The Key West Citizen Newspaper, June 29, 1953, Page 1

‘Key West, Florida, has the | most equable climate in the {ecuntry, with aa average (ange of only 14° Fahrenheit VOL. LXXIV 9 / | No. 154 JA Talk With Ex-President May Yet Make Trip To K.W., Says Truman NEW YORK (AP) —A Key West, Fla., newspaper |Keep Police B ‘Trevor Assumes of a two-week vacation Rotary Post New York City Sunday. \First Of July f Mrs. Susan McAvoy, 36,/} ‘went to the river club for a geporter bumped into an old Assignment on her first day Will Head One Of Three Florida Rotary Districts Part . sot riving at La Guardia Air | Edwin F. Trevor, president of the Columbia Laundry and Dry i f : | cadancrs takes office July 1 as | She was still wearing aj Governor of District 243 of Rotary International, world-wide service swim and breakfast after ar-| Rash Of Traffic Accidents usy Sunday Sunday afternoon brought a rash of traffic accidents and kept the police department busy investigat- ing them from shortly before 3 p. m. through 8:30 Sunday even- ing. Total score was five mishaps. The first came at 2:55 p. m. at Southard and Duval streets when Emmette A. Keese, 64912 a Navy an crossed on the caution light, going east on Southard, and was struck by a car also moving on the caution light. The second car was a taxi driven by Mario N. Garcia 611 Whitehead Street. Damage to his cab a- mounted to $50. Keese’s car sus- tained $75 damage. Both parties agreed to settle out of court. Second collision was minor and happened on County Beach Read at 3:40 p, m, when William Dodge pathing suit when former President Harry S. Truman and his family were assigned fo a table nearby. |S" was more excited than the waiters,” said Mrs. Mc- Avoy. As a reporter for the Key West Citizen, she had cover- ed Truman’s vacation visits ‘to the Key West Naval Sta- tion during his years as Pres- (dent, ‘ayy {of 1417 Ashe Street backed out of club organization. Elected at the/, stand and into a car driven by recent Rotary Convention in Paris, | George W. Stokes, Navy, of 28-C France, he will supervise the ser- vice activities of 31 Rotary Clubs in Florida throughout the 1953-54 fiseal year. His is one of three Ro- tary District in Florida. Mr. Trevor, @ Director of the Florida State Chamber of Com- merce, has been Chairman of Arthur Sawyer Road. Later Sunday afternoon, Stan- ley Connor's parked Cadillac was damaged to the extent of $150 when ae city scaveneger truck backed out of a way across the way from 1310 Cath- erine Street and smashed into the right rear window and right the Red Cress Chapter, Presi- “Truck Griver "Richard Free- dent of the Chamber of Com- | man drove off without stopping merce and City Manager of Key | after the crash, Freeman returned West. He is a member and Past | to the scene later and said he had President of the Rotary Club of | not heard the crash and so left Key West. the scene of the accident. He was The continually growing Rotary | charged with reckless driving and organization now encompasses 8|having an accident. The case will countries of the world, The 372,000| be heard in. Municipal Court today business and professional execu-| at 3 p, m, : tives who are members of 7,800) Connor is stationed with ZX-11, Rotary Clubs work together to ad-| NAS, Boca Chica. Che Ken W THE SOUTHERNMOST NEWSPAPER “TH fn KEY WEST, FLORIDA, MONDAY, JUNE 29, 1953 Desperate Efforts Of Father And Friend Fail To Save Child A Sunday picnic ended in tragedy yesterday when lit- tle Christine Lee Hancock, five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Blondel Han- cock, 524 Elizabeth Street, was drowned near Sand Key eight miles south of here. Her father almost met the same death as both he and his daughter were swept out to sea by a vicious undertow while swimming in waist- deep water on the northwest side of the key. A desperate effort was made by Chester Harris, a friend of the family, to rescue both Hancock and little Christine when he saw them being sucked out into deep water. He started swimming out with a rope but the line was too short. He struggled back to the beach and got the boat under- way to reach the spot. Hancock, still clutching his daughter, went down and Harris wert of them. * Mrs. Hancock, aboard the outing Mrs. McA td T: vance the Rotary program of com- | told her: *Well, Susan, I’m not giv- ‘fing up Key West. You can fell the folks there that.” The who lives at Mo., did not elaborate. He is | fessional life, and the furtherance jof international undersatnding, good will and peace. To promote international under- standing, Rotary International is now engaged in a world wide ‘pro- gram of Rotary Foundation Fellow- ships, which provide grants of one year of study abroad as ambassa- dors of good will, to outstanding college