Belvidere Daily Republican from Belvidere, Illinois • Page 1

DAI FORTY-SIXTH YEAR SIX PAGES NOON EDITION BELV1DERE. ILLINOIS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1042 PRICE: THREE CENTS BE1LV LY ID) "Sw ilfuOOuS I Report Hitler And II Duce At Odds With Der Fuehrer Urges Special Census To Get Man Power Data Floods Strike In East; Death Toll Now At 15 NAZIS SEEItTO PUSIIVICIIYIN WAR ON ALLIES NO HI! 0OT0U TIED OF BIG BATTLE Irate At Italian Bum ilina REPUBLICAN 4, tV Omar N. ISTANTuCOct. 15-( Delayed) tiign diplomatic quarters re- ceived reports today indicating that Adolf Hitler intended to seize effective control or actual com mand of the.entire Mediterranean, North African and Balkan areas; Benito Mussolini during the winter. They said Ilitlor apparently was all fronts and the steady decline of Italy's morale, and that he had determined to put an end to constant wT.arfgling with Mussolini over the deflated Duce's jcalourly nursed prerogatives.

The reports said also that the reason a scheduled conference between Hitler and Mussolini was not held lat month was that Mussolini had heard of Hitler's plans to extend his domination, and that Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and foreign minister, also canceled a t. Berlin. To Scli Trieste, Flume According diplomatic information, Hitler intends to take as his first step one most painful to Italy, seizure of control of Trieste and Fiume on the Adriatic and the corridor leading to them from Austria through Italy. Informants suggested that-Hitler would establish a naval headquarters at Trieste and, with a German naval headquarters al ready existing In" Bulgaria, "con trol naval operations1 in the Ae-l gean, Adriatic, and Black seas and! Errol Flynn Out On Bond; Faces Girl's Charges; HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 17 Errol Flynn returned to the heroics of the sound stages today under $1,000 bail, charged with criminal assault upon Betty Hansen, 17-year-old, movie-struck waitress, I who quit her job for the chance to meet mm.

She-accused him of taking her upstairs after a dinner party in the Bel Air mansion of wealthy sisortsm'an Fred McEvoy and 1 there indulging in what District I Attorney John F. Dockweiler i called statutory rape. Three 'other studio workers, held-with 1 I. I 1 1 riynn tor urraiunineiii on ine i same charges next Friday, admitted illicit relations with her. The curly-headed Flynn, performing on the Warner sound stages as a heroic Norwegian I fighting the Nazis, said Miss Han.

sen's story left him dumbfounded. "I hardly knew her," he said. "We exchanged only a few words when we were introduced at dinner. I was with Mr. McEvoy all evening and I left before any of the other guests." Studio Barks Him The Warner brothers indicated by continuing production of Flynn's picture that they would 1 stand behind him until his trial.

I Hollywood wondered whether the Hope To Use Dakar As Excuse For Bringing France In LONDON, Oct. 17-Gcrmany has started to put pressure on the Vichy French government to force it into the war on the side if the Allies attack French Africa, it was indicated today. A hysterical series of German broadcasts last nght, reporting that, "fighting activity over "Dakar" had been "announced officially" by Vichy, simmered dawn to the fact, already announced, that a single French plane had been shot down over West Africa last Sunday in an air battle, while on reconnaissance south of Dakar and possibly over British Sierra Leone, 500 miles down the coast. The Rome radio repotted Thursday that Freetown, Sierra Leone, had an air raid alarm Sunday nignu Germany's reason for faking the "fighting activity" was soon apparent. Berlin began broadcasting dispatches of which one datelined Paris was typical.

