Evening Star Newspaper, March 20, 1937, Page 2

A—2 =% CLIPPER RESUMES SURVEY MONDAY Kingman Reef, 1,100 Miles South of Honoluly, Is Next Base. The pilot in charge of the Pan- American clipper now at Honolulu ron an aerial trade survey flight jrom the United States to New Zealand, tells here of the succeeding stages on the 7,000-mile flight. BY EDWIN C. MUSICK. By Radio to The Star. HONOLULU, March 20 (N.AAN.A). —The Pan-American clipper, having eompleted the first leg of its 7,000~ mile survey flight to New Zealand, will be taken on a two-hour test flight about Honolulu tomorrow, and if all goes well, will depart early Monday for the second base on our projected | trade route, Kingman miles to the South. With the longest crossing already behind us, our remaining flight across & heretofore unflown course is expect- ed to take some 34 hours, divided into comparatively easy stages in or- der to devote all possible flight time 1o route exploration. Flight orders call for this exploratory work to be completed, if possible, on the south- bound flight, hence we are planning only an overnight stop at Kingman Reef and Pago Pago. Then we will proceed to Auckland, where we are scheduled to remain four days for a necessary survey of local flying con- ditions in the harbors and to test radio communications in that area. On the way back we will devote out flying time to routine transport practice, but will spend a day or more, a5 necessary, at each base to ac- quaint ourselves fully with the ter- rgin and the marine peculiarities of the area. North Wind Rides at Anchor. Our second leg lies directly south of Hawaii to Kingman Reef, where our “fQoating airbase,” the Pan-American supply steamer North Wind, is an- chored within a five-mile encircling réef which incloses o deep-water lagoon on three sides completely and, on the fourth side, except for unusual- ly heavy seas from the southwest The landing there will require the most precise navigation, as the North Wind is actually bigger in bulk than Reef, 1,100 the visible area of the island at high- water. From Kingman south we will explore ® wider area for a look at all shoals and some islands which lie within a | few hundred miles on a straight course. Those already visited by Pan-American marine engineers have been completely Washington Wayside Random Observations of Interesting Events and Things. HARMONY. ITH our perspective on mu- sic just settling down to normal again after a week of swing harpists and hotcha symphonies, what should we get but a note from a gentleman who says he saw a window cesser in a G street department store sitting in the window two hours before opening time the other morning, playing a bass vio= liu and singing like crazy. Day after tomorrow we go forth in goggles and linen duster to investi- gate this report, and finding it true, probably will return to a cave of the winds in the Sixteenth street high- lands and drown our bemused sorrows in a tub of Bach beer. * ok % WORSE. 1f by any chance you fancy that as a terrible pun, behold the re- mark of a Virginia politician who says he is leading a flock of voters on the trail of the “Byrd in the Glass cage.” * ok ok X PLEA. LMOST any parents with experi- ence will tell you that a boy or girl starting off to college will invariably put a cash interpretation on the term “liberal education.” One father here, whose daughter attends a small Ohio college, was determined to break her of the habit of regarding her monthly alowance as a retaining fee, salary to follow later. Not a hard-hearted but truly a strong-principled gentleman, | he repeatedly refused to notice letters | and telegrams pleading for deficiency appropriations. VAD-D.E,- e 2E Wy charted, but an aerial survey enables | us to cover & much brosder area. The weather over the area is gen- erally favorable for our flight. Daily weather maps, made for the past 30 ddys at the Alameda base specificaily | for this area, show the results of the first upper air studies ever made of weather in this South Pacific region Like Lower Caribbean. The extreme southern area is pac- ticularly interesting, since it resembles At last the daughter, desperate in | her need of another hat, became in- | spired with the will to conquer. The | college has a voice-recording appara- | tus for use in teaching modern lan- | guages and public speakir ,. She went | down and made a record that would THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1937. STEEL LABOR UNIT HITS C.1.0. TERMS Employe Group _ Assails Wage Contract as Threat to Living Standards. BY the Associated Press. PITTSBURGH, March 20.