Convicted Slayer
Dies Before Guns
Of Firing Squad
Point of the Mountain, Utah
U.PJ Protesting his innocense to
the last, Don Jesse Neal was shot
to death here today for the 1951
murder of a Salt Lake City
policeman.
"I am innocent, the former
housepainter told Sheriff -George
Beckstead, who served as execu
Ctioner. 'But I have no malice toward
anyone," he added seconds be
fore the four slugs from five
30-30 caliber rifles ripped
through the black shaped heart
which served as a target for the
five marksman hidden behind a
canvas drop only 20 feet from
where he was strapped to a
wooden chair.
The signal for the execution
was given at 5:02 a.m. (MST). He
was pronounced dead a couple
of minutes later. Witnesses to the
execution were not admitted
until 60 seconds before the rifles
barked their death signal at sun
rise. The peaked, black hood al
ready had been placed over
Neal's head and face. He was
nervously clinching and un
clinching his fists as he spoke
his last words to Sheriff Beck
stead and the prison chaplain,
the Rev. Robert Pollock of the
Salt Lake Catholic Church.
Newsmen did not, see the sig
nal which set the executioners
rifles ablaze.
The prison physician set the
stethoscope to Neal's chest al
most as soon as the five rifles
loosed their slug.
Warden Marcell Graham said
Neal had been given a sedative
before he began the walk from
his death cell to the especially-
constructed execution site at the
south side of the prison.
Neal, 35-year-old native of
Nashville, Ten., who painted
houses in San Francisco between
terms in California's San Quen-
tin prison, lost his last chances
for life yesterday- The U.S. Su
preme Court and two Salt Lake
City judges turned down his
pleas for a stay.
"What can I do3 now?" he
asked. "The courts are all
closed."
But somehow, lie said he felt
something would save him from
execution, as it had four times
before. For that reason, he said,
he made no last-minute requests.
Neal chose to die by a firing
squad. A condemned killer in
Utah may take his choice of that
or the noose.
Neal was convicted for mur
dering Police Sgt. Owen T. Far
ley on a downtown Salt Lake
City street in 1951. Farley had
tried to take Neal into custody
for investigation of car theft and
robbery.
Wilma Tully, Neal's girl
friend, testified at his trial that
he pulled a hidden gun from be
tween the seat cushions- of the
stolen car, and with his hands
shackled behind him, twisted
around and shot Farley to death.
Neal claimed Mrs. Tully was
the one who fired the shot, but
nobody believed his story.
Railroad Tunnel
Fire Hear Eureka
Disrupts Service
Fort Seward, Calif. (U.R)
A stubborn fire in a Northwest
ern Pacific Railroad tunnel was
expected today to disrupt rail
roal service for 10 days.
The fire was discovered early
yesterday in the 452-foot tunnel
about 75 miles south of Eureka
Damage may run as high as
SZ50.000.
Barred by smoke and heat
from entering the tunnel, rail
road crews decided early today
to attack the fire from above.
They brought a dozen bull
dozers, moved them on to a hill
side 15 feet above the roof of
the tunnel and prepared to dig
a hole through the top.
Water was poured into the
tunnel from the west end and it
was hoped that this would
quench the flames sufficiently to
enable fire fighters to spray
liquid cement to shore up the
damaged timbers.
More than 70 men were fight
ing the blaze.
Northwestern Pacific was
carrying passengers around the
scene by bus.
At least 250 carloads of red
wood lumber were held up.
They will be shipped to San
Francisco by truck.
BP A Gives Awards
To 118 Employees
Portland (U.R) - Bonneville
Power Administration yesterday
gave away $11,000 to 118 em
ployees who had demonstrated
superior or outstanding perform
ance records and for suggestion
box ideas.
The presentation was one of
the largest in the federal service
isince the Eisenhower adminis
tration instituted the bonus in
centives program as a morale
factor. Bonus payments ranging
from $10 to $200 were presented
by Administrator William A.
.Pearl and Division Chiefs Eu
gene Starr, N. H. Callard and
Earl D. Ostrander. i
APR 20
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STARGAZE
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'46-51-62
-By CLAY R. POLLAN-
JM Your Daily Activity Guide . JM
According to fie Start. 'I
To develop message for Saturday,
read words corresponding to numbers
of your Zodioc birth sign.
