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? V* V '?
The Alamance Gleaner
VOL. LXXII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1946 No. 46
? ? -
ODDS ON ODDITIES
__________ >
I
Gun-toting Animals Predominate
In Roundup of Freak Accidents
w 11 u reaiures
, It used to be news when a
man bit a dog. But in 1946 a
dog shot a woman.
And that's not all. A kanga
roo shot a man. So did a rab
bit. A deer took a gun away
from a hunter. A fish chased
a fisherman off the road by
meezing in his face. A bee, a goose,
a grasshopper, a mouse and a turtle
got into the act, each in its own
qaaint way. And an ice cube knocked
a woman cold.
AH this, and more, was turned
sg> by National Safety council in
its annual roundup of odd accidents.
And if you haven't already begun
to suspect that things were a little
wacky in the year just past, read
an!
The Ice Cometh.
Miss Jeannette Esslinger was
standing on the sidewalk in St. Louis
wben an ice cube fell out of a hotel
window. It hit her squarely on the
head and knocked her colder than
fiie ice cube. At the hospital they
treated her with?an ice packl
Alice Martin, 52, and Emily Haus
er. 66, were zipping along the
streets of Des Moines, Iowa, on a
motor scooter one day, having a
aery fine time indeed, when what
should loom up ahead but a corner.
As they scooted adventurously
around it, the scooter unceremoni
ously upset, depositing both ladies
so the pavement with considerable
force and little dignity. Sympathetic
friends suggested the scooters trade
in their vehicle for an automobile
?or, if youth must have its fling,
a kiddie car.
Really Burning Up.
As Margaret Standring was walk
ing along the street in downtown
Philadelphia, she was understand
ably bewildered when two women
and a man suddenly began beating
her on the head. She was burned
up a little at this. But not as much
as if they hadn't. For the not-so-cold
fact was that Miss Standring was
an fire. A cigarette, tossed from a
nearby building, had landed in her
hair. No other cigarette can make
this statement!
Now, about the dog that shot the
woman. It happened in Baltimore
as Mrs. Ruth Patterson was enjoy
hig a bath. Her police pup, Toby,
spied a gun on the washstand, put
paw to pistol and let Mrs. Patter
sen have it right in the bathtub?
or more precisely, right in the hand.
Ib Fresno, Calif., Leonard Gur
aro, 21, was completing what he
taped had been a satisfactory test
for a driver's license. As he
nervously parked the car he stepped
en the accelerator instead of the
brake. The car leaped the curb
mid zoomed through the plate glass
?iuiluu of an office ? the office of
the examiner who was giving Gur
aro the driving test. License denied.
When the alarm rang in a Hous
ton Are station this summer. Fire
man J. H. Skeeters threw on his
clothes and leaped for the quick
exit pole. He missed and landed
kerplunk on the first floor 20 feet
Mow?all 200 pounds of him. Sure,
k was a false alarm.
In Fairmount City, Mo., fire start
ed in an auto from a short circuit,
but thoughtfully set off the horn and
sounded its own alarm.
Equally as obliging was a blaze
hat started in a tavern at Hugo,
OUa., burned off the cap of a
hydrant, released a stream of water
and drowned itself. -
More understandable was the
strange case of the kangaroo that
shot the man. This happened in Aus
tralia when Arthur Crosbie shot a
kangaroo through the hind legs and
it fell on its back. Crosbie reloaded
the rifle and put the butt on the
kangaroo's neck to pin it down. The
kangaroo reached up, twined a fore
paw around the trigger and shot
Crosbie through the arm.
Prompted by the same motive of
self preservation, a rabbit that lived
just outside Louisville, Ky., resent
ed the activities of William Humph
rey, a 16-year-old hunter. He stuck
out a paw from Humphrey's game
bag, pulled the trigger of Humph
rey's gun and shot him through
the foot. Humphrey now carries a
rabbit's foot for luck when he goes
hunting. Guess what rabbitl
Edward M. Brown of Beverly
Hills, Calif., "Saw active service in
both the European and Asiatic the
aters without a scratch. He de
cided to relax by going hunting. A
companion shot a goose. It plum
meted down, struck Brown smack
in the cliest, knocked him flat,
and inflicted injuries that kept him
in the hospital 45 days.
