davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1950-01-13
Hungry Horse Dam

CONTINUED from page one)
1852 employment may reach 5000.
Wages paid during 1949 totaled ap-
proximately $5,5O0,000.
Other important construction mile
stones passed during 1949 included
completion in May of excavation for
the highest "Glory Hole" type spill
way in the world. When 564-foot
high Hungry Horse dam is completed,
overflow water from the 100000
acre-foot reservoir will plunge over
the lip of the 35-foot diameter spill
way and drop 400 feet, approximately
the height of History building, on
its journey under the dam back to
the river channel.
Major activity in June was con-
struction of cofferdams which shunt-
ed the river through the SO foot di-
ameter, 1,1S0-foot long diversion tun-
mel to permit completion of excava-
ton in the river channel.
With all construction activities
during the year geared to the pri-
ing operations in September, Gen
orrison, prime contractor
for the dam and power-plant, con-
centrated during July and August
on completion of major plant facil-
tiles including the galloway system,
the 139-foot high concrete mixing
plant and the gravel screening plant.
Excavation Essentially Completed
Also essentially completed dur
ng the year was excavation of more
han one million cubic yards of earth
md rock from the canyon walls and
liver channel to prepare bedrock
foundations for the worlds highest
md fourth largest concrete dam.
Fabrication of the 1914 foot di-
meter steel penstock pipes that will
AIRY water to the four los, 000-horse-
'ower turbines to be installed in the
hungry Horse powerhouse was com
'leted in October. Installation of the
'enstock sections in the dam will be
tarted next spring.
Logging and clearing work in the
4-mile long reservoir area progress
ed rapidly during the year, with Sea-
'oard Surety Co., New York, essenti-
lily completing its S408,320 con-
ract for clearing 1885 acres; and
faxon, Grove and j. H. Trisdale,
'edding, California, SO per cent com
lete on their $1,733,880 contract
or clearing 1910 acres. As a re-
ult Of bids opened December 20 at
ne project, contracts for clearing
ne remaining 1896 acres of land
4 the reservoir will be awarded to
VlXson and Grove, Inc, on their low
i'd of S2,446,850 for clearing an es-
mated 6,840 acres; and to j. H.
rlsdale, on low bid of S2,484,36O
Or clearing the balance of 1856
cres.
Logging contracts awarded last
BRING to Flathead Timber Products.
lc., Kalispell, and F. K. and l.. Tim
er Company, Martin City, for cut
ng of approximately 70,0OO,OOO
oard feet of merchantable timber are
pproximately 65 per cent complete
18th more than 100000 board
'et OF timber already removed from
lie reservoir area.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1950-01-13

PATRONIzE THE CO-OPS-THEY
BELONG TO THE USERS.
Evening star., 1950-06-18
Crime and Mystery
By Miriom Ottenbero

Once Queen decides the recurrent
deaths are too coincidental to be
natural. he comes up with a typi-
cal Queen theory that inevitably
produces enough complications to
please all Of his faithful follow
ing.
Follow, As the Night, by Pat Nc
Gerr. doubleday & Co., Inc.;
$2.25.)
Crime Club
More a novel of character dis
integration than q mystery, this
one establishes at the outset that
an egocentric columnist Is plan
ming to murder a woman. The
modus operandi but not the vic
tim is revealed. Since Larry
Rock has four women in his life
-ex-wife, wife, mistress and
fiance-- the sole mystery element
centers on which Of the women
is due to tumble to death from a
penthouse terrace. Effectively
emphasized is the basic motiva-
ton that makes one of the
four women the insurmountable
stumbling block In Larry's path
AS he sees IL.
X X 4
Shell Game, by Richard Powell.
(Simon & Schuster, Inc; S2.50.)
Inner SGnctum
Wanting nothing more adven-
turous than TO find q rare sea
shell along the Florida coast, Bill
Stuart finds himself saddled with
q girl who spells nothing but
trouble, particularly when she in
sists on masquerading as his wife
to escape police attention. AS
Tor Bill. the Surer he is that a
murderer is on his trail, the more
insistent the local police are
about giving him q parking ticket.
Powell likes his heroes mental and
his heroines agile. The formula
still works but we miss his Andy
and Arabella Blake.
Evening star., 1950-06-18

