States and Communist China might not come off. , Lack of Agreement Nationalist officials on Taipeh said flatly they would not sit down with the Chinese Commu nists on any terms. The United States .said it would not talk un less the Nationalists were pres ent. And Peiping rejected all American proposals. Earlier, Premier U Nu of Bur- refuse to negotiate the Formo Doctor Testifies At Fong Hearing Portland U.R) Defense At torney Irvin Goodman today produced his own, medical wit ness in an attempt 10 refute state testimony that Diane Hank may have died of barbiturate poison ing. Dr. Charles M. Grossman tes tified at the first degree murder trial of Wey Him and Sherry Fong that other chemicals might easily be present in a partly de composed body which would give the same response as bar biturate to the test which the prosecution's experts used in checking for the presence of barbiturates. The Fongs are accused of kill .ing the 16-year-old Hank girl and dumping her body in the brush near Washougal, Wash. Fjrst defense Witness as the trial entered its third week to day was Mrs. Veda Porth, record clerk at the police emergency hospital. , ; Through her, Goodman intro- hncnttar repnrrtc whirh showed that Pio Reigo, 47, a prosecution witness, was treated at the jail hospital Jan. 11 and 12 for extensive soreness of the body and neck. Goodman read a notation on the record which said, "Pio states that he was beaten by the police last night." Portland (U.PJ Mrs. R. A. Law, Coos Bay, has been elected chairman of the Oregon Art Al liance. .......- Guards Posted at Portland School As Northwest Bombing Threats Continue Portland (U.R) A police guard was posted around the Sylvan school in Portland's southwest hills today as the bomb jitters continued to plague the Pacific Northwest. The school was placed under surveillance after the president of the school's Parent-Teachers Association received a threat that a bomb would explode in the school this morning. Mrs. Herbert Winfree received the call Thursday night from a man "with a well-modulated voice" demanding she get $20, 000 for delivery according to in structions she would receive dur ing the week end. The man told her it was "not a gag with the Meier, FranK ana mrceu enn dren in your school." Jr - san problem if Washington in sisted that Nationalist China at tend the negotiations. The neutral premier who has conferred frequently with Red China's Chou En-lai during the African-Asian conference which ended Sunday night made the statement in an interview short ly after Chou himself called con ference hopes for the talks. In his closing address to the conference the Chinese Commu nist premier reaffairmed Pei ping's determination to "liber ate" Formosa a statement which showed clearly that his idea of negotiating the crisis was to negotiate on his own terms, Burglaries, Minor Thefts Reported To City Officers Two burglaries and two hub cap thefts, involving more than 565 in cash and property, were reported to police over the week end. - Thieves pried a padlock on an ice house door near the Valley. Fuel company, 26 West Main st., Saturday night and escaped with about $2 in quarters and half dollars, police said. The money was in two small coin boxes in the building. Both coin boxes were pried open with' ice tongs, police said. Billfold Stolen Wayne Fred Johnson, 330 North Hally st., reported that while he was asleep Saturday night, someone entered his apart ment and took a pair of pants valued at $17 and a billfold con taining personal papers and about $12 in cash. Police said Johnson told them the door was left unlocked. - - Thieves took, three Cadillac hubcaps valued at $18 off a 1946 Ford owned ; by.-FrankRectoiv 214 West Jackson st., Saturday night while the car was parked in a lot near 214 South Riverside ave. Car Equipment Taken One hubcap valued at $12.50 and windshield wiper and blade valued at about $5 were, taken from a car owned by Gail E. Jen sen, 229 North Ivy st., sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. yesterday. The vehicle was parked in the lot at First National Bank of Portland, Medford branch. A hay baler owned by Joe Ray Bayne, 429 Edwards st., was damaged slightly sometime . be tween April 1: and yesterday, Bayne reported to police, who said Bayne told them he thought children playing - around the equipment caused the damage. Myrtle Point Bomb Scare Investigated Myrtle Point U.R) Local police today" were investigating an anonymous report that there was a bomb in the Myrtle Point telephone office. ' "A telephone company operator said she received a call yester day from a man who said there was a bomb in the building and that she "had better get out of there." . Myrtle Point and state police searched the building and. sur rounding buildings but no trace of any bomb was found. .... Record-Breaking Crime . Wave Reported in 1954 Washington (U.R) A crime wave of record breaking propor tions, supported