The Key West citizen. [volume], December 20, 1954, Image 1

About The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current

Image provided by: University of Florida

Warmest City In Nation
Today Was
KEY WEST
62®
VOL. LXXV No. 301
Dion Foresees
Early Approval
Of Land Deal
Realtor Says Meet
J
* Will Be Held Soon
By Company Officials
An tarly decision on an
bffer made by the city com
mission to buy land at Sim
onlon and Angela Streets
for nee as an off-street park
ing area, was indicated to
day.
1 Realtor Fred Dion, who repre
eenU Brown Estates, owners of the
land, said that a meeting of the
board of directors of the company
owning the land will be necessary.
Favorable Action Stan
1 Diop added that he “is confident
that favorable action will be taken
In due timei”
The city made an offer of $70,000
lor the land at a special meeting
Friday. They had been negotiating
for several months for purchase of
the land.
Original price asked was SIOO,OOO.
The city, after an appraisal by a
group of Key West realtors, set the
value of the tract at $73,150, made
their counter offer.
Information Forwarded
Dion said that the information
feae been passed on to the attor
ney# of the owners.
“Under corporation laws, the of
fer must be voted on by the stock
holders,” said Dion.
He added that the meeting will
probably be held early in January.
The city commission was criticiz
ed Saturday by the retail mer
chants division of the Chamber of
Commerce for slowness in nego
tiating for purchase of the land.
Medical Man
Comments On
Hospital Here
Dr. Ralph Herz, chairman
of the public relations com
mittee of the Monroe Coun
ty Medical Society today re
leased a statement in con
nection with reports that
the city’s medical men have
asked for courtesy reduc
tions on their bills at Mon
roe General Hospital.
The physicians were reported to
have asked the Monroe County
Commission for the discount at
their last meeting. Dr. Hertz
said that the society did pass a
motion to send a letter to the di
rector of the hospital requesting
tHe discounts.
Hers' Statement
Dr. Herz said today: “In my
dealings with hospitals, my exper
ience has been the following:
Whenever I have been hospitalized
in a hospital in which I was a mem
ber of the staff, I have never re
ceived a bill. My dependents were
also treated, varying from cour
tesy of the entire bill in the Uni
versity Hospitals in Cleveland, to
a substantial reduction as receiv
ed from Mercy Hospital in Miami
even though I was not on the
ataff of Mercy Hospital and with
out asking and certainly without
previous knowledge of the reduc
tion.”
Physicians Sarva
It was also stated today that Mon
roe County physicians each give a
month of free service every year
for county charity medical cases
and that physicians on the staff of
the Monroe General take turns, a
week at a time without compensa
tion or cost to the county in fuiv
nishing emergency medical service
at the hospital.
Earlier, newspaper reports had
laid that the county pays the phy
sicians.
Dr. Herz added that the ‘‘medi
cal men of this county strive to
ward the ideal of treating the sick,
irrespective of the financial return
to themselves.”
IkJMwx
ICep JiJcst Cififcn
'*' JHh| V-. m^&^_
YOUTH ENTERTAINS AGE—Cub Scout Pack 251 entered into tho Christmas spirit last Friday
night when they held their annual Christmas party at the First Presbyterian Church. Guests
were the oldsters who live at the Old Folks Home on Stock Island. The boys presented the Na
tivity story in pageant form.—Photo by Spillman.
Miami Youth Is
Killed In Bridge
Accident Sunday
Harry Mike Cochran, H, of
Miami, was killed at 7:10 p. m.
yesterday when hit by a car
while fishing on Channel Five
bridge, about six miles south
of Islamorada.
Florida Highway Patrolmen
Robert G. Young said the cr
wee driven by Juan Jose Ro
mano, 52, of North Miami.
According to Young, Cochran
had just caught a fish and was
trying to taka the hook from
tho fish's mouth.
Tho fish jumped, Cochran
jumped after the fish and leap
ed head-on into Romano's car.
The top of the boy's head hit
hit the headlight of tho car,
fracturing his skull.
No charges ware filed against
Romano, Who was driving
north. Two other boys wore
fishing on the bridge with
Cochran.
Cochran's death was tho
twenty • first traffic fatality in
Monroe County this year.