Many a bee has caused a traffic
accident, but a super-busy one in
Hammond, Ind., cracked up three
autos by merely stinging the driver
of one of the cars. The driver,
Walter Sohl, drove into another car,
which then crashed into a third ma
chine. t
He Gets Buck Fever.
Back in the meatless days Del
Halstead licked his chops as he
drew a sight on a big buck deer
near Buckhorn station, Calif. Just
as he released the safety catch on
his rifle, he was hit from behind and
sent sprawling. Another buck had
bounded out of a thicket and landed,
ala the marines, in the nick of time.
Halstead not only lost his gun?he
also lost two bucks!
Same Old Story.
Put a mouse and a woman in the
same car and something has to
give. So when Mrs. Orson Rheingold
of Albany, N. Y., found she was
sharing her car with a traveling
field mouse, she just did what came
naturally. The car smacked into a
pole and the field mouse returned
to the field.
Gustav Riebow of Milwaukee is a
kindly man. So wjien he and his
wife found a turtle in their back
yard, they put it in a box on the
front seat of their car and started
to take it to a nice homey place in
the country. The turtle, confused or
just plain ungrateful, slipped out of
the box, crawled up Riebow's leg
and bit him good and hard. Riebow
turned turtle and so did the car?
via a tree.
Chips Pay Oft.
After that, anything must seem
dull. But the case of Pete Bird
of Shelbyville, Ky., may be worth
recording. When a mere boy, Bird
was chopping a log on a farm when
a chip flew up and struck him in
the eye, bringing a cataract and
blindness. In 1946?just 42 years
later ? Bird again was chopping
wood. Again a chip flew up and hit
him in the eye, tearing the cataract
loose and restoring sight.
Then there was the case of the
sultry pocketbook. It belonged to
Miss Janice Peterson of New York
City, who traced smoke to a drawer
in her office desk and found a cig
arette lighter in her purse had
flicked on. "And it hardly ever
works when you want it to," she
moaned.
A $50,000 boom hit the rural com
munity of Plymouth, Wis., when 16
year-old Robert Marth shot at a
sparrow perched on a farm wagon,
missed the sparrow, hit the wagon
and set off its 1,300-pound load of
dynamite. Casualties?650 windows,
1 wagon and 1 sparrow.
Don't We All?
Stanley Szot of East Chicago,
Ind., entered the dentist's office
with a toothache and left with a
headache. As the dentist reached
for the forceps, lightning struck the
office building and a hunk of plas
ter from the ceiling conked Szot on
the head, where the novocain hadn't
reached.
Three-year-old Ernest Liedemann
of Chicago tumbled into the Chi
cago river from a bridge high
above. As he hit the water, his
clothing caught on a nail that pro
truded from the piling and held his
head above water until he was res
cued.
Close runner-up for fall fashions
was Abraham Wilson of New York.
As Wilson was lowering a couch
from a four-story shaftway in a
warehouse, he tripped in the rigging
and he and the couch plunged down
ward. He caught up with the couch
as they passed the third floor. The
force of the impact wedged the
couch against the shaft wall, where
surprised workers found Wilson
curled up cozily.
Another Fish Yarn.
Most fantastic of all, perhaps, Is
the celebrated case of the sneezing
salmon. James Mantakes of La
Grande, Ore., caught the salmon,
tossed it in the rear of his car and
started for home to show the
folks. As the car chugged along,
desert dust blew into the salmon's
gills, and it sneezed. Yes, it did.
This startled Mantakes. He
glanced back, saw nothing but a
fish and shrugged off the sound. An
other sneeze. Mantakes whirled
around,, this time to see an angry
salmon on the back of the seat,
glaring balefully at him with
bloodshot eyes. As if that weren't
enough, a grasshopper chose that
moment to come flying in through
the window. The salmon abandoned
Mantakes, lunged at the grasshop
per, missed and fell back in the
lap of the now thoroughly disorgan
ized driver.
Mantakes gave himself over en
tirely to subduing the salmon. The
car went crashing off the road. The
salmon sneezed spitefully once or
twice more?and succumbed.
Victims of All Ages.
Youngest victim of an odd acci
dent in 1946 undoubtedly was a baby
girl who was shot before she was
born. Her mother, Mrs. Arthur
Laughton, was shot in a hunting
accident at Winthrop, Me., and the
baby was born prematurely, a bul
let wound in her left thigh.