Among the Founding Fathers,
John Adams, lawyer son of a
Braintree (Mass.) dirt farmer, was
one Of the least colorful and the
most valuable. A reasonable rebel
to whom independence was logi-
cal and inevitable, a prodigious
scholar who found mo romance
more entertaining than the sci
ence Of government" a stay-at-
home. perpetually away from wife
and family. a man of dry humor
and stiff eloquence, he provided
at the Continental Congress the
stiff -necked certainty Of a right
eous cause sorely needed in an
assemblage of which he said
tartly: mo mortal tale can equal
it."
Your enjoyment of Catherine
Drinker Bowen's deft and fluent
study Of his life up to the time
of the signing of the Declaration
Iof Independence will depend
largely on how much you relish
"f1ctionalized" biography, in which
the author stands not only by the
subjects shoulder, but in his mind
and putting words in his mouth.
It can be truly said that the book
reads like a novel; but it requires
that John Adams be treated like
hero of a novel, and he does not
lend, or rather bend himself too
well to this purpose. The imag-
mary conversations and introspec-
tionS contrast a bit strangely with
quotations from his own work.
And the spinning out of boyhood
scenes to show the young Adams
setting his mind against the min
istry or neglecting his Latin do
not seem to contribute much to
our understanding of the stub
born, hard-headed, high-minded
man he was to become.
The Boston Scene.
But Mrs. Bowen's method
which eschews summary and in
depreciation for narrative vivid
ness-pays of handsomely in her
graphic accounts of the swirl Of
events around Boston on the eve
of the Revolution, when ministers
were preaching defiance from the
|pulpits, and the touchy Sons Of
Liberty boiled through the town
under the coaching of that happy
|go-lucky f1rebrand, Sam Adams,
Johns distant relative and politi-
cal partner. A reluctant politician,
who was most at home in the
courtroom, he was often dismayed
by the fact that he who loved law
so much seemed in his espousal of
radical causes to be promoting
lawlesSnesS in the land. It is per-
hapS the truest measure of his
character that while his mind and
heart were incontrovertibly given
to the cause of liberty. he under
took the defense of the British
soldiers who fired in the Boston
Massacre. He won their acquittal,
too. Mrs. Bowen's painstaking re-
construction ofs the legal argu-
ments and the atmosphere of the
Evening star., 1950-06-18

tice anything peculiar about that
dog? Watson says. No. he didn't
do anything. And Holmes an
swers, That is precisely what is so
peculiar It's a small thing, but
it makes you shiver.
Sometimes when am in doubt
and I got to make q decision, I
ask myself. Does it have a dogs
action shiver? Like in The POST
man. when my boy was going to
slug a Greek who kept sticking
his head out of a car window to
try an echo. My boy came down
on his head with a wrench, and
he slumped over. and I wondered
whether TO have his echo come
back after he was killed. Then I
ask Conan Doyle. Papa, tell me
what to do
"A writer knows a writer. I'm
not saying a writer should neces-
sarily do reviews. I don't think
a book lives or dies or the sales
are much affected or anything
much Is involved except separate
aesthetic project. But think that
some reviewers-particularly the
ex-police reporter turned artist
with a book column-ought to
know a lot more. especially about
narrative theory.
That Old Fakery.
"A writer can spot q fake. He
can see right through what I call
the preparing the evening meal
kind Of q novel. You know. The
EngliShman in Burma and the
native girl preparing the evening
meal. The author doesn't know
what she's cooking. or whether
she's broiling 1t. baking 1t, frying
1t or boiling 1t. All he knows
about Burma Is what he read in
the Britannica.
"You won't find much of that
kind of fakery in my novels. Once
IN 'Serenade' I had to get q man
out of the country fast. I sent
him to Havana, where I've never
been. That was the shortest trip
to Havana you ever saw"
Mr.. Cain is about three months
away from completion of his cur
rent book. The characters. will
be as in his other novels, "eventu-
ally overtaken by the God In
themselves. he rewrites frequent
ly-in the case Of Mildred Pierce"
four times. For these people who
say they want to write to express
themselves. he has no patience at
all. "A novel is something that
has to be endured by the writer.
Anybody who can't go back for
the 14th or 18th revision with
freshness and enthusiasm ought
to get out Of the business"
Evening star., 1950-06-18