—Employe representatives of the Carnegie-Illi- nois Steel Corp. and the American Federation of Labor launched fresh attacks today at their common foe, the Committee for Industrial Organi- zation. The Employe Representatives’ De- fense Committee assailed the wage and hour contract signed Wednesday by the steel corporation and the C. I. O. as “unsatisfactory” and a threat to the steel workers' standard of living. “The agreement,” a statement said, “pegs wages at the present level for the next year, despite a rapid rise in the cost of living. * * * Employes may find themselves in dire circum- stances when the cost of living con- tinues to rise and wages under the agreement remain at the present level.” The A. F. of L. obtained a tempo- rary court injunction restraining the New Kensington Union of the Alumi- num Workers of America from re- linquishing its $27,000 fund to the John L. Lewis organization. The local withdrew from the federation several days ago and announced it would join the C. I O. Final arguments on the motion will be held March 29 before Judge Elson McVicar. The order prevents meet~ ings of the members, forbids further collection of dues, and prohibits any action of the officers in behalf of the union. Vote Favors A. F. of L. CHICAGO, March 20 (#)—Repre- sentatives of 25,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers voted by acclamation last night to retain their affiliation with the American Federation of Labor. The delegates urged the A. F. of L. to make new efforts to heal the breach between it and John L. Lewis' Com- mittee for Industrial Organization. Four resolutions urging that the in- ternational cast its lot with the C. I. O. were introduced at the session, but were referred to a committee and con- densed into one resolution before a vote was taken. Before adjourning, the delegates ap- proved a resolution supporting Presi- ganization of the Supreme Court and the Federal judiciary. | of 200-mile-an-hour dent Roosevelt's proposals for reor- | PITFUL STORY TOLD BY MOTHER Destitute, She Borrows Coat te Wear to Radio Studio for Broadcast. A mother who has been unable to find employment to support herself and her 1l-year-old daughter—so destitute, in fact, that she was forced to borrow an overcoat to wear to the studio—told her tragic story last night in another series of ““help wanted” broadcasts presented over Station ‘WJSV in co-operation with the Com- munity Chest and the Public Welfare Board. One of the many women among the 3,000 employables in the District who can't get work or relief, the mother, whose husband was killed in a railroad wreck, told a pitiful story. Although she had no experience that would fit her for remunerative work, she was able to obtain employment as a flle clerk with W. P. A. Then she lost her job, sold what furniture she had and moved to a smaller room. By a meager existence, she was able to make the money last several months, but three weeks ago she was forced to turn to the Salvation Army for aid. An unemployed man also was in- terviewed. With three children, the eldest 8, and the youngest 1 month, his rent is due and must be paid at once or his family will be evicted. He lost his job four years ago, because of illness, and since then has been unable to find steady employment. While the man was still on the air, an anonymous telephone call we re: ceived from a person who offered to | contribute to the man’s support until he could find work. Fifteen minutes later, the man's rent was paid by the unknown caller. Gilbert 8. Decker, welfare officer of the Salvation Army, presented the story of his organization’s work against poverty. The final two broadcasts in this series will be heard over WJSV next Monday and Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. New Planes in Use. All scheduled flights on Pennsylva- nia - Central Airlines' Washington, Pittsburgh, Akron, Cleveland, Detroit route are now made with a new fleet Boeing 247-D | monoplanes, the company reports. These ships are considerably faster than the old-type Boeings originally in | service on this run and have been thoroughly sound-proofed. Earhart lCOpl‘.flqu From First Page.) {1t rather rough, and I wish to avoid | beating up my ship. The Coast Guard cutter Shoshone at Howland Island, I am advised, says it is better not to arrive there too early in the morning | the Jower Caribbean area of our inter- | have persuaded a gay '90s villain to |because of the early mist American air routes, where seasonal hurricanes are generated. The Southern portion of our survey | tear up the mortgage and throw in | | a nickel for a cup of coffee in the deal. | The co-ed then mailed the disk to Favoring northeast winds are pre- | dicted, which would help the Electia on its course straight from Hawaii to area is a generating base not only for | poppa, who, overwhelmed by modern | Howland. In those very favoring winds typhoons but also hurricanes. Our meteorologist for the New Zealand area, a veteran of both OCaribbean and Pacific typhoons, was lately trans- ferred from the Manila station for this particular study. Due to the broken area over which we will be flying, we expect to experi- ment considerably with aerial naviga- tion by the use of our own direction finder aboard the Pan-American clip- | per, which, heretofore, has been only A supplementary guard on our long trans-Pacific flights to the Orient. will not let us go far afield, however, since we will have the service of the big long range of the Honolulu station, and, of course, a duplicate station aboard the North Wind at Kingman Reef, which will blanket our course as far as Samoa. From then on, due to the hundreds of islands within easy reach and the opportunity to check our course constantly by visual land- marks. we will take our bearings from coastwise steamers (Copyright, 1937, by the North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.) Judiciary (Continued Prom First Page.) over 70 retire, Brant told the eom- mittee: ‘It is disastrous to leave the desti- nies of the United States in the hands of five men who have usurped the policy-making functions