davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1951-08-19
Along Old Roads Leading to One7ime Washington Suburbs

one of Almon Baldwin's sons. was
the architect of these houses. and
they were known when originally
built as Blagden's Row. think this
name for them is still retained. Rob-
ert Toombs of Georgia, at that time
United States Senator. occupied one
Of these houses; also Chief Justice
Taney, and the Minister from Peru
to this country. In comparatively re-
cent years Senator Christiancy Of
Michigan was an occupant Of one
of the houses.
Thomas Blagden was the SON Of
George Blagden. who came from
England and settled in this city in
1893, where the son was born in Oc-
tober Of 1903, and he continued to
have his home here until his death,
February 2, 1870. The widow and
one Of the sons had home near the
city, known as Argyle, and q portion
of the original estate in that section
has been improved in recent years by
the construction Of suburban homes.
A brother of Mr.. Blagden-the Rev.
George w. Blagden-settled in Bos-
ton early in the last century and
was at one time pastor Of the Old
South Church"
Evening star., 1951-08-19

princeling would travel to San
Simeon. Often he would wait for
days until the call caine-and when
it did, often as not, the Chief would
have forgotten the occasion and the
princeling would return to home base,
none the wiser for the trip.
Some old Hearstmen have specu-
lated that the Chief was not so
forgetful as might. be suspected
that he had decided the princeling
in question needed few days of
from work. That would hardly have
been out of keeping with the
HearStian disposition. He was gen.
erous with his help-if not to fault.
at least to q degree unusual for those
days when most newSpapermen con-
Sidered a submarginal existence the
equivalent of the lap Of luxury. The
Hearst pay scale was markedly higher
than the prevailing wage. AS re-
suit, Mr.. Hearst was able to reid
the payrolls Of his competitors with
considerable success. One of mis- out
standing coups in this field was the
hiring of Bud Fisher away from the
San Francisco Chronicle. where he
had been making $40 a week. Mr.
Fisher subsequently attained fame
as the creator of Mutt and JEFF"
He ColIed II 'Amerieonism'
A ''wobbly' hater from way back,
Mr.. Hearst got hipped on American
ism as an antidote to the sentiments
then being purveyed by the lWW
and sundry precursor organizations.
The Americanism of Mr.. Hearst has
been equated by some with reaction,
Evening star., 1951-08-19

Of Virginia deer when frightened by
people passing along the road.
The Blagden family, which owned
Argyle for many years, dates back
to the beginning Of the city when
George Blagden, who came here
from England, was for a while
superintendent of stone work in
building the Capitol. He was also
the contractor for building the two
houses for Gen. Washington which
formerly stood on North Capitol
street. now part Of the Capitol
plaza.
AS will be recalled, the ground for
these dwellings cost the first Presi-
dent $963. 1t is said he planned
these residences, expecting to occupy
one as city residence; he died. how
ever, before they were completed, and
they became congressional boarding
houses. Admiral Wilkes at one time
occupied one of the buildings and
the famous novelist. Mrs. E. D. E. N.
Southworth, was born here. Later
they were combined and became the
Hillman House.
The writer Is not familiar with the
descendants Of George Blagden, ex-
cept that one of his children was
Evening star., 1951-08-19

Thomas Blagden, whose name may
be recalled by many, and who for
many years conducted an extensive
lumber business here. business we
find him engaged in as early as 1843,
at the south side Of what was then
Georgia avenue between Third and
Fourth streets Sc. near Third. His
residence at that time was on the
east side of New Jersey avenue be-
tween ! and X streets Sc. A Miss
Blagden. probably a sister of Thomas,
lived on the south side Of Indiana
avenue between Third and Four-and-
a-Half streets, no doubt in one Of
the residences known as Blagden
Row and built by Thomas Blagden.
These houses were removed in the
clearing of the site for the Municipal
Center. Thomas Blagden. I'd. lived
in this city, as did other descendants.
The New York Blagdens are related.
In an article in the records Of the
Columbia Historical Society, Doug
lass Zevely sheds some light on these
houses as we'll as the members Of
the Blagden family. He says:
Next to this house is a row Of
five houses. built in 1852 by the late
Thomas Blagden. William Baldwin.
Evening star., 1951-08-19