graduates. In the past sev- en years, Rotary Fellowships have been awarded to 493 young men and women from 55 countries, Grants range from’ $1,800 to $3,400 and total more than $1,250,000, Man Hospitalized After Knife Fight : Shrimp boat worker Robert Lee 5 Near Boca Chica | stin” 20*ss°Paiime tane i Three persons were injured, none | hospitalized as the result of a of them pats as the result of | knife fight which happened at mid- a three car crash near Boca Chica | night Sunday at his home, Putnam Sunday, it was reported today by | sustained two puncture wounds in the Sheriff's Office. jhis left forearm and a fractured According to the report of Dep- | femur bone in the left arm. uty Sheriff Serge Hernandez, a| George Thomas, 28, who lives at car driven by Norman Burroughs | the same address, was treated for ) of the USS Gilmore, was travelling |@ two inch knife incision in his ‘ gouth on the Overseas Highway, |!eft hand then released from Mon- when he attempted to pass another |Te General Hospital and jailed. vehicle operated by Lt. A. J. Str-| Jennie E. Putnam, wife of the ‘aub of the Navy AUW School here. | Shrimper, was arrested at the time Burroughs was unable to pass the Of the fight for being drunk and , ear and he attempted to get back disorderly, — into the line of traffic when he Three police officers answered struck the rear of Straub’s vehicle. the call to the scene. At 1:10 a. m, The impact threw him into the cen- Lt, Eugene Hernandez took both ter of the road where he was fighters to the hospital. “struck by another car which was! Putnam is employed on the} travelling north. shrimp boat “Star of the Sea,” The car was driven by H. L. Reid | captained by George Hail, job gir —Sorageeare fe D i neteseeeepriniee ete pact threw Reid's car into the} x ‘Driy er Charged \On Three Counts ditch. 4 Burroughs was taken to the Nav- (Continued on Page Two) hree counts will be brought against George Wimbush. roofer, vho lives at 100 Olivia Street as of an accident Saturday at 5:30 p. m. Wimbush 4 to be driving while intoxicated, UNG, L TOUNA A APRA eas while east on Eaton Street iped a car coming in former President, Independence, now visiting his daughter, Margaret, in New York. Three Injured In 3-Car Crasli { Appointment Told CHICAGO w — Io! t today announced the ef James B Cannel Tanager of the (h Press Associs with headquar- ters in New York Knight, edite the Chicago Knight Newspapers, the IAPA. Canel, a native of Montevideo, Uruguay, has fence in news Grates and La 382 he has American dep a N hy sher of b, and is president of cis Street, was damaged f $150. Miss Kelly was ad extensive exper ¢ work in United accident Wimbash, in addition to the driv- while intoxicated count, was i with recktess driving and sing an accident, Final Sunday accident came at| boat, was witness to the death of east on Virginia Street On Page Twe) Ammunition Lack Blamed In Deat ALLENTOWN, Pa. (®—The par- ents of an Allentown soldier killed in action in Korea June 19 said today they believe his unit faced an enemy assault without ammunition, Two days before he was killed 2i-year-old Pvt. Keneth Lease Jr., wrote his parents: “Well, the truce talks are still going on. It looks good, but not good enough. They must expect it to be over soon because they took all of our ammo yesterday.” The letter arrived only several hours before a Defense Depart- ment telegram telling of the sol- dier’s death in action. The Leases gave photostats of | the letter to Rep. Karl C. King | (R-Pa). The congressman said he will ask the Department of the Army to make a complete inves- tigation. Lease was in an Infantry com-| pany in the 32nd Regiment of the! 7th Division, Party Ends In Brawl, Illness munity-betterment activities, high-|g:30 p. m. when William Samuel|her child and the near drowning er standards in business and pro-| Roberts, driver of a milk truck] of her husband. This she talked to a reporter ‘obvious strain in her voice, telling of the accident, “There were seven of us on a picnic. My daughter couldn't swim and my husband was carrying her around in his arms, They were playing a little way from the shore and the boat. The water wasn't very deep. Just to his waist,” she said, “hut there was a strong un- dertow and the first thing we knew, my husband and little girl were being drawn under and car- ried away in the water. Mr. Har- ris goes fishing with my husband a lot, He was*in the swimming party and he grabbed a rope and started out after them. The rope was too short. He had to swim all the way back to the beach. Then we got the boat and went to the spot where my husband was struggling. The distraught mother wasn't sure how much time elapsed but guessed it was at least ten or victims were brought out of the water by Harris, who