by a sharp in crease in .theft, was recorded in the United States during 1954, the FBI reported today. . , The bureau's annual crime in dex showed that a serious, crimi nal offense was committed every 13.9. seconds . He referred to officials of the Meier and Frank " department store, which was bombed the week before in a $50,000 extor tion attempt, and to Portland's police chief Jim Purcell Jr. Mrs. Winfree said today that she had received no further in structions. "Too bad," she said, "because we might have caught him." Police have been posted around Mrs. Winfree's home, as well as the Frank country estate and the department store. Guards also have been assigned to other persons reporting simi lar threats. The Meier and Frank blast touched off a series of bomb threats, including five schools in the Northwest. But so fax no Big 3 Ministers Set Meet To Probe Talks With Russia Paris To Be Scene Of May 8 Conference Washington (U.R) The U.S., French and British foreign min isters will meet May 8 in Paris to discuss "concrete plans" for holding a Big Four meeting with Russia, it was announced today. The State Department sax 5 in a brief announcement that the three Western governmets "earn estly hope that a four-power con ference can meet as soon as pos sible." It said the United States, Bri tain and France have consistent ly shown they want to seek through negotiations ' "the just and peaceful settlement of ques tions which might disturb the maintainence of enduring peace, Preliminary Meeting "Moved by the same desire, the three foreign ministers will meet in Paris on May 8 in order to discuss concrete plans for holding a four-power conference with the Soviet government," the statement said. It said U. S., British and French experts will meet in Lon don Wednesday to make a pre; lim'inary study of problems in preparation for the foreign min isters' discussions. The department said West German Chancellor Konrad Ade nauer and leaders of the other North Atlantic Treaty Organi zation governments will be con sulted on plans for the Big Four meeting. . Austrian Treaty The meeting planned would be a broad one seeking solution to a num'ber of critical issues in the European area, particularly the question of German unifica tion. It. would -apparently be in addition to a Big Four foreign ministers meeting which may eventually be held for formal signing of an Austrian state treaty. ; The three Western powers last week proposed in notes to Rus sia that Big Four ambassadors meet in Vienna May 2 to settle final details of an Austrian trea ty. The Western powers suggest ed the Big Four foreign minis ters meet to sign the treaty at the earliest practicable tune there after. Rhoten Brothers Plead Innocent; McCoy To Appear Richard Rhoten and Conley Carl Rhoten, route 1, box 74, Rogue River, pleaded innocent to grand larceny charges in cir cuit court today. No date has been set for trial. - The Rhoten brothers are charged with the theft of fir logs valued at more than $75 from .the.. Robert . Dollar com pany last March. Both are free on- bond. Also in court Judge H. K. Hanna overruled two - motions filed by Edward, C. Kelly to quash indictments against Jack Dwight McCoy, 26, 129 Wight man st., Ashland, who is charg ed with two counts of assault to commit rape. McCoy, was ar raigned on the charges follow ing .indictments .returned by a grand jury last week. . Judge Hanna .said .the court could find no authorization for setting . aside the. indictments, and required McCoy to appear and . enter a . plea .on .or .before tomorrow. MOe&iDii ' Atomic Test ' Site Nev. (U.R) Bad weather, blew into. Nevada, today and forced post ponement for .at least 24 .hours of tomorrow mornings schtd .uled. atomic explosion. . . . - bombs have been found. Other Threats The 90-roqm Antler hotel at Baker and a nearby boarding house were evacuated Saturday night following a bomb threat. Police also have taken precau tions at the Dahnken, Inc., Port land wholesale merchandising company in the Morgan building, and at the J. J. Newberry store and a southeast Portland tavern where similar threats have been received. . Multnomah county District Attorney William' Langley warned today that he will prose cute any persons caught making telephone calls or writing threat ening messages. He said prosecu tion could result in a five-year prison sentence and SIQOO fin.. .. ... . ... v - Medford united Pri -'ull Leased wire 50th Year ; 14 Pages CirD Patterson's Stand On Hells Canyon Rapped by Morse Governor's View Said 'Utterly Unrealistic' Washington (U.R) Sen. Wayne Morse (D-Ore.) today de livered a roundhouse attack on Gov. Paul Patterson of Oregon for opposing federal construct ion of the Hells Canyin Dam. Morse, in a. speech prepared for Senate delivery, said his state's Republican' governor has "the kind of narrow parochial view which cannot see past state lines and is utterly unrealistic." Three Musketeers ; He