Mr.. Reynolds, former news
paperman who confesses he al
ways wanted to be q lawyer, does
a workmanlike and enthusiastic
job of recounting and reviving
such celebrated cases as those of
the Scottsboro, Ala, boys. Robert
Irwin And the Gedeon murders in
Manhattan and the Laura Parr-
Fritz Gebhardt scandal.
He also tells for the first time in
complete form of the unsuccessful
effort Of MIR. Leibzowitz. at the re-
quest of the late Mrs. Evalyn
Walsh Mclean Of Washington. to
persuade Bruno Richard Haupt-
mann to confess to the Lindbergh
baby kidnapping and to name what
ever confederates he had.
The most important and timely
thing about this book, however. is
its presentation Of Judge Leibo-
witz' views on criminal law and
procedure. It properly emphasizes
civil rights considerations that
should entitle every defendant not
only to fair trial, a representa-
tive jury and a capable Judge, but
also to o competent defense at
torney.
Evening star., 1950-06-18


court are splendid, a wonderful
way to read history.
The Revolutionary War before
It's official beginning was fought
In a sense. in the courtrooms OF
Massachusetts,, and John Adams
was leading figure. But then he
was only battling for "the rights
of a free-born Englishman." Even
at the First Continental Congress
he assured Col. Washington that
nothing would please "Massa-
chusetts more than "accommoda-
tions with Britain" Nevertheless,
as events progressed Adams be-
came the leader Of "the violent
men," whose convictions led to
the Declaration. 81.
In all this, John Adams was CIV
en- the Incompatible backing OF
his Puritan wife Abigail who was
as high in the cause as he, his best
informant on the early fighting
bore their endless separations gal
lantly, brought up their four chill
dren in accordance with his wishes
that she inspire their little
hearts, raise their wishes"
They both knew exactly what
they were doing and gloried in his
part in "the great events which
are passed and those greater which
are rapidly advancing"
MARY McGRoRY.
Evening star., 1950-06-18

Mischief, by Charlotte Armstrong.
Coward -McCann, Inc.; $2.5O.)
Meek and mild on the face Of
her, Nell Munro was no ordi-
nary baby-sitter. Otherwise. she
wouldn't have made a gesture
that looked like she was trying to
shove her small charge out the
window. The child's crying was
bad enough but when that
stopped, the wondering what
brought that sudden silence was
even worse. This one is sure to
give nightmares to blithe parents
but for sheer suspense, it's the
best we've seen in many a month.
Double, Double, by Ellery Queen.
Little, Brown g. Co.; $25O.)
A collection Of newspaper clip
pings, sent anonymously. link
what appear to be a series of
deaths by accident or natural
causes. That's all Ellery Queen
needs to attract him once more
to Wrightsville. a town by now 50
familiar to Queen fans that they
could walk through 1t blindfolded.
Evening star., 1950-06-18
The Poets Column
Reviewed by EDWIN TRTBBLR.