Roberts Case
Witness Faces
Perjury Probe
MIAMI An investigator for
the state attorney office said today
the testimony of a key witness in
the Judith Ann Roberts slaying
will be checked “for possible per
jury.”
The seven-year-old victim’s fa
ther, Baltimore attorney James T.
Roberts, is under SIO,OOO bond
while waiting to be tried Feb. 28
on a first degree murder charge.
C. Clark Wood, a Miami private
detective, testified at a habeas
corpus proceeding in October that
he saw- Roberts and an unidenti
fied woman near the death scene
the night the child w r as kidnaped
from her grandparents’ home.
Questioned by State Atty. George
Brautigam, he said he saw Rob
erts “at approximately 12 to 12:30
a.m. on the morning of July 6,
1954.”
Wood said he could fix the time
because he was trailing a man
who “was paying his check at the
Clover Club inside a few minutes
before midnight.”
Fred Jones, an investigator for
the state attorney’s office, said
records showed the club was closed
the night Wood referred to it be
cause its .license had been tem
porarily suspended.
Wood said Sunday he assumed
the man he was following “was
in the club because his car was
in one of the center parking lanes
directly in front of the night spot.’’
“I was watching this man's
car,” Wood said. “He might not
have been in the Clover Club. He
could have been around the corner
some place.
“After I left there, I saw Roberts
at the scene of the crime. 1 have
been an investigator for 35 years
and I’m too old to commit per
jury.”
Jones said "this is a serious
business because we had a man
indicted for first degree murder on
Wood’s testimony. Brautigam will
return to Miami on Dec. 23rd and
will take immediate action in
checking Wood’s statements for a
possible perjury charge.”
THE SOUTHERNMOST NEWSPAPER IN THE U. S. A.
Two Men Are Held In Rape
Murder Of 16-Year-01d Girl
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. <*>—Pretty
Margaret Louise Blanchette, 16-
year-old Sunday school teacher,
was raped and strangled in the
rear seat of a moving automobile
yesterday —a deed for which two
sailors were held today.
Frederick B. Zimmer. 25, of
Rochester, N.Y., a metalsmith
1 C., was charged with murder.
Seaman Clyde D. Brunfield, 18,
also of Rochester, N.Y., was
charged with being accessory be
fore the fact of murder.
State Police Capt. Andrew Casey
said Zimmer admitted he struck
and strangled the Portsmouth, R.I.
girl “when she began to scream”
during the attack.
Casey said the two sailors had
volunteered to drive the girl home
from a pre-Christmas dance at the
enlisted men’s club at the big
naval base in Newport.
He quoted Zimmer as saying
that after driving a short distance
he and Margaret got in the back
seat while Brunfield continued to
drive.
Throttled Hr
The police captain said that at
the Mount Hope bridge, Zimmer
“assaulted the girl and throttled
her when she attempted to scream.
Then they drove back toward
Newport.”
He quoted the sailors as saying
they did not halt the car during
the attack.
Zimmer and Brunfield were ar
rested after a chase by Middletown
police, who were unaware that
anything was amiss in the car.
Sgt. Francis Vierra and Patrol
man Lewis Perry chased the car
into Newport because the sailors
failed to stop at their signal as
they passed at high speed.
When the police cruiser caught
up to the car, Vierra said, the
sailors informed him they were
taking “a sick girl to the naval
hospital.”
Cops Followed
Vierra and Perry follow’ed in
the cruiser and when it failed to
Pope Works On
Message To Be
Given Christmas
VATICAN CITY W—Ailing Pope
Pius XII is working on a brief
Christmas message he will broad
cast to the world over the Vatican
radio at noon Friday.
On Christmas Day he plans to
appear in the window of his study
and bless a throng gathered below
in St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican newspaper L’Osser
vatore Romano announced the ar
rangements today.
Despite the planned briefness of
his Christmas message. Vatican
observers took the announcement
as anew evidence of the Pope’s
gradual improvement from the
illness that threatened his life 18
days ago. It will be the pontiff’s
third radio message since his col
laDse Dec. 2.
The Vatican Press Office said
the Pope passed “a fairly tranquil
night.”
