The Courier News from Blytheville, Arkansas • Page 1

BLYTHEVILLE COURIER NEWS THE DOMINANT NEWSPAPER OF NORTHEAST ARKANSAS AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI VOL. 18 Blytheville Courier Blytheville Daily Newi Mississippi Valley Leader Blytheville Herald BLTHEVILLE, ARKANSAS, SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1954 Published Dally Except Sunday SINGLE COPY FIVE CENT! Brownell Asks Tighter Laws Need Stronger Measures To Dig Out Reds, He Says WASHINGTON (AP) Atty. Gen. Brownell says the FBI, the Justice Department and the courts are ever vigilant but the nation needs more stringent laws to dig the Communists out of hiding. Brownell did not mention by name Sen.

McCarthy (B-Wis), whose Senate Investigations sub- Velde Faces Opposition Of Clergy Congressman From Illinois Seeks GOP Vote PEORIA, m. (AP) Chairman Harold H. Velde of the House Un-American Activities Committee is bidding for another term in Congress with tacit but unmistakable disapproval from within the Protestant clergy. By no means are all the ministers in Velde's district against him. But some of them.

are. and say so privately. They disapprove of the way the Velde Committee has brought individual clergymen into the scope of its investigations. The Republican congressman from Pekin also is up against a seasoned popular state representative, Robert H. Allison, when lilli- noise runs off the nation's first primary next Tuesday.

A veteran of 30 years in state and local politics sized up the contest this way: Toughest Fight "Velde is in the toughest fight of his life. I think he'll win." That opinion is shared rather widely by many other political leaders in Velde's district and by a lot of ordinary citizens. But not by Allison. "I'm going to win and you can count on it," he said. That was in on-the-fly interview in the midst of a fast round of speeches and appearances that kept the 60-year-old, one-armed veteran of 10 terms in the state legislature on the go all day Ion gand into the night.

Velde is one of three House committee chairmen from Illinois with All are Republicans, of course, serious competition in the primary. As in the case of Velde, the odds hation of Chairman Lleo E. Allen at this point seem to favor renomi- of the Rules Committee and Chairman Robert B. Chiperfield of the Foreign Affairs Committee. And in the Velde congressional district, a majority of political experts picks Joseph T.

Meek to top a nine-man field in the Republican Senatorial primary. The victor will tackle Democratic Senator Paul H. Douglas in November's general election. Opposition of Clergy Allison is hammering Velde on all sorts of issues but soft-pedalling the way he runs the Un-American Activities Committee. It is strictly on committe operations that Velde has opposition from among the clergymen.

It goes back to the time Velde first said he thought the committee should search out any subversives, even in the clergy, and subsequently questicned several clergymen. Velde's own pastor, the Rev. Joseph Albrecht of the First Methodist Church at Pekin, still stands by a statement he made at the time. that it was a "tragic thing to have Representative Velde even suggest such activity for his committee." The statement is being distributed by an organization backing Allison. Board of Will Meet Monday Board members of Blytheville will meet Monday in the Chamber of Commerce offices at 4 p.m.

Announcement of the meeting came today from president, Gilbert Smythe. Weather ARKANSAS Chance of locally severe thunderstorms north portion this Otherwise mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thundershowers this afternoon and tor.ight and in south portion Sunday. cloudy northwest, showers and thunderstorms east and south this afternoon and in southeast tonight with locally thunderstorms south and east-central this after- committee had done much of Red probing. But the attorney general left the strong impression, in a nationally televised speech last night, that he believes the law enforcement agencies of the executive branch and the courts are capable of dealing with the Red menace at home. And he said the operation of a law already on the books might, in effect, result in outlawing the Communist party through its own acts.

BrownelFs report to the nation. undertaken at the direction of President Eisenhower, brought expressions of approval for his objectives from both Republicans Democrats in Congress. But there were no clear indications the attorney general's requests for new legislation would generate action in the form he suggested or, in some cases, any action at all. Aimed at McCarthy His speech was regarded in some quarters as an effort to take the play away from McCarthy's controversial Communist in government hunt Brownell said: "The FBI, the Department of Justice and the courts are your agents in dealing with this Communist conspiracy. All are vigilant in their readiness to meet any move or emergency which the Communist party in America might precipitate." He said new laws are needed, however, "to destroy by legal, orderly processes the Communist party in this country." The attorney general said the country needs laws "to eliminate Communist control of any indus- trial organization or labor union in vital sections of our national economy." He proposed the imposition of the death penalty for peacetime, as well wartime espionage.