See "Fatal Question" It said that the alleged danger of an attack on Dakar had been discussed in Vichy and Paris and "political circles" in both cities, lieved that if an attack were made "the rench people would be faced by a fatal question, not less weighty than the most important decisions of recent years." "It is well-known in Pans and Vichy," the dispatch said, "that the French people would rise' in unanimous Indignation and a de- termined will to resist if an Anglo-' American as'ault shou'd be made on the last largerencft colonial possession Anglo-American A leader in Illinois Republican political circles for 20 years, Omer N. Custer, above, died today after a three-month illness. Hc served as state treasurer lor two terms, beginning in 1924 and was for years closely allied with western Illinois Republican party supervise all convoy operations tolssiem rigni ana IS ine North Africa. I most effective agency to handle Secondly, it was asserted, Field Pwer." Bilbo said-Marshal Erwin Rnmmet mrtA Austin contended that man pow- strategy. public.also would withhold judg-' recent visit to Germany partly to is an sral part of selective mcnt.

or whether his career as" insist that we have unquestioned lstrvice and should be handled by one of the movies' highest paid control over all Italian generals in i'oca' ards actors already had reached an North Africa henceforth, and the1 blU introduced by Son. Ro-abrupt end, (probability was that he would get bert A- Taft- comes closest lto Peuuer'a Idea of the nroner sn- ASl nNGTON, Oct 17 Sen. Claude Pepper, openingj drive to keep man power machin- ery out of the hands of "army and 'selective service today called for a nation-wide census to learn "what and where our man power supplies are." "The p.esent confusion springs in large part from the lack of I adequate information," he the enormous migra-; tion of workers that has occurred in the past two years. It makes the 1910 census almost out of' date." Pepper, chairman of an educa- tion and labor subcommittee in- vestigaling the current labor, shortage, opposed pending legislation which would place man power controls under the selective serv- ice system. He contended the' problem should be handled by a "central civilian agency" which would consider national needs and.

formulate over-all policy. Hearings Wednesday His statement followed announcement by Chairman Robert R. Reynolds, N. of the mil-: Itary affairs committee, that he would start hearings Wednesday on the four man, power bills al-leady introduced. Authors of the two bills Sens.

and Warren R. Austin, Vt challenged Pepper's contention that the man power-problem is beyond the scope the local draft boards. I think the selective service 1 11 would create a new fed- eral a5ency which wouVI provide 'a pool ot workers on a voluntary basis to be sent to areas having a labor shortage. Newspaper Gives Its Press, 105 Years Old BLOOMINGTON, 111., Oct. 17 A new chapter had been added today to that of a 105-year-old Washington hand press.

It will serve as material to bomb the Axis. Weighing 1,360 pounds, it was donated as scrap by the Bloomington Daily Pantagraph yesterday. Souvenirs of the press included ''last" eopies run off in imposing ceremonies just before it was taken to a junkyard to be wrecked. A guest- at the ceremony was Naval Lieut. Don Will-man, who has participated in three Pacific naval actions, who was here visiting his parents.

BLAST INJURES 45 PITTSBURGH, Oct. 17-An explosion WTecked the open hearth department of the" Duquesne works of Continental Roll Steel Foundry Co. at Coraopolis, early today injuring approximately 45 workers. Five men were treated at Se-wickley Valley hospital while about 40 others were given aid at the scene of the blast. Of those treated at the hospital all were said to have suffered only minor injuries.

Witnesses said the explosion was caused by the spilling of molten metal into a pool of water. i I Death Takes Omer Custer, -Former State Treasurer iuiu iusi lu tut; i "iiai jic naiiicu. grand jurymen, who wouldn't bedIplomatiCqu lieve her, and then to the district thirdly, Hitler would soon explode attorney, who would, the fiction that the Pmat nart nf tale of a Lincoln, high I school Ico to girl who was willing to any lengths to become a movie actress. She said she gladly had sexual relations with the men she accused, because she believed they might help her become a picture siar. i ne prosecutor explained that under California law any such relations with a 17-year-old girU even with her consent, is statutory rape.

The blonde Miss Hanson, red. eyed from weeping and looking i younger, than her 17 years, said waitress in a she got a job as LEADER DIES MS. 1 1 lillfifmafMi if ''I ft CaUr. 137 Canadians And Americans U-Boat Victims SYDNEY, Oct. 17 The death toll of the Caribou, a small passenger steamer sunk Wednesday in Cabot strait by a German submarine, was set at 137 Canadians and Americans today.