When most people were desper
ately trying to find auto tires, Stan
ley Yanick of Chicago just stood
still on the sidewalk and one came
rolling right up to him. Unfor
tunately, it had a wheel attached,
and it flattened him. The tire was
the wrong size anyway.
When Mrs. Ralph Gilmore of Phil
adelphia heard a certain program
coming in on her radio, she hur
ried across the room to turn up
the volume, tripped on a rug and
(ell, auflering minor injuries. The
program Mrs. Gilmore (ell lor? A
broadcast on home hazards by Na
tional Safety council I
Broadway Stardust:
The fountain pen firm which In
troduced the under-water pen soon
will bring out an under-water per
fume so you will smell sweet while
swimming. Greatest invention since
soap. .. . Bess Myerson (Miss Amer
ica of 1945) is organizing a 21-piece
all-girl band. They will follow Tex
Beneke's crew at the 400 in January.
. . . Greenwich (Conn.), home burg
for some of the wealthiest people
in the world, is in a tizzy with ex
citement about the identity of the
20 locals who voted Communist.
Some of the millionaires there are
suspected. , . . Lindy's raised its
excellent coffee a nickel per cup.
Multiply that nickel by the over
50,000 patrons weekly and get dizzy.
. . . How night club concessionaires
get rich: The recent half-cent per
pack rise in cigarettes prompted
concessionaire Ellis to tilt his price
a jitney per pack.
Midtown Vignette: Blanche
Yurka, a fine actress, got her
first stage assignment in ages
recently, and therein lies this
paragraph. . . , Blanche wear
ied of playing frowsy character
roles in the films and returned
to Broadway open to offers. . . .
None came?until Eve Wygod
(owner of a beauty parlor) per
suaded La Yurka to let herself
be glamourized. ... So wot?
. . . When showmen saw the
"new" Yurka they became en
tranced and goose-pimply. . . .
I But the role she rot?is that of
a "progressive" German wom
an?mil ondt glammer!
Cure of alcoholism isn't as simple
as the movies make out. Many
such sanitariums around H'wood
now charge as high as $100 daily.
. . . For a little number called
"Mother Wore Tights," Betty Gra
ble wears mink tights?mink, not
pink. . . . Realty experts are amused
at the 10 per cent raise (the news
papers are giving them) when rent
controls die?they expect the aver
age tilt to be at least 20. May go
as tall as 60. ... D. Smart, the mag
publisher, will offer Elliott Roosevelt
$20,000 tor "a good interview" when
he returns from Moscow. Elliott is
cleaning up a mint, mainly because
he became "good copy" following
all those press attacks on him tor
over a year . . . Street Scene: Sec'y
of State Byrnes saving a woman
from being hit by a bus at 50th and
Madison.
The other night in the House
of Dixon the swellodle Joe Moo
ney quartet started playing its
humorous arrangement oI "Just
a Gigolo." ... A pleasant-look
ing young chap (sitting with an
older woman at the ringside)
became uncomfortable as Moo
ney started singing the special
lyrics directly at him. ... As
the laughter grew, the fellow
squirmed. ... He excused him
self and beat a hasty retreat to
the lounge room until the song
ended. . . . When he returned,
his companion teased him about
his self-conseiousness. . . . "But
he was singing it right at me,"
he remarked, "and everyone
was laughing." . . . "My dear."
the woman replied, patting his
hand, "Joe Mooney was singing
directly at your imagination.
You see, Joe is blind."
The Intelligentsia: Henry Miller's
novel, "Tropic of Capricorn,"
(banned in the U. S.) has been one
of Prance's (English-language) best
sellers. It recently .was translated
into French and was banned! . . .
Tom Costain, author of "The Black
Rose," a click, has finished a new
one, due in March, "Money Man."
. . . "Contact," Nebraska peniten
tiary's publication, features "pro
flies" under the title of "Prisonali
ties." . . . Philip Wylie's "Genera
tion of Vipers" book, four years old,
still sells 1,000 copies a week, via
boosters. His next will be called
"An Essay on Morals."
The few times H. 8. T. does
something right he ddesu't tell
the country about It. -dtecently,
f[instance, he's rtbged to have
received a scorching letter from
a newly - elected hlg shot,
screaming against raising the
immigration bars.
