The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

The Weather Fair and cold tonight. Mostly sunny with moderate tempera-tures tomorrow. Chance of pre-cipitation both days near zero. (Wtifhtr Map and Dtrnit tn rg a) Vol. 35 No.

23 JJOUINAL Today's Chuckle One of the first things a child learns in school is that other children get allowances. WILMINGTONvW2 DELAWARE 32 Pages Saturday, January 28, 1967 Horns Delivered 42 Cent Per Week Ten Cents 6 Fire in l9 Spacecraft (uliiiio Felton Digs Into Rubble Of Tornado Crew of 3 Dies in Test Of Apollo CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. W-One of the three Apollo astronauts cried, "Fire in the spacecraft!" a split second before all three were to die in their moonship, the head of an investigating team said today. Maj. Gen.

Samuel Phillips, Apollo program director, said it was not known whose voice crackled over the radio monitoring system as a searing flash fire snuffed out the lives of astronauts Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee. It was the first time in the U.S.

space program that the chilling cry had been heard, for it was the first blaze ever to erupt inside a capsule. EARLIER, it had been reported that no word came from the spacecraft and the astronauts apparently died in the first quick flash of the fire. "A flash fire originated inside By LARRY K. MARTIN Dover Bureau FELTON Residents today were digging out from the rubble left by a tornado that cut a swath through the eastern 'side of Felton yesterday. The twister, which hit at 2:30 p.m., leveled four homes and a service station and damaged nine other homes and two other stations.

Seven persons were treated at Kent General Hospital in Dover but no one was admitted. Many others were cut by flying glass but needed no special treatment. THE funnel missed Felton students in it. viv Zl) Ik (nn. -z -rxy -'-f'X School by yards and the 1,200 Neither the Delaware Red Cross nor state police have been able to accurately figure the number of people routed from their homes.

This morning, a bright sun and chill wind rose over the area and disaster victims began Bombers Try to Burn Out Viets Pictures of the astronauts and the Apollo spacecraft are on the Second Newsfront, -Page 17. gathering their possessions. Agencies also began pouring aid into the stricken area. THE Delaware Chapter, American Red Cross, set up a disaster headquarters in the Felton School. Red Cross officials said they were prepared to furnish food, clothing, shelter and medicine.

They also said they would take applications for family rehabilitation The Red Cross said none of the victims had yet applied for help, but they planned to keep the office open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and tomorrow. After that victims should contact the Red Cross office in Dover. The Air Force Sergeants Association at Dover Air Force Base also said it was prepared to supply transportation and other aid to those routed from their homes.

M. Sgt. Victor Dumas said his group had received requests from two victims. The association can be contacted at telephone number 736-6021. Mrs.

Betty Chambers, Felton School nurse, said some clothing is available from welfare collections at the school. IN addition, the Mennonite Disaster Service and the Girl Scouts of America have offered to help needy victims clear up debris. Both of those organizations should be contacted through the Red Cross. Joe Bell, who owns a service station at Felton Crossroads, moved a work crew in early today to repair the damage left by the storm. All the windows in the station were shattered, the electricity was off and a wooded ice house beside the station was blown 100 feet down U.S.

13. State police maintained a tight control on the area as carload after carload of the curious drove through the stricken suburb of Felton Manor. Officers said they would remain on duty until homes were secured or valuables removed. Mrs. Richard Adams, whose home on Sanford StrM was lift Dover Bureau Photo by Chuck McGowen The strange pattern of destruction in yesterday's tornado is easily seen here.

the capsule and surrounded it for a matter of split seconds," said Phillips, Apollo program director. tragedy struck as countdown on a simulated flight was being held at T-minus 10 minutes because of difficulty in the quality of communications between the spacecraft and the checkout building, Phillips said. Phillips, head of a preliminary investigating team which began seeking the cause of the blaze that turned the spaceship into a death trap, said the data would be turned over to a formal board of inquiry. UNTIL that board has made its findings, he said, he could not speculate on plans for fa-ture Apollo flights. The pad crew rushed immediately to the spacecraft, Phillips said, extinguished several fires burning in the area, and got the spacecraft hatch open in five minutes.

