Evening star. [volume], January 17, 1944, Image 1

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Weather Forecast
Pair, not so cold tonight; low, 27.
Tomorrow fair, warmer.
Temperatures today—Highest, 35, at
1:3C p.m.; lowest, 22, at 7:20 a.m. Yes
terday—Highest, 36, at 2:55 p.m.;
lowest, 28, at 8 a.m.
Late New York Markets, Page A-11,
WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION
Guide for Readers
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Comics _B-14-15
Editorials .A-6
Edit! Articles...A-7
Finance A-ll
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Obituary . A-8
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An Associated Press Newspaper
92d YEAR. No. 36,419.
WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 1944-TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES.
*** * •nV'subtjrb* THREE CENTS. E*h“r™
Soviet Paper Reports Peace Bid
Extended to Germany by British;
Allies Batter Nazi Line in Italy
- * - —— --—♦ ■■ .
Cairo'Rumor' Says
Officials Met With
Von Ribbentrop
BULLETIN.
Lord Halifax, the British
Ambassador, declared today
“there is no truth” to the re
port published in Pravda that
two English officials had con
ferred secretly with German
Foreign Minister von Ribben
trop on terms of a separate
peace.
"There is no truth to this
story,” he said. "People who
believe it will believe any
thing.”
By the Associated Press.
MOSCOW. Jan. 17.—Pravda
published a Cairo report today
that two English officials had
conferred secretly with German
Foreign Minister Joachim von
Ribbentrop to find terms for a
separate peace with Germany,
and added:
"It is understood the meeting
did not remain without results.”
The 10-line dispatch, published
at the top of Pravada’s foreign news
page under the heading. "Rumors
from Cairo,” said the meeting “had
the aim of finding out the condi
tions of a separate peace with the
Germans.”
Officials Here Amazed.
It took place "in one of the sea
coast cities of the Pyrenees Penin
sula"—apparently Spain or Portugal
—according to the official Commun
ist party newspaper report.
(In Washington, the first re
action of officials was frank
amazement that such a report
should have been published in a
paper which usually speaks w’ith
such authority as Pravda. In a
less authoritative publication, the
report would have received little
or no attention.
(Concern ran less to any pos
sibility of truth in the report,
since the British have com
mitted themselves on many oc
casions against a separate peace,
than it did to the Russian pur
pose in giving the report circu
lation.)
The text of the dispatch:
“Cairo, Jan. 12 (By Special Cor
respondent of Pravda).—According
to information from reliable Greek.
and Yugoslav sources, a secret meet-'
ing took place recently in one of
the seacoast cities of the Pyrenees
Peninsula between two English
officials and Von Ribbentrop.
"The meeting had the aim of find
ing out the conditions of a separate
peace with the Germans. It is un
derstood the meeting did not remain
without results."
(Tass broadcast the report, say
ing the meeting was in a "coastal
town on the Iberian Peninsula.”
This was picked up by the Soviet
monitor in London from a Mos
cow long-wave telegraph trans
mission. It was not included in
the usual news voice broadcasts.
'There was no elaboration or
comment on the dispatch.
(British reaction to the Pravda
story was to reiterate the re
peated British declaration that
no peace would be negotiated
with the Germans without full
accord of all the Allies, including
the Russians and Americans.
(A British spokesman, whose
name cannot be used, was in
clined to regard the story lightly,
raising the question that if it
originated in Cairo, why was it
not circulated by Brtiish and
American news agencies as well
as Pravda? He expressed doubt
that any such report passed the
Cairo censorship.)
Pacts Ban Separate Peace.
The original Soviet-British agree
ment on joint wartime action
against Germany and their later
20-year alliance both provided that
neither side would make a separate
peace.
Pravda’s dispatch amounted to an
accusation that Britain, at least,
was sounding out Germany on the
possibility of a separate peace.
The concluding sentence that the
secret parley did not remain with
out results, carried for Russians the
positive sense that it had at least
partial success.
There was no official Soviet com
ment. and British officials in Mos
cow said they could not understand
either the report or its publication.
They said they did not believe it.
