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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Dec 12, 1949
Page
2
New York December 12 department store leaders face a year end rush as experts expect total retail sales to dip under last year by under five percent. Prices have fallen three to four percent stabilizing volume while stores extend hours and push media to lure buyers.
Eleven United Construction Workers members, including three officers, pleaded guilty in Baldwin County Circuit Court to interfering with a business operation during April picketing at Ray E Lopez Company. Judge Mashburn said he supports unions but disapproved coercive tactics. Fines ranged from 50 to 200 dollars plus costs. defendants included Koeval, McColeman, Parker, Baggett, Conway, Powell, Jackson, Thompson, Bogan, James, and Williams, all Bay Minette area residents.
A 19 year old mother and her three year old daughter died in a Wellsville New York farmhouse fire. In Tacoma Washington a tourist cabin filled with smoke killed four soldiers while they slept. A 74 year old widower and his son perished in Cascade Pennsylvania as a blaze destroyed their home. Eight children and a stepchild of an unemployed worker died when a two story cabin burned near Williamsport Pennsylvania. A man died trying to rescue his wife and others as a fire gutted a two story frame house near Spur Texas. A Phillips County New York man trapped in his farm home perished attempting a rescue.
The Mississippi Supreme Court refused to order a new trial for Mrs. John Dickins a prominent Delta socialite convicted of murdering her mother Idella Long Thompson in Leland. She was sentenced to life and has awaited appeal outcome in Washington County jail since the 1948 death by rose pruning shears. The trial occurred in Washington County Circuit Court last summer with the elder Thompson not testifying.
A family suffered injuries with the husband and wife, along with their son and daughter, hospitalized with burns after an incident. Authorities are investigating the circumstances and conditions of the victims.
Cotton middling 29.00 to 28.00 strict low. Cottonseed per ton 4000 dollars. Broilers 26.00 delivered. Hens heavy 0.24, light 0.20. Hatching eggs 0.80 per dot. Hogs 14.00 to 14.50. Cattle tops 15.50, canners and cutters 8.50 to 13.50, good bulls 16.00 to 17.00. Corn ear white 1.20, ear yellow 1.15. Wheat 2.10. Oats 0.75. Milo 2.00. Milk Grade A delivered 5.50 per hundred.
USDA North Georgia live poultry market reports a weak and lower market with liberal supplies and fair demand. Producers are selling freely as of this morning with prices at farm f.o.b. broilers and fryers across all weights mainly 23 to 24 cents, highest figures paid by some dressing plants to their own growers in a few cases.
Nashville Tenn Dec 12 report from Federal State Departments of Agriculture shows cattle steady with cows active and steers and heifers moderately active to slow, bulls unchanged. Calves steady with good vealers 26 to 31, hogs mostly 15.75 to 15.50 for 180 to 230 pounds, sows 13 to 13.5, sheep steady with lambs 16 to 19 and higher quotables 20 to 22 for good, aged ewes 7 or less.
New York December cotton futures fell as farmers protested allocations and farm legislation, signaling potential ECA cuts next year. Losses reached 1.20 per bale before short covering and mill buying trimmed losses. Late quotes show December 30.15, March 30.11, May 29.97.
A Wilmington note chronicles Mrs William Shanks and her New Hampshire Red chicken with a peculiar double yolk event at four months old. The item highlights novelty in local poultry lore and community amusement surrounding the unusual hen.
In Rome Georgia on December 13 Sheriff John W Lynch testified that he was not afraid of any man in britches while describing April 2 events when Ku Klux Klansmen seized two Negro prisoners from him. He admitted not identifying Klansmen or notifying state patrol and G B I. He claimed he reached for his gun but saw the handwriting on the wall and felt outnumbered as a Klansman pressed a weapon in his back.
Knoxv ille Tenn Dec 12 The Sterchi Bros Inc board voted to raise the regular quarterly dividend from 25 to 35 cents. The next dividend will be paid March 10 to stockholders of record February 24. Nine month fiscal year sales totaled 9 846 653 versus 12 076 218 prior year.
Mrs Shanks boasts a remarkable hen producing a four yolk egg weighing just under eight ounces. The egg measures about 7 3 8 inches around the center and 9 3 8 inches in length, marking a curious distinction for her poultry.
Samuel H. Steed, 81, was found dead by his bed about 3:15 a.m. today at the home of his daughter Mrs. F. C. Franks in Danville. He died of a heart attack after several days illness. Funeral services will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. at New Salem Methodist Church with Rev. Woodrow Lamon officiating. Interment will follow in the adjoining cemetery under Mutual Service. Surviving are two sons, Hubert and Emmett, both of Hartselle. three daughters, Mrs. A. J. Terry of Mississippi, Mrs. Franks of Danville, and Mrs. Robert James of Lacon. 32 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Grandsons will pallbear.