said Patterson and Govs. Robert Smylie of Idaho and Rob ert B. L a n g 1 i e of Washington are thiee "musketeers of resis tance to the 20th century, Smylie and Langlie also oppose the dam proposal backed by Morse. ' Morse's attack ion Patterson arose from a hearing April 7 in Portland. Ore., when the gov ernor opposed Morse's Hells Canyon bill. . Morse said that on that day the Governor "signed un at the recruiting office" of the Idaho Power Company which opposes the Hells Canyon 'Dam and wants to build a f series of its own dams on the- Snake river instead. No Benefit to Oregon - Morse said the smaller dams in Hells: Qaayon wauUL'Jjer'i bf no .benefit to O i e g b h. They would perpetuate and strength-, en the Idaho Power's monopoly position with its attendant high rates." But low. cost federal Hells Canyon power, he said, wouli aid irrigation pumping in Eastern Oiegon.v Morss said the federal Hells Canyon would store water which would result in another piece being removed from the comprehensive plan, another boost to the regional power rates and another bonzana to the pri vate power companies at the ex pense of the nation s taxpay ers. Hoax Suspected In Crash of Plane Merrill, Ore. U.R) Oregon and California state police and the Merrill town marshall were investigating what appeared to be a hoax in the reported crash of a light plane in the Alturas, Calif., area yesterday. Several calls reporting the crash were received by local authorities. An immediate search was started by the Alturas sher iff's office, rangers from the Tulelake ranger station and five planes from the Klamath Air Search and Rescue unit, ine search was called off at 41:00 p.m."yesterday with no results. The calls were traced to a pay phone" in a Tar in Merrill, Ore., about 20 miles south of Klamath Falls. Authorities were trying to locate the caller. ' A'farmer at Tulelake reported he saw flares in the Scpnchin Butte region south of Tulelake in the general area of the re ported crash, but local author ities explained them . as , "snow lightning." The piarie was said to .have. burst into flames. . . Search parties were standing by while state police and the Merrill town marshal tried to locate, the caller.. . (See story on Page 11) Surtax Proposal Debated in Senate SalriTi (U.R) A surtax on the state personal income tax design ed to raise some 45 million dol lars in the next biennium was the object of a 2V4 hour debate in. the Senate this morning. ' A minority report against the bill was defeated 24-6 and the majority report supported by Sen. Rudie Wilhelm (R-Portland) chairman of the Senate Tax Com mittee,, was adopted. Before a vote could be taken on the provision, Sen. Gene Brown, (R-Grants Pass) insisted that a constitutional provision that each bill be read section by section b invoked, - MEDFORD, OREGON, L .ops Me 1 1 V"' ''' Jf' WIFE, 'OTHER MAN' CHARGED IN BOMBING Mrs. Marjorie Smith, 30 (left), whose attorney husband, Oliver K. Smith, 35, was blown to bits by a dynamite charge j hidden in his car, is being held by Portland, Ore., police on murder charge. Victor Lawrence Wolf (right) signed a confession admitting his part m setting the explosives. District Attorney William Langley said the confession, . pointed out that Wolf and Mrs. Smith had been plotting the . slaying for several months. Mrs. Smith Continues To Deny Having Part In Death of r.; Portland, pre. (U SO Mrs. Marjorie Smith, 34, insisted to day she had nothing to do; with the bomb-slaying of her, husband even though an acquaintance said; she often discussed doing away with him. ; Thomas A. Marlin of Sher wood, . Ore., told , police Mrs. Smith had discussed many plans for murder with him over a pe riod of months. 'Marlin said he first met Mrs. Smith in 1943, when they work ed in Oregon shipyards. Subse quently, he said, she asked him if he knew where he could buy dynamite and that she talked with him on several occasions about committing the "perfect crime." Marlin said her husband was often the subject of these con versations. Police confronted Mrs. Smith with Marlin yesterday, but she confessed nothing. Mrs. Smith is accused of com plicity in the death of her hus band, Oliver Kermit Smith,-35- year-old Portland attorney who' was blown up by a charge of dy namite in his auto last Thursday. Bomb Plant Admitted Victor Lawrence "Wolf, 45, also accused of murder, admitted planting the bomb because he was in love .with Mrs. Smith: He said , the two planned to share Smith's $21,000 insurance. ' Wolf took detectives yester day to an undisclosed spot in Washington sfete where he said he and Mrs. Smith tested dyna mite caps three weeks ago." . ' Meanwhile, it was reported that Mrs. Smith is wanted on four bad check charges in Cali fornia. The warrants, signed in Knowland Questions Foreign Aid To India Washington (U.R) Senate Republican' Leader William F. Knowland. questioned today whether U. S. foreign aid funds should be