The Key West Citizen Newspaper, November 28, 1952, Page 6

Page 6 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Friday, November 2 28, 1952 Trunk Murderess Judd Makes Sixth Eseape From Arizona State Hospital For Insane PHOENIX, Ariz. ® The out-~ again-in-again trunk murderess, Winnie Ruth Judd, led searchers a baffling chase today after her | sixth escape from the State Hospi- | tal for the Insane. Red-haired Winnie squirmed out through a sawed window scr.en| last night. With her customary craftiness, she left nothing to stow just how she circumvented the many pre- cautions taken to keep her in. It was her second escape this year from the hospital where she has been confined since 1933. In 1931 she killed two girl friends | and shipped their dismembered bodies to Los Angeles as baggage. She was sentenced to be hanged but was found insane jus. 72 hours before she was scheduled to go to the gallows. Her flight last night set off a frantic search not only for 48-year- old Winnie but for an unknown ac- complice or accomplices. “She had help some way or other to make the escape,” said Dr. M. W. Conway, hospital super- intendent. Sheriff's Lt. agreed. ‘She definitely had help,” he said. Mitchell led a band of officers | and hospital attendants on an un- | productive search of the dark, shrub-dotted asylum grounds. This, Dr. Conway said, Winnie got out: About 7:30 p.m. last night she complained of a headache and said she was going to take a bath. She went into the bathroom, carrying a robe over her arm. Fifteen min- utes later an attendant looked in and she was gone. A hole 15 inches square gaped in the heavy mesh window screen. The glass window had cranked outward. The window was nearly six feet from the ground. “The sawing was an expert job,” Dr. Conway said. “It wasn’t some- thing she did tonight.” Mitchell said that must have helped her “someone to the ground as she came out the win- | dow. The hole in the -ereen was so small she would have had to! wiggle out.” Mrs. Judd left strands of her auburn hair and threeds from her green sweather on the severed ends of the one-eighth inch wires of the screen. This capes of Winnie Ruth Judd” was especially harrassing to Dr. Con- way. “I don’t think anyone has tried | harder to hold this woman than} we have,” he said as the search went on. “But you can’t holc that type of woman in a paper sack.” He said that after her last es- cape Mrs. Judd was placed in the hospital’s strongest ward but even those facilities were inadequate. Dr. Conway said he was going to ask the Legislature to provide funds to erect a building for a full-security criminal ward. Winnie is so wily that she made her getaway under the closest scrutiny. Dr. Conway said he had been suspicious of her for the last | two or three weeks had become quiet and bitter and had stopped writing her customary | letters. He inspected the es- cape window Wednesday and “gave it a good thumping” with- out discovering the sawing. He ex- pressed the opinion she had been cutting on the screen for two or three months and hiding the sawed wires with chewing gum. There are only two cranks in each ward for the glass windows. They are kept under lock. But Winnie had one, even though both} cranks assigned to her ward still | were in place. After Mrs. Judd escaped last February she was allowed to tell | her story of the old killings to} the eccounty grand jury. The jury} San Carlos Honor Roll Is Listed Students im best standing —Con- versational Sapnish lessons are the following Children’s class: Francine Mce- Carthy, Emily McCarthy, Deanne Cobo, Xiomara Alfonso, Uuis Maris- eal, Emily Harris, Diane Jenkins, Carolyn Jenkins, Theda Bearup, Marilyn Bearup, John David Law- Jer, John Gandolfo, William J. Smith, Carmen Lopez, Diane Mat hews, Sue Jackson, Lucretia Godi- net, Barroso, Connie Arnold. Ist Year Adults: Agnes H. Stan- field, Patricia §. Moore, White, Dolores Cancino, Gert Frank Mitchell | is how | been | sixth chapter in “The Es- because she | Ella M. Knowles, Barbara D. | |recommended that her death sen- {tence be commuted to life