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dSH Milmington Horning Star r~! 'vOlTt?-—NO. 86 " -___ _ ^— ___WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1944 FINAL EDITION ESTABLISHED 1867 Troops Carry Avery From Ward Store ... .. . Two soldiers firmly hold Sewell Avery, president of Montgomery Ward & Co., as they carry him from the mail order store in Chicago following his refusal to turn the company’s books over td the gov ernment. Photo copywrighted by the Chicago Times. (International soundphoto.) Double-Barreled Congressional Probe Of Ward Dispute In Sight - ★--★ - FIRM BACKS AVERY Leg?! Battle Against Gov ernment Control Of Company Underway CHTCAGO. April 28.— !#) —Board Chairman Sewell Avery received a vote of “full confidence” from Montgomery Ward and company shareholders today after he began a widely watched legal battle a?ainst government control of the firm's Chicago plants. Avery and the 12 other directors "are re-elected at the jam-packed annual session of stockholders. The gathering, setting a record for at tendance, echoed at times with "'ith cheers and laughter and heard same criticism and boos. Avery was greeted with a pro longed ovation when he arrived, sr.d later the participants in a voice vote marked by only one or two hays adopted a resolution saying they ‘heartily approve of the poli ty of Montgomery Ward and Com pany in insisting upon the main tenance and protection of the law fih rights of the company” and ex pressing “full confidence in the management under the present leadership of Sewell Avery.” Developments occurred in rapid fire order in the case rooted in Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) MORE PENICILLIN TO BE RELEASED Washington, April 28.—<a>) — A nation-wide system for limited distribution of the “wonder drug” Penicillin to civilians was an nounced today by the War Produc *1Qn Board. Under the system, supplies will ,e channeled to more than 1,000 aeP°t hospitals. J.A'u Office of Civilian Pencillin 'stnbution has been established “ Chicago at the WPB regional ■“ce to carry out the distribution, he procedure will be as follows: ach month each penicillin man ufacturer will apply to WPB in =snington for a civilian quota ,■sed on the amount of his produc to°r ^U°cahi°ns will be forwarded . ne Chicago office which will as ‘gn Quotas to each depot hospital , basis of bed capacities, the . ““oer of hospitals in each de s area and the available supply Penicillin. ‘BODY’TURNS OUT TO BE ONLY BEEF Spring fever manifests itself in various forms. One of the more common versions among school boys is playing truant and going fishing. Friday several young boys were enjoying the balmy weather and Eishing on the Cape Fear river between Navassa and Leland when they hooked a strange catch, which turned out to be a box of decom posing flesh and bones. The lads weren’t in any doubt about what to do. Several men sitting in a nearby construction office were surprised when a wide-eyed breathless boy iashed in and yelled, “Call the sheriff!’’ The sheriff of Brunswick county duly called and impatiently awaited, arrived and pronounced the odoriferous catch to be “in edible beef.’’ Among the various on-the-spot speculations were the possibility that it was black market produce or it had fallen or been tossed from a ship. ■ , . it is unknown whether the lads resumed their fishing. -V United Nations Now Producing 400,000 Barrels Of Gas Daily WASHINGTON, April 28 —151 Interior Secretary Icles announced today the United Nations daily are producing 400,000 barrels of 100 octane aviation gasoline, enough to send 10,000 planes over Berlin every day. It was the first official announce ment of production. Up to now, the armed forces have refused t fo permit publication of the daily output. , . . Icles announced it at a special press conference. -V Naval Patrol Plane Is Forced To Land Near Ethyl-Dow Plant A U S. Navy patrol plane was forced to land on the Cape Fear river near the Ethyl-Dow - Chemi cal Plant yesterday at 12:30 p. m. it was officially announced. The plane which was making a routine flight, was towed in by the Coast Guard. No one was injured. ‘AMERICAN HIMMLER’ Critics Wonder Whether Hamburger Stands Are Safe Any Longer WASHINGTON, April 28.— Iff) — A double - barreled congressional investigation of the Montgomery Ward case was in prospect tonight as angry critics of seizure of the firm’s Chicago plants asked wheth er the government would now take over “hamburger stands” and whether Attorney General Biddle wants to be an “American Himm ler.” Chairman McCarran D.