Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 3

Comic Dictionary FASHION WORLD The world in which the husbands who pay the bills are the real slaves to fashion. Today's Chuckle It's smart to pirk your friends, but not to pieces. Tart flips Tuesday, June 6, 1961 THE SECOND FRONT PAGE Tage 3, 0tu DIDN'T BELIEVE 'COMIC BOOK' WITNESSES Colleges Face 'Explosion 9 In Attendance reed Watson Why uror Legislature's Dollar Fight Clouds Growth Picture make Watson guilty TO GET THE answer, the jurors Monday morning asked Circuit Judge Joseph G. Rashid to repeat his charge on the conspiracy count, especially on knowledge after the fact. This knowledge alone PV ED BRESLIN AND JACK CASEY Fru Press Staff Writers The jury which acquitted Gordon Watson Monday could not bring itself to believe the stories of the "comic book" characters who said he plotted a murder.

The three men and nine prisoners since the trial began six weeks ago. The jurors took only three ballots to clear Watson. But they were convinced almost from the start that Watson was innocent of the first-degree murder count. The only question: Was Watson guilty of conspiring would not make Watson guilty, the judge said. He added, however, that this should be considered along with all the other facts.

This was enough for the jury. The jurors, many of whom became warm friends in the six weeks they were roommates at the hotel, agreed among themselves not to discuss details of how they reached a verdict. It was learned, however, that they took a first ballot Saturday morning shortly after the case was placed In their hands. THE QUESTION on the first ballot was innocent or guilty, with neither the murder count or the conspiracy count mentioned specifically. The vote was 7 to for acquittal.

They recessed de The tax problem loom large in Michigan's higher education "crisis," hut soaring population and a rapidly-increasing rate of college attendance, as detailed here, promise to make today's problem look like a bed of roses compared with what can be expected by 1970. This is the third article in a five-part series. RV DON" RECK Free Press Stuff Writer In the current "Battle of the Bulge and the Ruck" being waged between Michigan's publicly supported colleges and universities and the Legislature, there has been a tendency to take the bulge for granted. It's like playing ping-pong with a TNT ball. Almost everyone seems to agree that Michigan can expect an increase in youngsters seeking to attend college.

But the full extent of the Watson Acquitted; Trial ior Nelle Believed Unlikely Other pictures on Back Page. BY JACK CASEY Gordon Watson was found innocent Monday of or attempting to murder Parvin (Bill) Lassiter. to have Parvln Lassiter slain Despite Watson's testimony to the contrary, the jury believed that Watson knew the morning after the murder that Roy C. (Buck) Hicks and two other men had murdered his boss. But did this knowledge and talked like the bandit team.

The thugs were masked from the down, but she said they resembled the men "from the nose up." IN ANOTHER CASE of mistaken identity, Roy Teal, 23, won release from Jackson Prison after another gunman admitted a beer-and-wine store rrP il I 1 The verdict probably elim inated the possibility of any further proceedings against Mrs. Nelle Lassiter, Watson's former girl friend and originally a co-defendant in'tfie case. The nin women and three men announced that they had reached a verdict at 11:15 a.m. when they were ushered into the packed courtroom of Circuit Judge Joseph G. Rashid.

THE DA ITER 45-year-old car salesman was not in the court when Harry Amirkanian, the foreman, announced the jury's readiness. Watson complaining of a pain in his side, had gone to the first aid station in the basement of the City- County Building for treatment, A deputy summoned him for what Watson called "the longest elevator ride I have ever taken." In the 18th-floor courtroom, Watson took the hard, wooden chair he has occupied since Rashid started to pick a jury seven weeks ago. "We find the defendant not guilty of either count," said the foreman. Watson cried out and half-collapsed against his attorney, Albert Summer. Then he spun in his chair and threw his arms around his wife, Nell, seated behind him.

They clung; together sobbing for several minutes. MRS. LASSITER. ro-defend-anUuntil a mistrial was called on her behalf May 17. heard of the acquittal in her room at Jennings Memorial Hospital.

