The Wilmington morning star. [volume], February 18, 1942, FINAL EDITION, Image 1

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

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^ mr " — - I FT N- C‘> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1942 FINAL EDITION ESTARIlKHRn isa7_
Attack Un l\ew York
perfectly Feasible,
Roosevelt Warns
•j Also Says De
f'“! ,M Be Assaulted
** _Jnemy
vaui oTmds cited
'"^ad
1 Germans And Smashed
Tanks^He_ExPlains
„vRlCH4RDL^rURNER
B SHINGTON. Feb. 17
JL A blunt warning came
1 President Roosevelt to
an enemv attack on
ft*!* - *■ Detroit
executive made
toil that the delivery of lend
S«#m to Russia would
be btougktup. to schedule in
te^jStodfor comment
“S vat to the United
proposed new $1,000 -
0010 to Russia he said it
X* considered in terms of
j/ead Germans and smashed tank .
Vulnerable to Attack
He Senate, meanwhile, was
hearing assertions that under pres
cat conditions both the Atlantic and
Pacific seaboards were vulnerable
1 attack.
Barman Walsh (D.-Mass.) of
ii Senate Naval committee as
Hted the country must give at
jcction to the “almost defenseless”
position of the Atlantic. Pacific
and Gulf coasts. He feared, he
isii, "the day may come when we
rilhwe to bring back our Navy
from fee four corners of the earth
simply to protect our shores.”
Seiiilo: Johnson (.R.-Calif.)
chargetl, too. that there was “No
adequate defense of the Pacific
coast," and tot “without th a t
wire My to see in the near
future another Pearl Harbor.”
The Senators said these things
in the course of a discussion of
a SMi.819 deficiency appropri
ation maintaining $100,000,000 for
tie office of civilian defense. It
far passed and sent back to the
louse for consideration of amend
ments, Senator McKellar (D.
tenn.' told his colleagues that the
assure had been stripped of
tills and furbelows” which a
r*k ago caused vigorous criti
isn of OCD.
fae of the money contained in
* bill, he said, could be used for
se “amusement of little children,”
1 instruction in artistic danc
if."
Warns of Raids
®r- Roosevelt's warning about
* * American cities grew out
11 discussion of the situation in
A reporter inquired wheth
e Navy and air force at pres
ide strong enough to prevent
•attack on Alaska.
* President said they certain
"cc rot, and added that under
conditions New York could
*"d Detr1
®S SLAUGHTER
©MANTROOPS
In Donets, Nov
Mln North, Threat
By Soviets
W»f’cl Feb- 17— -The
long ftp ai.mec* the initiative
ift, amj6” ,‘re fl'ozen front to
Cbai,th7, were killins
to a,i,l tbe thousands in
^scrr ?vhi°h rePeated
tck counterattacks could not
Donetsk great steel center
'Hont h i ln’ and Novgorod
'ifH thifaf, j' Leningrad ap
!? troops3 ned by the dogged
ToaighVs'
'0lte “> SetiPr0)?1 communique
""•»« Red3 erms of the con
u] gav’c no J fdyance- but as
(A Storm, details.
?d°n Daily d.^Patch to the
?■ CorPs iLiald Said a s°viet
>.«ow »1Ud,ng six Polish
„tte R“ssianpnv'yithin 50 miles
Nsaid tSl p1? b.°rder. This
Russia u- e? drive through
J’W") ttas gathering mo
n?h« tte Nazi! t0W the Rus*
IWit Khi,-pZ1S were Prepar
J,arshal S kov as the hordes
sV Z°n ^hnoshenko
ft and on both T1'6 from the
. e Germ, bQlh flanks.
S^'c counter a t"/edi tanks into
iJlSsi dead n ^ks'. but lelt
i’j plages fen het'he fleld- Two
ll^cn. 1611 before Timoshen
Sj ld0re6GermausOh afCks killed
fhs d'ey 1"SC bff0I'e Lenin
ss
l!
*— —
Destroyer Reported
Sunk Steams To Port
HONONliULU, Feb. 17. — UP)
Navy officers disclosed today
that the Destroyer Shaw which
the Japanese claimed they de
stroyed in the attack on Pearl
Harbor last Dec. 7. has ar
rived safely at a coast port
under her own power.