-Nev.) ot the Senate Judiciary Committee, announcing he already had dis patched an investigator to Chica go, declared his committee was de termined to “get to the bottom of this case.” Across the Capitol, a resolution for an inquiry was forced to the House floor by an angry coalition of Republicans and Democrats who squeezed it through a tumultous session of the Rules Committee by one vote. McCarran said he sent the in vestigator to Chicago under au (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) 19 PERSONSDIE IN PLANE CRASH FLAGSTAFF, April 28—W7—Nine teen persons are dead, two ser iously injured and two less ser iously hurt in the crash of a trans port about 15 mile east of here, the Coconino County sheriff’s of fice reported today. Although the plane was not im mediately identified, the 11th Nav al District at Sun Diego, Calif., previously reported a transport overdue at Winslow, Ariz., stating that a search was'in progress. Sheriff’s deputies said they re ceived word from naval officials at Winslow that its missing plane was last reported at 12:33 a. m. from the vicinity of Ash Fork and Williams about 60 miles west of the crash scene. A light snow was falling at the time. Dr. A. H. Sherman and an am bulance went to the scene, in rugged country about five miles south of Winona, to bring the in jured to Flagstaff. Finding of the wreckage was re ported by deputies who were searching in radio-equipped cars. -v ■ fs Continent Blasted In Great ©/‘Eve Of Invasion’ Offensive; y/ Bolivian Revolution Foiled . - * A STATE OF SIEGE Numerous Heads Of At tempted Revolt Being Detained By Gov. LA PAZ, Bolivia, April 28- — (5s) —The Bolivian government an nounced tonight that a vast con spiracy had been broken up with the detention of numerous revolu tionaries and that a state of siege had been declared throughout the country. No details were given, but an announcement by the government said that acting President Major Gualberto Villaroel acted constitu tionally with the consent of his cabinet to preserve public order in the face of subversive activities. No public disturbances were re ported. News Revealed NEW YORK, April 28- — (£>) — A cablegram to the Associated Press from La Paz, Bolivia, tq night said a revloutionary attempt had been put down and martial law declared. No details were giv en in the unsigned five-word mes sage in the Spanish language. Presumably the message, timed at 7 p.m., was from the Associat ed Press correspondent in La Paz, ulio Valdez. Such messages often are unsigned, and there is no rea son to doubt its authenticity, al though transmission of such news from a country in a state of siege or revolution is an unusual feat. Bolivia has been in an uneasy situation since a revolutionary junta overthrew the government and took control in December, 1943. The new regime, with Major Gualberto Villaroel as president and Victor Paz Estenssoro as head cf its revolutionary party, has not (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) EVIDENCE TAKEN IN MURDER CASE GREENSBORO, April 28 —W>— Taking of evidence was completed and arguments of lawyers was started today in the trial of three men charged with first degree murder in connection with the slay ing February 19. 1943, of E. J. Swanson in his store at James town. N. C. I Late in the day Judge F. Don Phillips ruled that the jury could hear testimony connecting two of the three defendants, John Edgar Messer and William Dalton Biggs and Elmer Hardie Biggs, brothers, with an armed robbery at Dan ville, Va., 25 days after Swanson was slain. Thereupon, R. F. Bar ber, Danville service station ope rator, testified that in early morn ing hours of March 16. 1943, Wil liam Biggs and Messer, at gun point. robbed him of $140. Mrs. Swanson, the storekeeoer’s widow, and O. M. Bundy testified yesterday that Messer shot and killed Swanson while William Biggs held a gun on Mrs. Swanson. Miss Doris Ray identified Elmer Biggs as driver of an automobile which stood outside the store during the slaying. The three defendants were con victed in superior court last May of first degree murder and were sentenced to die, but gained a new trial in appeals to the supreme court. After completion of lawyers’ ar guments and the court’s charge to morrow morning, the case will go to the iurv. Nazi Invasion Speculation Hits New High; D-Day Is Being Set1 LONDON, April 28.