The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 29

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 1988 The Philadelphia Inquirer 9-B OBITUARIES 2d fire in 3 days hits Empire State Building 7T Barry Bingham 82, ex-owner of two newspapers in Louisville National news in brief iiiraitiiHiMiift eventually led to Mr. Bingham's surprise announcement two years later that he was dismantling the empire, which also included a television station, two radio stations, a printing company and a database firm. The sale of the properties brought a reported $435.8 million. Mr.

Bingham decided on the sale to end the family feud and to secure the financial future of his nine grandchildren. The decision was criticized by Barry Jr. as "a betrayal of the traditions and principles which I have sought to perpetuate." Mr. Bingham's illness became known as he unsuccessfully fought the release of a controversial book about his father, Judge Robert Worth Bingham, who had acquired the newspapers in 1918 with a $5 million inheritance from his second wife. She was Mary Flagler, widow of Florida tycoon Henry Flagler and reputedly the richest woman in the nation.

The book alleged that Judge Bingham contributed to her death by failing to secure proper medical attention for her and by drugging her to try to persuade her to change her will. Macmillan Publishing Co. dropped the book project after Mr. Bingham supplied a five-inch-thick memorandum of what he contended were 160 misstatements of fact by author Da- segregationists, coal barons and political conservatives. He had close ties to British royalty and political luminaries such as Ad-lai E.

Stevenson and John F. Kennedy, and he was honored by Britain and France for service to the two nations. At the height of its power and influence, the Bingham family was shaken in 1964 by the accidental electrocution of youngest son Jonathan and again in 1966 when heir-apparent Worth, the eldest son, was killed in a car accident. After serving as president and publisher of the Courier-Journal and the Louisville Times from December 1937 until June 1971, Mr. Bingham handed over the reins to his son Barry who became board chairman.

But Mr. Bingham retained ultimate control of the family business even though stock ownership was dispersed among his children grandchildren. Dissension within the family surfaced in 1984 when Sallie Bingham challenged the ability of her brother to serve as editor and publisher. She, her sister Eleanor Bingham Miller and their mother were replaced on the board of directors by professional managers. Sallie Bingham then announced she was disposing of her IS percent interest.

That From rteulrer Wire Service! LOUISVILLiuKy. Barry Bingham 82, thepatriarch of a media empire that h6 'sold in 1986 to end a family squabble; over control of the holdings, died yesterday. The formert owner and publisher of the Courir3ournal and the Louisville Timeshad undergone treatment in Boston and Louisville hospitals since learning late last year that he had a brain tumor. Mr. Bingham, whose newspapers have won eight Pulitzer Prizes, sold them to Gannett which folded the Times into-the Courier-Journal.

The Louisville-born Mr. Bingham graduated from Harvard with honors in 1928, eventually abandoning his dream of becoming a novelist and joining the as a police reporter. He took control of the family newspaper business in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed his -father ambassador to Great Britain'. Mr.

Bingham was 27 at the time. He became a force in U.S. journalism and Democratic Party for four decades' and headed the Marshall Plan in France after World War II. Under his lead, his papers championed racial integration and anti-poverty initiatives and fought strip-mining, often (Drawing opposition from Associated Press NEW YORK Fire broke out yes terday on the 51st floor of the Empire State Building, forcing dozens of of fice workers to leave the 102-story tower. Officials said the blaze, the second there in three days, began in a pile of discarded carpets in a stairwell and was suspicious.

The blaze, which was put out in about half an hour, produced heavy smoke but caused only minor damage. A woman in the building fell but declined medical treatment, and a second was taken to a hospital with possible cardiac arrest. One firefighter was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. Chief Robert Manson, who com manded fire forces at the scene at both fires, said he had found nothing to link them, department spokesman John Mulligan said. On Friday, a fire broke out in an 86th floor shaftway.

After it was brought under control, firefighters discovered that it had climbed up to the 102d floor. The popular observation decks at both those levels had to be closed and about 1,500 tourists evacuated. Americans, Soviets plan a 'peace walk' to Moscow Associated Press WASHINGTON About 200 Americans from 30 states converged on Washington yesterday to prepare for a "peace walk" in the Soviet Union to dramatize a call for ending the arms race, organizers said. They plan to fly to Moscow on Thursday and begin their march in Odessa, on the Black Sea coast, on Saturday, said Allan Affeldt, president of International Peace Walk, a Washington-based peace group that has organized the project. The Americans are to be joined in Odessa by about 200 Soviet citizens, and all plan to walk together back to Moscow.