The Navy officers said the
Shaw was in drydock at the
time of the attack and was hit
repeatedly by bombs, one of
which exploded her magazines
and completely wrecked the
vessel’s forward section.
After two months of repairs,
and equipped with a stub emer
gency bow, the Shaw proceed
ed under her own power to the
west coast, where she now is
being reconditioned.
PLANSFORTHREE
SCHOOLS STUDIED
Institutions Will Be Last In
Nine-Project Expansion
Program
Plans for three school buildings,
last of the nine-project expansion
| program of the New Hanover coun
1 ty school system being constructed
at a total cost of $867,000, are being
studied at the regional office of the
Federal Works agency, Richmond,
Va., Dr. John T. Hoggard, chair
man of the cov—y board of educa
ton, said Monday night before
leaving for Washington with Supt.
H. M. Roland.
The plans, which already have
been reviewed by the state fire
marshal and school authorities at
Raleigh as to safety provisions,
were sent to federal authorities at
Richmond Saturday by I.eslie N.
Boney, architect for the program.
Doctor Hoggard said it now was
up to the government to announce
the day on which the board of edu
cation could advertise for bids on
the projects. He added that he
hoped a call for bids could be is
sued sometime this week.
The plans being studied are for
a second story at Bradley’s Creek
school, a new building at Twenty
Third and Chestnut streets and an
addition to Peabody school build
ing a negro school at Sixth and
Red Cross streets.
Bids on general contracts and
heating and plumbing contracts
for construction of new buildings
at Lake Forest and Sunset Park
and addition of a second story and
cafeteria to the Forest Hills build
ing, which were called for Febru
ary 10, will, be received until noon
February 26.
Since certain building materials
are unobtainable under the present
A-5 rating, seriously threatening the
entire defense expansion program,
Superintendent Roland is in Wash
ington conferring with Chief of
Priorities Ward B. Freeman.
Work on one of the first of nine
projects under the program, con
struction of additions to Williston
primary negro school, has been halt
ed because of steel for door lintels
and other purposes can not be ob
tained under the A-5 priority.
The fact that the A-5 priority,
granted to the school board for the
construction program which was
necessitated by a more than 2,000
pupil increase, was not effective
was called to the attention of the
priorities board several weeks ago
by letter without material results.
While in Washington, Mr. Ro
land will also seek permission from
Dr. W. H. Coleman, senior federal
works agency specialist on school
facilities, to use $15,000 of a $25,000
(Continued on Page Two; Col. X)
German Battle
Fleet Kno eke v
Out Of Action
Churchill Says British Po
sition Eased By Their
Dash From Brest
ADVANTAGES CITED
Convoy Route Through
Straits Safer; Fleet Units
Also Released
By The Associated Press
LONDON, Feb. 17.—Far from be
mg' worsened, the British position
in the Atlantic has in fact been
‘definitely eased” by the dash of
important German fleet units
through the Dover strait, Winston
Churchill told parliament and the
allied world today in the most re
assuring message of all the recent
black weeks.
Appearing before commons for
the first time since the fall of
Singapore, the prime minister pre
sented a side to the affair of the
Dover strait which was utterly the
reverse to that which had been wide
ly accepted as a catastrophic de
feat for the royal navy.
.tie was able to postpone, until
such time as the current “mood
of anger” had left the house, gen
eral debate on the subject of Brit
ish reverses in the Orient. Although
there was hostility in the house, he
was cheered as he entered and de
parted, and he gave up nothing of
consequence vo his critics.
Voted Confidence
After the session a group of in
fluential midland M. P.’s at a pri
vate meeting adopted a resolution
of “unabated confidence” in the
prime minister. At the same time,
however, the group called Church
ill’s attention to “the grave feeling
of unrest and doubt” in the country
and urged changes to obtain “ef
fective coordinaiton of defense serv
ices” and reconstruction of the Brit
ish cabinet to enable “entire energy
and thought to be concentrated on
the war effort.”
