The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 3

rami MIAMI DAILY NEWS I Friday. Air temperature at r- INI I A kl 10 a. m. 80. U.

S. weather table fc IJ II I cn page 6A- I VOL XL1X. NO. 309. PHONE 3-1 191 MIAMI 30.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1944 THREE SECTIONS FIVE CENTS Jm '7 ygli my A 5 Damage Light In 65-M. P. H. Miami Gale No Casualties In City; 37 Feared Lost On 2 Boats Skies in the Miami area were slowly clearing Thursday after the severe tropical hurricane which ripped Havan and western Cuba, leaving a toll of dead and injured, swept across the Florida straits and roared into the Florida mainland in the vicinity of St. Petersburg and "Iv if5 4 Isffitht A (U tjr tjfiW y.

yTARlACjj to is 1 VVsrv'' 5 VJ irAfJ aTanixj-vnis if a- i itoito fvfC Bl i iLEYT Tr. rr 4ruuBATAHA RfcsXi t'Sj Fleet Reported In Leyte Gulf Domei Agency Tells Of Suluan Landings NEW YORK, Oct. 19. (P) The Japanese high command announced Thursday, that American forces have "invaded" the Leyte gulf area of the central Philippines. The communique, recorded by the federal communications commission, made no mention of "landing operations" previously reported by the Domei news agency on tiny, nearby Suluan island.

Almost simultaneously the controlled Manila radio reported 270 carrier-borne planes attacked Manila and Oark air field in four waves Thursday in a continuation of week-long punishment from the air. Imperial headquarters announced that Allied naval forces, accompanied by transports, penetrated Leyte' gulf Tuesday and have been shelling the coastal areas "since Wednesday afternoon" and Japanese army and navy units "are at present intercepting this enemy, force." HANG ON Women clutched at their skirts one of the breeziest corners in town, SE First ave. wind Thursday was still brisk. Widow Silent OnJnjuries 5,000 ARE HOMELESS 'iULUjARCHIPtLACO'- i "so "riVoo I MIICS IN KEY WEST STORM City Without Power Or Lights In Wake Of 120-MPH Hurricane By MILT SOSIN (Miami Dally News Staff Writer) KEY WEST, Oct. 19.

One-third of; Key West was washed under water Thursday as a result of a tropical hurricane which swept up out of the. Caribbean Wednesday and lashed this city with winds which at times reached a velocity of 120 miles an THE ROAD BACK Arrow points to Suluan island, guarding entrance to Ley te" gulf, where a Domei broadcast Thursday said American troops have landed. Tokyo officially says American forces have "invaded" the Philippines, With naval forces, penetrating Leyte gulf and shelling coastal areas. Luzon (top) and Mindanao (bottom, right), major Philippine islands, have been pounded for days by American bombers in preparation, experts have believed, for invasion. 1 4 hour.

An estimated 5,000 persons were temporarily homeless, including 3,500 white occupants of two large housing' projects which were inundated to the extent of more than three feet when the Atlantic, ocean rose over its beach and crossed Roosevelt blvd. Key except for naval installations. has been without electric light or power or gas for cooking since 7 p. m. Tuesday but water is still available.

not only from cisterns which most houses here have, but. also from the navy pipeline which conveys water from Homestead. Police Capt. Ray Atwell, In charge of the department at night, said no deaths directly or indirectly attributable to the storm had occurred, and up to 6 a. m.

no storm injuries had been reported to him. The office of Sheriff Berlin Sawyer of Monroe county reported only (Turn to Pane -A; KEY WEST) JA CkSONVlL LE a.m. Oct. 19 IAMI NASSAU Hurricane Hits Tampa, Damage Light 100-Mile Winds Precede Calm On West Coast Hurricane winds a high as 100 miles an hour, lashed the Tampa area early Thursday, causing some property damage but no known deaths or in juries. Weatherman WV Talbott aid the dead center of the Carribean-born storm was just east of the Tampa city limits 6 a.

ro. It was preceded by sustaining winds of 79 miles an hour and gusts running as high as 100 miles an hour at 4 before a dead calm set in, the weatherman said. The present lull, Talbott said, is expected to be followed about noon by a second blow which should have wind velocity as high as the 'first Trees were uprooted by the win a on xasmonaDie uavis is- i land In Tampa bay. Many trees also fell across tne streets in residential areas of the city. Plate glass windows and stpre fronts were damaged.

A 6UJO -a. m. bulletin issued by the Miami Weather bureau advised that above normal tides will prevail from. Day-tona Beach northward along the Eastern coast of Florida. "Residents of low-lying coastal areas should depart immediately for higher terrain." the bulletin warned.

"This severe hurricane is now passing over Tampa with lowest pressure 28.54," Weather bureau experts reported. "Indications are for continued north or north northeastward movement about 16 to 18 miles per hour." Warren O. Johnson, associate forecaster of the hurricane warning service, said at 9 a. m. that direct reports from Tampa indicated that Tampa and St.