— W—Nazi in vasion speculation hit a feverish tempo +oday as Berlin dispatches said that German bombers at tacked masses of invasion vessels in undisclosed harbors of wetern England last night and continental commentators began naming defi ite “invasion dates,” one as early as next Tuesday. A vast outpouring of speculation came from Nazi and neutral micro phones, some contradictory and some nonsense, with guessing on the date of D-day ranging from May 2 to June 7 and with general prediction that the Allied invasion from the west would be timed with colossal blows in the south and in the east. From this island base itself his tory’s greatest aerial offensive was growing in intensity, and the air commanders were openly and of ficially referring to it as the “eve of invasion” offensive, but every thing possible was being done to keep the enemy guessing as to the exact date. The report of an air attack on invasion vessels in western Eng land was sent from Berlin by the correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper Tidningen, who added that great quantities of Allied ship ping were madded in southeast England Channel ports. Today’s German communique said that “heavy bomber forma tions attacked ship concentrations and other strategically important targets in the range of the British Southwest Coast with telling ef fect,’’ and this may have been the basis for the Swedish correspond ent’s report of “invasion vessels’’ being hit. The Berlin communique also said that Nazi motor torpedo boats at tacked a destroyer - escorted Brit ish convoy on the English south coast this morning, torpedoing a destroyer and sinking three of the convoyed vessels. “The latest naval clashes off the Atlantic coast and in the channel,” said a German high command spokesman as quoted by the Berlin radio, “and finally the glaringly obvious displacement of the center of gravity of the Anglo-American air raids to the occupied western territories and to strategic com munications centers of southwest ern Germany, must of necessity be regarded primarily from the general point of view of the ex pected onslaught.” The Berlin correspondent for the Swiss newspaper Die Tat said that foreign newspapermen there were .betting on the invasion coming be tween May 6 and June 7. A Turkish commentator said, “we can take it for granted that the next few days or weeks will witness the most important events of the war.” In Moscow the official communist newspaper Pravda observed: “Con ditions are favorable now for pow erful blows, not only from the east but from the south and west.” Washington Shocked By Knox Death; Question Of A Successor Is Raised - 1 SECRETARY WAS 70 Roosevelt May Name Re publican To Keep His Cabinet Unchanged WASHINGTON, April 28. — «l — The sudden death of Secretary of the Navy Knox shocked official Washington today and also posed the question whether President Roosevelt would keep the com plexion of his wartime cabinet un changed by appointing a Republi can successor. Knox, who died of a heart attack at the age of 70, was one of two members of the opposition party in the cabinet. The other is Secre tary of War Stimson. If Mr. Rooevelt decides to name another Republican, it is be lieved one of those considered may be Lt. Commander Harold E. Stas sen, youthful former governor of Minnesota now serving in the Pa cific. Stassen’s friends are boom ing him for the Republican presi dential nomination and he has made clear he will accept the nomi nation, if it is offered. He might feel impelled to accept the navy secretaryship from a sense of duty, however, if it were offered. Some members of Congress said privately they hoped Undersecre tary James V. Forrestal would be advanced to his late chief’s post. Forrestal, 52-year-old New York in vestment banker and a Democrat, has been undersecretary since 1940 and is familiar with the Navy De partment’s administrative prob lems. Funeral services for Knox will be held Monday in the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church at 2 p.m. lEWT). They will be con ducted by Dr. Fred S. Buschmeyer, assisted by Navy Chaplain S. W. Salisbury. (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) -V FARMS FLOODED BY MISSISSIPPI BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Mississippi River, swollen to a stage which may equal a 99 year record at some places for the second time in a year, spilled over crumbling levees today to flood new acres of Illinois and Missouri farm lands but with less disastrous results than in 1943. Four main levees protecting Il linois banks of the river went out as the crest neared. Orders came from the Army engineer’s office to evacuate farm families from other areas threatened with in undation. The flood is expected to crest at St. Louis at 38.9 feet, the same reading as last May. At that stage it exerts damaging pressure on every levee all the day down the river to Cairo, 111. For farmers on the river side of the levees this is the third con secutive year flood waters have driven them from their land. Latest figures from the Midwest ern Red Cross office at St. Louis disclosed the floods along the Miss issippi, Missouri, Arkansa, Illinois and o.ther rivers have affected a total of 5,700 families in Missouri and Illinois and 6,527 families in Kansas and Oklahoma. !