He disclosed for the first time
that the principal 'preachers of the
strait — the 26,000-ton Nazi battle
ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau—
had been so heavily hit as to be out
of action "for some time to come,”
and almost as he spoke there was
evidence in other quarters that
those vessels already had been
brought under attack in their new
shelter in the North Sea.
This was suggested by an unam
plified communique from the RAF
reporting British raids overnight
northwest Germany; it was sup
ported by a German communique
stating flatly that there had been
a bomb attack on Helogland Bight,
the probably berth of the Schar
horst and Gneisenau, although this
atatck was termed ineffectual by
Berlin.
More important than all this,
however, as coming from a former
first lord of the admiralty and a
political leader who had made it
one of his chief functions to put no
varnish on bad news, was Churchill’s
expressed view that the whole in
cident had been “decidedly benefi
cial to our war situation,” how
ever gnawing the British disappoint
ment that the whole pack had not
been killed.
As to this, he offered not only
his own opinion but that of the Brit
ish admiralty, a surprise thought it
might be to the house and public.
Abandon Good Position
The main point of all, he said,
was that the Germans—The Scharn
horst, the Gneisenau, the 10,000-ton
cruiser Prinz Eugen and many small
er vessels—had abandoned at Brest,
France, a much better position than
they had gained.
At Brest, he explained, German
ships had lain on the flank of the
British convoy route to the east
and in position to leap at any time
both into the Atlantic or Mediter
(Continued on Pago Three; Col. i)
Roosevelt T ells Press
Capital Is Rumor Millj
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17.— UP —
President Roosevelt remarked to
day that Washington was a rumor
factory, the source of more lies
than any other place in the coun
try, and referred at the .me time
to a Cliveden set here.
His observation about the lies
was made at his press conference
when newsmen mentioned reports
that Secretary of the Navy Knox
had not disclosed the full losses at
Pearl Harbor. Mr. Roosevelt said
the reports could be best charac
terized by the word rot—and he
spelled it out t' make it emphatic.
He mentioned the Cliveden set
when a reporter said there had
been criticism of another loan to
Russia on the theory that the
Soviet union should not be made
too powerful in the post-war pe
riod.
That argument, the chief execu
tive replied, is about on a par with
*—_______
others offered by the Cliveden set
in Washington. He would not make
a better identification, he added,
because he was being awfully po
lite.
(A so-called “Cliveden set” in
England before the war, was ac
cused by its critics of advocating
appeasement of Germany and a
policy of inducing Hitler to forego
any expansion to the west ' return
for a free hand in the east against
Russia. Cliveden was the home of
Lord and Lady Astor).
In his discussion of the Pearl
Harbor reports, Mr. Roosevelt
picked up a copy of today’s Wash
ington Evening Star and. suggested
it would be a good thing if the
cartoon on the front page were
circulated throughout the country.
It depicted Uncle Sam about to
hang a millstone around the neck I
of a man who had backed “John j
i
(Continued on r*" '*'-«* Col. 1>
■J
* Aruba
* ^ Four
'<$ ^Cu r a c ao,
<X? Indies, Feb. 17.—
•,PI> .vposed “dud” torpedo
: Jto the shore of Aruba
| id from an enemy subma
- -be yesterday exploded today
while being dismantled and
killed two officers and two sea
men.
One of the officers and the
two sailors were killed out
right and the other officer died
soon after the “dud” exploded.
Army officers had declared
the torpedo found on land was
definitely of German origin.
The three killed instantly
were Major D. A. C. De Maagd
and Marines J. Vogelzong and
L. Kooiman.
The casualties all presuma
bly were among the Dutch,
with whom U. S. forces are co
operating in the defense of the
oil refinery isles off Venezuela.
Naval Lieutenant Second
Class P. Joosse was the fourth
to die, an emergency operation
having failed to save him.
vr
REDDEN IS NAMED
STATE CHAIRMAN
Leaders Call For Cessation
Of Partisanism; Conven
tion Set May 16
— - ■
RALEIGH, N. C., Feb. 17.—W—
In a session at which party leaders
called for a cessation of bitter par
tisan politics for the duration of
the war, the state Democratic exe
cutive committee today unan
imously elected Monroe M. Redden
of Hendersonville as its chairman.
