Dedicated To The Progress Of Served by Leased Wire of ihe
WILMINGTON ASSOCIATED PRESS
And Southeastern North With Complete Coverage of
Carolina Slate and National News
VOL 74—NO. 9 _______WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1940_ * + ESTABLISHED 1867
X 4r 4' X X X X X X X X X X X X XXX *
Committee Deadlocked On Draft Measure
-- + _*
Body Unable
To Agree On
Age Brackets
Senators Offer 1T0 Boost
Limit To 39 Years; House
Holds Out For 44
MINOR ITEMS CLEARED
*
Senator Shepard Predicts
That Bill Will Be In Final
Form By Tonight
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10.—UR—A
Jong session of the senate-house
committee appointed to write a
compromise version of the con
scription bill ended tonight in a
deadlock on the age limits of the
men to be subjected to the draft.
The senate conferees offered to
raise the top figure fb 39 years and
the house members steadfastly
held out for 44.
The bill as passed by the senate
made all between 21 r d 30, in
clusive. liable to compulsory mili
tary service, while the house fig
ures were 21 through 44. After
the senate’s compromise offer was
flatly rejected, Chairman Sheppard
(D.-Tex.) of the senate group said
it might be withdrawn.
Rapid Progress
Despite the disagreement on this
point, the conferees reported rapid
progress in other directions, es
pecially in disposing of minor
points. Sheppard, in fact, predict
ed that the job would, be completed
and the bill in its final form by to
morrow night.
However, the principal point of
controversy, the Fish amendment
providing for a sixty-day postpone
ment of the draft while voluntary
conscription is given a final trial,
was put over for discussion later.
This was done among accumulat
ing indications that when it is
reached, the amendment will be
scrapped.
The agreements reached during
the day included the adoption of
the senate’s limitation of 900,000
men on the number of conscripts
to be in service in the land forces
simultaneously, instead of the
house restriction of 1,000,000 for
both the army and navy. The
(Continued on Page Seven; CoL 4)
_;—.
tOANS TO SOUTH
AMERICANS URGED
Nations Into ‘Nazi Arms’
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10.—Iff)—
Senator Wagner (D-NY) told the
senate today that economic chaos
may force many South American
countries “into the Nazi arms” un
less the United States supplies
loans to help them solve wartime
trade problems.
The chairman of the senate
tanking committee urged speedy
approval of legislation increasing
funds of the government’s Export
fmport bank from $200,000,000 to
UOO.OOO.OOO with broad authority
to assist western hemisphere na
tions.
As several republican senators
bred critical questions about pur
poses of the legislation already
passed by the-house - -Wagner-as
(Continiied on Page Seven; Col. 5)
I Follow In Bombs’ Wake_
Homes of working people were the worst sufferers as Germany’s air attack on London rose to new
heights of fury. Above, workers are clearing away wreckage of a blasted house while repairmen seek to
put the lamppost back in order.__.__
McF arlandT ops Ashurst
In Arizona Senate Race
- r*
Louisiana Turning Out
Four Members Of House
Opposed By Gov. Jones
(By The Associated Praps)
A senate veteran and renowned
Washington character, Henry F.
Ashurst, democratic senator from
Arizona ever since it became a
state, trailed on fragmentary re
turns from yesterday’s primary
election.
Ajhurst, whose ready wit and
flambuoyant oratory has relieved
many a tense moment of senate
debate, found his opponent, Ernest
W. McFarland, leading by nearly
three to one.
Arizona was one of eight states
holding primaries. In others:
Louisiana Votes
Louisiana voters apparently were
turning out of office four members
of the house whose defeat had been
requested by Gov. Sam Jones, the
man who beat the still potent rem
nants of the Huey Long machine
for the pob he now holds.
In Vermont, Gov. George D. Aik
en, who has pointedly criticized
many New Deal proposals, de
cisively defeated Ralph E. Flan
ders for the republican senatorial
nomination to complete the term
of the late Ernest W. Gibson.
A close battle developed for the
New Hampshire republican guber
natorial nomination between Rob
ert O. Blood, president of the state
senate, and James C. Farmer, a
National Grange lecturer.
Returns were slow from Colo
rado, where in some sections mud
clogged roads made travel diffi
cult, and two young democrats,
George E. Saunders, secretary of
state, and John A. Carroll, Denver
district attorney, competed for the
gubernatorial nomination.