The Americans are to fly back to Washington on Sept. 15, Affeldt said. He said the Soviet government placed no restrictions on their activities, which will include visits to homes, public meetings on political and social topics and brief stops at farms to help with the harvest. Roy Buchanan, 48, an Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. Roy Buchanan, 48, touted as "the best unknown guitarist in the world" who influenced musicians from blues to rock to country-western, died Sunday night when he hanged himself in a jail cell, officials said yesterday.

Mr. Buchanan, of Reston, died after he was arrested on a charge of public drunkenness and placed alone in a cell at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, said Fairfax County Chief Deputy Sheriff Carl Peed. He was placed in the cell about 10:55 p.m. Sunday and checked 10 minutes later. But when deputies made a second check at 11:16 p.m., Mr.

Buchanan was found hanged with his shirt from a window grate, Peed said. "Roy was known for making the guitar squeal and snarl, playing harmonics, a lot of innovative techniques," said Ken Morton, spokes Ay EzJul Ex-president's funeral turns into a protest Liszewski, 95, Polish leader in area 80,000 civilian Navy jobs targeted for drug testing United Press International WASHINGTON The Navy has identified 80,000 civilian jobs that will become subject to random drug testing, Navy officials said yesterday. In an Aug. 6 letter, Navy Secretary William Ball told the civilians they would be subject to the tests in 60 days. The employees work in health and safety, law enforcement and national security jobs, the Navy New applicants for the jobs, which comprise about 27 percent of the Navy's total civilian workforce of 354,834, also must take a urinalysis as a condition of employment, the letter said.

All uniformed military personnel are subject to random drug testing. Random stopping of blacks ordered stopped in Toledo Associated Preu TOLEDO, Ohio The police chief yielded to pressure from civil rights leaders yesterday and rescinded a policy requiring officers to randomly stop black youths in a racially mixed neighborhood. Chief Martin Felker issued an order July 8 that police stop and question groups of black teenagers in what he called an effort to end racial violence in the Old West End neighborhood. "The procedure was implemented to address a series of crimes that had been committed," he said yesterday in a statement. "Unfortunately, the focus has been perceived as racially motivated instead." He said officers have been told to return to stopping people only if reasonable cause exists.

Felker's decision followed meetings with the president of the Toledo chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, city officials and neighborhood residents. International news in brief to slip across the border into Kashmir, authorities said. India and Pakistan each hold portions of the disputed northern territory. In Srinagar, capital of Indian Kashmir, police clashed yesterday with pro-Pakistan demonstrators objecting to Indian independence celebrations. Two Israeli jets collide over Dead Sea, killing 2 Associated Press JERUSALEM Two Israeli F-15 jet fighters on a training flight collided over the Dead Sea area yesterday and both pilots were killed, the military command reported.

Sources in Washington said it was the first known accident Israel's air force has had with the high-flying U.S.-built jet. Israel has about 50 of the planes, manufactured by the McDonnell Douglas and ordered five more earlier in the summer. The army identified the pilots as Maj. Ehud Falk of the northern Israeli kibbutz, or communal settlement, of Merhavya, and Lt. Col.

Ram Kuller of the northern kibbutz of Kfar Giladi. Catholics in France plan competing processions Associated Press PARIS Roman Catholics loyal to the Vatican and followers of rebel Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre organized competing processions yesterday, each attracting about 5.000 faithful, to renew France's 350-year-old vow of consecration to the Virgin Mary. Carrying statues and banners of the Virgin, and chanting "Hail Marys" the loyalist group in French, the traditionalists in Latin the two sets of marchers added color to downtown Paris streets on the Assumption Day holiday, one of the quietest days of the year in France. Parisians and tourists at sidewalk cafes turned to watch the processions and take in puffs of incense. Czechoslovak govern menti Dubcek likely to get exit visa VIENNA Former Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubcek has been given a passport and is likely to receive an exit visa to travel to tn West, the Czechoslovak governmer, said yesterday.