went after them. “Mr. Harris took the boat, and I gave Christine artificial res- piration all the way in.” Mrs. Hancock said, her voice break- ing. “It was too late. We were seven miles out in the ocean. My husband was in a coma and when we got to the hos- pital, both he and the child PEORIA, Ill. w—A June bride | started a fight with another guest who ripped off her clothes. Then | she gaily cavorted au naturel. The guest of honor went home sick from over-indulgence. A disgraceful party? Depends on It was Mike's birthday Sunday, and Mike, 10, is a cocker spaniel. He and his 25 guests were dogs who attended or bad graduated from a training school where Mike's mistress, Mrs, E. M. Ros- ser, is an instructor. The guests came in costume— a chihuahua as Tarzan, complete with leopard skin: a German shep- grandmother: others as a hula-bula girl—yes, a grass shirt: a French chef, and a June bride Like all birthday parties there a by Mary | were nuts, ice cream and cake to whic d student of eat. The guests, at the bidding of Satu their owner’, played games. And like most birthday parties it with a Durly boxer. He ripped off all her clothes. She seemed happier without trem Mike? He got a tummy ache from too much ice cream. ‘the viewpoint, { were given treatment. They got the water out of him but he was unconscious and he's at his mother’s home now, still in shock.” the mother added. Han- cock’s mother is Mrs. Julia Knight of Grinnell Street. At Monroe General H both Dr. Fernandez and Dr. F Herz worked to revive the girl but she was NO dead Chester Harris, about 35. hves (Continuea On Page Two} Forced Entry At V0. 1s Probed th office of little inced pr over to the sheriff turned the ir were called 10:3) yesterday morn with reckless driving there was a row. The bride started ing They found that a « w had been broken and footpr the spot Officiats are taking See what loss was sustain ¥ fifteen minutes before, the two} | general fatigue which probably is L>>>>>>_ Appointment Of City Manager To Be Considered Acting City Manager Charles Roberts said this morning that the City commission meeting to- day would be chiefly concerned with discussion and possi " Pointment of a City Manager. Time .for the meeting was not definitely set. Roberts told the city fathers last week that the deadline for his acting as City Manager was Wednesday, July 1. Four out-of-town applications have been filed for the job. The manager in 1948. Spaiding has said that he would be willing to serve in temporary capacity. City commissioners have in- | | 1. ment and his flashes of vision, not | red sametioe | i t ment was taken over dicated that they would approve temporary hiring of Spalding. Retirement Is Suggested Now For Churchill London Papers Advise Prime * Minister To Resign Post LONDON, (#—The surprise ill- ness of Prime Minister Churchill aroused dismay in much of the British press today and. the pro- Labor Daily Mirror urged Sir Win- ston to retire. The 78 - year - old Conservative leader was reported to have ac- cepted cheerfully the orders from his medical advisers to take a com- plete rest for at least a month. He and Lady Churchill were luncheon hosts yesterday to their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Soames, and Lord Beaverbrook, publisher of the Dai- ly Express, at their estate near Westerham, 25 miles southeast of London. Soames said later: “Sir Winston's condition is not} such that it is likely either to de- teriorate or improve from day to day. He is simply suffering from more mental than physical.” The Daily Mirror, nominally in- dependent but favoring the Labor | party’s politics, declared in a front | page editorial: “He owes it to himself, to his | family and to the country to re-| tire from the premiership. He may then still be with us at 88, still| holding in our hearts a place of | affection he so mechly deserves | and still benefiting the world with | is counsels.” | The London Times, a supporter of the Churchill government, said his service to Britain “must now come from his incomparable ex- perience, the sweep of his judg- from detailed application, however | stimulating, to departmental af-/ fairs.” | The liberal News Chronicle said Charchill’s illness, on top of the gall bladder operations that have Foreign Secretary Anthony out of action. point up the f younger bleod in the Tory © hope,” the News Chronicle that the everybody Prime Minister. reveres, will this moment as offering a ministers and give iom its head.” members, only under 66 while three, in Sir Winston, are in their ere ve are Active direction of the govern- meanwhile, R. A Butler, the S-yearold lor of the exchequer. He usued On Page Two) |were brought here isen E <9.S. A. Dense Fog Is Cause Of N.J. Ship Collision And Freighter