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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 27, 1955)
Am o Conservatives Win Majority of Seats London U.R) Sir Anthony Eden's Conservative party offi cially won the British election today when its number of seats reached 315, the number needed to command a majority of the House of Commons. At 3:15 p.m. London time the Conservatives had 335 seats to Labor's 271, a net gain of 14. The Liberals won four seats. The popular vote was Conservatives 13,024,089, Labor 12,139,668. The pro-American Eden's party triumph over Labor was an almost complete rout. It t smashed an attempted comeback by former Prime Minster Clement Attlee's Labor party and swept the Conservatives back into firm power in a sharp swing to the right. Today, a windup tally of votes cast in yesterday's general elec tions sent the Conservative majority in the House of Commons rocketing high above the slim 18-seat margin they held in the Equalization Board s' 4 I ;riansioLompieie '55 Job Next Week a The Jackson county board of 'equalization, meeting today for the fourth time this week, ex pects to wind up its work for the year sometime next week. At the present time, the board is considering more than 200 re quests for changes in assessed valuation which were presented to it earlier this month by coun ty taxpayers. Two state assessment" men have been checking property on vhich requests for change have been made. Opinions Involved County Assessor R. G. Fowler noted this morning that most requests for change involved differences of opinion concern ing the amount of valuation, rather than methods of assess ment. Employees in the assessor's office are working on the of ficial assessed valuation of the county, and expect to have it completed by the June 15 dead line. Fowler said. The deadline for submitting budgets to the assessor's office is July 15. More than 50 taxing bodies will be submitting budgets this year, Fowler said. The millage rates for the var ious taxing bodies will not be completed until all budgets are In Truck Runs Wild; v Seven Persons Die San Francisco (U.R) A ful ly loaded furniture van, careen ing wildly out of control at 100 miles per hour down Nob Hill, slammed into nine cars today and exploded into a rolling ball of flame, killing at least seven per sons. Dozens of police, including homicide inspectors, rushed to the scene, located less than three blocks from the police station at the foot of fashionable Nob Hill at the fringe of San , Francisco's Chinatown and near the well known North Beach restaurant section. Some 15 emergency ambulan ces as well as 10 pieces of fire fighting equipment responded to a three - alarm call. The truck roared down Clay st., across the busy intersections of Mason and Grant, the latter the main thoroughfare of China town. An undetermined number of injured were treated at emergen cy hospitals. 44 Polio Cases Listed In Oregon This Year Portland (U.R) The State Board of Health said today it has received reports of 44 polio cases in Oregon this year com pared to 31 at the same period last year. The average for a six year period is 29 cases. Memorial Day Plans Listed; Most Businesses To Close Plans have been completed for the Memorial Day observances, it was anonunced today by of ficials of the sponsoring organi zations. ' - ' Starting time for the parade will be 10 a.m. Monday at the library park. The parade route will be down Main st. to the Bear Creek bridge, where a brief ceremony is planned, and then to Hawthorne park. Bridge Ceremony The bridge ceremony will honor veterans who have died in the service of their country while serving on ships. The in vocation will be given by the Rev. G. Herbert Hillerman, pas tor of Zion Lutheran church. Flowers will be strewn on the water by members of veterans organization auxiliaries, and an Oregon National guard squad will fire a salute. Ray Huson will be the master of4 ceremonies at Hawthorne park, where the flag will be raised by Boy Scouts, and a former Parliament. Labor Party Dealt Heaviest Damage The trend indicated it might reach, or pass a majority of 75 seats over the Socialists. The victory for the Conserva tives led by Eden crushed the Socialists and dealt its heaviest damage to the Labor party left wing led by America-baiting Aneurin Bevan. It lifted the handsome, 57-year-old Eden triumphantly out of the shadow of Sir Winston Churchill, whom he succeeded as Prime Minister only 52 days ago. It was a general tory sweep, the first solid mandate to be giv en to either party by the British voters since 1945, when they gave a similar mandate to Attlee's Socialists. Friend of America Domestically, the Conserva tive victory meant that Eden could go ahead with plans to give greater