Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 1

ATUR Vol. 80 No. 35 DECATUR, ILLINOIS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1959. 26 PAGES 7 CENTS HERALD rata (Q) iW iDHS 19 Dead, Nearly 300 Hurt in St. Louis Tornado 52,500,000 Project Given 2 to 1 Margin By Norman J.

Puhek Of The Herald Staff A 2 Vi -million -dollar street Fair, Colder Damage 12 Million; Ike Proclaims Disaster Area the fight could be held then. The tornado skipped over For DECATUR AND VICINITY: Fair and colder Wednesday. In creasing cloudiness and warmer Thursday. High Wednesday 22 to 28, low Wednesday night 12 to 18, high Thursday 32 to 38. LOCAL WEATHER Tues.

Mon. Tues. Mon. 7 a.m. Noon 7 p.m.

High. Low 38 38 Precip. .95 .88 33 22 54 22 48 50 51 36 Wed. Thurs. Sun Rises 6:53 6:52 Sets 5:28 5:30 TEMPERATURES 24 Families Flee Flood At Villa Grove By W.E.

Watts Jr. Herald-Review State Editor Villa Grove, Feb. 10 Flood waters of the Embarrass River and a couple of creeks today virtually isolated Villa Grove and caused the evacuation of 24 families from their homes. Water covered the ground in large sections of the community and cut all but one country road into the city. Cars had to wade floor-deep to use it.

Damage came in small amounts but flood workers said I I 1 I Low Anchorage 25 1.5 Atlanta 72 60 Buffalo 32 22 Boston 34 26 Chicago -33 27 Cincinnati 67 43 Detroit 33 27 Fort Worth 59 47 Los Angeles 57 47 Miami 81 74 Milwaukee 27 15 St. Paul 18 13 New Orleans 79 67 New York 45 34 Omaha 12 4 San Francisco 55 48 Seattle 38 32 Washington 68 34 Winnipeg -10 -25 Flood Scenes Numerous Chief of Police M.R. Wil- liams takes time out to snap improvement bond issue which could mushroom into a program worth 1 1 million dollars was approved by Decatur voters yester day, by better than 2 to 1. The unofficial vote from all of the city's 46 precincts was 4,669 to 1,916, a total vote ot near 6,600. The bond issue question car ried in all but six precincts, and (Related Story on Page 3) lost there by only small margins.

The net worth of the projects can far exceed the 2Vi million dollars authorized because of state aid plus possible help from the federal and county governments. Ihe outcome of the vote indi cated two things, in the opinion ot City Hall observers. One was that the people favor the financing program. The bonds will be retired over 20 years from the city's gasoline tax revenue. The other was that some areas of the city feel traffic relief is badly needed.

For instance: -In the South Shores precinct, the question carred 582 to 32. better than 10 to 1. At the other geographical extreme, in Northland Heights, the proposal was carried better than five to one, 120 to 19. Both areas will benefit from the largest project of the six that theprogram contemplates. Tnat project is a north-south couple, utilizing Main, Frank- hn and Water streets through town, traffic interchanges, grade separations and another County Bridge, parallel to the present structure.

The conclusion that voters like the gas tax retirement system was evidenced by the result yesterday, compared to a vote two weeks ago when the Big Creek Reser voir bond issue was defeated, al most 2 to 1, carrying in only seven precincts. The Big Creek bonds would have been retired by a three per cent additional property tax. The worst beating was from Precinct 3, where Democrat Precinct Committeeman Shelby T. Nanna had predicted it would fail. He campaigned against it (because no improvement of West Grand avenue was included among the six projects.

In the remaining precincts where the issue lost yesterday, the majority of "no" votes was from 3 to 19. The issue was ahead from the start, as the returns came in. After 14 precincts had reported, the vote was 1,020 to A power boat plows down center of town. The flood highest since the city's Villa Grove street in the waters are believed to be the time record flood of 1950. St.

Louis, Feb. 10 AP) At least 19 persons were lulled and nearly 300 were injured in a tornado which swept through the heart of St. Louis early today. The storm, which hit while most of the citv was asleep, was the worst in 32 years and took the same path as a 1927 twister which killed 78. Searchers picked through the rubble of smashed houses and apartments throughout the day for more bodies and others who might still have been trapped.

Seven persons were reported missing. B. G. Gregory, executive secretary of the Insurance Board cf Other Weather News Decatur situation Page 3 central Illinois floods Page 14 National weather roundup Page 22 Louis tornado pictures Back Page. St.

Louis, estimated property damage at 12 million dollars. Six hours of heavy rain came to an end soon after the twister passed. Skies were almost clear by sunup. Rescue workers toiled through the day in bright sunshine but there were icy gusts of wind from the north and the thermometer dropped from 49 at 2 a.m. to 31 at 3 p.m.

