The Key West Citizen Newspaper, August 6, 1947, Page 1

Key West, Florida, has the most equable climate in the country, with an average range of only 14° Fahrenheit VOL, XLVI. No. 186 PETITION OF POLITIC. AL CLUB LEADER NOT PROPER FOR REPEA’ Politics reared its controversial head at last night’s City Com- mission meeting. Commissioner Louis Carbonell and Joe Sirugo, founder of an organization which he calls the Key West Democrati¢ Club, went at each other hammer and tongs after Sirugo attempted to intro- duce a petition. The petition was ostensibly to have the commission repeal the city ordinance requiring a $250) fine for persons breaking parking meters but there was more to it} than that, as was evident from as t Carbonell And Joe Sirugo Engage In Verbal Battle COMMISSIONER SHOWS* $2,000 Golf Green Outlay Is Considered CARBONELL FOR PUTTING EXPENSE ON 1948 BUDGET; SAYS ARRANGEMENT WAS | OKAY WITH HAYES | An ordinance authorizing the | city to pay $2,000 for renovating ! the greens of the municipal golf course was ordered drawn up by the City Commission last night. Commissioner Louis bonell served notice that he will oppose | amending the budget for tl the preamble. After ordinance and establishment of a fine from $10 to $200, the peti-} tior, asked “that certain members of the City Commission stop play- ing politics and stop the dramat- ics and get practical and thus serve the interests of the com- munity.” Just what members the petition referred to is not known but Sir- ugo gave strong indication whom he personally had in mind when he yelled at Louis Carbonell, “Jusi wait till November.” Carbonell was perturbed about the petition but showed litle ap- prehension over the restaurant man’s admonition. “Yes, L'll wait ‘til November,” he replied vigor- ously to his opponent. The commissioner said he had ground in opposing the petitiofi " “as-an” offieial step to repeal of the ordi- nance. In the first place, the pe- tition contained only about 400 names, half of them without ad- dresses, whereas one-fifth of all the registered voters, or about 1.- 000 names and addresses, would be necessary to repeal the ordi- nance by petition. Also, Carbonell quoting Section 1, Article III, Chapter A, of the city charter, “All petitions circulated with re- spect to any proposed ordinance shall be uniform in charact shall contain the proposed ordi- nance in full and shall have print- ed or written thereon the name and address of at least five elec- ws who shall be officially reg- tered as filing the petition.” The petition did not contain the ordi- nance nor electors officially reg- istered filing the petition. City Attorney J. Lancelot Les- ter agreed that the petition was useless as an instrument for re- pesline the ordinance but said it could be accepted as an expres- sion of opinion. Carbonell ob- jected to acceptance even on this ground but Mayor W. W. Demer- itt ruled that it be filed by the city clerk. Incidentally, it was Louis Car- bonell who offered an ordinance eliminating the mandatory $250 fine but it was defeated about a month ago on a 2-2 vote, Com- missioner Albert Cooper joining Carbonell in favor but Mayor, Demeritt and Commissioner Hun-. ter Harden opposed it at that time. Commissioner John Carbonell, who was in favor of the act, said last night he regretted he had been unable to be present to ca his vote but indicated he might have the ordinance reintroduced Rattlesnake Was Double Menace LOGAN, W. Va.—(AP).—Harold Williams went raspberry picking with his sister, heard an ominous rattling in the grass and recoiled from a foot-long snake with two heads—both of them well-formed and poised to strike pite pleadings from his sis- ter, Williams captured the quecr reptile with a forked stick. The rattler died some days later in captivity. scsuminemptemnmacst actuate eee iaed WE ARE... HYDRAULIC BRAKE , Let Us Check Your Brakes ia Smith Auto Service, at Fleming one “Opposite Army Barracks” brought out, | tourist season. purpose but that he will favor sking repeal of the $250 | including the amount in the 1948 ;t?ol. Fire budget. The matter was brought up in a letter read by City Manager! O. J. S. Ellingson and written by Dr. John B. Hayes, president of the Key West Golf Club.’ Hayes requested $2,000 for green | maintenance and said that A. W.! Frohock, greenskeeper expert of | the Miami Springs golf course, | has been hired to supervise the | reworking of the greens. Carbonell objected to amending ; the budget for the $2,000. He said that’ Hayes had contacted | him some time ago and asked him to broach the matter to the ; Commission, but when Carbonell ! found it would mean amending | the budget he and told him his position on the matter. i went to Hayes: Hayes ther” agreed; the cpm}. missioner said; to secure money himself on Carbonell’s as- surance that the $2,000 would be included in the 1948 budget. : Charlie Smith, member of the | board of directors of the golf} club, spoke of the need of doing ; the greens over. He said that the golf club had purchased a new tractor to mow the fairway and} rough, but that the greens are} in bad shape and need 60 days’ labor to be satisfactory for the “If the city doesn’t appropriate this money,” he said, “the 50 club members would have to bear the entire expense.” | The commission decided to} draw up the ordinance in the event that it is needed. Mayor Demeritt said he hoped, that Dr. Hayes could be at the next com- mission meeting to explain his stand on the matter. It was! learned today, however, that Dr. Hayes is out of the city until about September 1 and Horace O'’Bryant, high school principal, ; is acting president | Meyer Recur Lo To Testimony -| About Parties: (Ry Assogiated Press) | WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—John} W. Meyer, Howard Hughes’ pub-} licity agent, was grilled further ; this morning by members of the | senate investigating committee | about the parties he had given in entertaining Elliott Roosevelt} and others during the time Hughes ; was trying to get a contract to! build planes for the government. | Meyer said that, in giving the parties, he was only following in-+ structions he had received from Hughes. Meyer added that he: had no knowledge of whether or | not the parties had contributed to Hughes obtaining the contracts. It was disclosed that two of the | three photographic reconnoitering | planes that Hughes had built had | been accepted by the army, but the giant seaplane, costing $18} million, has not yet been accepted. | Hughes arrived here this morn- ing from California in his private piane, and was due to appear be- fore the committee this afternoon, | Te I BRADY’S CHOICE POULTRY | 1214 White Street Phone S40 ;country. THE Airport Blaze Tn Miami Cause of Million Loss FIREMEN FIGHT BLAZE FROM 2:00 TO 6:00 A.M. BEFORE BE- CONTROL (By A MIAMI, Aug. 6.— Press) ire at an damage estimated at a million dollars by Fire Chief {Henry Chase. The fire began on the north side of the airport at N. E. Twen- tieth street, a watchman told the firemen. He said he saw a sm: blaze on the wingtip of an a plane, and, obtaining a fire e tinguisher, ran toward the plane to douse the blaze, but before he got there the flames had jspread and, a few seconds later, there was an explosion, m was sent in at morning, but it 2 o'clock thi: a jwas not until 6 o'clock that the firemen got the blaze under con- Chief Chase said the reason for that was because of |frequent explosions of gasoline. Six private planes, in line to- ward which the fire was spread- ing, were saved by a group of men who pushed the planes be- yond the danger of the flames. Truman To Go To Brazil For 3-Day Visit (By The Associated Press) WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—The White House announced today ithat President Truman will spend ; three days in Brazil either the latter part of this month or early in September. 2 His going thére results from his the ‘accepting an invitation from the,Phillips announced Brazilian government to visit that It was said that he probably will be in Brazil in time to make an address at a confer- ence of representatives of South American countries. The President will fly to Brazil and will return to this country aboard of the United States bat- tleship Missouri, the White House statement said. Funeral For Knowles Infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Allison Knowles, who died yesterday at the Municipal Hospital, will be held this afternoon at 5 o’clack in the Lopez Funeral Home chapel. Rev. H. F. Saumenig, of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, will of- ficiate. Interment will be in the family plot, City Cemetery. Survivors are the parents. VOD DOLASIL!. Demurrer Entered By Bus Company In $100,000 Suit Judge Aquilino Lopez of the Circuit Court took under advisement this afternoon a demurrer of Florida Grey- hounds, Inc., to the $100,000 suit filed against the bus com- pany by Mary Evelyn Kaelin of Tavernier. Mrs. Kaelin is suing for $100,000 damages for the death of her husband, Harold Kaelin, killed May 1, 1947, when the truck he was driving struck a Greyhound hus on the Overseas High- way. nepresenting the