Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, April 27, 1956, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., April 27, 1956, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text3mm A CROWD AT HEARING Part of the crowd which attended yesterday's hearing on Southern Pacific's discontinuance of passenger rail service between Portland and Ashland is shown in the court room of the Medford post office building. Seated Medford 5 1st Year 26 Pages D'Auiremont Trial Set For June 5 in Medford Assault Charge Would Be Heard If Offer Accepted Portland U.R) Hugh D'Au tremont, serving life in the state prison for murder in connection with the 1923 mail train robbery in the Siskiyou tunnel near Ash land, today was offered a trial on a federal charge of assaulting a mail clerk. Federal Judge Gus Solomon set June 5 at Medford and in structed U.S. Attorney C. E. Luckey to get in touch with D'Autremont's lawyer and de termine whether the prisoner wants the trial. Phillip J. Roth, the defense attorney, was not immediately available for com ment. Dismissal Denied Last month Roth appeared be fore Judge Solomon and moved for dismissal of the 33-year-old indictment which charges the 53-year-old D'Autremont with as sault in connection with the train robbery. The judge denied the motion but offered an early trial. At the time Roth,, a candi date for the Republican nomina tion for Congress, said he could riot take the case before May 18, date of the primary election. DAutremont and his brothers, Roy and Ray, are serving life for murder. D'Autremont wanted the fed eral indictment dismissed be- jyiuse he said it was keeping him -irom consideration, for a parole. Preliminary Work on Oregon Budget Starts Salem tU.R) Preliminary work on Oregon's 1957-59 bud get was reported under way to day by Robert Johnson, director of the State Department of Fi nance and Administration. Johnson said first work on the budget was being handled by L. J. Young, administrator of the budget division. The budget for the present two years totals S609.000.000 of which S221.000.000 was appro priated by the 1955 legislature for general fund purposes. " Russia Offers To Join in World Mid-East Arms Ban London (U.R) Russia's rulers wound up their 10-day visit to Britain today with an offer to join a worldwide ban on arms shipments to the Middle East where Arab -.Israeli tension threatens a third world war. The offer was made at a jammed news conference here by Soviet Premier Nikolai Bul ganin and Communist Party Boss Nikita Khrushchev shortly be fore they left for Portsmouth and departed for home aboard the cruiser Orjonikidze. They also made these points: (1) Price Minister Sir Anthony Eden has agreed to visit the Soviet Union at some future un iKrm'irf Tf 'ill i ii i i ' nil- 11. i j 17-.111 ji - - r m 1 - v ) i 1 j 1 IWiM-WllMli " 1 J ,1 iy I :r luff' ' MEDFORD, OREGON, FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1956 Gas Blast Demolishes Big Apartment House Pulaski, Va. (U.R) A gas explosion demolished a three story apartment house here to day and police said that at least seven persons were killed. Police Chief Lee S. Boothe said that seven bodies had been removed from the smouldering rubble of the building and that four or five other persons thought to have been in the apartment were still missing. Controlled la Seren Hours Within seven hours after the terrific early morning explosion, firemen brought the resulting fire under control and rescue workers dug the seventh body Fores! Operators Set Three Meetings Three meetings for forest op erators will be conducted next weekt Curt Nesheim, southwest district warden for the state de partment of forestry, has an nounced. The first will be held Tuesday, May 1, at the state'forest patrol headquarters. Others are sched uled Wednesday, May 2, at the Grants Pass patrol headquarters and Thursday, , May 3, at the American Legion hall at Cave Junction. All sessions will start at 8 p.m. District policies and forest laws will be reviewed and dis cussed. All logging and sawmill operators are invited and each needs to attend only one of the meetings since matters covered at each will be the same. Jerry Lausmann Named To Head Heay Campaign Jerry S. Lausmann, 1549 Stratford ave., Medford, has been named Jackson county chairman of the Healy for Sec retary . of State committee, it was announced today. William Healy, who has served for eight years as assistant-secretary of state,' is seeking nomination on the Re publican ticket. disclosed date. (2) Urged British intercession to bring about closer Soviet-American relations. (3) Made another pitch for an end to the Wesfs strategic trade em bargo.1 (4) Repeated the stand taken in a farewell communique issued last night that Russia now is ready to discuss nuclear as well as conventional disarma ment. (5) Disclosed- that their talks with British leaders ran into "certain underwater snags." Fallowing the news confer ence, Bulganin and Khrushchev were rushed to Victory Station, where a small, mostly silent crowd mtched them leave. at the table" in center are State Senators