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VOL. 77. — NO. 59 __WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1944FINAL EDITIONESTABLISHED 1867
Radio Duelists Meet—With Smiles
U-——
.. ^ ^ .1 ir.llV.IIKl |I ■ ■ ■ > III" ■ I . .
Walter Winchell (left) meets his radio opponent, Rep. Martin
Dies (right). Democrat of Texas, in what seems to be a friendly at
mosphere in the reception room of a radio station in Washington af
ter (heir verbal duel on the air waves. First to broadcast was Win
che!l with his statement about Dies and his committee on un-Ameri
can activities. Dies followed him on the air.
IB CROSS DRIVE
WILL END TODAY
$54,676.93 Collected By
Workers Toward Local
Goa! Of $75,000
A total of $54,676.83 was report;
ed :; Red Cross campaign head
quarters last night, which repre
sented division reports up until 12
noon yesterday.
The first report from the North
Caro'ina Shipbuilding company
showed a total of $10,000 collected
front the workers.
Today is the last day of the
drive, and divisional chairmen f.nd
t -chairmen are reminded to make
their reports to campaign head
er. rters in the Tide Water build
in- before 5 o’clock this afternoon.
Officials disclosed last night that
$21.023.07 remains to be reported
in order for Wilmington to reach
its quota of $75,000.
A divisional report is given at
the end of fhis report. '
Winners of the Red Cross Win
dov. Display contest were an
ir , need last night by the commit
tee of judges.
First place was awarded to the
V-Tmington Furniture company for
their Prisoner of. War display.
Second place went to the Pender
Furniture company, which had dis
played 25 Red Cross boxes, which
were addressed to all parts of the
world.
Third place was awarded to the
La Mode shop, for their display
(Continued on Page Three; Col. 4)
BUTLER IS HEARD
IN CHAPLIN CASE
LOS ANGELES, March 28.—«B—
Charlie Chaplin’s butler testified at
the comedian’s Mann Act trial to
day that Chaplin admitted having
had sexual in,ercourse with Joan
Berry in New York.
The graying, fortyish butler, Ed
ward Chaney was a prosecution
witness at the actor’s trial on
charges of transporting 24-year-old
Joan to New York in 1942 for im
moral purposes
His testimony, given at the close
of the government’s direct case,
corroborated that of Miss Berry.
Chaplin’s attorney, Jerry Giesler,
said in his opening statement that
the actor would deny there was
any act of sexual intercourse in
New York.
After the government rested,
Giesler moved for a directed ver.
diet of acquittal, on the ground
that the prosecution testimony was
insufficient foi a conviction and
that Miss Berry had repeatedly re'
quested a trip to New York.
Chaney’s testimony followed £
brief resumption of Miss Berry’s
cross examination during whict
shi denied indignantly that she hac
demanded a $150,000 cash settle
ment from the actor on the grounc
that he was the father of het
child.”
Giesler asked Miss Berry th<
question about her alleged $150,
000 demand or. Chaplin after hi
had. succeeded in gaining cour
(Cui^tinued on Page Three; Col. 4
HOSPITALS HERE
ARE GIVEN FUNDS
_ I
James Walker Receives
$7,051 From The Duke
Endowment Trustees
According to information re
ceived here last night, Duke En
dowment trustees appropriated
$674,379.43 to 97 hospitals and 40
orphan homes in the Carolinas at
their meeting yesterday. The list
included an appropriation of $7,
051 to the James Walker Memorial
Hospital and $3,807 to the Com
n^inity hospital, Wilmington.
Announcement of the action from
the endowment offices said the
appropriations were made on the
basis of the institution’s charity
work in 1943.
Other hospitals receiving funds
in this vicinity were: Columbus
County, Whiteville, $1,223; Good
Shepherd, New Bern, $2,179 and
Thompson Memorial, Lumberton,
$401.
The largest appropriations were
granted to Duke, Durham, $51,657;
City, Winston-Salem, $28,820 and
Baptist, Winston-Salem, $26,889.
No orphan homes in this vicinity
OPA SOI DS OUT
RATIONING HEADS
RALEIGH, March 28— Theodore
S. Johnson, Raleigh district OPA
director," said yesterday that chair
man of all local War Price and
Ratioing boards have been writ
ten personal letters by Price Ad
ministrator Chester Bowles asking
them for frank expression of opin
ion about the service that OPA is
giving the public.
