Evening Star Newspaper, May 7, 1940, Page 5

Crazed by Quster, Teacher Kills Four, Shoots Two and Self Erratic Junior High Instructor Runs Amuck With Target Pistol By the Associated Press. SOUTH PASADENA, Calif,, May. 7.—Death hovered near today for three critically wounded survivors of o deposed school principal’s bullet- spewing target pistol that cost the lives of four other education au- thorities. Slain were George C. Bush, 62, for 85 years superintendent of schools here and in nearby San Marino; John E. Alman, 50, principal of the Bouth Pasadena-San Marino High School for 25 years; William Speer, 43, business manager of the com- bined school district, and Victor V. Vanderlip, 45, manual arts and printing instructor at South Pasa- dena Junior High School. Hospital authorities described as critical the condition of high- strung, erratic Verlin Spencer, 38, who suddenly went berserk after being told his junior high school contract would not be renewed, mowed down the six school attaches, and then turned his .22 caliber pistol upon himself. Had Nervous Breakdown. Little hope also was held for the other survivors of his mad outburst of gunfire, Miss Ruth B. Sturgeon, 45, art instructor at the junior high €chool, and Miss Dorothea Talbert, 30, secretary to Supt. Bush. Police Chief Frank Higgins re- ported Spencer, an expert marks- man, had numerous recent alterca- tions with school authorities follow= ing a nervous breakdown a year ago. He went to the Board of Education ,Building yesterday, demanding a hearing on a notification his con- | tract would not be renewed at the end of the school year. Higgins said an argument de- veloped and Spencer pulled the tar- get pistol from his pocket and started firing. Bush, Alman and Speer fell dead, each shot once through the heart. Turning on his heel, Spencer en- countered Miss Talbert, who at- tempted to rise in horror from her secretarial desk. The pistol barked twice more and she slumped to the floor, shot through the shoulder. Students See Him Flee. Waving the smoking gun and shouting “I'll get them all!” Spencer ran through a group of students leaving their classrooms, jumped into his automobile and drove back to his own school. There he found Miss Sturgeon and Vanderlip, with whorh Higgings said Spencer had had recent dif- ficulties. The art teacher was seated at her desk grading student papers and looked up to see Spencer ad- vancing toward her. Her screams were silenced by three quickly fired bullets into her breast. ‘Vanderlip was next. The principal found him outside on the campus,’ “orced him into the basement and, after a terrific struggle in the man- ual training room, left the in- structor crumpled dead on the floor with three bullets in his body. ‘Walking across the campus, Spen- cer encountered a squad of police, armed with shotguns and revolvers. He ducked into the school cafeteria as they moved to open fire and beat *them to the draw. A bullet from his own gun entered his right side and lodged near the heart. Police found in his clothing a gcribbled will in which Spencer stated he was of “sound mind” and bequeathed his property to his wife, Jolly, providing she did not spend more than $200 on his funeral ex- Benses. He also has a son, Verlin, . 12 London __(Omt‘lnued From First Page.) elosely for any indication of Mus- lolin}yl intentions with regard to Italian participation in the war. Disclose 3 Destroyers Sunk. * Purther evidence of the might of Germany’s air force came late yes- terday with disclosure that three allied destroyers had been sunk by R Nari bombers while covering the withdrawal of British and French troops from Norway. Thp:se vessels included the 2,436- ton French Bison, the 1,870-ton Brit- ish Afridi and the 2,144-ton Polish “Grom. British sources said, however, that the Germans had suffered heavy Josses in airplanes during the Nor- wegian campaign. From official bulletins and other pources they estimated that the Nazis had lost 200 planes, largely through the work of the British air force, In comparison, British losses were - descrived as comparatively 3ight, amounting to not more than 37 machines—16 lost in raids on Ger- man air bases, 5 in action against naval vessels and 16 in other opera- tions, There was little new information eoncerning the fighting still going on in Northern Norway, where allied troops, co-operating with the Nor- wegians, are besieging Germans at Narvik. Norwegian Foreign Minister Halv- dan Koht who conferred yesterday in London with Mr. Chamberlain and Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, ssserted in an interview that the Norwegian forces in the north were well-trained and equipped. " “It is the part o four army which has been best trained,’ ’he declared. The reason for this is easy to under- stand: For the last three years we have been fearing a Russian attack— that is why we organized our army in Northern Norway.” A broadcast reported $he Norwegian commander in chief, Otto Ruge, had arrived in Northern Norway aboard a British war vessel. Koht said a great part of the Nor- in the south was lost when the allies withdrew, but he of- fered no reproach. “It is good to feel that my un- happy country is not left alone in the world,” he declared. “I know the English people well, and know there 48 no place where Norway has such good friends as here.” Artists to Be Presented ‘The young peoples group of the Congregational the recall of these troops. Berlin (Continued From First Page.) Hitler had exchanged letters late last month, in which they had “af- firmed complete agreement over the future political attitude” of the two nations toward each other. Story of Talk Played Up. The controlled German press splashed the story of the alleged conversation between the two allied J war leaders. The account did not disclose how Germany could have obtained a record of any Chamberlain-Reynaud conversation, but it was