Gov. Clarence D. Martin sought
a third-term democratic nomina
tion in Washington. His leading op
bbrieftt’ was former Senator Clar
ence C. Dill. At stake, too, was the
seat of Senator Schwellenbach (D),
who has been named to a federal
judgeship.
Primaries also were held in
Michigan, where Senator Vanden
berg (R) assumed an early lead
for renomination and in Minne
sota, where Senator Shipstead
sought to return to the senate as a
republican instead of a farmer
laborite, in which party he had
been enrolled fqr years.
5. C. County Facing
Rabid Fox Problem
ORANGEBURG, S. C., Sept.
10.— UP) —The spread of rabies
confronted Orangeburg county
rural residents' with 'a menace
today.
Dr. G. C. Bolin, of the county
health department, advised the
public to kill stuch animals as
may expose themselves, and
called upon the Orangeburg
game department to establish a
protective patrol.
The State Health department
also was asked to cooperate.
Dr. Bolin said a fox attacked
and bit an elderly white woman
recently when she attempted to
drive it out of her chicken yard.
Only yesterday, he added, a
fox jumped from bushes beside
a road and attacked a boy leav
ing a school bus.
THORPE IS GIVEN
8-15 YEARS TERM
Wilmington Man Is Con
victed In Superior Court
On Morals Charge
Wilton Thorpe, brother of Hampy
Thorpe and Collins (Too Tough to
Die) Thorpe, was given a sen
tence of 8 to 15 years in state
prison when convicted yesterday
in superior court of a morals
charge.
“This man is in a deplorable
state,” the court said after sen
tencing him, “but he is no worse
than these white women going
around with negro men. I’d give
them 30 to 40 years, the men too,
if’ I could get them in here.”
Hampy Thorpe is now serving a
six months sentence for assault on
a female, meted out on him when
he was convicted of bringing a
(Continued on Page Seven; Cd. 2)
WEATHER
i--—-—
FORECAST
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Georgia: Generally fair and consider
ably cooler Wednesday and Wednesday
nitrht preceded by unsettled along the
cofst Wednesday morning. Thursday
fair, continued cool.
(Meteorological data for the 24 hours
ending 7:30 p. m. yesterday).
Temperature
1-30 a. m. 76; 7:30 a. m. 75; 1:30 p.
m 87; 7:30 p. m. 80; maximum 87,
minimum 73; mean 80; normal 74.
Humidity
1-30 a. m. 88; 7:30 a. m. 82; 1:30 p.
m.' 63; 7:30 p: m. 77
Precipitation
Total for 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m.,
none; total since first of the month,
1.10 inches.
Tides For Today^ ^
Wilmington - £.$£
Masonboro Inlet-f*£ ^=368
Sunrise 5:53a; sunset 6:24p; moon
rise 3:21p; moonset 1:18a.
Cape Fear river stage at Fay
ettevlle, at 8 a. m., September 6,
9.6 feet.
(Continued on Paga Seven; Col. 3)
H
TESTIMONY GIVEN
IN FLOYD’S TRIAL
Witnesses Say He Was
With Smith The Night
School Building Burned
LUMBERTON, Sept. 10.—Testi
mony here today in the tri&l of
Ben G. Floyd and Andrew Smith,
charged with feloneously firing the
Liberty school building on July
11, placed the two men together
on the night of the alleged crime.
Lonnie Smith, son of the latter,
told a packed superior court room
he saw his father and the former
assistant to the county superinten
dent of public instruction ride off
from Smith’s East Lumberton
home “about dusk” on the night
the state contends the Alfordsville
township school was destroyed by
incendiary causes.
Previously, Elizabeth Smith, the
defendant’s daughter had testifi
ed Floyd had visited the Smith
home earlier and asked for her
father.
“He isn’t here,” she testified she
told Floyd, “and he drove off.”
To further questioning, she add
ed that she left her home and did
not return until 10 o’clock that
night, not knowing if her father
was there at the time.
On cross-examination, Miss
Smith admitted that her father,
former county carpenter, worked
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3)
CAROL, LUPESCU
RIDE INTO ITALY
Former King Of Rumania
And Woman Friend Are
En Route To Portugal
LUGANO, Switzerland, Sept. 11.
(Wednesday)—<£>>—Former King
Carol of Rumania with his red
haired woman friend, Magda Lu
pescu, crossed into Italy in the
darkness this morning after creep
ing out the servants’ door of their
hotel here to avoid the curious and
quietly boarding the dethroned
monarch’s special train.
