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0 Umttmtnn iHuntutg Star J3£[j ■ • "yOL. 78.—NO. 272. WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1945 " " ESTABLISHED 1867 1 ■ ■ 1 ■ 1 " ~~ —— mm^—m On Trial For Life On his way into court at Colum bia, S. C., is Samuel C. Epes, 27, former army lieutenant from Rich mond, Va., as he went on trial on a charge of murdering his wife. Her body was found in a crude grave at Ft. Jackson, S. C., after Epes had directed police to the bjurial place. He told police he had buried her there in fear after she had die3 accidentally from an overdose of sedative. (International). FORMER NHH GIRL ! REPORTED MISSING Margaret Elaine Britt Dis appears Enroute To Wilmington Wilmington police and New Han over county officers were on the lookout last night for 19-year-old Margaret Elaine Britt, former New Hanover High school student, who disappeared in a mysterious man ner last Friday somewhere between Brevard and either Wilmington or Salisbury. Associated Press reports said that the young girl, the daughter ot the Rev. N. F. Britt, of Salis bury, and Mrs. Ora Holden Britt, timekeeper for the North Carolina Shipbuilding company here, was supposed to have left Brevard by bus last Friday afternoon. Her suitcase and steamer trunk, which were supposed to have been sent, have not been located. The dispatch said that her father had reported that the Dean of Women at Brevard college, where miss rsrut naa oeen siuaymg pre paratory to entering Mars Hill col lege, had informed him that, so far as was known there, there were no circumstances to account for the young woman’s disappearance. Mr. Britt said yesterday that a telephone call to the girl’s mother here had yielded no further infor mation, Mrs. Britt reporting that she had had no word of her daugh ter. Hiss Britt worked at the ship yards in Wilmington last winter while attending New Hanover High school. T. T. Hamilton, principal of the school, recalled her as being a good student and a very nice girl.” She did her work well and seem ed ambitious. She was carrying a very heavy load in attending school and working at the same time,” he said. Mrs. Britt was unavailable for comment here last night and city and county police were unable to throw any light on the mystery. State Highway Patrol and SBI of ficers are working on the case in a state-wide effort to locate the girl. Miss Britt was described by her father as being five feet, six inches tall, weighing 135 pounds, with dark brown hair and a fair com plexion. She walks with a very erect carriage, he said. WEATHER (Eastern Standard Time) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Temperature 1:30 am. 74; 7:30 a.m. 76; 1:00 p.m. S0; 7:30 p.m. 80. Maximum 94; Minimum 74; Mean 84; ■Normal 72. Humidity h ^:3° a.m. 78; 7:30 a.m. 98; 1:30 p.m. 55; 7;30 p.m. 85. Precipitation Total for 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m.— °-00 inches. Total since the first of the month— o:8j inches. Tides For Today q 'From the Tide Tables published by U. Coast and Geodetic Survey). . High Low wummgton _ 10:05 a.m. 4:45 a.m. 10:33 p.m. 5:10 p.m. Masonboro Inlet - 7:4t> a.m. 1:41 a.m. 8:11 p.m. 2:01 p.m. Sunrise 6:00; Sunset 6:09; Moonrise 7:^8 phn.; Moonset 6:40 a.m. Fiver Stage at Fayetteivlle, N. C. at 8 am.__687 feet. (Record) (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) MacArthur Qrders Arrest OfLt. Gen. Doihara; State Den~40ds Life Penalty For Samuel Epes; Main Highways Reopened As Floods Hit Crest - ■¥■ Weatherman Says Worst Yet To Come HUNDREDS MAROONED Red Cross, Army, Air Corps Men Aid In Evac uation Work Answering a call from the Fayetteville Chapter of the American Red Crpss yesterday afternoon, Genera] Marsden, commandant of the II. S. Ma rine base at Camp Lejeune dis patched a rescue crew of 40 men, under command of Lt. Col. Fogt, to take off a large group of people who were re ported marooned by flood ~ > ters of the Cape Fear river, on a sand spit at Vandey, nine miles northeast of Fayetteville on Highway No. 24. The Marines took with them seven “Ducks” and two “Weas els” and Gen. Marsden said that the crew should effect a rescue within an hour. RALEIGH, N. C., Sept. 21.—UP) All main highways through North Carolina were open tonight except those in the Cape Fear river areas near Fayetteville, Lillington, a!