LATH and LUMBER for
CRAWFISH TRAPS at
Strunk Lumber
120 SIMONTON, near Docks
KEY WEST, FLORIDA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1054
! turn into the hospital driveway
| they halted it near the Navy's
fleet landing.
The girl was then taken into
the hospital and pronounced dead.
Dr. John A. Picozzi, deputy state
medical examiner, said an autopsy
showed the girl had been raped
and strangled manually. He said
police told him her clothing was
torn and disarranged and that
there was other evidence she put
up a struggle.
Miss Blanchette was one of 12
children of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred
Blanchette. The father is a mill
worker in nearby Fall River,
Mass.
The victim occasionally taught
catechism at St. Anthony’s Catho
lic Church and was described by
neighbors as “respected and well
liked.”
Equipment Used
On Fatal Dive
Cleared In Probe
All equipment, except the tele
phone cable, used *by Paul M.
Sweat, 28. Navy diver, on his last
dive was in proper, working order,
a board of investigation said to
day.
Sweat died in the recompression
chamber of the submarine rescue
vessel Penguin Dec. 14 after a
routine dive.
The investigating board inspect
ed Sweat’s equipment Saturday.
The air and gas lines were free
of any defect.
The telephone cable was brok
en near the point where it is at
tached to the driver’s breatplate.
The cable also w r as broken and
badly abraded at points between
210 and 240 feet from the diver.
If possible the board will estab
lish how these breaks occurred.
The investigation is continuing.
Two Navy doctors who performed
the autopsy are expected to testi
fy as to their findings Wednesday.
Opening For The Season
Tonight at the
CASA MARINA
JOE CAHDULLO
and His Famous Orchestra
LOOIS and LEE VALENTO
Dance Stylists
ran DOUGHTY
Young Tenor
★MA. CANDULLO and His Orchestra Will Play
Every Day In Our Patio for Luncheon, Dinner,
and Late Dancing
Never A Cover or Minimum Charge!
KEY WESTERS and VISITORS ARE CORDIALLY
WELCOMED FOR LUNCHEON, DINNER,
OR DANCING IN THE PATIO!
BETTY MADIGAN
famous m.g.m. recording star will open a limited
ENGAGEMENT IN OUR PATIO, MONDAY, DEC. 27
Other Parts Of Florida
Face Freezing Weather
2 Are Injured
In Blast Today
Two men were injured by flying debris at 7:47 a. m.
today when a drainage line at the Naval Ordnance Unit
exploded.
The ordnance unit is at the Naval Station Annex.
Antonio Bouchard, 39, of 1014 Seminary Street, and
George A. Tasso, no age given, of 716 Fleming Street,
are being treated at the Naval Hospital.
A spokesman there said both men were cut about
the legs by flying debris. Neither of them was injured
seriously.
The men are employes of the Naval Underwater
Ordnance Station Annex at Newport, R. I. They are here
on temporary duty from that station.
A building near the drainage line was damaged
slightly. An investigation will be made to determine the
cause of the explosion.
Bouchard’s home is in Fall River, Mass., and Tasso’s
in Newport.
Better Get
That Mail Off
Right Now!
Postmaster Advises
Haste In 11th Hour
Christmas Mailing
Postal employes are bracing
themselves for what may be the
busiest week in Yuletide history.
Explaining the urgency of their
problem, Acting Postmaster Clyde
P. Stickney today said:
“I have frequently askrd that all
Christmas mail be posted before
December 15. Now that time has
past, and I know from previous ex
perience that the volume of Christ
mas mail hasn’t reached its peak.”
What to do?
The Postmaster’s advice is:
“Use ‘air parcel post’ for your
gift packages going to other states.
Air mail postage is the best idea
for any remaining Christmas cards
with out-of-town addresses.
“There’s still time to complete
all local deliveries by Christmas.
Mail carriers are scheduled to
make as many daily trips as are
necessary. So don’t delay, and risk
disappointing your loved ones.”
“I hope,” Postmaster Stickney
concluded, “that this is one year
every mail bag will be empty, and
every postal employe at home, on
Christmas Eve. Then we can all
relax at least, until it’s time
for New Year’s cards and ‘thank
you’ notes.”