impris- jonment. On further recommenda- tion by the “tate Board of Par and Paroles, Gov. Howard Py |approved the commutation. The killings of A Ann Le Roi and Hedvig Samuelsor, attrac- tive girls in their late 20s, occurred here Oct. 16, 1931. Mrs Judd said she shot them in self-defense dur- |ing a fight, but the state charged she deliberately murdered them in jealousy over a mutual man friend. Today’s Stock NEW YORK — The market stepped aheac smart |day into new high ground for the year. The Associated Press average of 60 stocks established ¢ new 22 year high Wednesday of $111.70, and to- ay’s market jumped ahead from that springboard. Sains were well distributed throughout the list with no con- jon of losses in any major | ion. As a general rule the | changes ran from fractions lower | to around a point higher. | Higher stocks included Southern Pacific, Texas Co., Dome Mines, Allied Chemical, Youngstown Sheet & Tube, Studebaker, Goodyear, and Radio Corp Lower were Southern Railway, Anaconda Copper, Dow Chemical, and Goodrich. | (Continued from Page One) early morning with their friends at the Thanksgiving dance “We had just got seated, when my wife’s niece ran into the | VEW. | “Come on your house is on fire!” she shouted. “I couldn’t believe it or realize what she was talking about. I jumped up and ran out into the | street. Then I saw a blaze coming from the kitchen right on through the house. I tried to get in for our furniture and clothes. Other fellows tried too. They and I couldn't. It started so quickly, we |couldn’t save anything.” The Fire Departmert quenched | the blaze, but the little house had burned to nothing before help could come. “We lost everything- the turkey, the furni the $100, my wife had saved and had in a coat in the house. We had only the clothes we wore that night. Shoes, bedding, beds, all have gone. So s the stov ishing machine, all the furniture.” The Strachans sat up all night } at his sister-in-laws. Dazed with | shock they didn’t know where to | |turn for help. Finally they moved |into Strachan’s mother’s house, |Mrs. Myrtle Curtis, 824 Center | | Street, and crowded into her close quarters. William has tried to finish a} |house he bought years ago on |weekends away from his job at| ithe Navy Yard, and time off from the jobs he performs as handy man for local people The house is only a shell, wit no interior finish. | “Worse than that, though,” Wil-| liam said today. “We have no| | furniture now to put in it - no bed no table or chairs The destitute family will have | to start from scratch on William's | small salary to try to finish the | | house and furnish it. So far neighbors and others have | | loaned shoes and pants to William, }and some clothes for the children who are Sandra aged 7, William Jr. aged 6, and Naomi, aged 4 Mrs. Strachan who is a size 18 and size six shoe, has nothing but the gown she wore early Thanks- giving morning. William wore the borrowed pants to The Citizen of fice this morning A janitor at the Public Works section of the Navy Yard of eleven years standing, William has earned small sums on his hol and weekends by doing outside jobs for homeowners here He called nis boss Jack New comb at the Navy Yard and told him of the catastrophe yesterday and that he would be with his ‘amily today When asked most, Will irs, and tab h | what he needed — beds —all furnis F. Black, Amelia S. Stark, Martha | Morris, Mary J Sammetinger, Rev. Carl Sammet Inger, James D. Williams, Irene Rannick, Marion Swiff, John Wald mer, Marie Brown, Sandra J Thompson, Delila Williamson Leo- ta. Cruickshank, Christine Momm, Alice Mohr, Mrs. Donald B.cLean Adults’ Class: Marian Evelyn Williams, Ha. . Mrs. Roland C. Goulet, Mildred C. McDonough, Adele Co- zy, Kathleen Watkins, Jessie Wat kins, Ann Manker, Eula Hicks Frits the N. Nichola, Marcella League, ack Nyary, E Johnson, Burt P, Garnett Skellern, Ruth : others The Strachan’s main ever the m furn for an entire “It's hard. You save and Scrape and furnish a >lace and your family is happy one day ready fer Thanksgiving. And the next day you have