The tornado came without warning and with tremendous speed. Just as suddenly, it was gone. It crumpled a radio tower, then a television tower built to stand winds over 100 miles an hour, cutting a diagonal path northeast from Brentwood and Crestwood southwest of St. Louis across the heart of the city. Most of the victims were in bed when the tornado hit at 2:12 a.

m. It was preceded by hours of torrential rains which flooded scores of basements. Hardest hit were a section of tenement houses occupied mostly by Negroes. But a block of brick apartments in the' fashionable west end also was ripped open. Tragedy stalked through the wreckage.

A father was pulled from the ruins, his dead son. still hanging to his back. Crowds gathered in the darkness behind floodlights and silently watched rescue work amid debris and deadly broken electrical lines. President Eisenhower tonight designated the city and St. Louis County as a major disaster area eligible for federal relief aid.

The President told his news conference this morning that all federal government agencies have been alerted to give the city every possible aid. 250 Left Homeless The Red Cross estimated structures were damaged, including 41 destroyed. More than 250 persons, many of them children, were left homeless. Doctors and nurses worked feverishly, often treating victims at the scene. Both citv hospitals were swamped with injured.

Some were naked, others only partially dressed. Numerous walls were ripped awav, leaving occupants still in their bedrooms which were bared to the street. The twister smashed the 385 foot tower of radio station KXLW in Brentwood, then flattened the 575-foot tower of television station KTVI in southwest St. Louis. It knocked a big hole in the roof of the St.

"Louis Arena where a world welterweight boxing match between Virgil Akins and Don lordan was scheduled for March 6. Doubt arose that est Park and smashed into the heart of the citv. At least seven persons died in a tenement and two others in a four-family brick flat. Beth were blasted into a pile of rubble. Cab driver Bill Purcell was credited with saving the life of a motorist whose car was covered with electric wires "and lit up like a Hare.

Purcell shouted to the man that if he got out, he was a dead man. He staved in the car and emerged uninjured after the wires were removed. The St. Louis office of Civil Defense was called into action for the first time since it was organized eight years ago. Brig.

Gen. Francis P. Hardavvav ret. took over the coordination of res cue work. He called on 160 Na tional Guardsmen to aid police.

Deputv Coroner Joseph M. Quinn released this list of per sons killed: Mildred Campbell, 29, of 4202 Delmar Blvd. Carl Campbell, 6, same ad dress. Michael Campbell, 10, same address. Teresa Campbell, 1, same ad dress.

Rosemary Campbell, 4, same address. Carrian Campbell, 3, same ad dress." Raymond Coonev, 29, same address. John Hantak 73, 4421 Persh ing. Raymond CJheskie, 61, of Gil lespie, 111., found at 4421 Persh ing. Harry Martin, 44, 3862 Page Boulevard.

Harriett Martin, 41, same ad dress. John Martin, 4, their son, same address. Alma Pearl Womack, 8, 3864 Page Blvd. Lonnie Franklin, 2, 3841 Cousins St. Rosa Coker, 54, 22D0 Farrar.

Fannie Ivorv, 60, 2758 Bacon St. Willie Worley, 60, 2754 Bacon St. Oscar Murray, 30, 1817 Di vision St. Unidentified Negro woman, about 50, 4205 Wasnington Ave. Eunice Bolz Says Storm Broke Apartment Windows Miss Eunice Anne Bplz, as sistant registrar at Concordia Seminary in St Louis, reported to her parents in Decatur yester day that nine windows were broken in her apartment during the early morning tornado.

She lives in the 4500 Block Lindell Blvd. Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Henrv H. Bolz of 315 S.

Westlawn Ave. Woman Hurt as Tornado Hits Southern Illinois A Crawford County woman was injured Tuesday as a tornado tipped over her house trailer in the small community of Oblong. Injured was Mrs. Dale Moore. Half a dozen buildings were unroofed as the early morning twister skipped through Oblong.

Trees were torn down and numerous garages and outbuildings were overturned. The tornado touched down again near Palestine, east of Rob inson, and also at Robinson. Farm buildings were damaged near Palestine and small buildings were overturned and trees uprooted at Robinson Tuesday afternoon. Near Newton, in Jasper Countv, die roof of the Jake Ochs home was blown off in a high wind. The two-story frame house is located six miles south of Newton.

the total would be large. Several homes had water in their first floors. There are scores of flooded basements. As the day wore on, high cold winds sprang up, threatening to change areas of standing water into ice. Police Chief M.

R. Williams said the flood was the worst since the high water of 1950 which was the city's highest. Today's total was unofficially estimated at eight inches below that." About 70 men, including po lice, civil defense, civil air patrol and firemen, worked throughout Monday night without sleep to evacuate families from flooded homes and try to keep damage in check. One of the jobs was clearing an ice block from a bridge, when the jam threatened to back up" water, increasing its depth. The flood came on top of last month's ice storm.