< Although there was no do
mestic censorship ban on its pub
lication, no mention had been
made of the Pravda article in
London newspapers up to mid
afternoon. The British news
service Reuters carried a brief
story attributed to a Moscow
broadcast.)
There were two interesting points
about the dispatch:
1. Although it appeared in the
organ of the Communist party, it
was not official and did not even
bear the weight of a dispatch of
the official news agency, Tass, but
was labeled plainly as from special
Balkan sources.
The newspaper itself labeled the
story as among "rumors.'’
2. The mere fact of publication of
the story was of considerable im
portance at a time when the United
Nations appeared to have been in
dissolubly joined after the Moscow
and Teheran conferences.
While Pravda’s back page carried
the Cairo story of separate peace
negotiations, the front page dis
played the Polish government state
ment, asking the United States and
Great Britain to arrange Soviet
Polish negotiations, and the Soviet
reply that negotiations with the
present Polish government were im
possible.
Work on Invasion
Is Far Advanced,
Eisenhower Says
Wilson Hints New
Mediterranean Blows;
Bradley Gets Post
Ey theAssociated Prers.
LONDON, Jan. 17.—The pre
invasion task in Britain already
is far advanced. Gen. Dwight D
Eisenhower disclosed today a;
Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilsor
hinted at new blows in the Medi
terranean, possibly into Southern
France.
This picture of Allied might men
acing Hitler from the west anc
south, as well as the east, waf
thrown into sharper focus with an
nouncement that Lt. Gen. Omar N
Bradley, veteran of Tunisia, has
become senior American general
under Gen. Eisenhower In this
theater.
Gen. Eisenhower, in his first press
conference as western .invasion
commander in chief, warmly praised
naval, air, supply and other forces
for "the work that has been done
in advance of my coming.” and
lauded infantrymen in the United
Kingdom who "are getting them
selves ready and toughened for any
job that lies ahead.” He recently
arrived there after a visit to Wash
ington, during which he conferred
with President Roosevelt and Gen
George C. Marshall, United States
Army chief of staff.
Gen. Wilson, the new Mediter
ranean commander in chief, in his
first press meeting at Allied head
quarters in Algiers, declared his
front extends from the Maritsa
River in the Balkans to the Pyrenees
and “we’ve got to hit home wherever
we see the opportunity * * *. If
we saw an opportunity for going
• See INVASION, Page A-4.)
U. S. Willing to Help
Settle Polish Row,
Hull Tells Russia
Step Follows Soviet's
Statement Attacking
Exiled Government
By the Associated Press.
The American Government
has advised Russia of its willing
ness to work for restoration of
good relations between Russia
and Poland, Secretary of State
Hull disclosed today, and is hope
ful that such relations may be
resumed.
The Secretary told a press con
ference that a dispatch to that effect
had been sent to Moscow.
Reds Interpret Reply
As Rejection of Offer
LONDON, Jan. 17 OP).—The Soviet
government, interpreting last Fri
day's Polish statement as a rejection
of its offer to negotiate a new Rus
sian-Polish border on a Curzon line
basis, emphasized today it could not
“enter into official negotiations with
a government with which diplomatic
relations have been Interrupted.”
Moscow’s short sharp reply also
raked up the Katyn Forest mass
graves accusation by Nazi Propa
ganda Minister Paul Joseph Goeb
bels last April with a reminder that
Polish recognition of the charge
caused the diplomatic break.
Hard on the heels of this re
sponse, Moscow announced in
another broadcast—both of which
(See POLAND, Page~A-10.)
Move Expected Today
To Oust Tammany Chief
Ey the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Jan. 17.—Opponents
of Michael J. Kennedy, New York
County Democratic leader, were ex
pected to ask today that an Execu
tive Committee meeting be held this
week to consider ousting the Tam
many Hall chieftain.
Assemblyman Patrick M. Sullivan
committee member and one of the
leaders of the anti-Kennedy bloc,
claimed his group had enough votes
to depose Mr. Kennedy.
Friends of the leader, however,
denied the opposition had a major
ity. Mr. Kennedy had no comment
on the developments.