Hearst phoned the city desk OF the
San Francisco Examiner and an
nounced himself. new copy boy
commented, "The hell you say!"
The Examiner was Mr.. Hearst's first
love: perhaps his only one-in the
newspaper field. at least. The rest
of his papers we're investments, some
good, some not so good. But to the
last he remembered the Examiner
as his first deal. He got it from
his father as a gift, and it made
him million dollars year con-
sistently-when taxes were low.
The Examiner was more than just
a newpaper to Its boss; in way. it
was bottomleSs purse for his ad-
ventures in acquisitivenesS.
Some people called him q collec-
tor, and perhaps he was, in the sense
that among the items he acquired
during his life were many beautiful
objects. Others called him pack
rat. It is true that Mr.. Hearst never
lost the habit of buying things for
the sake of buying. The story of the
Spanish monastery, bought, torn
down. shipped here stone by stone.
and stored in q warehouse never to
be seen again by its owner, is the
stuff of which legends are made.
But it also happens to be true.
But Mr.. Hearst's collecting, or his
pack-ratting, or whatever it was. was
done largely by courtesy Of the Golfers
of the Examiner The papers late
treasurer, William F. Bogart, habitu-
ally kept astronomical sums in the
Evening star., 1951-08-19

folded with 1t. And now the PR In
being called q connie front"
The Bulletin-or its name-is now
part Of Mr.. Hearst's second San
Francisco property. the Call-Bulletin.
an evening paper presided over until
his retirement by Mr.. Coblentz.
Over q period Of more than 80
years, few parts Of the country were
immune to contact with Mr.. Hearst.
His only regional failure occurred In
the deep South, where the Atlanta
Georgian was his only enterprise.
Just as he was the beneficiary Of
his times in other places, he was the
victim Of them in Atlanta. Only half
a century had elapsed since the end
Of the Civil War, and Mr.. Hearts,
"foreigner"-was competing in rela-
lively small field with two home
grown products. The Georgian was
one Of the early casualties Of the de-
preston.
1t is ironic that today both surviv-
ing newSpaperS-the Constitution and
the Journal-are owned by another
foreigner" James M. Cox OF ONO.
Mr.. Hearst never did too well in
small towns, or even in middle-sized
ones like Atlanta and San Antonio
(where a Hearst paper. the Light. sur
vives). The big places were the best
for him-places like New York, where
1,750,000 Hearst papers are sold every
day, or Los Angeles (750.000) or San
Francisco (380,000).
One reason may have been that Mr..
Hearst was never at his best when
tackling small issues. A man who
takes on Franklin d. Roosevelt, the
Japanese Empire and the whole Com
munist Party all at once is apt to he
awkward and ill-at-ease fighting the
deputy sheriff Of Coconino County.
Evening star., 1951-08-19

An era in American journalism
ended at $3.50 last Tuesday morning.
Old and tired, yet imperious and
fabulous-it died with the last breath
Of its great protagoniSt, William
Randolph Hearst, in a sickroom in
Beverly Hills. Calf.
A few big operators in the jour-
naliStic field preceded william RAN
dolph Hearst, and few survive him.
But none has ever rivaled his
-eminence in the field of mass
distribution Of the printed word. 1t
Is unlikely that any ever will.
Mr.. Hearst was SO when he died.
and the era he had much to do with
creating was hardly 80 years younger.
Yet the life and times of Mr.. Hearst
will live in shoptalk in newspaper
Offices as long as presses roll.
Mr.. Hearst was many things to
many men, not all those things de-
sirable. He made enemies all his life.
But the old-timers of the news trade
would write. as last add to his
epitaph: Those who knew him, liked
him.
His complex makeup Of loyalty and
ruthleSsness, of generosity and ac-
quisitiveness, affection and hate, was
carried over into his physical side.
Miscoupled with a fine physique, he
had one of the squeakiest voices the
Creator ever put into anything larger
than a mouse. So unimpressive was
this voice that one evening, when Mr..
Evening star., 1951-08-19
By John cIooett Proctor