Rescue vessels have landed 102 survivors here. The missing to-taled 137 members; of the Canadian and American armed forces, civilian men, women and babies and it was feared that all "had perished. Missing Americans Missing United States servicemen included J. M. Burns, E.

T. Bethea, E. J. Schultz, J. G.

Aber-natchy, F. Hand, R. M. Penfield and J. Waldman.

Their ranks and addresses were not immediately announced. Missing American civilians included: William II. Gerth, 42, Camden, N. James Fly nn, 32, New Haven, Louis Gagne, Woonsocket, R. John Shep- pard, 3.J, Auburn, N.

YH and Charles Berry, 43, Mt. Vernon, N. Y. The other missing were 44 Canadian civilians including four mothers and their children, 31 members of the crew, 18 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force-, 20 members of the Royal Canadian Navy, including one woman nurse, and 11 Canadian army officers and men. Dispatches from St.

Johns, said 30 bodies had been recovered. Navy Minister Angus MacDon-old, announcing the sinking, the most tragic in Canadian waters (Continued on Page 2) Kalinin Optimistic At Course Of War MOSCOW, Oct 17 President Michael I. Kalinin reviewing 15 months of the war, said today that he considered the situatkm more favorable now than last year de- spite Russia's enormous territorial losses. (The 15th month of the Russo-German war ended September 22.) The Red army is battling more firmly and more skillfully, as demonstrated at Stalingrad and Moz-dok," he said. cportcdlhatflussian.

jndus- try, which the Germans boasted they had captured, was expanding daily and Increasing production so that the army could not complain of lack of arms as in the case of first World war. WASHINGTON. Oct. 17 Work gangs and 'rescue crews fought surging Ikwd waters 3 states today as the Potomac river threatened to reach its highest point in history and inundate thousands of acres of lowlands in the capita and adjoining suburbs. The reported death toll from a dozen floods streams in Maryland, Virginia, and "West Virginia rose to at least 13 and property damage was in the millions.

At many points, including Washing-' ton, the flood was expected to be worse than the 1936 disaster which wrought an estimated damage of 59.164.000.' The crest of the Potomac flood was expected to reach here by noon. The weather bureau predicted the gauge would read 17.5 feet, 10.5 feet above flood stage and six inches alve the record-breaking high point of the 1936 flood In the three-state area, where thousands, were driven from their homes, Fredericksburg and Falmouth in northern Virginia were the hardest hit. The rampaging Shenandoah and Rappahannock Hvers covered towns, highways, communications, and power facilities in the area. Fourteen persons were believed dead in Fredericksburg, and the Red Cross rescue station there said it had received "reliable re ports" that six persons drowned in a passenger car which slid into a highway, washout and that three! men a truck apparently drowned in a flooded underpass. President Roosevelt toured the flood section of Washington yes terday and ordered officials to spare neither effort nor money "to protect the city." Civilian defense workers were placed under partial mobilization and Uin erected around sewage pumping stations and acrass low points.

The national airport was not expected to be Hooded but highway transportation to the field was partially blocked Fredericksburg was temporarily without communications or (Continued on Page 2) Army Dedicates New Air School LAWRENCEVILLE, 111., Oct 17 George field thearmy's new twin-engine training school, was dedicated yesterday less than four months after its construction be-gan. Maj. Gen. Ralph H. Royce, commanding general of the southeast air corps training center, was the principal speaker.

Gen. Royce, until two months ago on active duty in Australia here he was commanding officer of the northeast air area, inspected the field accompanied by his chief of staff, Brig. Gen. W. W.

