Logansport Pharos-Tribune from Logansport, Indiana • Page 5

Wednesday August 1,1979 The Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Kidnap Suspect Blames Glue Sniffing FLORENCE, S.C. (UPI) James Keith Tucker has a lot ef problems, ranging from charges of kidnapping to the pricfiofglue. The 18-year-old from High Point, N.C., who apparently Inadvertently kidnapped 5- year-old Caroline Thompson last Saturday, has refused the services of a public defender. "I don't need a lawyer to tell me what I done wrong," he said in a jailhouse interview Tuesday while awaiting extradition Florida. "I know what 1 done wrong." the interview, he repeated variations on one phrase "I didn't know what to do." says his problems, which Culminated in his capture at the end of a high-speed chase in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, began with his first sniff of airplane glue when he was 12 years old.

"I liked the way it smelled and I liked the way it made me feel," he said. But there were problems "When I'm high on glue, I don't think too good." Another problem, he mused, is that a tube of glue "used to cost 15 cents, but now it's 40 cents a tube." Tucker said he was high on glue Saturday when he barged into the station wagon of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Thompson of Dunwoody, in a motel parking lot at Daytona Beach, Fla. Mrs.

Thompson leaped out, screaming, and Tucker Teen-Agers Sounded Alarm For Motel Fire CAMBRIDGE, Ohio (UPI) Most of the people in the Holiday Inn were asleep Two teen-agers, killing time on a hot summer night, were play- 1 ing pinball in the game room. And in the lounge the customers were finishing their last drinks. The teen-agers saw the toxic tjlack smoke first. They sounded the alarm. But already the thick smoke, authorities said came from burning vinyl wall covering, had filled the hallways in one wing of the two-story The motel, filled nearly to Capacity early Tuesday with vacationers, quickly became "a damned death trap," said one guest.

People trapped in their rooms used chairs and other 'furniture to try to smash their way through sealed, double- pane floor-to-ceiling glass panels, which could not be 'opened. Some of them didn't succeed. Nine died, four of them children, and 78 others were injured. "ft was awful," said Jerry Feltner, manager of an ambu- lance service which took the victims to a nearby makeshift morgue. "We found a mother lying on the floor with her baby in her arms and a little jirl about 5 or 6 years old sprawled on the floor next to her." Many of the injured suffered broken bones and cuts when they jumped from shattered windows on the second floor.

The state fire marshal's office today was investigating- 4he possibility of arson in the that started in a first floor hallway and spread quickly through the motel's 'north wing. The motel, located just south of Cambridge in east central Ohio, 70 rooms and all but four of them were occupied by summer travelers when the fire broke out. Frank Jewell, chief of the fire marshal's office, said a preliminary investigation showed that vinyl wall cover- gave off a thick, toxic black smoke, impeding escape and rescue efforts. The fire marshal's office said the motel did not have a sprinkler system or a smoke alarm and that the only fire alarm system was the standard hand-pulled type, which the teen-agers activated. "If they (victims) had broken out the windows and gone outside they probably would have lived," said Frank chief of the fire marshal's office.

"We could have easily lost 50 people. I'm somewhat surprised that there weren't more killed." Robert Foley of Virginia Beach, who was staying on the second floor with his wife and son, was one of those who managed to break the thick glass to escape. "It took four blows from a chair to break the windows." said Foley. "It was a damned deathtrap." Eight of the victims were found in hallways. The ninth victim, a woman, was found in her room with the door open.

Only six of the dead were positively identified: Sam Saloun of Ford City, Pamela Ricketts of Westerville. Ohio; and Ester Albright, Sharon D. Albright. Mary Rotunda and her son, Matthew, all of Parkersburg. W.

Va. Eighteen of the injured were admitted to Guernsey Memorial Hospital in Cambridge and Bethesda and Good Samaritan hospitals in nearby Zanesville. Four were in critical condition and 14 in fair condition. The other GO were treated and released. Brown Clary and Rodman Blazbick, both 18 and both of Cambridge were the youths who sounded the alarm.

"He (Blazbick) said, 'Hey, this place is on I didn't believe him. Then all of a sudden the smoke got real thick, "Clan'said. The two said they then ran toward the lounge, pulled a fire alarm and yelled for help. "1 saw a waitress in the lounge and she started getting people out," said Clary. "We then ran outside and started breaking windows.

People were doing the same thing and struggling to get out. The windows were real hard to break. I found a big heavy bar and it was still hard to break them." Larry Flowers, 40, of Cromwell, was asleep when the fire broke out. He crawled through the smoke- filled first floor corridor to rescue one of his employees Jeanette Riddle, 26, also of Cromwell. "I heard some people yelling," Flowers said.

"I thought they were drunk and partying. Then saw the smoke. I went out into the hall and it was as dark as hell. There was only a foot-and-a-half of air to breath. 1 had to crawl.

"I knocked on the door and said. 'Get on the floor' to Jeanette. I was scared and I grabbed a table that I threw against the window and it bounced off. I hit it a few more times and it finally broke. I thought I was a goner." Sears HEARING TEST CONSULTATION Now To Serve You Better Sears Hearing Aid Specialist Will Be At SEARS IN THE MALL This to 7P.M.

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I didn't know what to do." What he did was drive 800 miles, almost non-stop, to Myrtle Beach, feeding Caroline with money from her mother's wallet. At last they were recognized, and police rescued Caroline and arrested Tucker. Caroline, apparently undismayed by her adventure, was reunited with her frantic parents and they resumed their seashore vacation Tuesday, frolicking together in the surf at Daytona Beach. Tucker, who has a record of small-time thievery and was paroled from prison in North Carolina a little more than two weeks ago, faced federal kidnap charges. Tuesday, police in Daytona Beach said they would charge him with the rape and kidnapping of a convenience store clerk three days before he drove away with Caroline.

He made no mention of those charges in his interview. Tucker said he walked off his job a week ago and began wandering south because "I've never been to a beach." "I got a bad problem sniff- ing Riuc," he said. It's prctly stupid. It's really messed up my brain." He said he decided to steal a car in Daytona Beach because "I wanted io go home to my parents." "The last thing I wanted to do was hurt that little girl. I wasn't going to let her go hungry, I was't going to harm her no way, but I didn't know what I was going to do." He said he couldn't leave her along "because she was only 5 years old and couldn't take care of herself." He said he calmed her by telling her he was taking her home, and they chatted about "different things we talked about her school" during the drive.

Steam Engines VIENNA, Austria (UPI) Railroad officials now offer tourists "sentimental journeys" in rented trains with old-fashioned steam engines normally seen only in museums. A minimum of 60 persons will have to apply for such a journey at least 10 days before the desired departure time. Group-rented trains will take off for such romantic trips as through the Bregenzerwald in Austria's westernmost province of Vorarlberg and will stop at any desired place for taking pictures and collecting flowers, the officials said. UPI Survives Mote! Fire Tired and weary, a victim of the Holiday Inn fire in Cambridge, Ohio, sits on a curb in front of the motel after returning from a hospital where he was treated for a cut hand. Triumph.

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