North Carolina Newspapers

FORECAST Served By Leased Wire' of the - UNITED PRESS Wilmington and vicinity: Clear to part- and the ly cloudy and cooler Wednesday with ASSOCIATED PRESS scattered thundershowers. With Complete Coverage of __ State and National New* VOL. 79,—NO. 189.__ WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1946 ESTABLISHED 1867 • .----- " ————————————— ■■■■_____—— The Thrill That Comes Once In A Lifetime _______ Three boys who’d never in all their lives before even seen a train yesterday actually rode on one! Above, at the engine, they are, left to right, Dawsey Atkinson, Roland Melton, and Ennis Larkins. In the bottom picture, the three boys are buying their tickets for the trip, which they made to Leland.—STAR STAFF PHOTO BY BOB HODGKIN. SEE FIRST ENGINE initial Train Ride Thrills Students By PHIL WRIGHT Three young boys, all students at Bradley’s Creek school, and members of Miss Helen Lindsey’s third grade, who had “never seen a locomotive”, yesterday went down to the station of Atlantic Coast Line, bought their tickets and a ticket for their teacher and took a ride on the “iron 11--- c j ijtianu, a uisianue ui ten miles. The boys, Roland Melton, 10, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Melton, Wrigntsville Sound; Ennis Larkins, IT son of Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Larkins, Seagate; and Dawsey At k'.nson. 11, son of Mr. and Mrs. •L B. Atkinson, Greenville Sound, said they had ,:a grand time” on their first train ride. *| On the ride they were taken all See STUDENTS on Page Two HAMBONE’S meditations __ By Alley SAY SHE'LL SEW UP VE i-l'L HOLE |Ai PocksT WHAfi 1 LOS' A 5/ME iP'N SHE K(M UP PE Top EEH' Too t_ “**• n- a i£*&“f,l‘ The Weather » FORECAST North Carolina: Partly cloudy with scattered thundershowers and cooler Wednesday. South Carolina: Slightly cooler Wednes day, partly cloudy with scattered thun dershowers. (Eastern Standard Time) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m., yesterday. TEMPERATURE 1:30 am, 73; 7:30 am, 71; 1:30 pm, 80; 7:30 pm, 75. Maximum 81; Minimum 70; Mean 75; Normal -. HUMIDITY 1:30 am, 83; 7:30 am, 81; 1:30 pm, 59; 7:30 pm, 80. PRECIPITATION Total for 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m., 0.00 inches. Total since the first of the month, 3.04 inches. TIDES FOR TODAY (From the Tide Tables published by U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). See THE WEATHER On Page Two ---- IRAN REPORTED CLEAR OF REDS Premier Says Soviet Troops Left According To Deadline NE'W YORK, May 21.—(JP)—Iran- | ian Ambassador Hussein Ala re ported to the United Nations Se curity Council T sday night that he had received information from hi government that all Soviet troops were withdrawn from Iran ian soil by * iy C. He transmitted a message he received from Iranian Premier Ahmed Qavam. which said a gov ernment commission had visited prncipal cities of Azerbaijan province and had failed to find any trace of Soviet troops or equip ment. internai interference The communications from Qavam did not mention alleged Russian inteiference with the internal af fairs of Iran which Ala said Tues day night was still continuing. Qavam’s message to Ala said: “In order to obtain information on the circumstances of evacua tion of al’ parts of Azerbaijan, I dispateced a commission of m See IRAN on Page Two JAYCEESFLYTO GOLDSBORO MEET Plan Air Journey For Breakfast With Wayne County Members Approximately 15 air-minded Junior Chamber of Commerce members will take to the air Sun day morning for a one hour flight to Goldsboro, where they will eat breakfast and return here at nine o’clock for church services. John Anderson, chairman of the club’s Aviation committee, said last night that plans for the flight have been completed, and that ten Cub planes will leave Bluethenthal field at five o’clock Sunday morn ing. The local group will be guests of the Goldsboro Junior Chamber at breakfast. The event is an initial flight by the Wilmington members, and others are being planned, the avia tion committee announced last night. See JAYCEES on Page Two Today and Tomorrow By WALTER LIPPMAN They say that the President is much disturbed, as he well may be, by 'the failure to get anywhere in making peace. Some good may come out of this if he and Mr. Byrnes will admit that there may be something radi cally wrong with the strategical conception and planning of their diplomatic campaign. Yet that is something which no one, who has had a hand in making the policy which we have followed since Roosevelt’s death, likes to admit or feels compelled to admit. For the Russians have behaved so badly, so rudely, so crudely, and i so aggressively, that they provide a most plausible explanation for any kind of dipomatic failure on our part. Neverless, it is not a good explanation to say that we are losing the game because our op ponents play their aces and their trumps. It was obvious more than a year ago that the Russians would play their cards for all they were worth. But we had, and