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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1958)
Eight-Children, Two Adults Perish When Trapped in House Jersey Shore. Pa. 0? A fire raced through a 50-year-old, two - story frame house Saturday, killing eight chil dren and thehir father and grandmother. The victims were trapped in a bedroom by a chest of drawers that blocked their escape through window. The only survivor of the tragedy was the mother of the children, who ran screaming from the house with her hair and clothing in flames. . Firemen said the blaze ap parently was set off by an ex ploding heater. They were hampered in fighting the fire because there were no fire hydrants near the home. Hoses had to be strung 2,000 feet, and by the time the first sprays of water were turned on the house it was engulfed by flames. The dead, some of them so badly burned they could not be identified, were Torrance Flook, 40, the father, Mrs. Maude Blair, 63, the grand mother, and Harry, 16, Bon nie, 12, Terry, 10, Susan, 9, Kenneth, 7, Ruth, 5, Dick, 4, and Billy, 1. ' Bodies Huddled The bodies of two of the ; children were huddled in their father's arms. His body .was slumped over a chest of ; drawers that had been pushed in front of a window. Mrs. Blair's body was found slump ed over another windowsill. The other bodies were near by. t Mrs. Mabel Flook, who was on the first floor when the fire broke out at 2:30 a.m., ran out the back door. Neigh bors beat out her flaming hair and clothing. She was treated for severe shock, but her burns were not serious. Neighbors made heroic ef forts to rescue the trapped family by raising ladders to upstairs windows. They were beaten back by the flames. Firemen fought the blaze for three hours before they could enter what was left of the house. Only two walls still were standing. Norman White, a neighbor, said he was awakened by an explosion and then saw the fire. "All I could hear was the flames crackling and children screaming," he said. Races From House He raced from his house 50 yards away, with an exten- Strout Realty Company Opens Local Office Harry F. Merriken, Old Stage rd., Medford, has been appointed manager of the lo cal office of Strout Realty corporation, the company's western headquarters in Los Angeles has announced. Merriken will operate' the business from his home until a permanent office is estab lished. The company has of ices from coast-to-coast and handles ranches, farms, homes and businesses. Merriken has lived in Med ford and vicinity for 15 years. Missile Firing Submarines Able to Hit All Targets Portsmouth, N. H. (ID The USS Growler, the Navy's J new missile-firing submarine, I was to be launched Saturday, i- She was pronounced ready : , and able to hit any military target in the world with a nu clear warhead. -' The Growler was scheduled ""to slide down the ways at ' Portsmouth Naval Shipyard - after christening by Mrs. Rob- . ert K. Byerts of Los Angeles. She is the widow of the skip per of an earlier submarine named Growler, which was sunk in action in World War II. Equipped with the Navy's Regulus II nuclear missile, the Growler has striking - range of more than 1,000 nau- tical miles, covering every significant military target in the world, according to a spokesman for Chance Vought Aircraft company of Dallas, Tex., the missile manufactur er. At a news conference be fore the launching, Sam O. Perry, chief missile engineer of Chance Vought, said the Growler could fire 'the Regu lus from the Atlantic Coast and hit a target farther away than Kansas City. He said the growler would be able to remain submerged indefinitely, needing only to extend her breathing snorkel at infrequent intervals. Growler missiles will be guided by a self - contained system that guides them di rectly to target from an underseas launching. The Regulus is 57 .feet long, pow ered by a turbo - jet engine with a speed twice .that of sound. sion ladder. He raised the lad der to a window and managed to grasp Mrs. Blair where she lay slumped over a window- sill. But he lost his grip and was forced back by the flames, Herman Sechrist, another neighbor, raised a ladder to another window. He Jried to pull Flook out but his efforts were blocked by the dresser. Neighbors flocked to the scene and stood around the smouldering debris hours after the tragedy. Officials said the tragedy was the worst in the town's history. Gill Challenges Two Opponents Lebanon UPl State Sen. Warren Gill Friday chal lenged his two opponents for the Republican nomination for government to announce their choices for successors if either should be elected governor. Both Secretary of State Mark Hatfield and State Treasurer Sig.Unander are in the GOP gubernatorial race against Gill. The Lebanon attorney said this is "the first time in the history of Oregon that both the secretary of state and state treasurer have tried to quit their jobs in the middle of their terms." If either of the officehold ers is elected he would be able to appoint his own suc cessor. Gill challenged both Hat field and Unander to make their choices known. "If they don't tell us," Gill said, "then a vote cast for either of these men is a 'blind' vote who will serve on the board of control in the second or third top job in the state." Heart Disease Topic Of Medical Meeting Lectures on heart disease will be given at the April 9 meeting of the Jackson Coun ty Medical society starting at 3 p.m. in the Rogue Valley Country club, according to of ficials. The Wednesday evening dinner meeting will get un der way at 7 p.m. Guest lec turer for the afternoon will be Dr. Gordon A. Logan and Dr. H. T. Dodge from Seattle. Hosts for the meeting will be Dr. June Byers, Dr. Malcolm Byers and Dr. Laurel Case. 