Gainesville Daily Register and Messenger (Gainesville, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 105, Ed. 1 Friday, December 28, 1951 Page: 1 of 8
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pille Saib Register
AND MESSENGER ed® AV
Associated Press
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GAINESVILLE, COOKE COUNTY, TEXAS, FRIDAY AFTERNOON, D ECEMBER 28, 1951
(EIGHT PAGES)
NUMBER 105
62ND YEAR
450 Americans Are
Support
Known Dead in
38
I
89
Prisoners
Fires Kill
10
In Texas
Under Discussion
8
Dec. 28 (AP)
The four
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6
28
term.
(AP Wirephoto)
(AP Wirephoto)
area.
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69
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Tommie Yates to Know There is a
Santa If He Recovers From Beating
Boss of Russian Uranian
Mining Believed in U. S.
Leased Wire Report
and Wirephoto Service
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WHOPPER OF AN ICICLE —
A five story icicle hangs from
the roof drain of an apartment
building in Chicago. The huge
icicle is a product of the city’s
freak weather which has dumped
exceedingly heavy snow on the
Traffic deaths to date
date in 1951________
Traffic deaths to same
date in 1950 _________
Traffic injuries to date
in 1951 _____________
Traffic injuries to same
date in 1950 ________
in 1951 _____________
Traffic deaths to same
date in 1950 _________
Traffic injuries to date
1951 _______________
Traffic injuries to same
date in 1950 ________
376 Deathless Days
IN GAINESVILLE
Keep the green light burning
. . . don’t cause the red light to
burn for you. ,
Traffic deaths to date
14 Deathless Days
IN COOKE COUNTY
(Outside Gainesville)
9
88888888888883333328 666888
By CARTER L. DAVIDSON
PARIS, Dec. 28 (A)—Foreign and finance ministers of six West
European nations met today to try figuring out how to pay for the
planned 43-division continental army.
Red Prison Camps
By GEORGE A. McARTHUR
MUNSAN, Korea, Dec. 28 (AP)—The U. N. command said today
at least 450 American soldiers have died in North Korean prison
camps.
An official communique said that is 77 per cent of United Nations
troops know to have been imprisoned in rear areas and not account-
ed for in last week’s list of living prisoners.
COOKE COUNTY FREE LIBRARY
GAINESVILLE, TEXAS
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‘NO COMMENT’ — John L.
I :wis, president of the United
I line Workers union, is shown
at West Frankfort, III., after he
emerged from the Orient Mine
No. 2, following an eight-hour in-
spection of the scene of an ex-
plosion where 119 miners were
killed. Tired and dirty, Lewis
said he had reached his “own
definite conclusion” but would
make no further comment.
(AP Wirephoto)
The ancient Egyptians colored
glass with material containing
Cobalt.
y
r
1
the U. S. Atomic Energy commis-
sion; Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, pres-
ident of California Institute of
Technology, and Dr. Charles G.
Lauristen, a rocket expert from
CIT.
“It is now believed that the
scientists . . . were called in
to size up the facts given to in-
telligence by Astrachov,” the Ex-
press said, adding:
“An Allied official guessed to-
night that Astrachov has reached
Washington.”
In Washington, the justice de-
partment declined comment.
In reporting Astrachov’s flight
to the west, the West Berlin
newspaper Die Welt said Dec. 1
that he had been in charge of
planning for the Soviet Wismuth
A. G., a company operating sev-
eral uranium mines in the Soviet
zone of Germany.
Die Welt said the company em-
ploys 380,000 Germans bossed by
5,800 Russian technicians.
8
pi
LONDON, Dec. 28 (AP) — The
London Daily Express said today
the boss of Russian uranium min-
ing in East Germany — a key
man in Soviet atomic works —
may have been taken to Wash-
ington after he fled to the west
three weeks ago.
He was identified as Lt. Col.
Fedya Astrachov, whose • scien-
tific achievements once were
honored with Russia’s coveted
Stalin prize.