of Govern- ment while remaining totally ignorant of the tremendous political forces which enter into public policy. That is not government; it is absolutism without the military power which makes absolutism work. I believe that the conservative justices of the Su- preme Court are honest and sincere. So was Marie Antoinette when she said, ‘If they don't have bread, let them eat cake'.” Unless the court is curbed, he told the committee, “the democratic gov- ernment we have known in the United States will disappear before your eyes, and it will not disappear in the nice orderly dictatorship that some of the admirers of Mussolini are thinking about. You cannot train the Ameri- can people to violence, as we have been doing for generations, without paying the penalty in violence when the economic order breaks down and hope disappears.” Brant will be followed by Judge Ferdinand Pecora of the New York Supreme Court, who attained national prominence while conducting the Sen- ate stock market investigation early in the New Deal. “Potential Corrective.” Senator Austin, Republican, of Ver- mont, asked Brant if he considered a national catastrophe inevitable unless the bill is passed. “No,” replied the witness, “because there is a potential corrective in the 1938 congressional elections.” Evidently referring to the recent kpeech of Justice McReynolds of the Bupreme Court, Brant added: “You have been told that the Su- preme Court is an impartial, aloof and independent umpire, as in a base bell game, and that anybody who ob- Jects to the decision of the umpire is a poor sport, and the way to change the decisions of the umpire is to change the rules of the game. “I might say in regard to that, that if the Supreme Court is an umpire, it makes the rules as it goes along, and is steadily moving first and third bese nearer to second.” Brant said he was opposed to the bill in so far as it might increase the size of the court permanently to 15. “I see no reason why there should be more than 11 justices,” he declared. Pointing out that a year ago, in his D) 1t | ing, | science, paid off. | * Kk ok % | WISE GUY. | WHEN Mrs. George Phillips, i husband is with the | Communications Commission, went to | Florida recently her first few letters were filled with descriptions of the | climate, the flowers, people and scenes | | en route. | Mr. Phillips, a busy man, read about four of these voluminous epistles and then sent off a rather tart wire say- | “Never mind the descriptions. Just say how you are and what you want.” He got his reply within an hour, “Feel fine. Wire fifty.” * x % SUFFRAGE N EX-WASHINGTONIAN, who now lives in New York, came back here the other day and described how he went down to register for voting last Fall, thinking gleefully that &t last he would have the opportunity for something he never could have done in the District. At the registration center he was asked if he had ever voted before. He said no. The officials looked at him sharply. “‘Whatsa matter?” said one. “Crimi- nal or crazy?” & ok ke NEWS. Comes now the newsboy with the Pprize sense (or nonsense) of mews. The noon after that horrible school disaster down in Texas, we saw him at the corner of Fourteenth and F streets peddling his wares, scream- ing: “Papah! Royal Mail stakes!” , whose All the latest news! wins Irish Sweep- * % ok X PREOCCUPIED. HILE it has become a policy with this column to cut down on the bright sayings of children, chiefly be- cause we seldom get any contribu- tions which we regard as half so witty as the lispings of our own off- spring, it is now necessary to yield to the superior logic .f one young man about town. He is 5-year-old Mark Gilbert Tennyson, son of Dr. and Mrs. Irving Tennyson, of 2618 Thirty- eighth street. Not long ago he hurt his finger on a toy. The injury was more bother- some than mortal, but the lad put in some lustly bawling over it. After his mother had bandaged and kissed the hand, she said, “There now, come and help mother straighten up the house.” This was greeted with a fresh burst of wails. “You know I can't,” quoth Mark Gilbert impatiently, “I'm too busy crying.” —_—_— book, Brant had opposed any increase in the size of the court on the ground that it would make the court “a polit- ical chameleon, changing color with every shift in party control of the Gov- ernment,” Senator Burke, Democrat, of Nebraska, asked: “Why do you favor an increase now?” The witness said he felt conditions in the country had changed to such an extent that he had altered his opinion. After Brant had criticized the Amer- ican Bar Association for opposing the plan, Chairman Ashurst interjected: “I am surprised at this attack on the Bar Association. Personally, I think it is a great honor to belong to the association, because it has the courage of its retainers.” Opponents of the measure will have their day in court next week, and Senator Burke, Democrat, of Ne- braska announced they would call Senator Wheeler, Democrat, of Mon- tana on Monday and Raymond Moley, Federal | lies & major problem. It is not often that speed is a handicap, but this time iv is. For if I go too fast, I am likely to arrive too soon at my destination The distance between Hawaii and | Hewland is 1,900 land miles. I prefer to leave in daylight, in the later after- noon. At 150 miles per hour, the trip should take about 12 hours. Of