nothing,” the quiet spoken man said ne wh can call M any help he can get. lida Straits | | through Saturday. | Lowest last night | Normal The W “WEATHERMAN | Congratulation | ays Key West and Vicinity: to partly cloudy today night: Saturday cloudy Sat Moderate to nor theast and north winds. Florida: Partly clow sionally cloudy tod: day. Colder in north portions today. portion tonight and Saturday. Jacksonv Moderate north and winds becoming occa- fresh this north nally ast to cloudy weather. Widely sc: | tered showers offshore today. Moderate north to East Gulf: northeast winds, fresh offshore today day. Partly cloudy weat! To occasional and Satur- to cloudy y fresh in north por- and Saturday. Partly her. Widely scattered tion toda cloudy w light show: Observations taken at City Office Key West, Fla., Nov. 28, 1952 9:00 A.M., EST Temperatures Highest yesterday 70 14 12 Mean Precipitation Total last 24 hours Total this month Deficiency oe month ins. ins. ins. ins. ins. 65 1.42 32,19 Deficiency this year _. 4.17 Relative Humidity at 9:00 A.M. Barometer (Sea Level) 9:00 A.M. 30.16 ins.—1021.3 mbs. Tomorrow's A Almanac Sunrise Sunset | Moonrise Moonset (Naval Base) HIGH 8:10 am. 7:13 p.m. Low 1:29 a.m. 12:38 p.m. 000 ADDITIONAL TIDE DATA Reference Station: Key West Time of Height of Bahia Honda (bridge) ———oh 10m No Name Key (east end) —+2h 20m Boca Chica Station— Sandy Pt.) |Caldes Channel (north end) 9.0 ft. Tide high water —oh 40m +2h 10m +14 ft. (—)—Minus sign: Corrections to be subtracted. (+)—Plus sign: be added. ‘Thought He Sat |Long Enough OR DO —Ronald Simms, 23, thought he had set a new rec- Jord for sitting on a flagpole. So Wednesday, after 153 days, he came down. ; It turned out he had miscalcu- lated. He had been under the impres- sion that a San Francisco woman held the record with 152 days. But, it was learned, the woman, Erma Leach, 25, actually had been up 153 days too Simms, however, wasn’t allowed to settle for a tie. For then, it developed, there’s a man in Portland, Ore., who's been on a flagpole 167 days and is still going stron. The Portland sitter, W. L. Howard, said Thursday he aims to stay up until Christmas. Whether Howard holds the rec ord is up in the air. No agency, so far as known, keeps reliable statistics on such matters Anyway, Sin doesn’t care any more. He comme “I'm through with flagpole ting.” much ed sit COMMENDATION (Continued From Page One) remen, “Now tell us when to e ceremony delayed for was a ge th of Senator Harle West V Dem He Moderate | except | at - | arrested Corrections to | Clear | and to- Colder fresh | y to occa- | Cooler in south | le through the Flor- afternoon | Partly cloudy after Stout’s heroic attempt to the Hobby Shop on the Naval $6,014,000 IN FOOD (Continued from Page One) for the year. This was well aherd of the 1950 figure, $17,852,000. | We are permitted to use this |data for news purposes only. CAUSE OF (Continued from Page One) was not well at the Lemersal | home. | When police attempted to enter | the rundown house, one of the two sons, Stanley, shot himself. He was found mortally wounded on a bed in another room. Rushed to receiving hospital, Stanley, before he died, said he and his brother, Russell, 50, kept the body of their mother because they did not have funds to bury her. Mrs. Lemersal’s skeleton was *|found on a bed, covered with old rags. Police said Russell, who was Wednesday, was held without charge for questioning. Howard Schumann, 53, a nephew of Mrs. Lemersal, told police he had heard rumors that his aunt was dead. He said the two brothers had barricaded themselves in the house and refused to talk with him. PLACENCIA IS (Continued From Page One) who is custodian at the USO- YMCA, said with tears in his eyes: “Everyone has been so wonder- ful. Mr. Evans here at the USO has been doing all he could to help me. The Red Cross here and out there both helped my wife. This happened when | didn’t have five cents. The U. S. Gov- ernment certainly takes wonder- | ful care of its boys. It’s good to be an American. | wonder if any other country in the world