A petition to call the Executive
Committee meeting was slated to be
presented to Representative James
H. Fay, committee chairman.
Reds Hurl Back
Nazis in Drive
Toward Latvia
Gains Along 9-Mile
Front in New Soviet
Offensive Reported
(Map on Page A-2.)
By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 17.—A powerful
;new Soviet offensive was sweep
ing toward the 70-mile distant
| Latvian border today, hurling
i the Germans back along a 9-mile
. front, while in old Poland far to
' the south Red Army spearheads
Jwere driving toward the big rail
land highway junction of Rovno.
! Asserting last night that the new
, drive to the north of Nevel already
had swept up 40 localities and cut
the important Novosokolniki Rail
way below Lake Ilmen, Moscow an
nounced at the same time that Gen.
Nikolai F. Vatutin's 1st Ukraine
Army had killed 100.000 Germans
and captured 7,000 in three weeks of
: the massive offensive which has car
ried the Russians 55 miles inside
old Poland.
The Rea Army also forged ahead
in White Russia, crossing the Ippa
River to capture Novoselki, 17 miles
north of Kalinkovichi in the Pripet
i Marshes, and reaching a point 47
: miles from the old Polish border
in a drive toward Pinsk, about 100
I miles away
Cold Wave in White Russia.
Moscow dispatches said a cold wave
accompanied by sharp frosts had
returned to White Russia. Hard
freezes in the Pripet Marshes would
afford firm terrain for tanks.
The Russians told of repulsing
heavy tank and infantry counter
attacks yesterday in the Vinnitsa
and Uman sectors to the south, kill
ing 2,000 Germans and destroying
136 tanks. Stockholm dispatches
quoted a Berlin military spokesman
as saying some Red Army units had
crossed the Bug River, near Vin
nitsa, only 20 miles from the vital
Warsaw-Odessa Railway which sup
plies the Germans in the Dnieper
Bend.
The new Soviet offensive north of
; Nevel apparently caused German
propagandists some anxiety. One
German broadcast declared the Rus
sians were ready to throw 1,000.000
men in a major sweep toward the
j Baltic states. The Nazi-controlled
Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau
quoted a Berlin military spokesman
as saying, “We are convinced some
of the bloodiest battles between
great bodies of troops are about to
be fought on the northern front.”
Reds Cut Highway Line.
A Moscow bulletin said the Red
! Army had launched the drive three
days ago, pushing a wedge 9 miles
j wide and 5 miles deep into the Ger
man lines and seizing Nasva to cut
the Novosokolniki-Dno railway “over
! which the Germans had transferred
their troops along the front line.”
The communique said Gen. Va
tutin’s forces driving through old Po
land captured Vladimirets, 23 miles
i northwest of Sarny, and Antanovka.
15 miles west of Sarny, while his
units farther south drove to within
19 miles of Rovno by occupying Kos
I topol, 35 miles inside the old border.
Besides killing 100,000 and captur
j ihg 7,000 Germans in the period be
] tween December 24 and January 13,
a Moscow announcement said, Gen.
Vatutin’s forces swept up tremen
dous quantities of booty and de
stroyed 2,204 German tanks and
1,174 guns.
Army Bans Opinions
Of Soldiers on Vote
By the Associated Press.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Al
giers, Jan. 17.—Soldiers will not be
permitted to express their views for
publication on the subject of the
soldiers’ vote, under a War Depart
ment ruling.
Correspondents of this theater
were told they might write their
own impressions on the attitude of
military personnel on this issue, but
might not quote individuals or take
polls.
The ruling was based on a per
manent Army regulation which for
bids officers or men from ente*ng
into public debate on controversial
political issues or matters pending
before Congress.
Nazi Aircraft Plant in Austria
Battered by Flyinq Fortresses
By the Associated Press.
A UNITED STATES 15th AIR
FORCE BOMBER BASE IN
ITALY, Jan. 17.—Flying Fort
resses of the 15th Air Force
struck a savage blow yesterday
at the highly-important Klagen
furt aircraft works which Hitler
tucked away in Northern Austria
to safeguard it from attack.