After the mistrial was declared Assistant Solicitor CECil Deason announced Carradine would be re tried on the whip charge. He is among 18 indicted in a spring wave of floggings and cross burnings by masked hoodlums. Key testified Carradine lashed three victims in April and three in May including Jack Alexander at Pumpkin Center on May 19. Prosecution urged jurors not to hand state justice to the Klan.
Irvin Leon Key, former Ku Klux Klansman and key witness in a Birmingham flogging trial, had non support warrants withdrawn after his wife said she had made up with him. Key testified that A B Carradine whipped six victims in two Klan raids. He was arrested by the FBI in Houston for unlawful flight and returned to Alabama.
Attorney Jim Gibson denounces Carradine as a fine gentleman while Carradine denies flogging anyone. Four defense witnesses place him at a ball game the night of the alleged lashing. A similar alibi surfaced at the trial of Coleman A. Lollar who was acquitted. Mary Alice Henderson testified she was flogged with Alexander May 19 and had three babies by him. State witness Key was arrested in Houston by the FBI after fleeing Alabama. The trial began last Tuesday with jurors voting eight to four for conviction on each ballot. No further flogging cases are scheduled before January, possibly February.
Dozen injured as storms sweep across the Midwest and West. In Muskogee Oklahoma a three car garage lifted 30 feet from its foundation with minor damage only. Hannibal Missouri reports extensive property damage from high winds. Three people were injured. Nine year old Junia Kay Loveless was killed by lightning at a farm smoke house near Modesto Illinois. A 98 year old retired stockman was found dead of exposure in Miles City Montana amid raging blizzard that swept the Rockies and moved into the Great Lakes region. Snow flurries hit Minnesota Wisconsin Northern Michigan and Northern Iowa as temperatures fell. The storm moved to the Rockies and then weakened. Chicago hit 61 degrees for a December 11 record while Memphis reached 77 with thunder. A granite slab, 70 tons, crushed four at Vitterville Mojave desert when it split off a Rocky prominence due to heat from a morning fire.
Chang Chun was released by nationalist deserters in Kunming and arrived in Hong Kong with four top army commanders as turncoat troops seized the city for the communists. Chiang Kai-Shek narrowly missed Kunming, and Lu Han approved the departure. Meanwhile Chiang was said to execute Red agents on Formosa and ready for a Red attack. The U S said it would counteract the communist Formosa threat. two other American officials freed after 81 days in North Korea returned to Seoul. A Soviet-backed regime indicated it had dropped efforts for U S recognition in exchange for ECA aid. Globally, the U S, Britain and Canada near a plan for a new nuclear energy and weapons partnership, with continued U S weapon manufacture and possible British and Canadian scientific participation.
L T Wagnon, county agent, notes 13 Morgan farmers in tested plots yielded over 100 bushels per acre, with 11 in 90-100, 16 in 80-90, and 26 in 70-80 bushels. Avg 74.6. Two new community clubs formed, nine existing. 37 meetings held about December 15 cotton quotas vote, which sets parity percentage for June. Fred Robinson asks about moving a house on the Priceville Hartselle road right of way.
In Morgan County police arrested Carl Hill of Hartselle on an assault with intent to murder warrant with bond set at 750 dollars and a Dec 21 hearing. Other Morgan and Limestone County arrests included public drunkenness, vagrancy, traffic violations, and a still seizure near Athens. Decatur city courts handled 14 trial cases including traffic and drunkenness charges. Overall weekend arrests totaled widespread public drunkenness and traffic violations, with several for assault, disorderly conduct, and illegal alcohol production.
Real estate man Louis Burman built a Washington store on land with an 1881 covenant prohibiting structures within 30 feet of the sidewalk. He lost in court. the case advanced to the supreme court, which refused to rule. Burman considered tearing down the building and placing a tombstone on the vacant lot.
Birmingham report on Alabama milk control board first hearing since Gov. Folsom named four new members. Testimony cites higher cattle feed costs and labor costs as key reasons for higher milk prices, with producers, distributors and consumers attending. Board members include E A McBride, Don Rogers, A E Nerthcutt, Henry Burks, Maurice Allen.
In a broad platform speech the governor of Alabama criticizes the pardon parole board for releasing 50 prisoners last week and denounces Wall Street driven abuse. He cites Alabama’s 5087 prisoners and Tennessee’s figures, argues the fee system fuels prison crowding, and says negroes bear unequal justice while poor whites and blacks are kept subservient.
Graveside services for infant Diana Murphy were held at Lacey Springs cemetery at 10:30 a.m. Interment was directed by Peck. The child died Sunday at 3 am in a Birmingham hospital after living 24 hours. Survived by her parents Mr. and Mrs. John B. Murphy and one brother James David, Falkville.
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