In his program to meet the Communist "threat to our nation's safety," he outlined also these proposals: Permission for an employer to 1 dismiss from defense plants during I a national emergency any person whose record shows he is likely to engage in sabotage or espionage. Measures to prevent witnesses from pleading self-incrimination as i an excuse for refusing- to testify. There have been proposals for a law that would permit the govern! ment to grant immunity from pros- i ecution to witnesses, who could then be ordered to answer ques- tions. Though their testimony could not then be used against themselves, it might help catch "higher- ups." Legislation 'on the use of wiretapped evidence. Taking away the citizenship of any person found guilty of advocating violent overthrow of the government.

Ferguson Approves Eliminating the statute of prevents prosecution for crimes after a number of espionage cases. A bill to permit use of information obtained by wiretapping as evidence in federal courts has been approved by the House. However, instead of providing for the wire tapping operations to be performed on the authority of the attorney general, the provision favored by Brownell, it would require a federal court order. Chairman Ferguson (R-Mich) of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, author of a bill to declare that Communists who retain their party affiliation would sacrifice- U. S.

citizenship, approved Brownell's suggestions. Ferguson, who introduced his measure yesterday with Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me) as cosponsor, said it would "mean the end of the Communist party" without outlawing that organization as such. Brownell in his did not comment on this bill, but outlined another way in which he said the Communist party in effect might be outlawed: Under the Internal Security Act of 1950 the Subversive Activities Control Board held that the Communist party of the United States is under the control of a foreign power and pledged to overthrow of the U. S.

government by force. The finding is now on appeal. "If this law is upheld by the courts," Brownell said, "the Communist party and its front organizations will soon have to make public the source of all their finances and account for their expenditures. The Communist party will have to list all its members. "The Communist party has announced that if the law is upheld it will not register and individual communists will not register.

If the Communist party and the organizations they control carry out their threat and wilfully disobey the law, the Communist party and its individual members will themselves, for all practical purposes, by their own acts outlaw the Com- Dulles Seeks to Halt Red Threat in S.E. Asia WHERE DIED Thirty-seven persons were killed when a Trans-Canada Air Lines plane collided in mid-air with an RCAF training plane over Moose Jaw. and crashed in flames causing damage to several homes in the northeastern part of the city. Thirty-five of the victims were in the airliner, one in the training plane, the other was a cleaning woman who perished when the wreckage set fire to this dwelling. (AP Wirephoto) Blytheville Cotton Oil Co.

Is Sold to Crain Co. of Wilson Blytheville Cotton Oil established here more than 30 years ago, was sold yesterday to Grain Co. of Wilson. The new owners as yet have no definite plans for operation or use of the cotton oil company, W. C.

Higginson, manager of the plant, and James H. Grain, owner of Crain said today. The transaction was completed West Supports Private Disarmament Talks UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. (AP) With recent U.

S. hydrogen bomb tests injecting a "new note of urgency," the West today was solidly behind a proposal for private talks I among the Big Four and Canada on world disarmament. 'Russia asked for time to study the plan. The dramatic proposal to take such arms discussions out of the public eye, where they have proved only a deadlock of propaganda exchanges, was made yesterday by Bbritain's Sir Pierson Dixon before 1 I II The XJ.N. Disarmament Commis- AnifturrK Here son rlVIJVWMIJ I IVI Most delegates expected the Russians finally would agree to the secret talks.

But some observers wondered whether Russia might not be preparing- to insist on Red Circuit Court Here Sentences Passed In 25 Cases; Civil Session Due June 7 Chickasawba Division of Circuit Court was adjourned yesterday af- China's participation. Soviet Delegate Andrei Y. Vis- hinsky said he would have to reserve until later his comment on ternoon by Circuit Judsre Charles tne British proposal, which got W. Light after pronouncing sen-j prornpt backing by the United States, France and Canada. One member of the commission said he understood Vishinsky had tences in 25 cases Civil Division of Circuit Court will June 7 with the next term of the Criminal Division opening Nov.

1. sought the delay because he had concurrently, on two charges forgery and uttering. Application for a new trial for James Parrish. sentenced to 10 not receive instructions from Mos- Alpha Beasley received two COw tmie or yesterday's session. tences of three years each, to run on two charges of In an obvious reference to the latest American H-bomb tests and the chain reaction political furor I years in state penitentiary after a they have set off around the world, jury found him guilty of a charge Sir Pierson said in introducing the plan "there is a new note of urgency in the world today.