Portugal was their reported des
tination,
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 2)
Army Pushes
Work On New
Plane Orders
Tells 21 Manufacturers To
Start Buying Tools To
Make 14,394 Craft
$1,251,000,000 JOB
Formal Contracts Not Sign
ed Because Amortization
Policy Not Settled
By E. C. DANIEL
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10— UP) —
Placing tentative orders for all of
the 14,394 army planes authorized
yesterday, the War department to
night told 21 manufacturers to start
buying tools and equipment to ex
ecute the orders.
If no hitch occurs, formal con
tracts eventually will replace the
tentative commitments, which total
led approximately $1,251,000,000 for
planes, 28,282 engines, propellers
and blades.
When the contracts are signed
they will represent the largest single
purchase of aircraft ever placed in
this country, matching in some .de
gree the 201-ship, $861,000,000 build
ing program launched by the navy
yesterday. Delivery dates for. .the
plane program have not been an
nounced.
Letters Sent
So-called “speed up letters’’ were
sent to the 21 plane, engine and
propeller manufacturers, the depart
ment announced, authorizing them
to buy jigs, dies, tools, materials and
equipment to produce the planes.
Each letter, said spokesman,- con
tained an assurance that the manu
facturer eventually would receive a
formal contract for a specific num
ber of planes at a specific cost. The
specific figures were tentative esti
mates, however, subject to further
negotiation.
Among firms which received let
ters was the Ford Motor company.
Henry Ford previously had declined
to take an order for Rolls Royce
engines which involved manufactur
ing for Great Britain, as well as the
United States, but his company now
is expected to manufacture for this
country alone.
Not Settled
A department official said that
the reason for not signing formal
contracts was that congress still
had not settled upon amortization,
excess profits tax and profit limita
tion policies which are of prime
concern to the manufacturers.
Funds for the airplanes and en
gines were provided only yesterday
in the $5,251,000,000 defense appro
priation bill signed by President
Roosevelt.
Approved by the defense commis
sion, the letters will enable the
manufacturers, the department said,
to proceed immediately while details
of formal contracts are being com
pleted.
STARZINSKI EXECUTED
LONDON, Sept. 10.—Iff)—The
British Press association said to
night that Stefan Starzinski, 47,
Lord Mayor of Warsaw during the
German siege, was executed in
Dachau prison camp by a Nazi
firing squad on Sept. 1, the anni
versary of the German invasion of
Poland. His refusal to surrender
the city earned him the title of
"Stubborn Stefan.” 1
Suffers Attack
SPEAKER BANKHEAD
BANKHEAD SUFFERS
SCIATICA ATTACK
Faints In Baltimore Hotel
Room Shortly Before He
Was Slated To Speak
BALTIMORE, Sept. 10. — IT) —
Sixty-six year old William B. Bank
head, speaker of the house of repre
sentatives, fainted in his hotel room
here tonight from an “excruciating
ly painful'’ attack of sciatica, suf
fered a short time before he was to
make an address opening the demo
cratic campaign in Maryland.
Dr. George W. Calver, navy phy
sician and attending physician at
the capital in Washington, found
Bankhead on the floor unconscious
35 minutes before his address, over
a national radio hookup, was sched
uled.
“His condition at present is quite
satisfcatory,” Dr. Calver said, "but
I am keeping hicn in bed here at the
hotel at least all day tomorrow and
possibly for several days. Mrs. Bank
head is here and a nurse can be ob
tained if necessary.”
Dr. Calver said the speaker had
fcten suffering painfully from sciat
ica for the last five days and that
he had suggested that Bankhead
cancel tonight’s engagement.
ANTI-THIRD TERM
PROPOSAL DOWNED
American Bar Association
Committee Endorses Sin
gle Six-Year Term
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 10.—Wt—
The resolutions committee of the
American Bar association rejected
an anti-third term proposal, today,
agreeing instead to report one
which endorsed a single six-year
term for future presidents.
However, it was announced that
the entire convention of 6,000 dele
gates would receive both resolu
tions—the original one which "un
qualifiedly” condemned President
Roosevelt’s third term aspirations
and the committee version — for
discussion later in the week.
