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Medford
Tribune
Pages 1-6
MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1959
2nd SECTION
54th Year
(pip p '
DISPLAYS READIED Rarks of garden
tools in the hardware department at Sears
were all in order by the middle of last
week. Here, Employee Clark Barker is
shown putting shovels in their proper place.
Trotsky Assassin Will Go Free
Next Year; Identity Mystery
Mexico City (UPD - On Aug
20, 1940. exiled Russian Revo
lutionary leader Leon Trotsky
was murdered in Mexico with
a rod that smashed his skull.
His assassin was apprehend
ed immediately. He has been
in jail ever since. He is due
to be released next year. And
yet, neither his true identity,
his nationality nor his motive
has ever been definitely de
termined. All that is known is that
the killer claims to be a Bel
gian national named Jacques
Mornard; that he had entered
Mexico with a forged Canadi
an passport that once belonged
to a soldier killed during the
Spanish Civil War while fight
ing in an anti-Franco Interna
tional Brigade. j
We was introduced into 1
Trotsky's closely guarded
household by Sylvia Ageion,
a Russian-American Trotsky
ite, to whom he was apparent
ly introduced in Paris and
whom he subsequently wooed.
Killed in Rage
Mornard claimed he killed
Trotsky in a rage during an
argument over doctrine. But
the fact that he carried a .45
calibre pistol and a knife, in
addition to the sawed-off alp
enstock with which he mur
dered the old man, indicated
the crime was not as spontan
eous as all that.
And the concensus of police
is that he had been sent by
Joseph Stalin and his hench
men to gain Trotsky's confi
dence and then do him in.
One widely accepted theory
about Mornard's true identity
is that he is a Spanish Com
munist named Ramon Mercad-
er del Rio, and that he was
brought up on Communism by
his Communist mother, Eusta-
cis Maria Caridad del Rio. one
leading Mexican criminolo
gist. Dr. Alfonso Quirez,
claims to have proven with
Spanish police fingerprint
cards that Mornard and Mer-
cador are one and the same.
Got 20 Years
Mornard was sentenced to
20 years in prison on April 16,
1943, but the term was made
retroactive to the day of the
crime, the same day he was
arrested. He will be released
in August of 1960.
There was once speculation
that Mornard preferred the se
curity of his cell to liberty,
where he might face venge
ance at the hands of loyal
Trotskyites or permanent lip
sealing by Kremlin agents.
But this theory was appar
ently squelched in 1954 when
he launched a determined le
gal battle for parole. He lost
out in his bid for early free
dom when a judge ruled Mor
nard had failed to prove him
self "no longer a menace to
society."
During the parole proced
ure Mornard came as close as
he ever did to expressing re
morse for having killed Trot
sky. "I am a reformed man,"
le said, "and I am entitled to
eturn to normal life like any
ecent human. If I ever was
delinquent, I no longer am.
When the parole was denied
February, 1957, Mornard
signed himself to serving
t the rest of his sentence.
He has never disclosed
freedom plans.
Deportation Due .
The Mexican government
also has apparently chosen to
cross that bridge when it
comes to it. Technically, Mor
nard is subject to deportation,
since he originally entered the
country with a forged pass
port. But that would pose the
problem of where to send him.
His true country of origin has
never ben determined to the
satisfaction of Mexican offi
cials.
The high point in Mornard's
dreary prison existence came
on March 19, 1958, when he
was transferred from rat-infested
Lecumberri Prison,
Mexico's famous "Black Cas
tle," to the modern, new Ixta-
lapa Penitentiary. Prisoners
soon named the airy, well
lighted, white-walled institu
tion the "Ixtalapa Hilton." '
At Ixtalapa, Mornard con
tinued to be the model prison
er he has been all these years;
He took charge of the peni
tentiary's power pi ant, the
same job he had held at Lecumberri.-
Warden Florentino Ibarra,
who regards Mornard as an
electrical genius, has given
the 54-year-old prisoner a cell
to himself, which he has made
Negroes Held on
Stabbing Charges
Birmingham, Ala.-TOPD-Three
Negro youth were held with
out bond Tuesday for the Jef
ferson County Grand Jury on
charges they stabbed a white
Minneapolis, ' Minn., truck
driver to death here July 22.
Ernest Jones, 20, John Per
ry, 16, and Jewel Short, 17,
pleaded innocent at a prelim
inary hearing and were order
ed held for action by the
Grand Jury during its October
term.
They have been charged
with the fatal stabbing of
James P. Hannaher, 29, of
Bloomington, Minn., and Min
neapolis. Police said the three
confessed to stabbing the truck
driver of the Morgan ' Trans
portation Co., of Elkhart, Ind.,
after he made a proposal
which angered them. Police
said Jones allegedly was the
one who wielded the pocket
knife used in the slaying.
