Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 1

ham Post-Herald BIRMINGHAM: Partly cloudy 6 Good Morning Neivspaper ALABAMA: Mild ux pat on VOL 100 NO 202 BIRMINGHAM MONDAY NOVEMBER 2 1970 32 Pages In Two Sections Fire kills 142 in crowded dancing hall BT CLETTUS ATKINSON What was Halloween night to you? A tilde or a treat? To a lot of youngsten it meant scary costumes and big bags of candy and fruit and gum To some teens it meant an hour or so of prank-pulling (Something that over the years seems to have lost its appeal People shoot pranksters nowadays) To thumb-sucking blanket-toting Linus Halloween meant spending the night in a pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin TO me Halloween night meant an hour of so of learning anew that the generation gap is getting wider And I think I got spooked Worn out by a round of golf and in not-too-good a mood this way for identification by the families The fire burned or suffocated to death M2 yo'iths who w-e trapped screaming behind locked emergency fire exits (UPI) Rows of dead the dancehall fire victims The gymnasium in Saint Laurfent-Du-Pont France is filled with the coffins of which have been laid out in 4 die as truck WALLACE -On th Pages Action Line 22 Amusements 19 Ann Landen '18 World 2 Bridge 3 Burnett Pattern 18 Classified 25 Comics 31 Crossword 32 Deaths 23 Editorials 10 Sports 13 13 14 15 TV Logs 22 Weathermap 3 News 17 18 Margin of win is big question group ZYGFRZD WOLNIAK wife were knocked down but escaped injury' Army to get tough Irish violence termed warfare ST LAURENT-DU-PONT France (UPI) A fire flashed through a country dance-hall crowded with teen-agers early Sunday killing 143 in worst fire disaster in 49 years Firemen said many of the victims were found in heaps behind emergency exit doors that were bolted and nailed dosed Of the several dozen persons who escaped the fire described by one survivor as a at least 10 were hospitalized with serious burns The toll was the highest from a fire in France since 1921 when 150 persons died in a blaze at the Printemps Department Store in Paris Government officials ordered an immediate investigation into the cause of the fire and also to determine why emergency exits were blocked at the dancehall called the and located outride this town 18 miles from the university city of Grenoble in southeaster France Had been locked There were reports the doors had been locked to prevent people from sneaking in without paying admission fees Two of the three owners of the dancehall died in the blaze as did all the members of the pop music group whose appearance at the dancehall attracted the large number of youths Firemen were forced to outside end when I looked bade it was like a volcano I smash down the blocked dons of emergency exits during a two-hour battle to extinguish the flames and some fainted at the sight of blackened bodies stacked behind them Several bodies also were found at the entrance partially blocked by a turnstile and others were on staircases leading from the dancefloor to a bar and observation balcony The fire spread quickly ig-inting the cardboard and plastic material used to decorate the halL One of the survivors a boy of about 18 said he was standing near the entrance when the fire broke out about 1:45 am I saw smoke then big flames and immediately I heard cries of help let us he said catapulted See DANCEHALL Page 39 CAMPAIGN 'n: BY LEMMY PINNA KARACHI Pakistan An airport baggage truck Sunday smashed into an official reception line for visiting Polish President Marian Spy-chalski and his party killing deputy foreign minister Zyg-fryd Wolniak and three other persons Spychalski and his Red rockets slam Saigon 2 persons die SAIGON (UPI) -Communist Rockets slammed into Saigon early Monday furthe first time in three months' 'one exploding near the central market and another damaging buildings within three blocks of the presidential palace National police said there were several casualties First reports indicated at least two persons killed Police said three rockets hit the capital but the military command said only two explosions were reported by the South Vietnamese Witnesses said one of the rockets exploded in Ham Nghl street near the entrance to the market in downtown Saigon And the other hit in Ta Thu Thau street three blocks from the palace The one that exploded near the palace shattered glass in apartment buildings lining the street It was the first rocket attack on Saigon since July 20 when two rockets were reported one of them landing in the palace grounds and breaking windows in the palace emir Nith the past we have given -second and third warnings to rioters In the future we will not be so he said Spurgeon said stone-throwers could possibly be shot if there were bomb-throwers