Heat wave grips city after week of record heat
The city endures over seven days of extreme heat with temperatures around 92 at midday and a low near 75 last night. Humidity intensifies discomfort as a late morning shower offers little relief.
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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Jul 27, 1940
Page
1
Heat Wave Eases Northward But Threat Lingers in South and East
After a week of extreme heat the hottest spell begins to fade in the north while eastern and southern regions endure lingering high temperatures. A cool front moves toward the midwest and east, but many areas face two or three more hot days. The toll rises with at least 508 deaths linked to heat and related hazards, including 264 drownings. Reports cite heavy rains hail storms and dust storms across regions as damage spreads from Iowa to Kansas and beyond.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Associated Press
New Mexico
New England
Midwest
New York City
Iowa
Burlington
Prairie du Chien
Wis
Marquette
Ellis
Salina
Kansas
Union
Mercury
Dodge City
Wichita
Concordia
Lebo
Amarillo
Tex
Phoenix
Yuma
Ariz
Raleigh
N. C
Springfield
Moline
Peoria
Eastern
Gulf States
Pennsylvania Railroad
Philadelphia
Two Thousand Defense Jobs Planned in Alabama Projects
About 2,000 men are to be employed in Alabama on national defense work within weeks. Five hundred were assigned at Mobile to clear 1,400 acres for a new southeastern air depot, with more buildings to be added by private contractors. Projects include a gunnery base at Dauphin Island and upgrades to Montgomery airport facilities. Algernon Blair of Montgomery won a $1,113,980 bid for a 424 unit Montgomery housing project near Maxwell Field for war department personnel housing.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Montgomery
Ala
Alabama
W. G. Henderson
State Works Projects
Mobile
Henderson
Dauphin Island
National Guard
Army
Selma
Birmingham
Algernon Blair
Montgomery Housing Authority
Maxwell Field
War Department
Decatur Yacht Club Plans Lake Park and Races
The Wheeler Lake Yacht Club held its initial meeting at the Lyons Hotel with a large crowd. Officers elected were Quince Eddens, commodore, and Gerald Neher, secretary treasurer. Plans include a 100000 dollar lakeside park on a 20 acre islet between bridges, mooring for 350 boats, a swimming pool, service stations, and tourist cottages, with TVA collaboration for an 800 foot approach and 600 foot revetment to form a harbor.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wheeler Lake
Eddens
Commodore
Lakeside Park
Old North
Decatur
Tennessee Valley Authority
Bee Line
Sloan
Quince E Eddens
Wheeler Lake Yacht Club
Lyons Hotel
Patterson in Mayor's Race
Carl D. Patterson, head of the Decatur City Council Finance Committee, declares candidacy for mayor in the September 16 1940 municipal election. He touts municipal light and water plants, a unique utility board, modern garbage disposal, new city equipment, debt reductions, bond refinancing, school system improvements, and street paving.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Carl D. Patterson
Decatur
Patterson
Tennessee Valley
Alabama
Moderm
Montgomery Held For Attack In Detroit
Olen Montgomery, 28, named by officials as one of the Scottsboro defendants, was arrested on a charge of criminally assaulting a 26 year old woman after she ran into a police station claiming an attack with a knife. Montgomery admitted he was among the Scottsboro youths whose earlier sentences were reversed or commuted but denied the current charge.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Detroit
Olen Montgomery
National Association For the Advancement of Colored People
Scottsboro
Sally Darden
Montgomery
Alabama
Mussolini Demonstrates Fitness Riding For Foreign Press
Premier Mussolini stages a morning ride at Villa Torlonia before 45 foreign correspondents. He asks, Am I sick, weak, tired, then receives a brief tour with riding master Ridolfi as aides and guards observe from the ring.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Richard G. Maslock
Rome
Mussolini
Duce
Villa Torlonia
Ministry of Popular Culture
Console Ridolfi
U S Aids Military Build Up With Expanded Aircraft Plant
