IX MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Tuesday. August 14, 1I5C
School Teacher Puts!
Tourists in Gay
Mood By Injun Act
Wisconsin Dells, Wis. -UR)-
A country school teacher with
a dual personality is putting
tourists in a romantic mood with
Indian love songs this summer
He is Chief Little Eagle
known to his grade-school pu
pils as Roger Tallmadge.
As Little Eagle, the dignified
school teacher dons feathers and
beads to preside over a '"Sunset
Tour" through the Dells of the
Wisconsin river. Standing in the
bow of an excursion boat, he
chants Sioux legends and bal
lads with a beat that has prompt
ed other guides to call him "the
wild man of the river."
When the tourists leave, Tall
madge dresses up in his business
suit and teaches a country
school in Adams county. Wis.
In addition to being teacher and
principal, "Mr. Tallmadge" is a
Sunday school superintendent
and businessman.
In both roles, Tallmadge is
proud of "his people" the Indi
ans. Because of the long lapses
between the short tourist sea
sons, the tribes "catch as catch
can" and many live in near pov
erty through the winter months.
Tallmadge' built a successful
business in Denver, Colo., fol
lowing his graduation from col
. lege 10 years ago. But the out
break of the Korean war "killed
the business" when he was re
called to the Marine corps.
After the war, he and his wife,
a dark-eyed Winnebago beauty
named Sah-nay-min-a-cha, decid
ed to return to "their old stamp
ing grounds' in Wisconsin to
start over again.
The best and practically only
business in the Dells area was
entertaining tourists. Tallmadge
reverted to his tribal name
"Little. Eagle" and signed with
one of the tour companies as
. boat pilot, guide and singer.
His nightly "Sunset Tours"
are crowded with honeymoon-
r s, TV - educated youngsters
who are surprised to find there
ara "good Indians who don't
shoot at the marshal," and their
parents.
Come September, the feathers
and beads will be stored away
and Tallmadge will teach sixth
graders at a country school.
Old Florentine Bridge in
Italy Threatens Collapse
HANDKERCHIEF SOS
Boston (U.R) Massachusetts
motorists have devised an im
provised ''SOS" to bring police
aid when their cars break down
on super-highways. The wide
spreading idea is that police will
atop and help if the motorist has
a white handkerchief tied to his
antenna or door handle.
Florence. Italy (U.R) The
old Florentine bridge, Ponte Vec
chio, which has brought an at
mosphere of the Middle Ages
into modern times, is threatening
to collapse into the swirling wa
ters of the Arno River.
Sketched and painted by thou
sands of artists, t written about
by great writers and cherished
in the memories of millions of
visitors to Italy's great art cradle
of the Renaissance, the ancient
bridge is now being harnessed
together by the Italian army en
gineering corps as it has been
showing definite signs of tired
ness. Specialized army workers,
who have already saved hun
dreds of famous monuments old
er than the Ponte Vecchio, have
started building iron supports to
keep the upper structure of the
bridge from caving in.
In Two Sections
The bridge is built in two sec
tions a bottom support consist
ing of three arches based on a
sturdy Roman foundation and
a top part cluttered with shops
and dwellings. This part of the
bridge is topped by a passageway
which is considered the real dan
ger because of careless building
in centuries gone by.
Among the ideas being studied
now, is the old favorite of cem
ent injections, which proved ex
cellent in the cases of the Lean
ing Tower of Pisa, the Colos
seum and many ancient arches
which dot the Italian peninsula.
The basic part of the bridge,
consisting of three graceful arch
es spanning the river, is sound
enough and in no particular dan
ger, according to superintendents
of monuments in Tuscany.
They say that careless build
ing, rebuilding and expansion
work by the bridge shopkeepers
over the years has seriously
weakened the supports under the
famedi "Vasari corridor" a sort
of covered passage running over
the shops on the upstream side
of the bridge.
This tile-roofed passageway
leads from the Uffizi Gallery
on the north side of the river
to the Pitti palace on the south
side. It takes its name from the
famed man who designed it, Gio
rgio Vasari.
Historians say that Vasari, or
the building contractor if he had
one, didn't do the best possible
job of cpnstruction. They said
the work was carried out on a
"fixed fee" contract with a spec
ific deadline fixed by the first
Cosimo of the Medici family,
which ruled the city.
The upshot was that the buil
der, to save time and keep costs
low, used whatever new or sec
ond-hand material he could find
in the immediate vicinity.
Nobody accuses Vasari or the
builder of doing a downright
poor job. The fact that the cor
ridor, built in 1560, has stood for
almost 400 years on top of the
600-year old Ponte Vecchio is
testimony enough.
Shortcomings Magnified
' But the constant remodeling
of the shops of the goldsmiths
underneath, plus the expansion
of some of them to jut out over
the river, has magnified the or
iginal shortcomings until today,
when the "Vasari corridor" is
threatening to cause the entire
bridge to collapse. ,
Another reason for the weak
ening of the bridge dates back
to the last war when the "treas
ure chest of Italian art" felt the
sting of allied bombs.