The ousted leader of the Spring" reform movement plans to go next month to Italy where he is to be awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bologna along with jailed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. Barry Bingham Sr. In a 1973 photo vid Chandler. Crown Publishing Co. issued the book in 1987 after making what it called insignificant changes.

Mr. Bingham and his wife donated millions of dollars to support education, arts and health endeavors in Kentucky and southern Indiana. A fund they set up after the sale of the newspapers had distributed more than $8 million by late last year. One of its largest gifts was $2.6 million for the construction of the 40-story Louisville Falls Fountain, the world's largest floating fountain, which will be dedicated Friday. In addition to his wife and three children, Mr.

Bingham is survived by nine grandchildren. A funeral service is scheduled for tomorrow at Calvary Episcopal Church in Louisville. guitarist ington area, where he became an underground favorite. Rolling Stone magazine discovered him in 1971, and its review of one of his performances said, "Roy Buchanan provides what may well be the best rock-guitar picking in the world." A public-television documentary, The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World, was aired soon afterward and he was signed to a recording contract with Polydor. He produced five albums, one of which, Roy Buchanan's Second Album, went gold.

He moved to Atlantic Records and put out three albums, including his second gold. Between 1978 and 1985, Mr. Buchanan was largely a musical recluse. He released only one album during that period, but moved back into the recording studio on a regular basis in 1985. His work for Alligator included When a Guitar Plays the Blues, Dancing on Edge (with Delbert UcClinton) and Hot Wires.

whenever she spoke of her grand' children. One grandson, Eugene, even attended Alliance College. Rut more often than not. Mrs. Lis zewski, also a member of the Queen Hedwig Society, was helping other Polish-Americans.

She used to say all her activities were simply "working for Poloma" the Folisn-American community. In 1953, the Polish National Alli ance honored her with a service medal, and in 1964 with a golden cross. Ten years later, she was awarded the group's bronzed cross of the legion of honor. "A lot of people came and started a life here, but their hearts were still where their mother and father were, nrl I think that mieht be the way she urns her eranddauehter-in-law, Ros- wetha Liszewski, reflected. "She wanted to show people what her mother country was aooui.

was a wav nf life." Mrs. Liszewski's husband, Stefan, Hiprl in 1960. Surviving are a son, Ferdinand; daughter, Irene bonKOSKi; tnree grandchildren, and live greai-granq children. A viewing will be from 6 to 10 p.m. irvtav at the Walczak Funeral Home.

2391 E. Orthodox with a Mass of Christian Burial at St. John Cantius rhnrrh. ThomDson Street between Orthodox and LeFevre Streets, at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Interment is at U.S. National Cemetery, Beverly, N.J. at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Chel tenham. Janet M. Fuhrmeister Freeland, 57, an interior decorator who enjoyed the outdoors and found her greatest pleasure in her family, died Sunday at her home in Media.

In 1976, Mrs. Freeland and her hus band, Joseph, founded Freeland Inte riors in Media, and in 1986 were joined in operating the business by their daughter, Laura Plantholt. Mrs. Freeland had worked from 1952 to 1962 for the old Pennsylvania State Home Extension Service and afterward continued part time as a sewing teacher and lecturer. Born in Bryn Mawr, Mrs.

Freeland graduated from Haverford High School and earned her bachelor's degree in home economics in 1952 from Wheaton College in Wheaton, 111. Survivors: her husband, Joseph; daugher, Laura Plantholt; sons, Donald and Jack; her mother, Coralie Fuhrmeister, and a brother. Services: memorial, 10 a.m. tomorrow, Media Presbyterian Church, Baltimore Avenue and Church Street. Media.

In keeping with its poHcy that eH news reporting bo timely, fhe Inquirer intend to publish obitueriet withtn 48 hnuri of deeth. Mortueries end others supplying obmiery information should submit their notices promptl The Inquirer city desk. Roy Buchanan Maryanna By Donna Inquirer Stall Writer Maryanna Struzinska Liszewski, 95, a leader in the city's Polish community who helped translate for immigrants, find scholarships for children, campaign for Polish-American politicians and honor the customs of her motherland, died Saturday at Germantowtf Hospital. Hard-working and independent, Mrs. Liszewski became a leader in the Polish community in the 1930s, when she took over as president of the Polish Alliance, Lodge No.