The Express said American in-
telligence agents were reported
questioning a senior officer of
the Russian army shortly after
Astrachov reportedly fled the
Reds.
It also linked him with a re-
cent trip to Germany by four
leading American atomic scien-
tists — Dr. J. Robert Oppenheim-
er, director of the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton,
N. J.; Dr. Walter F. Whitman of
I
Manner of Paying
Persons European Army is
Department Store Sales
Up In Four Texas Cities
DALLAS, Dec. 28 (P) — De-
partment store sales in four
Texas cities were up an average
of 4 per cent for the week end-
ing Dec. 22, compared to the
same week of last year.
Recent weekly averages have
been up 7 and 8 per cent over
last year.
The report of the Federal Re-
serve bank of Dallas, issued to-
day, showed sales were up 9 per
cent in Houston fc.r last week,
up seven per cent in San Anton-
io; down 2 per cent in Fort Worth
and down 1 per cent in Dallas.
Farm Price Four AmeHcan Fliers
Dallas Boy Flying
To Meet Eisenhower
DALLAS, Dec. 28 (P)—Eleven-
year-old Stephen West was wing-
ing toward Paris, France, today
in an effort to see his idol, Gen-
eral Dwight Eisenhower.
Stephen packed his freshly
pressed Boy Scout uniform and
left Dallas by plane last night.
For more than a year, the small
boy has been dreaming of going
to Paris to meet the general.
Stephen started saving his
money toward the trip and his
grandmother chipped in. This
Christmas, his mother, Mrs. E. A.
Adam, saved money from her
secretarial job to help him pay
his fare.
Stephen, his mother said, has
always leaned toward serious
study, being too small for many
games. He even likes politics,
and if he succeeds in seeing the
general at SHAPE headquarters,
he will urge him to run for pres-
i ident.
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Truman Ends Visit,
Goes to Washington
KANSAS CITY, Kas., Dec. 28
(TP)—President Truman ended his
Christmas visit at home today
and headed back to Washington
with budget problems on his
mind.
The President took off in the
White House plane, Independ-
ence, at 8:50 a. m. CST.
Mrs. Truman and their daugh-
ter, Margaret, did not accom-
pany him back to the capital.
Weather Forecast
Partly cloudy, warmer.
Full weather report on
classified ad page.
*888855*::322328:2:3338
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Returned to Freedom
1
1
B
Simultaneously the Commu-
nists indicated a complete list of
living U. N. prisoners already is
in Allied hands.
The 450 soldiers were not
among those listed on the Com-
munist roster of 11,559 prison-
ers. They apparently were
among 571 Americans the Reds
said Wednesday had died of dis-
ease or were killed by Allied air
raids or artillery fire.
The U. N. command said its
announcement was based on a
study of the Reds’ Wednesday re-
port.
“We must presume they died
in prison camps,” said Brig. Gen.
William P. Nuckols, official U. N.
spokesman. “This is the first
time we have had knowledge of
any deaths in prison camps.”
North Korean Maj. Gen. Lee
Sang Cho hinted Friday at Pan-
munjom that the Reds would re-
port that many other Americans,
not yet accounted for, had died
of disease or exposure in prison
camps.
Rear Adm. R. E. Libby quoted
Lee as saying “we must remem-
ber that Americans are not ac-
customed to this climate and are
susceptible to local diseases, so
it wouldn’t be surprising if a
large number died of disease.”
The U. N. communique Friday
said:
“Seventy-seven per cent of the
UNC soldiers who were captured,
taken to the rear area prison
camps and later announced by
the Communists as prisoners of
war have since died, an analysis
of data received on 26 December
discloses. Of the 585 men known
to have reached the rear, an-
nouncements in Communist pub-
lications, and through Geneva,
450 are now dead.”
The communique reference to
77 per cent had no relation to
the list of 11,559 prisoners an-
nounced last week. It concerned
only a group of 585 men not
listed there.
