davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16
Glenn Helps Out

Meanwhile, the flight direc-
tor took some preliminary &C
ton of his own. He told Hawaii
to have Glenn flick on an in
dicating-not an actuating-
switch marked Landing Bag
Deploy," and report whether a
light came on.
There were three possible re-
ports Glenn could give: Green,
red, or no light. Green would
mean that the heat shield had
dropped off the capsule; red
would mean it had disengaged
but had not actually separated
to form the landing bag, and no
light would mean nothing had
happened.
OF course no light could
also mean the bulb had burned
out; you couldn't be sure E.
Glenn reported no light on
the switch indicator. So far so
good.
"Yardley came out and ex-
planned the diagrams to me in
the same light that we had
looked at them" Kraft recalled.
HE described what he thought
about holding the shield on
with the straps, and he said
the consensus Of everybody was
that the safest way to re-enter
was with the package on"
Kraft looked across at the
bland, round face of his boss,
Manned Flight Operations
Chief Walt williams. The two
of them knew what had to be
done. and tried not to think
about the Congressman and
other VIPs behind the glass
in the viewing gallery who
would be transformed suddenly
into second-guessers if any,
thing went wrong.
when we finally made the
decision we were already in
contact with California, mi
tiating the retrofire maneuver,"
Kraft recalled. From then on,
things happened literally faster
than they can be retold.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16
Segment 81: Spacemen Foug ht Clock in Glenn Crisis

II thought maybe he'd taken
too much heat" Shepard said
later.
Glenn could not recall any
feelings of discomfort. II was
in good shape then" he said.
II was quite elated at the time.
We had been through the worst
and everything was settling
down. The glow had gone down.
Everything was in good shape.
All we had to do was get down
and get the parachutes out and
then we'd have it made"
Perhaps, Glenn said, the ap-
parent strain in his voice was
due to the fact that he was
still under pretty high decelera-
tive forces, and was attempting
to talk between deep-breathing
exercises designed Ito spread
the lungs out again."
Finally the para c n u t e S
opened, the capsule was recov-
cred. and the rest is history.
What caused the trouble? AS
the men in Mercury Control
had suspected, a little shaft in
a tiny limit switch had rotated
a hairSbreadth in the wrong
direction.
With the added benefit Of
hindsight. the men who par
ticipated in the decision say now
that John Glenn was not in
mortal danger at all. But they
quickly add that if they had to
do it over again, they would
undoubtedly 60 the same route.
AS it turned out, the heat
shield was on firmly all the
time, and they could have made
a completely normal re-entry
, with no risk at all.
But still, there was that 80
per cent reading on Segment
81. AS AL Shepard said later:
1--WE couldn't be sure"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16
Expert Called

The men in the back room
struggled with the problem as
far as they could on their
own and then called in the
man who had conceived the
Mercury capsules shape. This
man, Maxine FACET, was in
Houston, Tex. Consulted by
phone, he said his theoretical
studies clearly indicated that
the shield could survive re-
entry with the retropack still
attached. Theoreticians at the
Mcdonnell plant in st. Louis,
Mo-, where Friendship-7 was
made, were similarly reassur-
ing.
BY now a complete orbit of
the earth, and more, had
TRANSFERRED, and Glenn was ccm-
ing up over the Pacific toward
Hawaii on his last pass before
re-entry. Kraft, who (next to
GLENN was in the hottest seat
of all, began to chafe for adj
vice on which to base a deci-
sion. He had only a very few
minutes left before he had to
order firing of the retro-rock-
cts, ready or not, because there
was no provision to keep Glenn
up for another Commute orbit.
Shepard, Arabian and Stay
ton had been over the wiring
diagrams until their eyes
burned. They were virtually
certain that a switch was ly-
ing, but they couldn't guaran-
tee it.
Bland, Yardley and the
others in back had come to the
same conclusion. AS they saw
it, in the capsule there was q
pesky little rotary switch
hardly bigger than a spool OF
thread that was causing all
the confusion. They reasoned
that the shaft of the switch
would have to rotate a full go
degrees in the right direction
to give a Landing Bag-De-
ploy" signal-but only about
or 2 degrees in the wrong di-
rection. And in such a little
switch there could easily be
or 2 degrees of play in a ro-
tating shaft no thicker than a
pencil lead. But they couldn't
guarantee their theorizing was
correct.
Kraft, a normally imper-
turbable man in his mid-30s,
felt tension grow within him.
II couldn't get a decision out
of our back-room people," he
recalled later. IT kept haras-
sing them, and I couldn't get
anything out of them. So ]
said, Either you guys are 60
ing to give a decision in five
minutes or I am going to
make one myself. I have nc
choice.
/ In the final minutes Kraft's
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16

