The Key West Citizen Newspaper, October 17, 1953, Page 1

THE SOUTHERNMOST NEWSPAPER IN THE USA. KEY WEST, FLORIDA, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1953 BOSTON.—Ambulances line dock alongside the aircraft carrier Leyte at South Boston Naval Ship- yard Annex here Friday after an explosion aboard the 27,000-ton vessel. The Navy said today 33 are dead as a result of the explosion and at least 40 more injured. Wirephoto. Husband Of Key West Girl Was Aboard Leyte; Escapes Injury Breakdown Of Gamma Globulin | Administration In County ‘This chart, prpepared by Dr. & aymondJ. Dalton, county health ‘officer, is a breakdown of the gamma gobulin program administered |’ ‘ to children and pregnant women in Monroe County, Children up to 14 years of age and pregnant women were given the . In the chart, columns head C indicate children and P, pre- ¥ ‘chart shows where and when the shots were given. Navy doctors handled 4,198 persons while civilian doctors injected 4,452 The persons, THURSDAY. OCTOBER 1 Place— Children Pregnancies -| U.S. Naval Hospital _..___. 1,964 227 Truman School 922 0 Harris School 564 0 Douglass School __. 772 0 Monroe County Health Dept. 15 63 Combined Day's Totals— 4,237 290 FRIDAY. OCTOBER 2 Children Pregnancies 1,735 376 583 348 96 Combined Day's Totals— 3,138 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3 Children Pregnancies wating ae 5 MONDAY, OCTOBER 5 Children Pregnancies SEF E Place— U.S. Naval Hospital .. Convent School Poinciana School Key West High School _.__ Monroe County Health Dept. bln 27 Place— U.S. Naval Hospital Place . . Sue M, Moore School, Marathegy ges Florida Keys Clinic, Inc., Tavernier 244 Combined Day’s Totals— “330 TUESDAY. OCTOBER 6 Place— Children Pregnancies Monroe County Health Dept. 8 0 7,967 16 JERUSALEM, Jordan Section # Jordan announced today that she bas — Iraq to send bey ag Dolster Jordan's defenses as gion mounted in the wake of en GRAND TOTALS— alleged Israel attack on three bor. ; ansportation >t on T said r. Serena sehen a Baghdad. Both Jor- are members of the Arab League and their| Chai Jim members of the same cosa zoee oh tan reales yesterday that at in the assault Ht Fi | Chamber of Commerce sponsored| election for i the polls during the city elections from the race. TOTAL 2,191 922 564 772 78 4,527 TOTAL 1,948 376 587 349 150 3,410 TOTAL 59 TOTAL 295 251 546 TOTAL 8 Wife Watches Rescue Activity On Television By DENIS SNEICR ried Key West girl watched televised rescue operations aboard the explosion-ripped Leyte, knowing all the time that her husband was aboard the stricken carrier. Mrs. O. R. Willingham, the form- er Vivian Keirstead of Key West, sat in her Quincy, Mass., home with her eyes on the TV screen, watching rescue teams carry in- jured from the lower decks of the blasted ship. She knew her husband, Lt. 0. R. ‘Willingham, had been aboard when the explosion ripped through the Leyte. Then the phone rang, It was her husband. He was all right. He had minor burns. His hair and eyebrows had been singed and his clothes burned. He was treated at the scene and then worked all night with rescue teams. The story reached Key West at 7:45 a.m. today when Vivian phoned her mother, Mrs. Earl S. Keirstead, of 3508 Duck Ave. Lt. Willingham, a maintenance officer, was stationed with the (Continued On Page Two) | UN. Security Council May 8,550 announced that transportation to rumors that he has withdrawn | |the Council on charges of endan-|Carol Guinette, Mrs. Eva Rivas,ling The latest gesture of friend- Act In Dispute By TOM KOGE UNITED NATIONS, N Y. w— ches'™: U.N. Security Council, al- Ketchum Squel To Polls Offered |Election Rumors ready confronted with an Israeli- Syrian dispute over the waters of the Jordan River, may be asked to } cooling off a hot border is-| | Ben Ketchum, a candidate for sue between Isracl and Jordan. PRICE FIVE CENTS Navy Investigators Probe Today For Cause Of Carrier Explosion Mazur Hopes To A cquire Bay New Polio Victim Bottom Area To Dredge Pool [Did Not Get 66 Ee Inquest Is Slated For Fisher Thurs. Coroner Roy Hamlin announ- ced today that an inquest into the death of Rey Fisher, local fisherman who perished as the result of mysterious head injur- jes, will be held Thursday. Reason for the delay, Ham- lin said, is that State Atterney J. Lancelot Lester is out of the city. Yesterday, Dr. Relph Herz performed an autopsy en the body but the report will not be released until the inquest. The Sheriff's Department said today that they have made fo arrests in the case a rumored homicide. Budget Set For Monroe County Girl Scouts Community Chest Will Be Asked For Fands. To ‘of Monroe County gi] scouts was approved today ani will be sub- mitted to the Community er The steering committee of the girl scouts met at the home of Mrs. Sam J. Toth, 1404 Leon St., to approve the budget and also began selecting names of mem- bers for a board of directors. The names will be submitted to a vote. The need for scout leaders was phasized. There are 22 treops Monroe County Key West and