Welsh. The program, introduced by CoL George W. Mundy. commanding officer of the field, included an aerial review, stunt flying and music, by Lawrenceville and Bridgeport, and Vincennes, high school bands. George field is the first field of the southeast air forces training center, which includes 15 states, to be built north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Construction was begun July 1. Cadets already are training" at the field. Artillery Active On Alamein Front CAIRO, Oct. 17-Patrol and artillery activity by both British and Axis troops was reported along the Alamein front today by a communique of the Middle Eastern command. Medium bombers attacked the Axis base of Tohruk Thursday night and fighter bombers attacked the Daba airdrome in the Axis battle area yesterday.

the communique said, and heavy bombers made a daylight attack on shipping at Benghazi, the chief Axis base in Libya. PUSHES COMPLAINT CHICAGO, Oct. 17 --Attorney General George F. Barrett renewed his demand today that President A. C.

Willard of the University of Illinois make public a survey of the administrative department of the university which was completed by a Chicago firm of. business analysts. Willard to. pres. ent the report at the university board of trustees meeting today, said he" had "reliable information" that Willard intended to suppress the survey and release only comments upon it.

Activities Of American Navy Kept Secret As Battle Rages WASI nNGTON. Oct. 17 Th? critical, battle for the strategic area around Guadalcanal island in the southern Solomons raged on today with the Japanese throwing great land sa and air forces into their determined campaign to drive out American marines and soldiers. The "navy department had been silent since yesterday and there was no.wordon how the fighting was going in what was evidently me greatest oatue to date in the southern Pacific. To date, navy department communiques have re vealed several landings of Japan ese "troops on Guadalcanal, the latest, reported yesterday, along with artillery, and the presence of a huge enemv fleet, inrhidinir But the communiques have had very little to say about the activities of American ships.

The only American naval vessels acknowledged by the department to be participating in the battle were the little PT torpedo boats which took -such a conspicuous part in the defense of the Philippines. Nothing at all 'has been said of the marines, recently reinforced with army units. Very little has been reported of the activity of American war planes operating from the air base on Guadalcanal which fie Japanese built before they were busted in August. But it was pointed out that the navy would hardly report on these matters during the progress of a continuing battle lest Vt pm. vide'lhe enemy with information it couldn't get otherwise.

There was reason to believe that the Americans retained, control of the air from Australian and New Hebrides bases if not from Guadalcanal and aircraft carriers and without control of the air, the enemy's sources of information as to the dispositions of American forces would be faulty. The great scope of the battle was again emphasized by today's communique from Gen. MacAr- thurs headquarters revealing that long-range American bombers, evi dently supporting the American rorces in the southern Solomons; had blasted a Japanese transport in the northern Salomons. Yester-diy, he rpportedthatAmerican planes had heavily damaged a Japanese light cruiser. It was recalled.

that in the battle of the Coral sea, his bombers gave strong support to American naval forc- More revelatory information came in a dispatch filed by United tTess war Unrespondent William Tyree from an advanced United Mates air base in the south Pacific" on Oct. 7, the current battle started He revealed that more marines had been landed on Guadalcanal, which together with Secretry of War Henry L. Stim-n's announcement that regular army units had been landed, indicated the extent to which the Americans had been prepared for the Japanese assault. German Plane Down On Southeast Coast LONDON, Oct. 17 A sWJ German raiding plane was shot Jown over the southeast coast today.

r-, Three persons were known killed and several were wounded iuring the night in a raid on an ast coast town, and rescuers were digging for others buried in debris. One raider was shot down in the sea Three other towns were raided lightly. Radio Berlin, describing the attack on the east coast town, called it an important one and said all planes returned. 9 Killed As Plane Strikes Mountain ALAMOqORDO, N. Oct.

17 Officials at the air base here said today that all nine members or tne crew or an army four-motored bomber had been killed last night when their ship crashed into a mountain near Magdalena, N. LjarnesoXjhe were not released, pending notification of their next of kin. Air base officers said an ambulance nad salvage crew had fccn dispatched to the of the sc undep35jrc. to besenLio Galesburg, 111., Oct. 17 Omer N.