The original resolution, spon
sored by Edward C. Bailly of New
York and H. Graham Morrison oi
Bristol Tenn., also endorsed a con
stitutional amendment which would
provide for a single six-year presi
dential term. On the third term
issue, it read, “The American Bar
association , . . unqualifiedly con
demns the seeking of a third term
by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and
his friends, as contrary to the
teachings and example of the
founding fathers of this republic,
and subversive of the principles
upon whch it was established.”
The committee draft read; “Re
solved, that this association does
hereby approve the adoption of an
amendment to the constitution of
the United States so as to limit the
term of the President of the United
States to six years, without eligi
bility for re-election.” 1
REDS BARRED .
LITTLE ROCK Sept. 10.—MV
Secretary of State C. G. Hall today
barred the Communist party from
the 1940 general election ballot in
Arkansas 1
REICH PLANES
MAKE FOURTH
NIGHT ATTACK
POWER PLANT HIT
English Airmen Attack
Shipping Concentrations
In Continental Ports
LOSE THREE PLANES
German Artillery Emplace
ments In France Are Also
Attacked By Planes
LONDON, Sept. 10.— ®—British
fliers blasted a utility plant in Ber
lin, bombed north German dock
yards and heavily attacked ship
ping concentrations in continental
ports last night and early today,
the air ministry reported.
Three British bombers failed to
return from these widespread
raids, handicapped by bad weather
and intense anti-aircraft barrages.
Hamburg’s great docks received
the heaviest blow, the ministry
news service said. “Tons of high
explosives and many incendiary
bombs were dropped in a half hour
of almost continuous bombard
ment,” it said. Great fires were
started on the wharves.
Docks Bombed
Docks at Bremen Wilhelmshav
en and Kiel, barge concentrations
at Ostend, Calais, Flushing, and
Boulogne, and factories at Essen
and Barnstorf, also were bombed.
A gas works in the Berlin suburb
of Neukolln was struck, the British
said, and a power station wrecked
in Brussels.
(In Berlin Nazi spokesmen said
“more or less serious damage”
was inflicted on scattered apart
ment houses in the Berlin neighbor
hood, but no casualties were re
ported. No mention of damage
was made in reports of the dock
yard raids. The Berliner Zeitung
warned that London would share
the fate of Warsaw and Rotterdam
if the raids continued.)
Heavy Explosions
Returning pilots said heavy ex
plosions followed the midnight raid
on the Berlin target.
The raid on Boulogne harbor
across the English channel also
caused fires on the wharves, the
light from the flames turning the
cloud banks to a lemon-colored
glow, one pilot said.
"It looked as if a gigantic orch
had been lit beneath us.”
“Salvos of bombs fell on and
around the artillery arsenal there,
too ” he said. Shafts of crimson
light from the recurrent explosions
among ammunition stores pierced
the cloud layers above.
The fleet air arm participated in
the coastal raids.
German artillery emplacements
at Cap Gris Nez, France, which
have been tossing shells across the
channel on the Dover area, also
were attacked.
PACE STEPPED UP
Four Separate Squadron*
Wheel Over City; Central
Section Is Shaken
‘SPIRIT UNBROKEN’
Hundreds Believed To
Have Perished When
Bomb Hits School
LONDON, Sept. 11 (Wednesday).
_ (£>) — Nazi bombers smashed at
London with increasing violence
early today in their fourth consecu
tive dusk-to-dawn rodeo of destruc
tion.
Until early this morning, the at
tack was much less ferocious than
the previous three.
Then the pace stepped up until
four separate squadrons were wheel
ing about the capital at the same
time at opposite points of the com
pass.
Ground Guns Busy
Heavier bursts of British anti-air
craft fire followed their repeated
course up the Thames Estuary and
over and around the city.
Heavy explosions shook the central
area afresh.
The streets of central London were
nearly deserted
Police and air raid wardens cau
tioned any person seeking to leave a
shelter that “our guns are going”
and that there was danger of falling
fragments.
Some trains leaving London dur
ing Tuesday were crowded with fam
ilies going out of the city, but there
was nothing to indicate any mass
exodus was in progress.
The British press position was
typified by the News Chronicle’s as
sertion :
"Bodies are weary and nerves are
strained but London’s spirit is un
broken.” I
Outskirts Hit
A stick of six bombs fell in one
area of the city: in another two
heavy bombs jarred the earth. Hours
later, salvos were falling at inter
vals, but they appeared to be drop
ping in the outskirts.
Just after midnight, the tempo of
anti-aircraft fire was stepped up
against these outlying invaders.