The Allied announcement Fri-
day increased neither the num-
ber of known dead nor captured.
It was part of the U. N. effort
to pinpoint exactly what has
happened to every Allied soldier
captured by the Reds.
The U. N. command said it
knows that of 357 American sol-
diers for which the Reds still
have made no accounting, at
least 135 reached rear area pri-
son camps.
Aside from hinting at the fate
of American prisoners whose
names failed to appear on the
Red roster, Communist negoti-
ators offered no further ac-
counting of some 50,000 captured
soldiers the U. N. says have not
been listed.
s I
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05 i d
InHungary
For 40 Days
NICKELSDORF, Austria,
West Germany’s Chancellor -
Konrad Adenauer attended.
After the morning session offi-
cial sources said considerable
progress was made. Dutch For-
eign Minister Dirk U. Stikker
told reporters “there is every sign
that an agreement will be reach-
ed to form a common budget” for
the proposed army.
Italian Premier-Foreign Min-
ister Alcide De Gasperi said the
morning talks went fairly well
on what he called a broad review
of financial questions. Adenauer
declined to comment.
Two general views were ex-
pected to be aired:
1—A German proposal for a
single treasury to which all six
nations—France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Belgium and
Luxembourg—would contribute.
2—The Benelux idea for each
country to pay for its own sold-
iers in its own currency.
The general situation after 10
months of debate and probing
boiled down to whether a coal-
ition of a federation would be the
best way to pool forces for a
single defense.
All have agreed that a single,
one-uniform army would be the
best means of getting Germans
back into military circulation
without nationalistic tendencies
and the most efficient way of
lining, up against communist ag-
gression.
How to go about it is another
matter.
Five of the foreign ministers
and an Adenauer representative
met for five hours yesterday and
got no farther than a round of
oratory re-stating previously
stated views.
The two factions are split like
this:
France, Italy and West Germ-
any want an international high
authority to run the army with a
“European defense minister,”
who would recruit it and adopt a
common budget to pay for it.
This would be federation.
The Benelux countries—Bel-
gium, the Netherlands and Lux-
embourg—want the army run by
a council of ministers represent-
ing each country, each retaining
veto power and each to recruit
and equip before joining the in-
ternational army. This would be
coalition.
Gen. Eisenhower, the North At-
lantic (ANATO) military boss, is
believed to favor federation over
coalition.
—Me
By The Associated Press
Fire had its inning as the
state’s worst killer Thursday aft-
er playing second fiddle to Tex-
as traffic mishaps through most
of the holidays.
Ten persons died in blazes
Thursday — five in one fire at
Corsicana—to take over as the
number one scourge for the day.
The ten deaths /by fire pushed
the total Christmas-New Year’s
death toll to 136. At least 81 per-
sons had died in traffic accidents,
shootings killed 25, and 18 per-
ished in flames.
The Department of Public
Safety has estimated 220 per-
sons will die violently during the
holiday season—Dec. 22 through
Jan. 1. It estimated there will
be 115 fatalities in auto mis-
haps.
In a holocaust following the
explosion of an oil stove, five
Negro children died in Corsicana.
Joseph Paris Jr. tried vainly to
rescue five of his younger broth-
ers and sisters, but died himself
in saving only one four-year-old.
The others who died in the
blaze which destroyed the small
frame Parish home were Pearlie
B. Parish, 3; Linda and Lindon
Parish, 18-months-old twins; and
five-months-old Vera Lee Par-
ish. The other child in the house,
Freeman Parish, 4, was in a criti-
cal condition in a Corsicana hos-
pital.
Three separate fires , in Fort
Worth killed as many persons. 1
Donald Ray Smith, 16 months,
died when fire swept his Fort
Worth home. Airline Freeman
Johnson, 36, suffocated, and Judy
Bishop, 6, was burned to death
in house fires in Fort Worth.
