davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-01-04
Threat Made 10 Kill
Texas Official Over
Land Scandals Probe
BY the Asseelutsd Press

CUERO, Tex, Jan. 4.-The
attorney general Of Texas. was
threatened yesterday with "a
bullet in the back Of the head
IL he continues to probe Texas
veterans land sales scandals.
The threat was telephoned to
Attorney General John Ben
SHEPHERDS home in Austin, the
State capital.
Mrs. Shepperd was described
as temporarily "hystericaIs after
she was told Of the threat by a
maid who took the call.
Gov. Allan Shivers promised a
thorough investigation. State
police were at the home minutes
after the call.
Gov. Shiyers said the threat
was probably the work of some
prankster or some one with a
warped mentality but said. 1T
viii cause a full investigation to
be made
Was At Jury Session.
Mr.. Shepperd. with an assist
ant attorney general, Sam Ratliff ;,
was closeted with the Dewitt
County grand jury here at the
time, probing the land sales. =
Raymond Brooks, veteran cap
itaT reporter for the Austin Amer
ican-Statesman, received a SIM
liar threat at his home at about
the same time yesterday.
Mr.. Shepherd told the Associ-
ated Press he had received an
earlier threat. but it had gone
through his Office switchboard.
He said he planned no change
In his daily routine.
The maid who took the call,
Bertha Marie Sneed, said the
caller first asked for Mr.. Shop
perd. then Mrs. Shepperd and
finally told the maid to give this
message to the attorney general:
IF John Ben Shepperd doesn't
lay of the land deal case, he is
going to get a bullet in the back
Of the head"
The man then hung up.
Deals Net Big Profits.
No one has been able to deter
mine the profits in some veterans
land deals, but they appear very
large.
Only last week end, Texas
Land Commissioner Bascom
Giles. chairman of the State.
Veterans Land Board, resigned,
still defending the program in
general.
Some indictments have been
returned, mainly against minor
figures In the case.
"A 500 million veterans land
program allows veterans Of
World War II and the Korean
war to purchase upsto $1,000 in
land at 8 per cent interest on
40-year terms.
Several promoters purchased
large blocks Of land for resale
to veterans.
Some veterans learned with
surprise that they had purchased
land. Many said they thought
they were signing up for q State
bonus.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-01-04
Courageous Sister, z Drops
4 ChIdren to Safety in Fire

the house. blocking the stairway
to the upper fioor. cool-headed
Mary broke q bedroom window
and pushed out the children.
Then she jumped.
Saved were Diana Irene. 6
months; Norma Mae, 2; Irene. 8.
and Norman, jr.. 6.
The parents Of the children
were on q trip to Union City,
Pa. at the time Of the fire.
Neighbors spotted smoke
pouring from the building. but
by the time they reached the
house they found the children
standing in the road watching
the dwelling burn to the ground.
Firemen estimated the loss
at 1000.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-01-04
Nine Lost in Tug Sinking

CARTAGENA, Spain. Jan. 4
R. ~ Nine men were believed
drowned when o Spanish navy
tug sank in heavy seas yester-
day q mile or this naval base.
A navy lieutenant and q sailor
were the only survivors to be
picked up, officials said.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Rules Waived 10 LET
Local Group Sell
New Gas Co. Stock

The District Public Utilities
Commission yesterday waived it's
competitive bidding rules to let
the Washington Gas Light Co.
negotiate a deal with a local
group of underwriters for the sale
of l26,349 shares OF new stock.
The commission acted despite
the objections of Cleveland in
vestment firm, Baxter, Williams
& Co., which had sought to bid
on the stock issue, proceeds Of
which will be used to help finance
the company's $14 million ex-
pansion program.
The company will report pre-
else terms Of its agreement with
the local syndicate to the COM
mission at the close Of business
on Monday on the basis Of clos
ing stock prices.
II the commission approves
after a hearing on Tuesday, the
stock will 60 on sale on Wednes-
day. The first chance to buy
will be offered to present stock
holders in the gas company.
Walter T. Skallerup, jr., repre-
senting the Cleveland Arm. indi-
Gated Baxter, Williams g. Co.
may make a bid on Monday in an
effort to edge out the local
syndicate.
Speaking for the Ras company,
e. oscar Berry told the comis-
sion the Cleveland Arm may be
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Fletcher KnebeI-
Potomac Fever