We must redouble our efforts." The plan calls for creation of a of carnal abuse was overruled by the court. J. E. Rhodes was sentenced to one year on a charge of wife and child abandonment while a charge of overdrawing was nolle prossed. Willie Moore received a one-year suspended sentence on a charge of grand larceny while James Mealer was sentenced to three years on a charge of forgery.

Gets 3-Year Term Billy Jo Hamm was given a three year sentence on a charge of forgery and uttering while a similar sentence on the charge against Charles E. Branscum was five-power sub-committee consisting of the United States. Britain, France. Russia and Canada to try to find a solution to the disarmament and atomic control problem which public debate has failed to solve the past eight years. Chief U.

S. Delegate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. seconded the British prospoal, as did Henri Koppenot of France. Lodge said the U. S.

was prepared also to give careful atten- suspended. tion to any proposals the Soviet The cases against Earl Cannon union is ready to make, and Charles J. Allison, charged! Calling for air-tisht agreements with grai.d larceny, were dis-J wh i ch would injure international missed on motion of the state. inspection and control of arma- Euel Scott received a five-year! ments. Lodge declared: suspended sentence on a charge of We never C0 nsent to any assault with intent to kill as did shadow agreement which would Clarence Warren a one year sen-i with securityi nor should xve expect the Soviet Union to do so.

Only a real agreement is worth anything to either of us." Lodge also suggested the sub- tence on a charge of grand larceny. A one-year sentence given to Bill Disemore on a charge of wife and child abandonment was suspended on payment of support. Joe Blankenship, George Barker and Billy Tart all received three committee might consider a recent call by Indina's Prime Minister year sentences each on charges of Nehru for an immediate stand-still See COURT on Page 8 on all further hydrogen bomb tests. yesterday afternoon. No price was disclosed.

Mr. Crain said plans for use of the plant will be worked out next week. Blytheville Cotton Oil Co. was incorporated in May, 1923. Construction got under way in June and operation began in October of that year.

Mr, Higginson said the plant was not now operating as it had completed its crushing for this season. During the crushing from September until the first of the company employed between 85 and 90 men. The plant here is a 12-press mill with a daily crushing capacity of 120 tons. Average yearly output of the plant has been about 20,000 tons, Mr. Higginson said.

The plant also has storage tanks with a total capacity of nearly 28,000 gallons. Mr. Higginson has been with the company since it was organized in 1923, when he joined it as a shipping clerk. He became manager in 1938. He said today he has no definite plans concerning his future activity.

Coruthersville School Levy Barely Posses CARUTHERSVILLE. A school tax measure, which faced defeat in Tuesday's election until returns were received belatedly from one ward here, was approved by a 65-vote margin. When all the returns were finally received, the vote was 664 for and 599 against a measure allowing the school board to levy a tax of $1 per $100 assessed valuation in addition to a similar amount permitted by state law. Approval of this added levy had been given by the voters for the past three years, and the extra revenue was regarded as essential to continued operation of the schools here. Will Ask Aid 01 Britain And France WASHINGTON (A Secretary of Slate Dulles said after a conference with President: Eisenhower today that he is flying to Europe to seek British and French co-operation in forming a united front that could end the Communist threat to southeast Asia.

"This government believes that if all the free peoples who are threatened now unite against this threat, it can be ended," Dulles said in a statement at the White House. Dulles spent about half an hour talking with his chief on the urgent mission to try to persuade reluctant British and French governments to join in "united action" in advance of the Geneva conference. The secretary Is scheduled to take off from Washington In an Air.Force plane at 6 p.m.. reach London late Sunday to Paris Tuesday and return here by the end of next week. In his statement Dulles replied to European criticisms that the United States is becoming more belligerent toward southeast Asia in its efforts to bolster the French and Indoohinese native struggle against communism in Indochina.

"Our purpose," he said, "Is not to prevent a peaceful settlement at the forthcoming Geneva conference, but to create the unity of free wills needed to assure a peaceful settlement which will in fact preserve the vital interests of us all." Understanding Sought He said he was making 1 the trip to promote a "full understanding" of the American proposals for a "united front" because that would be more satisfactory than exchanging written messages. The cabled exchanges had in fact resulted in a serious division of opinion between Britain and France on one Dulles can show to the British and French colleagues whom he Is trying to win to the U. S. plan: 1. Outspoken backing from Pres- sidenl Eisenhower, 2.

Good wishes for Dulles from members of also intimations that some U. lawmakers favor a financial crackdown on allies who do not fall in with U. S. plans. 3.