Custer, 68, publisher of the Galesburg Register-Mail and a leading Illinois Republican for more than '20 years, died today after three months' illness. 5 Custer had been associated with the, Register-Mail and its forerunner, the Galerburg Republican Register, since 1893. He became publisher of the Register-Mail in 1927, when he purchased the Galesburg Evening Mail and consolidated it with the Republican Register. For several years Custer held the presidency of the first Gales-burg-Nationali Bank andJTrusl company, the Intra-State Telephone company and a paving brick firm. He was elected state treasurer on the Republican ticket in 1924 and re-elected in 1928.

The late Louis L. Emmerson named him chairman of the state tax commission in 1930. Ran For Governor Custer sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1932, but was defeated by the late Gov. Len Small. Custer was closely identified with the campaigns of former Gov.

Frank O. Lowden for the Republican presidential propaganda has been very busy in recent days pouring oil into the flames of French discussion. "Efforts were made particularly in certain Vichv circles where an ear is still being turned towards. Britain and the De Gaullists to create weighty pressure to influence not only the opinion but also the determination of, French people eu "On an ever larger scale, conviction is spreading that in case an attack is made' on Africa, France would stand or fall with Europeans (the Axis) and that therefore any dissidenco would be tantamount to treason against the 7 French-ernpife in one of its most decisive hours." Radio Vichy, heard here by the Exchange Telegraph, today that Adm. Moreaili new commander of the Vichy fourth naval zone, had arrived inNorthAfrica last night.

Gets Only 20,000 Worker This apparent pressure was added to that already exerted on Vichy chief of government Pierre Laval to send 150,000. skilled French workers to slave labor in German war factories. Reports from the frontier said that so far Laval had been able to get a total of only 22,000 men. Vichy announced in a communique last night that antilabor draft strikes had broken out in the important Lyons railroad re-pair and terminal shops Thursday but said they had been settled Friday "without grave incidents." Sit-down strikes or walkouts affecting more than 10.000 men had "-been reported in Lyons, Grenoble, Chambery, Annecy, Longwy, Toulouse, and Marseilles because Vichy lists of men drafted for German slavers. nomina-'23.

Yugoslavia is an Italian sphere and 'the resident German commander. Gen. Von Gleist Horsenau, would assume full control. Forced Kvaternlk Out This decision, informants said, and Hitler's insistence that more Croat troops be sent to the Russian front, caused tne recent resignation of "Marshal" Saldo Kvat-ernik, the Croat puppet regime commander In chief. Effective today, by.

German orders, boys and men between 17 and 50 years of German origin 'Croatia are to be mobilized, and Russia to fight. Informants said Hitler, charging Italy with having bungled the fight against the patriots of Gen. Draja Mikljajlovitch In Yugoslavia, had determined to direct operations in Bosnia, Dalmatia, Albania, and Greek Macedonia, Believing the Allies might land troops on the Dalmatian-Albania coast, Hitler has ordered Mussolini to detail Italian troops as laborers to build defenses, it was said. Railroad Travel Rationing Hinted CHICAGO, Oct. 17 Director Joseph B.

Eastman of the office of defense transportation fears the nation may have to attempt the "impossible" and ration passenger transportation if the public does not voluntarily reduce nonessential travel. I Eastman, addressing directors of the General Federation of Women's clubs, said that approximately 4,000,000 passengers were carried annually over American railroads and that It would be "virtually impossible" to classify all potential travelers but, that rationing may become necessary if voluntary curtailment of travel fails. "We'll have to try the impossible and cut out all unessential traveling," he said, citing Gallup poll figures showing that 40 per cent of traveling is for pleasure. Legion To Back Draft Of Youths CHICAGO, Oct. 17 American Legion officials of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan today pledged the assistance of their organizations in a drive to recruit 18 and 19-year-old youths Jor the army from the sixth service com mand area hoped there she might meet stu.

dio men. Almost at once she met Arntand Knapp, studio messenger; Morrie Black, clerk, and Joseph Gcraldi, song writer. Quit Job To Mwt Flynn "I had always 'admired Mr. Flynn on the screen," she said. "Knapp said if I'd go to the swimming party at Mr.