bus com- pany were Atiorney Dewey Knight of Miami and Attor- ney J. Lancelot Lester of Key Was. Attorneys Allan B. Cleare and C. Harris repre- sented Mrs. Kaelin. Judge Lopez, sitting in chambers, heard the argu- ments of the opposing coun- sel on the demurrer. DIL ILDAD OID (uasanted REPLACEMENT =— PARTS ROY’S KEY WEST AUTO PARTS | 121 Duval Street “feral court here toda Their Testimony airport here, early this morning,| Defense attorneys in the trial ‘Hell With Meters ‘caused of David Joseph Watson, negro Navy cook, for the murder of a shipmate, made a desperate ef- fort this afternoon to save their client from the death sentence by indicating he was insane at ithe time he killed Benjamin Le- troy Hobbs. | At the 2 p. m. session of Fed- the de- ifense offered the testimony of ‘two alienists who were report- jed ready to state that Watson was insane at the time he killed ithe young seaman aboard the |USS Stribling when it was tied iup in the Navy Base here, July 25, 1946. Court was ordered adjourned until 2 p. m., by Federal Judge jJohn W. Holland after attorneys, John W. Sawyer, Key West, and A. C. Dressler. Miami, requested time to confer with ‘their witnesses to be put on the jstand this afternoon. “We will have doctors on the stand during the afternoon, but of course, I can’t tell you the na- ture of their testimony,” said i Sawyer. '"““Is the defense going to be on the grounds the defendant was jin ane at the time the murder { was committed?” Sawyer was asked. | He merely smiled. | The government closed _ its ] ‘ease at 11:15 a. m. today. The !government’s case lasted from Monday afternoon when it first jbegan the presentation of testi- ‘mony. the closing of the government's case. “We will call no more wit- nesses,” said Phillips. “We will excuse all witnesses, unless the defense wishes to call them again” Sawyer said that he did not wish to call the witnesses again. ‘Phillips immediately went into conference with his witnesses, nearly all of them sailors of the U. S. Navy, who had been call- ed here from many sections of Ten Days, | QUESTION OF BE LAYING ACTION Engineers for the County Beach to be built on the site of West Martello Tower will be jteady in ten days to submit contractors could be started in jabout 30 days from now. This is the report submitted last night to Monroe County ;Commission by Capt. R. D. Spald- jing, chief engineer, who told the commissioners that the sand for the beach would have to be pro- vided by the county. | “We can’t say anything about {it right now, but we understand |that the Navy has approved a |county offer for getting the sand |from Dredger’s Key,” said Chair- man Frank Bentley. ! “Weil, we will have to estimat |the cost of about 5,000 cubic yards of sand for the beach and jwe will have to place something (Continued On Page Four) | MASONIC NOTICE Special Communication of An- jchor Lodge, No. 182, F. & A.M., |Thursday, August 7, at 7:30 P.M. ,Conferring F.C. Degre All members and visiting Ma- sons are invited to attend. By order: H LOUIS C. MALONEY. W.M. GERALD H. ADAMS, Secretary. Le eeneeaeeerieonece, Wes Phone (42 ey Eee defense { U: Sv Attorney-Herbert.-S- Specifications For County Funeral services for the infant | Beach Can Be Prepared In ND FOR* CH AND TITLE TO Ford Issues PROPERTY STILL DE- Che Key West Citizen SOUTHERNMOST NEWSPAPER KEY WEST, FLORIDA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1947 DEFENSE PUTS ALIENISTS ON AS WITNESSES That Watson Was Insane* ! ING ABLE TO GET IT UNDER| At Time He Killed Ship. "\ OO OOOO OOM, mate Expected To Be Youth P. ays $250 \Fine; Says, “To > | Breaking parking meters is | @ pretty expensive pastime, R. T. Boore, young sailor from ; San Francisco, discovered yes. terday as he paid a $250 fine te City Clerk Roy Hamlin. Boore was sentenced to pay the fine or spend 60 days in jail by Municipal Judge En- tique Esquinaldo. The fine is mandatory under city law. The youth quickly wired his home in San Francisco and paid his fine onlv a short time after having been con- victed. On paying the money, he asked Officer Paul Stofer, | “Where are there some more meters?” “Over on Duval j street.” replied Stofer. | "To hell with them.” Boore exclaimed, waving his hands as though through with me- ter-breaking for life. Under a previous ordinance, ; Harry Dongo, court clerk at the county courthouse who saw Boore break the meters, \ chased him and had him ar. rested by Officer Frank Jolly, would have received $100 but this provision was repealed a short time ago. City Clerk Hamlin said that to the best of his knowledge, | Boore was the first of at least a dozen servicemen convicted of breaking meters to pay the $250 fine. COWIaIIa as: the country to testify, cused them. The only witness the govern- ment had this morning was Homer Herrick, a local surveyor, who was called to identify sev- |eral maps showing that the U. S. {government had jurisdiction in the case, on the ground that the USS Stribling was moored to {the docks of the U. S. Navy. There was no cross-examina- tion of Herrick. and ex- Engineer States Statement On Labor Law (Speciay to The Citizen) CHESTER, Pa., Aug. 6.