Defense chief Knudsen says the United States can gear up to arm 2,000,000 and extend naval shipbuilding. A $92 million Wright Aeronautical plant in Ohio will boost engine output to 12,000 a year and 20,000 planes annually with 30,000 engines.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington
United States
Defense Industrial Chief
Naval Shipbuilding
William 8. Knudeen
Defense Commission
Roosevelt
Knudsen
Edward R Stettinius, Jr
House
Senate
Atlantic Seaboard
Pacific
Gulf
Seattle
Los Angeles
Wright Aeronautical Corporation
RFC
Seaboard
Wright
Jolson and Keeler End Tie on Stage in Split
Chicago July 27 Bailey Keeler and Al Jolson who separated maritally will part company on the stage. Jolson producer and star of Hold On To Your Hats has agreed to release his former wife from her contract with the show.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago
Bailey Keeler
al Jolson
Jolson
Plans To Protect Colonies Agreed On
At the Pan American conference in Havana a peace subcommittee announced progress toward a plan to safeguard Western Hemisphere colonies from transfer or change of hands. Argentina showed reluctance to broad commitments, while the United States urged quick action and trusteeship over at risk territories. The committee reportedly drafted a three point framework and aimed to present final drafts to the full commission.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Havana
Leopoldo Melo
Melo
Argentina
Peace Commission
Buenos Aires
Jose Maria Cantilo
Cordell Hull
United States
Europe
New World
Surprise raid on canal defense drill staged in Panama Zone
In Balboa Panama Canal Zone defense officers faced a simulated blitz attack by enemy planes. Bombs were replaced with flares as two Pacific coast forays and one Atlantic raid tested canal defenses for about 45 minutes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Canal
Associated Press
Balboa
Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
Coco So
Naval
Atlantic
Erie
Pacific
Sanderforgs’ Jarman
Pla
Feasibility of Aerial Grain Destruction in War
A reader asks if aerial bombing could ruin grain across territories to starve enemies, noting blockades and sinking ships. The discussion frames international law and humane warfare, arguing that such widespread destruction is taboo under modern laws of war, with harvest-time incendiaries as a potential but limited tactic.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Roy
Britain
Germany
England
Italy
Hugo Grotius
Mr. Bumble
Oliver Twist
International Law Perspectives on War Ethics
The excerpt discusses Grotius on permissible destruction during campaigns and the ban on destroying crops for food denial. It contrasts strategic wartime actions with restrictions on indiscriminate devastation and references humane warfare debates. The speaker voices frustration at perceived legal absurdities in war.
Third party movement gains pace in the South
The report notes Wen dell L. Willkie's drive to create an independent party to let Democrats vote for him without leaving their party. Willkie clubs expand in the South with leaders in South Carolina and Alabama courting a Jeffersonian party, while Louisiana activists back a Republican ticket amid sugar policy opposition.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Atlanta
Wendell L. Willkies
Willkies
Colorado Springs
Colo
South
South Carolina
Charleston
Alabama
Thomas Heflin
B. Allston.Moore
8. C
Willkie
Heflin
Jeffersonian
U &. Senate
Louisiana
Wallace
David W. Pipes, Jr
Congress
Devereux H. Lippitt, Jr
Willkie Club
Birmingham Bank Cash Heist Shocks City
A lone bandit at the First National Bank of Birmingham forced an assistant cashier to hand over 3000 dollars at gunpoint. The robber escaped in a taxicab and the driver was ordered to head toward Montgomery as police were alerted.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Birmingham
Ala
First National Bank of Birmingham
Montgomery
Grantham
Smith Hails Business Aid in Patriotic Cooperation