Gordon Watson, his wife and his lawyer celebrate an event 2 Holdup Suspects Freed; In Court at Time ol Crime Increase has been clouded, and there has been a tendency to ignore it because of the more dramatic controversy over money. how much of a bulge will there he? F'antastir is the only word. Higher education has been growing steadily -in an explosive way since the turn nf the century, especially in Michiga n. THE A Cf'O PAN YIN table shows the growth by decades a growth in both the college-age population, through 1950, and an even greater increase in those actually attending college. Even though the college-age population declined slightly in Michigan between IPSO and 1960, primarily because of a low birth rate in World War n.

college enrollment continued to shoot shead. Back In 1950, many fell the Increased attendance was something temporary. The increase was attributed to World War II veterans attending college on the Gt bill. But. with a decline in the college-age group between 1950 and I960, attendance continued to climb, hitting 158.000 in 1960.

There now are eight times as many college students as 60 years ago and almost three times as many as only 20 years ago. What can we expect In the next decade? There are in Michigan, right now, 1.0S6.S54 children to 14. By 1970. these youngsters will be the state's college-age population. Even with normal mortality, our college-age population will be roughly 1,000,000 by 1970.

Even If the percentage of attendance held steady at the current 24 per cent, this could mean 240,000 college students by 1 970 82,000 more than there are now. Rut there is every reason to expect that the percentage will continue to climb, reaching at least per cent by 1970. with enrollment hitting THIS Bl'LGE is the much-discussed postwar "baby boom" that has been flooding our elementary and high schools. It can't ignored. The children are here now and, more and more, their parents expect that they will go on to college.

They know college graduates earn more, that jobs once requiring only a high school diploma are. now open only to those who have had at least some college, often at least a bachelor's degree. They also know that jobs formerly filled by holders of bachelor's degrees are going now to those with master's degrees especially in the scientific fields. And they know mere is increasing emphasis on the doctor's degree. This is where the other bulges start showing up those reflecting the emphasis on completion of the undergraduate program, the attainment of master's degrees, and, more slowly but inexorably, the highest of all, the doctor's degree.

The second table points this up. FOR YEARS, critics of higher education have pooh-poohed the college crush by pointing to the high attrition rate, the vast difference between students who enter college as freshmen and those who graduate. But the gap is constantly narrowing, especially at the nine public institutions. At the University of Michigan, for example, less than 10 per cent of the entering freshmen drop out in the first year. The rate is higher at the other schools, in some cases as much as 20 per cent, but it is going down steadily.

This produces bulges at the Turn to Tage 4, Column 1 women drank champagne toasts after giving the verdict. Like Watson, they too were freed. THEY HAD been locked up in the Henrose Hotel and had led the life of well-cared-for whether the commitment violates her constitutional rights. Louisell said he will file a petition Tuesday asking for a re-examination of Mrs. Lassiter by doctors named by-Judge Rashid.

The petition, Louisell said, will also ask that Mrs. Lassiter have her hond reinsti-tuted and that she he. freed Ihe sheriffs custody pending the sanity test. Louisell said he hoped Mrs. Lassiter would be released from the hospital by the middle of the week.

Court officials agreed that it was unlikely that Mrs. Las siter would be tried again for conspiring to kill her husband. MRS. WATSON had been barred from the courtroom for most of the trial because she. was to testify.

On the stand she told thej jury that she still loved her husband and had forgiven him! his affair with the blond grandmother. As Watson talked excitedly with anyone, who would listen, Assistant Prosecutor George D. Kent held a quiet post mortem. "It looks like they (the jurors) didn't even believe our reliable witnesses," he said. "I'm stunned!" "We will have to reappraise our case, against Mrs.

Lassiter." Said Watson: "I'm the. happiest man in the world. This is the greatest news I ever had. There must have been a lot of people praying HIS TEARS were infectious. A rtozen wom'n in i-'d'e had their Mrs.

Watson cried too: feel just wonderful hut I'm "I so excited I don't know what to say. I never doubted that he i would be freed of any guilt." Husband and wife left (he court arm-in-arm. Three or four unidentified women pecked the free man on the cheek and said they had been praying for him. The Watsons spent the after- noon and evening with his brother, James C. Watson, ati 11687 Mulberry, Southgate.