specific in saying. that the two allled leaders talked for just 15 minutes, starting at 10:10 ‘pm., Central European time, April 30, The Berlin newspaper Zwlfuhr- blatt, for example, played the story under a double page 1 streamer, in- terpreting the textual quotations from that purported conference as meaning that Gen. Maxime Wey- gand, commander in chief of allied forces in the Near East, would be ready for the “ordered action” by May 15. What such “action” however, was not stated. It was M. Reynaud who, accord- ing to the German account, assured Mf. Chamberlain that the French general, Weygand, would be ready by May 15, but the French Premier was said to‘have cautioned Mr. Cham- berlain not to take the date Iiter- ally—that execution of the “or- dered action” might be a little later. “Chamberlain, in an obviously de- tone, remarked that he was under the impression that they were requiring more time down there than necessary,” said Zwoelfuhrblatt. Difficulties With Turks. To this M. Reynaud was said to have replied by pointing to the “many “difficulties” which had to be overcome, especially as regards the ‘Turks, who were “making daily in- creasing demands.” Mr. Chamberlain, according to the Germans, promised “personally to talk to the Turks once more,” but said that He could not guarantee anything “if théy down there don’t might be, centricities and autocracy.” M. Reynaud was said to have re- sponded with a promise to do every- thing possible to overcome “mental difficulties.” Thereupon, it was said, Mr. Cham- berlain requested M. Reynaud. in RUG Beanty Our Duty cLzanEd AND $70 Mr.Pyle na.32s7 SANITARY CARPET & RUG-CLEANING €CO. 106 INDIANA AVE. SPECIAL DOMESTIC RUGS $.0.S.RUGWASHING SERVIC J2409 18 St NW. Many like F. B. are helped by Mountain Valley Water from Hot Springs, Ark.—the natural -ald for Arthritis, Kidney and Bladder conditions. It may help you. at last put an end to eternal ec- || FOR FREE BOOKLET—or to order—telephone ME. 1062. . Moustain Valley "% WATER SPRINGS, ARKANSAS 1408k S W e ML 1062 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, “rather imperative tones” to iffferm him not later than May 20 about the conclusion of “preparations.” Zwolfuhrblatt said that the con- versation finished in a friendly, polite tone after Mr. Chamberlain requested M. Reynaud to see to it that there were “no indiscretions this time from the French side.” Purpose Is Twofold. ‘The purpose in publishing the purported conversation appeared to be twofold—to fix in the German people’s mind any responsibility for widening of the European conflict ingo the Balkan-Near East area and to “smoke out” the allfes regarding their intentions. ‘The releases to the press were identical and the story differed only BRITISH TROOPS HOME FROM NORWAY—This pic’mre, radioed from London to New York today, shows British troops on the deck of a transport bringing them back from Norway. Brit- ish-censored description gave no other details. The House of Commons today took up debate on —A. P. Wirephoto. as to headlines among the various papers. The complete text of the purported converstions was not given. Much of it was in indirect quotation. ‘The item as handed to the press did not go through the usual chan- nel. Namely the official news agen- cy, NDB. Later, however, DNB issued the story with- the following introduc- tion: “The German press today brings in the most prominent form a tele- phone conversation between Cham- berlain and Reynaud which, as the papers indicate in their headlines, reveals plans for aggression by the western powers.” ‘The following are two of the hudlln:;wnhmchmnmm “Attention! Attention! To all whom it concerns—the veil has fall- ‘At latest by May 20!'— Searchlight upon London.” Troops (Continued From First Page.) & total of 300 at Andalsnes had been bombed before he arrived there. “When we came back through the town only seven or eight had not been bombed,” he added. Veterans of long army service were sprinkled among the khaki- clad men who hustled down the gangplank without a song. One British newspaperman, watching the hobnailed procession, remarked that “quite a ot of them seem young and undersized,” but not one of the men would admit he had been frightened during the 12 days in which they were harassed by the German air force. Germans Declared Poor Shots. “They bombed an; that moved,” said one old “contemptible” of the World War. “They were poor shots, but the place was full of spies. The Germans always seemed to know where we were and where our anti-aircraft guns were. If it had been man-to-man fighting the Brit- ish would have wiped them out.” A London corporal; one of a crew assigned to demolition of bridges as the allies backtracked up the Gudbrands Valley toward Andals- nes said: “We were s0 short of explosives we used depth charges from the ships to bomb the bridges, and they really blew them up!” Maj. Gen. B. C. T. Paget, whose direction of the embarkation at An- dalsnes was praised by Prime Min- ister Chamberlain last Thursday, credited the Norwegians with great aid in the withdrawal. He said they drove trains practically up to the front lines twice to retrieve allied forces. Hardly a house was left standing along the 30 miles from Kvam to Dombas, one of Gen. Paget’s men related, as the German air force bombed the line of retreat. When the navy brought down four Nazi planes, “you should have seen the heart it put into the boys,” he added. Gen. Ironside congratulated the returning troops for having “come back with their tails up.” “Don’t think you were driven out of Norway,” he said. “You were ordered out of Norway, and the great thing is that your discipline brought you out. “You were an advance guard, and we had thought that we would be able to get to you the guns and aviation which make it possible to fight such a machine as you were opposed to. 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