Fortresses from Italian bases, co
ordinating their crushing force with
that of the Britain-based 8th Air
Force in the rising campaign to pul
verize the Nazi aircraft industry,
struck through heavy antiaircraft
Are and a few fighter planes to score
many direct hits on the factory.
Returning crewmen said great
clouds of smoke hovered over the
plant and part of it was in flames
as the Portress turned away. The
Klagenfurt Railroad yards also were
attacked.
Plant 75 Miles From Trieste.
The Klagenfurt works, 75 miles
northeast of the Italian port of Tri
este, is a subsidiary of the huge
Messerschmitt plant at Wiener Neu
stadt outside Vienna, which has also
beert attacked by the 15th Air Force.
Aircraft parts essential to produc
tion both at Wiener Neustadt and at
other German aircraft works, such
as Regensburg, north of Munich,
are manufactured at the Klagenfurt
plants.
Targets for yesterday’s attack in
cluded machine shops, workshops,
precision parts shops, power houses
and offices.
While this force of bombers was
attacking the source of Hitler’s
aerial defenses, other Fortresses un
(See KLAGENFURT, Page A-10.)
Step Up Attack on
Enemy Defenses
Near Cassino
By the Associated Pro«:s.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Al
giers, Jan. 17.—Attacking along
a 30-mile front. American and
French troops of Lt. Gen. Mark
W. Clark’s 5th Army reached the
steep banks of the Rapido River
which runs through Cassino, and
have begun battering assaults on
the Gustav defense line, main
barricade to Rome, Allied head
quarters announced today.
The exact penetration where
American troops finally pushed up
to the Rapido, which runs almost
due north and south at Cassino,
was not announced. Previously,
however. American infantrymen had
stormed and captured Mount Troc
chio. the last high ground before
Cassino. whose peak is but 2 miles
from the town, and it was possible
that they had thrust on down the
slopes to Cassino itself.
French Reach Upper Rapido.
The French of Gen. Alphonse Juin
also smashed through pecipitous
I hills and mountains in the Apen
nines to reach the Upper Rapido,
having previously captured the vil
lage of Cardito and another of the
many Mount Croces which dot the
; Italian terrain.
At Cardito and Mount Croce the
French were 9 to 10 miles north of
Cassino and only slightly east.
Lower down the line, however, where[
they had reached to within 2 miles'
of the mountain village of Sant'
Elia, they were but 5 miles from
| Cassino.
The Rapido’s high banks have
been converted by the Germans!
into one of the main features of
[their Gustav line. It has been
! studded with guns, weapon pits,
dugouts and traps, as have the hills
and rocky ledges behind it.
The Americans launched their
final attack against the 1.475-foot
Mount Trocchio at dawn Saturday
and by nightfall had cleared out
the enemy except for isolated pock
ets. These were attacked yesterday.
Although the victory placed Gen.
Clark’s troops only two airline miles
from Cassino, the Germans were
expected to fight desperately to re
tain this base, for Its fall would
open up the possibility of a swift
Allied advance through valley land
toward Rome, some 70 miles away.
Yesterday's communique an
nounced that Gen. Juin's French
troops, fighting in difficult moun
tain terrain, had occupied Cardito,
which is 3 miles northwest of cap
tured Acquafondata, aud seized the
village of Vallerontonda.
Drive Toward Junction.
The French also were driving to
ward the highway junction of Atina,
miles north of Cassino.
< Gen Clark has sent congratu
lations to Gen. Henri Giraud on
the performance of the French
troops in Italy against resolute
German resistance “despite un
favorable weather and in ex
tremely difficult terrain," Radio
France of Algiers said last night.
The broadcast was recorded in
New York by FCC monitors.)
Action along the 8th Army front
on the Adriatic end of the Italian
battle line remained at a virtual
stalemate except for patrol actions
and raids on enemy outposts in the
Orsogna area by 3ritish troops.
Allied Tribunal Dooms
Supporter of Fascism
By the Associated Press.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS.
Algiers. Jan. 17.—An Allied military
tribunal has imposed the death
sentence on an Italian convicted of
trying to revive Fascism in Italy and
ordered a woman colleague im
prisoned for a year, it was an
nounced today.