Johnson said eastern North Car
olina board chairmen were asked
to tell just what criticisms they
have of the OPA program, to of
fer suggestions for improving the
operation of the OPA, and to state
frankly their opinion of the opera
tions at the local board level.
"OPA wants to know what the
man on the War Price and Ration
ing Board is thinking, how the pub
lic is being served, and wants to
improve the OPA in every way
possible," Johnson declared.
"At the same time,” he said,
“to further the understanding of
local price and rationing problems,
two board chairmen and two chief
clerks will be picked in the At
lanta region to go to Washington
and present first-hand the prob
lems of the OPA and the local
War Price an^ Rationing Boards.”
"In other words,” Johnson con
cluded, “we want to know just
what suggestions a member of the
local board might want to make
; to his own congressman, for ex
ample, about suggestions for im
, proving O PA. The OPA is old
enough now to really be able to
’ serve the public fully and well on
: price control and rationing. We
' want to know the problems and
ways of best taking care of them.”
Nikolaev, Key Black Sea Port, Falls
To Ro4v Advancing On 175 Mile Front;
E’ Fails To Challenge Air Armada
30 PLANES DESTRO.
*» _
250 To 500 Heavy U. S.
Bombers Rain Explosives
On French Targets
LONDON, March 28. — (IP) —
Striking in a campaign of mount
ing intensity against bases from
which the Luftwaffe defends Eu
rope, 250 to 500 U. S. heavy bom
bers rained explosives and incen
diaries on four airfields in north
ern France today.
Heavily-escorted formations of
Flying Fortresses slapped at
Chartres, 40 miles southwest of
Paris; Chateaudun, 30 miles far
ther southwest; Reims, 80 miles
northeast, and Dijon, 160 miles
southeast of Paris.
As yesterday, when nine French
airdromes were attacked by be
tween 750 and 1,000 big bombers,
the German air force seemed to
be sulking on the ground, leav
ing the defense to thinly-scatter
ed batteries of antiaircraft guns
One pilot in the flight to Reims
said he didn’t see a single enemy
pursuit.
“Unable to bring the Luftwaffe
to battle,” said the U. S. com
munique announcing today’s raids,
the American escort fighters “at
tacked enemy pianes on me giuuuu,
destroying 30, including many
bombers and three fighters were
missing.
Thus in two days the Eighth Air
Force has splintered 12 key en
emy airdromes and destroyed at
least 72 Nazi craft on the ground
at an expenditure of eight bom
bers and 13 fighters.
As an indication of the Luft
waffe's declining strength, on
March 18 when the Eighth Air
Force destroyed 82 planes in the
air during raicfs upon Augsburg,
Fried rich shafen and other targets,
the Nazis knocked down 43 U. S.
bombers and 10 fighters.
It was the 22nd major Amer
ican operation of the month.
In a two-day campaign which
has taken the four-engined planes
almost to the Spanish border, an
estimated 3,000 tons of bombs has
been dropped by 1,000 to 1,500 hea
vy bombers. Today’s bombers
covered by an equal number
of Thunderbolt and Mustang fight
ers, anxious to repeat their feat
of yesterday of wrecking 38 en
emy planes
ARSONIST CAUSED
BLAZE IN ’FRISCO
SAN FRANCISCO, March 28.—
UPl—An arsonist turned a Fourth
Street hotel into a whirlwind of
flaming death today.
Twenty-two persons lost their
lives and some of the 30 injured
may die.
Police agreed with Fire Marshal
Frank Kelly that there was no
question the bia?.e in the New Am
sterdam hotel was set; that five
other fires last night, and five Sun
day night also were the acts of
a fire bug,
The deaths occurred just after
midnight, and 12 hours later only
one person had been identified.
A policeman who helped remove
the corpses said “you could tell
they were human beings. But that
was all.”
The fire turned the three-story
building into a huge torch. Some
victims never got out of theii
rooms. Others leaped, screaming
into flame-filled light wells. Oth.
ers, panic-stricken, ran into cor.
ridors and piled up, body on body,
in area-ways where they suffocat
ed and then burned.