Montgomery July 27 Alderman Ben M. Smith praises firms joining a patriotic cooperation for upcoming maneuvers August 4 24 with pay. He notes 127 firms yet to declare a cooperative policy and lists cooperating employers in Birmingham Decatur Huntsville Mobile Montgomery Opelika and more including Sears Roebuck Co U S Forest Service Tenn Valley Authority State Highway Dept and others.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Montgomery
Ald
Adj
Ben M. Smith
Smith
Alabama National Guard
Alabama
Guard
Birmingham
Sears,Roebuck & Co
W. P. A. Dist
City of Birmingham
National Shirt Shop
Dozier Produce Co
Peoples Loan Co
Social Security Board
Ala Assoc. of Credit
Decatur
Ragland Bros. Goodrich Silvertown, Inc
Patterson
State Highway Dept
A. B.C. Board
Standard Beverage Co
Merchants
National Bank
Customs House
Southern Kraft Gerp
Coastal Petroleum Corp
Swift and Co
National Biscuit Co
Star Fish & Oyster Co
Alabama State Docks
Sears, Roebuck & Co
Montgomery Advertiser
State of Alabama
City of Montgomery
Farm Security Adm
U. S. Post Office
Opelika
Opelika Flour Co
Nazi bombing raids continue as Britain fights back
Air Force battles raged for a third day as Nazi bombers struck across the United Kingdom. Berlin reports claim German submarines and speedboats sank ships and dispersed a convoy, while the U, S and Red Cross plan $50 million in relief for Europe’s war destitute.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Associated Press
Royal Air Force
United Kingdom
Berlin
Salzburg
Germany
Ume
Rumania
Adolf Hitler
United States
Roosevelt
Europe
Red Cross
Britain
England
Texans vote in Texas Democratic primary showdown
Dallas July 27 Gov W Lee O Daniel faced five opponents in the Texas Democratic primary. Rail Commissioner Jerry Sadler Miriam A Ferguson Col E O Thompson and Arlen B Davis competed as observers predicted about one million votes. The top candidate must beat the others combined or enter a runoff next month.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Dallas
W. Lee
O'Daniel
Texas
Jerry Sadler
Miriam A
Ma) Ferguson
Col. E. O.tompson
Arlen B
Cyclone) Davis
Rain Follows Shoe Dealer Ad for Picnic Day
Harold Acker of Fairbury placed a want ad asking for rain that would not spoil Steele City’s picnic. The event closed that night and the next day brought 2.03 inches of rain, ending a hot cloudless spell.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Fairbury
Neb
Harold Acker
Steele City
Balkan land swap near Rome reported in talks
A virtual agreement to yield parts of Transylvania to Hungary and Dobruja to Bulgaria was reportedly reached with Romania. Details such as minority population exchanges remain to be resolved while other Balkan capitals anticipate Romania receiving a security pact against Soviet Russia from Italy.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rome
Rumania
Transylvania
Hungary
Dobruja
Bulgaria
Balkan
Russia
Italy
Nazi raids resume daylight strikes over British targets
Nazi warplanes conducted reconnaissance as far north as the Shetland Islands with numerous fires reported at listed bomb targets. Two raiders were shot down as RAF and anti-aircraft defenses struggled. a woman and a man were killed in night assaults. Nazi talks at Salzburg claimed Germany seeks peace and order while maintaining frontiers in southeastern Europe.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Shetland Islands
Britain
Royal Air Force
Salzburg
Balkan
Germany
Europe
J L Harris Dies at Hamil Clinic in City
J L Harris, 48, a well known local oil dealer, died at 9 a m Saturday at the Hamil Clinic after a long illness. Funeral services set for 2 30 p m Monday at Central Methodist Church with burial at City Cemetery. Details to follow Monday.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
J. L. Harris
Hamil Clinic
Central Methodist Church
Brown
City Cemetery
Weather summary for Tennessee and adjacent states
The Tennessee River stood at 19.6 feet with 95 high and 75 low temperatures and trace rain. Alabama expected fair tonight and Sunday with partly cloudy skies and coastal showers. Tennessee forecast generally fair and warm through Sunday with a Southeast wind along the coast.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tennessee
Alabama
Louisiana
Arkansas
Also Mentioned on This Page
Weather Bureau
Yacht Club
By Dewitt MacKenzie
Business Aid
Whirlwind
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