davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
ROTARIANS HEAR
MENDOTASKIPPER
Commander Bowerman De-
scribes Peacetime Duties
OF Coast Guard

Commander G. H. Bowerman Of
the USS Mendoza, guest speaker
Yesterday at the weekly meeting
OF the Rotary club, described for
me clubs members the difference
II! peacetime and wartime duty
OF the Coast Guard.
BoWerman said that while there
now was a vast difference in
me work of this particular branch
Of the service than during the
war, it was none the less vital
70 the shipcping Of the country.
among these peacetime duties,
ne laid, were keeping the ship
lanes free Of icebergs and guiding
sAlp' into safety zones.
Large Payroll
boWernan said that the 10 Of
Ilcers and the lis men aboard
me Mendoza bring to the city a
monthly payroll Of $23, 900.
guests at yesterdays luncheon
we're L. j. Fulton of Mountain
NY Tenn, and Harvey w. Ander-
sOl d Richmond, Va, A new mem
pef taken into the club was George
lenuta Indicted by Lewis Han
son.
Next weeks meeting will hear
'onn Parks, Raleigh newspaper
publisher tell his opinions of the
present European situation. Park
1eCeh'Iy returned from a European
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
Thirty-Seven
Es59und
hrs.s, ,om sasss
s1sa4, e.1'so Wreck.
~.,oauSroaa aulan Trains
ror Other Victims

DUGALD, Manitoba, Sept. 2-W.H
-Thirty-seven bodies were re.
moved in sacks today from the
Wreckage of two trains whose
head-on collision last night set of
a holocaust of wooden coaches,
passengers, an oil storage tank
and a grain elevator.
Police said there were more
bodies among the twisted, black
ened steel frames of the coaches,
but they would not guess how
many. "
Eighteen persons were injured,
some of them rescued almost mi
racuously.
James Pierce, a Canadian Ma.
tional Railways worker, said a
coach on one train was filled with
children returning home to Winni'
peg from a summer camp or
Lake Of The Woods. It was near.
ly impossible to tell whether the
bodies removed were those oil
adults or children. There was moi
much left of most of them.
The trains in the wreck were a
special, taking residents back te
Winnipeg and a continental train
stopped on the tracks outside 0:
Dugald station. Dugald is IA miles
east of Winnipeg. Both trains
were operated by Canadian Ma
tional Railways.
The special was supposed to
have been shunted off or a siding
until the transcontinental train
started up again and pulled out.
But, for a reason not yet explain
ed, the special ran at full speed
into the other train, instead of 60
ing into side tracks.
Fire Breaks Out
The crash woke up farmers
four miles away. There was a
second crash, probably the explo-
sion of gas used to light the spe-
cial. Fire broke out almost stimuli
taneously through eve cars OF
the special. The fire quickly
spread to the grain elevator and
storage tank.
A chorus of screams and means
of the burning victims rent the
air: scores of daZed, scared pas
See BODIES on Page Four
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
ACL
EMPLOYEE DIES
Lloyd Croker Passes While
At Work AT Local Rail-
road Station

Lloyd Croker, SO, veteran At
.lantic Coast Line employee and
widely-known in Wilmington where
he had resided for approximately
As Years, died late last night at
the station as he went about his
work.
Fellow employees said he walked
into a room to conduct some bust
ness. sat down for a moment to
rest and collapsed. Before medi-
cal aid could reach him he was
dead.
Mr.. Croker was born in Sea-
board, N. c., where he attended
school. He came to Wilmington
about 1908 after having been en-
ployed by what was then the Amer
lean Railway Express. He rose
from a small starting position to
district superintendent, a position
he held at the time of his death.
He had held that position since
about 1925.
The family home was at 1905
Princess street. Surviving are his
widow, Blanche; daughters, Mrs.
Edwin Brinkley, Of Admission, Mrs.
Jergan Haar of Charlotte and
three grandchildren.
The body was taken to the Ware
Funeral home pending funeral ar.
rangementS,
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
MIDWAY SAILS AWAY
TO FIRE w TYPE
ROCKETS ON OCEAN

PORTSMOUTH, Va, Sept. 2. -
P- The Super Aircraft Carrier
Midway went to sea today to fire
w type rockets, it was reported
tonight by an usually reliable
source who asked to remain anony-
nous.
Naval spokesman, asked for de-
tailed information on the tests, be-
lieved the first in which the w
weapon was launched at sea, said
the entire project was "conflden-
tial" and that nothing could be re-
leased for publication.
he rockets were installed on the
As, 900 ton flattop at the Norfolk
Naval shipyard.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
President Speaks
AT Final Session
Chief Magistrate, Party
Witness Signing OF
Defense Treaty