play to free enter prise. Internationally, it left him in a stronger position to pro ceed with his generally pro- The Conservatives nad more than a 1,000,000 vote popular lead in the current election, whereas in 1951 they trailed by 125,000 in the popular vote even though they won a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The Conservative victory also presented the Soviet Union with a stronger right wing bloc in any future egotiations with the West. It squashed any chance of British neutralism in the next few years and ended the Labor party's immediate dream of fur ther nationalization of the econ omy. In terms of men, the Conserva tive victory meant these things: 1: Eden: Pulled him out from under Churchill's shadow. In stead of Prime Minister by ap pointment, he is now Prime Min ister by virtue ,oi the people's vote and may maneuver more, freely. 2. Attlee: May mark the end of his reign as Labor party leader. Deputy Leader Herbert Morrison is second in line, but the Labor defeat is almost cer tain to provoke a bitter fight be tween Aneurin Bevan on the left and Hugh Gaitskell on the right. 3. Bevan: His prestige has been drastically lowered. Two of his strongest supporters in the old Parliament were defeated, while other Bevanites, including Jennie Lee, his wife, were re turned with reduced votes. 4. Churchill: Reelected for the 15th time to a seat in the House of Commons, this time to the quiet back bench he desired where he can act as elder states man and adviser to Eden. Prob ably will remain as a dominating figure in the chamber as long as he lives. PLEADS INNOCENT Clifford Quentin Gee, 29, Har lan, Ore., appeared in circuit court yesterday and pleaded in nocent to charges of receiving and concealing stolen property, according to District Attorney Walter Nunley. The charge in volves items taken last year from the home of Hartford Smith in Rogue River. wreath will be placed by mem bers of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Star Spangled Ban ner will be played by the Med ford High school band. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address will be given by Nathan Dou thit, a student at Crater High school, and a member of Daugh ters of Union Veterans will pre sent Gen. Logan's Memorial day order. Principal speaker will be Carlos Morris. Closures Planned All public offices and most business places will be closed during the day. All city, county, state and federal offices will be closed, and no mail deliveries will be made during the day. State liquor stores and agen cies will be closed, but licensees of the Oregon liquor control commission, including those sell ing liquor by the drink, need not close, - All schools will be closed Monday. The Mail Tribune will publish aa early edition. MedfordwSTribune United Press Full Leased Wir ANTHONY EDEN In Triumph Over Labor Baccalaureate For Medford Graduates Scheduled Sunday Baccalaureate services for the Medford High school graduating class will be held Sunday at 8 p.m. in the high school auditor ium, it was announced today by school officials. The sermon will be presented by Dr. Raymond E. Balcomb, pastor of the First Methodist church. The service will open with the processional, by the high school orchestra under the direction of John Drysdale. The invocation will be given by the Rev. Ray mond W. Hurn, pastor of the Church of the Nazarene. Musical Numbers ' Musical numbers by the high school choir will be followed by the sermon, and the- service will close with music by the choir, the benediction by the Rev. Mr. Hurn, and the recessional by the orchestra. Graduation exercises will be held Thursday, June 2, at 8 p.m. in the senior high school sta dium, weather permitting. Speak er will be Dr. O. Meredith Wil son, president of the University of Oregon. Medford public schools will be closed Monday. Students will go to school Tuesday to check in their books, and no classes are planned for Wednesday or Thursday. Report cards will be given out Friday at 1 p.m. Kremlin Launches Bid To Woo Yugoslavia Belgrade (U.R) Soviet boss N i k i t a Khrushchev today launched the Kremlin's bid to woo Yugoslavia back into the Soviet fold through personal talks with Marshal Tito. Tito and the top level Soviet delegation faced each other across a conference table and began discussion on Moscow's new "friendship" policy. In addition to Khrushchev, the Soviet delegation included Pre mier Wikolai Bulganin, JJirst Deputy Premier Anastas Miko- yan, Hirst Deputy foreign Min ister Andrei Gromyko and Dep uty Foreign' Trade Minister T. N. Kumykin. It was probably the strongest top level delegation ever to leave the Kremlin and one of the most unusual missions ever undertaken by the Soviets. Three Men Transported To Begin Prison