Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 1

Win Free Trip to World Series Opener First Tiger Teaser on Page 8 3IETRO FINAL Ait Jfe NICE for boat racing and parades Weather Mud on Pse 13 FRIDAT TEMPER ATIRKS 7 4X i ni. a.m. 0 p.m. K5 HO HEM A KING TIPS Useful, Money Saving Ideas for You in Living Section on Sunday 59 39 5fi SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1950 On Guard for Over a Century 22 Pages Vol. 120 No.

16 Five Cents In am fio 4 pm 64 10 pm 1 a m. 11 m. 12 noon fi? 1 1C mid. t4 mm mm 1 13 fn As Disaster Struck DSR Operators Threaten to Strike Angered by Cobo's Discipline Order in Interiinion Dispute A DSR strike loomed Friday night as the result of a flare up between Mayor Cobo and the AFL operators' union. -flits -A.

The union became angered at Cobo's attempt to discipline ''iff its members as a result of an interruption in services Friday afternoon. '4 A 400 Hurt as Barges Blow Up at Dock Troops Guard South Amboy Ruins; N.Y. Harbor Area Jarred Kre Press Wire Servireg SOUTH AMBOY, N. J. At least 20 persons were killed and more than 400 injured when four barges loaded with various types of ammunition exploded here Friday night.

The blast, which struck with the force of wartime block-'uisters, left the city, 22 miles from New York, prostrate. It came at the height of the city's traditional Friday-night hopping rush. Scores of homes were damaged. The business section, including two banks, was a shambles. Windows were broken and build-ngs shaken over a 40-mile area.

Gov. Alfred A. Driscoll declared martial law. About 500 roops from Fort Monmouth, in battle dress and with drawn ayonets, moved in to restore order and prevent looting. LIGHTS WENT out as a power plant was wrecked.

Rescue v.erations were being carried on by flashlight and lantern. Telephone lines were blown out. Rain was falling, slowing disaster service work. The ammunition including dynamite and shells was being loaded for export by the Isbrandtsen Lines. The lines ships have been fired upon by Chinese Nationalists while attempting to run the blockade into Communist-held China." Hans J.

Isbrandtsen, president of the line, said in New York me of his ships was standing off South Amboy awaiting munitions bound for India. He said he did not know whether these were the munitions involved. He declined to say whether it was a private or Government shipment his vessel was awaiting. Police Chief David Quinlan said the explosives were to The trouble stemmed from a jurisdictional dispute involving Division 26 of the bus and streetcar operators' union and Local 214 of the AFL office workers. Negotiations among the two unions, the DSR management and Cobo broke up Friday night without a settlement.

The talks will be resumed Saturday. OPERATORS reporting for work at 2 p.m. Friday refused to "do business" with nonoperating terminal employes. Walter Stanley, business agent of Division 26, admitted that his union was "out to organize non- Jury Frees James in Slaying Killer of Father Pleads Self Defense BY KENNETH McCORMICK Free Presi Staff Writer PONTIAC Marine Sgt. Car operating personnel in terminals son James, 28, was found inno-jwho now are under jurisdiction of cent of the murder of his father, i Local 214." A iurv of 11 xvnmpn anH nnP As a resul of tne operators $7famHmiWVMer jn- l-m vit, balk, service on some lines was Idelaved as much as 14 minutes man gave the verdict.

The jury deliberated four hours. in the rush hour. Carson had admitted the slaying. t- Mil lii mm fcaTiunrafci ft tfmTBfwffnnmwfr rn -Mirr mr" aMJ" rv Cobo instructed DSR General i CLOUDS OF SMOKE 3IUSHKOOJI OVER WATERFRONT OF BLAST-BLACKENED SOUTH AMBOY suspend all operators who refused to carry out normal procedure. Damage runs into millions in city neighboring New York BLAST LIKE A-BOMB, WITNESSES SAY Homes and Autos Abandoned in Terror division ornciais inreaieneui to strike if the suspensions were enforced.

