rOtTRTETM MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Monday, August 13, 1953
Sheep Herder, 84,
Climbs Mt. Hood
Forest Grove OJ.R) A hik
ing companion revealed during
the week end that an 84-year-old
former Indian fighter from For
est Grove climbed Mt. Hood last
Thursday in fulfillment of a life
long dream and then hurried
back down in time to nera nis
flock of sheep.
Thomas Morgan, who had liv
ed in sight of the mountain since
boyhood, said he wanted to climb
the mountain to view the land
where he was raised "from a
new position."
Mrs. Harold Dyke of Maupin
accompanied Morgan on his first
climb along with guide Dale
Thomas of Timmberline lodge.
Two Oregon State college stu
dents, Ron Reeves and Marian
Swaggart, joined the party and
paid tribute to Morgan's agility.
A check of lodge records after
the ascent showed that no one
approaching Morgan's age had
ever registered as making the
tough climb, part of it over ice.
In addition to raising sheep
near Maupin, Morgan recently
published a book locally called
"My Story of the Last Indian
War in the Northwest."
O
Subway construction was
started in New York City as
early as 1869.
Justice Department Orders Grand Jury
Probe in Strange Death of SV3aj. Molohan
Editor's note: it2iian witnesses have , ment to direct air drops of U.S. ) Civil courts do not have juris-
een flown to Uiis country to testify , . j:.;. v,,,c u ,,.
thi week at a rranii jurv investiga
tion of the World War II slaying of
Mai. William V. Holohan. The follow
ing dispatch tells why the covernment i
is reopemnt rnis in-year-oia cast, unc
of the most bizaare murder stories in
the annals of American Justice.
By LOUIS CASELS
United Press Correspondent
Washington (U.R) Few
things trouble the Department
of Justice so much as the thought
that somebody is getting away
with murder.
That is why the department
has ordered a grand jury investi
gation, which will begin here
next week, into the strange case
of Maj. William V. Holohan.
Thirteen witnesses have been
flown from Italy to testify.
Holohan was a small, wiry,
courageous OSS officer who was
slain under mysterious circum
stances while carrying out a
cloak-and-dagger mission behind
the enemy lines in Northern Italy
on Dec. 6, 1944. He was in com
mand of a small 'detachment of
OSS men who were dropped by
parachute near Lake Orta, on
the Italian-Swiss frontier, to
establish contact with Italian
partisans who were harassing
the Germans.
Holohan's unit carried about
$12,000 in cash, and radio equip-
arms to the bands of partisans.
F was reported lost in a skirm
ish and was considered a casualty
of war until 1949, when his body
was found in a weighted sleep
ing bag at the bottom of Lake
Orta, with two bullet holes
through the head.
Italian authorities began an
investigation, which soon pro
duced confessions from two Ital
ian members of Holohan's OSS
team that he had been murdered
by his own men.
Americans Named
At a trial in November, 1953,
an Italian court held that the
murder was planned by two
Americans former Lieut. Aldo
Icardi of Pittsburgh and former
Sgt. Carl Lodolce of Rochester,
N.Y.
Italy tried to extradite the
two men but U.S. courts ruled
they could not be forced to leave
this country. The Italian court
sentenced them, in absentia, to
long prison terms.
Because of a loophole in the
law that existed during World
War II, but has since been plug
ged, it is apparently impossible
to bring Icardi and Lodolce to
trial on murder charges in any
U.S. court, civil or military.
diction because the crime was
committed in Italy. Military
courts are powerless because the
two men were given honorable
discharges at the end of the war.
If a similar case came up now,
the military would have author
ity, under the recently enacted
Uniform Code of Military Jus
tice, to bring the accused to jus
tice. Justice Department attorneys
have been pouring over their
lawbooks hunting a way around
this impasse. Now they think
they've found it. They won't
discuss their strategy in advance
of the grand jury hearings, but
some legal experts believe that
the government will seek treason
indictments.
In treason cases, unlike mur
der cases, it is not necessary that
the charges be filed in the fed
eral court having jurisdiction
over the area in which the al
leged crime was committed.
Treason is a crime against the
whole United States and the
charge may be filed in any fed
eral court, at any time. There
is no statute of limitations, and
the maximum penalty for trea
son in wartime is death.
If the government seeks a
A Good Turn For Motorists
o
Most people consider an automobile the second big
gest purchase they'll ever make. Anything that
extends the life of that investment, or makes it
perform better, naturally contributes to your pock
etbook as.well as your motoring pleasure. Since our
new "Detergent-Action" Gasolines do both, they're
O
prime examples of Standard's planning for you. .
These new gasolines are made in complicated plants
called catalytic reformers. Using platinum and other
catalysts, they rearrange gasoline molecules to make
the cleaner-burning, more powerful motor fuels re
quired for best performance of today's higher com
pression engines. Standard built 4 of these reformers
in the West. This program was 2 years in planning
and building cost $50 million.