The Treasury wants to buy machine that will write
100000 Federal checks day. Republicans prefer machine
for nobody them of spending money hand
fist like the Democrats.
Chairman Butler lot of Democrats want Gov Harri-
nominated for President People speak well
Hartman chance of Democrats winding
with who couldn't get favorable
mention.
Internal Revenue than half the taxpayers
One bachelor always takes
two exemptions for himself Claims he's split personality
Russia England she's good target for H-bombs
The realize why they despise communism much
It's making them feel sorry for the English.
A committee investigates stock market tips One
specuator by mistake. He heard Gen. Eisenhower
dynamic rushed and bought
1000 shares of General Dynamics.
Tax Andrews says he's chasing worth 5000
million paid income tax The Democrat
waiting for Congress to the $40 tax cut
House committee 7la per cent pay raise for
postal working hard to get mail
this that they voted themselves SO cent
pay boost just in anticipation of it.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Arlington Student Wins
Cancer Essay Contest

Annie Butler, Ia, Of 2012 North
Oakland street. Arlington, Va,
has won the 1855 "Cancer-A
Challenge to Youth" essay con-
test open to 11th and 12th-grade
area students.
A student at Maret School in
Arlington, Miss Butler. whose
father died of cancer when she
was 8, won savings bonds
amounting to $75 for her essay,
entitled Youth Attacks the
Bugbear, Cancer"
Constance Hopkins, a 16-year-
old junior at the National Ca
thedral School for Girls. won
second place in the contest.
Miss Hopkins, who lives at 1901
Tilden street NV, won a $50
savings bond.
Third place and a $25 bond
went to Jean Smith, 19. of 1925
Eighth street NV, a senior at
Armstrong High School.
The contest was sponsored by
the District Division of the
American Cancer Society.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
New Hope in Face Of 7 yronny
When the Despoirinq People Behind the Iron Curtain
Begin Passive Resistance, We Must Be Set to Help

to successful resistance to tyr
amy. We have only to recall
the October, 1905. revolt" in
Czarist Russia revolt"
that was in reality no more
than a spontaneous. leader
less general strike. The I'm
perial Russian government
was paralyzed when the work.
ers and peasants simply laid
down their tools. The Car was
forced to make concessions,
vet there were no battles. 40
revolutionary generals, no
councils, no plan.
AS recently as June, 1858,
another leaderless and un-
armed resistance frightened
the Kremlin to its boots when
the people Of East Germany,
without signal or plan, mutt
MED against the rising repres-
sions Of their Communist
rulers. Red Army soldiers were
shot by their officers for refus-
ing to fire on the unarmed
Germans; German Communist
leaders were purged in great
numbers for permitting the
uprising to occur.
Do we need more lessons to
realize the great implications
of just these two examples
from recent history?
What is the free world pre-
pared to do if the captive
peoples of Eastern Europe
should suddenly begin a pas
sive resistance to their Red
guards? When the factories
stop producing for the Red war
machine and the peasants re-
fuse to harvest the crops in the
fields, will we be ready to
exploit the situation to the
mutual benefit of the resisters
and ourselves?
Here, indeed, appears to be
the single hope to be found in
the stepped-up tyranny of the
Kremlin conspirators. What
seems to be a new reason for
despair for the free world may
yet, if recognized and acted
upon, become the key to free
dom's salvation.
Evening star., 1955-03-05