| the best poets Of our time. This Is
collection Of 80 years Of her
work. It is not q book upon which
Judgment can be passed quickly or
lightly. 1t Is sufficient to say that
no modern poet has created q
more original world and certainly
no modern poet has shown such
steady progress through the years.
The poems range from the
deeply philosophical tone Is about
the beginning Of thingS'l to the
acidly pictorial. The illusions are
as wide as learning itself. The
poet has touched upon the eternal
verities no less than on the tenn
poral things; and there is q point
to this. To her nothing Is tenn
poral, everything is a part OF Q
grand pageant OF humanity. His
Iorians describe the events Of the
last 80 years; artists record how
they looked; philosophers say what
they forebode: 1t is the job Of the
poet 70 say how they felt, Miss
Sitwell is the poet. And q grand
one.
MODERN GREEK POETRY
Translated and Edited by Rae
Dalven. fBoni & Gaer, Inc, Neto
York, $500
The first comprehensive collec-
ton in English OF all the i'm
portant Greek poets from 1881
to this time, most of them hither-
to unknown in the English speak
ing world. Many of the poems are
modern in style with fewer CLASH
cal references than one would and
in similar book Of New World
| poets.
Evening star., 1950-06-18
Corner
Coins
By Ted Hammer

tibto'ion. American NVmisma.ie Assosiasiea
Commemorative coins are un.
known to most persons other than
collectors, because they are seen
to few but numismatiSts. Gener-
ally they are scarce. since only O
few thousands usually are struck.
But the Alabama half dollar Ia q
standout in any company.
The Alabama half dollar was
authorized by Congress to mark
the centennial celebration of Ala
bamaS admission to the union al
the 28th State in 1919. The CEN
tennial was observed in Alabama
in l9l9-1920. The coin was not
authorized. however. until May
20. 1920. Then the coins were
not minted until the following
year. 1921.
Thus. in addition to the ami
versary dates on the tails" side
Of the coin. the date 1921 is on
the head" side.
That should have made this coin
unusual enough. but more was
to come. After striking 1904 Of
the coins, the mint issued another
$4,000 after making a minor
change In the design OF the tail
or reverse side.
Collectors soon discovered the
change and today dealers charge
more for one than for the other.
The coins were sold by q special
commission at 81 each in Alabama
Immediately after they were
minted. Today, dealers charge Up
to 80 times that amount. Like
other commemorative coins, these
must be In mint or unused con-
dition to bring the top price.
The coin was designed by Laura
Gardin Fraser of New York, who
incorporated suggestions of the
Alabama commission having
charge Of the issue. Profits from
the sale Of the coin in Alabama
were used for commemorative pur-
poses. The commission obtained
the coins at so cents each 0ace
value) and thus cleared so cents
on each sale.
Evening star., 1950-06-18
Some Fast Action
And Much Violence
In q Texas Oil Town

THE BIG FIST
BY Clyde B. Ragsdale. put
nGnl's Sons; $2.75.)
An oil town in Texas, booming
in the 20s, Is the scene of this
novel Of violence and brutality.
The chief character is Mosey Wit
tie, a bootlegger and gambler,
huge and ruthless. who settles
most difficulties with his fists. His
wife is devout woman who stays
with him from a sense Of duty.
Their son grows up In savage
turmoil Of the oil field, and the
story is told through his eyes. It
is a taut, exciting story, marred
by some incredible episodes like
the one in which Mosey's parsi-
monious brother makes their old
father get out and plow in the
middle Of winter. Melodrama is
piled on at times, and motivation
is a minor consideration, but at
least the action is fast enough to
hold the interest of anyone who
can stomach the savage incidents,
CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Evening star., 1950-06-18