—Henry Company, early Tuesday issued the following statement: “The agreement to refer to a joint study group the question of Ithe liability of the union for dam- jages by suit ‘for breach of con- tract, seems to us an eminently fair solution to a_ particularly thorny problem. Any new labor Hegislation raises problems of hu- jman relationship. It has become pparent to us that all of the ‘ramifications of such problems cannot be ironed out immediately around the bargaining table. Un- der today’s settlement, opportun- ity has now been provided for finding in less hectic surroundings a solution within the spirit of the Taft-Hartley Law acceptable to both the union and the company.” YN \COLUMBIA / Restaurant 117 DUVAL STREET i Sovecializing in SEAFOODS - STEAKS CHOPS - CHICKEN Spani d American jpanish oy ne SEE THE U.S.A. County Budget Cut; 120,000 Balance Enables Reduction COUNTY WILL LEVY 7 (vvvvvevevwvvevervvrvervevewrvv ewww es | MILLS ON $15,700,000 EWERT PREDICTED HE WOULD BE} personan anp reat Ri RR * ee 2 Phillips Prosecuted Fred Ewert For Murder In 1903} ESTATE VALUES * * * * * ** County budget for the fiscal LAST MAN HANGED IN MONROE CO. ji mit ewe tnan as tos j L | half mill less than it was for the 0224044444444444444444444646000000eeee8 )Ulrent year, Monroe County Herbert S. Phillips, U. S. attor-; “I remember very well coming|CO™Mission decided last night ney prosecuting David Joseph own here in 1902 to carry on my} Giving effect to the proposed ee in Federal Court here, |campaign poe slate atlonneys I}school budget calling for one prosecuted Fred Ewert, last man'/C@me a he way by steamboat os 5 : to be hanged in Montoe county, and got here early in the morn-| it Te ene eae ae ‘when he was a young state’s at-|ing- rate, the combined county bud torney, he said here yesterday. | “Then I came back here again} ®t next year will be exactly Ewert is said to have turned to'in 1903 to prosecute Ewert. He | one mill less than it was tor {the hangman as he stood on the|Was hanged on July 4, 1903. 1} this. gallows erected on the Court understand Ewert was the last} Taxable property in the county House grounds and uttered these'Monroe man to pay with his life] 's carried at $15,700,000 in per words: \for murder in Monroe.” ional property and real estate “I am about to pay for all fu-; There is a similarity between] axable property, so that the ture murders in Key West. There the Watson case, with Phillip: } even mills that will be levied will never be another hanging here.” t “Well, I understood that Ewert went calmly to his death,” said Phillips. “The funy thing about; it was that his statement came Hue. Tt was the last hanging 0 tession of Watson admited as evi. over the job of electrocuting per-'dence. In 1903 he was not suc-j sons condemned to death at Rai- cessful in having the confessior ford. ‘of Ewert admitted a: trying hard to get a death penalt: the defendant, and the Ewer e in that in each case ther: was a question of a confession. Yesterday Phillips was suc; ful in an effort to have the con- ext year will total $109,900. To this the County Comini ion added cash on hand, or a Salance of $120,000, from this vear’s operations; $34,000 in state ‘oline taxes; $60,000 to be real- ized frem the U. S. Navy for the purchase of county lands at Baca Chica Air Field; $20,000 to be realized from = PRICE FIVE CENTe ITOPPINO BIDS sion Last Night Monroe county’s new old folks home on Stock Island will be finished in three to four months, a representative of Charles Top- pino & Sons, low bidder for the told the gathering. Toppino’s bid was a flat $39,- 000 for the 20-reom home for in- all old people without adequate means of support. Top- pino announced that the work would start within one week, as the firm orders ma- mates, EEE a eT ae Seca OTE. | eee soon as terials. The Cothron Company of Key West bid $43,201, less $522 for different materi: in the ings. Taylor & Sirugo also sub- mitted a bid of $49,848, or $48,- 248 for the cheaper mate: Clarence Higgs, chairman of the