still have, plenty of aces and trumps of our own. So, looking at the score after twelve months, it is certainly a fair question to ask whether we are playing our own hand well. See LIPPMANN On Page Five AIRPORT AUTHORITY MOVES TO SECURE Plane ROUTE TO BERMUDA, CARIBBEAN; 1 CITY COMPLETES SUNSET WA TER DEAL $45,000 Set As System’s Sales Price Gholston To Retain Pumps, Wells And Real Estate Of Company CHANGEOVER JULY 1 City To Buy Property For $10,000 Less Than Original Offer The City of Wilmington yesterday successfully com pleted negotiations with J. G. Gholston to purchase the Sunset company’s water and sewage distribution systems for $45,000. This is $10,000 less than the origi nal offer submitted by Gholston to the city. The city council approved the reduced figure in special session yesterday morning. J. R. Benson, acting city manager, W. F. Evans, Jr., head of the city’s water and sewage department, and Gholston, owner of the company, worked out the final details of the transaction yesterday afternoon. Water And Sewage The deal involves only the actual watei and sewage distribution sys tems. Gholston will retain the pumps, wells, and real estate of the company Under the terms of the transac tion Gholston will continue mainten ance of the systems until July 1. gee SUNSET on Page Two GOVERNMENT\CTS IN RAIL DISPUTE Takes Hand To Get Bigger Pay Boost Than Board Approved WASHINGTON, May 21.—(AV The government took a hand Tues day night to get railroad workers a bigger wage increase than an of ficial fact-finding board has recom mended. The action follows the assur ance President Truman gave the union leaders Saturday in persuad ing them to postpone their strike until Thursday that he was “con fident” progress could be made in further negotiations. Seeks Compromise Dr. John R. Steelman, t ; President’s labor adviser, told re porters the government is trying to work out a compromise be tween the increase the fact-finding board recommended, and which the railroads have agreed to pay, and the higher figure the Brother hoods are demanding. The fact-finding board’s recom mendation, applicable to all the railroad workers, was for an in crease of 16 cents an hour or $1.28 a day. Brotherhoods seek a minimum The Engineers and Trainmen raise of $1.44 a day for lower p^id employes which amounts to 18 See RAIL Op Page Two NUMBER ONE RATING SHIPYARD BOOSTED FOR REGULAR BASE Based on its number rating as a low-cost production yard, the North Carolina Shipbuild ing company, together with three other U. S. yards, was yesterday recommended to congress for retention as permanent Maritime commis sion facility. At the same time, in its re port through the Navy to the House Appropriations commit tee, the Maritime commission asked that the Brunswick river surplus fleet lay-up basin here —nearly 35 per cent completed —be declared a permanent site for the storage of 500 surplus government-owned dry cargo ships. The commission asked $15,600,000 for the whole layup program. Other Yards Also contained in the Navy department’s annual Naval appropriations bill, were recommendations for continued operation of the Bethlehem Alameda yard, Alameda, Calif., the Kaiser Corp.. Rich mond, Calif., and the Kaiser Corp., Vancouver, Washington. Sole ship-works on the At lantic coast chosen for reten tion by the commission, The North Carolina Shipbuilding company has the lowest per ship cost average of 17 private and government shipyards in See SHIPYARD On Page Two KINSTON COUNTS TOLL OF TORNADO Two Dead, 45 Hurt, And $100,000 Damage In Wind Storm KINSTON, May 21—(fl5)—This community was recovering Tues day from the effects of a sudden tornado which struck three sides of the city Monady night, killing two persons, injuring 45 others and causing property damages whi:h may run as high as $100, 000. The sudden twister, which was described by eye witnesses as having struck without warning, took the lives of Mr. and Mrs. John Potter, an aged couple who lived with their family two miles north of the city on the Snow Hill highway. House uemonsnea Mrs. Potter, died in a hospital early Tuesday. Her husband was killed almost instantly when their house was demolished after tak ing the full effects of the twister. Jake Potter, a son of the couple, was treated for a broken arm and head injuries. Still in a critical condition in local hospitals were Miss Virginia Baker, who suffered severe head and chest injuries; Mrs. Stanley Baker, 25, who suffered similar wounds; and Mrs. J. R- Sparrow, who was remo- ed to a hospital for shock. Mrs. Sparrow p£evious ly had been iil tter a stroke of paralysis and. although uninjured when her house was demolished, her condition >vas descrived ^ y hospital at‘. .ches as "grave. Others Being Treated A check of loca lhospitals late Tuesday revealed that 20 persons still were oeing treated ior m juries, many of them with broken limbs. All however, were ex pected to recover barring com PlAtaUleast nine buddings, includ ing four residences, were demol ished by the storm which