The President supposedly re
plied: "Unless you happen to be
an American Indian your atti
tude is stupid. Applied retro
actively, you could never have
been born here, since your for
bears wouldn't have heea able
to emigrate from their foreign
bifthoUees "
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
U. N. Moves for Disarmament;
World Co-ops to Expand Trade;
Solons Kill Occupation Quiz
? Released by Western Newspaper Union.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When eplslens are expresses la these celaiaas, they are these ef
Westers Newspaper Ualea's sews analysts sad set necessarily of this newspaper.)
U. N.:
Move to Disarm
The war-weary old world seemed
headed for substantial disarmament
as Russia took the lead in the Unit*
ed Nations to force a reduction in
militarization.
In thV first U. N. step toward dis
armament, members agreed to re
port on the strength of their armed
forces at home anf) abroad by Jan
uary 1. Originally, the Reds had
asked that the report be confined to
the number of Allied troops on for
eign soil, but the U. S. and Britain
were quick to call for count of forces
at home as well.
Continuing to dominate the dis
armament spotlight, Russia then
proposed the creation of an inter
national commission to supervise
disarmament, reversing previous
Soviet objections to such control.
Favor for the proposal, however,
was qualified by misapprehension
over the Russian provision that such
an international commission would
be subject to the veto power of the
security council.
WORLD CO-OPS:
Trade Program
Growth of co-operatives as a force
in world trade was illustrated with
the organization of the International
Trading agency in London to facili
tate exchange of goods between 85,
000,000 co-op members from 31
countries.
Formed hv the International Co
operative alliance, the new under
taking not only calls for the ex
Im contrast to the U. S., whore the
co-operative movement it primarily
agricultural, European co-opt em
brace a variety of enlerpritti. Co-op
erative! conduct to per cent of buti?
nett and induitry in Sweden, 21 per
cent of food tloret in Great Britain,
and 2/>00 retail estahliibmentl and
1,100 wareboutet in Denmark.
change of commodities and goods
produced by the co-ops themselves
but also the distribution of privately
manufactured items through co-op
agencies. In the U. S., the Na
tional Co-operatives, Inc., embrac
ing 4,000 local societies owned by
1,300,000 members, has been mak
ing volume purchases of refrigera
tors, radios and household appli
ances from private industry for re
1 sale to co-op patrons.
With war-stricken countries short
of currency for the purchase of for
eign goods, the international agen
cy hopes to dgvelop trade on an
j exchange basis.
ARMY:
Buck Occupation Quiz
Acting upon the urgings of Secre
tary of State Byrnes and Senators
Vandenberg and Connally, his for
eign poljcy advisers, the senate war
investigating committee killed the
projected Inquiry into the conduct
of U. S. occupation forces in Ger
many.
The Democratic majority acted
even after George Meader, commit
tee counsel, had sharply criticized
the war and state departments for
occupation irregularities following a
month long study of conditions in
the reich. There have been recur
ring reports of the disorderly coo
Pleading "not (nitty" at arraign
ment on allied eharfei of mass mur
deri of concentration camp inmates
in medical experiments. Dr. Herta
Oberhauser and 22 other German
doctors faee war crimes trials at
Nuernberg.
duct of U. S. troops, widespread
black market activities of military
and civilian personnel, and economic
chaos occasioned by political differ
ences among the major powers.
With German civilians already
looking askance at U. S. troops, mili
tary authorities have opposed an of
ficial inquiry for fear of losing fur
ther face in the reich and among
the other occupying nations. As the
governing force in the American
rone and the pivot of the western
allies in Europe, the U. S. must com
mand the respect of both the van
quished and Russia.
TEXAS:
Landlords Sit Doxvn
No rental property owner herself
but a Gold Star mother who lost a
son over Germany, Mrs. Frank
Morris of Dallas took over com
mand of a landlords' sit down in
Texas to abolish rent control and
restore owners' rights to manage
their own holdings.
As 3,000 dwelling units in Dallas
remained empty because of land
lords' refusal to let them and vets
walked the city's streets in search
of housing, Mrs. Morris termed
rent control a violation of tradi
tional American rights.
Two World War I vets were in
the forefront of the landlords'
movement. Abed with heart trouble
resulting from German shell-fire in
1918, Joe H. Blann held one five
room cottage and 18 flats vacant
after OPA had obtained a $289 judg
ment against him in a price squab
ble. Bemedaled Capt. John R.