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil.
Sept. 2 - W.D President Truman
said today that the United States
was determined to remain strong
and that its traditional aversion
to violence must not be misinter-
as an invitation to others
80 take liberties with the founda-
tons of international peace"
Addressing the closing session
of the Inter-American conference
at P%etropolis, a few hours before
he witnessed the signing here Of
a historic hemisphere defense
treaty, the President said that the
United States was deeply con-
scious of its world position in a
postwar era which had brought it
''bitter disappointment and deep
concern"
Many nations we're still subject
ed. to foreign domination" he
said, and many in Europe and
Asia Give under the shadow o4
armed aggression"
European recovery is tagging.
he said, because of paralysis Of
political fear and uncertainty
The United States, he caid, will
pursue the quest for a real peace
with no less persistence and no
less determination than we app
piled to the quest for military VIC
tory"
Its foreign policy, he said, is to
help impoverished countries and
to be faithful to the United M
tions.
Leaving no doubt in the minds
of the delegates Of 10 American
Republics who heard him that no
referred to Russia, Mr.. Truman
continued:
"In carrying out our policy we
are determined to remain strong.
This is in no way a threat. The
record of the past SPEAKS for US.
No great nation has been more
reluctant than ours to use armed
See PRESIDENT on Page Four
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
FIVE MEN KILLED
IN EASTERN BLOW
Lightning Bolts Take Two
Lives; Massachusetts,
Has 116-Mile Wind
nv The Associated Press

Five men were killed Tuesday
as a tornado struck Southwestern
Pennsylvania and high winds and
storms ripped into Eastern New
England. damaging buildings and
utilities, but most other sections
of the country enjoyed pleasant
weather.
The Salem, Mass, Coast Guard
airbase said the wind reached Jig
miles an hour at it's height and
the Boston Weather bureau. said
2.7 inches of rain fell in less than
IL hours.
Three men were killed in New
England. One was fatally injured
when lightning demolished a one
story factory at Easton, Mass;
another died in Thomaston, Conn,
when lightning struck a furnace
he was repairing and a Readville,
Mass, man was killed when his
automobile. collided with another
car during a binding downppour.
A brick railroad roundhouse was
smashed in Marblehead, Mass,
homes in Brockton. Mass, and
towns were damaged,
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
Along The Cape Fear

Al about the same time, F or t
Fender at one time known as
Johnston, located near what is
Southport but at that period went
by the name of Smithville, also
was evacuated.
TROOPS UNITE-On Friday of
that week, the garrisons of these
forts were assembled at Fort An
derson under the command of
General Hebert. Those statements
are made by historians who have
written of the event although
there is some cause to question
their complete accuracy.
General Hebert remained in
command only a brief period aft
err that time. In his place General
Johnson Hagood was put in COM
mand of Fort Anderson and re-
manned in that post until the evac-
uation.
There also is a story of Federal
troop hardships. It is the story
of the Union service men moving
into the river.
VESSELS LIGHTENED - At
er the capture of Fort Fisher, the
Federal troops and sailors were
employed in getting their mont
tors, gunboats and other craft
See CAPE FEAR on Page Four
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
PIEDMONT GOING
AHEAD ON PLANS
President Confident That
Line Will Be Operating
Here Soon

Thomas Davis, PPresident OF
Piedmont Aviation, Inc, of Win
ston-Salem, told the Star last
night that air service from Gin
cinnati to Wilmington had not been
POSTPONED indefinitely.
Davis statement followed reports
that the Civil Aeronautics board
had ordered a delay in a c%ertifi-
cate of public convenience and
necessity to Piedmont.
"We are going right ahead with
our plans" Davis said, land I feel
confident that we will be operating
into Wilmington pretty son."
He said that ''final touches"
were being put on their operating
program because we anticipate
an early decision" in the case.
It had been Piedmont's intention
to start service to Wilmington by
the end OF the week. However,
some weeks ago, after Piedmont
had been granted a certificate of
necessity by CAB, States Airlines
of Charlotte, filed a petition in the
District Court of Appeals. asking
that Piedmont be denied the GER
tificate.
1t is this petition, now pending
before the court of appeals, which
is holding up service to Whining
ton.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
''FROSH" TO HOLD
MINIS SPOTLIGHT
Newcomers To Be Kings,
Queens Today In Prepa-
ration Fer Opening