2261, located near her Frankford home. During four decades of leadership, she also went on to become a regional director and a delegate to national conventions for the alliance, while also active in the Polish American Congress and the Polish-American Citizen's League of Pennsylvania. "Anywhere-there was a Polish cause, she, tfaS there," said Hilary Czaplicki, an officer of the Chicago-based Polish 'National Alliance. "She was very dedicated, and she was a leader at a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman." It was determination that had always carried Mrs. Liszewski through.

From family living near Warsaw, Mrs, Liszewski emigrated by herself in 1910, as a way to earn money for those back home. She Deaths here innovative man for Mr. Buchanan's recording label, the Chicago-based Alligator Records. "People like Robbie Robertson and Jeff Beck owe him a debt of gratitude." Mr. Buchanan began playing in the early 1950s.

An early influence was note-bending guitarist Jimmy Nolan, who would go on to play with soul singer James Brown. He had his own band in Los Angeles at 15. He went to Oklahoma, where he met rockabilly legend Dale Hawkins, who wrote and performed the hit single "Suzy Mr. Buchanan toured and recorded with Hawkins the next two years, and in 1960 joined a Canadian group that included Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and was the forerunner for The Band. He spent the next few years in a studio, backing singers as diverse as pop star Freddie Cannon and country-western singer Merle Kilgore.

He left that work, formed another and started playing the Wash Polish National Alliance. "She seemed to have a keen eye for young people, always trying to encourage them," said Czaplicki. "But she wasn't one to get on a soapbox. She just had a way of talking." In 1952, Mrs. Liszewski who went from working at the knitting mills to a job at a tool manufacturing company also started selling life insurance for the Polish National Alliance during evenings and weekends.

She was proud that she had signed on more than 500 members, many in Frankford and Bridesburg, during 20 years, said people who knew her. About the same time, Mrs. Liszewski also became director of the Polish National Alliance Home of Three Councils, a regional meeting facility in the city's Richmond section. Earlier, she had helped raise the money to build the hall. Once the hall was constructed, she helped arrange the many meetings and banquets held in it.

the old-time beef-and-beers and Mother's Day dinners. Always, too, there were the traditional seven-course, meatless Christmas Eve spreads, including pierogi and one of her favorites, barszci, a red beet soup. Mrs. Liszewski, who enjoyed baking, also often brought pound cake or babka, a yeast cake. And she often brought her children, whom she also taught her Polish traditions.

She beamed, those who knew her said, 1936, when he was assigned to the mounted patrol. On horseback, he kept watch on Market Street, between Fifth and Eighth Streets, for about six vears. Promoted to sergeant in the early 1950s, he worked under Frank Rizzo from a station at 12th and Pine Streets. When he retired in 1954, Mr. McGinniss started a trucking business, McGinniss Trucking in Palmyra, where he worked until 1966.

He then retired to Lantana, where he lived until a month ago. His biggest hobby was Irish associations. He was the president of Division 51 and of the county board of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He was a charter member and first president of the St. Patrick's Day Observance Committee, which created the city's St.

Patrick's Day Parade. Survivors: his wife of 64 years, Catherine Rcid McGinniss; sons, John and Hugh; seven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and a sister. Services: viewing, 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, St. Christopher's Church, Proctor Road, Somcrton, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 8 p.m.

Interment From Inquirer Wire Services PANAMA CITY, Panama Tens of thousands of people turned the funeral for three-time President Ar-nulfo Arias Madrid into a huge anti-government demonstration yesterday. Many said it was the largest demonstration in 14 months of protests against the rule of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, who commands Panama's Defense Forces and controls the civilian government. U.S. Ambassador Arthur Davis attended the funeral service conducted from the steps of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Arias was elected three times and overthrown each time by the military. He died Wednesday in Miami. Arias, who would would have been 87 yesterday, spent more time in jail and exile than in office but was credited with founding Panama's social security system and introducing women's suffrage. "Justice, Justice," chanted the crowd, made up largely of working-class Panamanians who long were the main constituency of the populist Arias. "Noriega, tyrant, your end is near," they also shouted.