*i Elizabethtown, as four flooding rivers passed their crests and be gan to subside in their upper reach es. Although Weather Bureau and Highway Department officials both predicted “the worst is yet to come” in the lower reaches of the Cape Fear, Tar, Neuse and Roa noke rivers, both described the sit uation as greatly improved through out the state. No estimates of property or crop damage in the flood, one of t’ worst in the State’s history, have been made but damage to major lighways and secondary roads was known to be extensive, and (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) BIG FIVE TALKS BALKAN TREATIES LONDON, Sept. 21 — (IP) - The Big Five Council of Foreign Minis ters discussed the Balkan peace treaties on a purely technical basis today, skirting political considera tions upon which there is disagree ment between the Russians and the British and Americans. A source close to the Council said the ministers were making fair progress on the technical structure for the Romanian peace pact. He emphasized that the core of the issue—the British and American insistence on reconstitution of the Balkan governments on more dem ocratic lines — was avoided thus far in formal talks. The Big Five discussed the Ro manian peace treaty in the morn ing, and this afternoon considered the drafting of a pact with Bulgar ia. A Soviet memorandum was us ed as a basis for discussing the Bulgarian treaty, with attention turned also the U. S. and British proposals, a communique said. Indications grew that the peace pacts might be headed for the Council of Deputies. Two other vital issues, Italian colonies and the Italy-Yugoslav border dispute, already have been remanded to (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) Reprisal Threat Angers Senator From Maryland BY DOUGLAS B. CORNELL Associated Press Staff Writer WASHINGTON, Sept. 21— (if) — Congress eased up on work today —no Senate or House sessions. But: 1. Tempers and salty cussing flared at a conference between Maryland Congressmen and 300 Maryland CIO members. Senator Tydings (D-MD) stomped out. 2. The Senate Military commit tee" shelved for the time being a proposal to limit the draft to men 21 to 26 years old. 3. Tlu same committee approv ed, and sent to the Senate floor __* Reported World End Doesn’t Faze Pastor RACINE, Wis., Sept. 21.—VP) —The Rev. J. Elwood Evans ol the Union Tabernacle Church was pretty confident that the world wouldn’t end today. Disregarding the prediction of the Rev. Charles G. Long of Pasadena, Cal., Evans Wed nesday ordered his usual church notices printed concern ing his Sunday sermon. The subject: “Why D a’t the World End Last Friday?” FLOODWATERS MAY DAMPEN WATER ST. Informed Citizen Says Sec tion Should Escape Damage An informed citizen of Wilming ton who has made a study of past flood records in the Cape Fear and the resulting damage in this area, said last night that ha expected no more than a little dampness Water street in front of the U. S. Customhouse providing the area does not get steady southeastward ly winds. He said that since the 1908 re cord-setting flood on the Cape Fear the channel has been deepened and straightened. Another factor in reducing the harmful effects here of the flood crest which reached 68.9 feet at Fayetteville early yesterday morn ing, is the broad expanse of low marshy territory directly aboVe Wilmington which he said could spread an enormous amount of water out relieving the load on the river. The fact that the Brunswick river, which used to relieve the pressure on the Cape Fear by by passing high waters, shoaled up after the last big flood which was in 1926, makes it difficult to pre dict the exact effect of the flood crest here, he added. Normally an increase of four or five feet at Fayetteville would be dissipated to a mere four or five inches here as shown from past flood records, he stated. He predicted that shipj#rd docks would remain about a foot-and-a half above water with the excep tion of one low-lying dock which might “get a little damp”. He reiterated that the biggest danger to the city was that steady winds from the southeast or south southeast would back water into the river which combined with the torrent from above Wilmington, might overrun the rive.- banks. CHERRY POINT AREA NAVAL AIR FIELDS WILL BE RELEASED WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 21.— (ff)_At least eight Naval Air Sta tions, major air facilities, outly ing fields or satteHite fields in North Carolina will be designated as surplus within the next six months. This announcement was made by John L. Sullivan, Assistant Sec retary of the Navy for Air, in his report to the House Naval Affairs committee. The Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Harvey Point is scheduled to be released the last quarter of this year. The field comprises 1,265 acres, all Navy owned. In the same period, five outly ing fields in the Cherry Point area at Greenville, Beaumont, New Bern, Washington and Wilson, and one at Emporia in the area of Edenton are scheduled to be re leased. _ for a vote: A House-passed bill to encour age enlistments in the Army and Navy. It made only a minor change. President Truman’s appoint ments of Robert P. Patterson to be Secretary of War and W. Stuart Symington to be Surplus Property Administrator. A measure to award a special gold medal to Gen. George C. Mar shall for his service as Army Chief of Staff during the war. 4. A House committee voted (Continued on Pago Two; Col. 21 Brown Offers No Testimony Foi Defense GRAYDON DRAMATIC Prosecutor Contends Vic tim Was Buried Alive By Husband By JANE NOLAND United Press Staff Correspondent COLUMBIA, S. C., Sept. 21.