power by some of our top
financers in the stock exchange.
banks and investment houses.
and revealed shady practices
and manipulation that were
ruinous to many investors and
shook public confidence.
Out Of that came a series
of reforms sponsored by the
Roosevelt administration and
enacted by Congress. There
was the Truth-in-Securities
Act, as it was called, regu-
lating issuance of securities.
Then there was the Securities
Exchange Act, which created
the Securities and Exchange
Commission to administer the
truth-in-securities law and to
watch and regulate the Ma
tion's stock exchanges, and
delegated to the Federal Re-
serve Board authority over
margins so that it could
curb speculative tendencies by
Tightening credit. Then there
was also a new banking act
for stricter regulation of bank
ing and credit.
The Pecora investigation was,
as we'll, a mirror of the de-
preston that had spread
through the land. of which
the 1929 stock-market COL
lapse was a frenzied signal.
The Roosevelt administration,
as we know, also set in motion
that amazing series of meas
ures to salvage the economic
wreckage and provide cushions
for the economy so that it
would be resistant thereafter
to another major depression.
as it has been in fact since.
There's been no repetition Of
1929, or anything even ap-
preaching it.
1t is interesting that Mr..
Funston, in telling why he did
not think the present stock
market situation is comparable
at all to the 1929 spree, cited
two factors. AS for stock
market operations themselves.
he pointed to the devices to
stabilize the market previously
mentioned here, the SEC and
the like. which came in the
Roosevelt regime. AS for the
larger matter of the national
economy - which the stock
Evening star., 1955-03-05
DC. Police Inspector
F|aherfy Added 10
Capitol Hill Force

Another veteran Metropolitan
police officer, retired Inspector
jeremiah Flaherty, has been
added to the Capitol Police Force
to help strengthen security for
members of Congress.
Given the rank of captain in
the Capitol unit, Inspector
Flaherty already has taken over
his duties as assistant to Chief
Robert C. Pearce on the Hill.
Chief Pearce was recently
named to head the group in
move toward giving Congress
more protection against pos
sibility of a recurrence of gun
fire attack. Last March /
Puerto Ricans shooting from a
visitors gallery wounded five
members of the House on the
floor.
Chief Pearce was former
deputy chief of the Metropolitan
force and remains on that pay
roll until retirement. Congress
now reimburses the District for
his salary.
Inspector Flaherty served as
head of the Washington policies
homicide squad for 10 years. He
also was assistant chief Of de-
tectives.
Meanwhile, new legislation is
pending at the Capitol to replace
the patronage system of appoint
ment with a career system, based
on civil service examinations,
with retirement privileges and
benefits.
Bills have been introduced by
all five wounded House members
to set up the new system. The
legislation has been referred to
the House Administration Com
mittee. Similar legislation passed
the House last year, but died in
the Senate.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Thon1os l. Stokes
Cushions Against Stock Crash
MARKET President Credits Regulatory Measures
Of New Deal With Sterilization Of Share Trading

market is supposed to reflect
he referred to our economy's
tremendous expansion and its
accomplishment in the years
since 1929.
In a way 1t was somewhat
strange to hear this present.
day representative of the stock
exchange and Wall Street"
give so much credit to the
regulatory measures Of the
Roosevelt administration and
what it did also to expand,
strengthen and stabilize the
general economy, though he
did not, of course, go so far
as to single out the Roosevelt
New Deal or, in fact, even
mention that name or phrase
once so anathema in Wall
Street. AS Mr.. Funston talked
of those things, this reporters
ears buzzed with the echo of
the TRADES of Wall Street and
stock exchange representatives
he heard 20 years ago against
any regulation of the stock
market, and again. too, he
could hear the angry cry that
the country was being wrecked
by that blankety-blank New
Deal. Mr.. Funston, the modern
day spokesman, seemed to
think the Nation had done
very handsomely for itself,
and is in pretty good shape.
1t is easy, however, to for
get what happened day before
yesterday.
Take, for instance. the ques-
tionnaires to which Senator
Capehart, Republican. of Indi-
ana called attention which
the Banking Committee sent
out to 5000 persons. includ-
ing members of the New York
Exchange, brokers, bankers,
investment houses, business
men and such. The Senator
said that a majority of them
gave President Eisenhower
credit for the present pros
porous state of the economy.
The Indiana Senator, how
ever. was unable to pin Keith
Funston down to subscribe to
this theory. The stock ex-
change president knew too
much about the past. and had
too lately put his own dag
noSis on the record.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
President Puts Gag on Names
Of His Stag Dinner Guests