In the days prior to the Civil War.
Fourteenth street road extended to
Piney Branch road, and the latter
road commenced, reached to Crystal
Spring, and to what is now Bright
wood. On its way 1t passed the Hol-
mead Race Track, the center OF
which was about at the junction Of
the present Columbia road and the
old Columbian College. across from
which were located Civil War hos
pitfalls. Fourteenth street in the
city, from Florida avenue south. was
not opened to travel until after 1902,
as the first session of the City Coun-
Gil that year provided for the open
ing, clearing and making passable
for wagons" of Fourteenth street
from F street to the northern bounds
of the city.
Piney Branch road was even more
picturesque than the Seventh street
pike. probably because it was more
winding. Of course, it was made up
of hills and valleys, and was well
wooded along the sides. One of the
Steepest and longest grades between
the city and Brightwood was known
as Blagden's Hill. and many pru-
dent bicyclist of his day thought it
better to walk up this hill than to
tire himself out by riding it.
Spring Rood
To the north of Mount Pleasant
was then, as now, Spring road, but in
its present improved condition it has
almost lost its identity. On this road
toward Fourteenth street, lived Mrs.
Sendenberg, near the Shirleys, they
being close neighborS to william j.
Rhees. who owned an estate called
the Oaks. Mr.. RheeS was for many
years the chief clerk of the Snithso-
r1ian Institution, served on the School
Board and wrote much of the history
Of the public schools of the District
Of Columbia.
An old wooden bridge formerly oc-
cupied the site Of the bridge which
now spans Piney Branch, or what lit
tie is left of it. A large sewer has
taken the place Of this stream, and
OllC OCauty O4 bllC NdAtCy dt bIllS pUlub
is gone forever.
On the west side of Sixteenth
street, and on the hill about q block
south of the Piney Branch Bridge,
was the house in the trees. known as
Airy Castle, the home Of Allen B.
Hayward. q one-armed Civil War
veteran and clerk in the Pension
Once. This was during the early
'80s.
Close to where the Fourteenth
street carbarns are now located and
facing Piney Branch road lived the
Osborn family, which In 1876 in
cluded william H., j. T., A. G., NJ,
g. w. and c. D. Osborn.
The Blogden Estate
The Blagden estate. known as
Argyle, which once extended along
the west side of Piney Branch road,
Is now scarcely recognizable; just
in q few years turned into o small
city Of unattached homes. with
beautiful gardens and lawns. Not
the same Argyle Of years ago as we
knew It. inclosed with o nice fence,
back Of which scampered Q number
Evening star., 1951-08-19
Does Russia Plan to Wage Germ Warfare?

board to blast the united states Ior
conducting experiments in bacteri-
ological weapons in preparation for
a new war. Pravda recalled that Sec
retary of Defense James Forrestal
had once declared that the United
States must continue its research
into biological warfare to be prepared
for future war.
On February 8, 1850. the Soviet
press shouted that the United States
had launched new wave OF war
hysteria" through release of Secretary
of Defense Louis Johnson's regular
year-end report Special attention
was paid to a one-paragraph refer
ence to biological warfare.
The Soviet press called germ war
fare. chemical and atomic warfare
"barbarous weapons of aggression"
which reveal the aggressive charac-
teri of American military plans. 1t
omitted mention of its own develop
ment of such barbarous weapons.
Preparing the People?
Keeping in mind the discovery Of
the Pyongyang laboratory in Novem-
ber 1850, it is significant that Radio
Moscow charged on July 2, just after
the Korean war started, that Ameri-
can militaristS were actively pre-
pairing bacterial war;" It is good
bet that Russian terror Of germ-war-
fare for home and satellite consump-
ton Is preparing its people to react
properly if the United States is ever
forced to take retaliatory steps. Under
the stress of the Korean war. Com
munist propaganda has been marked
with periodic charges about U. N.
plans to launch biological and chemi-
cal attacks in Korean.
So communism, through fabrica-
tionS oft-repeated, fashions mask
to conceal its operations in the germ
warfare. Tt has the same shortcom-
ings as the rest OF the Communist
talk. THE lady doth protest too
much"
In this country there are already
! many groups acutely aware of the
dangers in failure to provide adequate
defenses against biological warfare,
but they have not yet been able to
muster the congressional support
necessary to pay for an adequate pro-
gram. They are confronted with an
old dilemma: How to arouse people
to their own defense against deadly
menace without prostrating the coun-
try with fear.
President Truman and his Federal
Civil Defense Administration have
the delicate assignment of bringing
this country to an intelligent realiza-
ton of the problem while avoiding a
fight into blind, fearful preparation
of the kind which might jeopardize
this country's whole position in the
cold war by putting undue stress on
one phase of the peril.
Evening star., 1951-08-19

