18 Dec 1949
Page 1
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Newspaper
Mexia Daily News
Location
Mexia, Texas, United States of America
Date
Dec 18, 1949
Page
1
U S Steel head Benjamin Fairless said the company will present facts to congressional investigators to justify higher prices. Two peers followed suit as the CIO United Steelworkers denied plans for wage hikes before general contract limits.
Federal narcotics agents and police conducted sweeping raids in Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods to break up a Midwest drug ring selling heroin morphine cocaine and marijuana to addicts including college and high school students. Thirty prisoners were reported after initial raids with potential total seizures over 500000 in drugs and supplies.
Western Electric installation workers in four eastern Oklahoma cities walked out in a work stoppage that could spread to Texas. About 125 men laid down their tools amid a gun demonstration against the company. The action mirrors earlier walkouts by Western Electric employees in St. Louis and several Missouri and Arkansas cities. Oklahoma Texas Communications Workers of America vice president FE. O’Dell predicted similar walkouts in Oklahoma City and other Southwestern cities.
Freestone County’s 1949 cotton crop nears twice 1948, with 10,637 bales by Dec 1 per census agent J C Baggett. In 1948 only 5,867 bales were picked by the same date, marking a sharp rise in production for Fairfield area.
Mexia and Littlefield officials meet Sunday in Abilene at 1 p m to decide the site and date for the Class A football championship. Mexia’s team and Littlefield’s Wildcats earned semifinal wins, with distances between towns noted and possible sites and dates for the championship discussed.
After a cold spell for the Black Cat game, Texas eyes rising temperatures and clearing skies. Mexia and much of the state saw dreary Saturday conditions with 0.20 inches of rain by 7:30 a.m. and ongoing light showers into the afternoon.
Pittsburgh man Henry Hank Neaman 26, an automotive stunt driver, died after a head-on collision demonstration with partner Dwight Harris 18 during a holiday safety program. Both men from Pittsburgh were in old cars.
Three armed men wearing handkerchief masks held up Koch's cafe on the south outskirts of Hillsboro before daybreak Saturday. They took $11 in currency from the register and ignored $8 in change, and they did not obtain owner Henry Koch's pocketbook containing more cash.
Thousands of people traveled by a Dallas mansion Saturday to view a life size Nativity display by millionaire Homer Snowden. The scene, in its second year, drew visitors from far away as police struggled to manage traffic and maintain order amid solemn, reverent viewing.
A night watchman surprised two men robbing the Kemp post office early Saturday and captured one, an ex convict, after shots were exchanged. The other burglar fled down a dark alley. It was unclear if any loot was taken.
A minor blaze swept a penthouse at Hermann Hospital in Houston on Saturday. No injuries, no panic, and only mild disruption to hospital routines were reported by the hospital director.
In Grady County Gladewater Arkansas two people died when their pickup crashed into a water-filled ditch near Big Sandy. The deceased are Miss La Veda Roberts of Eldorado Arkansas and John W Estes of Strong Arkansas.
In 1949 Texas endured its worst polio outbreak with 2,323 cases, far above the 1,765 mark set in 1948. State health officer Dr George W Cox urged preventive steps as 1950 nears, emphasizing basic sanitation to curb spread while noting no reliable trend can predict next year’s incidence.
In Palmyra Michigan Travis E Ballard a 27 year old Adrian mechanic and Albert E Wallace 28 died when Ballard lost a bet that he could take a highway curve at 100 miles an hour in a Buick. The car struck a tree killing both instantly.
Washington AP reports the water shortage in New York and coastal cities prompts Congress to push experimental sea water desalination. More than a dozen bills seek authorization for plants, with methods including a WWII gasoline distiller and diesel powered systems. One system claims 175 pounds of distilled water per pound of fuel, others say costs as low as one thirty seventh of a cent per gallon.
The trial of James Rudasill, 26, is tentatively set for January 23, 1950, by District Judge H Fountain Kirby. Norton Fox, county attorney, told the Mexia Daily News the case stems from the December 26 murder of 19 year old Mexia mother Annie Milam on Glendale street. Milam was shot three times with a 32 caliber pistol, dying in front of her father M. J. McDonald. The pistol was recovered and turned over to the Department of Public Safety for ballistics comparison with bullets from Milam and Melvin Dempsey, who was shot just before Milam.
Santa Claus in a sleigh drawn by real reindeer will visit Fairfield Tuesday morning arriving at 10 am. He will spend about three hours in Fairfield meeting the children.
Mr and Mrs Robert W Rogers of Mexia celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with a dinner hosted by their daughter Mrs J E Neeld. Married December 18 1889 in Williamson County they raised seven children including Marvin Rogers of Mexia and Alden Rogers of Odessa. Active in the Methodist church both are life members.
United Press reports a major earthquake hit Tierra Del Fuego at the southern tip of South America early Saturday, described as among the most violent in Buenos Aires region and recorded by national meteorological services. The report notes widespread impact in the area and cautions on safety.
Miss Sallie Bell of Mexia joins the North Texas State College chorus to perform Handel's Messiah Saturday from 3 30 to 5 over Station WFAA.
The Mexia Daily News forwards 43 Santa letters including one from Panama Canal Zone. Johnny Steele, son of T/Sgt. and Mrs. Billy Jack Steele, asks for canal friends and relatives to be remembered. Other letters hail Mexia and nearby towns Jal Donie Groesbeck Pers onville Jewett and Donie with several readers listed by name.
General Dwight Eisenhower denies being a candidate as he travels from Texas to New York. Newsmen push through guards at Dearborn station while Major Robert Schulz protests the questioning. Ike states clearly he is not seeking political office.
The Texas Railroad Commission reports 212 oil wells completed in the last week, bringing the year total to 8,591, up from 7,599 for the same period last year. There were 24 gas well completions and 78 dry holes.
The administration will urge Congress in the next session to renew the peacetime draft law set to expire June 24. The request was learned Saturday and emphasizes continuation of the draft framework if enacted.
VER A CRUZ Mexico 17 bodies found Saturday after a Mexican airliner crashed and burned on a jungle slope near the Gulf coast. Rescue parties carried out an all night operation to reach the wreckage. The plane split in two and plummeted into a ravine, with most bodies in the gorge. Identifying the dead proved difficult as wreckage scattered along the Madre mountainside.
The BicStone empire reports a drop in receipts at Groesbeck and Mexia sales for the week. About 950 cattle and calves were offered with prices between 50 cents and 2 dollars per hundredweight higher on some classes amid uneven demand. Messrs de Cordova and K 27 paused their work as they announced this year’s sales were their heaviest.
A brother of Mrs. L. of Mexia died Friday in a Plainview accident near Plas S. H. Winn Jr., 56, of died several hours after the crash with a truck. He never regained consciousness. Funeral services will be held at Seminole Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Burial will be in Seminole cemetery. He is survived by three daughters, three and one brother.
A B 25 bomber departing Maxwell Air Force Base with Maj. G Anderson aboard made a forced landing in Manteo North Carolina when its landing gear collapsed. All aboard were unharmed and no injuries were reported.
Dresser Industries plans relocating its headquarters from Cleveland to Dallas next April to be near the oil field operations. The parent firm faces gas and equipment challenges as it shifts toward the Dallas area.
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