Fourteen - months - old Irene
Acosta, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Acosta of San Antonio,
was fatally burned Thursday
when her dress caught fire in
her mother’s kitchen. Fire Mar-
shal A. F. Dresch said Irene’s
brother was playing with match-
es.
G. R. Smith, 63, died in the
blaze that drestroyed three build-
ings at Crowell, southwest of
Vernon.
Other late reports of violent
deaths include:
Walter Jackson Reynolds, 58,
Amarillo, died Wednesday from
injuries received in an auto-
pedestrian accident in Amarillo
Dec. 25.
Willie Foreman, 17, Goodrich
laborer, was stabbed to death in
Goodrich.
Joe Mena, 51, Garza county
resident, was killed in a head-on
auto collision early Thursday
night 10 miles northeast of Post.
Two of the nine other persons
injured in the crash were taken
to a Lubbock hospital.
Jesse B. Martin, about 47, Gal-
veston, whose legs were ampu-
tated several years ago in an in-
dustrial accident, was found
hanging to his bed with a small
rope late Thursday. An autopsy
was ordered.
MORE AND MORE Gainesville
and Cooke county people are
now using this route to Fort
Worth instead of going out of
their way several miles via
Denton, and they also face much
less traffic, particularly big
trucks.
You enter this road at a point
about two and one-half miles
south of Sanger, and there is
no road marker to indicate it.
You can recognize it, however
by reason of the fact that it is
the only hard surfaced road en-
tering U. S. highway 77 in that
vicinity, and there is a small
fence marker of a Texas com-
pany lease location at the inter-
section.
To make the road the kind of
a state highway it should be
would require some straighten-
ing, but it could be extended
north from Krum through
Muenster to Oklahoma and pro-
vide a shorter, quicker route be-
tween Oklahoma points and Fort
Worth than is now available.
even arrange a Christmas tree.
But little Tommie, who under-
went an operation by a neuro-
surgeon yesterday, was not re-
ceiving visitors. Before the sur-
gery, he had opened his eyes,
yawned and said nothing.
Tommie was beaten into un-
consciousness Christmas eve. His
mother and step-father, Mr. and
Wild turkeys originally ranged
from the Atlantic coast of North
America to the Dakotas and from
Southern Ontario to Southern
Mexico.
Fort Worth CAA
Office Approves
Lease of Airport
The Regional office of the Civil
Aeronautics administration late
Thursday afternoon approved the
lease agreement for the Gaines-
ville Municipal airport submitted
by Otto Witbeck and associates
of Dallas'.
After signing of the document
by S. E. Travis, chief of the air-
port division of the regional
CAA, the lease was sent to Wash-
ington for final approval by the
national CAA office. As it is
customary for the national office
to accept the recommendations of
the regional branches in affairs
of this sort, no delay is antici-
pated in receiving a final okay.
The signing of the lease by the
CAA climaxes three months of
off and on negotiations between
the City of Gainesville, the local
Chamber of Commerce, Witbeck
and associates and the regional
office of the CAA.
The lease of the city airport for
five years at a descending scale
of rental payments was signed
by Witbeck and the city early
Thursday afternoon at a special
meeting of the City Council. City
Manager Homer Bly then accom-
panied the Dallas men to Fort
Worth to submit the contract for
CAA approval.
Under the provisions of the
agreement, the city will receive
a rental of $8,000 for the entire
airport for the first year of the
lease with the rental fee reduced
$1,000 each year until it reaches
$4,000 for the fifth year. The
Dallas group received a five year
option for renewal of the lease
for that part of the airfield need-
ed for their facilities.
All rental money derived from
the airport will be put back into
the installations for the develop-
ment of permanent imprcve-
ments which will become the1
property of the city when the
lease is terminated. Any special
installations made by Witbeck
and associates will remain their
personal property.