McEvoy's, I could meet. Mr. Flynn. I tried to get the afternoon off. I couldn't So I quit; I had to meet Mr.

Flynn." Knapp took her last September 27 to the party, where she had dinner with him, Flynn, McEvoy, and several others including Buster Wiles, a movie stunt man; Agnes (Chichi) Toupes, dancer; and Lynn Boyer, singer. allowed! Vandals Termed Saboteurs SPRINGFIELD, Oct. -16 Halloween pranksters were under notice today that destroying properties irreplaceable because of the war is 'sabotage," and that if caught in acts of destruction, the city would prosecute and impose stiff penalties on them. Mayor J. W.

Kapp and Police Chief Frank J. Healy, reviewing acts of juvenile vandalism now on the increase in the name of Halloween, yesterday warned that the city's 9:30 p. m. curfew ordinance would be "strictly enforced" here- "The increase in Halloween de-i structiveness at a time when every one is seeking to conserve has made it necessary to bring to the attention of schools and parents the idea of conserving instead of destroying," said Mayor Kapp. GIRL RECOVERING TAYLORVILLE, Oct.

17 Aided by a second blood transfusion, Betty Jean Knazavich, 14-year-'old daughter of a miner, suffering the rare staphylococcus infection, was reported at St. Vincent's hospital today as "getting better." Betty Jean was given a direct blood transfusion yesterday, the second in two days. Red Army Retreats Again At Stalingrad But Nazis Pay Heavily With Lives tion, and had long been rated an influential figure in downstate Illinois party circles. He served frequently as a delegate to both state and national party conventions. Custer made generous contributions to charitable and civic insti- (Continued on Page 2) there are mountains of enemy dead" "In the Stalingrad area, Soviet troops repulsed repeated enemy attacks," the noon communique Said" rr.

The new retreat was not in the workers' settlement of an in- dustrial area from which the Rus sians withdrew yesterday, after 25 brutal attacks: On the Sector that formerly encompassed the settlement, the Russians repulsed attempts to flank them north and south, dispatches said and compelled the badly mauled Germans to regroup. On other sectors, however, the enernyslirjasteieyn and the situation steadily growing more acute. The rnost violent battles raged along the new Soviet position, where the defenders were fighting with their backs to the Volga. Donates Hair To War Effort KINCAID, Oct. 17 Mrs.

John Wyatt is one American woman who certainly can't be accused of complacency in the war effort. A "short time ago, the government asked for feminine hair blond, undyed and at least 22 inches long. It was to be used in tiny, one-tube radio sets which are attached to a free balloon. The whole works was then to be sent up twelve miles to gather weather information. Mrs.

Wyatt responded to the appeal with a sample of her hair. Today her offer was accepted. In fact, the government asked her to send four and one-half ounces, more. -MEMORlESt-OF-CAPITAI CHESTER, 111., Oct. 17 A newly constructed overlook and shelter only memorial of the first Illinois capital-will be de.

dicated tomorrow at Fort Kas-kaskia state park near Chester. 'MOSCOW, Oct. 17 The Red army made its fourth retreat within 48 hours in northwest Stalingrad today, but the Germans were paying at the rate of almost two lives a minute. Dispatches from the front em- phasized that Russian withdraw-1 als were orderly and compara tively short, and that at no point had the Germans attained their objective a break through to the Volga river. Six thousand Germans were killed on one narrow area in 60 hours a rate of almost two a minute.

At least 151 tanks have nficially reported knocked out, including 27 listed in the noon communique. "Enemy tanks are burning in the streets, in. the fields and before our lines," the government organ Izvestia said. "Here and frfaj Hon H7 Aiiraqri rnm-lheen manding the sixth service command, received pledges of support from Commander Francis E. Phe-lan of Illinois, Commander Robert R.

Wright of Michigan and Adju- tant J. H. Stordock of Wisconsin, i.