Chief Williams said the city was still try ing to clean up from that. When the water goes down Thursday night or Friday if con ditions do not change fire de partment equipment will be used to wash away the deposited silt, Williams said. Civil Defense Director Harlan Basher and Civil Air Patrol members said they will try to get more equipment to help much-flooded Villa Grove the next time the river comes up. Basher said cots are needed for emergency use, and the Civil Air Patrol is seeking a military Duck (amphibious vehicle) for flood use. Private boats were used Monday night and today.

Silting of the Embarrass River channel has been blamed for the recent rash of floods. Dredging projects have" been proposed, to increase the amount or water the river can carry, but nothing extensive has been scheduled so far. Finding of Gove Indicates Normal Boy, 6, Drowned Normal, Feb. 10 (AP) Searchers today found a glove of missing 6-year-old Dennis Johnson hanging from weeds in bugar Creek, rinding the glove heightened belief the lad drowned. The glove was found about IVi miles from where the boy usually nears the four-foot drain age ditch on the way home from school.

The lad parents, the Rev. and Mrs. Robert C. Johnson identified the glove as belonging to their son. The Rev.

Mr. Johnson is pas tor of the Methodist Church at Dewitt. The youngster vanished Mon day afternoon following kindergarten class. Nearly 200 police men, firemen and volunteers searched for him unsuccessfully through the night. Dennis is one of five sons of the Johnsons.

Bad weather forced firemen and policemen to halt dragging operations in the creek tonight. The search will resume Wednes day. at Villa Grove a photograph of Earl Shaffer, standing deep in water at the Bill Richards residence. They had been rescued from a pas- street. The Pentecostal church seen in the background had MM lower end of the Villa Grove business district.

rure behind the house when the water-took over. scheduled a series ot revival services. (Herald and Review Photos) 4 INDEX Radio.TV Page 6 Movies and Amusements Page 20 Fourth Virginia Area Ordered To Integrate Richmond, Feb. 10 (AP) A fourth Virginia community -rural Warren County in the northwest was ordered today bv a federal judge to open its white classrooms to 22 Negro pupils next week. Even as U.S.

Dist. Judge John Paul issued a Feb. 18 dese gregation order for the reopen ing of closed Warren High at Front Royal, the city of Alexandria, 50 miles to the east, held racially mixed classes in three schools tor the first time. Alexandria followed the same unwilling but peaceful and un eventful pattern of school dese gregation set last week by Arlington and Norfolk when Virginia's 100 per cent school segregation reached the end of an era. Nine Negro children were admitted under the watchful eyes of reinforced police guards to two elementary schools and a high school in Alexandria.

Judge Paul ruled in th Warren case after a brief hearing in his court at Harrisonburg. He turned down the plea of school board Atty. W. J. Phillips that the reopening of the school be put off until next September.

Phillips argued it would be harmful to switch at this time the 780 pupils who have been given classes in a makeshift private school system. He said he could promise the high school would be open on a desegregated basis in September. But Paul acceded to the arguments of Oliver W. Hill, coun-. sel for the Negro pupils, that his 22 clients, as well as about 100 white pupils, who are not taking the private schooling, deserve immediate consideration.

rsortoik had reopened six closed schools with 10,000 pupils. Charlottesville, too, reopened two cldsed schools which had been closed since last fall but on an all white basis. Charlottesville was told to submit a desegregation plan to Paul within 20 days on the understanding the schools would be desegregated next September. Algiers Trolley Bombed Algiers, Feb. 10 (AP) A terrorist threw a grenade in to a crowded street car on the main shopping street in Algiers today, injuring four persons.

542. After 24 the totals were to 1,031 and after 30 precincts, 45 minutes after the polls I closed, the issue was leading al most two to one, 2,401 to 1,274. In addition to the north-south (Route 51) couple, the program calls for widening a block of Monroe street, between Mam and Wood streets; widening and paving Garfield avenue east from Water widening South Franklin Street road from south of the County Bridge to the city limits; extending and straighten ing Decatur street from union to Franklin, and paying for the city's share of the approaches to the new Lost Bridge. 76 SAILORS TAKEN ILL WITH HEPATITIS Heidelberg, Germany, Feb. 10 (AP) Seventy-six U.S.

Navy men. from units in the Mediterranean area are being treated for an infectious liver ailment, in U.S. Army hospitals at Land- stuhl and Muenchweiler. Headquarters of the U.S. At- my in Europe said today the pa tients are in strict quarantine.

One death has occurred among the patients, evacuated over the last five days to temporary centers in the two hospitals. Displaced cows stand mo- rosely in the front yard of the Earl Shaffer (left) and John Behl stand beside a boat in 1 a flooded Villa Grove i. -Wf---- i l.ltLN rwnMir -Tiifn-n- 1'.