would s To 4 Hero Citizen Staff Photo COMMENDATION AND A HAND SHAKE are given John I. Stout, Fire Captain of the Naval Base at Key West, by Rear Admiral Irving T. Duke in a ceremony which took place today at the Administration Building on the Naval Station. Stout pulled William Henry Chestnust from a gas filled building on the Seaplane Base at risk to his own life. The young sailor died November 22 from the fumes of the deadly gas a few hours save him. During the commen- dation ceremony nine other men were commended for prompt action in fire fighting on October 9 when a blaze broke-out in Station. JC’S ANNOUNCE (Continued From Page One) ing and Small Displays, and (3) Commercial Displays. The same set of rules will govern all entries. All entries must be available for inspection by the judging com- mittee as well as any member of the public who wishes to view them at close range. Participants will be required to have their displays lighted between the hours of 7:00 p. m. and 9:30 p. m. from December 22, 1952, througa January 2, 1953 (these dates inclusive). Photogrephs will be taken of all entries and no additions, alterations or deletions shall be made subsequent to Dec- ember 23, 1952. Entries will be subject to judging between these hours during any of the active dates. The contest will be judged by the Christmas Lighting Contest Committee of the Key West Junior Chamber of Commerce. Each en- try will be judged on eye appeal, with due consideration for con- formity with the Christmas spirit, originality, effective use of sur- roundings and artistic arrargment. The decisions of the judges will be final, and all ties will be resolved on the night of final judgement. Results of the contest will be available for publication and re- lease at 12 noon o. January 2, 1953, in the Key West Citizen and over station WKWF. Prizes in the several eategories will be as follows 100.00 25.00 Gift certificate 25.00 Gift certificate Category II: Window and Small be so kind as ours is.” Ralph, Jr., is leaving for Parks| Air Force hospital, according to the| wire the father received from his| wife this morning. | He said that the Air’Force wired him that Ralph had a 50-50 chance} of recovery, which would be upped ed ae cent if his mother came The boy asked for his mother! poesia Placencia said. His recovery speeded according- ly when she arrived on Monday.| “I don’t know how to thank all the USO and Red Cross people and my friends who have been so kind| during this terrible week,” the de- voted father said. Placencia has been a proud par-} ent ever since his son joined the | Air Force nine months ago. His} boy is training as a mechanic in} the Air Forces. JU _ SEEN IN Lighting Displays 25.00 Category Ill: Commerelal Dis- lonorable Mention ird Prize: Honorable Mention The contest is subject to all | national, state and local laws which | may be applicable. —_—___. It is estimated that about 250 million people in the world speak English. ‘The principal center of pineapple | culture used to be the Bahma Islands, but the Hawaiian Islands | are now the principal producer. WHATEVER YOUR NEEDS IN THE LINE OF Children’s >m Page One) be cae ched via the Civil a's Rancho Boyeros air- the Camaguey air ter- e been designated as y” in Cuba. Flyers go to other areas in ll be required to check in | aces, Th he acer were worked out in rt tc el between this country Until now, to cheaper to fly to Cuba rline due to the d. The Cuban indicated that to gain a re. jing fees at all Peas which will ut less in effect be States, Canada They were advocated pal Civil Aviation TOYS COME TO THE TROPICAL TRADER 718 Duval St. Phone 1000 reduce the overall | THREE HOTELS IN MIAMI -|but I want to congratulate Mr. | 4| said about putting Jesus bach into | “People’s Forum erence Citizen welcomes exprea- a of the view: ers, but the edit right to delete items which are considered libelous or unwar- ranted. The writers TEEN-AGE HEART CRY Editor, The Citizen: I am only a teen-age school girl, A. Christopher and Mrs. R. A. Ho- ward for the beautiful things they Christmas. They