loose-and there wasn't Is inch
of play in the straps.
But still the heat shield had
not been designed to re-entel
the atmosphere at 1900 miles
an hour with a retropack on
and this had not been tried
on any of the Mercury test
flights or in a wind tunnel.
The big selling point for the
heat shield had always been
that it's clean, spherical sur
face could dissipate heat from
the capsule by literally boiling
itself away. What would hap
pen when this smooth face
was marred by the retropack-
a lump the size and shape OF
a bushel baSekt?
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16
Scientists Hope to Flip
Liqht Beam Off Moon

gan tests are scheduled to be-
gin in a week or so.
Scientists envision using such
optical waves in much the same
way radio waves are now used
They foresee disappointed
lightwaves increasing the range
and frequency channels OF
space communication; making
possible "knifeless" surgery; al
lowing transmission of 100 mil
lion simultaneous telephone
calls, and conceivably even pro-
viding a death ray"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16

moment of truth. At his home
coming in New Concord, Ohio
he was later to answer a ques-
ton about "his finest hour
by saying, II guess it was when
I came through re-entry in real
good shape"
Somewhere quite early in re-
entry deceleration one of the
three titanium straps on the
retropack let go. and the loose
end Of it could be seen through
the capsule window. At about
the same time, he felt a con-
siderable bump behind him.
II assumed that this was the
retropack being jettisoned,
Glenn said later. II thought al
the time that it had left the
capsule and we had a cleal
heat shield for re-entry. I still
had no landing bag indication
I checked it at that time, so
thought the heat shield wa,
probably in real good shape"
What followed Immediately
was probably the toughest pc,
riod of all for Glenn. His recol
lection:
1--WE came along into tn,
higher part of the heat pulse
There was an orange glow out,
side the capsule. And at tina
point I started seeing spark
and small pieces coming back
flaming.
And then there were som,
fairly large chunks of six O
seven inches across, possibly
that were flaming. wasn't sur,
what had happened, because
felt that earlier the retropacl
had jettisoned. I wasn't sur
but that we might in some wa,
have damaged the heat Shiel,
perhaps it might be tearing
up"
Glenn could not even hop
for an immediate answer to hi
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16

deployed. We feel that it is far
safer to re-enter with the retro
package on. We see no diff
Guilty at this time in that type
of re-entry. Over"
AS calmly as if he was bring
ing a DC-3 in for a daylight
landing on Runway So, John
Glenn said:
"Ah. roger, Understand"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16
Pretty Good

To most of the men on the
ground the letdown of relief
was as great as the buildup of
tension had been. But not to
AL Shepard. Glenn's predecessor
in space.
How do you feel?" Shepard
asked Glenn.
"Oh, pretty good" the voice
came back. But to Shepard II
didn't sound pretty good" al
all. 1t sounded tense ano
strained.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-03-16

Drawings above show Systematically how
troublesome switch in friendship should
have worked Qeft and actually did work
(right). Segment "a" on switch should have
rotated 60 degrees to the left before making
contact ("B") which would cause indication
that heat shield was loose. But when "A"
accidentally jiggled right and made contact
c'C"), the same indication was falsely given.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Inhabitants |nc.,
.ToHonor Woman
AtApri| Meeting

The Oldest Inhabitants, Inc.
will honor Mrs. Mary P. john
son at its annual Ladies Night
April %.
Mrs. johnson has been presi-
ident of the Ladies of Charity
Order of st. Augustine's Catho-
lie Church. She was decorated
in 1859 with the order "Pro
EccleSsiae ct Pontifice" by Pope
John XIII.
Featured speaker at the
meeting, to be held in the
Monument Hall of the Metro
politan Baptist Church, will be
Mrs. Euphemia Haynes of the
District Board of Education.
The group, which met last
night in the Odd Fellows Hall
Ninth and T streets NV, in
dorsed DR.. Jesse Keene for the
post of director of the D. C
Department of Public Health.
DR.. Keene, a Negro dermatol-
ogist, has been under con-
sideration for the post soon tt
be vacated by retiring director
Dr.. D. L. Finucane.
In other business the Oldesf
Inhabitants accepted two new
members, Cornelius Pyles, "a
and william Chapman, 81, boti
of 1927 Twelfth street NV
and passed Hoover Brown
motion to instruct its delegate
to the Federation of Civic AS
sociations to see that funds ar
properly appropriated for tn
Districts two new juvenil
judgeshipS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Capt. Stuart Dies;
II Years in NAVY