ment, and asked Mr.. Hagerty II
he was trying to make a case for
putting further restrictions on
news.
Mr.. Hagerty insisted that the
names of guests at White House
dinners have nothing to do with
administration of the Govern
ment of the United States" be-
cause they are personal guests
of the President.
Speculations on the reasons
for the decision to stop making
public dinner-guest lists took two
courses.
Some observers felt Mr.. Eisen-
hover might have been dis
pleased by the emphasis on indi-
cations that he would run for
reelection next year that have
grown out of some Of his recent
stag dinners, at which many of
the guests were Republican
National Committeeman, State
chairmen or other party leaders.
There also was speculation
that the President decided to
stop making public the names
Of his dinner guests because
many people who read about the
dinners in newspapers wrote to
the White House seeking invi-
tations for themselves.
AS for last nights stag dinner
Mr.. Hagerty said the guests were
primarily friends Of the Presi-
dents brother. DR.. Milton Eisen-
hover. head Of Pennsylvania
State University. who was an
overnight guest at the White
House.
Evening star., 1955-03-05

peoples behind the Iron Cur
tain. Particularly in the satel-
lite nations of Eastern Europe.
the Red regimes have as yet
had not enough time to eradi-
cate the deep-Seated hostility
Of the general population.
If the policy makers of the
free world will in the first in
stance recognize the existence
of this enormous reservoir of
discomfort. and in the second
instance take firm steps to
utilize it in the cause of the
survival of freedom, the Krem-
lin conspirators may well find
themselves so busy in protect
ing their structure Of tyranny
that further aggression will be
out of the question.
This is not to say. or to sug-
gest, that any organized re-
volt is likely within the Com
muniSt orbit within the i'm
mediate future. Almost all
qualified observers OF the Com
munist apparatus agree that
such a prospect is exceedingly
remote. A people without
arms or leadership. without
even a faith or philosophy
around which to rally except
those prescribed by the Com
munist Party, spied upon night
and day by the most intricate
and ruthless secret police sys-
tenn in the world, can hardly
be expected to prepare and
carry out a rebellion along
usual lines.
But we cannot just accept
this obvious fact and throw up
our hands in despair. For the
facts of history teach us some
additional truths about revo-
luton, and among these truths
may lie the answer to our
problems of finding not Just
a containment of the Commu-
mist menace but a permanent
solution to this gravest of
threats to the future of man
kind.
And history teaches plainly
that organized, armed revolt
has not been always the path
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Meihodists Moving
To Ban Segregation
In Own Organization
BY the Asseeioisd Press

NEW YORK, Mar. 5.-A first
step toward breaking down racial
segregation in the jurisdictional
organization of the Methodist
Church has been taken here.
Representatives of the church's
Baltimore area, Negro unit. and
of the New York area, a regular
regional unit, adopted a resolu-
ton yesterday favoring transfer
of Negro churches, into the New
York area.
The Baltimore area covers
Negro churches in six Southern
States, Delaware, Maryland,
North Carolina, Tennessee. Vir-
ginia and West Virginia. and the
District of Columbia.
AS presently constituted the
9-million- member church IS
divided into five regular geo.
graphical Jurisdictions, and one
special national Jurisdiction for
Negro churches-the Central
Jurisdiction.
The action here by the Balti-
more area, a unit of the Central
Jurisdiction, and the New York
area, a unit of the regular
Northeastern jurisdiction, was
taken under permissive legisla-
ton of the church's last general
conference, permitting such
transfers, but still must be ap-
proved by the overall jurisdic-
tions involved.
The conference was called by
Bishop Frederick Buckley Newell
of the New York area and Bishop
Edgar A. Love of the Baltimore
area. and represented 1000
churches with 100000 members.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Rehearing Is Denied
In u. ). Move 10 Send
Youth 10 Prison

