27 Dec 1940
Page 1
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Newspaper
Somerset Daily American
Location
Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Date
Dec 27, 1940
Page
1
At Somerset post office the alien registration deadline passed with about 1 060 properly registered. Clerks worked to midnight but only four aliens appeared Thursday evening. officials warned violators face up to a $1 000 fine and six months in jail.
Wilhelm Jakob Muhlenbroich, serving life for kidnapping 3-year-old March de Tristan, fainted during a razor‑blade suicide attempt in his cell. Warden Clinton Duffy said the wound was not serious and Muhlenbroich later returned to work. the kidnapping victim was found two days later with Muhlenbroich overpowered.
In McKees Rocks a motorist found a woman dead and a man unconscious from carbon monoxide inside a parked car. The victim was identified as Elizabeth Ann Walker, 35. The man, Joseph McMurtrie, 42, a steel worker, was revived by firemen after two hours. County Detective Harry Foster ruled the death accidental. Walker had been estranged from her husband.
E I Du Pont de Nemours officials announced Ravenswood West Virginia based Bdso and Ritchie company won the contract to excavate the site of its 15 million dollar hydrated ammonia plant at Morgantown West Virginia.
Dr C C Barchfield Somerset physician and Frank Thomas were injured in a head on collision on a curve between Somerset and Husband near noon Thursday. Barchfield treated for contusions and shock, confined to Somerset Community Hospital with no fractures. Thomas treated for a sprained back and released. Both cars damaged, Barchfield car about 200 dollars, Thomas car a total loss.
Sheriff Ralph Elser reports Frank Schuster 41 and daughter Virginia 17 were slain at their Lake Milton home. Son Robert 19 is hospitalized in critical condition after being attacked, and wife Gertrude found the bodies on returning from Pennsylvania. The family ran a minnows business near the lake.
Nine year old Libby Ann Paul died in Uniontown when a window fell on her neck as she crawled through to feed pups in a recently vacated house. Daughter of Mr and Mrs Fuller T Paul the girl was found hanging from the window by her father after doors were locked.
Swiss missionaries Rev and Mrs F W Meyerholt and their Chinese cook were killed December 23 when Japanese planes bombed the Swiss mission station at Kuei Chung near the British colony border. Eight bombs hit the compound, half the chapel was demolished, and the Meyerholts left three children in Basel.
Earl Bowser aged 24 of Meyersdale was committed to the county jail Thursday on larceny charges.
Christmas greetings and gifts arrive from London relatives to Edward Jones and the Martin family despite air raids. The Richardsons send cheer from Paddington with handkerchiefs and hopeful letters, recalling wartime journeys on the Lusitania and aims to see the Martin boys again after the war ends.
Bejucal in Havana province was struck by a whirlwind killing forty people and injuring over a hundred. Dr. Demetrio Despaigne reported the toll as aid rushed to the town. President Batista ordered full health ministry assistance as Havana faced wind and rain and structural damage.
Harold E. Garlitz a 28 year old resident of Somerset was committed to the county jail Thursday on a process for nonpayment of costs by Constable Foster Zeigler of Somerset.
Associated Press reports British author P. G. Wodehouse is confined in a prison camp in Upper Silesia as German forces advance in eastern Germany. Angus Thuermer of the AP Berlin staff obtained permission to interview him during a rare visit.
In a Silesian camp 1100 British subjects are held behind double barbed wire as P. G. Wodehouse works on a new novel. He sketches a tale about three American crooks, writes by hand with a typewriter, and refuses private room despite his status. The padded cell once housed the asylum's inmates.
Concentrations of Russian forces along the Prut border are reported as Germany orders 300000 fresh troops into Romania and speeds up war material production. Barons von Killinger shifts from Slovakia to Bucharest to likely govern Romania, with German plans to take over civil administration and expand submarine and aircraft output. Diplomats in the region discuss Danube control after a stalemate at aRussian German Italian Romanian conference.
Navy sources in Mexico City report one German and nine Italian vessels sheltering in Tampico harbor under close watch. The Orinco, 9,660 tons, is the sole survivor of four Nazi ships that tried to break to Europe after earlier attempts by Phrygia Rhein and Sderwald ended with scuttling or capture by allied destroyers.
Belgian consul-general Charles Hallaert announced a London decree calling Belgians aged 19 to 25 living outside German-occupied regions to join armed units in England. The decree covers Belgians born 1915 to 1921, with volunteers aged 16 to 36 also accepted to fight alongside British and allied troops.
A White House released telegram urged President Roosevelt to do everything needed to ensure Britain stays in the fight against the axis powers. Signers include Harvard’s James B. Conant and Yale’s Charles Seymour, with others like Gerard Swope and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. joining, while debate arose on Capitol Hill over the appeal’s urgency and origins.
Italian air force concentrates near the Libyan outpost of Bardia to hinder British land forces encirclement, while Royal Air Force bombs aim to keep the enemy grounded. Christmas-period fighting is quieter with artillery duels and a steady build up of British guns, as analysts sense a major British drive against about 20,000 Italians besieged at Bardia.
London dispatch reports Sir Walter Layon, economist and journalist, says Britain should not expect a rapid flow of U S war material until next winter. He warns Americans do not fully grasp the scale of re armament needed to defeat Germany and notes orders have not yet reached the necessary level.
Nichi Nichi quotes reliable sources saying the United States government urged American residents in Japan to depart no later than January. The notice follows increased US vessel calls at Japanese ports in January. A New York BBC broadcast cites the Japan Times warning of possible complete Far Eastern market closures to American imports as retaliation.
Bradford reports blame placed on ill health and war worries for the death of 46 year old Erie Railroad engineer and World War veteran Charles D. Wells. Coroner Thomas Clark ruled the death a suicide at his home.
Athens reports 45000 Italian wounded since October in a Greek advance through Chimara Albania. Captured Italian officers described severe losses, frostbite, hunger, and reduced battalions. Greeks claim local battles persist around Tepelini and Klisura while patrols advance near Lin on Lake Ochrida.
The 1,350 ton British destroyer Acheron, once called hush hush for high pressure boilers, has been sunk. On a trial she set fuel economy records with 500 psi boiler pressure, 66 percent above prior levels. Loss brings total British destroyers officially lost since the war began to 36.
A new contingent of Canadian troops the eighth large cross Atlantic wave since the start of the war arrived in their camp in England after landing on a west coast port. Travel weary and seasick sailors said their transports rode mountainous seas for much of the voyage and none reported sighting a German submarine.
Judge Norman T. Boose approves a $200 settlement in the trespass action by Henry Manges of Paint Township against Myril Ream of Somerset. The suit stems from injuries to Manges’ son Kenneth after a car collision on October 3, 1940.
London reports Britain has doubled guards along the Channel coast and increased beach patrols amid fears of a possible German invasion. Coastal traffic was halted, searches conducted, and ID checks required as Berlin and Tokyo-linked tactics prompt British concern over a spring thrust while Hitler and Brauchitsch are noted on the western front during Christmas.
James Murtha, charter member of the Johnstown Flood Correspondents Association, dies at 75. A native of Johnstown whose city was swept by flood waters, he moved to Pittsburgh after the disaster and worked in real estate for over 20 years. He served as assistant chief clerk of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives until the last session.
Western Pennsylvania expects occasional light rain and colder conditions on Friday with rain in the south and rain or snow in the north Friday night into Saturday. West Virginia becomes cloudy then rain and colder in the northwest with Saturday colder and cloudy. Eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland see occasional light rain Friday with rain Friday night and Saturday and colder conditions Saturday.
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