TUESDAY. JULY 22. lflSR
HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALLS. OREGON
PAGE FIVE
Many Weary Miles Pass
Under 'Old Iron Legs'
By BETTY DOW
MONTAGUE "Old Iron Legs."
as he calls himself, has covered
thousands of miles on foot through
many lands from the Canal Zone
to Texas; from Portugal to Ilalv:
California to Mexico and back
again, and now he is smack dab
in the middle of his latest hiking
feat of some 1.200 miles of North
ern California.
"Old Iron Legs" is really John
S. Slahl, 75-year-old veteran of the
highways and former postal clerk.
His home? Well, it is where he
hangs his battered white straw hat.
stands his wooden staff and rests
his knapsack perhaps Sn some
one's barn along the road he hap
pens to be traveling,-or maybe
weather permitting under some
shady tree in the woods. He does
have a mailing address, that of
his brother in San Francisco, and
where he rests between hikes. He
Keeps his brother posted as to
where he will be on such and
uch a date, so his brother can
lorward his mail.
He left Sacramento, on this, his
latest trek, to tour Northern Cali
fornia, via "shank's marc" or
May 27. 1958.. and after covering
some 481 miles arrived in Yreka
on Friday, July 11. His itinerary
included stops at Marysvillo, Red
Bluff, Alturas, Tulelake, on back
to Grenada, where he -took the
Grenada cutoff into Yreka.
After his weekend in Yreka,
where he was royally received by
Capt. Floyd Winchell, head of the
Yreka. CHP division, he rested at
the Yreka fnn, enjoying a lunch
and dinner with Father John Bo-
land of St. Joseph's Catholic
Church on Saturday. After attend
ing mass at the church on Sun
day, he 'set his walking sights
along the Klamath River Highway,
and plans to make Happy Camp
lis next stop.
"Old Iron Legs" is a small wiry
fellow with a bronzed face, white
beard, and sparkling blue eyes
peering from beneath bushy white
eyebrows. Those sparkling eyes
indicate a terrific sense of humor
and an awarness and love of life.
John talks of his many travels
with a great deal of pride of ac
complishment. He was retired in
1935 from the post office depart
ment in San Francisco due to ill
Beauties Set
Forjudging
LONG BEACH, Calif. (LTD
Judging begins tonight in Long
Beach Municipal Auditorium for
(election of this country's repre
sentative in the seventh annual
Miss Universe Pageant.
The judges will select 15 final
ists from 45 domestic beauties,
representing 43 states, the District
of Columbia and the city of Phil
adelphia. Miss Alaska was de
clared a "foreign entrant" be
cause Alaskans had not approved
statehood yet.
The finalists will compete Sun
day night for 'he title of Miss
United States and the right to rep
resent their country in the Miss
Universe judging, beginning
Thursday and ending Friday night
with selection of the winner.
Dorothy Ziegler
Dies In Utah
Mrs. Charles 'Dnrothyl Ziegler,
47, resident of Klamath Falls for
12 years, died July 20 in Roy
Utah, home of her parents where
she had been for the last four
months during a serious illness
She was a native of that city.
Mrs. Zieder was active in the
Klamath Falls Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Surviving are her widower,
Charles Ziegler, Klamalh Falls:
a daughter. Mrs. Kay Ueanl Bodi
ly. Roy, Utah: sons, Robert Zie
gler, Provn. Utah, Carl and Roger,
this city: her parents. Mr. and
Mrs. V. L. Pingree. three broth
ers and three sisters, all of Roy.
Funeral services will he held in
that cily at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
July 23.
health, namely ulcers. Needless to
say he has nary an ulcer now.
Taking up walking as a "profes
sion" was more or less due to
a nervous condition, and as he put
it. with a grin, "I wasn't about to
it around in a city apartment
and develop into a shaky old man.'
He has cut his way through jun
gies traveling through Central Am
erica, where the roads were mere
paths. His longest trek was some
3,500 miles from the Panama Ca
nal Zone to Austin, Texas. One of
his shorter walks, was a tour of
the 21 historical missions from So
noma to San Diego. He made the
Holy Year Pilgrimage, climaxed
with a meeting of His Holiness Pope
Pius XII, where he traveled from
Fatima, Portugal, via Lourdes on
to Rome, a distance of 1.5B0 miles,
started on August 4, 1950 arriving
at his destination in December,
1950.
He has many honors, among
them being the position of colonel
and aide-de-camp to the governor
of New Mexico, and an honorary
membership in the Texas Rangers.
His latest yen, which he hopes
to achieve at Happy Camp, is to
become a member of an Indian
tribe, and he wants the works
ceremonial dances and all.
He proudly shows letters of intro
duction from. Mayor Christopher of
San Francisco and Bernard R
Caldwell, head of California's High
way Patrol, and many other let
ters from eminent personalities.
These letters he carries in a small
white canvas hag, along with his
diary, which he uses as an ad
dress book. There are signatures
and addresses of the hundreds of
people he has met in his long
travels, and many of them he
writes to, keeping them informed
of his progress.
Asked if he had any pet theories
he countered with, "are you like
the rest of the reporters? Pulling
that old routine (and which annoys
him no end) "to what did he at
tribute his long life?" Well, he
said with a twinkle in his eyes.
I am not going to say like so
many of these old fellows do. 'that
I don't drink coffeee, I don't smoke
'he doesn't', or I don't drink. 1
drink lots of coffee along the way,
and if some one comes along the
road and offers me "a shot." I
don't care if it is 10 o'clock in the
morning, I take it. Fellow needs a
bit of stimulant once in awhile
He continued, "I even like a beer
or two. no more than that, once
in awhile."