Chief Judge Bolitha J. Laws
yesterday denied a rehearing in
a case in which he has ruled that
youths committed by Juvenile
Court here may not be trans
ferred by the Attorney General
to penal institutions where they
mingle with convicted felons.
The Government had asked the
rehearing in the U. S. District
Court for the District Of Colum-
bia in the case of Isaac L. White,
18, colored.
Judge Laws ruling prevented
White from being transferred
from the National Training
School for Boys here to the Youth
Correction Center at Ashland.
KY.
Gave Extensive Study.
II have given the matter very
extensive study" the jurist said.
Il think the line of demarcation
between the place to which you
can send one not convicted of
crime "a youngster ordered to
the training school in Juvenile
Court proceedings is not held to
be convicted" but involved"
in crime) as distinguished from
the place you can send one who
is convicted of a crime, depends
upon the dominant atmosphere.
"If the dominant sentiment.
personnel and equipment is that
of a school or other training in
stitution, the fact that it might
have one or few conVicts
would not take it out of the loco
PARENTS dn place of the par
ents, status" he continued.
James v. Bennett, director Of
| the Federal Bureau of Prisons,
has warned that Federal Gov
eminent institutions are becom-
ing too crowded, and that the
District government soon must
provide for housing in it's own
new correctional institutions the
1000 now cared for by the Fed
eral Government.
Describes OvercrOwding.
Mr.. Bennett said last month
that more than 800 juvenile in
mates are housed in Federal in
stitutions. He also reported he
has again recommended that the
National Training School fol
Boys. which cares for many Dis.
trict boys. be moved from Wash.
ington.
District officials have recon-.
mended to the Commissioner.
construction of a new 700-mar
penitentiary at Lorton and al
least four more cottages for ju.
venile delinquents at Laurel il
the Federal Government quit,
caring for the District prisoners
A $3,762,000 item for starting
the proposed Youth Corrections
Center at Lorton was included
in the budget estimates for fisca
1856.
/ White had been sent to the
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Postage Rate Boost
Sought by Murray
To Follow Pay Hike

Chairman Murray of the House
Post Office Committee has called
for another boost in postage
rates to follow pay raises his
committee has approved for post
office employees.
The committee agreed yester-
day to recommend pay-raise
legislation averaging about rs
per cent.
The committee chairman said
that there should be a fair in
crease" in postage rates, and it
should apply to all classes of
mail, including letters now car
ried for 3 cents.
Mr.. Murray, Democrat, Of
Tennessee, did not go into de-
tail, but he said he favored
a Accent charge for letters mailed
from one city to another.
Postmaster General Summer
field has proposed rate boosts
estimated to bring in around
$3.50 million of new revenue
yearly. Of the total a proposed
1-cent increase in the charge of
ordinary letters now carried for
3 cents would account for $3.50
million.
Mr.. Murray said he would
limit the Accent rate on letters
to those posted for out-of-town
delivery. Unless the post office
can convince him otherwise, he
said, he would oppose higher
rates for letters delivered local
! ly. He said also there is nc
question an increase is needed
for second-class" (publication)
mail.
Immediately after the com.
mittee voted the postal bill
Chairman Murray announced
his committee would meet dur
ing the week of March IA or
classified employe pay raise
legislation.
Evening star., 1955-03-05
Constantine Brown

Although Nikita Khrushchev
has held the reins Of power in
the Kremlin for but a short
time, the outlines Of his policy
are becoming dlsmayingly
clear to the free world.
Moscow has done and said
enough in the past few weeks
TO make plain that the Soviet
Union has returned to the
harsh, aggressive policy of
Stain in his heyday. Peaceful
coexistence" is headed for the
scrapheap as a slogan of Soviet
policy; the propaganda drums
within Russia are again beat
ing out the old refrain of ar
maments and heavy industry
first of all; the long-suffering
Russian people are looking for
another notch in their already
well-tightened belts.
On the surface, at least, the
free world can find few
crumbs of comfort in the ap-
praisal of future Russian in
tentions. The Malenkov gloves
are off, and the iron fist of
world revolution is. again
nakedly displayed as the Com
munist parties step up their
open and covert campaigns of
subversion and aggression in
what is left of the non-Com-
munist world.
But, despite the apparently
justified gloom of the West in
the present foreboding situa-
ton, there remains perhaps a
major ray of hope, a possi-
biliry that a means may yet
be found short of hydrogen
bomb war to check the grow
ing menace of the Red I'M
perialism. And that hope lies
precisely in the fact Of the
growing repression associated
with the new Kremlin policy,
in Russia and. in the satel-
lite nations behind the Iron
Curtain.
The renewed policy of cyni-
cal repression and open prep
aration for war cannot help
but arouse feelings of deeper
desperation among the captive