Some leaped from windows anc
many received grave injuries. One
of the two women victims of the
fire died that way. She was Mrs
Mamie Pulosky 43, wife of a Navy
man. Firemen saw her standing ir
a third-floor window, her clothinj
in flames. They cried to her no
to jump but she slipped into the
darkness and crashed to death ot
th esidewalk.
Ration Point Values
Heads To Quit Guessing
To Be Cut By OPA
WASHINGTON, March 28.—
(JP)—The Office of Price Ad
ministration announced tonight
that the ration point value of
ready-to-eat hams will be re
duced from three to two points
per pound next month.
Ration point values for fresh
and cured hams will remain
unchanged.
April point values for all
meats, fats and cheese will be
announced later this week.
They will become effective
April 2. '<
\
Army Says Aim Of Great Bomber Offensive'
Is To Destroy German Air Force Entirely
WASHINGTON. March 28— UP) —
Elimination of enemy air opposit
ion to the Allied invasion forces in
western Europe has been the main
objective of the bomber offensive
against Grmany since last July
1, the Army said today.
The campaign now has reached
such a point, the report said, that
the Nazis must decide whether to
defend their factories or hoard
their planes to meet the invasion.
In an analysis of the bomber
strategy, the Army made it clear
that continuing operations against
aircraft factories are necessary be
cause of the 'tremendous recupe
rative powers” of German indust
ry.
At the beginning of 1943, the
Army reported, Germany set out
to treble fighter production. By
July 1 production was up 50 per
cent and the AAF and RAF-which
up to then had devoted their prin
cipal attention to the submarine
industry-began a systematic cam
paign against aircraft factories.
By Sept. 1, tne bomber offensive
had cut monthly production of sin
gle engine German fighters to ap
proximately three-fourths of the
July 1 level. In all of 1943, the
Army reported the bomber attacks
prevented production of an esti
mated 2,500 fighter planes.
“New plants which were con
stantly thrown into operation pro
vided replacement capacity, not
expanded capacity” said the re*
port.
Early this year the scale of the
bomber attacks was increased
enormously anu as of March 1 the
monthly production of single en
gine fighters had been cut two
thirds below the Jan. 1,1944, level
^win-engine fighter capacity slight
ly more', and bomber capacity by
one third, the review said.
“That does not mean, however,”
the Army explained, “that Ger
man combat aircraft production
had been permanently reduced to
that extent.”
When a plant is bombed out, the
Army explained, top-flight German
production men rush in to deter
nine whether it is better to re
ouild there or move equipment and
lersonnel.
Production may be lost only for
the time necessary to move the
workers as a second or third shift
into another factory.
Assuming for purposes of illu
stration that only three production
complexes—an assembly plant fed
by component building factories—
exists for a certain type of plane
the report concluded that serious
impairment would result only when
the third had been knocked out.
And even that would be only
temporary, it was pointed out with
the first and second plants being
rebuilt or others being erected.
BOMBERS BLAST
PACIFIC BASES
292 Tons Of Explosives
Dumped On Bismarck
Sea Targets
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS,
Southwest P > c i f i c, Wednesday,
March 29.—(J*— Allied bombers
dumped 292 tons of explosives in
swings over enemy bases around
the Bismarck sea areas, headquar
ters announced today. -
The bombers hit Kavieng, New
Ireland, Rabaul, New Britain, Jap
anese positions on Bougainville is
land in the Solomons, and the
prime bases at Wewak and Hansa
Bay on the northeastern New
Guinea coast.
Heaviest hit were the New Guin
ea coastal points, where the Allied
planes already have dumped
around 2,500 tons of bombs so far
this month, greatly reducing Jap
anese air and supply operations.
In the latest raids, 7 tons blast
ed the Wewax installations and 84
tons smashed the enemy gun po
sitions at Hansa Bay. Rabaul, a
daily target of Solomons-based
planes, received 46 tons and other
aircraft from the South Pacific hit
Kavieng airdromes and defenses
with 50 tons.
Strikes at the Japanese troop and
gun positions around the Allied To
rokina beachhead perimeter on
Bougainville totaled 38 tons of
bombs.
