Daily News from New York, New York • 3

1 1 SUNDAY 23, 1975 .....3 Ellenville, N.Y., Feb. 22 (AP) A cab driver who escaped from a policeman, stole two cars and robbed a hitchhiker, near this Catskill Mountain town, was shot to death today by a quick-witted man he had meant to hold hostage. 1 Police said that Curry, emptied his six-shot pistol into Clinton (Butch) Nixon, the cab driver, as Nixor. was. taking a beer from a refrigerator in Curry's home.

CATSKIIL li eoresi Hurley? 17 PRESERVE VJ. Nopqnoch f-j Poughkeepsie I Newburgh NEW 1 4s A YORK "It's the truth," Ellenville As gunpoint, police said. After letting Peterson go, Nixon stole another car when the first vehicle became disabled. Demands Victim's Car About 2:45 a.m., Nixon forced, his way into Curry's home, about five miles from Ellenville, and demanded that Curry give him his car. As Nixon entered the home he shoved pistol which Curry had carried in his belt, fell to the floor, but apparently Nixon did not notice it.

Nixon ordered Curry's wife to get the car out of the garage and told Curry, "You're going with me." Nixon then walked to the refrigerator for a beer. Police said that Curry bent down as if to tie his shoelaces, grabbed his gun and fired six shots into Nixon. Police found and arrested Nixon in a lumber yard and took him to an Ellenville hospital. About 1:40 a.m. today, the 6-foot, 190-pound Nixon, his handcuffs removed by officer James Olonko, "jumped the officer, struck him in the face and took his gun," Chief Sheeley said.

Olonko, who was forced to handcuff himself as Nixon held the gun on two nurses, "got some bruises on his body as well as his pride," a policema said. Nixon- then fled on foot about a mile to Napanoch, where he stole a car, picked up a hitchhiker, Donald Peterson, 31, pf Kingston, and robbed him at sistant Police Chief George Sheeley said of the events. "It's a real crazy thing. I've been a policeman for 15 years and I've never sean anything like this." Arrested and Freed in Bail City police said it all began last week when Nixon, 29, went to the home of James D. Allen, convinced that one of.

Allen's sons owed him money. Nixon, a self-employed cab driver, fired a shotgun outside Allen's home and was charged with reckless endangerment. He was released in bail Thursday from the Ulster County jail. Police said that Nixon went to Allen's apartment last night and was hit by a shotgun blast fired through the door. He was wounded slightly in the leg.

Minutes later, Nixon's mother-, Minnie, in her late 50s, followed him to Allen's apartment and was wounded in the hip by a shot. Allen, 62, later charged with first-degree assault, said he "didn't know she was out there," police said. News map by staff artist After escaping police in El' lenville, Nixon fled oh foot to nearby Napanoch and stole car. The Causes of Spring Fever Carey to. Ps Meed I Kscaa Agjeiracy By THOMAS POSTER Gov.

Carey has told legislative lead ers that he cannot pull the State Urban Development Corp. from its financial morass without their support for new taxes totaling $600 million, it learned yesterday. Daylight Saving Is Here If you haven't done so already, set your clock AHEAD one hour so you'll be on time today. Daylight Saving Time arrived at 2 a.m., ahead of the robins, crocuses and other sure signs of spring. Tradition- ally, daylight time starts in April and continues until the last Sunday in October.

But this schedule was changed last year when daylight time became effective the year round due to the energy crisis. Then thousands of parents pro- tested that their kids had to go to school in the dark, so the measure was repealed last October for a four-month period, which ended today. i Carey also named two more Moreland commissioners to in- vestigate why the development I corporation, the nation's largest I builder, had reached a low point in credibility with the banks, businessmen, investors and the Legislature. I Carey named Mendes man, 63, senior vice president and general counsel of the New I tt MimiWHBiiiiniitiiiiiiimiiiiuimmuinnniiiniiimiiii gether to meet the payments York Life Insurance and John G. Heimann, 45, to serve on the investigating panel.