allotted to India in view of that country's neutral position in the cold war.. . His attitude reflected a view point widely held in Congress among members who are ques tioning or objecting to the con tinued inclusion of India in the the foreign aid program. Knowland gave his views to reporters in commenting on the iine taken by Indian Prime Min ister Jawaharlal Nehru, at the Afro-Asian conference at Ban dung, Indonesia. . He expressed the belief that the conference had "backfired" on the neutral Nehru and Red Chinese Premier Chou En-lai be cause the anti-Communist coun tries in Asia had made an effec tive case against "the dangers of (7nmmiiTTfTn-v ' : United MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1955 Attorney 1948-by Judge Louis Kaufman of Los Angeles, named Marjorie E. Hersey, alias Chris Evans. Mrs. Smith's maiden name was Evans. Her first husband, Mer rick Hersey, is a laboratory worker at the Sacramento, Calif., County Hospital. Implicating Evidence Mrs. Smith's first husband has also given implicating evidence. Merrick Hersey, a laboratory technician at Ukiah General hos pital in Ukiah, Calif., said Mrs. Smith in 1952 asked him if he knew of "anything in labora tory which was exceedingly deadly and would be undetected in case of death." ' Hersey expressed shock when he learned of the murder charges against his former wife. But he said she is a "sick woman and needs psychiatric treatment bad ly." . . Radford Sets Final Meeting With Chiang Taipei, .Formosa (U.R) Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff will hold a final conference to morrow with Generalissimo Chaing Kai-shek and then fly back to Washington, it was re ported today. The taUas probably more se cret than any held here in re c e n t years began yesterday shortly after Radford arrived here with Walter S. Robertson, assistant secretary of state and President Eisenhower's Far Eastern trouble shooter. Karl Rankin, the U.S. ambas sador, sat in on the talks which lasted for five hours yesterday. Officials here, both Chinese and American, threw up a wall of secrecy around the talks and the usual profuse leakage of in formation was successfully plugged. Three Men Missing In Coquille River Myrtle Point, Ore. (U.R) Three people were missing and believed drowned in the Coquille river near Myrtle .Point in .a boating accident yesterday. Missing were Allen Richard McGredy, 16, Springfield, his brother Charles George Mc Gredy, 19, on leave from the army, and a brother-in-law,. Har lan Wyrich, 35, from . nearby Bridge. The trio went out in a boat on the Coquille river near Bridge, about noon yesterday to try out a new motor. About 1:30 p.m. the boat was seen downstream over turned. . A jacket and a hat were found floating near shore. Police and Coast Guardsmen searched yesterday until dark and - resumed the search this morning. ... , ' i Tribune frei nu Leased Wire Price 5c No. 30 Statement Claimed Typical Utterance Of Obstructionists John Day Dam Object of Differences Washington (U.R) Rep. Sam Coon (R-Ore.) said Saturday he "was not surprised" at a state ment by Oregon Democratic Sen. Richard L. Neuberger attacking the Baker congressman's bill to authorize construction of the John Day dam on the Columbia river. . ; "This Neuberger's statement," Coon said, "is typical of the re actionary, obstructionist tactics used by those who hope to pre vent prompt development of the hydroelectric resources of the Pacific Northwest.". Gam of Keepaway "These people are playing a game of keepaway with the peo ple of the Northwest," Coon said, "and they are using these tactics in a desperate attempt to hang on to a discredited political issue." . Neuberger Friday said Coon's bill was not in the public inte rest. He said the partnership pro posal was designed to give the revenue-producing parts of the Northwest's power projects to private utilities while harAling the bill for paying for other fea tures of the works to the people. Dam Aid' To Economy Coon charged opponents of his bill with standing in. the way of new hydroelectric, navigation and flood control developments, He said if these forces are suc cessful they will bear the full responsibility for blocking indus trial and economic development of the Pacific Northwest. The Coon bill provides that lo cal interest, public and private, will be allowed to advance to the federal government the total cost of the power features of the John Day dam. . Coon estimated that this amount would be $273, 000,000, or nearly 90 per cent of the total cost of the multi-purpose project. In support of. his bill, Coon said "There is no question re garding ownership of the dam. The whole project will be built, designed, owned and operated by the federal government." He said his bill makes possible advance sale of power "so the project can be built now rather that at some distant time when Congress might seem fit to appro priate the necessary funds." Rebels Warn