Gene Brown (left with glasses) of Grants Pass, and Phil Lowry, Medford. The crowd extended around each wall of the room, and into ;lhe hallway. (Brainerd photo from the wreckage. Hopes were waning of finding any of the missing persons alive and .police, were riot. surejust how many were still not ac counted for. Eight were injured, several seriously. A reporter at the scene quoted witnesses as saying screams from within the build ing died out within a few min utes of the shattering explosion. The building was blown into twisted timbers and rubble by the blast, touched off when W. J. Mahaffey, the operator of a restaurant on the ground floor, tried to light a gas hot water heater. It happened at 5:50 a.m. (EST) while most of the occupants of the building were sleeping. Six Hospitalized Some of the tenants were in a transient center operated by the Salvation Army on the first floor. Six persons were hospitalized. Lt. G. E. Boulein of the Rad ford, Va., police department, said seven families were living in the brick apartment building in addition to those occupying the Salvation Army facilities. Northwest Democrats Accuse Summerfield Washington ;U.R Eight Dem ocrats from the Pacific North west accused Postmaster Gen eral Arthur E. Summerfield yes terdayof trying to use local pos tal officials as "political prop agandists." They demanded a Civil Serv ice Commission investigation to see whether Summerfield direct ed postal employees to engage in illegal political activities. The eight Democrats based their charge on an official Post Office Department memorandum to all local postmasters in the Northwest. It asked postmasters to "make every attempt to se cure wide publicity" of a press release from Summerfield which, they said, attacked them politically. The eight congressmen are Sens. Warren G. Magnuson and Henry M. Jackson of Washing ton, James E. Murray and Mike Mansfield of Montana Wayne Morse and Richard L. Neuberger of Oregon, and Reps. Don Mag nuson of Washington and Lee Metcalf of Montana. Radiation Monitor Station Due Portland Portland U.R) Establish ment of a radiation monitoring station in Portland as part of a nationwide network of 27 detec tion centers to measure radioac tive fallout was announced by the State Board of Health today. Fallout will be measured be fore, during and after thid spring's nuclear tests in the Pa cific. There is no reason to ex pect any danger, the board said. Tribune Price 5c No. 32 H. D. Chrisfensen Named Chairman Of Welfare Group , H. D. Christensen, 29 Rich mond ave., Medford, has been appointed Jackson County Wel fare commission chairman, suc ceding A. S. V. Carpenter, who resigned recently. Christensen said he received a letter of appointment from Gov ernor Elmo Smith. The office be came effective last Saturday. He has Deen 'a fnerriber of the' coril mission for about two years. Active in Boy Scout work in southern Oregon, Christensen has been on the Crater Lake Area council executive board about 10 years and was president of the council four years. He was on the regional executive board for five years. Other Activities He also served two three-year terms on the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian church, and was a member of the board of directors of the Jackson coun ty chamber of commerce in 1944 and 1945. Christensen was born in South Dakota, and attended South Da kota State college, Yankton, S.D., college, and Creighton uni versity in Omaha, Neb. He has a degree in pharmacy. He mov ed to Medford in 1942, and has lived here since. Carpenter resigned for two reasons. One is the fact that he is away from the county for ex tended periods of time, and the other is that he is not in sym pathy with present policies of the state public welfare commis sion, which limit the freedom of action and authority of local commissions, he said. Chotiner Expresses Willingness To Talk Los Angeles (U.R) Murray Chotiner, Vice-President Richard M. Nixon's campaign manager in 1952, today expressed willing ness to testify before a congres sional investigating committee. The Beverly Hills, Calif., at torney appeared at the U. S. Marshal's office here yesterday to pick up a subpoena ordering his appearance before the com mittee next Wednesday. Chotiner was subpoenaed by Sen. John McClellan's investi gating group to testify on his re lations with Samuel and Herman Kravitz, Atlantic City clothing manufacturers he represented in 1953. Chotiner managed Nixon's suc cessful campaign in 1952 .as well as his earlier campaigns for the Senate. . The attorney said he didn't know if he again would handle Nixon's campaign. White Muscle Disease Kills Oregon Animals Salem-U.R) The -State Agri cultural Department reported to day that white muscle disease has killed 106 Oregon animals in the last two months more than any other disease. Dr. K. J. Peterson, state vet erinarian for the department, said Marion county contributed 34 0f the March fatalities while Yamhill had 14. In both cases the disease was more widespread among lambs. Hearing Conti Railroad's Cade c0 Be Heard July 10 Frank Van Dvke. Medford at