Hannaher, a former com
positor for the Cedar Falls
(Iowa) Record, was identified
from fingerprints on his truck.
his . comfortable with a rug, an
easy chair, a television set, a
radio and a hot plate.
Makes Repairs
Mornard generally works
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the
power plant. Sometimes he
leads his eight-man crew
around the prison to make
electrical repairs. Occasional
ly he takes a mid-day siesta.
In his free time he repairs
radios in the prison shop,
which he also runs. This con
cession had been taken from
him at Lecumberri, allegedly
because of intra-prison "poli
tics," but he got it back at
the new penitentiary. He is
allowed to keep the money he
earns. As a "commissioned
prisoner," equivalent to a
trusty in the U.S., he enjoys
the run of the prison.
At the end of the day, the
graying, bespectacled prison
er, wno is no longer slim as
he was in 1940, chats with
fellow-inmates before retiring
to his cell. He1iSs"little to do
with outsiders, however, par
ticularly newsmen.
One free-lance woman cor
respondent, Miss Marion Wil
helm, apparently has gained
Mornard's confidence, and
visits him about once a month.
She has not published any
thing of her -talks with" the
murderer, presumably due to
some mutual agreement.
The last time Mornard ac
ceded to repeated United
Press International requests
for interviews was in 1954,
when he disclosed he had se
cretly married a Mexican girl
in 1944.
Visits Every Sunday
The wife, Roqueila Mendo
za Mornard, now a 48-year-old
stenographer, visits her
husband every Sunday. (Inci
dentally, one of the most-ap
preciated features of the new
prison is the "hotel," a block
specially designed for the vis
its of wives.) She generally
brings a picnic basket, guards
say, and prepares Mornard a
hot meal in his cell. Mornard
has said he met her when he
was still in Lecumberri and
she visited a relative there.
Only one man knows what
the steely-eyed killer will do
when the prison gates close
behind him a year from now.
And that man, who has kept
his silence for 19 years, seems
determined to make it 20.
Jacques Mornard is not talking.
WHY THEY CALL HELP
Minneapolis (UPD Elec
trical failure was the number
one cause of automobile
breakdowns in 1958 according
to a study made by the Amer
ican Automobile Association
(AAA). Flat tires and ignition
troubles came next as the
major causes of auto trouble.
All told, the AAA reported
receiving nearly 60 million
calls for service last year.
But it said that there were
fewer cases of motorists run
ning out of gas or getting
stuck in the mud or snow
because "drivers have become
more intelligent."
Ice Cream In
Half Gallons
Snider's
Quality DAIRY FOODS
Union Leaders
Seek Softening
Of Labor Bill
Unity House, Pa.-IUPD-AFL-CIO
leaders prepared Tuesday
to make a last-ditch effort to
persuade Congress to soften
so-called "union-busting" pro
visions in pending labor re
form legislation.
The federation's executive
council was scheduled to issue
marching orders tol union lob
byists in Washington who are
ready to relay labor's com
plaints to a Senate-House con
ference committee.
Objects to Curbs
The AFL-CIO has objected
most strenuously to new curbs
on picketing, boycotts and
"bill of rights" provisions
which it says would harm all
unions instead of driving out
labor racketeers.
The council also planned to
discuss legislation and its de
cision to aid striking steel-
workers at a session today at
this union-operated resort in
the Pocono mountains. Plans
now are to recommend that
the council set aside a "Steel
workers' day" at the AFL-
CIO convention next month if
the dispute is not settled by
then.
Has Adequate Funds
Top AFL-CIO leaders were
told that the union now sees
no necessity for financial help
because it has adequate funds
to meet foreseeable emergen
cy outlays.
The executive committee
heard a first-hand report on
the legislative situation from
AFL-CIO chief lobbyist An
drew J. Biemiller, who ar
rived late today from Washington.
Meantime, AFL-CIO offi
cials privately discussed
Speaker Sam Rayburn's role
in the battle against House
adoption of the Landram-Grif-
fin bill by a 229-201 vote last
Thursday.
They said that Rayburn had
either lost some of his influ
ence with southern Democrats
or 'intentionally let labor
down by. not going all-out on
the key vote.
BUSY BUSINESS
New York-IUPD-The nation's
food chain stores now do a
whopping 23-billion-dollar a
year business, according to
Chain Store Age magazine.
That's an increase of 6 billion
dollars since 1954. Meat ac
counts for 25 per cent of the
total volume.
If
mm
MilU
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The NEW Medford
Shopping Center
SAFEWAY
at 699 E. Jackson St.
See tomorrow's paper
for news of the
-exciting program of
opening festivities
and values!
NOW Is the Time!
PRE-SEASON
FECIAL
Split Peeler Core Wood
BIG DOUBLE LOADS!
ALL DOUGLAS FIR :....$21.50
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