Capt. David Hunt Stuart, rs
who served Al years in the
Navy before retiring in 1916
died last Thursday at the
Bethesda Naval Hospital of q
heart attack.
Capt. Stuart, who lived at
4703 Dover road NV, entered
the Naval Academy in 1905, was
graduated in 1909, and served
the next seven years on the
battleship Nebraska, the frigate
Franklin and the destroyer
Preston.
In the early years of World
War I he was a radio station
censor in Long Island, N. Y.
and in 1917 was given his first
command - the U.S,S. Aga
memnon, an appropriated Ger
man transport formerly called
the Kaiser Wilhelm II.
In 1918 he was ordered to the
destroyer Coyngham as execu-
tive officer, and in the last
months of the war commanded
the destroyer Trippe, for which
he was awarded q special letter
from the Secretary of the
Navy, saying "he rendered
meritorious service in command
OF the Trippe from October OF
1918 until the end of the (anti)
submarine campaign"
After the war, then Comdr.
Stuart fitted out and COM
manded the destroyer Foote
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27

City cnunc'imen ave ~
posed any mee - ~. ass wnic /
Fairfax Coun.. t,uld become
a city because it would lock
the city inside another city.
Councilmen have also ar
gued that the current attempt
to force a consolidation be-
tween Fairfax City and Fair
fax County is subject to the
same conditions which Judge
Brown mentioned during the
Clifton merger attempt.
If the five-member COM
mission is appointed and draws
up a consolidation agreement
with the county, the agreement
would then 60 to the voters
both of the county and the
city.
If approved by both, the two
Jurisdictions would merge into
the country's second largest
city in area-400 square miles
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
John R. Mitchell, "a, Served
In House From Tennessee

abolishing the district he rep.
resented.
He returned to Tennessee
however, campained in anothe,
District, won and served thre'
terms. He left the House il
1888 to wage an unsuccessful
campaign for the Senate.
A Circuit Court judge in Ten
nessee for four years before
coming to Congress, Mr.. Mitch
ell once fined himself $40 TO,
being 10 minutes late for court
During the Truman admins
tration, Mr.. Mitchell served al
a special assistant to the At
torney General. Earlier he wa!
an attorney in the land division
Of the Alien Property Gus
todian's office.
A staunch Methodist, Mr.
Mitchell taught a Bible class
and served as guest preacher
at the Hamline Methodist
Church here for many years
He formerly lived at Alt Rod.
man street NV. His wife dice
here in 1851.
Mr.. Mitchell leaves a brother
DR.. Elmo Mitchell of Crossville
a stepdaughter, Mrs. Cecil A
Beasley, jr., of 1925 Fifty-sec.
ond street NV, and two grand.
children.
Funeral services and buria'
will be tomorrow in Crossville
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Citizens Group
In Southeast
Urges Play Space

More recreation space in the
District was urged by the Four
Avenues Southeast Citizens As
ISOLATION last night.
The association re-stated its
position favoring establishment
of a playground at Massachu-
sets and Alabama avenues SIC.
Several civic groups in the
area have worked for the
Fairgrounds establishment. The
D. c. Recreation Department
has reported that about two
thirds of the necessary land
has been purchased.
The association also joined
the Fort Davis Citizens Asso-
citation in requesting that the
land to be left vacant by aban-
donment of the Boiling Field
area be used for recreation.
Both associations are opposed
to public housing projects for
the area.
The meeting was held in the
Fort Davis Library, Alabama
avenue and Thirty-eig street
Sc.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27