Redden succeeded Emery B.
Denny of Gastonia whom Governor
Broughton appointed as associate
Justice of the State Supreme Court.
Both men were strong Broughton
supporters in the 1940 campaigns,
Denny serving as Broughton’s
state manager and Redden serv
ing as his manager in the western
part of the state.
Only 28 members of the commit
tee were present in person, and 69
others were represented by
proxies, most of which were
handled by state officials and em
ployes.
In tune with the harmony key
notes of its leaders, the committee
meeting was completely devoid of
controversy. All actions taken were
by unanimous votes, and all of
them followed recommendations by
the Governor to the letter.
The committee voted to hold the
state Democratic convention here
on May 22—one week prior to the
state Democratic primary, and it
decided that county conventions
should be held on May 16 and pre
cinct meetings on May 9.
Four vacancies caused by the
death of committee members were
filled. The committee elected B. B.
Gardner of Gastonia to succeed
the late R. R. Ray of Gastonia;
state Senator Walker H. Woodson
of Salisbury to succeed the late
Mrs. Walter H. Woodson; T. B.
Ward of Wilson, state motor ve
hicles commissioner, to succeed
the late W. A. Finch of Wilson; and
Clebon Moore of Turkey to succeed
the late W. E. Hawley of Faison.
After his election, Redden told
the committee that although the
Democratic party should beat no
retreats, “this is not time for par
tisan politics,” and that war time
elections “should be so conducted
as to give no cause for community
strife.”
Governor Broughton told the
committee that there would “be
no partisan politics in our deliver
ations in North Carolina,” and that
since our “common purpose is to
win the war,” bitter partisan poli
tics had been adjourned “by com
mon consent.”
He hastened to add, however,
that he did “not want the time
ever to come when we cease to
have parties in our national and
state life.”
“We expect to continue to be
Democrats,” he said, ' and we ex
pect to continue to control govern
ment in North Carolina. We make
no concessions on that.” 3
-V
WEATHER
FORECAST
North Carolina: Somewhat colder
Wednesday with some likelihood of
drizzle or light snow.
South Carolina: Slightly colder
Wednesday with some likelihood of
scattered light rain over north portion.
(EASTERN STANDARD TIME)
(By U. 8. Weather Bureau)
(Meteorological data for the 24 tours
ending 7:30 p. m. yesterday).
Temperature
1:30 a. m. 69; 7:30 a. m. 63; 1:30 p.
m. 60; 7:30 p. m. 56( maximum 70; mini
mum 54; mean 62; normal 48.
Humidity
1:30 a. m. 90; 7:30 a. m. 98; 1:30 p.
in. 94; 7:30 p. in. 88.
Precipitation
Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30
p. m. 0.24 inches. Total since the first
of the month 2.14 inches.
Tides For The Day
(From Tide Tables published by TJ.
S. Coast and Geodetic Survey).
High Low
Wilmington -a 6:50a
12:10p 7:10p
Masonboro Inlet- 9:54a 3:35a
10:08p 3:59p
Sunrise 6:54a; sunset 5:59p; moon
rise 8:51a ; moonjset 9:25p.
Cape Fear river stage at Fayette,
ville on Tuesday at 8 a. m., 10.35
feet.
(Continued u-y«sA Two; P
House Votes
Record Fund
To Press War
Designed To Crush Axis
Under Weight Of Un
matched Production
FOR SHIPS, MEN, ARMS
Provisions Made For 3,
600,000 Army And Air
force Of 1,000,000
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17.—W—A
$32,070,901,900 arms and Allied-aid
appropriations bill—a historic high
for spending—was passed swiftly
and unanimously by the House to
day with the aim of smothering
the Axis under the weight of pro
duction unmatched in the world.
Final passage came on roll call
vote of 371 to 0 after four hours
of debate, during which new ap
peals for national unity stemmed
directly for a charge, and angry
denial, that the Republican mi
nority was capitalizing on defense
expenditure debate.
The gigantic omnibus measure,
carrying funds to finance a vast
flow of munitions and construction
of merchant ships at the rate of
two a day, would boost the total
voted for defense expenditures in
1941, 1942 and 1943 to the stagger
'ng sum of $142,000,000,000. The
bill now goes to the Senate.