in their midst a bomb has been thrown and gone off I would not advise anyone to throw anything else" he said are not likely to wait to see If the second missile Spurgeon said the decision to open fire on bomb attackers rested with the individual soldier "Naturally if circumstances permit it will be the commanding officer who win decide but the soldiers have i the initiative if circumstances demand Menell said the current wave of violence had gone past any form of protest is out-and-out vicious warfare he said Some witnesses reported that 'the driver shouted to the as his vehicle plowed into the group waiting to greet the Polish delegation making an official visit to Pakistan (However the official Polish news agency PAP in Warsaw described the incident as a The driver of the truck who was not identified was taken into custody by police Srychalski cut short his visit to Pakistan due to end Monday and flew back to Warsaw aboard his transport with the body of Wolniak 48 who has served as a deputy foreign minister since April of 1968 1 the our of Maj SHELTON for governor in Alabama a black man never a Whig not in over lOO'years and seldom if ever as many as two independents Election experts including State Democratic Chairman Bob Vance State Republican Chairman Dick Bennett and Secretary of State Mabel Amos predict a low turnout' perhaps as small as half thci 16 million voters eligible Wallace governor from 1963-67 however has urged A vmd cate hI hard tou6ht 1x11 narrowly won primary nomination and to ward off any threat of seeing a black Dr Cashin becoming governor of Alabama At each of the 15 towns and cities he visited during the general election campaign Wallace called for a big turnout as well as a straight ticket vote for Democrats And he ignored all candidates but Cashin whan he referred to as Cashin nominee of the predominately Mack National Democratic Party of Alabama he helped organize in 1968 charged in return that Wallace's appeal to beat him underscores the injection or racism into the campaign for which he said Wallace is famous The Huntsville dentist repeatedly taunted Wallace as See MARGIN Page 25 Wallace Democratic nominee for a second term as governor said Sen Jim Allen lieutenant governor during his first term will appear with him at his campaign closing in Jasper tonight along with country music singer Roger Harper Shelton an independent challenger spent the weekend See CANDIDATES Page 7 BELFAST Northern Deland A British Anny spokesman Sunday called Northern current wave of violence vicious He warned that shoot-to -kill orders against bomb throwers will be strictly enforced who throw these things should realize the he said Aiture after warning orders against those who throw bombs will be Col Ian Menell commander the Royal Marines and Peter Sturgeon in charge of the British Army Commandos jointly addressed a news conference on the violence that has hit this capital during the past four days Spurgeon said new get-tough orders for ground troops meant a strict interpretation of existing orders Comic dictionary HYPOCHRONDRIAC A woman who is unaware that other people are no more interested in her troubles than she is in theirs BY JAMES BENNETT P-H Government Editor The Alabama governor's race unlike the Belmont Stakes will have few real bosses in the running tomorrow and the betting If any more than likely will be on Just how big the margin of the frontrunner So certain is the outcome his supporters are already preparing his inaugural program But while former Gov George Wattm the Democratic nominating for a second term is the undisputed favorite independent A Shelton claims the darkhorse role while Dr John Cashin the first black gubernatorial candidate in history thinks he has an inside chance Expected to finish back in the pack are Walker Jr a second independent in the running Prohibition nominee Jerome Couch and John Watts a Whig who sensing a possible Wallace runaway has thrown his support to Shelton Conspicuously absent ft om this field is a Republican candidate whose qualifying credentials were held up by the State GOP Convention which last summer said in effect it was tired of coming in second Never a black Never befor? have so many minor party candidates run waged active campaigns while the attorney general's race features a re-match between incumbent MacDonald allion and the man who beat him in the Democratic primaries Dothan Dist Atty Bill Baxley Gallion was subsequently renominated under banners of the new Alabama Independent Party hopes to switch to primaries in 1973 In the running are: Jere Beasley a 34-year-old Clayton attorney who pulled off a primary upset last spring dumping five Incumbent legislators in the process Bob French 36-year-old Ft Payne attorney and North Alabama vice chairman