Annual Freshman Day" will
be observed today at New Ham
over high school for possibly the
largest freshman class in the his
tory of the school, it was report
ed yesterday by school officials.
The Frosh Day activities will
get underway at 8:45 o'clock this
morning as the newcomers as
semble in front of the high school
for a pep rally, led by the school
cheer leaders.
The students will 60 immediate
ly to their designated homerooms
after the pep rally and will attend
Homeroom Class, the first official
high school class Cor the fresh
men, at 9 o'clock.
A program will follow in the
auditorium and will consist of u
devotional by Miss Betty Britt.
welcome to the freshman. class by
Principal T. T. Hamilton, a re-
view of student government &C.
tivities by Malcolm Crawford.
president of the student body;
solo by Pete AGREE, study of stu
dent telephone directory by JIM
my Singleton, student publications
OF handbook, Hanoverian, and the
Wildcat by Miss Catherine Nc
Rae, club activities by Billy
Quarles, a review of judicial sys-
tenn Of the school by Blantey Lee,
and a talk on the legislative
branches of the school and fresh
men elections by Miss Catherine
Grove.
Following the series of events
in the auditorium the students
will journey to their first five
classes and remain in each for
Is minutes.
Refreshments will be given the
students in the high school cafe
terra from II o'clock to 1870 aft
err which they will return for D
Is minute stay in their fifth or
sixth, and seventh period classes.
: Upon completion of the seven
classes the newcomers will be
dismissed for the remainder OF
the day only to resume school ac-
tivities tomorrow morning at $50
o'clock with the sophomore. Jun
ior, and senior classes.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
TAR HEEL SINGER
TO APPEAR HERE
Norman Gordon, Metropoli-
tan Opera Star Coming
To City For Recital

Norman Gordon, formerly of
the Metropolitan Opera company,
New York, is scheduled to make
an appearance here Sept. 10 I'm
der the sponsorship of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce, it was
announced last night by Hal Love,
Jaycee president.
Love said that the entire pro-
ceeds from the concert will go
to the South Eastern North Caro-
lima Beach association.
Gordon, a native Tar Hee-, was
born at Washington, N. c., and
at the present time is a Broad
way musical star.
Complete plans for the event,
Love said, have not been formu-
lated, but they will be announced
shortly. He added that in presen-
ting Gordon, the Jaycees felt they
were bringing to Wilmington one
OF the best musical programs to
be heard here in recent years.
Hugh Morton, chairman of the
beach association drive, said that
he did not see chow the concert
could fail to be a sell-out because
not only will a good musical pro-
gram be presented, but the entire
proceeds will go back into stimu-
lating business in this section"
eve of the beach association"
he said, "are most appreciatlve
of the help the Jaycees are CIV
ing us in the time of need"
= It was announced at the meet
ing last night that football tickets
again this year will be handled
by the Jaycees.
Love announced that Miss Kath-
lee (Micky) Hartiss, will leave
Friday for Reidsville where, as
''Miss Wilmington, she will rep
sent the city Saturday in the har-
vest jubilee.
The following new members
were indicted into the club.
DR.. H. W. Johnson, Hugh Nc
Rae, II, and John Walker. Harry
Gilliard, was a guest.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
VETERANS THR0NC
BANKING HOUSES
1929 Cash Terminal Leave
Bonds For Total Amount
OF $234,955.30

New Hanover county veterans, at
least 1,029 of them, thronged Will
mington banks yesterday to cash
terminal leave checks and when
the local institutions closed their
doors a total of 1924, $3.50 had
been issued the veterans, accord
ing to figures released last night
by William Bozeman, secretary of
the Wilmington Clearing House
Association.
Early yesterday morning lines
began to form at local banks,
building and loan associations and
credit unions. The average pay
ment was estimated to be $227.27
per man.
Yesterday was the first day for
cashing of bonds since President
Truman approved the bill per-
hitting them to do SO all over the
nation. According to United Press
reports veterans in large cities,
towns and hamlets swarmed the
EdllkllS 1l0IIluIlOA1S w toAA IAS
bonds into folding money
The total national sum is ST.
1853, 1872, 900 with nearly nine mil
lion veterans eligible to cash their
bonds.
According to Veterans Admins
tration figures approximately A.
553 New Hanover county veterans
out Of SOIL are holding bonds esti-
mated to value 81, 034. 1921.
In Brunswick county 1,102 vet
Grams are holding bonds estimat-
ed to be valued at $3.50, 451.54. Col
umbus county has 3,213 veterans
eligible to receive an estimated
$730, 218.51 and Fender county vet
Grams number 1,134 with an esti-
mated value $257, 724.1S in bonds.
Capt. Coy Etheridge of the Will
mington Police department report
ed last night that the veterans
were orderly as t hey lined up for
their bond money.
eve did not make a single ar
rest or have to reprimand any of
the veterans during the day." He
said it was not necessary to add
extra policemen to maintain order
at the various banks.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
BLASTS IN TEL AVN
UNCOVER ARMS PLANT
MAKING TIME FUSES