Randall Ryan, who is a mem-
ber of the group planning to use
the local airport as an aircraft
modification center, said Thurs-
day that work would probably
begin within the next week on
the construction of a large work
shed and other structures. Ma-
chinery and other equipment to
be used in the aircraft work is
expected to begin arriving at the
field within the near future.
Mrs. Robert Dale Simpson, are
held in a Vernon jail under
$5,000 bond each on charges of
assault to murder.
As well-wishers kept the tele-
phones busy, a Baylor hospital
official said, “This is the kind of
case that gets under your skin.”
A hospital spokesman said aft-
er the surgery there “was some
improvement, but we must still
consider his condition critical. It
is not possible now to determine
the extent of his injuries.”
Attendants described the child
as a “black-haired cute little
fellow who looks like all boy.”
Homefolks in Vernon were
ready to do anything for Tom-
mie. And it seemed to switch-
board operators at Baylor that
everybody in Texas wanted to
help.
Tommie, in a Vernon hospital
for a time, was brought to Dallas
early yesterday by Mrs. Birdie
Dillon, Wilbarger county health
nurse. An ambulance attendant
who brought him, stayed with
him all day.
Wilbarger County Attorney
Tom Davis filed a suit to have
the parental rights of the mother
removed. Such action, if taken,
would have the effect of making
Tommie a ward of the state.
The suit is scheduled to come
before Dist. Judge Jesse Owens
Monday afternoon.
Tommie, meanwhile, stared at
the ceiling of his hospital room,
took some food, but said nothing.
And Tommie is just four years
old.
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DALLAS, Dec. 28 (AP) — Frail
little Tommie Yates will know
there is a Santa Claus if he re-
covers from, a beating he re-
ceived in his Vernon home
,Christmas eve.
Hundreds of Texans are con-
cerned, have kept the telephones
busy to Baylor hospital, have
wanted to bring presents and
Ennis Oil Mill’s
Warehouse Burns
ENNIS, Dec. 28 (TP) — A fire
which heavily damaged the
Planters Cotton Oil Mill ware-
house last night continued to
smolder today.
The warehouse contained baled
cotton linters and baggings.
Employes said they hoped to
confine the fire to the warehouse
area but it might continue to
burn for several days.
TOWN—
= TOPICS
__By A. MORTON SMITH _
A DELEGATION OF Nocona
Ah citizens was in Austin re-
cently to talk with members of
the State Highway commission in
regard to a proposed new bridge
over Red river in Montague
county.
The delegation admitted that
the prospects of a bridge at this
time are slim, but the members
pointed out that to obtain any-
thing a start must be made, and
the conference in Austin was
the start of a movement for a
bridge in that county.
The group proposed that such
a bridge be located to tie in the
Montague county oil field with
that of Jefferson county, Okla-
homa, leaving it to the Highway
commission for a final decision
on a location.
There are no'bridges over the
river for a 50-mile stretch be-
tween Gainesville and Ringgold
on U. S. highways 77 and 81. But
Nocona is as near a river bridge
as is Muenster in western Cooke
county.
Mild Weather, No
Rain In Sight
For Texas Areas
By The Associated Press
Mild temperatures and no rain
were in store for Texans today,
the U. S. Weather bureau fore-
cast.
Temperatures will range from
4 to 7 degrees higher than the
normal December thermometer
readings in the state if the bu-
reau’s forecast is borne out.
No moisture to give any relief
for the long drought is expected
soon.
Texas’ lowest reported temper-
atures during night ranged from
28 at Salt Flat and Dalhart to 48
at Brownsville. The highest of-
ficial temperature in the state
yesterday was Presidio’s com-
fortable 68.
No rainfall was reported
Thursday.
Southerly winds blew warmer
air from Texas and the South-
west into the chilled and snow-
covered' Midwest today, but it
was cold over the eastern part
of the country.
Temperatures ranged from 10
to 20 degrees higher early today
in the upper Midwest and the
Northern Plains states. It was
below zero over much of the
area yesterday. The warmer
weather was in prospect for the
next two days.