Lowery kept 63 apartments empty
because he charged owners pos
sessed no control over destructive
tenants.
SURPLUS GOODS:
Raps Return
Demanding the institution of busi
ness-like policies in disposal of sur
Senator Byrd
jjius war material.
Sen. Harry Byrd
(Dem.. Va.) dis
closed that a study
of the senate-house
committee on re
duction of non-es
sential federal ex
penditures showed
that the govern
ment was realizing
only a third on do
mestic sales and
about a fifth on for
eign transactions.
While it is argued
that much of the
material consista of
goocis primarily assigned tor war
use and any kind of return averts
complete loss, Byrd said, the fact
remains thst many items are be
ing sold at prices fsr below what
they command on the open mar
ket.
Up to September M, over 9 billion
dollars in surplus material had been
disposed of for less than 2 billion
dollars in this country, Byrd said. As
of August 31, sales expenses totaled
over 268 million dollars, of which
92 million was disbursed in sslaries.
18 Vk million in advertising and 9 mil
lion in travel.
Of the 1.4 billion sold overseas un
der supervision of the state depart
ment, 1J billions worth eras dis
posed of for lass than 300 million and
the rest was abandoned, given away
or ecrapped.
SUGAR:
Urge Control
Continuation of sugar controls!
and encouragement of increased pro*
duction of the commodity in the!
U. S., Europe and Philippines were]
recommended by the sugar conunih
tee of the food industry council to
assure industrial and domestic uadtzl
of adequate supplies in 1947.
Lifting of controls in the face of
heavy demands both at borne and
abroad would lead to sharp price in*
creases and severe shortages ad
processors and householders scrams
bled for the limited supplies, thai
council declared. By judiciously]
controlling stocks, however, it should
be possible to increase allotment*
to industrial and domestic users.
With the government boosting
guarantee payments* by $1 a too'
over the average price of $14.90
for 1949, the council predicted a)
substantial increase in sugar beet
output in the U. S. in 1947.
FRANCE:
Friendly Advice'
On tqyr of Europe to investigate!
distribution of American shipments
of meats, fats and oils. Senator1
Wherry (Rep., Neb.) offered the
French people some good old Repub
lican advice for pulling themselves
out of postwar doldrums.
Said the senator: "The Republi-4
can party mandate in the II. S. im
to slash expenditures and balance
the budget. . . . The same job faces
the French to break the vicious cir
cle of price controls, black mar
ket and shortages for poor peo
ple. . . ."
With heavy government outlays re
sulting in an excess of money over,
consumer goods, French producers
have lost confidence in the franc.
Wherry said. Because at the declin
ing value of paper money, fanners
have withheld commodities from the
market and thus reduced their own
demand for other products. To re
store economic balance. Wherry as
serted, the French must pare pay
rolls, reduce military expenditures
and encourage enterprise with as
equitable tax system.
Amvets Oil Machine
While the second annual con
vention of Am ericaa Veterans
of World War n in St. Leais.
Mo., made so aitisssl head
lines, the organization was said
to have been perfected to al
low for an extended member
ship drive. At present, Amvets
claims 199,999 members. Elec
Ray Sawyer: Commands Amvets
I
tion of i moderate, Ray Saw
yer of Washington, D. C., as
national compander was indi
cative of the middle-of-the-road
attitnde taken by the organisa
tion in an effort to attract
both liberals and conservatives.
While shunning controversial
questions at the recent con
vention, the Amvets called for
establishment of a department
of veterans' affairs in the Presi
dential cabinet,
WORLD TRADE: *
Draw Blueprint
Representatives of IS countries
? except Russia ? have been meet
ing in London with the signal task
of drawing up a blueprint for world
trade to be considered at an inter
national conference to take placa
in the fall of 1947.
As the delegates in London sweat
ed over their labors, a recom
mendation for full employment
emerged as one of the No. 1 ac
complishments of the parley. Rec
ognizing the inter-relationships of
nations in economic affairs, the coo
ferees agreed that all countries are
responsible not only to their own
people but to all others to maintain
purchasing power and a high de
mand for consumer goods.
Methods for working out this prin
ciple were left to individual coun
tries. In cases where one nation was
selling more to another and there
by developing an unfavorable trade
balance, the creditor country eras
given discretion to determine what
steps to take to even out the ex
change. 1
.. . . .f-j&ixiaaJ