This $50 million worth of plants is only part of the
$350 million Standard Oil Company of California is
investing this year to make petroleum more useful
and plentiful. Some of it will go for research to im
prove products and develop new ones. Part of it will
pay for additional manufacturing facilities . . . while
a good share will finance the search for new sources
of oil to help supply the 733 gallons a year per per
son that go into thousands of oil-born products
essential to modern living.
So the $350 million is an investment in your future
as well as ours. It's one way Standard helps to guar
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O
STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA
plans ahead to serve you better
treason indictment, it could
mean that Justice Department
prosecutors believe that Com
munist intrigue, rather than rob
bery, was the motive for Holo
han's murder. Some of the Ital
ian witnesses told reporters, be
fore their departure from Milan
Tuesday, that U.S. agents who
questioned them seemed to be
"interested in the political back
ground" of Holohan's violent
death.
They referred to charges that
Holohan, a devout Roman Cath
olic, had sharp differences with
Icardi over the way in which
air-dropped U.S. arms should be
distributed among Communist
and Non-Communist partisan
bands fighting the Germans in
Northern Italy.
Slaying Role Denied
Icardi, testifying before a
House Armed Services Subcom
mittee which investigated the
Holohan case on March 26, 1953,
flatly denied any part in the
slaying. He also denied any ef
fort to get disproportionate
share of arms for Communist
partisans.
Icardi stuck by the story he
has told from the start that
Holohan was lost in a skirmish
with enemy troops who suddenly
attacked the OSS mission.
Legal experts said that the
government, if it fails to get a
treason indictment, might seek
to bring perjury charges against
Icardi on the basis of his 1953
testimony before the House sub
committee. Lodolce- declined to testify be
fore the House subcommittee.
Earlier, in 1951, he had signed,
and then repudiated, a detailed
confession.
This confession gave a starkly
dramatic account of how Holo
han met his death.
Bitter Feelings
Lodolce said there had been
bitter feelings between Icardi
and Holohan for a long time,
with Icardi constantly complain
ing that Holohan was not con
ducting the mission properly.
Lodolce and two Italian mem
bers of the OSS team, whom he
called Manin and Pupo, grad
ually came to share Icardi's hat
red for the major, and the four
of them began "in a joking way"
to plot his murder.
"Somehow, from being just a
saying, the thing became ser
ious," Lodolce said. "It may have
been a means of getting off
steam the fear caused by be
ing In the general situation may
have made us want to direct it
against something tangible."
At any rate, Lodolce said, on
the night of Dec. 6, 1944, Manin
and Pupo fed. Holohan a bowl of
poisoned soup. The major be
came ill and went to his room,
but did not seem to be dying.
Ledolce said Icardi grew panicky
and insisted that he and Lodolce
flip a coin to see who would
shoot Holohan.
Fired Two Shots
"I called and lost," Lodolce
said. "Manin gave me a gun.
his Beretta. We walked in. The
major sat up and said either
'What is it? 'Who is it? or
'What's the matter.' I walked to
the side of his bed and fired two
shots" ...
"Manin, Pupo and Icardi
picked up the major. He was
heavy and Manin told me to help,
but I couldn't bring myself to
do anything. The maior was car
ried to the boat which Manin
had waiting on the lake . . .
Manin and Pudo rowed him nut
to deeper water and dropped his
weighted body."
TO FILM ROBINSON STORY
Hollywood (U.R) Universal
International Studio said today
it will produce "The Bill Robin
son Story" based on the career
of the late dancing star. The
studio acquired rights to film
the biography of Robinson from
his widow. Robinson died Nov.
25, 1949. . ,
Guild Recommends
New TV Film Contract
Hollywood (U.R) The. board
of the Screen Actors Guild has
unanimously recommended ac
ceptance of a proposed new con
tract to end a nationwide strike
against producers of television
The board called a special
meeting of the en-tire SAG mem
bership for Tuesday night and
predicted the contract would be
approved.
The SAG's 10,000 members
struck Aug. 4 In a dispute over
Wyati Cifes GOP Opportunity in State
Klamath Falls (U.R) Wen
dell Wyatt, chairman of the Ore
gon state Republican central
Committee, told several hundred
persons at a picnuc here yester
day that Oregon Republicans
have "unparalleled opportunity
and challenge in the 1956 gen
eral elections."
payment to actors for the sec
ond showing of TV films in
which they appear. Terms of the
proposed contract will not be
disclosed until after the mem
bership meeting.
Wyatt, referring to9 Sen.
Wayne Morse, said "we must
meet the challenge of an op
ponent who does not represent
the people of Oregon and who
has used the party as a step
ping stone to power."
He outlined some Republic!
successes under the Eisenhower
administration and said the
country had achieved prosper
ity without war despite what he
called the "bitter and vindictive
crystal-gazing" of Sen. Morse
a year ago.
SOUP FOR LUNCH
Camden, N. J. (U.R) Police
arrested three employees of a
soup company and ( charged
them with stealing cases of
canned soup during their lunch
hour.
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A PF back-to-school loan may be just the
answer to your arithmetic problem.
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