—(U.i —Demanding that Samuel C. Epes pay with his life for the alleged slaying of his petite artist wife, the State contended at his murder trial today that the wealthy young Virginian buried her alive in t" e cold earth of a crudely-dug fox hole grave. Clint T. Graydon, noted Colum bia criminal lawyer who was re tained by parents of blonde Mary Lee Epes, tragedy-marked bride of the Richmond socialite, was first on the prosecution ride to sum up the state’s case before it goes to a 12-man jury. He said the State had conclusive ly proved: 1. Tnat Epes, who had admitted giving his wife ten Sodium Seconal capsules to relieve her severe menstrual pains, knew the dgngit of the drug. 2. That Epes gave her the medi nUUnnrfk lraMtiimrf TirVi o4*. w-*irfV* + happen. • *' ,• c 3. "That he “took her out *nd buried her when he knew that sh2 could have been revived.” Physicians testified yesterday that one phase of the effects pro duced by taking five or six Sodium Seconal capsules is a hypnotic sleep during which a person is in capable of any voluntary action but is subject to the power of sug gestion. “I believe,” Graydon said, “that she wasn’t dead when he took her down the steps (of their tiny apart ment) and put her in his car.” He said this “possibly occurred during that hypnotic stage doctors said the drug induced.” “There is no doubt of the fact— the doctors all agree—that life was not extinct when he put her in the grave.” (Actually, physicians had testi fied that it was possible that a person would be alive after taking the number of capsules believed given to Mrs. Epes.) During a two hour passionate (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) WORKMAN BURNED BY POWER LINE GREENSBORO, N. C„ Sept. 22 —W—John Wesley Loggains, 32, Pleasant Garden, and Henry Neather Mangum, 48, Climax, who were extensively burned by con tact with a 6,900 volt power line about 10 a.m. today while well digging at a small garage two miles south of Climax on Highway 22, were in critical condition at Piedmont Memorial Hospital here tonight, hospital attaches said. Loggains sustained burns about the groins and Mangum suffered burns about the body and left leg, his left shoe had been burned away. State Highway Patrolmen said the men were hand - digging the well when the freak accident oc curred. Excavating with six foot pipes, the men apparently failed to disconnect the sections as they rose from the ground and into the air. One of the sections, neighbors told officers, apparentl rose 20 feet and struck the power line, carrying the current down to the men — Loggains who was found straddling the pipes, and Mangum, who was knocked several feet away from the project. Mrs.' George Jones, a neighbor, summoned to the scene by a farm er raking hay in a nearby field, beat out the flames around the two men and pulled them away from the area. Patrolmen said the pipes shorteircuited the power line blow ing out fuses in a transformer a few hundred yards away. The farmer who called Mrs. Jones, drove immediately to Cli max from where ambulances were called % ___ * First Meeting of Pearl Harbor Committee | Headed by Senator Alben W. Barkley (D) Ky.. the Pearl Harbor investigating Committee com posed of members of both the House and the Senate hold their first meeting in Washington, D. C. Stand ing (1. to r.) are: Rep. J. Bayard Clark (D), N. C.; Sen. Homer F. Ferguson (R), Mich.; Sen. Scott W. Lucas (D), 111.; Rep. F. B. Keefe (R), Wise.; Rep. J. W. Murphy (D), Pa.; Rep. B. W. Gearhart (R>, Calif. Seated, (1. to r.) Rep. O. Browster (R), Me.; Sen. Barkley; Rep. J. Cooper (D), Tenn.; Sen. W. F. George (D), Ga. (International) East Coast Gas Supply Threatened; Two More Automotive Plants Closed _ M + ■ - Oil Strikes Spread In The Southwest; Over 20,000 Out PORT ARTHUR, TEX., Sept. 21 — —Gasoline shortages devel oped today in the nation’s cities where CIO oil workers were of! refinery jobs, and the government moved actively to attempt a set tlement of spreading oil strikes. At least 20,000 workers have left their jobs in mid - western and Texas coastal refineries. Texas is hardest hit with 14,000 idle. Thous ands of others voted to back up a demand by the Oil Workers Inter national Union for a 30-percent wage increase. In the