SEPT 23
-' MM
48-56404371?!
kS68-74
1 Affair
2 You
3 You
4 Toke
5 Keep
6 Can
7 YourttH
8 Of
9 Your
10 Be
11 A
12 Wary
13 May
14 Leuon
15 Of
16 Dont
17 From
18 Sens
19 Gain
20 Clear
21 Of
22 Aid
23 Freedom
24 If
25 Of
26 And
27 Mate
31 Pleasure
32 Today
33 Matlman
34 Sudden
35 Giving
36 The
37 Anything
38 Keeps
39 You -.
40 Give
41 Situations
42 Need
43 Other
44 Moy
45 Today
46 Require
47 Bring
43 The
49 Stick
&) Decisions
51 Your
52 Clofe
53 To
54 Or
55 Your -
56 Day
57 To
28 Complicated 58 You
29 Needed 59 Somt
30 Moke 0 To
) Adverse
fig) Good
61 Or
62 Attention
63 Make
64 Settle
65 Some
66 Offense
67 Receive
68 New
69 Through
70 Desired
71 Base
72 A
73 Of
74 Move
75 Operations
76 News
77 Should
78 Changes
79 You
80 In
81 Fellow.
82 Negative
83 Nice
84 Get
85 Relaxed
86 Action
e7 Now
88 Gift
89 Attitudes
90 Arrongments
scoeno
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Around 'Hollywood
By ALINE MOSBY
United Press Correspondent
Hollywood (U.R) Director
Cecil B. DeMille is parting the
water of the Red Sea for "the
most spectacu
lar scene in
movie history"
but the spec
tacle turned
out today to
be mostly cam
era magic.
As film fans
couldn't have
escaped know
ing by now,
Aline Mosby the 73-year-old
DeMille is making what is billed
as his greatest epic, "The Ten
Commandments."
The grand old man of movie
spectacles still can out-super-colossal
any director in town.
So in his $8,000,000 film he has
included "the most powerful
scene ever fijmed," according to
his publicity office.
This will show the Hebrews
escaping through the Red Sea.
According to the script taken
from the Bible, God parts the
waters and the Hebrews thou
sands of extras in dark pancake
makeup cross on dry land.
Most of Studio '
The villians, . the Pharaoh's
soldiers in horse-drawn chariots,
gallop in hot pursuit. But the
waters close and crash upon
them.
Nearly the entire Paramount
studio is being used for the gi
gantic film and I finally found
the stage where the Red Sea
scenes were being shot. But the
only sight was a bearded Charle
ton Heston who plays Moses and
150 extras standing on a plaster
hill. They looked over the hill
in terror while DeMille barked
orders and played sound effects
of thunder just to get them in
a frightened mood.
Most of the sequence, De
Mille's assistants explained, will
be made via trick photography
and special effects that will take
a year's work in the laboratory.
DeMille calls the scene "as com
plicated as making an atom
bomb," and he's also trying to
keep it as secretive.
' DeMille first photographed
thousands of extras tramping
over the sands of Egypt last Oc
tober. :
Walls Torn Down
The swirling wall of water, the
clouds and a pillar of fire will be
photographed separately and su
perimposed on the original film.
The water scenes are so com
plicated Paramount had to move
next door to RKO for more room.
The walls between the two were
torn down so Paramount could
build a tank holding 30,000 gal
lons of water that will pour out
in a fast two minutes.
This staggering scene involves
three years of work and prepara
tion and a cost of a million dol
lars. Yet it will only last 10 min
utes on the screen.
"When DeMille first made
'The Ten Commandments' in
1923, the water from -the Red
Sea scenes flooded Sunset Boule
vard and the police arrived," one
of his assistants said.
"This time we figured a way
to divert the water back into the
tank."
DeMille spent only $100,000 to
part the Red Sea 32 years ago,
but in those days that was a super-colossal
budget for one scene.
! Release of Three
Turncoats Awaits
Final Arguments
Tokyo (U.R) Communist
China today reported that three
turncoat American soldiers
mould be released as soon as the
Indian Red -Cross completed its
arrangements for their depar
ture in "the near future."
Peiping Radio said that Chi
nese Red Cross official review
ed the "situation" of the three
Americans and two Belgians
who deserted to the Commu
nists and then changed their
minds asking to be returned to
the free world.
Knocked Americans
. In a badly garbled broadcast,
a Chinese Red Cross official
knocked the Americans who
turned their back once on their
homeland.
He said that the former U.N.
soldiers were brought to Peip
ing June 7.
"Some of them," he chided,
"were found staying out into
the night and indulging in
drinking.
Tor their security," he said,
"the Red Cross Society of China
had advised them to return to
their lodgings before midnight."
"They hatefully refused to ac
cept this sincere advice."
Won't Guarantee Safety
The official said that because
of the men's conduct "The Red
Cross Society of China would be
unable to continue beging re
sponsible for their safety."
He said that Otho G. Bell,
"admitted that he pretended to
be committing suicide by slash
ing his skin with a small knife
He took pictures of his cuts
and said that after his departure
from China, he would use them
as evidence of maltreatment."
Detroit The annual snow
fall in some areas south of Lakes
Ontario and Erie averages
more than 150 inches a year, the
weather report charts indicate.