Eleven others involved in the plot
discovered by the American Counter
intelligence Corps were given sen
tences of from one to 10 years.
Salvatore Bramante, 24, received
the death sentence on three charges
of possessing guns illegally, damag
ing communication lines and attend
ing meetings of the outlawed Fascist
Party.
The confessed leader of the group,
Cataldo Grammatico, 20, was sen
tenced to 10 years.
I
Colombian President Signs
United Nations Declaration
Alfonso Lopez, President of Co
lombia, today signed the declara
tion of the United Nations at the
White House. His nation thus be
came the 34th signatory to the pact.
President Lopez and the new Co
lombian Ambassador, Dr. Don
Gabriel Turbay, later were luncheon
guests of the President. Dr. Turbay
presented his credentials to Presi
! dent Roosevelt this morning.
The luncheon was informal and
was held in the President’s study.
Undersecretary of State Stettinius
also was a guest.
Berlin Claims Sinking
Of 5 Allied Transports
Ej the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 17.—The Berlin
radio asserted today that German
submarines had sunk five transports
totaling 36,500 tons, three destroyers
and two submarines in recent at
tacks on Allied shipping in the
North Atlantic, the Mediterranean
and the Black Sea.
The broadcast, recorded by the
Associated Press, said the destroyer
sinkings brought to nine the num
ber of these Allied craft destroyed
so far this month.
'SIR, MAY I TURN
THIS THING LOOSE k
NOW, AND GET
v ON WITH THE uk'
) WAR
Marines Take Hill 660
In Fierce Battle to
Dominate Borgen Bay
Fighting Described as
Among Bloodiest of
Southwest Pacific
By the Associated Press.
ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD
QUARTERS, New Guinea, Jan. 17.
—American marines, in what
some of them termed the blood
iest battle of the Southwest
Pacific, have captured Hill 660
to dominate the Borgen Bay area
of Western New' Britain, Gen.
Douglas MacArthur reported to
day.
Australians kept pace by sweeping
on through Sio, on New Guinea's
northeast coast, and advancing 3
miles farther, clearing more of the
coast, preparatory, perhaps, for a
big Allied push against Madang,
farther northwest.
“Direct hits and damaging near
misses.'’ said Gen. MacArthur’s com
munique, were scored on a Japanese
cruiser, a destroyer and seven cargo
ships in the harbor. Returning pilots
said the destroyer and one merchant
ship were possibly sunk.
The Navy planes shot down 29
of 60 to 70 Japanese fighters at
a cost of 2 bombers and 8 fight
ers, raising the enemy’s loss in
planes at Rabaul alone to at least
124 since January 1. Four pilots
of the downed Ailed aircraft were
saved.
Nine Ships Damaged.
The attack was the first blow to
be delivered against Rabaul shipping
by Allied dive bombers and torpedo
bombers from the new Bougainville
Island airfields in the Solomons,
only 250 miles from the enemy base.
These fields were recently put into
operation after consolidation of
the American beachhead and hold
ings at Empress Augusta Bay on
the southwest coast of Bougainville.
Much of Simpson Harbor at Ra
baul was hidden by clouds, yet- the
bombers landed damaging blows on
nine ships. One of the merchant
men was described by a pilot as of
10,000 or more tons. Another pilot
said he saw “the whole stern'’ blown
off a cargo ship of 8.000 to 10,000
tons.
Marines have been fighting on
both sides of New Britain’s west
ernmost tip, Cape Gloucester, since
shortly after their December 26
landing, and the Japanese defend
ers sacrificed nearly 3,000 men in
their effort to retain control of the
area. American dead and wounded
in the invasion total 400. Americans
took the Cape Gloucester airdrome
December 30 and soon thereafter
began their bitter fight for Hill 660,
dominating the Borgen Bay sector
east of the cape.
Deluges of rain and deeply-em
(See PACIFIC, Page A-10.)