jarathon. Plans for more troops are being made since each county has a waiting 10 girls. Girl scouts total 414, There are At the regular meeting Wednes- day night, Miss Sarah Bowman, of Atlanta, outlined the steps in form- ing a Council. Miss Bowman ex- plained the formation of a steering committee until a board of direct-) ors could be selected. Miss Bow-} man is a member of the National Field Staff of the Girl Scouts and] a special adviser in the field de-| partment. The motion to form a Council was passed unanimously. Members of the steering com- mittee are: Gerald Saunders, Katherine Whit- ing, Neil Knowles, Mrs. Sam Toth, Mrs. Neil Knowles, Merville Ro- sam, Mrs. Neil Saunders, Albert Carey, and Rev. Ralph Rogers. Plans for Girl — — vere postponed until the epidem has abated. However, the Girl Scout Cookie Sale here was con- Motel Man Wants Submerged Land At Foot Of Simonton Street A 4-by-80-foot pool may be dredged in the ocean near the foot lof Simonton St., it was disclosed today. Morris Mazur, of the Atlantic Shores Motel, 510 South St., has made application to the Depart- ment of the Army for a permit to construct a bulkhead and to dredge and fill in the ecean on the motel’s beach. The Jacksonville office of the ‘Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., said Protests to the proposal must be submitted in writing in time to be received in Jacksonville on or be-| fore Oct. 23, 1953. “Tt is not proposed to hold a public hearing on this applica- tion,” the engincer’s announce- ment from Jacksonville said. Only protests based on effects on public navigation will be J con sidered. : The announcement went ‘on say that “‘the Federal ha Tuled that the decision of De-|' partment of the Army, on the ap- plication must be based entirely War Orphan Collections . Are Lagging Drive For Funds To Charter Plane For Celebrities Is Continuing Door to door solicitation by crew members of the USS George E. Davis, who are trying to raise funds to charter a piane to bring celebrities from New York to Key West for a benefit show a week from this Saturday, has brought their total tally to $2,800. More than 1,000 dollars has been donated by charity minded Key Westers, through sale of ad- vertising space in a promotion booklet which will be distributed at the night of the benefit, te be held at the Seaplane Base Hang- er next Saturday night. Nearly nineteen hundred dollars has been raised off the destroyer escort itself. The Davis, which edepted an tinving. All money from the cookie sale goes te the camp fund. | Present at last Wednesday’s meeting were: ri Mrs. G. W. Holder, Mrs. 0. B. Harris, Mrs. Edna Land, Mrs. J. Italian war orphan last year is | staging the benefit to raise money | for the Foster Parents Pian, | through which they adepted the | girl, 10 year old Merie Carmele La Vecchia. Contributions by Key Westers| jthe British-Americsn announce- Menroe County's latest polic victim is a 4Va-year-old girl whe did not take the gamma globulin. Dr. Raymend J. Daiten, county health officer, in report- ing the case late yesterday, sald she was a white girl with 2 paralytic form of the disease and that she was transfered to Variety Children’s Hespital in Miami. Her case brought the county’s polio toll for 1953 to 51 cases. All of them have been white persons. There have been five deaths this year. Last year’s totel of police cases was 14 with ne Cold War Is Studied By Big Three d May Offer Russia Sweeping Pact .For Non-Aggression By SEYMOUR TOPPING Foreign Office off Duwning St. In addition to the non-aggression pact, the ministers faced decisions several other touchy problems as they neared the half-way mark of their three-day session. Among ‘these were: 1, An urgent British proposal to ‘bs an Israel attack on three Jordan villages before the United Nations Security Council. Fifty-six Arabs reportedly were killed in the assault which Britain as “apparently calculated.” 2.-Practical means of allaying Yugoslav anger over Trieste in view of the ministers’ agreement last night to stand by ment that Italy would be given Zone A of that strategic territory. The ministers also must put fin- ishing touches on drafts of British, French and American notes to the Soviet Union calling for a Big Four foreign ministers’ meeting Nov. 9 at Lugano, Switzerland, to discuss a final Austrian settlement and German unification. These drafts say a five-power parley with Com- jmunist China sitting in—as pro- posed by Russia last month—could await a Korean settlement. A pon-aggression pact offer ~ to guarantee Russia’s security in return for a green light on re- unification and looking toward free jeleetions throughout Germany — could be made in these notes. The Big Three discussed the pro- posal yesterday but reportedly postponed a decision when West! Geramn Chancellor Konrad Aden- jauer objected to the offer being! jmade at this time Adenauer ex- pressed fear that it would delay further French ratification of the “No Comment” On Reports Of Sabotage Possibility BOSTON #—Navy investigators swarmed over the