Other planes ranging to Kaima
na in Dutch New Guinea set an
enemy cargo ship afire.
-V
C. G. AUXILIARY
SET-UP TO START
An intensive training program
for approximately 100 members of
the Cape Fear division of the
Coast Guard Auxiliary who are in
the Coast Guara Temporary Re
serve when or active duty, will
be started Saturday morning,
Lieut. Tom E. Murrell (CGR(T1,
commander of the division, an
nounced today.
Plans for the program have been
under way for sometime and def
inite schedules were mailed to the
members yesterday.
According to the arrangement,
i the men will serve as crew mem
bers on Coast Guard patrol craft
in the nearby sounds and Cape
Fear river, under the supervision
! of regular Coast Guardsmen. One
: boat will be operated daily on the
inland waterway, from Topsail In
let to Little River, with the Tem
porary Reservist serving 24-hour
tours of duty. The patrol will start
at 8 a.m. Two craft will be oper
ated daily on the river, on general
harbor duty, on 12-hour tours of
duty, starting at 6 p.m.
The type of instruction to be of
fered is considered highly prac
tical and will deal with all phases
of operation of small craft. The
regular Coast Guard personnel will
be in charge.
In order to discuss the new duty
and “iron out” any misunderstand
ing, a supper meeting for all
members of the division will be
held Friday night at 7 o’clock at
Lieut. Murrell’s fishing lodge, lo
cated one and cne-half miles be
yond Scotts Hill, on the inland
waterway. Because of the impor
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 6)
Roosevelt Still Favors
A National Service Act
WASHINGTON, March 28.—(£>)—President Roosevelt
indicated today that he still favors enactment of national
service legislation although Manpower Chairman Paul V.
McNutt told Congress there is no present need for it. The
Chief Executive declined direct comment at his press-radio
conference on mcinuu s siaiemeni
but on the question of how best to
use manpower, he declared there
are a lot of people who are not
aiding in the war, that it is a mat
ter for soul searching and that if
people won’t search their own
souls someone should do it for
them.
Asked about a suggestion from
Selective Service Director Lewis B.
Hershey that 4Fs be drafted for
work battalions, particularly for
harvesting, Mr. Roosevelt said that
left out a lot ol other groups.
Help with harvests is needed, he
added, from manv others—high
school boys and girls and even
newspapermen. Everyone who pos
sibly can should be helping to win
the war, he said.
Asked directly how his views on
rational service jibed with Mc
Nutt’s statement, the President
said he would first have to read
what the manpower chairman said
because there might be some other
sentences in it.
Opposing a national service law
now, McNutt expressed the opinion
there might be “real merit” in
the idea of job controls over 4F’s.
Tn testimony before a House Mil
itary Subcommittee, the chairman
of the War Manpower Commission
also said there was “every pos
sibility,” as a result of the Ar
my’s demand for younger men.
that occupational deferments jvill
be denied or seriously restricted
later for “all men under 28 or
even 30.”
McNutt’s emphasis on greater
use of 4F’s—men deferred as un
fit—and on the Army’s demand
that inductees be young was re
peated in an address during the
day by Selective Service Director
Lewis B. Hershey.
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 8)
-V
BODY OF PRETTY
BLONDE IS FOUND
DETROIT, MARCH 28— UPl —
Sheriffs detectives questioned a
Detroit physician tonight concern
ing the death of Joyce Raulston,
attractive 14-year-old blonde schoo
girl whose stabbed an^ battered
body was found on a refuse dump
this morning.
Detective Thomas Gentile saic
an anonymous tipster named th<
physician as the girl’s assailant
No formal charge had been placed
against him, however.
Attempts also were being mad<
to trace a man who telephonec
the girl’s mothei Monday mornin?
with the lntormation Joyce is
married and has gone to Califor
nia” and the owner of a tan auto
mobile which a passer-by reported
having seen coming from the dump
in the early hours today.
Tire tracks led to the top of a
short hill at the foot of which lay
the girl’s body both lungs punctur
ed by stab wounds and with part
of her clothing ripped away. Shoes,
a skirt and parts of underclothing
were discovered about 100 feet dis
tant.
Officers said it appeared the
girl’s head had been battered with
a concrete block that lay near the
body.