first struck a few hundred yards to the east "f the Kin,ton corporate limits. Here it leveled two service stations, one garage, and a recent ly completed dwelling. Then the storrr. weirdly skipped several hundred yards before it struck again, this time in a field on the Eli Perry farm demolish ing the home of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Baker. Doesey Jacobs, a filling station operator living on the Goldsboro See KINSTON on Page Two Aiong The Cape Fear PROUD HUMBLE, CONFUSED, —It makes a person proud to live in a city as rich in historical lore as Wilmington. Few cities in the U. S. A. can boast of a past like the Port City’s—you can count them on your fingers and still have enough fingers left over to play “Dixie" allegro fortissimo on the piano. Also, by the very virtue of this pride, it makes a person humble to live here Great and wonderful things happened here in the long ago, and those of us who live here now are hard put io keep up the great and wonderful tradition. On the third hand, however, it also does something else to a per son to live in a city so closely cov ered by the rich, tapestried cloak of history. It confuses the heck out of him —him, meaning us. LORE AND LEGEND—The con fusion arises from the fact that it is sometimes so difficult to tell wheie legitimate lore leaves off and legeno begins. Like attar of roses, the perfume of the past tends to drug the senses. In this state of semi - anesthesia, memories merge and commingle. And the resuit is that the facts of the past take or, new shapes and forms to such an extended degree that fic tion sometimes creeps into the pic ture. Thils is the kind of a picture we are facing this morning. Under stand, though we don’t say there ; is fiction in the picture; we just say ! there seems to be. Because the picture, you see, is such a confusing one to us. FLY BECOMES FIDDLER — Yesterday we printed a story about the ‘-Shc,o-Fly”—and the day be See CAPE FEAR on Page Two I ADMIRAL JOHNSON TO SPEAK IN CITY Assistant Chief Navy Per sonnel Addresses Pro peller Club Tonight’s observance of Mari time Day by the Propeller club of the United States, Port of Wil mington, will be highlighted by an address of Rear Admiral Felix Leslie Johnson, USN, assistant chief of Naval personnel. A small number of persons, out standing in matters of port develop ment throughout the state, have recieved invitations to attend a dinner meeting at the Cape Fear Country club at 7 o’clock this evening, at which time Admiral Johnson will speak. speaks lo Kiwanis Arriving here this morning, the high-ranking Naval officer will also address today’s luncheon meet ing of the Wilmington Kiwanis club. Although no other local Mari time Day celebration has been an nounced, merchants are expected to display American flags in the downtown area as in past years. May 22 was proclaimed Maritime Day by order of President Tru man. A native of Aberdeen, N. C., Ad miral Johnson attended high school at Warrenton and the Uni versity of North Carolina before his appointment to the U. S. Naval Academy in 1916. Graduated and commissioned en sign in June, 1919, he subsequently progressed in grade until his pro motion to Rear Admiral on Oct. 10, 1943. Campaign Veteran A veteran of campaigns and ser vice in the Asiatic and South American areas prior to World War II, he was commended by the Commander in Chief, U. S. Pacific fleet for services during a part of his command of the U. S. S. Presi dent Adams from July, 1943, until November, 1944. In November, 1944, he was trans ferred to duty as Assistant Chief of Staff to the Commander, South Pacific. In June, 1944, he returned to the United States and, after fit ting out the U. S. S. Springfield, commanded that cruiser from her commissioning on Sept. 9, 1944, until May 15, 1945. Many Decorations On June 29. 1945, he reported for duty in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Navy Department. Washington, and on Jan. 9, 1946, he assumed duty as Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel. In addition to the Commendation I See ADMIRAL on Page Two Clipper Service To Resort From Bluethenthal Sought New Hanover - Wilmington Airport Au thority Begins Action Today For Colonial Air Lines Schedule By LARRY HIRSCH A strong movement to get a Wilmington-Bermuda Caribbean airplane service established at Bluethenthal air port with Colonial Airlines will be initiated by the Wil mington-New Hanover Airport authority this morning. Albert Perry, authority chairman, said yesterday that the authority will “do everything in its power” to get Colonial’s proposed clipper service to the rich resort island WILMINGTON GETS NEW RADIO RANGE Contract Let For Ultra Modern VHF System For Bluethenthal Construction of Bluethenthal air port s VHF (very high frequency) radio range, science’s ultra-mod ern contribution to aerial naviga tion, will begin in about a week or 10 days Jesse C. Parker, Jr., air port manager, announced yester nay. Official confirmation that tire contracts for construction of