Sheppard Jury
Still Ponders
Cleveland, Dee. 20 (AP)
For the fourth consecutive day,
the jurors in the Sheppard Mru
der trial went beck into con
ference this morning.
They were still deadlocked
when they adjourned for lunch
today.
Judge Edward Blytnin told
newsmen he does not consider
it unusual that the jury is tak
ing so much time. He added
that he has not had e single
question or communication from
the jurors.
Dr. Sam Sheppard is charged
with beating his wife to death
lest July 4.
Father Tries
Suicide After
Slaying Four
PASADENA, Calif. (£) —Harold
R. Oilar’s wife and thre children
sang Christmas carols and went
to bed. A few hours later, say
police, Oilar killed them —with a
Boy Scout hatchet.
Police and a neighbor early yes
terday found the 39-year-old rug
merchant unconscious from gas
fumes, in an apparent suicide at
tempt, in a bathroom of his
$25,000 home.
He was booked on suspicion of
murder in the prison ward at the
County General Hospital, where at
tendants said he is expected to sur
vive. Detectives said that during
questioning he muttered: “It can’t
be real. I’ve had a bad dream.”
Neighbor Child Safe
A neighbor’s child who spent the
night with the Oilarg was spared.
| So was their cocker spaniel, found
playing near the family swimming
pool.
Police Lt. Wayne Bomhoft said
Oilar apparently carried sleeping
Bronwyn Rayburn, 7, from the
room where she was staying with
his daughters Janet, 10, and Mar
tha. 7, a cripple, before he killed
them.
They were found with blankets
over their heads, as was the son
Randolph, 12, who was killed in
his own room. Oilar’s wife Grace
Elizabeth, 39, a Sunday school
teacher at Pasadena Presbyterian
Church, was found dead in the
master bedroom. Police said all
had apparently died without a
struggle, possibly in their sleep.
Neighbors • described Oilar as
“deeply religious.” Beside him in
the fume-filled bathroom were pic
tures of his family, taped to the
walls, and a mostly illegible note
saying, in part:
“Only God understands. Only
God can forgive.”
Another note said: “Sell out ev
erything to pay debts.” Dr. Robert
R * y b u rn. the neighbor whose
daughter escaped death, said Oilar
was “greatly in debt.’’
Cold Snap Poses Threat
To Citrus In Some Spots
By The Associated Press
Frost and freezing weather for all farming areas in
and fhe r M 6CaSt f ° r to " iKht “ nd , ™ orr ™ morning
and the cold even poses a threat to citrus in low spots.
More of the same prospect for Tuesday night. Warren
a Johnson, meteorologist of the Federal-State Frost
Warning Service, said farmers “regardless of where they
are should protect” their crops. 7
Alabama Youth
Admits Slaying
Of Ark. Woman
Experts Check
Sanity Of Man
After Confession
By RAY STEPHENS
BRINKLEY, Ark. UP) A 19-
year-oid Alabama youth who has
admitted he swung the club which
crushed the skull of pretty Mrs.
Milton Fuller is in an undisclosed
Arkansas jail today, waiting to be
charged with first-degree murder.
Prosecutor J. B. Reed told news
men yesterday he would file the
information against Billy Ray
Willingham here today.
The youth, who left a 16-year
old wife in Alabama, said hunger
drove him into the unpretentious
Fuller home, and that a weird sex
urge spurred him into killing the
young mother.
Found Dying
Mrs. Fuller was found dying
early Dec. 12 in her blood-spat
tered bedroom. She had been hit
once with a four-foot stick of fire
wood. The blow crushed her skull.
She died nearly five hours later at
a hospital without regaining con
sciousness.
Prosecutor Reed told newsmen
that Willingham Friday admitted
striking Mrs. Fuller. However, he
said, he and officers first suspected
the man might be mentally un
balanced, rather than guilty. Will
ingham underwent a 12-hour psy
chiatric examination in Little Rock
which convinced Reed he was
sane. When the youth told officers
that he took two of five biscuits
from the Fuller kitchen —and a
hurried check revealed only three
biscuits remaining Reed said he
accepted Willingham’s story as
true.
Says He's Sorry
“Why did you kill Mrs. Fuller?”
Willingham was asked by news
men.