course, there are no night facilities at Howland Island, so I must arrive there in daylight. The prob- lem is how I can fly slowly enough with my fast plane, plus tailwinds, to accomplish both a daylight take-off and a daylight arrival. In consuitation with our navigators, Manning and Noonan, I have con- trip. That is starting at dawn. But weather forecasts are not ideal for that rather risky venture. While the pilot might be suited as to visibility, ceilings and tailwinds, the situation is less satisfactory for the men who have to find our tiny island objective. To get observations during the day they must see the sun when they want to. Reports Are Meager. The reports from the section to be covered are so meager, no one knows definitely whether or not the plane could top the cumulus clouds which are reported as probably present dur- Iing the day. Perhaps there would be breaks in those clouds, perhaps not. The smali size of the target we are aiming at eliminates dead reckoning as the only means of locating it. One must supplement dead reckoning with celestial navigation and with radio as aids in such a situation. In addition to the weather problems, there is the additional one of the wel- fare of both crew and ship. While none of the four of us appeared tired when we landed yesterday morning I noticed that the eyes of all were slightly bloodshot—the pilot’s probably because they were constantly peering into the hazy night and then back to the lighted instrument panel. The navigators, because of the close work they had done in their none too well lighted cabin. After all, we had approximately 14 hours and 20 minutes of night flying. It is much better not to let fatigue of any kind creep into the early part of an expedition of long duration, for such fatigue cannot be eliminated later. Twenty-four hours’ real rest makes every one fit—six or eight hours might not. Mr. and Mrs. Chris Holmes are our hosts here. Its Waikiki and Paradise for trans-Pacific airmen. Meals are miraculously served wherever and whenever one wakes up. Speaking of meals, we had our first one im- mediately after our arrival at Col. and Mrs. John McDonnell'’s quarters at Wheeler Field. How Mrs. Mc- Donnell managed to have scrambled eggs and bacon ready to serve at the crack of dawn I don’t know, but I do know they were the best scrambled eggs any of us had ever eaten. Recognizes Army Aides. As Maritz taxied the ship into the hangar I noticed some of the same Army men standing by who had done such valiant work on my Lockheed Vega when I was here in January, 1935. They are assigned to help me again by the very understanding offi- cers in charge, who included Gen. Barton K. Young, Col. John Mc- Donnell and Maj. Samuel Grierson. My mechanical needs are mostly a service check. Hardly had our crew moved out of the ship when its in- spection began. Engine cowls came off and the constant speed propellers were taken down for greasing. Wilbur Thomas, Pratt and Whitney representative in Hawali, was on his toes to get at the wasp engines. He former Roosevelt “brain truster,” on Tuesday. positively pleaded for permission to check the valves, intent on making ) | away. landing | sidered the probability of a daylight | journey homeward on the Malola. a more intensive inspection than I had 5 planned. I told him he was one of the three | or four men in the world I would let touch those engines, pets of mine before the time rolled round for their regular overhauling, many hours | Beautiful motors, you know, are sometimes best left alone when | they are functioning perfectly, and | they should be tinkered with by no | ordinary mechanic at any time. So, may engines, under the best possible hands, are having a mechanical rub- | down and massage to keep them in perfect condition. In thinking over the reasons for | this delay, I have to include one that | is incident to my new role as a writer. | Flying really comes easier than re- | porting. It is simpler to tell all to | the reporters than to try to do the recording myself. However, as I ex- plained to the interviewers yetserday, | I have joined their fraternity for | once, and I am saving them, partially | at least, the trouble of writing about the flight by struggling to do so! myself. And may I sincerely hand | the group of journalists here a bou- | quet for their good sportsmanship. | They were sympathetic to my explana- tion of why I would rather not discuss | details of the flight. I shall be sorry to drop the first of the itinerant crew, Paul Mantz. He has helped in every way to prepare | for the flight, and came along on its first leg to watch developments. He | took no rest yesterday, staying at Wheeler Field to superintend the work. I hope he has a pleasant Our time—15 hours and 47 minutes from Oakland to Honolulu—seems to | have established a record for the | east-west crossing. That is an inter- esting commentary on the progress of | flying equipment, particularly as con- cerns speed. Actually we were going about as slowly as possible. We throttled back the engines. Most of the way our craft was “under wraps.” For once, tailwinds were almost an embarrassment. As it was, averaging | slightly over 150 miles an hour, we reached Wheeler Field as scheduled just after dawn. My point is, that so far as concerns speed, it would have been easier to go faster. The Electra, or similar