The measure bundled up allot
ments for an Army of 3,600,000
men, including a 1,000,000 air force
by the end of this year, and pro
vided billions to set up a reser
voir from which the nation’s Al
lied partners may draw critically
needed supplies.
Funds for Ships
It provided new funds, too, for
the Maritime Commission to send
786 vessels down the ways this
year and to construct eventually
2,877 ships at a cost of $6,704,
464,056.
By voice vote, the House turned
thumbs down on two attempts to
amend the administration’s draft
of the outlay. Rep. Smith (D.
Va.), author of a House-approved
anti-strike bill still pending in the
Senate, attempted in vain to in
sert its provisions as a rider on
the appropriation measure.
Also blocked was an attempt to
eliminate a provision authorizing
transfer of $11,250,000,300—approx
imately half of the amount allotted
to the War department — to the
United Nations in the form of lend
lease aid.
Justifying the huge outlay on
the basis of information furnished
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 2)
WOMEN, CHILDREN
TARCETS OF JAPS
Twenty-Two In Refugee
Camp On Bataan Killed
By Aerial Bombs
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17.— W) —
General Douglas MacArthur re
ported today that Japanese fliers
who have been dropping propa
ganda leaflets professing great
friendship for the Filipinos have
now substituted bombs for pamph
lets, and have killed 18 Filipino
women and five children in a refu
gee camp behind the Bataan pen
insula battle line.
Meanwhile Japanese pressure
upon MacArthur’s troops was
steadily growing. Air activity was
on the increase; artillery fire in
greater volume was prominent all
along the battle line. Japanese
guns ashore pounded the American
island fortifications in Manila bay
but did them no great damage.
In Washington, it developed that
Maj. Gen. R. C. Moore, the Army’s
deputy chief of staff, had told a
congressional committee that
“plenty” of bombers would be sent
to aid MacArthur “if we could get
them there.” He made this state
ment in response to questions dur
ing testimony on war appropria
tions.
“We would have had a lot of
them there by this time,” he said,
“if we could get them there.”
Telling of the bombing of the
Filipino refugee camp, a War De
partment communique said that
for several days the Japs had been
dropping “poorly printed leaflets”
on such camps behind the lines.
“These pamphlets, in English,
Spanish and Tagalog professed
great friendship for the Filipinos
and exhorted them to cooperate
with the invaders and join the
greater Asia co-prosperity sphere,”
the communique said.
“Yesterday bombs were substi
tuted for pamphlets. These potent
messages of death fell on the refu
gee camp at the defenslss vil
lag of CabcabdR. Eighteen wom
en and five children were killed in
this attack, and 13 women and nine
children woundad, 3
BRAZILIAN FREIGHTER
SUNK BY SUBMARINE
OFF VIRGINIA COAST
U-Boat Base Believed 1
Hidden In Caribbean
BALBOA, C. Z., Feb. 17.—UP)
—The possibility that German
submarines may be operating
from a well-concealed base in
the Caribbean area—within the
Canal Zone's ring of defenses—
was raised tonight by the
U-boat raid off Aruba early
Monday which cost the Allies
at least seven tankers sunk
or damaged.
United States armed forces
long have been exercising a
most vigilant search for any
enemy bases in the Caribbean
and the bold Nazi thrust into
the West Indies led to spec
ulation today whether they
had a refueling station in
those waters. i
The opinion was expressed J
in army circles that the at
tacks by two or more U-boats,
indicated the Germans have
a base at least as close as
Dakar or some other point on
the West Africa coast.
It was generally believed
here that the next few days
offer a clue, with much de
pending on possible additional
forays in the Caribbean area
British Burrow In
Along Bilin River
- k
Hope To Stem Japanese
There Until Counter Blow
Can Be Organized
By DANIEL DE LUCE
RANGOON, Burma, Feb. 17.—
IS)—British forces burrowed into
new and more formidable posi
tions today along the Bilin river,
some 50 miles from the vital feed
er rail line to the Burma road,
and Imperial commanders were
hopeful the Japanese tide could
be stemmed there until a counter
blow could be organized.