Fierce heat and dense smoke poured out of the hatch. Pilots cannot eject themselves from an Apollo spacecraft. The' tower on top is designed to pull the ship off its launch rocket in event of trouble. IN this case, the only escape would have been to open the hatch from inside, and the astronauts apparently did not live long enough to take this action. The disaster may have stalled by months the U.S.

drive to a landing on the moon. The formal board of inquiry will be headed by Dr. Floyd Thompson, director of NASA's Langley Research Center. News of the disaster was held up for nearly two hours, until the parents and immediate families of the astronauts could be notified. Grissom, 40, was the hero of -the Mercury and Gemini pro-See FLASH FIRE-P.

2, C. 7 i I II i Leaders Mourn Space Trio By Associated Press i SAIGON If) Giant U.S. B52 bombers rained fire bombs on War Zone today in an attempt to burn out the longtime jungle sanctuary of the Viet Cong near the Cambodian frontier. It was the second incendiary raid this month by the high-flying Stratoforts. A U.S.

military spokesman, who announced the raid, said the results were not yet known. In the Mekong Delta, U.S. Army gunship helicopters used searchlights to track down Viet Cong guerrillas drifting about in sampans during the night. HELICOPTER pilots reported destroying 33 sampans and killing 44 Vict Cong last night and this morning while flying "firefly missions" 28 miles southwest of Saigon. On these missions, one helicopter beams its searchlights on the enemy while two flanking gunship helicopters open up with automatic weapons.

In air action over North Vietnam yesterday U.S. pilots flew 85 bombing missions. They concentrated all their strikes in the lower part of the country as poor weather covered the northern portions. DURING the raids, an Air Force F4C Phantom jet was shot down by Communist ground fire, U.S. headquarters' said.

The two-man crew nursed the crippled craft out to sea in the Gulf of Tonkin, bailed out and were rescued by a U.S. Marine helicopter within about 15 minutes of landing in the water. A U.S. spokesman said one of the fliers turned on his radio while in his rubber dinghy and listened to the arrangements for his rescue. The plane was the 467th announced U.S.

loss in the two See BOMBERS-Page 2, Col. 1 Man Booked In $1 Theft A 28-year-old man was arrested by Wilmington Police last night only minutes after he and two others allegedly beat and robbed a man of one dollar. William Robinson of the 1100 block Heald was held in bail on a charge of robbery for a hearing today in Municipal Court. According to police, Robinson and two other men knocked John E. Whine, 31, of 718 Madison to the ground at 8th and Jefferson Sts.

and took one dollar. Police apprehended Robinson a short distance away. They said Whine identified him as one of the three. They said Whine was unable to describe the other two. i Baker's Fate Goes to Jury WASHINGTON (Jr-The Bobby Baker case went to the jury today.

If convicted on all nine counts, the former secretary to Senate Democrats could be sentenced to 48 years in prison and fined $47,000. The six men and six women are to decide whether the former secretary to the senate's Democratic majority is guility of tax evasion, larceny, and conspiracy. Much of the testimony centered around allegations that Baker stole most or all of he received as senatorial campaign contributions from California savings and loan ri '4jLd Li" il ty vv I If' vti. i -V 1 fc Prominent leaders at home and abroad today mourned the deaths of three American astronauts. Messages of condolence poured in to their families.

Air Force Lt. Cols. Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom and Edward White II and Navy Lt. Cmdr.

Roger B. Chaffee were killed yesterday by a sudden fire in their Apollo I spacecraft on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Here is what prominent leaders said: President Johnson: "Three valiant young See LEADERS Page 2, Col. 1 ed from its foundation and demolished, was looking through a field for papers carried away by the twister. FRANKLIN Briggs, co-owner of the flattened Briggs Service See TORNADO-Page 3, Col.

4 Today's Index i in -11 cz 1 Amusements 20-21 Area Date Book 32 Church News 4 Classified 26-31 Comics 22 Daily Record 15 Editorials 14 Obituaries 15 Sports 23-24 Television and Radio 19 Women's World 12-13 UPI telephoto WHERE SPACE CREW DIED Bright lights dot service structure on the Apollo launch complex early this morning, shortly after the bodies of the three-man Apollo crew were taken from the spacecraft. UPI Telephot Astronauts (left to right) Virgil I. Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee On a recent visit to the Saturn I launch pad.