Texas coastal section more than 5,000 additional mem bers of the OWIU balloted today. Another 5,300 were on record for a strike. From George H. Taber, Jr., president of the Sinclair Refining Company, came an assertion that ‘‘unless the refineries already shut down by strikes soon resume oper ations the public must face a short age of gasoline.” Taber, in a statement in New York, said worst conditions at the present time were in the Chicago area; that a serious shortage in (Continued on Page Two; Col. 6) Although Snows Hit Oregon, Collars Were Wet Here Yesterday Did your shirt collar wilt, your dress wrinkle, the sun beat down like a hammer on your head, your car become an oven, the sweat pour off your brow even when you loaf ed? Were you gulping down iced tea and cold drinks and dreaming of cool mountain breezes and wish ing for a cooler day? Then reljx and listen to what an Associated Press dispatch said last night: “Unexpected snow over the south ern Oregon mountains closed part of Crater Lake National Park, halt ed filming of a motion picture and trapped a woman and three chil dren in a snowdrift”-. Does that help? Well, even though you did suffer from a maximum heat of 94 de grees yesterday as announced by the Wilmington Weather Bureau, think back to that day in 1925. September 4 when the temperature reached up and touched the 100 mark on the thermometer as stat ed by records of the Weather Bu reau. Now do you feel cooler? BULLETIN MIAMI, Fla., Sept. 21.—tffl—A Navy plane apparently in serious trouble and being shepherded to ward safety by three other Navy aircraft, tangled wings with a guid ing aircraft over midtown Miami tonight, killing four crewmen and causing a two-alarm fire in the business district. Both planes were from the Mel bourne, Fla., Naval Air Station. Both were torpedo bombers. ' JV Bell In Navy Pants —To Remain Awhile Yet WASHINGTON, Sept. 21.—(/P) —It’ll be “some time” before the Navy knocks the bell out of the bottom of its trousers. Right now, the Nav/ said tonight, its tailors '.re busy dreaming up what the well dressed sailor should wear. (Sen. Langer (R-ND) feels so strongly about all this he has introduced a bill to make it il legal for the Navy to bell-bot tom its boys.) But a Navy spokesman told a reporter that before any ac tion can be taken samples must be sent: 1. To the fleet commanders. 2. To the public. After hearing their reactions, the Navy bigwigs will vote on the sailor suit of the future. And when will that be? “It will be sometime,” said the spokesman. ELKIN MAN HEADS N.C. PRESS GROUP RALEIGH, N. C., Sept. 21—W— Harvey Laffoon, editor and pub lisher of the Elkin Tribune, was elected president of the North Car olina Press Association at its meet ing here today. Other officers are: Mrs. Eliza beth Gold Swindell of the Wilson Daily Times, vice-president; Miss Beatrice Cobb of the Morganton News-Herald, re-elected secretary treasurer, and Clarence Griffin of the Forest City Courier, re-elected historian. An executive committee was elected as follows: Laffoon, Miss Cobb, Mrs. Swindell, Dr. Julian Miller, editor of the Charlotte Ob server, and retiring president of the association; Ollie McQuade of the Mocksville Enterprise; Frank Daniels, business manager of the Raleigh News and Observer; Tom (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) Chrysler, Zenith Units Shut; Down, Idling 4,600 Workers DETROIT, Sept. 21 — (iP) - The labor troubles of the nation’s auto mobile capital approached a criti cal stage today as strikes shut ^ff the city’s supply of gasoline and closed down two more automotive plants. The spreading strike of CIO oil workers left the cit y with sufficient stocks of gasoline to last only un til Monday npon, a dealers associa tion said, and approximately 1,400 of the city’s 3,400 gasoline filling stations reported their tanks were empty. Their number was increas ing hourly. Meanwhile Chrysler Corpora tion’s Dodge truck plant and the factory of the Zenith Carburetor division of Bendix Aviation Corpo ration were closed. Chrysler, which sent 2.200 Dodge truck employes home yesterday be cause of strikes in supplier plants, charged that 40 to 50 pickets re (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) FBI GETS DESERTER FROM NAVY ON HIGH SCHOOL GRIDIRON BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 21.