wounded carrier Leyte today seeking an explanation of a violent explosion and fire ‘that spread death and destruction in her compartments yesterday. The known dead numbered 33 and at least 40 more were injured. Many of the latter were critically burned. Asked about published reports that Navy Intelligence men and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating the possibility of sabotage, the FBI answered, “No comment.” Court Of inquiry Monday As the Navy made plans to con- vene a court of inquiry possibly Monday, Rep. Thomas J, Lane (D-Mass) wired Defense Secretary Wilson a sharp demand for an “im- mediate and thorough investiga- tion.” “I am at a loss to understand how such a tragedy could occur in our own Boston Naval Shipyard,” he said, “when your department has at its disposal every precau- tionary measure to guard against such unfortunate occurrences, es- pecialls while the carrier is in port.” The blast occurred forward on the port side of the big, 27,500-ton carrier that cost 30 million dollars when she was launched at Newport News, Va., in 1945. Unofficial re- Ports said 1,400 officers and men were om bpard when tragedy struck. moet ince et ded eal ai bf the California coast.June 12, A court of inquiry was expected to be convened by Vice Adm. John 4, Ballentine, Atlantic Fleet air commander, Trial Run Wednesday The 856-foot-long Leyte, docked for overhaul after combat action ‘off Korea in October-December, 1950, came here last December and was almost ready to go to sea agath, She had been out for a trial run only Wednesday. The cause of the blast was not known. The Leyte’s skipper, Capt. Thomas A. Ahroon, 46, of Norfolk, Va., in command of the ship less than three weeks, said the fire may have started on the deck im- mediately below the hangar deck. But he could not be sure, it happened so fast. In his cabin when the blast shook the ship—‘‘a dull rumble like a subway train going through”’— Ahroon found the second deck eut off by smoke and climbed through an arore hatch to the hangar eck. firefighting « e in action, he Damage control parties already w said. Timed at 2:15 p. m. Capt. Ahroon timed the explosion at 3:15 p.m., EST, and the first fire alarm was sounded a minute later. At 3:48 a second alarm was sent in. More than 50 Boston fire trucks and rescue companies raced to the shipyard, Virtually every available ambu- jlance in Boston—about 75—coverg- ed on the area as officials dis- covered the extent of the disaster. Civilian doctors and nurses joined Navy hospital corpsmen from other vessels. Hospitals rushed whole blood and plasma. The injured, many so charred and battered as to make identifi cation difficult, were taken to City Hospital. to Carney Hospital in have not been in money only. The Prospoed six-nation European De-ic cit“ 0. and to the naval the City Commission) Britain last night asked the Big/Quirk, Mrs. Neil Saunders, Mrs.ic6, Wester Hotel on Roosevelt fense Community (EDC) treaty. Get Out The Vote Campaign today|in Group Three, today squelched|Three foreign ‘ministers’ meeting Genevieve Carey, Mrs. Vina L. Boulevard has offered free accomo-|72€ EDC provides for limited re- in London to haul Israel before Hanson, Mrs. Anna Carey, Mrs.' gations to all celebrities volunteer-2*™ament of Germany. Ape November 3 and 10, will be avail-| “I’m definitedly in the race — gering peace in the Middle East. |Mrs. Edith Vinson, Mrs. Winston’ shin was extended by Monroe Mot- able. He said that he will issue an an- chum. \British government accused Israel| Fred Enander, Mrs. Mattie Ellen Rouncement shortly, giving the| He will oppose Louis Carbonell of an “apparently calculated” at-| Adams, Mrs. Mercedes Rider, Mrs. phone numbers voters should call) if they desire transportation. \ . are 6, gf ed reer ‘and we want to see ll ° m al Polls,” he said. It’s Different! | rye saycees wit sie menturate Golden Fried Chicken | __‘Continuea On Page in the Basket ; WITH FRENCH FRIES TY_OF 1953” in the election November 3. Elks Club Annual Benefit Dance with FLOOR SHOW and “MISS ELKS CLUB BATHING BEAU- Contest at TONIGHT 9:00 P.M. TILL “?" FE! ik | (Continued On Page Two) (Continued On Page Two) cannot take any applications for 1954 1, 1954, but you may file up te April Ist. CLAUDE A. GANDOLFO. MONROE COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR. by John 's PUBLIC IS INVITED 218 DUVAL STREET land in it to the finish,” said Ket-/ The move came shortly after the Jones, Mrs. Molly Bates, Mrs.'ors who are donating seven new Lincoln, Mercury cnd Ford con- (Continued On Page Two) DANCE Tonight LEGION HOME STOCK ISLAND 10:00 °Til “*?°° Although the idea of such a pact} |— first broached by Britain’s) |Prime Minister Churchill — has| ‘gained some favor with Dulles and doubt that the Russians would ac- Lcept even the anticipated bid for hospital in Chelsea. Names Withheld The Navy, following regulations for notifying next of kin, withheld names until today. But of those taken to the two civilian hospitals, \a high proportion were Navy ef- (Continued On Page Two)