By JAMES F. TOMLINSON BARNEGAT CITY, N. J. W—A big, seagoing oi tanker and a freighter—groping through a cot- ton-thick fog—plowed into each other 12 miles off the New Jersey Coast last night, Sketchy reports from the crash scene today listed one crewman dead, two injured and 25 missing, but it was possible none was miss- ing. Twenty-two others were saved by rescue craft. All were from the S. S. Loide Panama, a_ 5,408-ton Brazilian freighter, which the Coast Guard said was heeled over in a 50 degree list and “in a sinking te The other vessel, the S. S. Gulf- frade, a 10,195-ton tanker. owned by the Gulf Oil Company, stood off the hulk assisting in rescue operations. No casualties were reported aboard the Gulftrade al- though its bow was stoved in, A score of Coast Guard boats, including cutters and smaller res- cue craft, and iifebvats from the Africa Endeavor, a merchant ship which reached tne scene first, criss-crossed the murky waters in a hunt for survivors. A plane and two helicopters droned overhead, Even as they looked, a rumor went around among the searchers that the unaccounted for men still were aboard the Panama. A Coast Guard spokesman said, “we haven’t been able to pin it down yet, but indications are there may well be something to the report.” He said language difficulties prevented the rescuers from learn- ing from the Portuguese-speaking Barzilians just what the situation was. The Endeavor, responding to a frantic radio message, picked up the 22 survivors. The injured men, both Brazilians, in a Coast Guard picket boat at 1:15 a. m. (EST), over five hours after the collision. They were transferred to ambulances and taken to the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, wx The Coast Guard at Atlantic City, 20 miles south of here, said it understood the missing 25 leaped overboard in panic before life- boats were launched. At least three men—the captain, chief engineer and chief mate— stayed aboard the listing Loide | Army's Camp Wood for treatment, | Panama The collision occurred around 6:30 p. m. (EST) four miles south- Atlantic coastline The Coast Guard said both ships were headed north, Chief Henry W. Goodwin, who was aboard the picket boat that ‘landed here, said ridio messages received from the Guiftrade said the tanker bit the Panama amid- ship on the starboard side. Officers ashore assumed (Continued On Page Five) Car Abandoned After Accident State Police today are searching for the driver of an automobile founed overturned this morning on Saddle Bunch Key, State Highway Patrolman Frank Cline announced. Cline said that the driver of the car apparently abandoned it after the accident which was caused by faitore t negotiate a curve. The auto, 2 1999 Oidemobile, bore Dade County plates, Cline said, the The Associated Press Teletype Features and Photo Services. For 73 Years Devoted to the Best Interests of Key West. FIVE CENTS! N.Y. Trip Nets Reporter Mayor Harvey Threatens Suit Against Drew Pearson For Saying He Was At Stag Smoker Sunday Outing Ends In T; ragedy As Child Drowns Off Sand Key Miami Herald Also Faces Action For Alleging He Sat In Bald-headed Row By JIM COBB Mayor C. B. Harvey today threatened to bring sui for libel against Drew Pearson, author of the widely syn- dicated column, Washington MerryGo-Round, after Pear- son named him as one of the spectators at a “stag show” held here on Feb. 2 in a Duval Street social club. Pearson alleged that Harvey, along with other city fathers,’ was seated in the “bald headed row’’at the first of two smok- ers. Harvey joined at least four other local political and civic leaders in denying that he was present at the show, but apparently he is the only one who is taking action. The affair has already resulted in the conviction of at least four Navy men, one of whom was sentenced to a year in prison and given a bad conduct discharge. The stag shows were staged for the benefit of the Navy Charity Carnival. issued this morning, the Mayor said that he would bring immediate In a sharply worded statement Flood Recedes From Stricken Japanese Area More Than 2,500 Are Dead As Result Of Inundation By The Associated Press TOKYO — A great flood that left more than 2,500 persons dead, missing or hurt and a million homeless receded today on the Southern Japan island of Kyushu but dark rain clouds posed an omi- nous new threat. Seven days of torrential tains turned much of the northern part of Kyushu—an area about the size of New Jersey — into a vast lake. The hapless Japanese resi- dents fled to any high ground they could find. Police said several villages were washed away and 350,000 homes were destroyed or damaged. Relief was rushed to countless stricken villages and cities. The U. S. Air Force dropped food and clothing to isolated