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TOUC SPKED SATIN OcTAiCS WIU UNO YOUR CONVENIENT HOME USE. mmmmmmmmmmmmm frte i FRAKE '& SMITH PAINT AND WALLPAPER 'Dead' Woman Helps Identify Drowning Victims Boise (IP) A former Spokane woman, who showed up after hearing that she had been tentatively identified as a drowning victim, Saturday positively identified one of the three men in the four death accident as James R. Mansier, 48, former Spokane, Wash., cook. Mrs. Hesper Scarah, who formerly operated a lunch eonette in Spokane, came to Boise from Jackson, Wyo., at her own expense to help of ficers make the identification. She viewed the body of the woman who had atvfirst been tentatively identified as Mrs. Scarah. However, Mrs. Scarah said she could give of ficers no help in identifying the body of the woman. The three men and the woman were drowned late on Tuesday when their car had plunged into the Payette riv er north of Horseshoe Bend. The State Police Central Identification bureau said Clarence Leo Jackson, 51, of Spokane, has been positively identified by relatives. The bureau said it was fairly cer tain that the second man was Randolph Lloyd, last known address Cheyenne, Wyo. Salem (IP) Gov. Robert D. Holmes said today he has been advised that Oregon has qualified for a $14 million federal loan to supplement its unemployment compensation fund. Nunley Named Deputy Judge Advocate, VFW Walter D. Nunley, Medford attorney, has been appointed deputy judge advocate for the department of Oregon Veter ans of Foreign wars, accord ing to the Portland headquar ters of the group. Nunley served as a sergeant in the Army Air Force during World War II, seeing action in several Pacific areas dur ing a 35-month duty tour. He was a radio operator and me chanic while in the service. Premier Visits Rebel Stronghold Budapest OP) Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev traveled triumphantly Satur day to Stalinvaros, a former rebel stronghold that was one of the last to be crushed in Hungary's 1956 anti-Russian revolt. The Soviet Communist party leader, making his first journey outside the Kremlin since he became Premier, set out early today for the 60 mile trip. Stalinvaros is a major in dustrial center south of the capital. It became known dur ing the October uprising for its stiff resistance against So viet troops sent to quell the revolt. Little Rock, Ark., is the home of the University of Ar kansas, Arkansas' Law school, Little Rock Junior college, St. John's Seminary, Philan der Smith college, Arkansas Baptist college and the School for the Deaf and Blind. Arabs' Unity Drive To Pressure Israel London (TO The drive for Arab unity , spreading through the Middle East means new military pressures on Israel, Middle Eastern ob servers agreed Saturday. But they are also convinced the Israelis are and will be for the foreseeable future more than a match for even the combined armies of the Arabs. Militarily, Israel has only 100,000 men on active duty in her army. The major Arab states Egypt, Syria, Jor dan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have roughly 240,000. In the air, the disparity is even greater. Israel, inform ed sources say, has roughly 100 jets and 50 prop-driven planes, while the combined Arab air forces Would total close to 275 almost 175 of them jets. 'Every Citizen a Soldier' - Israel, however, can close the manpower gap by call ing up her highly organized "every citizen a soldier" re serves as she did on three day's notice before the Sinai attack in 1956. With her reserves ordered up, Israel on paper is roughly equal in manpower to the strength of the Arab armies, gravely weaker in armored strength, and significantly weaker in modern combat planes, military experts say. But despite those shortcom ings, they say, Israel can more than hold her own with the Arabs because her army is better trained, better led, better disciplined in short, better prepared for combat. They trace her army's com bat superiority to a better of ficer corps, a more skilled and educated populace, and the sense of determination that comes from being sur rounded. Conversely, they say, . the great weakness of the Arab armies is their officer corps and their lack of skilled tech nicians to use their modern equipment. While the Israelis were able to call on a score of Baby Gorilla Eagerly Awaited Columbus, Ohio (IP) The Columbus Zoo, internation ally known for producing the first gorilla born in captivity Saturday anxiously awaited another historic "blessed event." Christina and her 540 pound mate, The Baron,, are expecting at any time a bro ther or sister for their famed daughter, Colo. The zoo officially opened its season Saturday but signs posted in the vicinity of the gorillas' cage barred visitors from seeing the giant couple. The signs proclaimed the area "closed until a nervous mother is visited by the stork." Supt. Earl Cavis estimated the gorilla may be born by, Monday. MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, Sunday, April , 193S S World War II cambat veter ans and seasoned fighters of their underground terrorist organizations for their offic ers' corps, the Arabs could muster few combat trained men to lead their armies aft er freeing themselves from Western influence following World War II. SI t I . f Esther Williams Swimming Pool Engineers Will Study Your Property With No Obligation Thinking about swimming pool? Let ut study your prop erty and advise the east of installing one. It probably will cost much less chan you think. Ingeni ous new construction and installation techniques make the Esther Williams Home Swimming Pool surprisingly inexpensive. 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