10,000 opposition supporters go to Mexico electoral process Bollinore Sun MEXICO CITY About 10,000 supporters of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the officially defeated opposition candidate, crowded outside Mexico's Congress as the final step in certifying the disputed election victory of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari got under way yesterday. In the midst of boos and catcalls from opposition members, the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party rammed through a measure giving it all three leadership positions on the key committee that will oversee the vote certification process for the presidency and the Chamber of Deputies. The Cardenas forces and those of another opposition party, the National Action Party known as PAN, have charged that the federal election commission has not made public the tally sheets of about 46 percent of the nation's polling places because voting there was rigged in favor of Salinas de Gortari. Gandhi says Pakistan is aiding Sikhs in Punjab Associated Press NEW DELHI Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi charged Pakistan yesterday with aiding Sikh insurgents in Punjab state and urged it to stop, saying he did not want to take action Pakistan "might later regret." He spoke during celebrations of the 41st anniversary of India's independence from Britain. Gandhi has often accused Pakistan of arming and training Sikh rebels fighting for a separate nation in northern Punjab state, which borders Pakistan.

Pakistan has denied the charge. On Sunday, Indian border guards shot dead 11 Pakistanis as they tried briefly took a position as a family housekeeper and then found work in the knitting mills. Soon she paid off her overseas ticket and was sending her salary to Poland. Though she later married Stefan Liszewski in 1917 and had two children, Mrs. Liszewski continued to work and was soon taking on much more.

With the Frankford lodge, which she served as president 40 years, Mrs. Liszewski organized social events, urged children to learn the Polish language and passed on the ethnic traditions that had become dear to her after leaving Poland. A tall, robust woman of meticulous dress and a confident stride, Mrs. Liszewski accompanied immigrants to court to interpret for them and for the judges. She stood on Frankford corners handing out leaflets for Polish-American political candidates.

"You could rely on her she was always there," said Edward Walczak, a candidate for city sheriff in the 1970s. "And always for nothing. She wouldn't take a nickel. You couldn't even buy her a cup of coffee." One of her greatest interests was young people, said those who knew her. Always she seemed to be persuading a teenager to enroll in Polish classes or dancing lessons or to attend Alliance College in Cambridge Springs, a college sponsored the lished a doctored photograph of the so-called cat killer, it was a disguised Mr.

McElfresh, his son saidJ He was an avid golfer and a 35-year resident of Drexel Hill. His wife, Anne M. Eagan McElfresh, whom he met at the Bulletin, died in 1981. Survivors: his son, Charles daughters, Joan M. Greisiger and Anne seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Services: viewing, 9 a.m. tomorrow, Victor J. Ruffenach Funeral Home, Township Line and Burmont Roads, Drexel Hill; Mass of Christian Burial, 10 a.m. tomorrow, St. Dorothy's Roman Catholic Church, Drexel Hill.

Interment at SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Springfield. John E. "Pete" McGinniss, 84, a city police officer who took great pride in having helped start the modern-day St. Patrick's Day Parade in 1951, died Sunday at Rolling Hill Hospital.

A resident of Bustleton for many years. Mr. McGinniss was a city police officer for 25 years, first working as a foot patrol officer in Center City and later as part of the Motor Bandit Patrol. His favorite assignment came in Charles William McElfresh, 87, former art director for the Evening Bulletin, who chose his career over one in professional baseball, died Sunday atttie Wayne Nursing Home. Mr.

McElfresh had played minor league baseball as a young man and at 16 was offered a contract by the St. Louis Cardinals. He turned it down, instead heading to art school in Baltimore. When he finished his schooling, he spent several years at the Baltimore Sun before moving to Philadelphia. ''V In 1920, Mr.

McElfresh joined the Evening Bulletin's news art department. He Stayed at the paper for 45 years, the years as director of the department. He retired in 1965, but continued to work part time for about six years. During World War II, Mr. McElfresh created the two-page map that the Bulletin published to detail the shift of battle lines in Europe.

A man who li kcd to play a joke, Mr. McElfresh was part of a Bulletin hoax the fabrication of a figure known as Thomas McMurders, who was said to be a Swarthmore cat killer who' used dead felines for tomato-plant fertilizer. When the newspaper finally pub.