commission’s building com- mittee, moved the contract be ceil- ispecifications of the work, and Ford II, president, Ford Motor {awarded to Toppino. The motion [was seconded by Gerald Saunders and carried unanimously. Chairman Frank Bentley ex- plained tht the $39.000 for con- structing the building and ap- proximately $6,000 for finishing it would come partly from a $20,000 fund included in this year’s budget and the remainder to be raised in next year’s bud- Get. The building will be of con \crete block construction, built in the form of a U. The inside of the U will be fitted up as veran das, well screened. Inside the structure there will be 20 rooms, iwhich will accommodate 40 in- mates, and other rooms for the matron, kitchen and dining room. Late Model Used Cars FOR SALE 1942 Chevrolet Fleetline 1942 Plymouth, 2-Door 1941 Dodge, 4-Door 1947 Dodge, 142-Ton Platform Truck NAVARRO, Ine. Opposite Bus Station eT work at the meeting last night, | $39,000 FOR | COUNTY HOME 2222 Firm Awarded Contract To* Build Old Folks Howe Wilson Named On Stock Island At Ses-; | Dist. Chairman \ELECTED TO FILL UNEXPIR- ED TERM OF REV. E. S. DOH- | ERTY; CAMP BANK FUND IS | SET uP | Howard Wilson was elected to ‘fill the unexpired term of the Rev. E. S. Doherty as District Chairman of the Monroe County Boy Scout Committee at a spe- cial meeting held Monday eve- ning at the Stone Church Annex Wilson will serve as chairman for all Scouting in this district until the next election of of- ficers, to be held in December. | District Commissioner David E. McCurdy, acting in in the ca acity of chairman of the meet- ing, made a proposal that a bank account be established locally to take care of the expenses of building Boy Scout Camp Sawyer | on West Summerland Key. The proposal was adopted by unani- mous vote. The Monroe County Conunis- sion recently gontributed the} sum of $1,000 to assist in the evec- tion of the camp. City Commi sion is expected to contribute « jlike sum to the cause when its next budget is prepa the It was announced — that next regular meeting of the Dis- trict Committee will take place on August 25 with Joseph Boza in charge of the arr ements This meeting will be the annual supper affair held by Monroe Scouters. PALACE THEATER | CARL ESMOND in “THE CATMAN OF PARIS” | News and Serial _ ATTENTION! ,|HIGH SCHOOL ANNUALS i HAVE ARRIVED! Call for Yours at Miss Gardner's, 1104 Petronia Street i “Avil Aeronautic improvements to Meacham Air Fie $20,600 from county li venses; $36,000 from state recing tracks; $10,000 in payment of lieu of taxes by the City Electric Company; $8,000 from the rental of the airport; $24,000 in surplus gasoline taxes. The total of all these sums is Authority for cent which the state requires shall be kept on hand as a sur- plus. The $406,500 contrasts with {$276,900 that will be spent. in the fiscal year that will be spent jin the fiscal year that ends Oc tober 1. But during the next fiscal year Y the county will pay $10,000 to the oy COULS | covernment for the purchase of the Municipal Hospital: $2,500 to ward the purchase of the Monroe County Clinic; about $80,000 fo: Meacham Field, and approxi mately $76,095 for the construc tion of county roads. In the budget adopted last night the commission decided to raise 2 mills for the general rev enue fund; 3 mills for voad work; 1 mill for the payment of the cost of the hospital and \clinic, and 1 mill to pay the {principal and interest of the jbeach bonds, a total of 7 mill The school budget, which ha ;now gone to the state superin |tendent of schools, will total 11.5 {mills, or one-half mill less than it was for last year. the tax assessor cannot begin working on the tax rolls for the ‘next year until the school bud get is approved by the state One reason for the reduction of one-half mill in the county's rate last night was the large cash j balance that will be left from this year's operations, it was pointed out by county officials jtoda Land worth $4,500 at Marathon |was sold by Mr. and Mrs. C. E Steinhauser to Lena P. Wheele: laccording to a warranty deed [filed yesterday with Circuit {Court Clerk Ross C. Sawyer | George E. Ohler sold to Mar B. Ikerd, Islamorada, property jon Upper Matecumbe Key fe |$3,000; Ohler sold another lot to jMr. and Mrs. John W. Hopper for $3,400, and sold a third lot to Mr. and Mrs. James B. Smith for $2,500. For «a nominal sum Joel W |Hopkins sold to Ira C. Haycock mi, a lot on Key Largo. EERIE TS AND. | POOR OLD CRAIG'S | SERVICE STATION Division at Francis Phone 9134 De Tuve Chamoior Outboard MOTORS IMMEDIATE DELIVERY