German planes also were over
northwest England and Wales, and
eight bombs were reported dropped
squarely in the center of one town
in the southeast.
As the new raid on London went
on, the list of dead in Monday
night’s attacks was tragically length
ened. From the shambles of what
had been a school bodies still were
being dragged this morning, and it
was said that 24 hours would be re
quired to pull out all the victims—
perhaps hundreds of them.
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 7)
Hiring Of Out-Of-Town
LaborByWPAProtested
Addison h. Hewlett, chairman of
e .ounty board, and Mayor Thomas
' hooper yesterday filed a joint pro
IT Tth C> C‘ McGinnis, state WPA
fflinistrator, against the relief
Agency’s hiring out-of-town persons
,01 truck driving jobs in Wilming
ton.
1 heir complaint arose from the
iscovery Monday that J. Gregory
'-hhtli, a legal resident of Durham,
(l. emPl°yed as a truck driver at
;e W Pa supply warehouse on Mar
lIn street here.
d Tlle county commissioners on Mon
ai afternoon passed a resolution
asking that the WPA replace the
man immediately with a resident of
Wilmington.
“It was all right,” a welfare of
ficial said, "when the WPA brought
in engineers and technical workers
from out of the city to fill jobs in
Wilmington because there may have
been a shortage of such workers
here. But there is no excuse in im
porting men to work as truck
drivers. There are probably 50 un
employed truck drivers in Wilming
ton right now.”
(Continued on Page Seven; Col- 6)
Shippers Fear New Bill
May Hit Water Traffic
Following approval by congress
Monday of a bill removing inland
and coastal water carriers from
the jurisdiction of the Maritime
commission and placing them un
der the Interstate Commerce com
mission, shippers here expressed
the fear that “water traffic may
not be granted the recognition it
deserves.”
Officials of two shipping lines
here said it had been recognized
in the past that the ICC is definite
ly “railroad minded” and may not
be inclined to recognize the true
importance of water traffic.
Tire principal change in the oper
ation of the lines will be that the
ICC will have jurisdiction in set
ting freight rates, while the Mari
time commission had no such
power.
The bill changing the setup had
been hanging fire in congress near
ly two years. Presidential approv
al was regarded as likely to follow
soon.
Officials of shipping agencies
here said the bill will have little
or no effect on tramp steamers
and their agents, but may make
some changes in the operation of
inland and coastal shipping lines.
This change will bring the boat
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 3)
Nazis Send 300 To 500
Planes Against London
BERLIN, Sept. 10 —UP)— Ger
many sent her aerial squarons on
and on against England today, dis
patching from 300 to 500 planes
to beat again at London and other
British cities, and claimed a great
edge thus far in the mighty battle
of two capitals.
(The German radio broadcast to
night a statement that Nazi planes
flew “uninterruptedly” over Eng
land’s south coast apd advanced
to London in “armed reconnais
sance.” It was added that no
bombs were dropped, however.)
British raiding planes over the
Berlin area sent 4,000,000 Berliners
running into the white washed air
raid cellars early this morning,
and kept them there for 43
minutes but the resultant damage
been confined to scattered apart
ment houses.
More extensive attacks on the
Wesermuende industrial area in
Northern Germany and on the e 1
virons of the ports of Bremen and
Hamburg were acknowledged, al
though there, too, but "little harm’’
was reported by German invest
igators.
It was declared that only one
(Continued on Page Seven; Col- 6)
Britain Drops Millions
Of ‘Fire-Cards’ On Nazis
LONDON, Sept. 10.—UP!—Britain
disclosed tonight a new ‘secret
weapon” in the form of innocent
looking bits of chemically treated
cardboard dropped by the millions
on Germany as delayed fire-bombs
which burst into flame in unex
pecte'. quarters.
Germany, in first making public
the new British tactics, acknowl
edged the fire-secreting “calling
cards” carried something more
than a mere nuisance threat.
British authorities, in subse
quently admitting use of the new
n/ '
weapon, described it only as a
“self-igniting leaf,” and declined
tj furnish details.
But the authentic German de
scription, given after chemical an
alysis, sounded like a sequence
from some fertile adventure car
toon or a passage from a six-pence
detective thriller.
The cards are about two inches
square, composed of guncotton and
phosphorus, and are carried in a
moist state, the Germans said.
Scattered over the countryside in
[ (Continued on Page Seven; CoL I).