Serb Force to Relieve
Nazis in Yugoslav Port
Bj the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 17.—The German
radio said today that a "Serb na
tionalist” force, composed mainly of
students, had arrived in the Ger
man-occupied Yugoslav port of
Sibenik, apparently to relieve Nazi
forces for use on the active battle
front.
At the same Ane a communique
from Marshal Josip Broz’ (Tito’s)
headquarters announced that bitter
fighting continued in Eastern and
Central Bosnia—labeled by the Ger
mans as a projected Allied “inva
sion corridor into the Balkans —
where the Nazis latest drive has
been reported smashed by the
Partisans in some sectors.
A German broadcast asserted that
the Patriots had been cleared from
Solta (Sulet) Island off Split.
The broadcast Yugoslav com
munique also said guerrillas at
tacked a strong German column on
the Kocevje-Rakek road in Slo
venia, inflicting “great losses” in
men and material on the Nazis. The
bulletin said that 60 Ustachi soldiers
were killed and many wounded in
an attack on their garrison near the
Croatian town of Karlovac.
In the Gorica area of Montenegro
an enemy garrison was wiped out,
the bulletin declared. The Parti
sans were said to be pressing their
offensive in the Novo Mesto area of
Slovenia.
President Loses
10 Pounds as
Result of Flu
President Roosevelt has lost about
10 pounds as the result of the attack
of flu with which he was stricken
nearly two weeks ago, Press Secre
tary Stephen T. Early said-today.
The President has his good days
and his bad days, Mr. Early said, and
he is continuing to take it easy on
the advice of his physician, Rear
Admiral Ross T. McIntyre.
Mr. Roosevelt remained at the
White House again today instead of
coming to his office and kept a few
engagements.
Ceremonies at Airport
To Mark Opening of
Bond Drive Tomorrow
Dedication of Fighter
Bought With District
Money Is Slated
The first of the special fleet
of carrier-based planes, bought
with $32,600,000 of War Bond
money furnished by Washington
citizens during a one-month
drive last fall, will be dedicated
to the District at ceremonies at
the National Airport at 11 am.
tomorrow, coincident with the
opening of the Fourth War Loan
Drive.
The plane, a Navy Hellcat, will be
the first of a fleet which will go into
battle from aboard an American
carrier with the seal of the District
of Columbia embossed on the fuse
lages.
Special authorization for the Dis
trict War Finance Committee to
sponsor a drive to purchase the
planes was obtained from Secretary
of the Navy Knox last fall. The
campaign was carried on between
September 9 and November 8.
All the funds subscribed came
from small individual buyers of War
Bonds. During the new campaign,
which gets under way tomorrow, in
dividual buyers will be asked to meet
a quota of $53,000,000 out of the Dis
trict's total goal of $95,000,000.
Hero’s Mother to Preside.
The Hellcat will be dedicated by
Mrs. C. H. Young, 2700 Connecticut
avenue N.W., mother of the late
Capt. Cassin Young. U. S. N., one of
the District’s greatest heroes of the
war.
Capt. Young was in command of
the U. S. S. Vestal, which lay along
side the battleship Arizona in Pearl
Harbor when the Japs attacked on
December 7. 1941. The Washington
officer beached his vessel in order to
save it. Later he was given com
mand of the cruiser San Francisco
and was killed in action while lead
ing an attack against superior
enemy forces near Guadalcanal on
November 13, 1942.
Capt. Young was posthumously
awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor and the Navy Cross for his
heroism.
Commissioners John Russell
Young and Guy Mason, along with
Treasury officials, will also be present
at the dedication ceremonies.
Admiral Land to Speak.
Meanwhile, a departmental rally
in connection with the bond drive
was scheduled for 4 p.m. today by
the Maritime Commission and War
Shipping Administration in the
Commerce Department auditorium.
Madeleine Carroll, former screen
actress, who is now training as a Red
(See"WAR BONDSl PageXHT)
Hungarian Radio Denies
Mass Evacuation of Sofia
By the Associated Press.
, NEW YORK, Jan. 17.—The Hun
garian radio said today it had been
announced “officially that Sofia con
tinues to be the seat of the Bul
garian government.”