EARL HARRIS, business agent shipped to Brooklyn for trans-shipment to South America. ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF Thomas Conroy said seven boxcars with 600 tons of explosives were being loaded into the four barges at the dock when the blast let go about 7:25 p.m. (local time). Because it considered South Amboy too close to thickly populated sections, the Coast Guard only 11 days ago had put a 500-pound limit on any single loading of explosives at South Amboy. South Amboy is a little more than 20 miles south of Jersey City, scene of the Black Tom munitions explosion in 1916 when two were killed and damage exceeded $22,000,000.

That explosion was traced to German saboteurs. South Amboy and its twin city of Perth Amboy, which also or iocal ZW, said his union would defend to the last ditch its juris- diction among DSR employes. Stanley said the board of his union would be polled Saturday to decide between a truce and a strike. Last October, Acting Mayor George Edwards capitulated to a union ultimatum in a similar but claimed he shot in self defense. CIRCUIT JUDGE George B.

Hartrick warned the courtroom crowd against a demonstration before taking the jury's decision. Jury Foreman Louis A. Pring-nitz, retired Royal Oak businessman, announced the acquittal. There was a brief cheer, which quickly subsided as the defendant grabbed the hand of his attorney, Clarence L. Smith.

Carson then gripped the hand of each juror as the veniremen filed out of the courtroom. Carson's 54-year-old mother, Mrs. Ruth James, remained unmoved. The defendant's sister, Mrs. Lau-rene Martin, 23, Chelsea school teacher, wept quietly.

His brother, Hugh, 18, expressed elation. PRIXGNITZ revealed that the jury had taken five ballots. The vote was 9 to 3 for acquittal on the first four, Pringnitz said. Three had voted for manslaughter, he added. Mrs.

Rose Short, jury member, wept hysterically after returning to the jury room after the verdict. SOUTH AMBOY, N. J. (JP) One of the first persons to day-night shoppers. Store win- "I saw a body with its head reach the scene, Dobrynski said dows were splintered by the blown off and parts of bodies he had to duck a shower of mud, blast, cutting passers-by.

scattered in the debris." parts of buildings and litter of John McDonnell, managing This eyewitness description of all kinds. He saw the body of editor of the Perth Amboy Eve- the blast-rocked dock area of a man on a coal barge near ning News, said people wandered this stunned city of 10,000 per- where the boats were being about dazed, looking at blood sons came from Steve Dobryn- loaded with explosives. streaming from their arms and ski of Keyport. legs. Dobrynski, a coal-barge skip- SECONDS AFTER the explo- He said that not one build- per, had left the scene moments sion.

confusion and panic reigned ing in the town escaped dam- before the fatal blast. in the streets, jammed with Fri- age. Walls caved In, roofs 3,750 IN WASHINGTON JOBS? were jarred from their moorings, and windows in homes and churches were demolished. Streets were jammed wjih cars and trucks, some ruined By flying chunks of buildings and glass. McDonnell said the drivers abandoned their cars as the rumble turned into a roar.

"The whole front of the store seemed to leap out into the street," said Mrs. Andrew Ku-drick, who was working in a dress shop. "The center of town was utter confusion with fire engines Turn to Page 5, Column 2 was damaged, are located at the mouth of the Raritan River where At that time, George J. Knoppe, a member of the Division 26 executive board, precipitated a rush-hour stoppage which inconvenienced 100,000 patrons on six lines. KNOPPE STARTED the strike because he had been ordered to ap-cause he had been ordered to appear before the trial board after an altercation with a station master.

Senators OK Probe of Sex Deviates said the department "some time it empties into Rantan Bay, an arm ot Lower xsiew iork tsay. THE BARGES, anchored in the bay, went up with a terrific roar. "It was like one of those Bikini blasts," said John Delaney, former Mayor of Perth Amboy. "A low rumble and then a terrific mushroom of exploding gases." G. H.