Petersburg proper had escaped with "very slight damage." Circus Protected Residents of the thickly populated beaches at Bradenton and Sarasota moved inland and more than two score families sought refuge in schools and churches. Extra keepers were ordered on duty at the winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey circus at Sarasota to attend the big herd of elephants in their steel cages. MIAMI'S OWN WHIRLIGIG Ntws Bthlnd The News REJECTED REFUGEES Groups of refugees in the northwest section of the city were much angered late Wednesday when they applied to one establishment for refuge during the night and were rejected. What made them most angry was the fact that the building which refused them was a gambling establishment. INVESTIGATION Within the past few weeks two men designated as "experts' have been added to the payroll of the Greater Miami port authority.

Their salaries have not been definitely announced, although it was reported they ere to be paid in the neighborhood of $500 a month. Whirly predicts that the port authority members will make an investigation, inasmuch as there are no stipulated funds in the authority's budget by which these two men can be paid. British Airmen Bomb Hannover, Mannheim LONDON, Oct. 19. (m Communications targets at Hannover and Mannheim were attacked Wednesday night by small forces of RAF Mosqui tos.

Other unidentified targets in western Germany also were bombed. Hannover is one of north western a y's most important industrial and rail centers. Mannheim, on the Rhine, is a major supply point for the lower end of the Siegfried line. One bomber was lost. Tampa.

Damage to the Greater Miami area from winds which reached 65 miles an hour in gusts was light. The heaviest winds were recorded in the early hours of Thursday morning, at about the time the hurricane was entering the Florida mainland. Business houses and stores were taking down shutters and improvised window braces preparatory to doing business as usual and the winds had subsided to 17 miles an hour at 9 a. according to a weather bureau bulletin. No Casualties Damage to all areas extend ing from Sarasota to Tarpo Springs, felt the bru? pf JOO-mile-an-hour winds was "light" and there were no reported casualties at 9 a.

a few hours after the hurricane struck the mainland. All of the known casualties were reported from Havana, which placed the dead at seven with 300 injured. Missing and feared lost, however, were the crew of the navy lightship stationed at the westerly entrance of northwest passage near Key West, numbering 21 men, and the crew of 11 men on a navy tug which took them aboard from the lightship late Wednesday, Millions Damage Fears also were held for the safety of five men, members of a fishing party on the Miami cruiser Ginger, which left Matecumbe, in the heart of the Florida keys, Wednesday morning bound for Miami and which has not been heard from since. The hurricane ripped through Havana Wednesday (Turn In a-A: H1RRK ANEI Plane Blast Kills 24 U. S.

Airmen LONDON, Oct 19. (INS) Twenty-four American airmen were killed Wednesday when a Liberator bomber exploded 6,000 feet over Cheshire, U. S. army officials announced Thursday. Bodies of two other men are being sought because 26 air force members were believed in the plaie.

Tornado Lifts House, 75 Trees At Wauchula WAUCHULA, Fla Oct. 19. (JPt While coastal cities of Florida prepared for a hurricane Thursday a tornado struck near here. The "twister' uprooted 75 large trees in one spot, lifted a large farm house from its foundation and unroofed a filling station. Telephone lines in the area were blown down, but no lives were lost and no one was injured.

Barometer Su I a Called Good Base For Raids Against Luzon Cox To Speak Tonight On CBS Network Former Governor James M. Cox of Ohio will address the nation tonight from 10:30 to 11 o'clock, Miami time, over a coast-to-coast Columbia network. The speech may be heard locally over WQAM. Governor Cox was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1920 when he carried President Wilson's banner for the League of Nations. It is expected that he will draw a parallel as between conditions then and now.

Governor Cox will speak from his home in Dayton, Ohio. Quentin Reynolds will introduce him from New York. A Sr.Pm 7 4 The earlier Domei report said "part of the enemy forces seem to have landed on Suluan island." Berlin Reports Landings London reported hearing the Tokyo official broadcast concerning an American "invasion" and also a German Transocean broadcast repeating the Domei agency statement that landings had been made on Suluan. London observers said that phrasing of the Japanese imperial command's communiques suggested that American troops already might have carved out a beachhead on the Leyte gulf. They assumed that the "enemy fleet" referred to by Tokyo was Adm.

William F. Halsey's powerful Third fleet. "Coast Bombarded" The communique, which may herald Gen. Douglas Mac-Arthur's return to the Philippines, said: "The enemy fleet and accompanying transports invaded Leyte gulf of the Philippines Oct 17 and since the afternoon of Oct 18 has been subjecting the coastal areas to aerial and naval bombardment. "Our navy and army units in close co-operation ere at present intercepting this enemy force." The reference to army interception might mean either that Japanese ground forces fighting amphibious troops or that the Nipponese air force was counterattacking the U.