If the Western world were to take
at face value Russian propaganda
about germ warfare, it would be in
duced to believe that the Reds recoil
with adherence from the very
thought of this weapon. Yet If the
past five years have taught us any
thing it is that the Russians are to be
least believed when most protesting.
Moscows steady and Mortified accu-
sations of our activity in this field
of biological warfare have, therefore.
led to an uneasy feeling that they
are up to their old trick OF accusing
the opposition of their own evil in
tentionS.
One Communist slip last November
might have been the tipof. 1t hap
pened in those glory days when the
United Nations forces were sprinting
through North Korea toward the
Yalu River. Most people here were
too diverted by our military successes
to take heed.
A unit of the American 18TH Para
troop Regiment found Supersecret
meteorological laboratory in Pyong-
yang, capital of North Korea. 1t was
filled with 5000 rats and mice which
had been inoculated with bubonic
plague, encephalitis and other dis
eases. A North Korean civilian doc
tor said the laboratory had been OPP
Grating since 1947 under Russian
woman scientist, who fed as U. N.
troops neared Pyongyang. The rats
and mice had been inoculated, he
said, right after the U. N. landing at
Inchon.
None of the animals was believed
to have been released from the sealed
cages, although for time there was
some danger from fleas which might
have spread the diseases Only $50
rats were still alive when U. N. troops
reached the laboratory, 200 of them
mad with hunger.
Ronk and File Obvious
The significance of this discovery
In Korea probably has not been lost
on our Government. particularly the
military and the Federal Civil De-
tense Administration. But the rank
and file, who have the most at stake.
still have to be awakened to menace
whose impact could be many times
more terrible than atomic attack.
There is another good reason for
suspecting Communist intentions in
germ warfare. They have captured
several German experts in this field
since the end of the war. Military
leaders here have warned repeatedly
of the Implications of Soviet exploi-
tation of these men.
Two factors, then, form the core
of the hypothesis that international
communism may be counting or
biological warfare in its inventory OF
offensive weapons:
Evening star., 1951-08-19
By Earl H. voss

% Soviet Russia is known to be
exploiting other countries advances
in the field.
CO A Soviet satellite country has
been caught with the goods"
Covering up such little-known
deeds is the familiar task of Soviet
diversionary words. These started
coming in September, l947.
Andrei Vishinsky, then chairman
of the Soviet delegation to the United
Nations, exposed Soviet sensitivity to
the archaeological warfare question
by singing out two American reports
as warmongering because, in pass
ing, they mentioned the subject.
Germon Expert in Red Honds
In June, 1948, Soviet prosecutors
at Nuernburg charged with horror)
that the Germans had considered
launching biological warfare. They
produced a German prisoner, Maj.
Gen. Walter Schneider, who said the
German high command had actually
been preparing to start germ
war" Schneider had been a Ger
man Army scientist and a professor
at Berlin University Significantly,
no mention was made of how Gen.
Schreiber was spending his time as
prisoner of the Russians.
There was a renewed effort to pin
the "warmongering" label on Uncle
Sans meteorological warfare opera
tions in August, 1949, at a Red Cross
conference for 49 nations in Geneva,
where revision of international
treaties on prisoners of war was un-
der consideration. Russia took the
occasion to introduce a resolution
outlawing not only the atom bomb,
but biological and chemical warfare
as we'll
Gen. Nicholas Slavin Of Russia said
the Red Cross delegates were trying
to sidestep' the issue, and pointed
out that the United States never has
ratified the Geneva protocol of 1925
outlawing poisonous gas and bacteri-
illogical warfare.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was
quietly studying Japanese progress
in archaeological warfare techniques.
The japanese had erected germ
war factory near Harbin during
World War II. This factory, which
produced toxins and ARCHAEOLOGICAL
poisons, was taken over by the Rus
slams in 1945 as war booty. It's equip
ment was moved to Russia.
There was no word of Soviet dis
position of these findings until De-
cember "a, 1949. when Radio Moscow
reported that the Soviet Union had
indicted IL Japanese Army officers
on charges Of plotting to use germ
warfare in World War II.
Pravda used the trial as a spring.
Evening star., 1951-08-19

with fascism, with Gerald L. K.
Smith-with just about everything
unpleasant that lies to the right Of
center. It would seem, however, that
his political ideas were roughly what
would be expected of a solid citizen
of mid-Victorian birth and Western
upbringing.
One Of the first of the promotion
minded publishers, Mr.. Hearst early
sponsored Americanism essay con-
tests and in one of these, at least.
hit pay dirt. The winner was
youngster named E. D. Coblentz and
the prize was tour of the country
with one of the chains top political
writer's, AL 'Blinker" Murphy.
While on the tour, Mr.. Coblentz
expressed interest in newspaper work
and Mr.. Murphy passed the word on
to the Chief. who hired the boy.
Mr.. Coblentz spent his working days
with the Hearst organization and re-
tired recently after having held sew
eral of the topmost jobs of the chain.
Mr.. Coblentz' rise in the Hearst
organization was more or less stand
ard for up-and-comers in the pre-
depression days. It was then a rule
that no one could be a Hearst pub
Usher until he had first been a Hearst
managing editor. This tended to de-
fine the newsroom's pre-eminence
over the business Office, condition
which does not obtain in every news
organization and does not prevail
even in every Hearst paper today.
The change came in the late '30s.
when Mr.. Hearts one-man control
was taken from him by his creditors,
Evening star., 1951-08-19