Terms Three men were taken to Sa lem today by Sheriff Howard Gault to start terms in Oregon state prison. They are Lewis Fredrick Da vies, 30, Central Point Market rd.; Edwin James Babcock, 27, of 716 Cedar st., and Allen Rob ert Rogers, 30, Tacoma, Wash. Davies was sentenced to a three-year term on a charge of receiving stolen property. Rog ers received a three-year sen tence on a charge of burglary not in a dwelling. Babcock was sent to prison on a parole vio lation charge. H. Struve Hensel Quits Defense Post Washington (U.R) H. Struve Hensel, who figured in last year's Army-McCarthy investiga tion, quit today as assistant sec retary of defense. Hensel said he was resigning because he does not have "suffi cient individual capital resour ces to continue longer as a pub lic servant." 50th Year " 26 Pages MEDFORD, OREGON, Anti-Polio Vaccine Series Completed In 1st, 2nd Grades Makeup Clinic Set; Plan Second Series The first round of Salk anti- polio shots for Jackson county first and second graders came to an end this morning with only about 50 per cent of those eligi ble receiving the inoculations. A makeup clinic for those pre viously having parental consent slips but who were unable to at tend regularly scheduled clinics will be held all day Wednesday, June 8, at the health department offices in the courthouse. Dr. A. E. Merkel, county health officer, requested that those planning to attend the June 8 makeup clinic notify his of fice by telephoning Medford 2-7159. Inoculations were given this morning at Roosevelt grade school in Medford, and health department officials noted that the turnout there was among the best for the week. However, it still was only "more than 50 per cent," com pared with "50 per cent or less" at other schools, Dr. Merkel said. Although figures have not been completed on the number of inoculations given and the amount of vaccine remaining, Dr. Merkel said this morning that it looks as though the coun ty already has close to enough vaccine for the second round of inoculations. No date has yet been set for the second series of shots. Fund Lack Bars New Cascade Route ' Portland (U.R) Lack of funds will prevent Immediate consideration of a new highway route between Medford and Klamath Falls by way of Lake O' Woods, the state highway commission said yesterday. This view was in response to an appeal for consideration of the proposed new all-weather route across the Cascades made by a delegation of southern Ore gon men, representing the cham bers of commerce in Klamath, Jackson, Josephine and Lake counties. The proposal tops the list of way priorities set up by the southern Oregon chambers. It would replace the Green Springs highway priorities set up by the route across the Cascades in the southern part of the state, and would have relatively mild grades. A similar response was given to a delegation from Albany and Corvallis which was seeking an all-weather route between the cities. Four Persons Perish In Canada Hotel Fire Nelson, B. C (U.R) Fire de stroyed the Strathcona Hotel, be fore dawn today, lulling at least four persons. Four ther persons were un accounted for, Fire Chief E. S. Owens said. An estimated 52 persons es caped from the blazing frame structure. The hotel, one of the oldest in this interior community of 10, 000 persons, had been converted recently into a residential apart ment building. ' Sixty persons were believed living in the 45-year-old struc ture when flames broke out about 1 a.m. and destroyed the building within minutes. Portland Anti-Pi nbal I Law Upheld by Court Portland -(U.R) The State Supreme Court today notified City Attorney Alexander Brown that it had received official no tice from the U.S. Supreme Court kuphoiding Portland's anti-pinball ordinance. - As a result, the machines probably will be illegal here by the end of next week. Weather FORECAST: Fair tonight and Saturday. Increasing cloudi ness Saturday night. Cooler tonight with low 38. High Saturday 73. Temp. Highest Yesterday 62 Lowest this Morning , 43 FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1955 VICTOR L. WOLF Admits Smith Slaying Wolf Confesses Portland Murder In 'Unusual Move' Portland (U.R) Victor Lau rence Wolf, 45, in what was de scribed as "a most unusual legal procedure,"' yesterday con fessed the bomb-slaying of Oli ver Kermit Smith and threw himself on the mercy of the court. Wolf, a railroad electrician, made his confession in Circuit Court. Wolf told the stunned court room he committed the murder in an attempt to win the affec tions of Smith's wife, Marjorie, who earlier had been implicated by him and was similarly charged with the slaying, vantage of Law The confession was an at tempt to take advantage of an obscure 1864 Oregon law, which permits a