the ranee about five miles north of the field have been let were received by Parker two days ago from Carl Schancke, superintendent of the Air Navigation Facilities Structural division of the Civil Aeronautics administration, Atlanta, Ga. Air Highway Schancke also disclosed that CAA plans to construct a number of other VHF ranges stretching from Florida lo New York which will give ihe east coast its first “VHF air-highway’ — science’s answer to fcg, storms, rain, sleet, and snow, the elements which have so long player havoc with airplane operations. Schancke said CAA hopes to have the “highway’’ in operation j by August 1, or as shortly as pos sible aftei Wilmington’s range is completed some time in July. In addition to the range here, the See RANGt on Page Two WIDOW WILL G r ‘BENEFIT’ C ECK Mrs. Helen Thompson Cox To Receive $700 From State Fund Mrs. Helen Thompson Cox, widow Oi A. D. Cox, framer As sistant Chief of Police, Carolina Beach, will today u given checks totaling $700. benefits due her under the Nrrth Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Benefit and Retirement fund. Carolina Beach C" ie of Police E. V. Leonard said last night, the presents• ioi will be made by Sheriff C. David Jo’.es this after noon. The checks beat the signature of George Rots Pou, auditor for the state retirement plan, and are de_ ated as '$?00 for burial and $500 for widow’s benefits.” Cox, it is understood, wa: not a member of the Retirement plan, but the plan sets forth that heirs See BENEFIT on Page Two BACK AT HOME Judge Allen Praises Work Of Represen ta tiveClark Declaring that the defeat of j J. Bavar t Clark in the Demo cratic primary' on Saturday would be a calamity to prog- i ress in the Seventh Congress- ! iona) district, Judge R. C. Al len. retiree, who recently re turned to North Carolina after residing in Oklahoma for the past ft) years, yesterday praised Mi. Clark as a man who en joys the highest standing in Congressional circles at Wash ington and well worthy of sup port and renomination for the Seventh district seat in the House of Representatives. Judge Allen, who plans to re side here m the future, is build ing a new home in Forest Hills | and wiil only make periodic business trips to Oklahoma. He will leave for Tulsa on Thurs day to attend a meeting of his company which furnishes nat- 1 ural gas l< that great oil and gas state. He is and has been i for many years, general coun sel ano vice president of his company. A native of leaden county, Judge Allen was practically See JUDGF on Page Two I 1 routed through Wilmington with Bluethenthal airport as the hop ping-off point. Congressman J. Bayard Clark, speaking from his home in Fayette ville, last night pledged his “ut most suppoit and cooperation” to the movement to get the Bermuda planeo ase located here. “Wilmington is the best — and really tl only logical — place for sucn a ise," he said. Congressman Clark also reveal ed that President Roosevelt some years ago heartily approved the preliminary plans to get Bermuda run established in the South. Application Filed The other contender for Coloni al’s planned route is Charleston, S. C. The airline has already has filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics board and President Truman to extend its route south into the Caribbean, and Charles ton is reported to “have a good chance’’ of becoming the termin us. “The author fc'thinja in us power the hopping-oi “We will coni immediately I great advanj over Charted Add Among pointed oij authority M „ See CJj WASHING The gcverni coai mines iu«i get any im-mec from Jonn L. Lewis ^ limners will continue at woik wnen me strike “truce” expires Saturday. Secietary of the Interior Krug, who takes charge of the mines un der the seizure order effective aft er midnight Tuesday told a news conference that Lewis took the po sition that the question of con tinuing work was one for the in dividual miners. Asks Support Krug said that “we asked his support” in keeping the mines operating and Lewis took the re quest “under consideration.” A second conference whh Lewis will be held Wednesday morning but Krug said I ewis made “no prom ises, and we requested none.” Krug also conferred with rep ; eseniatives of the operators. He told reporters afterwards that he will attempt to work out the principles of a new bituminous coal See MINE on Page Two And So To Bed Back di> the war lots of local ladies were busily en gaged lea' to Landaye peo p!< in case of an air raid. One day m auto accident involving several cars happen ed on a local street corner. After the debris was clear ed away a man was seen ly ing quietly face-down near the curb. The police ran to his side turned him over, and anxiously inquired how badly he was hurt. “I’m not hurt at all,” said the man. “1 fell off the curb while 1 was looking at the ac cident. All of a sudden a lady ran up to me and told me not to move a muscle until she ran home to get her bandages.” That, of course, is what was told us just as we were ready to go to bed last night.