Advisory-Unit Member Heimann, senior vice president of the investment firm of E.M. Warburg, Pincus and was a member of the special advisory group Carey had put to work on the development corporation problem. That group proposed a fast cash bail-out of the corporation with $178 million of state funds, a proposal that the governor sent to the Legislature. -The proposal has not moved since. Appointment of a Moreland Commission is a maneuver that governors have used to probe wrongdoing in government.

Headed by Orville Schell, senior managing partner of a Wall Street law firm, the panel will probe all operations of the corporation. All three Moreland are experts in finance, and their appointments are viewed as an attempt by the Carey administration to make friends with financial forces close to the Rockefeller-Wilson administrations. Carey met with aides again at his Manhattan office, pushing for a deal to get public and private money to- News photo by Harry Hamburg A suliry-looking Myra Stevens, 18, of Princeton, N.J., chews on a blade of grass near Central Park lake as she enjoys early spring that Mother Nature served city yesterday. Mercury climbed Ho balmy 58 degrees at 3:10 p.m. but fell short of record 62 in 1925.

JBfanlrer's JWjr Washed Ashore in Jersey due on the huge loans of the housing and development agency. $200 Million Needed Unless the state comes lip with cash estimated at $200 million, which must be appropriated by the Legislature in the present fiscal year, the corporation might default on its bonds. If the Legislature buys Carey's plan, another $400 million would be required later. The deadline for payments of $130 million in loans is Tuesday, but some Republican legislative leaders believe Carey's new urban development chief, Rich-a a Ravitch, will win a refinancing of the loans. Warns of Collapse Carey, in private talks with Republicans, said that unless he got their "support for state loans and special appropriations the agency could collapse.

To avoid such a collapse, the Republicans quoted Carey as saying, he would have to win the taxing authority that he seeks in his' new budget, including a dime-a-gallon gasoline tax hike and dozens of new nuisance taxes. So far, Republican Assembly Minority Leader Perry Duryea (Montauk) has ignored Carey's appeals for bipartisan support for the corporation. Senate Majority Leader Warren Anderson (R-Binghamton) has been calling for a tax cut rather than heavy expenditures. Carey plajis to continue- telephone talks on the corporation today. The Republicans expect to present Carey's views at Republican legislative confer-endes tomottoW ajternoon" irf Albany.

1 By ROBERT KAPPSTATTER The body of Wall Street bank officer John DeMars, missing since he left work Dec. 20, was found yesterday, washed ashore against the banks of the Passaic. River a few miles from his Nutley, N.J.. home. Police said there were no signs of violence on the body.

was going home from his job, assistant loan officer at the Canal St. branch of the Chemical Bank of New York, where he had been employed for five years. His mother, Alice, and his wife, Elaine, 26, said he had called home that Friday morning and said he would have lunch with two old friends and leave work early. The friends said that De-Mars told them he had a bowling date that night. His secretary told police that he had left the office that afternoon saying: "I'm going home to play with the kids." DeMars had two.

sonst 'John 2: -and An wearing his wedding band and wrist watch, which was still ticking, a detective said. Preliminary identification was made from papers found in his wallet, police said. The wallet also contained $19 in cash. A member of the family made positive identification of the body, police said. The Hudson County medical examiner will perform an autopsy today to determine the cause of death.

DeMars, a strapping 6-foot-3, 210-pound ex-Army officer who served in Vietnam, was last seen shortly before 8 p.m. on Dee. 20, walking toward the World Trade Center PATH station. i 1 The former intelligence) officer The fully clothed body was discovered by a father and son who had been target-shooting with a bow and arrow. One of their arrows flew over the target and landed near the body at the foot of the river embankment near Kearny.

Nutley detectives and the New York Police Department's missing persons squad had conducted a widespread search covering hospitals, arrest reports and morgues in hopes of finding the 30-year-oldmodel husband and father who had -maintained a perfect work record. DeMars was dressed in a suit, tie, overcoat and shoesvHe was John DeMars 1 1 Missing smee 20 drew, 1. i 1.