confession in open court and enables the court to hear evidence end determine the degree of murder. The law has rarely been used. Mrs. Smith, 35, had not yet entered her plea. She has con tinued to deny implication in the murder. Smith, a prominent attorney, was killed April .21 by a home made dynamite bomb that ex ploded as he stepped on the starter of his car. Rail Strike Threat Averted by Pay Hike Chicago (U.R) A strike threatened by the nation's rail road freight conductors and brakemen has been averted by an agreement for a graduated pay increase, a railroad spokes man announced today. Members of the railway con ductors and brakeman's unioh will get ' pay increases ranging from 20 cents to more than $1.30 a day, effective June 16. They will go to members of the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen's Union, which represents 81 per, cent of the na tion's conductors and brakemen. The average basic daily rate for freight conductors now is $15.17 an for brakemen $13.17. Passenger train conductors and brakemen will receive a 20 cent daily pay hike. McKenzie Highway To Coast Ruled Out Portland (U.R) State High way Engineer R. H. Baldock yesterday told a delegation from the Eugene-Springfield area and the Redmond-Prineville area that the American Association of ' state Highway Officials would not approve extension of the McKenzie river highway to the coast. Population of United States Reaches 165,000,000-Mark; Continues Growing Washington U.R) Uncle Sam's family hit the 165,000, 000 mark at 4:51 a.m. (PST) to day. It kept right on growing, one more member every 12 seconds. Bigger Than Ever In this record breaking day and age, it is noteworthy that the new population figure is bigger than ever before. But the great American family still lags behind China, India and the So viet Union in size. The Census bureau, which keeps track of this sort of thing, gathered . come . officials and re United Press Full Leased Wire Price 5c No. 58 Tornado Death Toll Reaches 122; Floods Threaten Waters Nearly Cut Off Wind-Shattered City Blackwell, Okla. (U.R) Flood waters all but isolated this tornado devastated city today and the death count from killer tornadoes rose far past the 100 mark. Tornadoes have killed at least 122 persons in Kansas, Okla homa, Texas, and Missouri since they began their rampage through the nation's midsection Wednesday night. Town Total Wreck Udall, Kan., across the state line from Blackwell, was a total wreck, wiped out by the worst tornado in Kansas history. At Blackwell flood waters from the rainswollen Chikaskia river had nearly cut off the tor nado shattered city of 15,000 from the outside world. Two highways leading into the city were closed and more were likely to become impass able within a matter of hours. City officials feared the water would reach homes in the . city which has escaped the tornado's fury. . Residents Evacuated About 150 residents just east of the city's tornado stricken area were evacuated. Officials said the rest of the city, including blocks of wrecked homes, was not in immediate danger from the flood waters. 1 A state-by-state count of the dead and injured showed: Kansas: Udall destroyed and 76 dead. Eleven dead at the near by village of Oxford, including five children from one family, for a statewide total of 87 dead and at least 300 injured. State of ficials feared more bodies would be found in the Udall debris to day. ' Oklahoma: Seventeen persons dead, 500 injured, 500 homes in 72 blocks destroyed at Blackwell. Two more dead at Cheyenne for a state total of 19. Texas: Fifteen airmen killed when a B36 ran into a violent storm over Sterling City and crashed. Missouri: One man killed by a twister near Paris, Mo., farm buildings wrecked and trees up rooted. Udall Ghost Town But the most shocking tale of destruction was in this devastat ed village and in flood-threatened Blackwell. Udall what little was left of it was a ghost town nearly to day. Only the hollow husks of a few buildings were left of the Kansas farm village. The entire population was evacuated and strict military rule took over. National Guards men patrolled the streets to pre vent possible looting. Udall's comeback chances seemed close to hopeless. Noth ing of value was left standing and damage was estimated at $2,065,000. But the townspeople weren't discouraged. v Mayor Earl Rowe reported that most of his fellow residents wanted to come back to the scene of ruin and start rebuild ing. . . Ashland Elks To Set Up New Lodge in Yreka Ashland (U.R) Ashland Elks Lodge 944 will establish a new lodge next month in Yreka, Calif., for Siskiyou county Elks who now are members of the Ashland lodge. It will be the fourth lodge founded by the Ashland organi zation which is celebrating its