It was sub-zero in parts of
the New England states today,
with a reading of -11 in Concord,
N. D.
Fight Seen
By OVID A. MARTIN
Associated Press Farm Editor
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (P)—
The question of whether the gov-
ernment should support farm
prices at higher than present lev-
els promises to be a big issue in
the coming session of Congress.
Demands for higher support
prices will be made by several
farm leaders in Congress. Chair-
man Ellender (D-La) of the Sen-
ate Agriculture committee al-
ready has announced he will
sponsor legislation to this effect.
Most non-perishable farm pro-
ducts are supported at maximum
allowed by law. The maximum is
90 per cent of parity. Parity is <
standard for measuring farm
prices declared by law to be
equally fair to farmers and those
who buy their products.
Those who will press for high-
er supports contend that if the
farmer is not guaranteed higher
returns, farm production will fall
short of needs. They cite increas-
ed farm production costs and the
failure of some crops to meet
government goals this year.
They cite in particular a sharp-
ly declining farm labor force,
arguing farmers cannot pay wag-
es to compete with factories ub I
less they are assured better
prices.
Two major farm groups, the
American Farm Bureau federa-
tion and the National grange,
will fight higher supports. They
contend market prices themselves
will offer enough incentive if
the government does not inter-
fere with price ceilings.
The National Farmers union,
on the other hand, favors higher
price guarantees.
Administration officials have
remained mum on the question.
American airmen held by
Communist Hungary f o r 40
days crossed the Austrian
frontier back to freedom at
5:01 p.m., Austrian time, to-
night.
Walter J. Donnelly, the U. S.
ambassador in Vienna, came to
the Austrian frontier to greet the
fliers. The U. S. had agreed to
pay $120,000 in fines levied
against the men on a charge of
violating the Hungarian border,
provided the men were promptly
released.
Donnelly announced in Vienna
earlier today that the fliers
would be released at 4 p. m.
(10 a. m., EST). He then sped to
the frontier, but it was not until
4:38 o’clock he received Soviet
permission to cross through the
frontier barrier past Soviet
guards.
The fliers were accompanied
across the border by Lt. Col.
William Alden Somerby, U. S.
Air attache in the American le-
gation at Budapest. Somerby
wore civilian clothing.
Immediately upon reaching the
Austrian side of the frontier, the
fliers went into a police post
building, accompanied by High
Commissioner Donnelly and Col.
John Guillett, commander of the
U. S. Air force base at Tulin,
along with other members of the
American welcoming party.
The airmen wore their Air
force uniforms.
The four fliers went into a
room from which photographers
and reporters were barred.
The airmen appeared tired.
Donnelly brought the men
through the border barrier in his
big car, bedecked with the Am-
erican flag and his blue ambas-
sador’s banner.
Donnelly’s car stopped just
outside the door of the police
post building. The fliers were
rushed inside by American offi-
cials.
The fliers are:
Capt. John J. Swift of Glens
Falls, N. Y., pilot.
Capt. Dave H. Henderson of
Shawnee, Okla., co-pilot.
T/Sgt. Jess A. Duff of Spo-
kane, Wash., mechanic.
Sgt. James A. Elam of Kings-
land, Ark., radio man.
They were forced down near
Papa, Hungary/ Nov. 19 by So- .
viet fighter planes stationed in
Communist-ruled Hungary under
the World War II peace treaty.
In a twin-engine C-47 they were
enroute from Erding, Germany,
to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on a
routine delivery of supplies,
when they reported themselves
lost.
They were not heard from un-
til Dec. 3 when Tass, Russian
news agency, announced they
had been forced down and were
being held on charges of violat-
ing the Iron Curtain for the pur-
pose of “planting spies and sabo-
teurs.” The United States prompt-
ly denied the charges and de-
manded the fliers be released.
American diplomats in Budapest
tried without success to see them.