* JAPANESE HALTED ON EVERY FRONT Little Trace Of Fighting Nips Found By Allies On New Guinea BY LEONARD MILLIMAN Japanese armies were halted or routed on every Pacific battlefront, Allied communiques reported yes terday. Americans and Australians found little trace of fighting Nipponese as they consolidated gaifls along 450 miles of the New Guinea coast where they have captured six air fields and four enemy bases with in the last week. Remaining Japanese airdromes on New Guinea were pummeied by Allied bombs. Gen Douglas MacArthur announced today that his bombers had finished w' ring out remnants of the Japanes air force at Wewak, whose four dromes are wedged between Aus tralians at Alexishafen and parts of the American thirty-second and forty-first divisions at Aitape. Other four - engined bombers swept on west from the Hollandia air center captured by the twenty fourth division and most of the forty-first. Five hundred miles to (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) -V Adm. Spruance Is Made Fifth Fleet* Commander U. S. PACIFIC FLEET HEAD QUARTERS, PEARL HARBOR, April 28—(/P)—Adm. Raymond A. Spruance today was officially lesignated as the commander of the Fifth Fleet. This command designation for Spruance replaces his former title of commander of the Central Pa cific force. Under that title he ivas in over-all command of the invasions of the Gilbert and Mar shall islands, and of the recent carrier task force strikes against Truk, the Marianas and the Palau islands. FORRESTAL NOW NAVY SECRETARY Acting Chief Is Known As A Broker And Banker; Well Adapted WASHINGTON, April 28— Ufl — James V. Forrestal, who became acting Secretary of the Navy to day upon the death of Secretary Knox is a broker and banker who has declared his hobby is “ob scurity.” A veteran of naval aviation dur ing the First World War, he came to Washington as an administra tive assistant to Presdient Roose velt, assigned primarily to Latin American problems. Friends have said that he was well adapted to such a post of anonymity because of his dislike for talking about himself. UUpUoUn creation of the office of undersecretary o the navy by Con gress he was transferred to that new post in the “little cabinet” and served as acting secretary when Knox was out of Washington. In his job as undersecretary For restal has been responsible to a great extent for the speeding up of naval construction. Born in Beacon, N. Y., the 52 year-old acting secretary, like his (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) -V Judge Makes Penalty Fit The Crime; Men Fined Quarter Apiece KANSAS CITY, April 28.—(.Pi Circuit Judge John F. Cook made the penalty fit the crime for six men before him today on charges of gambling by playing poker. “What was the game’s limit?” asked the judge. “A quarter,” one of the men said. ' “Each of you is fined a quar ter,” pronounced the judge. i Magazine Salesmen Here Preying On The Public By JEAN HARRELSON The magazine racketeers are op erating in Wilmington again! Ac cording to a classified advertise-, ment carried in both the Star and News, a young lady is wanted for what sounds to be a good paying job, but which actually, when in vestigated, turns out to be nothing but what has numerous times been called a ‘nice paying racket.” When the “employer” is inter viewing the prospective applicant, he states, “There is a great de mand for magazines by subscrip tion, for often you cannot find the desired mag on newstands. It’s big money in the business, after you once get the hang; just like silk hosiery, if you had them to sell you could make $500 a week, and you can make from $60 to $100 as a magazine saleslady.” Of course, he breaks down and confesses that you don’t get a sal ary, only work on commission. However, when you are “learning the trade” there is a petty salary )f $25 per week, with travelog ex penses paid. When quizzed as to how far he estimated the wages would go with the considerable high prices in war centers or re sort towns, he said quite frankly, “well, after you’ve paid your hotel room bill, meals and laundry you actually don’t have much left.” The investigator is under the im pression that hotel bills and meals are considered expenses on a trav eling position. The travel? “Oh, towns such as Norfolk, Charleston, Wilmington, parts, of Florida and Texas”. “It’s good work after you acquire that gift for gab and start getting com mission”. (Investigator’s note) Yes, too often travel instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation. There is a similar advertisement in today’s edition for a young man, 17 to 22. Yours for the fulfilling, but it calls for- intestinal fortitude with a capital G. P. S. You would be working for Periodical Sales Company, head of fice in Chicago. 