Perry, an official of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at whose pier the blast took place, said the whole waterfront area was levelled. Coal dumpers were wrecked. Railroad cars were smashed and knocked from the tracks. Damage to the Pennsylvania Railroad property, he said, amounted to more than $5,000,000. THE RAILROAD said one of its passenger trains was just dorsed by the District of Columbia subcommittee of the Appropriations group.

Free Preu Wire Service WASHINGTON A Senate Appropriations ommittee Edwards permitted the union to ago" called on the vice squad I chief to furnish the names of "any persons in the department against whom he had evidence of homosexuality." Carson said he planned to iaKe over ine disciplining oi. attend a "victory party" at a noppe Decause, juawaras saia, ne neighbor's home Friday night. feared a full-scale strike. He said he would report to the i In the current trouble, the; Great Lakes (111.) Naval Training I operators were refusing to accept. unanimously approved a resolution calling for a Congressional investigation of the employment of homosexuals by the Federal Government.

The inquiry was proposed by Senators Hill Ala.) and Wherry It was in- transfers, fare tickets and assign "No such names have furnished," White declared. Wherry said all of the Government officials who testified before the subcommittee agreed that homosexuals ire "bad Turn to Page 5, Column 1 ments from station personnel unless the latter agreed to switch unions. Supervisors took over the work temporarily. pulling out of the South Amboy station for New York when the explosion shattered car windows, causing casualties among the passengers and crew. WHERRY HANDED the subcommittee a report quoting metropolitan police estimates that 3,750 homosexuals now are employed by the Government in the Nation's Capital.

Lt. Roy Blick, head of the District police vice squad, told the subcommittee last March 23, it was disclosed, that between 300 and 400 of the homosexuals holding Federal jobs were employed by the State Department. The State Department promptly denied that any known perverts remain on its payroll. It said that if any were discovered they would be "summarily dismissed." Press Spokesman Lincoln White ABOUT 300 employes in eight terminals fall under the jurisdiction of Local 214. They include yard dispatchers, cash clerks, service inspectors and station masters.

Stanley said that the 300 employes should be in Division 26 What They Are Saying Station in a day or two and then return to his base in Inyokern, Calif. CARSON WAS charged with slaying his father, Stanley, 52, Nov. 28. 1947, in the latter's Gar-gantua St. home in Clawson.

Testifying in his own behalf, Carson told the jury that, following the shooting, he and his brother. Justice, 26, premedical student at Wayne University, buried the victim's body in a cowshed at his mother's nine-acre farm near Clawson. The family agreed to- keep the slaying a secret. But last February, Carson's sister, Mrs. Muriel Hockersmith, 27, of Washington.

D. notified police. Morse Takes Early Lead in Oregon Vote Senator 2 to 1 Ahead of Conservative Foe Mayor John Leonard, of South Amboy, estimated that 3,000 of the city's 4,000 homes were damaged. The two banks and the post office were heavily guarded. Officials said damage to homes and stores alone would run to more than $1,000,000.

One building reported badly damaged was the huge plant of the American Agricultural Chemical manufacturers of fertilizers. "I thought Stalin was over here," Barge Worker Charles Ber-sin, an eyewitness, said. He said he and fellow workers were caught amid fierce flames as they fought to get to safety. The blast was felt as far as the Battery at the lower tip of Explosion Disasters of Last 30 Years Here are major explosion disasters of the last 30 years: Dec. 6, 1917 1,600 persons killed off Halifax when a munitions ship and a relief ship collided.

May 8, 1918 More than 200 killed in Aetna Chemical Co. plant near Pittsburgh. MAY 15, 1929 100 killed in Cleveland (O.) hospital X-ray film explosion. March 18, 1937294 children and teachers died in gas blast at New London (Tex.) schoolhouse. July 17, 1944 322 killed in Navy ammunition depot explosion at Port Chicago, Calif.