JERUSALEM, Palestine, Sept. 3
-U.H-Two explosions in Tel Aviv
led today to the discovery of a
Jewish underground arms fac
tory that, had been turning out
mortars, bombs, revolvers and
automatic time fuses that opera
ted like clocks.
The body of a man believed to
have been a member of the Irgun
Zvai Leum was found in the
wreckage, the inside of the factory
was badly damaged.
The Stern gang, a smaller coun-
terpart of the firebrand Irgun, is
sued a manifesto charging that
the majority report of the United
Nations special committee on
Palestine, recommending parti-
ton and freedom, was an "unsuc-
cessful compromise" ?
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
Judge Frizzelle
Acquits Six Men
Arrest OF A. w. Edwards
Climaxes Hearing Into
Rich Square Case

JACKSON, Sept. 2 U.D The
self-confessed leader of a thwart-
ed lynch mob and the aging jail
keeper who admitted the masked
white men to the cell of a young
Negro were ordered held for trial
today by a special judge appoint
ed by Gov. Gregg Cherry to re-
open testimony in the case.
Six other men charged with
conspiracy and with breaking and
entering a Jail were released
when Judge j. Paul Frizzelle
found no probable cause against
them.
Joe Cunningham, assistant
manager of a Rich Square, thea
ter was identified by his would
be victim, Goodwin Buddy) Bush,
and had confessed his part in the
case to the FBI.
Frizzelle, in a scathing state
ment, issued a bench warrant for
Jailer A. W. Edwards, who ad-
mitted he made little effort to
stop the mobsters when they
came to the jail to seize Bush
May %.
The Judge, sitting as a commit
ting magistrate after a grand jury
had refused to indict Cunningham
and his six companions, refused
to strike out the confession Cum
ningham made to the FBI, in
which he said the seven men
were "'scared half to death" dur
ing the escapade.
Assails Jailer
Frizzelle. facing a packed court
room of $50 whites and more than
100 Negroes, turned on Edwards
and declared:
"You had custody Of those pris-
oners and your obligation to the
state and the laws of the land re-
quired you to do far more than
you did to protect them.
Mot once did you ask or beg
them to desist. You. led the
men to Bush's cell and pointed
him out. / couldn't leave this
courtroom with my own self re-
spect if I did not call you to an
swer these charges"
The jailer, spare and sixtyish,
said he was unarmed but admit
ted under whitening questioning
by the judge and Solicitor Ernest
See FRIZZELLE on Page Four
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
ACL WILL EXTEND
EVERGLADES Line
President Davis Makes An
nouncement OF Improve
ment Costing $750,OOO

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2. P)
&c. Med. Davis, president of the
Atlantic Coast Line railroad, said
today his company plans to start
construction Immediately" of a
16-mile extension of line into the
Florida Everglades south of Lake
Okeechobe.
Davis made the statement short
ly after the Interstate Commerce
Commission approved Atlantic
Coast Lines APPLICATION for author
ity to build the branch, estimated
to cost approximately $3.50, 900.
The commission at the same
time rejected a rival application
filed by Florida East Coast rail
way for authority to run a branch
into the same territory, termina-
ting at the Okeelanta Growers and
Professors cooperative sugar mill
at O%keelanta, Fla.
Sees Merger
Noting that the ICC has ap-
proved a reorganization plan for
Florida East Coast which would
merge that railroad into the At
lantic Coast Line system, Davis
said that the reorganization plan
would not affect the Everglades
project.
He expressed the view that the
merger would be consummated,
Notwithstanding pending petitions
for commission reconsideration of
the merger order which have been
filed by st. Joe Paper company
and other Florida East Coast
stockholders.
The Atlantisc Coast Line branch
will run from near Lake Harbor,
Fla, to Keelanta, serving the
sugar mill and newly developed
vegetable and cane producing ter.
ritory in the everglades.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
RECORDER TURNS
PATR0LMAN LOOSE
Police Chief Also
Acquitted; league Fin
ed SIS In Gregory Case