The imperial defenders were
working against time for the Jap
anese were expected to bolster
their Burmese campaign with
ground and air forces released
from the successful battle for Sin
gapore.
(In London the influential and
conservative Times made the
statement that “provisions for de
fense will have to be raised” to
meet a new attack on Burma and
India. It added that Allied staffs
in London and Washington are
“now concentrated” on this prob
lem, )
Today s communiques said the
situation on the new Blimm front
was unchanged, but that British
troops had come into contact with
a small force of the enemy to the
south. RAF bombers and fighters
attacked Japanese positions, stores
and transport in the Moulmein
area below the mouth bf the Sal
ween.
By withdrawing to the west bank
of the Bilin, the British apparent
ly had abandoned Thaton, on the
Martaban-Rangoon railroad which
skirts the Gulf of Martaban. There
were no reports of contact yet
with the Japanese along the new
defense line.
The strategic regrouping of im
perial positions placed the British
along a straightened and shorter
front possessing good natural de
fense barriers. These positions
constitute a series of strong points
rather than a continuous line.
The Japanese advance upon Ran
goon heretofore has been a series
of jungle infiltrations as far as
the Bilin valley, but now with op
erations transferred to this sector
the invader will be forced into the
open where British artillery and
aerial bomb barrages can be
brought to bear. To this end the
British were reported massing all
available field guns there.
The Bilin itself is easily forded
and is bordered by paddy fields
between hill ranges whose low
(Continued on Pare Six; Col. S)
Stealing Of Tires
Is Risky Business
HOLLODAYSBUKG, Pa., Feb.
17—OP)—A 3 1-3 to seven year
prison sentence and a ’600 fine
with costs was imposed today
on the first Blair county man to
plead guilty to stealing tires
since rationing of rubber began—
Judge George G. Patterson im
possed the sentence on William
H. Lauver, 38, of Altoon, after
Lauver admitted thefts of five
tires, tubes and wheels from two
cars. Josephy Woytowiex, 33,
of Altoona, accused of being
Lauver’s accomplice, was sen
tenced to one to two years in
jail.
JAPS TAKE WAR
TOGA' OF JAVA
Dutch Warned Direct At
tack Upon Bastion Is
Imminent
BY WITT HANCOCK
BATAVIA, Java, N. E. I„ Feb.
17.—OT—The Japanese sped air
craft today to attack islands in
the thin Sunda Strait between
Sumatra and Java and the peo
ple of this last major Indies bas
tion were told plainly: “The ene
my is at the gates of Java and
will soon storm these gates.”
The warning came from Charles
O. Van Der Plas, a member of the
Netherlands Indies council, in a
broadcast to the island’s 40,000,000
people. He said:
“The population now is called
on to meet its test. Much depends
on our courage and tenacity.”
Bomb and machine-gun attacks
on the small Sunda strait islands
killed and wounded some of the
inhabitants, but a communique
said the material damage was
slight. Meanwhile, Dutch bombers
were striking at air and sea
strength of the Japanese about
Palembang, the great south Su
matran oil center, which the ene
my seized yesterday after bitter
fighting and widespread demoli
tions by the defenders.
Transport Hit
The Dutch pilots reported one
direct hit on a Japanese transport
and one near hit and one probable
hit on another similar ship.. Other
bombers raided an airdrome oc
cupied by the Japanese at Palem
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 8)
Boston Test Blackout
Declared Successful
_
BOSTON, Feb. 17.— Iff) —Boston
successfully plunged itself into al
most complete darkness tonight in
a full-dress war rehearsal — the
east’s second major blackout at
tempt—and the normally teeming
metropolitan area came to a stand
still that was featured more by
policemen than pedestrians.
At the first wailing of 15 sirens,
the 46-square-mile area doused its
lights promptly at 10:00 p, m.
(Eastern War Time).
Experienced observers reported
the blackout was probably one of
the quietest periods in the city’s
modem history.
Reports of accidents and disturb
ances were conspicuous by their
almost complete absence.
