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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1955)
TEW MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Tuesday, November 15, 1955 Mass Murder To Against Bomber of United Air Be Charged Lines Plane Confession Tells Of Anxiefy Over Lateness of Craft Denver (U.R! The govern ment told the state today it could prosecute John Gilbert Graham for mass murder in the United Ai- Lines bomb plot crash that killed 44 persons, including his own mother. The federal action, announc ed by United States Attorney Donald E. Kelley, prepared the way for the state to file charges aganst Graham, 23, that could send him to the gas chamber. Plot coniessea r Graham confessed yesterday that he sweated for 35 minutes waiting for the delayed takeoff Nov. 1 of the plane carrying his heavily-insured mother and his homemade time bomb. It ex ploded minutes afterward while the plane was in Ilight Killing all aboard. Denver District Attorney Berth Keating immediately an nounced that he would file mur der charges against Graham for the death of his mother. The state prosecutor said he already had commenced the pre paration of the murder charges. Details of the confession wer made known in a story in the Rocky Mountain News by David Stolberg. He said he learned the details from a variety of sources which he was not at liberty to divulge. 90 Minute Maximum Graham's confession said the bomb was regulated by a tim ing device set for its maximum! period of 90 minutes. He set it about 45 minutes to an hour be fore his mother boarded the plane that carried her to her death. Graham planted the bomb to collect 37,50.0 on an insurance policy which he had taken out in his mother's name. The pol icy : was . worthless because she had not countersigned it accord ing to law. , Graham said he collected 25 sticks of dynamite, rigged them with -a battery and placed them in his mother's suitcase shortly before she boarded the plane to visit her daughter, Mrs. Helen Hablutzel in Anchorage, Alaska. When news of the airliner crash broke Graham went home to his wife and children, put his face in his hands and cried, his neighbors said. 3 The FBI declined to reveal the. details of how Graham got the t .dynamite bomb into his mother's luggage. The Rocky Mountain News Japanese Politics Gels Two Parlies said Graham tied 25 sticks of dynamite together, removed some of his mother s things from a suitcase and replaced them with the explosive. Explosion Time Set The Scripps-Howard newspa per said Graham set the bomb to explode in 90 minutes, bound his mother's suitcase with straps and carried it to Stapleton Air field for his mother. "After my mother had fin ished checking her luggage, my wife and I went with her to the passengers' gate where we told my mother goodbye and watch ed her board the plane with other passengers," Graham said, according to the News. Graham said he took his wife to the airport coffe shop and "as we were leaving I heard the cashier say . . . that there had been a wreck of an airplane." "Later on that evening after my wife and I had returned to our home, we heard over the radio . . . that all the passengers had been killed." Graham, charged technically with a federal offense of sabo tagina an airliner, was held under heavy guard in Denver's county jail. His bail was set at S100.000. U. S. Attorney Donald E. Kelley said the sabotage charge was "hardly worth while." Stale Murder Charge He asked the Justice Depart ment for an opinion on whether Graham should be turned over to the state to face murder charges. The maximum penalty for sabotage is 10 years. If he is charged and convicted of mur der he could receive the death penalty under state laws. Dr. Earl J. Miller, the Gra ham family physician for 20 years, said the 23-year-old ex plosives expert "bordered" on mechanical genius. He learned to use dynamite while working on construction jobs. Elvin West,' a neighbor, said Graham "once told me he'd do anything for money. He didn't seem to have much feeling for people." The FBI did not disclose de tails of how Graham was traced to the explosion. But it seemed assured the trip insurance he ar ranged provided the tip off. Another clue might have been the weight of Mrs. King's lug gage. Her suitcases weighed 103 pounds, 27 pounds over the limit. She had to pay $27.82 for the extra weight. Graham, married and the father of two children, is tech nically an heir to part of his mother's $150,000 estate. Tokyo U.R) A powerful new Conservative Party was forced today with the merger of the dis solved Democratic and Liberal parties, giving Japan its first two-party system since World War II. The left and right-wing Socialists merged into a single party last month. The new Conservative group ing will hold a heavy