torney and former speaker of the Oregon house of representa tives Thursday charged South ern Pacific with making a delib erate effort to discourage passen ger rail service in southern Oregon. Van Dyke was one of 17 wit nesses at the first day of the hearing protesting discontinu ance of passenger train service between Portland and Ashland. The hearing continued today, with only a 10-minute recess at noon. Among witnesses today was Robert E. McCoy, Portland, exe cutive director of Oregon Devel opment commission, who said eastern industrial interests have refused to examine possible busi ness sites in this area because of inadequate rail service. Mayor Earl Miller of Medford said he felt the citizens of Med ford are entitled to modern. con venient railroad system. The examiner early this after noon accepted exhibit number one from George Lewis of Rogue Travel service here. It was a Time magazine, April 30, 1956, in which Southern Pacific show ed a map indicating the railroad offered passenger train service on the Siskiyou line. Southern Pacific will present its case in the discontinuance at a hearing in Grants Pass July 10. Hearings here are centered on protests from citizens and or ganizations. Van Dyke said SP gave "lip service" to southern Oregon, but didn't make a real effort to build up passenger service in this area before abandoning it for finan cial reasons last August. , He further claimed SP has realized considerable revenue from fruit, lumber, cattle and other freight trade in this area. "By that reason this region is entitled to better service than it received," he said. Van Dyke added that passen ger train service between Port land and Ashland could be devel oped into a paying "proposition by improving train facilities and eliminating some of the minor stops. Funeral Director C. M. Litwiller, Ashland fu neral director, testified that dis continuance of the passenger service has created a major prob lem in his business. He said bodies being shipped elsewhere must now be transported by freight truck of facilities pro vided by the funeral home. "Mental anguish of relatives is the most prominent problem," he said.' The funeral director explained that until the service was aban doned his company shipped by passenger train an average of 25 bodies per year. It is now neces sary, he said, to ship bodies from the south to Klamath Falls, then to Eugene where they are picked up and delivered to Ashland by truck. This procedure, he said, delays funerals at least 24 hours. Ashland's mayor; Richard L. Neil, testified that for a -period of three or four years before the passenger line was abandoned the train from Dunsmuir, Calif., to Ashland was 30 minutes too late for patrons to make connec tions from Ashland to Portland. Counsel for Southern Pacific asked Neil to specify dates when the problem existed. Neil said he could not remember, but stat ed a number of people made complaints to him concerning the matter. Archie Fries, manager of the Ashland branch, U.S. National bank, pointed out he had been told that for a' period of about 12 years the passenger line be tween Portland and Ashland was classified as a freight line. "As far as I'm concerned," he said, "we didn't have passenger service during that period. Combining Stops O. H. Bengston, Medford at torney, suggested dropping the practice of combining passenger and freight service. He said the passenger line could be made more efficient by combining stops. As an example, he sug gested Central Point patrons might find a means of transpor tation to Medford to catch the Portland-bound train. Dr. Elmo Stevenson, president of Southern Oregon college, in dicated enrollment at the col lege, especially during summer sessions, could be increased by restoration of passenger service. Eugene P. Leidigh, president of the Ashland Chamber of Com merce, submitted to the hearing examiner resolutions objecting to discontinuance of the service from the Elks lodge 944, Ash land hotel, Alpha chapter of Beta Sigmi Phi, Rebekah lodge, Ashland chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, Ashland Civic club, Ashland Garden club, and Ashland So- roptimists. Asked No Questions Several at the hearing report ed they had been contacted by Southern Pacific representatives before passenger service here was abandoned. They said they were asked no questions, but simply told the service was go ing to be stopped. Counsel for SP asked most of the witnesses the type of sched ule they would prefer if passen ger service were restored. A train leaving southern Oregon at night and arriving in Portland early in the morning was gener ally preferred. Information Asked Three state senators have ask ed SP to produce at the hearing information on date of acquisi tion of equipment used on the line for 10 years prior to aban donment of the run; depreciation schedules for the same period; accounting and operation rec ords; operations figures on the Portland-Klamath Falls run on the route east of the Cascades; records of freight revenue for the Rogue River run and the Portland-Klamath Falls run, and allocation