Along streets in the shopping,
theater and financial districts reg
ular and auxiliary policemen, arm
ed with ferocious-appearing night
sticks, were so thick they seemed
to stand almost shoulder to shoul
4#
“Excellent,” was the almost sim
ultaneous judgment of Mayor Mau
rice Tobin of Boston and Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia of New York,
former director of the office of
civilian defense, both of whom took
up posts atop one of the city’s
tallest buildings. ,
Newsmen who stood with them
saw the city literally blanket itself
in darkness. In sharp contracts,
the lights of the surrounding cities
of greater Boston blazed like bea
cons.
“This is fine, but what we need
is a test that will cover the entire
metropolitan area,” said Governor
Saltonstall of Massachusetts.
The blackout was unique in this
country, so far as officials here
knew, in that it had the entire force
of law. The Massachusetts legis
lature had given the Governor pow
er to enforce all blackout regula
tions. Penalties ranged up to $500
or a year in iatt. , 3
iighty-Three Out Of 85
Aboard Saved; One Body
Landed, One Missing
SMALL BOY IS HERO
’assengers Say Vessel Tor
pedoed Without Warning
Early Sunday
By HARRY C. NASH, JR.
NORFOLK, Va, Feb. 17.—
/P>)—A five-year-old boy who
same up smiling after being
seasick, cold and wet for 18
hours in a lifeboat was among
83 survivors brought ashore
at Norfolk after their ship,
the 5,000-ton Brazilian pas
senger-cargo vessel Buarque
was sunk by an Axis sub
marine off the Virginia coast.
The Buarque, carrying
eleven passengers and a crew
of 74, was sent to the bottom
by two torpedoes early Sun
day morning, the Fifth Naval
District announced tonight.
Forty-six survivors were
landed at Norfolk Monday
and 37 others and one body
were brought ashore tonight,
leaving one person out of the
ship’s list of 85 unaccounted
for.
Three women were among
the survivors landed here
Monday. This group of 46
was picked up from two life
boats late Sunday by a rescue
ship after they had been
sighted by Navy planes earl
ier that day. Two other res
cue vessels brought ashore to
night’s group of 37 survivors
and the one body.
Passengers praised highly the
courage of five-vear-old Frederick
Ferreira, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Adrian Ferreia of Newak, N. J.,
duing his gruelling experience
afloat on the Atlantic ocean. His
mother was “a good sailor, too,”
they said.
Passenger John P. Dunn, (16
Charles street) New York, Pan
American Airways construction en
gineer, said that in their lifeboat
“Freddie became seasick; he was
cold, wet and cramped. But he
didn’t complain and he smiled
when anyone spoke to him.”
Freddie asked Funn if he had
“brought along my portable phono
graph and his favorite records.”
Safe at Norfolk, Freddie’s moth
er tried to feed him a jellied des
sert. Freddie looked at it with
distate and pushed the plate away.
“It’s shivery,” he said to Fred
die, “shivery” meant 18 hours in
an open boat; a little stomach
that was convulsed with each new
wave.
Freddie, a cherubic little fellow,
with round, brown eyes, arms and
(Continued on Page Two; Col. S)
1T
BRAZIL WITHHOLDS
NEWS OF SINKING
Fear Of Reprisals Against
Axis Property Cause
Of Censorship
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. IT.-(f)
—The first sinking of a Brazilian
ship in this war was not made
known publicly tonight because It
is the annual carnival time and
officials sought to forestall any
rioting that might arise among
roistering crowds, in gala disguise,
against Axis nationals and proper
ties.
It was recalled that the sinking
of Brazilian ships by U-boats was
partly responsible for Brazil’s en
try into the last World War.
By agreement between the Bra
zilian and United States govern
ments, the news of the Buargue’s
sinking by torpedo was not trans
mitted to Brazil, although some
learned of the sinking through a
broadcast from Buenos Aires yes
terday and through private chan
nels.
But the great rpass of the people
were dancing and shouting in the
ballrooms and streets in the frenzy
of the carnival—completely una
ware of the most serious event
directly related to Brazil since the
war began.
At the last minute, the govern
ment decided to announce the loss
of the Buarque at midnight, which
means that most Brazilians would
not know about it until the after
(Continued on Face Two: CoL U *
X