— (U.R) — A 19-year-old high school football player was being held in Federal custody here today on charges of desertion from the Na vy after being identified by a news paper picture. William Andy Booker, Jr., Bir mingham, was interviewed by a reporting in connection with a story dealing with service veterans returning to local high schools. His picture appeared along with the article. Long-memoried FBI agents spot ted the picture as that of a youth wanted on charges of Navy deser tion and Booker was arrested. Federal authorities said Book er was returned to the United Slat es after serving in the Philippines campaign and was granted a 10 (Continned on Page Two; Col. 5) rirst Globe-Circling Flight Starts Friday BY PAUL MILLER Associated Press Staff Writer WASHINGTON, Sept. 21— UP) - The first regular globe-circling air service, giving the world a pre view of what will be commonplace in time, was announced today by the U. S. Army Air Transport Com mand. The first C-54 (Douglas Skymas ter)—a 40-passenger, four-motored transport — will leave Washington National Airport at 5 p.m., EWT, Friday, Sept. 28 on the schedule to be known as “The Globester.” Additional passengers will be picked up at New York City’s La Guardia field at 6:30 p.m. A.T.C. officials and three reporters who will make the entire maiden trip as observers will return here 161 hours after the Washington take off, at midnight Thursday, Oct. 4. They will have covered 23,147 miles. Thereafter, flights will start on “The Globester” every Friday aft ernoon. Bermuda is the first stop out of New York. Here is the route there after: The Azores, Casablanca, Tripoli, (Continued on Page Two; Col. 7) Hand Of Jap Military Is Now Palsied EXTEND OCCUPATION Prestige Of Former War* lords Lowered In Home land Circles By The ASSOCIATED PRESS TOKYO, Sept. 21.—(/P)—General MacArthur today ordered the sum mary arrest of Lt. Gen. Kenjt Doihara, a marauder in Manchuria who only recently assumed the most important military ficIA com mand left in Japan. — Doihara was long a member of the Kwantung Army crowd that pushed the subjugation of Man churia. The order for his arrest came as Japanese sources declar ed the militarists who led their r* tion into a disastrous war had hit the bottom of their prestige. Well-informed Japanese said th hand of the military now was so palsied it lacked the strength to trouble Emperor Hirohito. whoso . leadership in the surrender was pictured as raising his authority to the highest peak in modern lime The Japanese cabinet meanwhile grappled with the harsh reality of occupation — how to ieea ou.uuu, 000 people without outside help and with typhoons such as last week’s mowing down -already-short crops. MacArthur tightened his grip over the Japanese with a censor ship code which told the press to print the truth. It was extended to headlines, recently used by the Ja anese for propaganda. Edwin W. Pauley, American member of the Allied Reparations Commission who is expected here within a month, asserted in San Francisco that Japan’s war-making potential would be eliminated and that the beaten nation would pay indemnities in goods, not cash. (Ted Dealey, president of the Dallas, Tex., Morning News, said in a signed article MacArthur had told him he would “fix things’’ so that the "the Japs will have a haz'd enough time eating for the next 25 years, much less having the lei sure and materials to build up for another war." (Dealey, who saw the surrender signed, said MacArthur told a group of American publishers that occupation could end in six months “if we are not too ruthless and cruel” but might last indefinitely. MacArthur gave no reason for the “immediate arrest’’ of Doihara, but obvioulsy he will be questioned about war crimes as will the rest (Continued on Page Two; .Col. 8) ALL-INDIA PARTY DEMANDS FREEDOM BOMBAY. Sept. 21.-(A5)—The all India Congress Party’s working committee demanded today that India, Burma, Malaya, Indochina anu the Indonesian islands be freed from “imperialist dominationa tion.” A crowd estimated at 250,000 gathered at the first convention of India’s largest party since 1942, when it adopted a “Britain must quit India’’ resolution and most of its leaders were arrested. Mohandas K. Gaundhi did not ap pear at the first session, attended by such other leaders as President Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and Pandit Jawaharal Nehru. The working committee adopted a resolution asserting the indepen dence of India, Malaya, Indochina, and the Indonesian Islands was es sential to avoid “sowing the seeds of a future war.” Specifically referring to Great Britain’s asiatic holdings, the reso lution declared: “No concessions should be given to the new vested interests created by British authorities in favor of foreign capital which curtail the rights of those people or which injure existing Indian interests (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) BASEBALL RESULTS American League Washington 3, New York 8. National League Brooklyn 1-11, Philadelphia 0-h t
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Sept. 22, 1945, edition 1
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