In this day and age of speed
which he doesn't like, he finds life
wholly satisfying. He finds enjoy
ment in beautiful sunrises and sun
sets, he sees the birds and crea
tures of the forest, in fact he sees
many things that others, rushing
about the business of living miss.
He meets many interesting peo
ple, who are kind and good to
him, eager to help him on his
walks. Their solicitude for his wel
fare touches him deeply, and al
though he has offers of a good bed
to sleep and rest in, he says, "I
really enjoy sleeping in a barn, or
out under the skies." Sometimes
he yields to the insistence of his
good friends, as he calls his bene
factors and does sleep inside.
He specifically stressed that he
was given much assistance from
the highway patrol officers, the
forest service and the postmasters
of the many communities he had
visited on this latest trip of his,
and he said, "Words were inade
quate to express his sincere appre
ciation for their kindly help.
Ranchers, too, along the way
"couldn't have treated me better,"
he said.
When the spiriled old gentleman
continues to wend his way from
Happy Camp, he plans on travel
ing on to Crescent City, Eureka,
and he isn't too sure yet, but may
cut across to Sacramento where
he hopes to meet the governor of
California. From there he will con
tinue on to San . Francisco and
"visit his brother a spell."
... L' "
r in
EgS&cgt'i ,-ivr i ii "T.i ?f. w ; J
I Polio Foundation Slates
Campaign On All Disease
year these are defects present
at birth not due to injury during
birth: and an estimated 150.000
persons who have had paralytic
polio still require some , assist
ance.
JOHN S. STAHL, or "Old Iron Legs," is shown in the
Yreka Inn as he rested on hit 1,200 mile walking tour of
Northern California. Stahl, 75-year-old veteran hiker of
the highways, enjoys life and all the friends he makes on
his trips. Dow Photo
NEW YORK AP-The Nation
al Foundation for Infantile Paral
ysis announced today it is expand
ing its program to attack major
health problems of the nation.
Until now. the foundation has
been concerned with polio. Para
lytic polio has been virtually
iicked by the Salk vaccine.
Basil O'Connor, foundation pres
ident, said research initially will
be in five areas: polio, virus re
search, disorders of the nervous
system, arthritis and birth de
fects. The foundation's expansion into
arthritis research indicates it may
vie for funds with the Arthritis
and Rheumatism Foundation. The
latter last week rejected a pro
posed 'merger by the two groups.
O Connor said no attempt will I
ut-indur iu uupm-Hie ine worn 01
other voluntary agencies. He add
ed, however, that as scientific
breakthroughs occur they will be
pursued wherever they lead, with
the general objective of improve
ment of man's health.
The arthritis group voiced re
gret that the polio foundation had
not "seen fit to join forces" in
combating arthritis, but instead
was entering the field on its own.
The March of Dimes, a 20-vear-
old institution, will finance the
polio foundation's expanded pro
gram. O'Connor said. The organ
ization will be known hencelorth
as the National Foundation.
O'Connor said the enlarged pro
gram is a natural outgrowth of
work done in the course of finding
a polio preventive and caring for
polio victims.
"As the time was ripe 20 years
ago for a voluntary organization
to fight a single threatening dis
ease," O'Connor said, "so the
hour now is right to enter the
broader battle to which our expe
rience has led us."
A total of 11 million persons are
said to have arthritis and rheu
matism: 250.000 children are born
with significant birth defects each
Crisis Ends
In Thailand
BANGKOK (AP) Thailand has
survived what might be described
as another political crisis.
It ended when strongman Mar
shal Sarit Thanarat returned from
five months in the United States,
where he had an operation for a
liver ailment.
He found the opposition Demo
crat party was preparing to
launch a general debate against
the government in the National
Assembly. The Democrats had
won the support of 13 independ
ents in bringing the debate to the
floor.
The marshal called in some of
the independents. To no one's sur
prise, eight had second thoughts
about the debate and decided that
it would not be wise for the
country at this time."
Wisnv Khuang Aphaiwongse, the
Democrats' leader snapped: "The
biggest doublecross in Thai politi
cal history.
The eight independents went to
thi: Temo e of the Emerald Bud
dha. Thailand's most sacred
shrine, and swore they had not
taken bribes from Sarit for with
drawing their support of the oppo-
K ion.
The Democrats, strongest anti-
Coinmunist group in the country,
sought to debate the government
on the issues of health, education,
economics and corruption.
They had grounds. A cholera
epidemic has killed 600 person.
Students are upset by the lack, of
classroom space and a new in
crease in college tuition fees. The
countrys treasury is virtually
empty. Sixteen cases of corrup
tion involving government offi
cials have been reported since
the beginning of tne year.
Sarit told the Democrats: "This
is not the time for a general de-
hale. It might encourage a revo
lution.
Unemployment
Hikes In Texas
AUSTIN, Tex. (AP)-Ahout 3
000 more jobless workers filed for
unemployment insurance in Texas
last week, upping the total to 77,-
786, the Texas Employment Com
mission said yesterday.
Initial claims for the week also
showed an increase, hitting 6.594
as compared to 6.513 for the
week ending July 11.
The commission said total
claims actions ' reached 79,320,
with $1,546,287 being pajd out. as
compared to 76,209 claims actions
the previous week.
The 1957 payment for the same
period was $474,346.
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PARENTS
HOLLYWOOD (API Actor Dan
O'Herlihy and his wife Elsie are
parents again. The couple's fourth
child, a 7-pound, 9'Vounce boy,
was born last night. He was
named Cormack.
At first, O'Connor said, patients
aid is planned for arthritis suf
ferers through the age of 18 and
for children, also through 18, who
suffer malformations of the cen
tral nervous system.
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