Two days before Christmas Hun-
gary announced a secret military
court had tried, convicted and
sentenced the fliers. They were
ordered to pay a fine of $30,000
each or spend 90 days in jail.
The Air force planned to take
the airmen to the American air-
base at Tulin, near Vienna. From
there it was planned to fly them
to their own base at Erding, near
Munich, Germany.
For more than 15 minutes the
fliers remained in the room with <
the American officials. They
drank coffee and ate sandwiches
which Donnelly’s party brought
with them. Two Russian officers
also took part in the snack.
The point at which the fliers
were released is 30 miles south-
east of Vienna in the Soviet zone
of Austria. A wooden barrier
stretches across the highway on
the Austrian side of the frontier.
About two miles beyond, there'
is another wooden barrier, erect-
ed on the Hungarian side of the .
frontier.
When Donnelly arrived from
Vienna at 4:10 p. m., he narked
his car near the Austrian border.
He got out into a wet mist which
hung over the border area.
n
5 :3388883888858888888g88g8888888888888888
A“m.
s
338•
3 3
MUENSTER CITIZENS have
in recent years, joined with dele-
gations from other cities in dis-
cussion of a proposed route for
a new highway bridge between
Fort Worth and Oklahoma City,
and a glance at a map of the
airways, shows that Muenster is
the nearest town to the airline
route between Oklahoma City
and Fort Worth.
Such a highway, of course,
would call for a modern highway
bridge over Red river at some
point north of Muenster, and the
road would, no doubt largely
follow the route of the highway
between Krum, Ponder, Justin
and Fort Worth.
33333338 8888
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FUGITIVE COMMUNIST
FACES JAIL TERMS—Gus Hall,
one of the 11 convicted Commu-
nist leaders, wears a resigned
look as he clasps handcuffed
hands on his arrival at federal
court in New York for sentenc-
ing. Hall, apprehended in Mex-
ico after failing to surrender
last July to begin serving five-
year conspiracy term, was sen-
tenced to three years in jail on
each of two contempt charges,
to be served concurrently when
he completes the original 5-year
K $
Electricity or
Cigaret May Have
Caused Mine Blast
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (A)—
The Bureau of Mines said today
electricity or a lighted cigaret
may have touched off the explo-
sion that killed 119 coal miners
last week at West Frankfort, Ill.
The report was made on the
basis of preliminary findings by
bureau experts who investigated
the disastrous blast in Orient
Mine No. 2. A final report will
be made after tests of air and
dust taken from the mine.
The report said it was believ-
ed the explosion was “caused by
the ignition of methane gas,
which in turn raised and ignited
clouds of coal dust, propagating
the explosion throughout a wide
area of the working sections of
the mine.”
The report added:
“It was obvious to the investi-
gators that large accumulations
of coal dust were present in the
affected areas of the mine and
that sufficient rock dust had not
been applied to prevent the
propagation of the explosion.”
-
Youth Injured
In Auto-Train
Collision Today
James T. Martin, 19, of 416
Cunningham street, apparently
escaped serious injury early this
morning when his automobile
collided with a Missouri, Kansas
& Texas freight train at the Katy
crossing in the 1100 block of
South Grand avenue.
The youth is confined to
Gainesville sanitarium where he
was taken for treatment of shock
and minor injuries.
At last report he was unable to
give an explanation for the acci-
dent which occurred shortly after
midnight as he was driving north
on South Grand avenue.
The 1948 Chevrolet club coupe
driven by Martin was almost to-
tally destroyed when it struck
Katy engine No. 372 near the rear
of the cab.
Geo. J. Carroll and Son ambu-
lance attendants report that
young Martin was pinned be-
neath the steering wheel of the
automobile and was in a semi-
conscious condition when re-
moved.
He is the son of Tom Martin
of the same address.
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Gainesville Daily Register and Messenger (Gainesville, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 105, Ed. 1 Friday, December 28, 1951, newspaper, December 28, 1951; Gainesville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1542469/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Cooke County Library.