groups of ref- ugees scattered on islets of high ground jutting from the flood. Among those saved from the rag- ing strea were American sail- ors, soldiers and Marines and their families. Some were taken from a stalled train near Moji and housed in the U. S. Army recreational fa-| cilities at that Northern Kyushu city. Fukuoka, the island's Jargest city with 392,649 population and nearby Moji, with 124,399, were almost ghost cities; their residents evac- uated before the surging flood. Some of the dead and missing drowned in the swollen rivers. Oth- {t declare that ers died as soaked, sliding earth crushed their fiimsy homes. Thirty - seven Americans were rescued Saturday from the Aso which was ‘nearly buried by a land- slide, The Americans, including 29 servicemen, the wives of six of them and two cnildren, were moved by hastily-rigged breeches buoy across 40 fect of churning ,flood water and taken to the U. 8. {food and dry clothing. | Three big American bases on high ground have escaped dam jeast of Barnegat Lightship, eight | age so far. The big naval base at, | miles off the coast of Long Beach) | Island, halfway down New Jersey's | (Continued on Page Two) ‘Freak Mishap Damages Cars Freak three-way traffie accident happened this morning af § a. m on Southard Street sear the Ma- rine sentry gate when Guy Ben nett, 729 Truman Avenue. 22 year old Navy man, applied his brakes 100 SAiOed Into 4 ea WALA was stopped behind «2 third car. The impact shoved a car driven by Andrew A_ Atwell, 33. fireman who lives at 1201 Olivia Street, int 4 car driven by Viesel J. B4ward who was also stopped pear the gate. Edward, who lives af @ Ar thur Sawyer Hosd iy a Navy man. Bcanett’s car came off the hear jest loser with damage to the front end of his Buick amounting te $300 Damage to the rear ends of the other cars is estimated at shout 88 cach, suit against Pearson and the Mi- ami Herald “if immediate- retrac- tions are not forthcoming.” He denied that he was present at the Feb. 2 smoker or at another held a week later. “The statement by Mr. Drew Pearson that | was present at either of the smokers which have | been the subject of inquiry by the U.S. Navy is entirely inac- | curate and untrue and | have de- manded an immediate retraction him and frém the Miami “I contacted him (Pearson) and the Herald over the telephone last night as soon as I heard of the | statement and I informed them | both orally that B.demanded a re- thachion. #6) attotnerkwow hmad- ling:the casé,” he eymtinued. To- day’s* statement was approved by his attorney, J. Y .Porter, TV. City Commissioner John Carbo- nell, who was also named as one of the spectators at the show, which has been described a the “participation” type, also denied emphatically that he was present. “I was not there,” Carbonell said curtly. County Judge Raymond R. Lord, also named, is on vacation and could not be reached today. Both Police Chief Joseph Kemp and former city manager Dave King have admitted that they at- | tended the first affair, but both said that they left early and saw nothing wrong with the show, “I certainly did not see any wrestling,” Chief Kemp declared. He was speaking of reports that a female entertainer inyited mem- bers of the audience to mount the stage and wrestle with her, The | talent for the show was reportedly obtained from Mom's Tea Room, {now defunct Stock Island brothel, | “Tf left right after the refresh- ments were served at the Feb. 2 smoker,” Kemp said. He went on be returned ex- jhausted from a twoday trip to Tampa the night before the second affair and was in bed sleeping at the time 4 | City Commissioner Jack Delaney today declared that he doesn’¢ think the city “can ignore the sit- j uation any longer,” | “New that this thing has been | brought out in the open in news. | paper all over the nation, | think | that some ection is in order,” | Delaney deciared. He went on te | say thet he did not know just what form the action would take, | “This is up te the city commis | sion,’* he stated, Pearson alsa said that “Super. intendent of Schoois Jack Guth rie was present, Today Superim- jtendent of Public Instruction He trace O'Bryant identified Guthrie [as Gerald Guthrie, principal of | Sue Mocre Schooi in Marathes, | Guthrie was present at the first smoker, O' Bryant said, but nothing lewd occurred at that time. “1 wasn't invited either @f them,” O' Bryant continued, Duke was te Me denied yeu Admiral irving T Charleston today. foray hak Wie TenOn ey balng transferred to the Pacific ic be cause of the pualicity resulting fe he stag shows t a that mis tramefer wag “oetinr " and that he doubted @ (Centinued On Page Twod Special! Special LOBSTER TRAP LUMBER | 1x2 Clear Red Cedar, 3< ft. | STRUNK LUMBER 128 SIMONTON, Near Bank ' to