HALIFAX, Sept. 2 -P-Re-
corder's Court Judge Charles
Daniel tonight acquitted two
former State Highway patrolmen
and an acting police chief on
charges of beating a recaptured
prisoner, and convicted former
Patrol Corporal C. L. league of
simple assault. league was fined
$25 and costs.
Those acquitted were Arthur F.
Fields and Don W. Wilson, form
er patrolmen, and R. D. jenkins,
acting police chief of Littleton.
Within minutes after the fine
had been imposed on league,
some 80 spectators in the court
room stepped forward to pay it.
All defendants took the stand,
as did the prisoner, ~45-year-old
Claude Gregory, who testified
that when he was recaptured last
Aug. 81, a day after his escape,
three highway patrolmen beat
him with saplings and a cartridge
belt while he was handcuffed to
a tree.
league, who had been with the
highway patrol since 1888 and
who resigned with his two fellow
patrolmen Aug. 26, assumed all
responsibility on the stand today
for the incident.
league testified that he had
spent all of the afternoon of Aug.
20 in a search for Gregory, who
had escaped the previous day
from the Halifax county prison
camp. The officer said he had
gone to bed at sunrise when he
was notified that Gregory had
been recaptured.
The patrolman said he drove to
a spot near Littleton where Greg
DRY was being held. league said
he was joined by the other two
patrolmen and jenkins, and the
four of them placed Gregory in a
patrol car and took him into some
woods. league testified. that he
wanted to see where Gregory was
unprecedented.
En- route to the wooded spot,
league told the court. Gregory
began using "vile language" The
officer said he twice warned
Gregory about his language.
Finally, league said. Gregory's
language "became so abusive" he
took off his gun and told the pris-
oner to get out of the car. league
said he struck Gregory several
times with his leather shoulder
strap, but at no time, he added,
was the prisoner hit with sticks.
The patrolman testified that
Gregory was not handcuffed to a
tree, as the prisoner had said in
earlier testimony. Fields, Wilson
and Jenkins took the stand and
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
Publisher BlameS Loan
For Present British Ills

He said that if Britain had
adopted a policy of developing
empire potentialities with speed
and vigor she would be self-sup-
porting Or well on the way to be-
coming so now.
"The basic cause of u being
in the present condition insteed OF
being well on the way to recov-
cry" he said. sis the loan Gamer
ican) and the conditions under
which it was accepted. 1t provid-
ed easy money Cor Britain. 1t de-
stroyed our prospect Ct recon-
(See PUBLISHER on Page Four)
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03
RUSSIA CENSURED
STRONGLY BY U. S.
State Department Not e
Turns Down Soviet Pro-
test On Ruhr Pact

WASHINGTON, Sept. q U.T-
The United States today again
censured Russia for failing to
agree to economic %unification of
Germany and turned down sharp
ly a Soviet protest over the Anglo
American decision to raise Ger
man industrial output in their oc-
cupation zones.
The State department also
made it clear to the Kremlin in a
diplomatic note that German pro-
duction would play a vital role in
the Marshall European rehabilita-
tion plan, regardless of Russia's
refusal to join the project.
The Soviet Foreign office on
Aug. 10 objected strongly to
n-British-French talks in
London on Germany's industrial
future as a violation Of the 194A
Potsdam agreement.
Replying today, the United
States used the language of the
Potsdarh' accord TO support its
stand that Russia had failedsp
approve an economic merger Of
the four occupation zones.
Own Business
The State department, in effect,
informed Russia that what the
Americans and British do in their
zones is their business. France,
too, has baked at the four-power
merger, but the two powers have
offered to hear the French views
on future industrial output.
"The Soviet government is GER
tainly aware of the importance of
German production to the eco
nomic rehabilitation of Europe"
the note said, obviously referring
to the Marshall plan. This is
See RUSSIA On Page Four
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-09-03

It's easy to be a millionaire in
Shanghai. All one needs is a $50
bill in American money, a two
suffer case or bushel basket.
According to a Wilmington visi-
tor who recently returned from a
business trip to the Orient, black
market money quotations have
run as high as 20, 900 Chinese dol
lars to one u. S. dollar. Price
f~luctuates as much as $4,000 in a
single day.
The American traveller in China
isn't Inconvenience too much by
the shifts in currency values, and
the visitor said that he found It
lgood for a lot Of laughs.