landcraft, can comfortably cut a couple of hours off the left- handed record we set up most any | time under favoring conditions. The same problem of going slow—not fast —faces me on the next hop, as I have sald. Again, the new puzzle is how not to hurry. All of which indicates that the ele- ment of speed is far from uppermost in such a flight as this. It can't be quite truly. I'm in no hurry. It was disappointing yesterday that bad weather prevented us carrying on westward. But doubtless similar de- lays will occur later. My ambition is no time mark. There is no “record” to shoot at. That will come for others later. We'll see globe-girdling flights whose brevity will take your breath away. As for this present venture, I just want to progress as safely and sanely as day-to-day con- ditions make possible, give myself and the Electra this experience of seeing what we can of this very interesting world at its waist line, and, with good fortune, get back with plane and pilot all “in one piece.” (Copyright, 1937.) Disaster (Continued From First Page.) natural gas had seeped into hollow tiles in the school walls, converting it into & veritable bomb. Capt. Zachariah Coombs, judge ad- vocate of the military court, was quoted by the Tyler Morning Telegraph as saying he was in possession of pieces of sewer pipe from the blast ruins which oil workers told him showed traces of nitro-glycerin. Capt. Coombs said he would call as witnesses the men who gave him the fragments, but that other witnesses discounted the theory. At Austin, Gov. James V. Allred recommended that heating installa- tions in Texas school buildings simi- lar to those at the New London struc- N | “without proper flues” in the ruins, Five Giants of the Sea at Rest An imposing air view of five great trans-Atlantic passenger vessels assembled at their piers in New York and steaming up for return trips. Left to right they are: Europa, liners on the Hudson piers. Berengaria. Seldom is there such a grouping of mammoth Rex, Normandie, Georgic and —A. P. Photo. ture not be used until after a thor- ough examination for safety. He had been informed in a letter from George H. Greenway of Dallas, a heating engineer, that there were several more schools in East Texas with the same type of heating equip- ment that are liable to blow up any minute, with the same results. Day of Mourning. The Governor sct aside tomorrow as a day of mourning in Texas and ordered the flag on the State buildings continued at half-staff and proposed that a monument to the victims be erected at the scene of the disaster. “This terrible tragedy touched not only the families and immediate friends of these victims, but reached and horrified every home throughout the land.” his proclamation said. “Let us reconsecrate ourselves to the faith of our fathers and highly resolve that no such disaster shall ever again be visited upon any community or any home.” ! The casuaity list showed 94 injured and eight missing. The list, as relief workers checked it, still was subject to | revision. Capt. Coombs said he would call 20 | or 25 witnesses. The first heard was L. Downing of Henderson, who | helped in original plans for the building. | He said the original intention was to | heat the structure with a boller and steam. This plan was changed to gas | steam heating to cut the cost, he said. | Only three bodies—all young girls— | lay unclaimed in a Henderson mor- | tuary Yesterday as many as 75 unidenti- | fled had been laid in rows in impro- | vised morgues at one time. The State | Department of Public Safety aided in | the difficult task of identification by sending a finger print expert here. Vents from the radiators in the building, used as independent units | “simply end in the walls,” said Dr. | Schoch, discussing the probable cause | of the blast. His contention, based on his re- | ported finding of intact radiators placed him in disagreement with an- other called as a witness at the in- quiry. Denies Radiator Connection. “It is my opinion that the explosion was caused by gas accumulating be- | neath the building,” asserted E. M. | Roberts, electrician on construction of | the building. “I don’t think there was any de- fect in connection with the gas radia- tors which would allow such an ex- plosion.” The radiators, one to a room, were individually fired with gas, heat radia= | tion being by means of a contrivance similar to the radiator of a central steam heating plant, but not supplied with steam from outside. Dr. Schoch said there was no doubt gas had been in the building and that the blast came either from the basement or from the walls. He called the cells of tile “excellent gas chambers.” “It's simple,” he went on. “The walls were filled with gas that had no other exit. “The condition of the bodies of those children bears that out. They were blown to death—not burned to death ” The blast left only half a dozen of the 72 radiators in the building in- tact with their wall connections. Dr. Schoch inspected each and said he found only one with a satisfactory flue. The scientist was sent here as offi- cial investigator for Gov. Allred. U. S. Senas Experts. To supplement the inquiry of the university chemist, the Bureau of Oils and Chemistry in Washington sent David J. Price, another expert on ex- plosions, to the scene. D. J. Parker, United States Bureau of Mines engi- neer. was