He said they planned to fly to their Culver City (Calif.) home on-j Tuesday. Watson works as a salesman for Industrial Litho-! graph, there. Monday was the first time during the six-week trial that( Watson has shown any sign of i weakness. Most of the time he I and confident' THE JURY. locked up in a downtown hotel for the duration of the trial, was dismissed by Judge Rashid.

They had deliberated all day Saturday, rested Sunday, and returned at 8:30 a.m. Monday. The acquittal had come on the third ballot. The action had, for all serious I purpose, ended the sensational! Lassiter case that started more than two years ago on April 6, 1959, when Lassiter, a Royal; Oak car dealer, was killed in aj ditch alongside the expressway! near Willow Run Airport Three men from Chatta-noga. did the killing.

Roy C. (Buck) Hicks, Charles Nash and Richard Jones were tried for first-degree murder before Judge Rashid. During the trial the men pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to life in Jackson Prison. Mrs. Lassiter and Watson were subsequently arrested.

The State charged that they were as guilty as the actual killers because they had procured the crime. However, the three co-conspirators Hicks, Nash and Jones refused to testify in the case against Mrs. Lassiter and Watson, Nash and Jones petitioned Rashid for new trials but Rashid denied both petitions. "Thank God it's over." heritor me liberations Saturday night with no further balloting. "Sunday we had a chance to rest and think it over," said Harry Amirkanian, of 19171 Ardmore, the foreman.

When the jurors left the hotel Monday morning they knew a verdict was near. One woman had told her family. "The next call you get from me will be to take me home." Others wrote on a list of "gripes and happy thoughts" they had posted on the door of their hotel recreation room "My last day here," "Going home soon," and "The last night to spend here." A MON DAY, he jurors took a ballot on the murder and cleared Waton. Then came the question of conspiracy. Why did Mrs.

Nelle Lassiter supposedly send word to Hicks the morning after the killing, asking about her husband's death Why did Watson order tires changed on the death car Why did he go to Mrs. Lassiter' home right away? Why did he ask puzzling questions about Lassiter' insurance Watson knew something had happened to Lassiter. several jurors decided, dKi that alone make him guilty' When the judge said no, the rest was easy. Complete acquittal. "KNOWLEDGE a crime Is one thing, testimony from the.

witness stand is another," Amirkanian explained. "Watson crossed himself up on the witness stand," the foreman said. "He's not much different from some of the witnesses against him, but there was this reasonable doubt "That was the main thing the reasonable doubt A woman juror complained that the stories of Hirks and Richard another nf Ihe killers, "were too pat." "They're not that smart and they wouldn't, remember." she said. "They must have got together on their stories." The end of the trial was like graduation day for the jurors "We're free." said Mrs Virginia R. Hesovsky, of 115 34 Conner.

Judge Rashid told the Jurors after their verdict was announced that they had the "gratitude of the entire st Mich. Temperatures fU.S Weather Bureau) Pre Pre S5 on Rflv'C'ty 88 B7 61 00 5 on 60 Lansing 84 MaraueH 56 'usfcgon 77 Peilt'cn 77 Vane 71 Trav C'ty 83 on on 00 fit) DETROIT 86 Flirt IPT HJ Papids 84 54 53 49 56 c. Houpton oo 00 00 Jackson 82 Michigan Forecast DETROIT AREA: Partly cloudy and continued warm with 3 few afternon or evening showers. North winds 10-20 mph. High 80-M.

low Tuesday nignt AREA FORECASTS and SW Lower Mich Partly cloudv and warm with a chance of showers. North winds 10 20 mph. Low 1 60, huh IH1 NE and NW Lower Partly e'oudv and a bit cooler with a chance nf showers. Northeast winds 10-11 mph. Low 46-54.

huh 6-7t. and Upper Partly cloudy and mild with north to northeast winds 10-18 mph Low 45-52. high 65-74. Wednesday's outlook: Fair, little change. Lake Conditions LAKE ST.