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New Appeal Filed by
Chessman Attorneys
San Ouentin. Calif. (U.R)
The attorneys for author-convict
Cheryl Chessman have filed a
new appeal iaan attempt to save
him from execution in the San
Quentin Prison gas chamber July
15.
The attorneys, Berwyn A. Rice
and Jerome Duffy, said they are
asking for a stay of execution
and a writ of certiorari, claiming
an appellate court never has re
viewed any of Chessman's six ap
peals. They said that Chessman has
only recently earned the money
to obtain depositions and legal
counsel.
The court is in recess until
October. Duffy said Chessman
"believes he should be alive at
the time the court acts on his
petition."
Even as the appeal was being
filed, federal judges of the Ninth
Circuit went on record as favor
ing a move to outlaw repeated
federal court reviews of death
sentences such as those filed by
Chessman.
The proposed legislation en
dorced by the judges of seven
Western states yesterday would
forbid state felons from petition
ing for writs of habeas corpus in
lower federal courts except in
special cases involving a substan
tial federal question not pre
viously raised.
Chief Justice William Denman
of the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap
peals said the legislation, now
before Congress, is designed to
put an end to cases such as that
of Chessman. He said that case
was a "national scandal."
Chessman was convicted in
Los Angeles in 1948 on multiple
counts of robbery, rape and kid
naping. He has managed to avoid
execution for seven years by
filing a series of legal petitions,
many in federal court. He is the
author of "Cell 2455, Death
Row," and "Trial by Ordeal."
Justice Denman, who granted
Chessman't most recent review,
said the purpose of the bill "is
to distinguish state felonies from
federal felonies and to get away
from the ridiculous situation we
had in Chessman, who year after
year kept himself in litigation
to get himself out of the gas
house."
Meanwhile, prison authorities
were busy comparing the ad
vance copy of Chessman's new
book, "Trial by Ordeal," with the
manuscript they confiscated from
him last March.
Chessman said earlier this
week that he managed to smug
gle a carbon copy of the manus
cript out of the prison and to
have it mailed to his publishers,
Prentice-Hall. , Prison officials
still doubted this story.
-Warden Harley O. Teets said
he intends to compare the book
"very carefully" with the manus
cript. The manuscript was confis
cated in accordance with a state
regulation prohibiting condemn-:
ed men from publishing their
writings.
.. Meanwhile, Chessman's liter
ary agent, Joseph Longstreth,
denied in New York that Chess
man's book was "ghost written."
"I certainly will welcome the
opportunity to compare my man
uscript word for word, line for
line and error for error and in
type style Hth the original copy
Warden Teets holds," he said.
Friday. July 1, 1955
MEDFORD' OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE SSVEX
Man Imprisoned 23 Years Gets Chance To Prove Innocence
Jackson, Mich. U.R) Frank
Moriconi, 59, who has served 23
years in Southern Michigan Pris
on for a murder he claims he
did not commit, was called out of
his cell for a lie detector test
today.
The test was arranged by Ste
phen Schutt, lie detector expert
for the Keeler Laboratory of
Chicago. He said he would ad
minister the test to Moriconi,
who had professed his innocence
during his long years behind
bars.
No Direect Evidence
Paul Thurlock, Moriconi's at
torney who accompanied Schutt
here, said the state's case against
Moriconi was "strictly circum
stantial with no direct evi
dence." .
Moriconi was convicted in
Detroit in 1922 for murdering
Fred Viola, his 7-year-old common-law
stepson.
The state charged that Mori
coni struck the boy and held his
head over a gas stove to collect
$2,000 insurance. The defense
Portland Car Salesman
Fined on Sunday Charge
Portland (U.R) Jean C. Elie,
a used car salesman for the Vest
Motor Co., was fined $50 in Port
land Municipal Court yesterday
for selling cars on Sunday.
Elie was one of a dozen or
more auto dealers and salesmen
who have invited arrest under
the city's ordinance banning car
sales on Sundays. They plan a
court test seeking to repeal the
ordinance. Elie was the fourth
Sunday sale case to reach muni
cipal court.
contended the boy climbed onto
the stove and accidentally turn
ed on the gas when he fell and
struck his head.
Failed to Prove Pretence
Thurlow said the state based
its case on the fact Moriconi was
on relief and needed the insur
ance money. The lawyer, who
also is a Presbyterian minister,
said the state failed to prove
Moriconi even was home when
the death occurred.
A coroner's report, according
to Thurlow, also failed to estab
lish whether the boy died of
asphyxiation or blow on the
head. He said Moriconi spoke
little English at the time and
perhaps was unable to cooperate
with his attorney. ,
. In addition, Thurlow said,
Moriconi may have been inade
quately represented," which
would involve a violation of con
stitutional rights. '
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