S. naval task force. No Confirmation There was no confirmation from any Allied source, but recent American naval action in the Pacific has indicated that an invasion was Imminent. A two-day delay in the Japanese announcement of a strike into the central Philippines would indicate that defensive forces were taken by surprise. Leyte is one of the larger central Philippine islands lying midway between Mindanao and Luzon.

Leyte gulf, about 380 miles from Manila, is surrounded by high coasts with good natural harbors. It is bounded on the north by Samar, on the" west by Leyte island, while, a num- Tur 1-Aj INVASION! shipping losses inflicted, runs like this: Ryukyus 46 ships sunk, 11 probably sunk, 20 damaged; 41 small craft sunk, many damaged. Formos8v-32 ships sunk, 11 probably sunk, 41 damaged; more than 105 small craft sunk or damaged. Philippines 7 ships sunk or set afire. Out of the welter of reports covering air battles and repulsion of enemy attacks on the fleet it is possible only to give a generalized summary: More than 900 destroyed.

American losses listed: 21 planes, 31 pilots, 21 air crewmen. Two "medium" warships damaged, but able to retire un- der their own power. rlMrlntiilnBjtiSssssMriiIsnMlli and men at their hats on and Second st.t where the Dmiy nwi photo tr dvi. Decisive Battle Near In West Allies Held Up By Struggle For Port LONDON, Oct. 19.

Heavy rains the length of the western from Holland to the Swiss border slowed Allied offensive operations Thursday but everywhere there were indications of a build-up for what may become a decisive battle of the war. A British Second army' staff officer was quoted in a front dispatch as expressing the view there is a probable chance the major decision and final phase of the European war may be fought out in the next 10 weeks. Preparations for largte-scale and sustained Allied jump-off the Rhine now 'are approaching an end, he said. The current jabbing operations at Aachen and elsewhere along the front are necessary, he added, to prepare a springboard. 2 Factors Delay How soon the starting gong will sound was said to depend upon two major factors favor able weather and establishment of a shorter route of supply.

Antwerp, only 100 miles from the Rhine-Ruhr- confluence, is the logical port of supply for the western front. A dispatch supreme headquarters in Paris said the battle to open up its docks now is moving into the final phase. Antwerp fell inlo Allied hands virtually undamaged Sept. 4 in the swift British-Canadian northward thrust in Belgium, but German guns still commanded both sides of the 50-mile stretch of the Schelde river estuary down to the sea. The Canadians have squeezed the enemy out of all but the last south bank box roughly 12 miles wide and 10 to 15 miles deep across from Flushing.

They have advanced to within 3,000 yards of Breskens, keystone of the Nazi defenses. Hard Fight Ahead A hard fight lies ahead, however, and the Germans can be expected to do everything in their power to block the channel. Until the Antwerp docks are available, Allied stores must frrnsnorted hundreds of miles from the main Normandy Capt. Ludwig Sertorius, German radio commentator, took a glopmy view of the situation. In a broadcast he admitted that "the Americans have succeeded in encircling Aachen on the 16th day of battle, and these troops no doubt will attempt a breakthrough to either Cologne or Dusseldorf." Allied sources said the Germans have been driven back into the northeast section of Aachen.

Schools Remain Closed Today, Reopen Friday Miami children will reiceve a one-day "vacation" from school as' a result of hurricane preparedness, accord-; ing to Dade County School Superintendent James T. Wilson, who announced that schools would remain closed Thursday but would re-open will require a day's time, the superintendent declared, to turn the school buildings from shelters back into their normal use. No classes will be held Thursday at the University of Miami, according to university officials. The meeting of junior and senior high school teachers planned for 4 p. m.

Thursday in the Central school building has been postponed. Mrs. Siegel Felled Before Mate Died Miami Beach police Thursday hoped to obtain enough, information from Mrs. Pauline Siegel, still in a "very critical" condition at St Francis hospital, to clear up the mystery of how she was injured early Wednesday, two hours before her husband. Harry Siegel, drove his green coupe into Biscayne bay and drowned.

Mrs. Siegel was suffering from a skull puncture described as a "hole above the left ear which appeared to have been made by a round, blunt instrument" But on being questioned Wednesday as to who had struck her, and with what sort of weapon, she refused to talk. Police, however, hoped that friends or her physician. Dr. E.

H. Adkins, Thursday would be able to persuade her to explain. Her condition, meanwhile, was so serious that she has not yet been told of her husband's death, police said. Detectives Jack Taylor and W. C.