CLAIR: Cloudy, possible shoers. north. northeast winds 18-29 mph. Tudav. ERIE: Partly cloudv: north-northeasl winds 18-29 mph.

Tuesday. HURON: Small craft warnings. Partly cloudy, northeast winds 18-29 mph. Tuesday ONTARIO: Small craft Partly cloudy; northeast winds U-29 mph. Tuesday MICHIGAN: Small craft wtrnlnn from Shebovgan and Muskegon northward.

Cloudv. possible showerj; Northeast winds 18-25 mph. Tuesday SUPERIOR: Fair, eest-northeajt winds 14 23 moh Tuesday. BY JOHN GRIFFITH Fru Pre Sf Writer Two bandit suspects were freed Monday during their examination in Recorder's Court when an attorney declared they were victims of mistaken identity. It was the third case of mistaken identity to rock the court in recent months.

Attorney Joseph V. Luto-! maski intervened in the case after a motion had been made to bind Michael Lombardi, 28. and Francisco Bommarito, 26, over for trial. They were accused of the May 12 holdup of Speed's Bar, at 12040 Greenfield. M'TOMASKI.

a spectator in the courtroom, told Judge John A. Ricca the men could not have committed the crime. "At the time of the holdup; they were in Recorder's Court awaiting assignment for trial, of a. burglary case in which they were defendants," Luto-: maski declared. Detective Sgt.

Orville Thil- Hpe checked. The pair had been In court from 9 a.m. until noon. The bar holdup was at 9:50 a.m. Ricca dismissed charges.

Identification had been made by a waitress who said Bnm-i marito and Lombardi walkl' Progress Reported In Phone Pad Talks Progress was reported Monday in wage negotiations covering 36,300 of th 23,733 employes of the Michigan Bell Telephone Co. I reached (his ear hv th Deadline for a new agree-j rUA anf, wn otlwM. ment with the Communications; system companies. The In-Workers of America is mid- creases range from $1 to $.1 night Tuesday. However, vvp'k an ar'" expected attorney, W.

1-ouisell, quoted her as saying. Her doctor, however, said she was in a near state of collanse and could see no one hut her immediate familv and lawver. Louisell had said she appeared elated and relaxed. After a sanity commission hearing, "Judge Rashid ordered Mrs. Lassiter committed to Ionia State Hospital as an insane person.

However, she will not be moved pending a Federal District Court hearing on Nelle Elated At Acquittal Of Watson I holdup for which Teal was convicted. Judge John O'Hara is investigating the third case, in which Lee Shaw was sentenced last December for the holdup, of a florist shop. Later, another man admitted 'the holdup and is now also serving a jail term. Shaw has not. iyet been released ment here.

The Michigan Bell contract covers 16,300 employes of the traffic, accounting and plant; departments. agreement is reached by Tuesday midnight, it is ex-j pected that negotiations will i continue at last temporarily; without a strike. Forecast lo 1 -ft o'm jy efexP Higher Education in Michigan The Big Bulge By Age Group and Attendance Resident Credit Enrollment, Head Per Cent of Age Group Attending Mich 13 Residents in 18 24 "College The jury that, freed Gordon aPPearefJ "lm atson Monday spread joy asof ac1ultlaI- Watson Monday spread joy Few Showers Can't Cool Off Heat Wave YEAR Age" Group Count, All Institutions College 1900 280,000 8,000 3 1910 350,000 15,000 4 1920 465,000 21,000 5 1930 580,000 44,000 8 1940 650,000 61,000 9 1950 663,000 95,000 14 1960 641,000 158,000 24 1970 (Est) 1,000,000 chances of a strike were con- sidered slight. CURRENT bargaining is con- cerned only with wage increases and the reclassification of van- ous jods ana towns, me oasic three-vear contract runs until June fi, 1963. Agreements on wape In- creases already have been -S- Wrather Bureau Jf -dm, Li AH MGMSTTfMPPITUMl 1.4 C10U0 f0fCST Local Statistics 0)0 Last O.