dispatched from Salt Lake City. At Austin legislators traced tenta- tive lines for an inquiry. Next Monday four Representatives and four Senators will meet in Hen- derson to start an investigation or- dered by the Legislature. Start of actual work of digging into the causes of the tragic blast probably will be de- layed a few days. Oil fleld workers ended their search through the ruins for additional bodies and Coi C. E. Parker, National Guard commander, said it had been estimated “about 425” bodies had been removed. London achool officials, visibly shaken by the tragedy that wiped out half their student body, said no definite plans had been made to re- build the “world’s wealthiest rural school,” located in one of the heaviest taxed school districts. Supt. W. C. Shaw, who lost his son, was assured by Supt. C. O. Pollard of Henderson, 18 miles distant, that all New London pupils between the fifth and eleiénth grades “would be welcome to attend the Henderson school without charge.” School officials indicated normal routine in the lower grades would be resumed Monday. Maj. Howard said martial law, de- clared soon after the blast, would not be lifted until the court of inquiry completed its findings. Military rule is needed to retain authority of the court. Bodies Sent Elsewhere. Most of the families preferred to bury their own dead, although & mass funeral had been planned originally for an undetermined number. A con- siderable number already had been sent to various parts of the country. Comparatively few of the victims were children of families with long- time ties here. The oil boom of 1830~ 31 which developed this community and the school plant as well, called them here from all perts of the Nation. Grieving kin prepared burial places near the derricked slopes of the world's largest oil belt for many of the pupils and teachers. Henderson ordered free burial plots to families of victims who needed them. Permanent care of the graves without charge also was prom- ised. Many oil companies assured they were “taking care of empioyes.” Those same companies threw all their trucks, cranes and men into the vast rescue work, virtually ended yesterday. Merele Gruver, Chamber of Com- merce official at Henderson, said oil- wealthy Rusk County ..eeded no money Sit-Downers (Continued From First Page) with another of his celebrated at- tacks on monopoly. Warning that business “must come back to live under law or else it will plant seeds of widespread lawless- ness,” he ins..ted his proposed amend- ment to strengthen State powers was the best method of attack. 8uch law, he declared, but result largely from “the fact that vast corporate interests are living in violation of the law.” “We should realize” rejoined Sen- ator Black, “that there is a deep con- viction among the people who have been sitting down that laws enacted for their benefit will be held uncon- stitutional.” He contended Supreme Court de- cisions had created “insuperable ob- to treat the injured ard bury the dead, but e.ch donation will go to a worthy cause. 3 “It will be given,” he said, “to the sorrowing parents to help them pro- | vide educational opportunities for their other children—those who have chil- dren left.” Identifying Work Slow The anguish-filled task of identify~ ing and counting the dead proceeded | at such a slow pace that indications were more than a week must elnpsei before it is completed thoroughly. Most bodies were mangled badly and | may never be identified | One of the pathetic figures at the | Overton Amrican Legion Hall, a! temporary morgue, was a father who was shown piece by piece the torn | clothing of & boy victim. Finally he | was handed a pair of worn shoes. | “That's my boy,” he gasped. “I soled | the shoes myself.” The powerful force of the blast was indicated by the experience of Mrs Tom Parmley, playground supervisor, who said it appeared to last two minutes. I was about 20 yards in front of the school building when it started,” she said “When it was over, I was under the back seat of an automobile and there some bricks on the top of the seat. It was just one big, 1. 1g boom and then the downfall.” Mrs. G. W. Williams. an officer of the American Legion Auxiliary at Henderson, found it difficult to bear out the role of “Sunshine,” the name by which intimate friends know her. It was her duty to lead parents down rows of covered bodies at a morgue there and lift the sheets in an effort to identify the dead. Teacher Saved 95 Pupils. Mrs. Odell Garry, the dark-haired heroine who saved 95 pupils by quick thinking, was reticent in talking about it today. 