Sheriff’s deputies said ttiere was
evidence the girl fought desperate
ly with her assailant on the lonely
dump. There are no houses within
two blocks of the scene.
MERGER OF ARMED
FORCES PROPOSED
Committee Of 23 Solons
Named To Study Post
War Military Needs
WASHINGTON, March 28.——
A committee of 23 members of
Congress was established with a
$25,000 fund today to study the
postwar military needs of the Unit
ed States, now bristling with the
greatest arsenal in history.
As the House adopted the plan,
Rep. Fish (R.-N.Y.) called for
peacetime maintenance of the
greatest navy and airforce in the
world as a club over incipient ag
gressors.
He recommended that the com
mittee look into the advisability of
merging all the armed forces into
the comprehensive department of
national defense
Fish spoke in behalf of the reso
lution introduced by Rep. Wads
worth (R.-N.Y.), The group is to
consist of seven members each
from the military and naval af
fairs committes and nine from the
House at large with Representa
tive Woodrum (D.-Va.) as chair
man.
In the discussion preceding the
unanimous voice vote for the study
group, Chairman Sabath (D.-Ill.) of
the Rules Committe urged that
i* study disposal of surpluses.
“I’m not satisfied with the way
surplus property is being disposed
of,” he cautioned. “The govern
ment is losing millions by reck
less disposition of surplus proper
ty no longer needed by the War
and Navy Departments.”
Fish digressed to the subject of
the Atlantic Charter when Rep.
Mundt (R.-S.D.) urged passage of
his plan for a committee to study
peace terms. The New Yorker said
it wasn’t feasible to take up what
was the function of the executive
department, then declared that it
wouldn’t do any good until “we
find out Russia’s and Great Brit
ain’s war and peace aims.”
-V
BAREFOOT
WASHINGTON, March 28. —(A>)
—The country will soon go bare
1 foot unless some of the 83,000,000
cattle on hand are slaughtered for
leather. Representative Hall (R
NY) told the House today. “Well
! “.’11 soon be warm,” interjected
Representative Rankin (D-Miss).
< HaMaUbHiiH
)
JAPS CONTINUE
BURMA ATTACKS
Efforts To Clear Invader
Said To Be Satisfactory
In Communique
NEW DELHI, March 28— (Jl —
Efforts of British troops to clear
Japanese invasion columns from
the Tiddim Imphal road south of
the communications center of Im
phal in India “continue satisfactor
ily,” Admiral Lord Louis Mount
batten’s headquarters announced
today.
However, another Japanese force
pushing into India through the
Somra Hills was making deter
mined attacks in the vicinity of
Ukhrul, 32 miles northeast of Im
phal, with hard fighting in pro
gress. Japanese pressure there
was increasing, an Allied com
munique said.
(A Japanese broadcast said
“mopping-up” operations were in
progress against remnants of three
brigades of American and British
airborne troops who landed March
5-6 in the vicinity of Katha far
behind Japanese lines. An Allied
communique several days ago said
this force, which threatened to cut
the Japanese railroad supply line
between Mandalay and Myitkyina,
was being supported by planes.)
A third Japanese column thrust
ing toward Imphal from the south
east appeared to have been halted
just inside the India border. To
day’s communique said a Japanese
attack was thrown back in thal
area and that Allied troops captur
ed one position.
American-trained Chinese troops
in northern Burma stormed and
captured the village of Hkawn
glawyang in the Mogaung Valley
and in the same vicinity Americar
troops of Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stil
well used bavonets and erenade:
to wipe out Japanese suicide
squads between the Hkawnglaw
Kha river and Shaduzup.
Allied operations progres
sed near the western coast on the
Arakan front, today’s communique
said, with the Japanese suffering
heavy casualties in abortive coun
(Continued on Page Seven; Col. 5)
floridTrelTef
‘ INS CUTOUT
WASHINGTON, March 28—M—
The Office of Defense Transpor
tation (ODT), declaring the travel
emergency has passed, today de
clined to approve the operation be
yond March 31 of a daily special
northbound train out of Florida.
The decision not to extend the
service was particularly warrant
ed, ODT said, “in the light of
heavy freight traffic and shortage
of freight power and personnel on
many of the lines involved.”