and later the Worden, taught
for a year at the Naval Acad-
envy, and returned to duty on
the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, flag
ship of the Atlantic fleet.
In the next few years he
served in Newport, r. l., Nor
folk, and as captain Of the
U.S.S. Somers. In the early
1930s he was executive officer
on the cruiser Memphis, anc
in 1884 came to Washington to
take a command course at the
Army War College. In 1885 he
went to the Navy Yard here as
personnel officer, and retired
in 1887 as a commander.
He returned to active duty
two years later. was promoted
to captain, and served as per-
sonnet officer of the Navy Yard
until 1916.
In his Al years in the Navy
Capt. Stuart received the Vic
tory Medal, the Destroyer
Clasp and the American De-
Tense Medal.
He leaves his wife, Faye, OF
the home address, and a daugh-
ter, Mrs. William Hoover, Of
Washington. and two grand
children.
Services were to be at 2 pm,
today at the Fort Myer chapel,
with burial in Arlington GEM
etery.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
N. A. Splitter, 100,
Retired at IS

BRIDGEWATER, Va, Feb.
81 (AP).-Newton A. Splitter,
retired merchant. died yester-
day at his home at Spring
Creek near here. He was 100
years old.
Mr.. Splitter celebrated his
Tooth birthday last July IA and
at that time attributed his good
health ito the good Lord"
He was in the mercantile
business from 1912 to 1887, re-
firing when he was rs. Before
that he was a shoe and harness
maker.
In recent years he kept busy
tending his flower and vege-
table gardens and reading the
Bible. Friends said he had
read the New Testament 16
times.
Funeral services will be held
tomorrow at the Beaver Greek
Church of the Brethren, where
Mr.. Splitter was Sunday School
superintendent for 80 years.
Burial will be in the church
cemetery.
Four children survive.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
ShipIey Suggests
Negro Director
In Welfare Post

A Negro could handle the
job Of District director of pub
lie welfare better than a white
official, members of the North
west Boundary Civic Associa-
ton were told last night.
The suggestion was made by
Carl Shipley, chairman of the
District Republican State Com
mittee.
But Joseph Rauh, acting
chairman of the Democratic
Central Committee said, RE
publicans always want to put
Negroes in jobs that are al
ready filled-instead of jobs
that are open, such as secre-
tary of urban affairs"
Mr.. Shipley disclosed pend
ing plans to ask members OF
the Metropolitan Washington
Board of Trade to initiate a
program to equalize employ
ment for Negroes in District
industry.
Mr.. Rauh countered, 1.-THE
most positive way to insure
fair employment for Negroes
is for Republicans to agree to
provide about 10 congressional
signatures on a discharge pc
tition for an FEPC (Fair En-
ployment Practices Commits
sion) bill which we already
have provided a Democratic
majority for "
The meeting was held at
mcfarland Junior High School,
Iowa and Webster streets NV.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Mann Leads
Sponsors of
1862 Bills

RICHMOND, Feb. 81. - Ar
lington Delegate Harrison
Mann is the champion bill
introducer" at the 1862 session
Of the Legislature.
He has signed his name to
IS bills and resolutions, either
as principal patron or as a
co-sponsor with other legisla-
tors.
Senator Fred w. Bateman of
Newport News was the one with
the most bills in the Senate.
He sponsored Sc.
When the deadline passed
last week for the introduction
of new bills, there were 1874
bills and IS resolutions in the
House and 300 bills and 46
resolutions in the Senate.
In both branches, Alexandria
Delegate James M. Thomson
was second to Mr.. Mann by
signing a total of So measures.
Lowest man in the Senate,
with nine measures, was Sen
ator S. Floyd Landreth, Repub-
lican of Galax, while three
members were tied for low
place in the House, each with
IA. They are delegates R.
Crockett Gwynn of Marion,
Bradley Roberts of Bristol and
Luther B. Sykes of Clintwood.
Monday was set yesterday as
the deadline by which the
House and Senate may con-
slider their own bills. In prepa-
ration for scheduled adjourn
ment the following Saturday
March 10) each branch may
consider only bills originating
in the other body after Monday
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Merger Of City, County
Souqhtin Fairfax Court