8he would say only: “When the walls and ceiling began to fall in, I told the pupils to get under | their desks and I got under mine. Some of them got under my desk with me. There were about 85 in the room.” News of the tragedy brought consol- ing word from all over the world— messages of sympathy from France, Egypt, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Venez- uela, Haiti, Cuba and England. Every State in the Union offered condolances. Such Government officials as Harold L. Ickes, Interior Secretary, offered every aid within their power. Admiral Cary T. Grayson, chairman of the American Red Cross, placed the full resources of that organization at the call of Gov. Allred. “Taking Her Home.” Burial of the dead inserted many a tragic note. A decrepit truck limped slowly along Dallas streets, a rough pine box pro- truding from the rear. At the front, almost obliterating the license tag, was a crude sign which read: “Funeral.” The word was misspelled, but De- tectives Lary Knight and Ed Preston suspected what it meant. “Where to?” the officers asked. “West Texas.” “Was it . . the explosion?” ‘Yeah.” SANQ S a2 “I'm taking her home.” “I was in France in the Argonne,” Detective Knight said later. “But this—well, this is different.” Two thousand human beavers dug away more than 4,000,000 pounds of rock and steel in less than 24 hours in the search for the victims. “It was one of the fastest, most marvelous clearing jobs I've ever seen,” sald Ross Maddox, general con- tractor for the building when it was erected four years ago. His figures showed 6 tons of rein- forcement steel, 9 tons of structural steel and 1,300 yards of concrete— figuring 3,600 pounds to the yard— were used in the building. Ofl fleld workers—hastily recruited from derricks all over the vast East Texas area—thus carried away about 200,000 pounds an hour, working in shifts of approximately 1,000 men. They worked until completely ex- hausted. » stacles” to establishment of remedies either by Federal or State law. Illegal Trespass Condemned. Senator Vandenberg, Republican, of Michigan pleaded for respect of all law, saying “Illegal trespass cannot be condoned.” Referring to the situation in their State, his Democratic colleague— } Brown—urged patience “I am not yet willing,” he said, “to shoot down men in the Chrysler plants to drive them out to uphold the majesty of the law.” A number of Senators primarily in- terested in the issue missed the debate because of the court hearings. They said they would speak on the question later. Meanwhile, on the House side, a Michigan Republican, Representative Hoffman, declared: “We have a state of armed rebellion.” “The President is the boss of Con- | gress, all right,” he said. “But who does he get his orders on labor from? He gets them from Lewis.” A dozen other legislators plunged into the debate while both houses, their galleries packed, sat late into | the afternoon Senator Ellender, Democrat, of | Louisiana—Huey Long's successor— had touched off the controversy by de- | nouncing sit-down tactics as un- American and “nothing short of a hold-up.” ‘Flight |(2<mtlnued From First Page.) | Army officers. Only her blanched | face revealed her feelings. | “No one was hurt. Only our spirits are bruised,” she said to Army officers who hurried to her side She was attempting a daylight take- off for Howland Island after receiving | reports there was cloudy weather as | far as 200 miles south of here and favorable weather thence to Howland The plane, valued at $80,000, was loaded with between 800 and 900 gal- lons of gasoline. Ground Soaked With Gas. Paul Mantz, Miss Earhart’s tech- survey the damage. panied her on the record-breaking hop from Oakland, but had left the plane here, Mantz found that in addition to the smashed undercarriage and propellers and wing, both the motor mount and stabilizer were bent covered with gasoline. took precautions against fire. Mantz estimated repairs would take about two weeks at the factory, but four months if done here. The plane was nearly out of sight of spectators when it crashed. Miss Ear- hart had taxied it to the far end of the runway in the dim morning light and then started to speed back for the take-off when the tire burst Means Postponement. Miss Earhart said, “This means postponement of my world trip, but not cancellation.” She announced the plane probably would be sent back to the factory for repairs. “We were going about 50 miles an hour when the right tire blew out. I cut the switches.” She smiled tremulously, but was calm. A bright yellow lei, which adorned her neck at the start of the run, had disappeared when she climbed from the plane, but she was otherwise unruffied. Noonan and Manning returned to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Holmes. Role Like “Guinea Pig.” The pioneer woman flyer, before taking off for the Pacific Coast last month to begin her globe-girdling flight, laughingly described her role on the trip as that of “a human guinea p"‘n‘s something I want to do more than anything else in ‘the world,” she said, explaining she wanted to “find out more about the reactions of hu- man beings to flight.” Her narrow escape from serious in- jury marked the fifth time she had cheated death in her air exploits. “My luck held” was the way she characterized forced landings and smash-ups when she came through al- most unscathed strikes have no warrant in | | show she was not hurt, and shouted to | nical adviser, remained at the fleld to | He had accom- | twisted | The ground around the plane was Army officers | DIVORCE 1S ASKED BY SENATOR BILBO Wife Recently Asked D. C. Court for Enforcement of Financial Pact, Senator Bilbo has filed suit in Miss- issippt for divorce from Mrs. Lina Gaddis Bilbo, according to an Asso- ciated Press dispatch today from Pop- larville. Mrs. Bilbo petitioned District Court on March 13 for an order to enforce a financial agreement between herself and her husband which was executed, she said, in May, 1935 Under terms of the agreement, it was sald, the Senator agreed to pay his wife $100 a month and $25 month on a house in Jackson, Miss,, pending