The German-language broadcast,
recorded by United States Govern
ment monitors, declared that "this
disposes of all rumors alleging move
ment of the government to one or
another provincial town, which are
thus exposed as untrue.”
•A German broadcast last Friday
said the Bulgarian government had
ordered immediate total evacuation
of the city’s 300,000 inhabitants as
a result of devastating Allied air
raids. -
1,4C0 to 1,600 Killed
As Earthquake Hits
Argentine Section
Thousands of Others
Injured in Andean
City of San Juan
(Picture on Page A-3.)
B> the Associated Press.
BUENOS AIRES. Jan. 17.—
Rescue workers today dug among
the ruins of the picturesque
Andean city of San Juan for ad
ditional bodies of victims in the
week-end earthquake which
struck the mountain town, cut
ting it “at the roots as if by a
scythe.” By official count 500
bodies already have been re
covered. and conservative esti
mates of the death toll mounted
to between 1,400 and 1,600. Thou
sands more were injured.
Moises Rudman. one of the first
survivors to reach Mendoza, said
the quake came without warning
and in an instant plunged the city
of 30,000 into total darkness.
Hundreds of survivors huddled in
the city square and open spaces, he
added, while others sought to extri
cate the dying and the injured
whose screams were heard in the
darkness.
Nation Mobilizes Aid.
While troops and others rushed
rescue work today, the nation
mobilized aid for the survivors ol
Argentina's worst earthquake in 83
years.
(President Ramirez of Argen
tina has called an emergency
cabinet meeting to consider ad
ditional measures for relief and
reconstruction of the city, the
Buenos Aires radio said in a
broadcast heard by United States
Government monitors. Ramirez
and a party of officials planned
a personal inspection of the city,
the broadcast added, i
Authorities said 90 per cent of the
buildings in San Juan, which was
jolted by four shocks Saturday night
and Sunday morning, were destroyed
and none of these left standing was
habitable. The quake crumbled
modern, steel-reinforced structures
such as the city hall and other gov
ernment buildings, as well as the
twin-spired 19th century cathedral
and other more ancient buildings.
The injured—one estimate placed
the number as high as 13.000—taxed
the hospitals of Mendoza, 75 miles
south ol San Juan, and authorities
ordered school buildings converted
into temporary hospitals. Physicians
and nurses worked without rest amid
the debris of the stricken city, ad
ministering to the injured. Addi
tional doctors and nurses and blood
plasma, medicine, food and clothing
were being rushed by train, plane
and truck.
Chile Offers Help.
Offers of help came from all sec
tions of the nation and from Chile.
Within 24 hours after the disaster,
mere than 500,000 pesos (about $125,
000) were contributed by Argentines
and government officials arranged a
meeting of bankers and industrial
ists and other businessmen to plan
for large-scale belief work. By gov
ernment order all amusement places
in Argentina—dance halls, movies
and theaters—were closed in respect
for the victims.
The loss of life and the large num
ber of, injured were attributed tc
the suddenness as well as the in
tensity of the temblor. Thousands
(See QUAKE, Page A-loT)
Derailed Freight Grazes
Passing Passenger Train
B> the Associated Press.
LANCASTER, N. Y., Jan. 17.
Twenty-two cars of a Delaware
Lackawanna & Western freight
train plunged off the tracks here
yesterday, grazing a passenger trair
and piling up in a nearby field. Nc
one was injured.
The last two coaches of the Nevt
York-bound passenger train passing
on a parallel track received a glanc
ing blow from the freight cars as
they hurtled by, but railroad officials
said the only damage to the passen
ger train was broken windows.
Westbound tracks were tom up
for 200 feet and traffic on both lines
was halted for several hours.
A preliminary investigation indi
cated the derailment was caused bj
a broken axle on one of the freight
cars.
Supreme Court
Will Review
McNabb Ruling
Mitchell Case Used
In Test of Decision
Barring Confession
The Government was success
ful today in an effort to obtain
a clarification of the Supreme
Court ruling in the McNabb case.
The tribunal agreed to review
the decision of the United States
Court of Appeals setting aside
the conviction of James P. Mitch
ell, so-called “society burglar’*
here, whose reputed confession
was held invalid because he wa3
held eight days before arraign
ment.