The Florida West Coast-Atlantic
Coast Line and the Seaboard Rail
way were each authorized o n
March 1 to run one extra-day
coach train daily for northbound
service only. The latter road
abandoned its special service two
weeks ago, declaring: “Apparent
ly we have taken out all the people
who want this type of accommo
dations.”
ODT reiterated that demand for
Pullman services and de luxe
coach reservations remain as
heavy as ever.
The Florida East Coast-Atlantic
Coast Line special train has trans
ported an average of 430 passeng
ers daily since the emergency ser
vice was inaugurated. '•
GARRISON IS CRUSHED
3th er Forces Strike Swift*
ly Across Flat Steppei
Toward Odessa
LONDON, Wednesday, March 29
—(tfl— The Red army yesterday
arushed the German garrison of
Nikolaev, former Soviet Black Sea
fleet base at the mourn of the Bug,
and in a surprise night crossing
60 miles upstream joined other
Russian forces striking swiftly
southward across the flat steppes
on a 175-mile front toward Odessp,
75 miles away, Moscow announced
today.
in Rumania, otner Red army
units were assaulting the key rail
city of Iasi, the Berlin raido said,
but Moscow has not confirmed thi*
report. If true, it would be the first
Soviet smash into Axis territory.
Another German broadcast late
last night Indicated Russian troops
had encircled Kovel in the east
central part of old Poland, saying
Nazi troops there were being sup
plied by air. Kovel’s 170 miles
from Warsq and 35 miles from the
1939 German-Russian demarcation
line on the Polish Bug River.
Premier-Maishal Stalin announc
ed the fall of Nikolaev, which the
Germans had neld for two and one
half years and a midnight bulle
tin told of the night crossing of the
Bug, the capture of Domanevka,
77 miles north of Odessa, and 40
other localities on the opposite side
of the river.
The Russian threat to Odessa
was especially acute, Moscow said,
because in Bessarabia far to the
west Soviet units were within eight
miles of the Odessa-Tiraspol-Iasi
railroad — the last main German
supply or escape artery.
Nikolaev, which sticks out on a
spit of land into the Bug River
and therefore is surrounded by wa
ter on three sides fell after several
days of fierce fighting in which
the remnants of the German gar
rison where hurled into the Bug
River to drown or be mowed
down by machinc-gun fire, Moscow
The Germans had been ordered
to hold it “at all costs,” and to
take it the Russians had to storm
through a formidable mass of
trenches, barbed-wire and mine
fields laid out on the eastern side
of the city, the bulletin said. After
that was done there were 24 hours
of intense stret fighting beiore the
Germans were wiped out or sur
rendered.
The Russians^ were declared to
have seized 176~towns and villages
in six sectors during the day.
In the southeastern part of old
Poland the Russians drove to with
in 40 miles of Czecho-Slovakia with
the capture of Gvozdets, a district
center of the Stanislav region only
11 miles northeast of Kolomea on
the Czernowitz - Lwow railway.
That prepresented a 10 - mile
(Continue^ on Page Three; Col. 1)
_17_
MAYOR TO ATTEND
JOB CONFERENCE
Mayor Bruce B. Cameron, of
Wilmington, will attend a meet
ing in Raleigh Thursday at which
chief executives of 12 North Caro
lina war plant cities will confer
with Governor J. M. Broughton,
on creation of community “Stay
On-The-Job” committees, urged
recently by Major General
Frederick E. Uhl, of the Fourth
Service Command, it was an
nounced late yesterday.
Being unavailable for comment,
it is not known whether or not
City Manager A. C. Nichols will
attend the conference.
Fourth Service Command Head
quarters said Broughton’s confer
ence would be the first of seven
state meetings by representatives
of labor management and the
public.
M’Nutt Wants Military
Of Ready To Eat Hams
When War Will End
WASHINGTON, March 28_
(JP)—Manpower Chairman Paul
V. McNutt wishes American
military leaders would stop
soon.
predicting the war will be over
He told the House Military
Committee today that every
such prediction moves “many
war workers to leave war jobs
and seek a place in civilian
production, and makes more
difficult the task of recruiting
workers from non-essential th
essential activities.” ,