14TH STRAIGHT DAT Sombs Being Dropped On Nazi Targets At Rate Of 6 Tons A Minute LONDON, Saturday, April 29. JP)—‘The first triple-header Ameri :an heavy bomber strike highlight ad widespread attacks on German air bases and fortifications in France yesterday, and brought to approximately 2,800 the number of Allied Britishbased sorties during the 14th straight day of the “eve af-invasion” sky offensive. The attacks, which cost the Am aricans four bombers and three figh'.ers, followed up a 1,000-plane, 3,500-ton RAF night assault on the Nazi technical center of Friedrich shafen and other important tar gets. RAF heavy bombers streaked out over the channel in the direction of the French coast shortly after dusk apparently in continuation of the uninterrupted series of smashes at Europe. At the same time German planes prowled along the southeast coast of England during the night but found the skies filled with anti-air craft fire and night fighters. There were no immediate reports of any incidents. Since Wednesday midnight the Allies have been dropping an aver age rate of 6 1-2 tons of bombs per minute, night and day, on Axis ob jectives, and the German radio late last night indicated the unpre cedented assaults were entering the 15th day when it warned that Allied planes were approaching northwest Germany. Two fleets of Flying Fortresses, each about 250-strong, roared out yesterday morning and hit the big Avord airdrome 130 miles south of Paris, and coastal fortifications in the Cherbourg area. About 500 Thunderbolt and Mustang fiehtprs escorted one bomber formation to Avord, while the bulletin made no mention of escorts for the fleet which attacked the Cherbourg sec tor, 70 miles across the Channel An abortive attack by German fighters on the formation that flew to Avord was broken off by the fighter escort. “This was the only encounter with the enemy during the day,” a U. S. communique said. In the afternoon a fleet of per haps 250 Liberators crossed the 20-mile-wide Dover Strait and pounded the Pas-de.Calais area. Thunderbolt fighters shepherded this formation over the territory which may soon be the scene of bitter ground battles. Hundreds of other fighter-bomb ers, American and Allied, ranged across France itching for aerial combat, but the Germans showed little eagerness, and some crews never sighted a single plane. The attacks on Nazi ground installa tions ranged from Tours to Paris and northern France. Since April 15 when the “big push” got under way it is estimat ed that the Allies have scourged Axis targets with approximately 70,000 tons of explosives. -V Top-Ranking GOPites To Address Convention WASHINGTON, April 28 —Wl Former President Herbert Hoover and Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R Honn.) have been invited to ad iress the Republican National Con tention starting June 26 in Chicago ind have accepted, the GOP rational committee announced to lay. McDonald Ad vocatesT ax Reduction, N. C. Progress Ralph McDonald, candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of North Carolina, last night set forth a broad program of State progress combined with tax reduction as he brought his cam paign to New Hanover in an ad dress at the County Court House. McDonald declared that the state is collecting more than $30,000,000 a year in taxes above all present expenses, and that this margin of excess revenues makes possible a program of progress and tax re duction at the same time. He was introduced by W. A. McGirt, prom inent local businessman and for mer member of the State Highway Commission at the time of the state’s great highway progress. “For many years the state has been collecting more taxes than the total expenses of the state gov ernment,’’ said McDonald. “Last year the collections in taxes were $102,000,000 while the total expend! tures were only $70,000,000. The ex cess revenues have been piling up in the state treasury, and the amount is already close .to $100, 000. 000 in an idle surplus. By July 1, 1945, the cash surplus wftll be more than $130,000,000, every pen ny of which represents taxes col lected from state taxpayers and not used to meet the state’s bud get.” McDonald proposed four actions to “tie down and permanently in vest this vast surplus for the good of the people of the state”: (1) earmark $50,000,000 to pay off the entire state General Fund indebt edness; (2) Freeze $20,000,000 as a reserve fund against future decline in revenues, thus providing a tide over for any emergency; (3) Use the $50,000,000 in the highway sur plus to finance a major highway building and improvement pro (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4)
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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April 29, 1944, edition 1
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