parliamen tary majority. : Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoy ama, who headed the Demo cratic party, will remain as head of government until next spring under the merger deal with the Liberals. But actual management of the party will be in the hands of a joint committee of four, led by Hatoyama and former Liberal President Taketora Ogata. Under the agreement, Hatoy ama will step down next spring to pave the way for election of a permanent party president and prime minister. Ogata presum ably will be chosen. The Democratic and Liberal parties were formally dissolved Monday night. The formal mer ger of the two conservative groups came today. Some 2,000 members and supporters of the two parties met in the Chuo Uni versity Auditorium to inaugur ate the "Liberal-Democratic" party. Officials of the new party said it controlled 298 seats in the 467 member House of Representa tives and 115 in the 250-mem-ber upper House of Councillors. In the upper house, it can count on the support of the 47 mem bers of the Green Breeze party. The new party is pledged to uphold "peace and democracy." Court Records DISTRICT COURT Evelyn Willahmena Tefft, failure to stop at a stop sign, $10. Leroy Wilbur Branham, overheight, $15. Robert John Bohl. insufficient bind ers. $10; overload, $24.50. Floyd C. Evernden, overload, 5118. Ted Wayne Dau, violation of basic rule, $20. Leland Fred Nelson, inadequate muffler, $15. Alvy Len snoemaKer, ovenoaa. siaa. Richard Allan Bourne; inadequate muffler, $15. Harold Lee LaGrave, no mumer, $15. Melvm Taylor.'dumping ruDDisn on game commission land, $25. Frank Victor Oliver, failure to stop at red light, $10. James Earl Hobos, violation of Dasic rule, $10 (bail forfeiture). Jerry Victor Bianconi, no signaling device. $10 (bail forfeiture). Fred John Lenty, no operator's li cense, S6. Sharold Waldo Chapman. truck" speeding, S7.50; overload, S59. Dwain Allen Richardson, overload, $56. MARRIAGE LICENSE APPLICATIONS Keith Floyd Nelson, 20, Happy Camp, Calif., and Rose Adaline Ves sells, 17, Jacksonville. i La Verne Iler Haptonstall, 21, route 1, box 136, Ashland, and Patricia Louise Rogers, Susanne Homes hall, Ashland. ' now in tliis handsome new package Handsome outside, mellow inside no wonder Century Club is to popular these days! and. 6 YEARS OLD 2 PT. 35 45 QT. Davidson Doubts IPC Will Complete Dams Portland (U.R) Former As sistant Interior Secretary C. Gir ard Davidson predicted at a meeting of the National Hells Canyon Association here Satur day that "Idaho Power Company will not complete any of the three lower Snake river dams. The former Truman official, now an association attorney, said "I doubt seriously that a single bucket of concrete will be poured in any of them." Applicants Musi File For NR07C By Nov. 19 Applications for compitiva examinations for entrance into the Naval Reserve Officers Training corps in college must be in by Nov. 19. The nationwide examination will be given Dec. 10. Applications are available at Medford High school or the navy recruiting office in the post of fice building here. - BACK IN THE SWING Taking advantage of a warm November afternoon, President Eisenhower (left) felt well enough to go out on the White House lawn and swing his golf club as he gives his son, Major John Eisen hower (right) a few pointers on his favorite game. PT&T Tax Bill Sets Record in Multnomah Portland (U.R) Pacific Tele phone and Telegraph Company of Portland has been presented with a real and personal prop erty tax bill amounting to $1, 773,785, an alltime high for Multnomah county. County tax authorities, re minding that today was the dead line for a 3 per cent discount in 1955-56 tax payments, said Port land General Electrc also owed a whopping tax bill $1,587,845. Dead line Sunday Classified Is at noon Saturday: 10 ajn Monday for Monday: other days 5:30 Drevious day. Lana Turner Under Warrant From Court Los Angeles '(U.R) Film star Lana Turner today was under a bench warrant for failing to ap pear in Superior court in an $18,000 civil suit. Superior Judge Arthur K. Marshall ordered the warrant drawn against her yesterday, but indicated it would not be put into force if Miss Turner ap pears at a hearing Nov. 28. The blonde actress and her husband, actor Rex Barker, were subpoenaed to testify on how much they owed Texas oil promoter J. Robert Neal, who is being sued by oil engineer Rob ert L. Daniels for $18,000. Missj Turner has denied she owed Neal any money. The actress, her husband, and several other film stars were reported to have purchased par ticipating interests in oil prop erties in Texas from Neal. No warrant was ordered against Barker. Michigan has an area of 58, 216 square miles of land and 1,194 square miles of water. FREE! 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