Oct. 21, 1944 At least 135 killed in explosion and fire at the East Ohio Gas Co. storage plant in Cleveland. APRIL 16, 1947 468 killed in Texas City (Tex.) ship-shore explosion. Aug.

19, 1947 153 die in arsenal explosion at Cadiz, Spain. July 28, 1948 202 killed in I. G. Farben Chemical Co. explosion at Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Love Returns because "they are engaged in the actual operation of the business." Stanley said major differences stemmed from the fact that the seniority of operators moved to nondriving jobs was not recognized by Local 214. Antagonism between the two GUSSIE MORAN, woman tennis star, ailing with an attack of influenza: "Fd enjoy being sick if I didn't feel so sick." PORTLAND, Ore. (JP) Sena-I tor Wayne Morse, fighting for Re-; publican renomination, jumped into a two-to-one lead in early Dishes danced on shelves on i returns from Oregon's nrimarv CARSON WAS arrested near unions nas flared up several times Prescott, Feb. 22 after recent months. thorities had dug up his father's The mother, Carson and others i On Inside Pases pictured Stanley James as an election.

New York's Manhattan Island. Staten Island and in Brooklyn. Within minutes after the blast, emergency calls went out for doctors and nurses, blood plasma, ambulances and blood donors. A procession of mercy set out by land and water. Returns from 11 precincts in scattered sections of tho state MRS.

CARL A. MORLOK, of Lansing, explaining why her quadruplet daughters were having only a quiet observance of their 20th birthday: "I'm right in the middle of spring house-cleaning so the girls don't want me to make much fuss about the birthday." "abusive tyrant" who beat them Amusements 12 gave Morse 632 votes to 324 for repeatedly. The trial lasted six days. 21 7 8 6 6 Horoscope IQ Test Jr. Journal Lawrence Letters uave Hoover, the conservative who charged Morse, known as a liberal, with beine a suDnorter of the Tru- How to Win Photo Prize The Free Press' annual Snapshot Contest is under way again and hundreds of entries already have poured in.

You, too, have a chance to win cash prizes and photographic honors. For contest rules, details and expert advice on how to win, along with examples of fine photographs, see the MAGAZINE of SUNDAY'S FREE PRESS man Administration. Beauty 9 Brady 20 Bingay 6 Bridge 20 Chatterbox 10 Churches 4 Classified 17-19 Comics 20-21 Bolivians Fight Rebels LA PAZ, Bolivia (U.R) Police and troops battled left-wing and right-wing insurgents in the hills above La Paz. Authoritative sources said at least 13 were killed and 60 wounded in the fighting Thursday night and Friday. The dead included one soldier and four police, it was said.

The Army said the rebels had tried to take several factories by storm but were beaten back to the hills. Merry-Go-R'd Peale 7 In third place with only 34 votes was John McBride, a Washington (D. attorney who is clerk for several House committees. In Clover Racing 15 5 Radio 21 Sunday Want Ads taken until 11:00 a. m.

Saturday. To buy, sell or rent anything, use a Free Press Want Ad. It is easy to place an Ad. Just dial WO 2-9100 and say, "Charge It." AFTER THE explosion heroic firemen aboard fire barges moved in and towed two burning vessels into midstream. Other fireboats, several from New York, puffed up to the dock and poured water over two un-exploded barges and kept a steady stream playing on the Turn to Page Column Diable! SPRINGFIELD, Looking for a four-leaf clover? Elmer Miller said she has found 142 of them in her lawn since April 22.

She says she's also 11 with five leaves and two withj six. i Riley 10 Smith 14, Sports 14-15 Theaters 12 Town Crier 22 1 Weather 13 Women'a 8-11 1 20 22 6 11 18 11 6 Crosby Crossword Editorials Fashion Financial Food Guest LOS ANGELES (JP) Actress Ann Dvorak said she and her husband, Dancer Igor Dega, are reconciled. She filed suit for divorce last February. PARIS (JP) Paris traffic cops snarled up traffic at intervals Friday in an effort to get more pay..