Dai To Discharge Premier Saigon,; Indochina U.R) A rebel army warned Emperor Bao Dai today to fire American backed Premier Ngo Dinh Diem by Sunday or face a full civil war that will sweep away the imperial throne; ' A spokesman for the Binh Xuyen sect which spearheads the opposition unified front armea struggle against Diem delivered this ultimatum to the absentee emperor: "His majesty must decide be fore the end of April whether to dismiss Diem. If he does not it means civil war which at the same time will sweep away the dynasty.' Powder House Kills Union County Worker La Grande (U.R) A terrific explosion today destroyed the Union county powder house, shattering plate glass windows in downtown La Grande and killed one man, , presumably a county employee. Shattering Explosion State po.Uce said the victim was beliered to be H. Eugene Benton, about 55, shop foreman for the Union county road de partment: Banton left the coun ty shops about 9:10 a.m. to go to the powder house two miles north of La Grande, on a rou tine checkup. About 10 minutes later there was a shattering ex plosion which jarred La Grande and was felt by farmers at least two miles from the scene. . The brick powder house was destroyed in the blast which blew brick dust several hundred Cruise Would Show Peacetime Use of Energy Exhibit Would Tour Foreign Ports New York. UR) President jLisennower xoaay announced plans, for U. S. construction of an atomic powered merchant ship which will cruise the world to demonstrate peacetime use of atomic energy. - The new ship, which will not require refueling "for scores of thousands of miles," will carry to countless foreign ports the exhibits of practical application of the new atomic science and medicine, agriculture and power oroduction. The President made his dis closures in a speech prepared for delivery before the Asso ciated Press lunch held a day before the opening of the annual convention of the American Newspaper Publishers' Associa tion at the Waldorf - Astoria Hotel. , Trade Essential - Mr. Eisenhower's accent was on the need for f reeit two-way trade among nations and partic ularly congressional passage of his reciprocal trade program. He railed reciprocal trade "a broad avenue by which all men and nations of goodwill can travel toward a golden era of peace and plenty." , The dramatic highlight of his prepared address, however, was his announcement of the atom powered merchant vessel ,as an other part of the American pro gram of peaceful uses of atomic energy. He said specifications , for the vessel were being developed by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Maritime Administra tion. The chief executive will ask Congres for special construction funds in the near future, accom panying his request with a de scription of the ship. "The new ship, powered with an atomic reactor, will not re quire refueling for scores, of thousands of miles of operation " the President told the editors peacetime Project "Visiting the ports of the world it will demonstrate to peo ple everywhere this peacetime use of atomic venergy, harnessed for the improvement of human living. , "In part,- the ship will be an atomic exhibit, carrying to all people practical knowledge of the usefulness of this new sci ence. . . " The United States has one atomic-powered vessel in opera tion, the . submarine Nautilus, and has another similar under seas craft on order. The Nautilus, as the merchant man would be, is powered by an atomic reactor. Trouble In Congress The chief executive reserved most of his wordagev however, for his foreign trade program, saying he would not relax his personal effort toward putting across the ; program. The pro gram has encountered rough go ing in Congress. 10 aDanaon our program iw the gradual reduction of unjusti fiable trade barriers to vitiate the administration proposals by crippling amendments would strike a severe blow at the coop erative efforts of the free na tions to build up their economic and military defenses," he said. He feared severe interference with tariff reductions as out lined in his program would result in sharp contraction of world trade. Weather FORECAST Generally cloudy with showers thronih Tues day. Low tonicht 38-46. High Tuesday SS. ; Temp. Hirhest yesterday ST Lowest this morning . -IT Explosion feet in the air and covered the area with a fine red powder. All that was left was some de bris and a hole in the ground 18 feet deep and about 35 feet wide where the building had stood. Scraps of Bone Found Police said they found scraps of bone and tissue and a few strands of burned hair in the rubble. They were continuing their investigation. County officials said they did not know what caused the blast. Unofficial estimates of dam age, principally broken plate glass windows to downtown establishments, was placed at around $5000, The force of the blast, while felt, apparently did little damage to residential districts.