The first formal acceptance of the bid Dulles made to nine countries to join the United States in a front, of free nations against the Red menace. Thailand's ambassador. Pote Sarasin, yesterday brought to Dulles word, of the decision by his country, which borders on Indochina. Leaves Today Dulles takes off from Washington in an Air Force plane at 6 p.m. iiST for London.

After conferences there with Foreign Minister Anthony Eden and Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill he plans to See DULLES on Page 8 Dien Bien Phu Supply Run Is Risky Mission By WILLIAM RYAN OVER BIEN DJEN PHU (AP) From a blacked out transport plane 10,000 feet over Dien Bien Phu, I got a i glimpse early today of the grim battle now symbolizing the struggle between the free world and Communism. I was one of three American correspondents who were the fir.st newsmen to witness the French operations attempting to supply enough help to permit the survival 1 of the besieged Northwest Indochina fortress. Only air power links the fortress to the non-Communist world and Reds Blast Fortress Airstrip By LARKY ALLEN HANOI, Indochina The French said today Vietminh commandos staged a snenk attack on the main airstrip at Dien Bien Phu lost night and blew up the northern section by placing bamboo poles stuffed with nitroglycerine under the field's steel limiting. The damage was repaired today despite a continuing artillery barrage. However, planes have been unable to land at Dien Bien Phu for some time because of the heavy Vietminh shelling and the French have had to supply the fortress by parachute.

Despite the steady hammering- of key French positions there was no immediate indication that a fresh general assault was imminent. Thousands of the enemy troops also pushed their intricate system of foxholes and trenches Closer to the barbed wire barricades and bunkers protecting the fortress. In some places the Vietminh edged to within a few hundred yards of key defense positions. A wild onrush aimed at overwhelming Dien Bien Phu's defenders was expected within four or five days. It was believed this third attack would be a do-or-die effort to win a victory before the April 26 Geneva Conference on Korea and Indochina.

The french hit back yesterday with their own heavy artillery fire and. relentless plane attacks in an effort to upset the timetable of the Vietminh's Communist Commanders. Unions Echo Jobs At Sen. McCarthy CHICAGO iTP) The CIO and i UAW. says President Walter P.

Reuther, agree with Bishop Bernard J. Sheil's criticism of Sen. McCarthy (R-Wisi as a "noisy anti- Communist headline hunter." The bishop, in a speech before a UAW-CIO education conference yesterday, said it is lime "to cry out against the phony anti-communism that mocks our way of life, flouts our traditions and Democratic procedures and our sense of fair play." After 18 Years of Respectability, Ex-Con's Past Catches Up with Him Severe Weather Warning Issued For Missouri KANSAS CITY A severe weather forecast calling for possible scattered tornadoes in a section of southwest and central Missouri vvns issued today by the Weather Bureau. The bureau said tornadoes are possible in an area bounded by 50 miles northeast of Vichy, 30 miles west of Butler, 50 miles west of Joplin to 60 miles southeast of Vichy. The forecast-covered the period from noon to 6 p.m.

At the same time the bureau forecast isolated severe thunderstorms for an area bounded roughly by a point 30 miles northeast of Kansas City, 20 miles north of Peoria, and 50 miles west of Joplin. there is not enough of that. But this morning's operation was a success. Officers reported virtually all supply parachutes hit the ground in the target area. Only one French plane was damaged and it got back safely to its base.

We saw the signal lights of Dien Bien Phu emerge suddenly in a sea of blackness broken only by occasional flashes of Vietminh anti-aircraft fire. Reds Concerned The Communists threw 12.7 millimeter shells at the low-flying French supply planes. Obviously the Vietminh were concerned with low-flying planes and their precious cargoes. The mission was confined to directing the parachute operation. This required the plane to be totally blacked out and to circle over Dien Bien Phu for more than three hours.

The man aboard the plane indicated a healthy respect for the marksmanship of the Vietminh gunners. There was a quiet determination nnd confidence about thesa men. They are the same ones who previously had witnessed the drops of reinforcements into Dien Bien Phu when the siege began. Those tough reinforcements require a rare type of courage to drop through the Vietminh fire into the isolated bastion from which they well know they may never return. Such men have a deep respect their brothers in arms.

Classic Battle All the thoughts in our command plane were with these men below. The signal lights of the fortress seemed to flicker appeals from brave men to whose courage may be over the conduct of this tribute. No matter what arguments the whole free world recently paid war those men are writing history in a great classic battle. Communiques report "a lull" in the fighting but there is no bell calling off the harassing mortar and artillery fire from the Communist side. Nor is there any lull for the several hundred of wounded trapped in the underground bunkers of the fortress.