and bankers, lawyers and business
men started fllling the top spots on
Hearst papers.
Behind Mr.. Hearst, in his sanctun
at San Simeon, was o Teputedly sin
lister cabal known as the New York
crowd" These men, directing the
Hearst enterprises from Manhattan,
supposedly had the power Of make
or-break over almost the entire chain.
Mr.. Heorst and lPR
In those postdebression days. Mr..
Hearst's San Francisco employees
were the only ones who felt secure.
Even in his old age, the Chief re-
membered the Examiner. and the
San Franciscans knew they were
being watched over.
It is a curious sidelight on present.
day developments that the existence
of the Institute Of Pacific Relations
is directly traceable to Mr.. Hearst's
presence in the West Coast news
paper field One who was in on the
planning that led to PR'S founding
recalls.
"IPR was started partly because
Of Hearst's anti-Japanese campaigns.
He was shouting. yellow peril" and
predicting a japanese invasion Of
Mexico. and some Of the big shipping
interests thought it was bad for busi-
ness with Japan.
$50 these shippers were sympathe-
tic to the idea of an IPR. and their
paper, the Bulletin, supported the
institute. "A plan was made to have
a big statue, something like the Sta
tue of Liberty. erected as a gift from
Japan at the entrance to the Golden
Gate.
We'll. it never came to anything.
The Bulletin folded and the statue
Evening star., 1951-08-19

ofice safe in order to fulfill, day or
phonic demands for large amounts Of
cash.
All through his life, Mr.. Hearst did
things in big way. When he left
Harvard College as q result OF q
prank. he honored his favorite in
structors by sending them certain
then-essential articles Of bedroom
furniture, tastefully hand-painted
with the portrait Of each.
Later. when ne decided to acquire
a friend. he got the best available at
the time-Marion Davies, then the
queen Of Hollywood.
Big operotor
Throughout his newspaper career
Mr. Hearst sought and got the biggest
and. in some respects at least, the
best. He paid Arthur Brisbane as
much as a quarter of million dollars
q year to write think column for
him. Even in his salad days as the
publisher of the Examiner, his staff
included such names as Robert Louis
Stevenson, Jack London. Ella Wheeler
Wilcox and Ambrose Bierce.
AS for his home life-everything
was built to scale on quarter-million
acres of littoral known as San Simeon,
about $50 miles south of San Fran
cisco.
Sometimes Mr.. Hearst would decide
he wanted a princeling OF his far
flung empire to confer on some mo-
mentous subject. PosthaSte the
Evening star., 1951-02-09

Here is an attractive sleeveless
dress that you'll find dependable
and charming all season long.
Cut on slimming princess lines, it
is f1attering to the larger figure
with or without the brief bolero.
Barbara Bell sew-rite perfor-
ated pattern No. 1247 is designed
for sizes SO, 38, 40, AZ, A, 46, 48,
SO and So Size 38 dress requires
37s yards of 39-inch fabric;
bolero, 13s yards; u yard con-
traSt.
For this pattern. send 35 cents
for first-class mailing, in coins,
your name, address, pattern num-
ber and size wanted to Barbara
Bell (The Washington Starr, P. o.
Box SO, Station G, New York 10,
N. Y.
The new Fall and Winter Styl-
ist is filled with ideas for smart
winter wardrobe. Easy to sew
styles: special features: fabric
news; free pattern printed inside
the book. Send Is cents today for
your copy.
Evening star., 1951-02-09
Simplicity Salad

A colorful fruit salad adds
plenty of appetite appeal to a
winter menu. This simplicity
Salad" is made with pretty
green avocado, fresh winter
pear, canned pineapple and
golden canned cling peach slices.
Serve it in lettuce cups with q
lemony mayonnaise dressing.
Simplicity Salad.
/ AVOCADO
Lemon juice
Salt
11s cups canned cling slices
fresh or canned pear
u cup coarsely cut pineapple
" cup diced orange sections
Salad green's
Mayonnaise
Cut avocado into halves
lengthwise, remove seed and
skin, and dice fruit. Sprinkle
with lemon juice and salt. Dice
well-drained peaches and pear.
Combine all fruits and blend
lightly. Arrange on crisp salad
greens. Serve with mayonnaise
thinned with lemon Juice.
Serves 5 to 6.