Juna 5 New Juna 11 First Juna 21 Full Juna 2i Sun rises: 4:56 a.m.; sets 1:05 a.m. Moon rises: 1:12 a.m.; sets 12:03 p.m. One year ago Tuesday: Low 47, high 68 Record temperature June 4 since 1172: Lew 41 (1194), huh 3 (125). HBlIf" A. far as the Jennings Hospital room occupied by Wetson's former paramour and co-defendant.

Nelle Lassiter. Mrs. Lassiter's physician, Dr. Ralph A. Johnson, said he thought she could be released from the hospital by the end of this week.

"SHE WAS very elated with the news of Mr. Watson's acquittal," Dr. Johnson said. "We had difficulty keeping i her contained when the news; of the verdict reached her. "Mrs.

Lassiter had a little indigestion trouble after lunch and she was placed under sedation. "Although still a sick woman, she was humble and thanked God for being with her through this ordeal. "She has been upset with the prospect of being sent to Ionia hanging over her head and this prospect has made it difficult to treat her. "She will be kept from any visitors except her family and her attorney for the next several days and she should be able to relax and gradually regain control of herself. think her recovery should be rapid and she should be able to go home or wherever the authorities send her by the end of the week.

MOV Higher Education in Michigan The Big Bulge By Levels of Instruction at the Nine Public 4-Year Institutions U.S. Temperatures (24 Hours Ended a I P.M.) Official Government Fiiures MIDWEST Pre. Pre. Bismarck 90 53 00 Indianao. 84 57 .00 Chicago 85 60 .00 KansasC.

84 44 .00 Cincinnati 86 .00 miiwsuk. us Cleveland 82 54 Moines 8 2 Duluth 66 58 Boston 86 60 New York 8 62 Phila. 80 71 Atlanta 87 69 Birming. 94 70 Jacksnvil. 92 72 Denver 70 49 Ft.

Worth 89 72 M-s Paul 8b 54 (K .00 Omaha 7J 59 .87 .00 St. Louis 87 .14 EAST .00 Pittsbrgh B0 50 .00 Port. Me. 85 58 .00 washing. 8 0 SOUTH .02 Memphis 88 71 .00 Miami 85 78 .01 N.Orleans 88 73 WEST .00 Wioenlx 98 0 .42 Port.

Ore. 75 57 .00 .00 .00 .02 .00 .00 .00 .00 Los A. 68 57 .00 San Pran. 53 .00 Okla.Citv 82 62 .14 Seattle 69 53 .01 National Summary Showers and thunderstorms were scattered across much of the mid-section of the nation Monda afternoon. Most of the activity concentrated near the Rockies, over the southern plains and along and on both sides of a nearly stationary frontal svstem extending from South Carolina to Kentucky, then westward into the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Some of the more vigorous storms produced hail, high winds and locally heavy rainfall. This was particularly the case in the southern plains where funnel clouds were sighted over northern Texas and a tornado struck near Boise City. Oklahoma. Another frontal system, marking the leading edse of a mass of cool Canadian air, drifted slowly southward to the border areas of the northeastern states accompanied by widely scattered showers. Later Monday night a few thunder-showers were reported in upper New York State and northern New England, followed by clearing and cooler conditions early Tuesday morning.

Midafternoon temperatures stood on ih arm side through most of the country. DEGREES 1958 1960 INC. AWARDED 13,163 18,347 39 Bachelor 8,965 12,559 40 Master 3,044 4,322 42 Doctor 435 512 18 Grad-Prof 719 954 32 ENTERING FRESHMEN 13,450 17,573 31 WfllHH FOIOCASt all F10 Foreign Temps. TEMPERATURES AT 1 P.M. MONDAY Aberdeen London Paris Berlin Vienna Copenhagen Stockholm Rome Madrid Ankara Warsaw Malt.

54 Casablanca 68 Tokyo 66 Mexico Citv 77 San Juan 59 Havana 68 72 68 Kingston Maracaibo Vn Bermuda St. Thomas 1 64 Nassau Bahamas 84 61 Tel Aviv, Israel 75 48 Includes medicine, dentistry, law, public health, social work, veterinary science..