Our plane flew above the fortress for the last time at 3:35 o'clock in the morning. Behind us n. few orange colored tracers lobbed lazily through the blackness. McCarthy Returns To Face Inquiry TOLEDO, Ohio Iff) Columbus Howard Bennett worked hard as a house painter during his 18 years as a Toledo resident. His wife said the slight, grey- haired man was a fine husband and a wonderful father to their seven children.

The 59-year-old painter's only recorded scape with the law was a traffic summons for having no muffler on his automobile. But last March 25, Bennett's 14-year-son admired a $15 toy fire-engine. That started the Painter's world crumbling, and last night his world fell apart. Police say the man Icncw'i to his family and neighbors only ns Bennett is really Christopher Columbus Howaru Hair, from Huotavllle, Texas, penitentiary where he was serving a life term as a habitual criminal. Inspector Anthony A.

Bosch said Bennett admitted he escaped from the Texas prison in 1936, and that he had successfully deceived his family about his past. In tears, Bennett was quoted as telling police: "I swore to myself I never would do anything to disgrace my wonderful wife and our children. And now it all came tumbling down." Bennett first came to the attention of authorities two weeks ago. He wns out driving with one of his was netting water for his car's radiator, fey toy lire- engine on a sidewalk nearby. A man poked his head out of a house and yelled that the boy was stealing the engine.

Bennett's boy dropped the toy and ran to the car. Bennett drove off, but the angered man took down his license number and notified police about what he thought was an attempted theft. Detectives called at Bennett's home, and after questioning the father and son, booked Bennett on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police recorded and circulated Bennett's fingerprints as a matter of routine. Last night, they received a telegram from Texas authorities describing Bennett's prints PS 1 of Hair, w'no was given the life sentence after a Six Watches, $10 Stolen at Wilson smashed open the cash register and took about $30 in change from it and six wrLst watches at the Evadale Store on Highway 61 south of here Thursday night, according at J.

T. (Buster) Wigley. deputy sheriff. The store, owned by Lee Wilson Co. was entered through the skylight and the burglars left the same way.

Nothing else in the building was disturbed, he said. Mrs. Martha Lynch, manager of the store, said that she discovered the burglary about 6 a.m. Friday morning when she opened up. The store has begun closing Thursday afternoon during the spring and summer months, and was not open the afternoon prior to the burglary, ftMttML WASHINGTON (AP) Sen.

McCarthy (R-Wis) returns today from Arizona to prepare for the televised Senate public hearings called to determine the truth in his bitter controversy with high Army officials. McCarthy has declared he will "insist" on the right to cross examine the Army people with whom he is feuding, and has offered to let their counsel cross examine him. But, the Senate Investigations subcommittee which will run the probe has served notice it hopes, to arrange some other procedure. The issue could become explosive. McCarthy has stepped aside as the subcommittee's chairman for the duration of the inquiry, letting Sen.

Mundt (R-SD) serve as its temporary head. At McCarthy's request, the subcommittee voted yesterday to postpone for one April start of the public hearings, to allow time for him to make a scheduled Texas Independence Day speech in Houston April 21. Jenkins Charts Course Mundt said Ray H. Jenkins, the subcommittee's new special counsel, is at home in Knoxville, laying groundwork for the hearings and charting recommendations on important preliminaries the subcommittee will handle behind closed doors at meetings starting Monday morning. The subcommittee ordered its investigation after: 1.

An official Army report alleged that McCarthy and Roy M. Cohn, subcommittee chief counsel, had sought to win special favors for Pvt. G. David Schine, a subcommittee drafted. consultant who was 2.

McCarthy and Cohn accused Stevens and John G. Adams, Army general counsel, of trying to use the drafting of Schine as "a club" to blackmail the subcommittee into ttt H. M. Greenspun (above) of the Vegas, Sun commented: we were just performing our duty to our readers, "when informed at Los Angeles, that he had been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Las Vegas. The indictment charges he mailed copies of his newspaper containing an article on Sen.

McCarthy which tended to "incite arson, murder or assassination." (AP Wirephoto) in the Army. McCarthy said in a news conference in Tucson yesterday he intends to discuss publicly the charge he made Tuesday night that the United States' hydrogen bomb research was delayed II monthi. McCarthy said then. In a nationally telecast talk, the delay war deliberate and he asked why It occurred "if there were no Oommfl- atote fe our.