a settlement. An alternative agreement, it was stated, was a $20,000 settlement, payable in cash and notes. The Senator filed suit for divorce in Pear] River County Chancery Court. Chancery Clerk M. K. Rouse, a rela. | tive of the Senator, said the suit was filed “several days ago.” The case | was scheduled for hearing the third Monday in May Rouse said the Senator would be represented at the hearing by “the entire bar of Pearl River County.” Bilbo, meanwhile, was sald to be en route to Washington from the Pacific Coast. In her petition here, Mrs. Bilbo gave her residence as Jackson. She saild she and her husband separated “some years ago.” They were mar- ried in 1903 Mrs. Bilbo several years ago filed suit for divorce in the Hinds County (Miss.) Chancery Court, but with- drew the complaint before the case came to trial. ~ Strike a (Continued From Pirst Page) ond time in attempts to conciliate a major automobile strike. Their efforts led to settlement of General Motors strikes a month ago Only small groups of pickets hud- dled about snow-covered gates at the huge Chrysler factories this morning There was no unusual activity. Some gates were barricaded, others were merely chained The chairman of Chrysler Strike | Committees today issued a statement, addressed to Gov. Murphy, declaring: | “You can do one of two things. You can use your influence to see that our grievances are adjusted, or you can | use the State's troops to try to force | us out. Alternatives Cited. “The first way will lead to indus- trial peace and the elimination of the causes for strikes. The second way will lead to bioodshed and violence and more strikes. We are resclved to protect our rights to our jobs with our lives. The choice is flatly up to you Restating the union contention that | the Chrysler Corp. had violated the | national labor relations act by its re- | fusal to recognize the U. A. W. A. as sole bargaining agency for 67,000 em- | ployes, the strike leaders said: “Our employers have refused to rec- ognize the principles of collective bar- gaining, so we have resorted to the | only weapon we have to make them | abide by the law.” | The situation today, as Dewey and Gov. Murphy engaged in conferences seeking a way for peaceful evacuation of the Chrysler plants, appeared to be deadlocked as tightly as it has been since the strikers halted plant opera- tions 13 davs ago. Homer Martin, union president, said: “Our proposals for an amicau.e | and swift settlement of this con- troversy were spurned by the corpora- tion.’ One report was that the union was willing to evacuate the sit-down | strikers in return for a written pledge from Walter P. Chrysler, chairman of the corporation’s board, that no attempt to reopen the plants, or to remove dies and machinery would be made, and that the corporation’s exec- utives would “get down to bed-rock” negotiating with uinon representatives. Meeting Blocked. { In this connection, one report said, efforts to bring about a meeting be- tween Chrysler and John L. Lewis, chairman of the Committee for In- dustrial Organization supporting the U. A. W. A, strikes, have been blocked by the manufacturer's refusal to meet with any union official until the plants have been cleared. Dewey, arriving in Detroit by train this morning, declined to state his plans, but said “we will probably ar- range several conferences.” The union strikers' statement to Murphy today, signed by “sit-down strikers in the Chrysler plants,” as- | serted that “What we have to say is supported { by more than 50,000 cther Chrysler | workers, more than 100,000 automobile | workers in Detroit, 200,000 in Michi- gan and 300,000 in the United States.” The letter rejected the mediation boards proposed in a conference called by the Governor this week with | the statement. “They don't work.” | Claim Wages Inadequate. | The strikers contended that inade- quate wages, speed of the production | line, discriminatory discharges and in- | timidation by the agents of a labor spy organization led to their strike action “Then, when we had built our union in spite of these obstacles,” the letter continued, “the Chrysler Corp. re- fused to recognize us.” Dewey came to Detroit at the direc- | tion of Secretary Perkins to join Gov. | Murphy, who has been conferring | with Chrysler Corp. executives and | officials of the U. A. W. A, Remains in New York. Secretary Perkins decided to remain in New York overnight after conversing by telephone with Chrysler and Gov Murphy. Lewis and Chrysler were in New York, but Miss Perkins would | not say whether she had communi- | cated with the labor leader. “I think that if Mr. Chrysler and Mr. Lewis could get together it would clear up some things,” the Labor Sec- retary said. She said she had not tried to arrange such a meeting, but that she understood such an endeavor had been made. Her main objective, she explained, was to get negotiations between the corporation and the union started, Then she added: “Every one has been too mad to talk things over; what with court orders and 8o on, both sides have been mad.” ‘The two sides had opened negotia- tions over union demands when the strike was called, but they have re- ported no progress. Much of their discussions have centered on the re- jected request of the U. A. W. A. for recognition as the sole bargaining agency of Chrysler employes. (