Wills of the Miami Beach police department who, with Leon Shaffer of the district attorney's office, are investigating the Siegel case, attributed Mrs. Siegel's silence to the possibility that she believes she is protecting her husband. They repeated a theory Indicated Wednesday, that Siege! had struck his wife during an argument and believing her dead, then drove into the waters of Biscayne bay. In examination of the death car, which was lifted and brought to Miami police headquarters, police found an auto jack which may have been used by Siegel to strike his wife, they said. Neighbors told police that the Siegels had quarreled Tuesday, night and the argu-ment.

continued Wednesday morning. The Miami Beach detectives said Mrs. Siegel was found by her grandmother, Mrs. L. B.

Carol, of St. Petersburg. The two women had just returned from a two-week in that city and Mrs. Carol told police Siegel had had hu wife trailed by detectives there. Mrs.

Siegel, the former Mrs. Polly McCabe of Pittsburgh, was the attorney's second wife, it was reported. The coupie had been married a year ago in Washington. The drowned man reportedly had two children by a first wife. A prominent lawyer here, Siegel was admitted to the Florida bar in 1937.

He had served in World War and was active in veteran work. Siegel, 44, also was a member of B'Nai B'Rith, the Mason and the Elks. He and Mrs. Siegel made their home in a Palm Island residence at 201 Palm ave. Funeral services by Palmer Funeral home tentatively hava been arranged to take place at 3 p.

m. Sunday. o'Tamra WASHINGTON, Oct 19. Leyte which the Japanese adio reported Thursday was the site of Gen. Douglas- MacArthur's return- to the Philippines, is ideally suited for aerial operations against enemy holdings at Manila and.

Corregidor. Tiny Suluan mentioned by the Japanese as the point of actual landings, lies at the eastern entrance to the gulf and approximately 415 airline miles from Manila, to the northwest, jits maximum elevation of 125 feet would make it suitable" for construction of landing- strips from which bombers could operate either against the island of Luzon or Leyte island, 80 miles to the west. The Japanese have at least four airstrips on Leyte island. Leyte island lies 300 miles southeast of Manila at its closest point and extends 125 miles south. Its coasts are high with good natural harbors, with inland topography irregularly rising to an elevation of 1.400 feet.

It is 20 miles wide at Leyte gulf, expanding in hourglass fashion to the, north and south. The population is about 270,000. Samar, north-northeast of Suluan and separated from Leyte by the narrow San( Juan-ico channel, represents an unlikely landing site with its high, steep coastline and densely forested mountainous terrain. It is traversed from northwest to southeast by a mountainous chain ranging in elevation from 1,500 to 1,800 feet. The populations is about 225,000.

Richard Bennett Dying LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19. (INS) Richard Bennett, 72, noted stage star and father of Constance, Joan and Barbara Bennett, was at death's door at the Good Samaritan hospital Thursday. Suffering from a heart he has been under an oxygen tent intermittently since his condition took a critical turn for the worse Wednesday night. Ml Vvi U.

S. Fleet Score In Pacific Includes 85 Jap Ships Sunk Sarasota 6:30 fr.tAYBRS ll.p.mOc. 18 3 p. w. Oct.

J8 6 a. m. Oct. 18 SLZ of WNS VK3 TV NSsj. p.

m. Oct. 17 PEARL HARBOR, Oct 19. (JP) The American third fleet has been so busy against the Japanese, operating much of the time under radio silence, that Adm. William F.

Halsey, jr, hasn't had the opportunity to list the complete enemy losses in ships and planes. This i9 the incomplete backward glance. Oct 9, Third fleet carrier planes raked the Ryukyus. Oct 10, they opened attacks on the Philippines. Oct 11, 12 and 13, they blasted Formosa.

1 Then for the next two days the task force fought off Japanese planes. The incomplete report of Barometer Wind Hour Reading Velocity 12 noon 29.71 46 m.p.h. 1 p.m. 29.68 48 m.p.h. 2 p.m.

29.62 50 m.p.h. 3 p.m. 29.60 45 m.p.h. 4 p.m. 29.59 50 m.p.h.

5 p.m. 29.54 50 m.p.h. 6 p.m. 29.54 54 m.p.h. 7 p.m.

29.55 56 m.p.h. 8 p.m. 29.54 54 m.p.h. 9 p.m. 29.54 54 m.p.h.

10 p.m. 29.57 49 m.p.h. 11 p.m. 29.56 47 m.p.h. 12 Mid.

29.55 60 m.p.h. 1 a.m. 29.52 55 2 a.m. 29.60 50 m.p.h. 3 a.m.

29.59 52 m.p.h. 4 a.m. 29.55 50 m.p.h. 5 a.m. 29.55 45 m.p.h.

6 a.m. 29.55 40 m.p.h. 7 a.m. 29.57 26 m.p.h. 8 a.m.

29.62 22 m.pi 9 a.m. 29.65 17 mfif. i 8 p.m. Oct.JS Path of the hurricane is indicated by the dotted line, pointing toward Jacksonville from point of entry on the west coast. I.