But the real responsibility
most likely lies on the retreat
ing German army which, on
Aug. 4, 1944, blew up all the
bridges spanning the river but
spared the Ponte Vecchio.
No official explanation was
ever given for this act of clem
ency. The bridges were blown
up in an attempt to slow down
the Allied onslaught towards the
northern industrial and keypoint
cities of Milan and Turin.
The Florentines say that the
German general in charge of
blowing up the bridges felt the
irresistible attraction of the
beautiful bridge with its cutter
ing shops of craftsmen renown
ed for their work of wrought
gold and silver and embossed
leather.
But the general did blow up
everything at the approaches of
both ends of the Ponte Vecchio,
thus weakening it considerably.
Morse To Stand By
Decision of Voters
Chicago (U.P) Sen. Wayne
Morse says he "stands by the
decision, of the voters in his
choice for a Democratic presi
dential candidate.
Oregon Democrats supported
Adlai Stevenson of Illinois in the
May primary and the state's 16
member delegation is pledged to
him. Morse, who is scheduled to
speak tonight, told an Oregon
Journal reporter by telephone
from Washington, D. C, yester
day that "I feel, even though I
am not a delegate, that I should
stand with the voters of Oregon."
His statement ended specula
tion as to his stand in view of
former President Truman's sup-
port of Gov. Averell Harriman
of New York for the nomination,
i
HA''
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Eltctrie Clippers
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Instruction Book
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With this sat you also receive 1
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'ime
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ity Zone
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Phone
How Long
State
How Long
122 East Main Street Medford
Star Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m.
Wednesday T'il 9 p.m.
PHONE 3-5341
f u . PRINr D"ESSES and crng parasols, eight beautiful girls launch
one of the Eisenhower "bandwagons" in New York. Six of these cars are touring the
nation as cart of the "Citizens-For-Eisenhower" drive. (International Soundphoto)
Hodge Hospitalized
By Shattered Nerves
Springfield, 111. (U.R) ' Or
ville E. Hodge, deposed state
auditor who pleaded guilty to
embezzling $637,000 from the
state with phony checks, was
transferred to a hospital from a
jail Monday night for treatment
of shattered nerves.
- Hodge was sent to jail to await
sentencing Monday after he
pleaded guilty to 48 indictments
in circuit court here. He had
been expected to spend most of
the week end in jail, but was
taken to St. John's Hospital
shortly after being examined by
a psychiatrist, Dr.' Paul M. Cald
well. Meanwhile, the former dapper
businessman was stripped of all
his possessions. Attorneys for
Hodge, at a conference in the
slate attorney general's office,
turned over assets totaling about
S663.000 in partial restitution
for Hodge's estimated 51,000,000
raid on the state treasury.
The Railway Express Agency
has retired the last of its electric
powered trucks. The compjany
used battery - driven vehicles
since 1910.
Good Honey In Tips
If You Have Know-How
Boston (U.R) There's good
money in "tips"' if you have the
know-how.
If you know that someone U
going to try to smuggle some
thing into the United States, you
can go to the nearest U.S. Cus
toms office, give the tip, and
collect your reward.
The reward is 25 per cent
of the amount the federal gov
ernment realizes from the seized
article, plus one-fourth of the
fine levied against the smuggler.
A Boston tipster collected
about SI 1.000 not to long ago
for supplying information that
led to the arrest at Logan Air
port of a smuggler carrying con
traband diamonds worth
$40,000.
Boy, 9, youngest
To Climb Mount Blanc
Rome (U.R) A nine-year-old
boy was believed today to be the
youngest climber ever to scale
Mount Blanc, or any other peak
over 13,000 feet high.
Emilio Stefanelli of Comacchit
accompanied his father Dr. Giu
seppe Stefanelli, and Alpine
guide Attilio Ottoz Monday to
the summit of 15,680-foot Mount
Blanc in three and a half hours.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT IS FAMILY NIGHT
SHOP
TIL 9:00
fTSPx Ses Everywhere Ese M f ' if
yT USE WEISFsELD'S SIMPLIFIED CREDIT ""W
IM'ttMPS N0 MCNEY down V! Wy 1
j. Km!
IjLj j r""" j" WEISFIEID'S JEWELERS, 121 Ejrt Main
ii i . . lfgjmmimmmmaJmmtfmr peaM ,tncj me ,h, following items advertised at 19 S3:
nr?) ilYA'4 (H :l H J 1 f j7Yf?&(&i I employed by how long?
Yfmffr afc ..J I ZREDIT REFERENCES .
I'llill.. 122 EAST. MAIN STREET MEDFORD PHONE 3-5348 I (Firm Names and Where Located)
122 EAST. MAIN STREET-MEDFORD-PHONE 3-5348
Store Hours: 9:30 i.m. to 5:30 p.m. T Wed. Til 9 p.m.