The Mitchell case was one of a
number in which prosecution has
j failed because the lower courts felt
I bound by the principle laid down
j by the Supreme Court last spring in
| reversing the murder convictions of
Ihrec Tennessee mountain youths by
the name of McNabb, on the ground
that they had been held too long
for questioning before arraignment.
In using the Mitchell case for a
test the Justice Department asked if,
under the McNabb ruling, "a subse
quent delay in arraignment pre
cludes the admission in evidence of
a confession given while detention
without arraignment was proper,
and which was not in response to
interrogation, and to which the de
lav in arraignment bore no causative
relation?"
Admitted .{0 Housebreakings.
Mitchell was arrested October 12,
in connection with a theft at the
home of Harry G. Meem, and before
his arraignment, reputedly confessed
to some 30 housebreakings.
According to the prosection, the
Time of arraignment had no bearing
on his statements, which were said
to have been made almost immedi
ately after his apprehension.
In the McNabb case, the defend
ants were held for varying periods
up to 48 hours. In outlawing the re
puted confessions the Supreme Court
said the youths should have been
arraigned with “reasonable prompt
ness."
Tire Court of Appeals contended
that this ruling would bar the ad
mission in evidence of statements
attributed to Mitchell, because the
District code provides for arraign
ment “immediately and without de
lay."
Mitchell repudiated the confes
sion attributed to him and said he
;was mistreated by the police.
Challenged in Congress,
i In asking a review, the Justice
Department said that the facte in
the McNabb c*s*«and the language
of the majority opinion, read by
Justice Frankfurter, are consistent
with the understanding “that for
the confession to be rendered in
admissible by the ooeration of this
rule, it must have been given in the
course of the unlawful detention
and in response to interrogation."
The McNabb ruling also is being
I challenged in Congress. Representa
jtive Hobbs. Democrat, of Alabama,
having introduced a bill that would
validate confessions in criminal
cases without regard to passible de
lay in arraigning a defendant.
Zoning Board Denies Plea
For Housing Restrictions
(Mrs. Roosevelt's Comment on tha
Zoning Situation on Page B-l.j
A petition of the Congress
Heights Citizens' Association, asking
S that part of the Congress Heights
1 area be semirestricted to prevent
construction of multiple-family low
icost housing for Negroes, was re
jected today by the Zoning Com
mission.
Action on a similar petition from
the Bradbury Heights Citizens’ As
sociation was deferred.
The commission's action leaves
the way open for private construc
tion of apartments to be rented to
colored families.
The action came as a climax to
a controversy which developed be
tween Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and
leaders of the two citizens' asso
ciations, after the President's wife
discussed the petition of the Brad
bury Heights group in her "My
Day’’ syndicated newspaper col
umn of January 5.
Kearny Yards Launch
Two Heavy Destroyers
Py the Associated Press.
KEARNY, N. J„ Jan. 17.—The
Moale and the Ingraham, heavy
weight destroyers, slid into the
Hackensack River yesterday in the
first launching of the year from the
Kearny yards of the Federal Ship
building & Dry Dock Co.
Schmefing Leaves Service
, STOCKHOLM. Jan. 17 <flY—Max
Schmeling. former world heavy
weight boxing champion, has been
released from German military
service and has retired to a farm
outside Cologne. Aftonbladet's Ber
line correspondent reported today.
Some Calendars
Mark Wrong Day
For Thanksgiving
By the Associated Press.
Now it's the calendars which have
lent some confusion to the date of
the Thanksgiving Day observance,
once settled in all minds as the last
Thursday in November.
By congressional will, turkey day
will be celebrated on the fourth
Thursday of November henceforth,
the lawmakers setting aside Presi
dent Roosevelt's idea that it should
be the third Thursday.
However, the vagaries of the
calendar in 1944 bequeath five
Thursdays to November. So Thanks
giving Day, by act of Congress, by
terms of the calendar and by every
other sign, will be on November 23—
the fourth Thursday, and not the
fifth and last as some calendar*
show it to be.