Bruno relklu, ~
an ex-convict, wanted for murder,
who slows away on the Linder
boat Jump ahead of the
police and stays on for the fishing
with the consent of father and
son. And there are Connie,
Bruno's girl, and q very human.
decent police lieutenant named
Kelsey.
A lot of other characters come
tn-perhaps too many, for the
scene keeps shifting, sometimes
leaving threads Of the story dan
Cling while you wait impatiently
to take them up. But this does
make for suspense. and water
front men who have little to do
with the story add pungently
to the atmosphere. We are
initiated into the modern ways
OF deep-sea fishing. with two way
radios relieving the solitude of
craft many miles outside the
Golden Gate. And yet the Strug-
gle of these fishermen against
the sea, not always a winning
fight, is as old as the first crude
boats. as new as today's report
OF gale. The characters are
developed Skillfully. If what they
do sometimes seems whimsical
and inconsistent. these are traits
not unheard of in people we know.
Surely there is sentiment in the
story; so is there in life. Mr..
Gam, who has three other novels
to his credit. is a sharp observer
and a colorful writer.
CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Evening star., 1950-06-18

|MD-CENTURY AMERICAN
POETS
Edited by John Ciardi. fTpayne
Publishers, Inc, Nein York. S4J
A group Of younger poets are
represented In this anthology, the
first substantial collection by
strictly new" writer's. They range
from Peter Viereck. Muriel Fukey-
ser and Karl Shapiro. whose work
appears regularly in popular mag
azines. 10 Elizabeth Bishop and
Robert Lowell. who are greatly ad-
mired, but not so well known.
John Ciardi has written q fore
word IN which he mentions openly
that spirit which hangs over so
much of this verse: T. 8. Eliot
WALK THROUGH TWO
LANDSCAPES
BY Dilys Bennett Laing. (Tndyne
Publishers, Inc, NetD York; s2J
Mrs. Laing is unusually gifted.
In sensitive, highly stylized verse
she sings the simple virtues Of
understanding and charity. This
is refreshing. Most Of our poets
who praise the ancient standards
are not those who are most ef-
fective technically. Mrs. Laing's
Tufts College Phi Beta Kappa ode.
entitled mot One Atoll," is excel
lent verse and carries a message
of courage to the atomic age. It
is long. but it says lot. On the
other hand, she is master of the
short epigrammatic poem, as wit
ness this one called "A Common
Tree:
There tDdS q man
Who climbed a tree
And hung there
For each man to see
What shape and size
A man should be.
Not the least Of this poets gifts
Is humor. Victorian Seraglio" is
q needlepoint in words. gently
poking fun at Victorian fussiness.
There are others in this vein.
Mrs. Laing is a poet Of amazing
versatility.
THE CANTICLE OF THE ROSE:
Poems 19l7-1949
BY Edith Sitwell. (The Van
guard Press, Nep York; $3.50
II think that only
Winged ones knoto the highest
eyrie is so lonely,
There is land, austere and,
elegant,
The castle seemed an arnbesQae
In music;
We moved in an hallucination
born
OF silence, Which like music
0ipeS us lotus
TO eat perfun,ino lips and our
long eyelids
As tDe tr1iled oper the sad sum
nler grass,
Or sat beneath smooth and
ntourntul tree.
These lines from a poem by
Edith Sitwell describe the world
of her imagination. She is one OF
Evening star., 1950-06-18

the earth so greatly needs and by
which the world could so greatly
benefit"
Mr.. Backer brings out many
similarities between the methods
of Ivan the Terrible and those Of
Stain. Ivan formed his private
army. which also was a secret po-
lice-the Oprichnina. He con-
Quoted purges, eliminating his
opponents Systematically by exc
cution or exile. Sometimes, as in
the case Of Novgorod, which was
reported rebellious. he wiped out
whole towns. He reduced the
peasant to a compliant and terri
fled servant. explaining that strict
obedience was necessary to carry
out his plans for Russia's great
destiny. At the same time, Ivan
destroyed the power of the mobiles,
which in the past had divided
Russia. He became a dictator as
effective as Stain is today. Even
an official Soviet history excuses
Ivan's ruthlessness as necessary.
1t is the authors contention
that there is nothing new in what
Russia is doing today, internally
and externally; that only Stains
explanation in terms of Marxist
theology is different. Mr.. Backer
argues persuasively that a study
of Russian history explains the
whole setup. dispels a fog of
prejudice and controversy which
has made it almost impossible to
discern what is going on and
why.
Mr.. Backer, a former editor of
the New York Post. has written
scholarly and provocative book.
Evening star., 1950-06-18