golden anniversary year. Ashland Elks will host the Oregon Elks convention here next week. porters and photographers around its "census clock" in the Commerce department lobby to mark the setting of today's record. Light Flashes The clock, which looks like an oversized automobile mileage meter, sits atop a large colored map of the United States and ticks off one new American every 12 seconds. A flashing white light denotes each addi tion, but the bell which used to ring out the news is gone away. Census Bureau Director Rob ert W. Burgess greeted his 164,- NIGHT OF HORROR An elderly woman, flashlight in! hand, lies on a stretcher waiting for aid as rescue worker behind her comforts a child in his arms at Udall, Kas. This small town of about 500 persons was virtually wiped out when a tornado ripped through it shortly after midnight. ' FURY OF HELL National Guardsmen look at what once was an automobile before the tornado that swept through Udall, Kas., picked it up and slammed it against this tree.' Phoenix May Fesf i va I Pa rade J udges Told Phoenix Four judges will pick winners in the seventh an nual Phoenix May Festival pa ade, which will start at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Judges are Mrs. T. V. Wil liams of Phoenix, Phoenix Muni cipal Judge Frank DeSouza, Marion Ady of Ashland and Bob Kenny of Phoenix. They will pick winners on the basis of or ganization, art and workman ship. Four Divisions The parade theme is Disney Land, and entries have been list ed as children floats, individual costumes and bicycles, commer cial vehicles and floats and marching groups: The parade is divided into Fantasy land, Na ture land,. Frontier land and Space fiction. The parade will follow crown- Truck Strike End Hoped by Monday Los Angeles U.R) Represen tatives of the AFL teamsters and the strike-bound Western truck ing industry meet again today in hopes of reaching a "meeting of the minds on the fundamental issues" which may end the nine day walkout by Monday. Spokesmen for both teamsters and the California Trucking As sociation agreed after meeting with U. S. Conciliator John L. Fenton yesterday that "definite progress" had been made. A. J. Eyraud, head of the in dustry's negotiating committee, said "We may be able to have something for union members to vote on by Monday, which is a holiday and a good time for a vote." 999,999th compatriot with some sober observations on how and why the population is growing as fast as it is, more than 2,800, 000 a year. Burgess listed these outstand ing factors: Continued reduction of the death rate from infec tious diseases: particularly child hood diseases; the generally high level of personal income; more and earlier marriages and larg er families with married couples having three or four children instead of the one or two which was more standard in - decades past - J ing.of -the 1955 May festival queen by last year's queen, Miss Betty Harris. The queen, who will be crowned about . 10:30 a.m., will be selected from five candidates on the basis of the number of Festival tickets they. sold. Five Candidates ' Candidates are . the Misses Sharon James, Donna Gearirf, Dorothy Good, Sheyla Thomp son, and Barbara Hendrickson. They were elected at a student body election on basis of scholas tic achievements, initiative, lead ership, and community activi ties. The girls are members of the junior and senior classes at Phoenix High school. . Afternoon entertainment in cludes pony rides and a merry-go-round for children in addition to booths and displays. . Evening entertainment in cludes a modern dance in the Community club hall and a square dance in the grade school gymnasium. ' Oregon Automobile Insurance Reduced Portland U.R) reduction in comprehensive, fire and ; theft, and collision insurance on pas senger automobiles in Oregon, amounting to about 20 per cent, was - announced today by ' the National Automobile Underwrit ers association. The reduction is effective June 1. Some 200 association members are in Oregon. : The reductions are not appli cable to commercial vehicles. No change was made in rates on liability and property- damage insurance. Dentistry Jury Trial Enters Second Day The trial of Lee Poirier, Jack sonville, went into is second day in district Court this morning with witnesses appearing for the defense. Poirier is charged witb practicing dentistry without a license. The state completed its direct testimony yesterday. Witnesses for the state included Dr. Floyd Letter, executive secretary for the state board of dental exam iners, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sargeant, Ashland. Representing Poirier in the jury trial is Medford Attorney O. H. Bengtson. District Attor ney Walter Nunley is represent ing -the state.