The Fairfax Circuit Court
was asked yesterday to appoint
a five member commission to
prepare an agreement under
which Fairfax County and
Fairfax City would merge into
one large city.
A petition was filed by three
citizens representing a group
which asked the City Council
last July to draw up a CONSOLE
dalton agreement. The petition
presented to the council con-
tanned more than 900 names.
But most members Of the
council said that such a con-
solidation would be illegal and
ignored the petition.
Under Virginia's consolida-
ton statute, if the governing
body of a jurisdiction refuses
to act on such a petition for
six months, the citizens may
ask the Circuit Court to ap-
point five citizens to arrange
the agreement.
Campaigning Since June
Some citizens in Fairfax
City have been campaigning
to get the consolidation issue
before the voters since last
June when Fairfax City
switched from town to city
status.
The city made the switch
on the same day the county
announced it had signed a con-
solidation agreement with the
town of Clifton to merge into
a city.
The town of Fairfax. fearful
that it's charter would be dis
solved if the merger went
through, petitioned for and
obtained city status. AS a city
it would be unaffected by any
merger of the county and
Clifton.
The Fairfax-C Clifton merger
fell through a month later.
however, when Circuit Judge
Paul Brown called off a ref
erendum. The consolidation
statute never contemplated
merger of a county with a
town entirely within it's bord-
erS, he said.
Charter Grant Fails
The county has since at
tempted, with no success, to
obtain city status by means OF
a charter granted directly by
the Council Assembly.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27

Il, John Ridley Mitchell, a
former Democratic Represen-
tative from Tennessee who
came to Washington in 1881
only to find his district had
been abolished, died yesterday
in Crossville, Tenn.
MIR. Mitchell, "a, left Con-
gress in 1888.
A prohibitionist and a op-
ponent of every sort Of public
dole, Mr.. Mitchell attempted
to have a bill passed which
would prohibit any Federal Of
ficial from putting a relative
on the payroll. Although his
perennial efforts were always
in vain, Mr.. Mitchell practiced
what he preached and never
hired a relative while in Con-
gress.
A Tennessee farm boy who
rose to succeed Cordell Hull in
Congress, Mr.. Mitchell arrived
in Washington as politicians in
his State undercut him by
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Insanity Plea
Frees in Killing

A District Court jury yester-
day found Jackie J. Floyd not
guilty by reason of insanity of
a manslaughter charge in the
1856 death of a brother-in-law
of United Nations official
Ralph Bunche.
Floyd had originally been
charged with first-degree MUIR
der, felony murder and robbery
in connection with the death
on August 10, 1856, of Roscoe
Harris, IS, of 214 S street NV.
Mr.. Harris was found dead
in, his office at 1349 Ninth
street NV. He had been robbed
Of $125 and was bound with
cords on his legs and arms.
He died from asphyxation
resulting from towels being
tied over his mouth.
At his trial in District Court
three psychologists testified
that Floyd was suffering from
mental illness on the day OF
the crime, and a psychiatrist
told the jury that he had been
mentally sick for a long time.
Judge Luther w. Youngdah,
early in the trial granted a re.
quest by Floyd's lawyer, Harry
Ahern, for dismissal of the
first-degree charge and the
felony murder charge, both oil
which would have required the
death penalty on conviction.
This left a second-degree
charge for the jury to delib.
crate on, but the panel chos.
to find him not guilty by rea.
son of insanity on the LESSEE
charges of manslaughter anc
robbery.
Two other defendants in the
case were convicted on robbery
charges.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
Roberto. O'Brien,
Hospital Official

NEWPORT NEWS, Va, Feb
81 (AP).-The death of Robert
c. O'Brien, administrator OF
Riverside Hospital, has been
attributed to accidental drown
ing,
Mr.. O'Brien's body was found
floating half out of his partially
submerged station wagon yes
terday in higgins Lake.
He leaves his wife, the for
mer Miss Mariana Gaines OF
Glasgow, KY; two sons, Robert
Joseph O'Brien, a postgraduate
student at Northwestern Uni
versity, Evanston, ILL.,; and Da.
vid Gaines O'Br:en; a daughter
Mary Claire O'Brien of New
port News; three sisters anc
three brothers.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-27
THE MAN ON every team

THE MAN on EVERY TEAM
win, Lose or Draw" he knows the score!
Baseball, boxing, basketball, racing E.
you name if, whatever the spot-he knows
the plays and players. Francis stonn, The
Stors oII-oround sports writer. gives you
the highghts and Iowdown on the world
Of sports! Not content to parrot the play
by-pIoys from the press box, stonn takes
you to the field {. . on the bench . in the
dveovt. on the court and track wherever
the action starts. You ore more than side
line spectator -. you live the action! Follow
Stonn's column, win, Lose or Drow"-reg-
uIorly in The Washington Star.