takes place in "the twilight gloam-
ing between good and evil" where
his characters have immemorially
moved. Some one has said of Mr..
Cain that he knows more about
the soul of a heel than any one
else around.
The burly. genial author of
THE Postman Rings Twice" and
other fast-paced shockers looks
bigger than he actually is, due to
his leonine head and his crest of
unruly gray hair. His eyebrows
are outstanding. Unlike his books.
he is not hard-boiled. But he is
complete professional, two
listed about his trade and touchy
about amateurs who wander onto
the reservation.
"POstman" Rang 10 Times.
Last week he went to New York
to receive q Gertrude, the silver
statuette which Pocket Books
gives to authors selling a million
copies in the reprint editions. He
got 1t for 1.-THE Postman," his
first novel. which was published In
1884 after Mr.. Cain, a veteran of
the first world war, enjoyed con-
siderable success as a newspaper
man In New York and Baltimore.
He has followed it up with some
nine more in the same vein. One
awestruck reviewer said that Mr..
Gains novels are so tough they
make Hemingway sound like a
sob-sister at her first eviction.
Is THE Postman" his favorite
book? Mr.. Cain, who thinks that
"Old Man Posterity" is the only
critic who really counts. says an
author can't help feeling that a
book that sells that well Is prob
ably a good book. He maintains
that no book can really live that
is not, when current, a hit.
The Box Office Slant.
I'm like old man Verdi" he
said smilingly. when somebody
told him that the first perform
ance of one of his operas was SUI
blime. he said, Fine. What was
the ticket sale?'" His conversa-
tion is studded with musical ref
erences. He wanted to be a singer
in his youth. His mother sang; so
does his wife. Being a writer, he
says, is second best for him.
Often compared with Heming-
way, Mr.. Cain denies any debt
there. Instead ne disclosed q
wholly unexpected source of in
spiration and guidance.
"The only time ever conscious
ly initiated anybody was during
World War I, when my brother
and I were in separate training
camps and wrote to each other in
the style of Ring Larner's You
Know Me. Az. using sergeants in
stead Of baseball players. There's
one writer. though. that nobody
associates me with. I don't con-
sciously initiate him, but know
whole hunks of his work by heart
from having read him when I was
IL. When am afraid have too
small an effect and relying on
means too delicate, I think OF
Conan Doyle. don't remember
which novel the scene was in, but
Holmes asks Watson, Did you no.
Evening star., 1950-06-18

plicity and comprehension of q
people and scene.
Here Is another family book, II
you will. Yet the background is
different, pungent, often arresting.
While others have written of the
Texas oil fields. none have cap
tured quite the quality of this
story Of o pioneer Of the Gulf
Coast.
The time is the period immedi-
ately after World War I, when Ted
Robinson and others like him tried
wildcatting around Texas, up in
Oklahoma and about the slow
moving bayous of Louisiana.
"Roughnecks" day laborers
looked forward to the hour when
they had enough in pocket to
make gamble against dry hole,
and men with q little money bor-
rowed more. tried to draw others
into their schemes, hoped, drilled
and worried.
Ted Robinson. suffered in the
field and at home, while his family
looked on wonderingly. He fought
bad prospects, red-ink entries in
the ledger and domestic crises. He
needed the optimism that he and
the rest Of the family had; in the
main this is a sunny story. When
it happened there were moments
OF grimness, Of desperate worry;
Mrs. Simpson is less sternly real
istic than some.
In quick-moving. chucklesome
passages she chronicles the fami-
ly's ups and downs, documents its
high moments, and, Of course, she
takes us to the great hour when
a gusher comes in, and the father
finds his world q magnificent place
of black-gold prosperity. The book
is as cheer r-ingratiating as it is
cheerful: and 1t is obvious that the
author knows exactly whereof she
speaks.