of passenger revenue for fares originating in Eugene and Ashland to all other points. The senators are Phil Lowry, Medford; Gene Brown, Grants Pass, and Paul E. Geddes, Rose burg. Last July Lowry, Geddes and Brown filed with the Public Utilities commission t complaint against Southern Pacific asking that reasonably adequate passen ger service be resumed. Counsels for Southern Pacific are Ogelsby H. Young, F. C. Mc Colloch, both associated with Koerner, Young, McColloch and Dezendorf, Portland, and Wil liam McAllister, Medford SP attorney. Examiner for the hearing is Clifford W. Ferguson, of Salem, counsel, and - director, depart ment of rail transportation, Ore gon Public Utilities commission. Great Decisions To Discuss Japan's Role Great Decisions discussion groups in the valley Tyill deal with the problem, "What can the U.S. do about Japan's role in Asia?" during t he coming sixth week of the Great Deci sion series. The present economic and political situation in Japan and its relation to the U.S. and other countries will be discussed also on radio and TV, as well as in the high school class on Gov ernment Problems. The problem will be aired on radio station KYJC at 7:30 p.m. Saturday; KMED from 9 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday; KWIN, Ashland, from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Monday and KBES-TV from 2:30 to 2:45 p.m. Tuesday. Don Hansen, chairman, urged anyone interested in studying and taking part in American foreign policy to read and dis cuss this week's topic. Montgomery Negroes Demand Integration Montgomery, Ala- (U.R) Ne groes waged a 20-week-old, city wide -bus boycott today with a new demand for outright aboli tion of segregation. While city officials threatened a court test of the National City Lines' attempt to integrate its buses the Negroes mostly stuck to their car pools or walked. Only a few rode the .still-segregated buses. i A throng of Negroes attending a mass meeting Thursday night thundered approval of a reso lution to continue the boycott until their status is "clarified." Their speakers indicated they meant desegregation. "We will never go back to Jim Crow buses," the Rev. B. D. Lambert said. He got a loud ovation. This represented a big change in tneir original demand at the start of the boycott for merely improved seating under existing segregation laws so Negroes would not have to stand while seats are still vacant. WEATHER FORECAST: C'iondy with lieht showers tonieht and chanre of thunderstorm activity In mountains. Variable cloudi ness tonight becoming partly cloudy Saturday with a few light showers. Low tonight 35-38. High Saturday 65 Temp. Highest Yesterday 65 Lowest this Morning .. 43 Prec. to 4:3$ a.m.. Today 34 I i' Bulletins Washington (U.R) The House by a vote of 388 to 19 today approved a 13 year SSI, 500.000 highway construction program with increased taxes on gasoline, tires and trucks to finance it. Mojave (U.R) Two Marine jet planes collided near here today and the four occupants, two in each plane, were killed, the Marine Auxiliary Air Station announced. Edward T. Newbry Dies in Ashland Wednesday Night Ashland Edward Thomas Newbry, 89, an Ashland resi dent for 36 years, died Wednes day night in an Ashland hospi tal, where he had been a patient for five weeks. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the First Methodist church in Ashland. Litwiller's Mountain View chap el is in charge of arrangements. Interment will be in Mountain View cemetery. Mr. Newbry was born Dec. 13, 1866, in Brown county, Ohio. The family spent several years pioneering in Washington and Idaho, where Mr. Newbry play ed a leading part in developing the Twin Falls, Ida., Irrigation tract. He started with first con struction work and was superin tendent of the district several years upon completion. He was active in politics in Twin Falls county, serving as county commissioner. He also was a, close friend of the late Senator William Borah and the later Idaho Governor Brady. The family moved to north eastern Washington in 1919 aft er touring western states during 1918. In 1921, the family moved to Talent, where Mr. Newbry became associated with develop ments in Jackson county, and the Talent Irrigation district. He was a member of the TID board of directors for several years. . He was a member of the Ash land Methodist church, and was active in church work. : He is ; survived by his wife, Mrs. Electa Newbry; two sons, E. Lester Newbry, Portland, and Earl T. Newbry, Secretary of State, Salem; two daughters, Mrs. Elsie Williams, Salem, and Mrs. Edna Hill,- Talent; six grandchildren, three great grandchildren and two brothers, both of Twin Falls, Ida. Hammarskjold Talks To Lebanon President Jerusalem, (Israeli Sector) (U.R) U. N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold sounded out Lebanon today oh a proposal to police its common border with Israel with combined Arab Jewish patrols. He met in Beirut with Leba nese President Chamille Cha moun this morning and had an appointment to meet with For eign Minister Selim LaHoud this evening. The