“I don’t know why; I just hit
her,” he replied. “She was asleep
when I hit her. I’m sorry.”
He flatly denied that he at
tempted to rape Mrs. Fuller, mo
ther of two little girls, but said,
“I did a few things.”
“What things? ’
“Different things, just different
things.”
Willingham was picked up for
questioning at Forrest City while
loitering on the streets, and
brought to Brinkley, where he said
he was the killer.
Eski’s Back
Again For
Christmas
All the children and all the
grownups with children in their
hearts and minds at this time
of year will remember Eski, the
Eskimo gamin who is a great
Friend of Santa Claus.
Eski appeared last Christmas
season in this newspaper in a
series of adventures in which
the problem was presented of
curing Santa's Winter Weari
ness. Eski did it by proving
once again the love that all
children bear the red-coated old
gentleman with the flowing
white beard.
Now writer William Ritt has
brought Eski back to life for
the annual Christmas visit. The
first two parts of a series of six
strips of "ONCE UPON A
CHRISMAS EVE" appear to
day on Page 4 of The Citizen.
For Quick Communication,
Use CLASSIFIED Ads! You! 1
reach buyers and sellers
tenants or workers . . , Jus:
DIAL 2-5681 Today
PRICE FiyEVENTS
He expected heating of
| citrus groves north north of
the main citrus belt to take
place tonight.
V'hile there is a slackening of
crop activities in the Everglades,
lots of corn beans and potatoes re
main. Even sugar cane and hardier
vegetables like celery and cabbage
could be nipped in some spots in
the glades.
For the multi-million dollar cit
rus crop things don’t look too bad.
Johnson said the prolonged cold
this month has made the trees a
l 1 tle tougher and prepared them
for the low chill tonight and to
morrow.
Danger To Vehicles
Owners of tractors and automo
biles left in the open were urged
to take precautions against radia
tor freezing.
Johnson suggested that north
Florida motorists taking their cars
out early Tuesday morning should
warm auto engines well before
starting off.
Johnson also explained that tem
peratures will drop rapidly after
sunset tonight and continue slowly
dropping with long periods of
critical temperatures.
Florida was colder than many
mid west areas today.
It is another phase of a pro
onged chill the state has expert
enced since Oet. 15. Johnson ex
plained that while there have been
lower temperatures in other years
his records do not disclose more
continued cold for the correspond
ing period in any previous year.
Frost In North
JT™ 8 } was confined principally
today to n ° rth and central Florida
with light sprinklings in the Ever
glades. But north Florida had lows
between 23 and 28 with some 22s
•n low spots.
f nd th ? ridge distrj cts
y h 32 de f ee lQ ws with a few
. 7he wesl coast escaped freez
ing with lows of 33-38. The Ever
glades had lows ranging between
f nd and 45 , n o ear Lake Okeechobee
and 33 to 38 away from the lake
v/ith scattered frost.
These critically i ow tempera
tures are predicted for Tuesday
morning; 7
Prediction
North Florida: Pockets might
get to 18 degrees with lows gener
*y*y rnnmg between 24 and 28
o cn h: al^! or J da can expwt p° cket *
1 °l Ch J Ued Wlth lo ws between 22
and 26 thermometers generally set
tling between 26-30
of T *%r st ,r, ast wm dip to io ws
of 29-33 with lows of 26s in some
n~!?-\L° r Indian River toere is
predicted 28 to 32 degree low ex
cept 26 in interior low spots
For the Everglades, minimums
running between 30 and 35 were
forecast near Lake Okeechobee and
away from the big body of
water with considerable frost
Even scattered frost was expect
ed in the lower east coast’s muck
lands near the coast. Low tem
peratures in prospect for this re
gion range in the 29-34 area.
kaisfr CO. IDLE
FONTANA, Calif. {/pi The big
Kaiser Steel Corp. mill has been
idled by a dispute over the dis
charge of a workman.
Dairy Freeze
WILL AWARD
SOME LUCKY PERSON
FREE PRIZES
Tomorrow at 8 P.M.
SANTA CLAUS will Appear
for the Kids Thursday at 8 P.M.
DAIRY FREEZE
1704 ROOSEVELT BLVO.