must be two very fine | religious people. I wish that my | daddy and mama felt the way they do. My parents are fine honest people and I love them very much, but going to churck and Sunday school is as far as our religion goes. It stops right there. We are on the “outs” with most of our neighbors and kin folks. Mama doesn’t speak :o Ler own | mother unless her mother speaks first. She never calls on her al- though she lives right next to us. I love my grandmother so that it hurts me very deeply. I cry into my pillow every night. Grandma may be wrong in many things but she is old and may not be with us many mcre years. I would gladly do without the ex- pensive gifts that daddy and mama give me at Christmas time if they would only do as the Bible teaches, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and ‘Honor thy father and thy mcther.” To me that would be putting Christ back into Christmas, Name withheld eee SIDEWALK GRIPE Editor, The Citizen: I have read opinions in your newspaper of ways in which Key West could be improved. I have a suggestion to make that I have not noted yet. That is to improve the city’s sidewalks. I have read much of improving the streets, but who comes up with a word for improving the sidewalks? I have not heard anyone so state publicly yet, so I am. I’m sure a lot of other mothers in this city must have noticed and lamented over the sad state of the sidewalks when they had their babies out in buggies or strollers. The sidewalks are pretty bad here is my estimation. They are broken up of holes -- and some places where there should be sidewalks there are none. I have to go with the buggy into the street -- which can be dangerous, especially when the streets are very narrow. I’ve taken many sidewalks on many streets here in Key Wes. and there could be much improvement all over. My baby gets a rough ride -- a often gets all shaken up. I want to mention the walks are impor- tant. My baby needs fresh air and sunshine and I have necessary shopping and marketing to do also when I have to take Casey along in his buggy. How wonderful it would be to go along smooth wide, unbroken sidewalks. I believe the City Commissioners could do a fine work if they saw to it that the sidewalks, as well as the roads, were improved. I’m sure many mothers would appre- ciate it. I would. Sincerely, JANET ELLIS 809 Johnson Lane jtrials to start on December 8. Drivers Fined In Criminal Court Criminal Court Judge Thomas Caro today levied fines on six drivers for various offenses. Immediately after court. the Judge drew a venire for jury Your Grocer SELLS that Good STAR * BRAND AMERICAN COFFEE and CUBAN -—TRY A POUND TODAT—— Roberts Office Supplies & Equipment 126 Duval Street CHRISTMAS caRDs IMPRINTED ~ Christmas Stationery Imprinted Use Our Lay-A-Way Plan for Standard or Portable Typewriters RENTAL TYPEWRITERS BY THE WEEK OR MONTH The following men were fined: Herbert Spense Coons, $50, drun- ker and reckless driving; William Clyde Morgan, $10, reckless driv- ing; Edward Everett Lewis, $15, reckless driving and failin, to dim lights; Francis B. Wayne. $10, no drivers license and reckless driv- jing and, Richard Dwyer Neyhart, $10, $10, reckless driving. 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Ist Ave. 102 Reoms 108 Rooms bed peta a, Rooms Bleveter 3 BLOCKS FROM UNION BUS STATION Thompson Enterprises, Inc. Overseas Transportation Company, Ine. Yast, Dependable Freight and Express Service between MIAMI AND KEY WEST Also Serving ALL POINTS ON FLORIDA KEYS Between Miami and Key West Express Schedule (Me Stops En Revte) LEAVES KEY WEST DAILY (EXCEPT SUNDAYS) 0 P.M. Arrives of Miemi at 12:00 o'clock Midnight. LEAVES MIAMI DAILY (EXCEPT SUNDAYS) of 12:00 s’clock Midnight and arrives at Key West at o'clock AM, Local Schedule LEAVES KEY WEST DAILY (EXCEPT SUNDAYS) at 8:00 o'clock AM. and (Stops At All intermediate Points) — et Miami ef 4:00 o'clock Pm. Lanves MIAMI DAILY (EXCEPT SUNDAYS) at 9:00 o'clock AM. ond arrives ot Key Weet of 5:08 o'clock MALDN OFFICE end WAREMOUSE: Cor. Eaton and Francis St. PHONES: 62 ond 08