of the State GOP who came close to winning the Fifth District congressional seat in 1964 Hayes Ill a 46-year-old Negro labor leader from Gadsden and nominee of Candidates make last minute appeals ATKINSON after losing three football parlays I decided for the first time in years to watch television After the Georgia-South Carolina game there was a iwws raviaw program President Nixon and Vice President Agnew conjured up Hallo-weenish predictions of the fate of this country because of demonstrators They wore the white hats The bad guys (with long hair) carried signs that demanded an end to the Vietnam war Riffraff Mr Agnew called them buoyed by the cheers of thousands Of the Silent Majority It put me to sleep and I dreamed of Dante and the River Styx elk takes stage Then I was awakened by the sounds of corks popping and saw a TV screen inundated with bubbles Striding to center stage was the Sentimental Gentleman of schmaltz the John Wayne of music North Spiro Mr Lawrence Welk the other side of the generation gap personified Mr Welk is a powerful winn Powerful enough to keep football games from pre-empting his program Popular enough to become a waltzing demigod to SO per cent (or more) of middle age Americans their placebo their panacea for the evils they say have been Inflicted by rock and roll and long hair and drugs and permissiveness And' understandably For through his music he takes them back to the old days of the big bands the pre-World War II days when the country was under-populated a college education was not neces-See PEOPLE Page 2 Cloudy cooler chance of rain Cloudy cooler and a chance of rain is the not-too-bright weather outlook for Birmingham today The official forecast calls for cloudy with a chance of rain today turning cooler with a slight chance of rain tonight and Highs today and Tuesday are predicted to be near 17 with a low tonight near 45 after a low this morning near 50 A 30 per cent chance of rain today will decrease to 30 per cent tonight Winds will be northeasterly at 5 to 15 miles per hour temperatures: 1 pm OS 7 pm 60 3 pm 09 I pm 57 3 pm mu 60 9 pm 54 4 pm 67 10 pm 53 I pm 14 11 pm S3 0 pjn 13 Midnight 14 1 A tS seats win also be decided Tuesday Two aspirants for the state's number two job Democrat Jere Beasley and Republican Bob French have State's second spot Five candidates are seeking seat of lieutenant governor With the race down to the wire gubernatorial hopefuls plan to make last minute plugs for support today and then go home to wait for Tuesday's campaign climaxing vote count Former Gov George Wallace who winds up his stumping with a 7 pm rally in Jasper also plans a 30-minute election eve television program over a 13-slation hookup a half hour later Former State Sen A Shelton plans late hour trips to both Huntsville and Decatur and Dr John Cashin finishes his campaign in Birmingham A trio of lesser known candidates Walker Jr Jerome Couch and John Watts announce itineraries Over- the-weokend Walts candidate of the resurrected Whig Party unexpectedly announced he plans to vote for Shelton and urged his backers to do likewise saying fractlon-alization of the vote would only help re-elect Wallace He added however he still plans to work at rebuilding the Whig organization which went out of existence about the time of the Civil War While the governor's race has stolen the campaign spotlight races for lieutenant gov-: ernor and attorney general as i well as for all 141 legislative 4 I BY JAMES BENNETT Post-IIeral Government Editor Although gone largely unnoticed in the wake of the more attention getting race five candidates are headed on an election day collision course for lieutenant governor Tuesday in a race of rivaling importance The winner not only will be the back-up man for whomever is elected governor but will proside over the State Senate as well And riding in the outcome of the race the only headon tp rat-Republican clash statewide this year are GOP the predominately black National Democratic Party of Alabama Adm John Crommelin 68-year-old political perrinial who this year left Democratic ranks to run as an independent Stephenson of Alexander City a 59-year-old assistant foreman at Avondale Mills who also on the Prohibition Party ticket made a race for presidential elector in 1968 For Republicans to become eligible to switch to primaries from their old convention sy-See I SEEKING Page 1 a These students all members of the Berry High School Uean-lP Choral Department clean up after Halloween trick- sters The students sold a $1 insurance policy to resi dents near the high school promising to dean up any debris the goblins left behindThey are (from left) Bill Lester DeLane Smith Lindsay Lester Pam neau and Elizabeth McMillian ay Tommy Langston) See story en Page 21 -v i a v-ijB i.