U.N. leader flew to Beirut Thursday after talking the same idea over with Jordan leaders in Amman. He was due to fly back to Cairo Saturday. An Egyptian government spokesman said Thursday in Cairo that Hammarskjold had submitted to Egypt the draft of a three-point agreement he wanted to negotiate between Israel and the four Arab states on its border, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The agreement called for joint Arab-Israeli frontier patrols, U. N. observation posts at critical points along the borders and an increase in the number of U.N. truce observers. DOW-JONES AVERAGES New York -HU.R) Dow-Jones closing stock averages: 30 indus trials 512.03, up 4.91; 20 rail roads 176.96, up 0.74; 15 utilities 65.01, up 0.03; 65 stocks 181.74, up 1.17. Sales today were about 2,760,000 Shares compared with 2,'63 0,000 yesterday. Light Showers Seen for Week-End Weather in State By UNITED PRESS Oregon's week-end weather picture' called for a few light showers that were not expected tn be heavy enough to hamper the opening of trout season to-J morrow or the Portland Bea vers' home baseball opener to day. The first measurable precipi tation in Portland for 20 days fell this morning but it was light and the afternoon outlook called for partial clearing. A few light showers was the forecast for Oregon through tomorrow. The Columbia river rolled along more than five feet over Longer Hours for Hauling of Logs Being Considered Less Danger In Night Hauling Seen Portland (U.R) The State Highway Commission today was considering a proposal to extend hauling hours for log trucks on Oregon highways. A request for longer hours came yesterday from the As sociated Forest Industries of Ore gon which protested the 8 p.m. closure, spokesmen said that equipment has improved to the point where night hauline no longer is as dangerous as it used to be. Study To Be Made The commission decided to have a study made before the next meeting to determine what would need to be done about lighting of log trucks and check ing at night for overloads. A two-hour increase at night was indicated as under consideration. R. H. Baldock, state engineer, told commissioners that a sec tion of the Portland-Salem free way from the Willamette river to Salem, would be closed to traf fic at 7 a.m. Wednesday so the contractor can comnlete th work. Moving up the closure date to May 2, he said, was due to favorable weather. To Reroute Traffic The highway will be closed at 7 a.m. at the Salem terminal and at 8 a.m. at the Willamette river end. Traffic will be rerouted' over Highway 99. Baldock also told the commis sion the slide situation on the Columbia river highway east of Cascade Locks would be given a thorough study. Bids on 27 projects were opened . yesterday and commis sioners rejected five and award ed 22 contracts. The rejected projects included the largest, grading and paving a section of the Coast highway at Brookings, for which the low bid was $219, 987. Greenglass Asked To Repeal Story Of Espionage Washington (U.R) Senate investigators called convicted atom spy David Greenglass to day to repeat the testimony that helped send his sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the electric chair. . The 34-year-old machinist, now serving a 15-year espionage sentence, was taken before the Senate Internal Security Sub committee to recite how he gave highly . secret information, in cluding sketches of the inner workings of the atom bomb, to a Red spy ring. Given Information Greenglass listened yesterday as Harry Gold, a confessed and convicted' courier for the Soviet spy ring, told again how Green glass gave him several pages of information for transmission to Russian agents. Gold, now serv ing a 30-year-term, said Green glass gave him the data June 3, 1945 in Albuquerque, N. M. Greenglass testified at his trial in 1951 that he was re cruited as a spy by his sister and her husband, Julius Rosenberg. The Rosenbergs were executed for espionage in 1953. Helped Make 'Lenses' Greenglass was an Army en listed man and assistant foreman of a machine shop at the Los Alamos, N. M., atomic labora tory from 1944 to 1946. He helped make the high explosive "lenses" used in the Nagasaki type atom bomb, a later devel opment than the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The so-called lenses were used to focus the force of high, explosive inward to a plutonium core, which then exploded by nuclear fission. This lens con cept was included in the data which Greenglass said he gave Gold for the Russians. flood stage at .Vancouver, Wash., reaching a level of 20.2 this morning. The Willamette in Pprtland was 2.2 feet over flood stage. The forecast called for little change in the Portland area for the next 2 days follow ed by a slight fall. Most tribu tary streams were falling. In Idaho the St. Joe river broke through a second dike near St. Maries yesterday but was falling slowly today. Pools of water covered extensive areas of the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene river valleys. The dike break yesterday allowed water to pour into more farmland.