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A . J '' tide taSle |fe ■j|,'^f^^’');;'^-4i|^Kj|a^-$’‘'»;••-• " Today 12.-07 a.m. 11:40 a.m. Saturday 12:52 a.m. 12:27 p.m. I / , Sunday 1 39 a.m 1 00 p.m ■ I# MM_,l __ Monday 2:27a.m. 1:15p.m. ^^H^yQlIQll Tuesday 3:14 a.m. 1:02 pm. * t.. . . , .Wednesday 7:35 p.m. 11:32 a.m. IT MISSISSIPPI Thursday 7» p.m 5 24am - -v »*& ' • rr Friday 7:39p.m. 6:07a.m. Si' _ __ Saturday 8:14 p.m. 6:58 a.m. . Kg IWfGLE COPY 10c Sunday 9 oa p m. 7.49 a.m. - n r_- *■$&:•: 1 *-* .,.. . _______._._— VoTlM National eKI!'Amocia.ion PASCAGOULA AND MOSS POINT, MISSISSIPPI, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1949 Th. J&^'pras NO- 50 _i_ — ■ ■ ■ - ■ ■ - . ■. 11 . ... -— , Campground Blaze Ruins 17 Buildings New Prospect Fire Fouqht By Buckets Until Under Control By Winifrad Havom (Chronicle Correspondent) Seventeen “tents" at historic New Prospect camp grounds near Vancleave burned to the ground late Thursday afternoon in a blare of undetermined origin. Word spread about 5 p. m. that Are buildings were afire. Men and cars began racing to the scene from miles around. By the time two fire trucks j from Ocean Springs arrived, vol- j unteers already had prevented the blare spreading by tearing down the old Quitmah House tent, i now known as the Carl Randal and Ida Roberts tent. Tabernacle Saved The tabernacle started to burn j but was saved. A bucket brigade was used ef- ' fectively in battling the blare, which was first discovered in the Horace and Carl Q. Roberts tents. Straw, which had been left in the rooms, aided the fire, which spread rapidly to other tents. Burned to the ground were the tents of Lewis Tootle, Joe Wares, M. P. Davis, Mack Roberts, Bur ton and Chandler Roberts, Van Horn and Rubla Roberts, Thomas Roberts, Eunice Greens. Roland and Latirin Ware, Sadie Steed, Horace and Carl Roberts, j Paul Carter and Will Fletcher, C. L. Decs, Inman Ramsey, Jim Ram "•. The camp committee met Sat urday to plan rebuilding. A group of Jackson county citizens has of fered a $200 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for starting the fire. The new caretaker's home, just completed, anti the tents built away from the tabernacle were not destroyed. Most of tnosc which burned housed three or four families last meeting. Sent to the fire were trucks from Biloxi, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula. The Pascagoula en gine turned back at Vancleave when its operator heard by radio that the blaze was under control. Soft Drink Truck Overturns On 90; Driver Uninjured A toft drink truck ovTturn«d in a ditch near Ocean Springs on Highway 90 Saturday night but the driver. Willard J. White Route 1. Pascagoula, escaped in jury. according to State High- i way Patrolman Cecil Byrd. White escaped from the truc’t. which landed top down, by crawling through the side win dow. The truck was en route to Pascagoula with drinks which had been loaded in Ocean 0 Springs. Sash weights, window cords and pulleys were invented by the Dutch about 1650. . • - --** — ——— t Bishop R. O. Gerow Dedicates School In Ocean Springs School is . second only to the home In importance to religious training, Bishop H. O. Gerow, Natchez, said Monday in his ded icatory address at the new St. Alphonsus school in Ocean Springs. Education without religion, said the bishop, makes a child think that religion and God are of sec ondary importance to material things. Other visiting officials at th< dedication were the Revg. Char les Hunter, Yazoo City, and J. P. McGlade, Biloxi. With Bishop Gerow they blessed the $41,000 building. In his address, Bishop Gerow stated that his audience should he thankful for its Catholic faith “which, if followed faithfully, will mean the salvation of your soul.” "May God bless you," he con- ; eluded, ‘ and this school huilding j which has come into being, through your haid work.” freight Train Engine Tumps Local Track A freight train engine jumped ! the rail on a side track near the j L&N station in Pascagoula Fri-1 day, requiring several hours to! get it back in running condition.! John Walts, railroad agent, said. | No other trains were inconven-' ienced, he said. _ A new wiggling plastic worm I has been devised for fishermen who hate to dig for bait. . Photo h\ %Va»*on WILBUR G. DEES SECOND FROM LEFT ABOVE. IS SWORN INTO OFFICE AS MAYOR of Pascagoula in a brief ceremony Tuesday in City Hall. Administering the oath is Vertis Rim sey. right, circuit court clerk. Witnessing are city commissioners V. P. DeJean. left, and H. C. Errll. 4 3 Photo by WatiOi ® Mother Greets Moody At Front Gate Til Slick Close To Home/ Says Billy Frank Moody Billy Frank Moody, ek-lnmate of Camp 6, Mississippi state pen itentiary, spent his first night in 10 years as a free man sitting at. a table in his mother's home in Kreole. / On the table were a radio re ceiver and a transmitter, the fruits of Mriody's labor and the instruments by which he nearly lost his chances for freedom. "I was listening to some of the hoys talking on the receiver," said Moody, “Sort of offhanded I threw the switch on the trans mitter. Turns Switch Off “ 'Oh, oh,’ I said to myself, ‘it you put it on you’ve broke the law.’ So I turned it off." Moody, now a blue-eved, blond six-footer of 2!). is known at'ound the world as "the broadcasting con.” It was he who was "discovered” in October conducting unlicensed radio broadcasts from his prison cell and trusty's guard booth at the Parchman prison. Since August he had been work ing for a suspension of sentence j The furore following his '‘discov ery” came near costing him that | suspension. The daily press carried sensa- ' tional stories indicating that a ! desperate criminal had been un- j covered using an illicit radio transmitter in d campaign to gain 1 his freedom. Could Have Been Goat Because unlicensed broadcast inf! is against FCC rules, state anti prison authorities easily could have made Moody the goat to cover un their own red-faces. Hut Supt. Marvin Wiggins at Parchman and Gov. Wright, both of whom knew of Moody's hard earned knowledge of radio, as sured the Chronicle-Star and Ad vcrtiser that the publicity would not affect their views on Moody’s, case. “Newspapers called me from London. England, and Paris. France." said Moody, "wanting; to talk to me. Rut Mr Wiggins wouldn't even talk to them him self." The Chronicle on Oci. 28 ran the ungarbled story of Moody and his offense. “If it hadn't been for the Chronicle's story and editorial (Nov. 41,” Moody said Thursday. “I don't know what would have happened to me, “That story was read over the air by dozens of hams and when the editorial came out it was read too. It sure made me feel better to know the real storv was being told. “The first of my friends to read lhe story out was Bud Felder of Tvlertown. His call is W5FSS. Then Robert Barr. W5GHF. of Spring Hill, La., read it and the editorial. I want to thank all my hundreds friends on the 75-meter, band who wrote me and sent me messages after that.” Sentenced For Holdup Moony, who has spent all his manhood to date as a convict, was sent to prison attcr a 5>Jo noicnip of a Wade grocery. His sentence whs seven years. "It was hard, awful hard, at first," he explains. "The state farm then was not like it is now. : It was mean We chopped cotton all day, from tight to dark. The i guards were mean. "After I’d been there two years, the last of the boys who went up with me was turned loose. I was still there. I just figured there was no hope. So I took to the woods." That was the first of three es cape attempts that brought Moody’s sentence up to 65 years and classed him as a “three-time loser." As are "lifers,” he was not eligible for a suspension until he had served 10 years. Studied At Night After his last escape. Moody settled down. He began a corre spondence course in radio. "I studied all night sometime trying to learn from a book. They wouldn't let me have a light in the cell cause it bothered the oth i ert. But, I paid somebody two-bits [to let me stay in the toilet with I iny book. “Sometimes during the day I'd -hop cotton arid not even sec it. Thinking about something in the j book I couldn't understand.” But he finished the course, re-1 reived a diploma. Every penny j uf the money he got went into ra- j dio equipment. He built receivers, .transmitters, table models and portables, began repairing the nVison radios. To his knowledge he added that of electricity and became the most valuable handy man in camp. Then he began experimenting with the range of his transmitters. Soon he could broadcast thou sands of miles. “I had a lot of fun. 1 told people I was broadcasting from Vancleave. Some of them asked questions, but nobody ever got suspicious. “They knew T was doing it down here at home. When my brother-in-law’s brother was killed in Puerto Rico I got the de tails from a ham there and sent them to the family here. I tallked to lots of friends here.” he read the Chronicle’s story over the air. After that I got letters from all over the country. They were the nicest letters a man ever received.” About his future. Moodv is de termined. ‘ I’m going to stick close to home for six months till I get this off me. I’m going to try to work up a radio repair business at home. "Maybe soon the governor’ll giv'e me a pardon. I’ve got to get mv citizenship back before I can , take the FCC exam for a radio j license. If I do get it I want to get a job as radio operator on a ship.” The ham grapevine is evident- ] ly all-knowing. Several days he- 1 foie his suspension was an nounced Moody said he began1 hearing over the radio strange talk about the “contract for. W5BNK." The “contract,” he said, “was the suspension awaiting the gov ernor’s signature. One ham said one night that the ‘top man signed that W5BNK contract to iav.’ 1 knew what it meant. Knew FCC Was Coming About the alleged “hectic 20 day search" made by FCC inspec- j bu s before they “uncovered" i Moody: Ho laughs. “Three days before they came and took my transmitters away I knew they were on to me. "A fellow over near the river, he s a ham too, couldn't .get his i signal out when I was on the air. | He had me reported. They knew j where I was. lots of hams did. A friend came to me and told fna the FCC was coming. There wasn't anything hid. How could t hide transmitters in the prison?" Moody used the call W5BNK in the broadcasts. "I was pretty low when they , took the rig.” Moody confesses. I sat and listened to the hame talking about it. Bud Felder came ln the first night and told all of hem that there was another ••irle (Continued On Page 8) • - - J—-1 Tuna Plant! The Associated Press reported from San Diego Thursday that construction of a §300,000 tuna cannery at Pascagoula may be gin in February. Cecil Drake, spokesman for a group of San Diego tuna boat owners,'the story said, announced that negotiations for the cannery site are expected to be completed in Pascagoula next week. Drake said the local plant would bo supplied by 10 boats, some moved from California. Drake and M. D. Marsh of the South Pacific Canning Co., Long Beach, Calif., had planned to be in Pascagoula this week, but no tified local officials that they bad to fly suddenly to the west coast. They are expected here next Wednesday to confer with citi zens and officials. All day efforts by the Chronicle Star and Advertiser to reach Marsh by phone Thursday failed. He was "in conference” at San Pedro, a coast town a few miles north of Long Beach. Mayors Support Bloodmobile Visit Here Next Week The Red Cross bloodmobile will make its third visit to Jackson county next Thursday from P a. m. to 3:30 p. m. It will be parked at First Methodist church Pascagoula. Quota for the visit has been set at 200 pints. On the past two trips, quota was 73. Each time dona tions exceeded that amount. Use More Than Received "Nevertheless,” said H. Doyle Magee, public information chair man for the program, "during thr past six months Jackson enuntians have used blood considerably in excess of the amount obtained during the two previous visits.” The cities of Moss Point and Pascagoula have officially en dorsed the grogram. Mayors F. W. Cirlot and Wilbur G. Dees ask that all citizens plan to contribute. As a result of the program, they pointed out, cost of transfusions at the county hospital have dropped from $20 to $50 in the past down to $5, which represents laboratory fees. Blood costs noth ing to patients. Chairman of the program is George W. Noe. Recruiting chair man is Alton Mansfield. Meeting Lays Plans Plans for the visit next week were made at a meeting attended by program leaders and represen tatives of cooperating groups. The latter were Daniel Steinhauer, Lions; George Steele, country club: Frank Waters, VFW. Joe A. Moore, Civic Council and American Legion; Miss Dottie Daniel. Eastern Star and Pasca goula Music club; Mrs. H. B. Moore, Junior Woman's club. Charles Bush. Kiwanis; Mrs. E. L. Brantley, county hospital and Arts and Crafts club; Miss Bar bara Holman, county hospital, and Miss Billie Koch. Young Women’s Business club and Paspoint Lit tle Theater. Pascagoula Firm Low Bidder On Wayne Hospital Pascagoula's G. and K. Con struction Company was low bid der at opening of bids Tuesdav for construction of a new Wayne county hospital in Waynesboro. The local company’s hid, one i of 16 presented the lioard of su pervisors. was $150,842. Contract will be awarded at the January meeting of the board. The firm is operated by C. G. Baskin and W. Guy Krebs. Jr. The 25-bed hospital will be of brick, and operating rooms will] ic at*-conditioned. rWBC DINNER MONDAY IT LONGFELLOW HOUSE The YWBC will hold its Christ nas dinner at Longfellow House Vlonday at 7:30 p. m. County Dredge uoming To Pascagoula As Work On Seawall Extension Begins Ditch To Bo Dug Between 2 Rivers; Beach To Be Made The county dredge is scheduled to arrive in Pascagoula late this week to start work on several jobs including the pumping in of a new sand beach along the sea wall. Beat Three Supervisor Joe V. Krebs said Tuesday. The dredge will be towed here from Ocean Springs where it has been working since it was put into operation in early September. Seawall Work Starts Meanwhile, work also started this week on extension of the seawall approximately 1500 feet to the east. Construction is of concrete pile and slab. When it is completed, a fill will be pumped in behind it and the road paral leling will be repaired and black topped, Mr. Krebs said. First job the dredqe will un dertake. Mr. Krebs said, is dredg ing of a channel to the west from the mouth of the Pascagoula river for the benefit of commercial and sports fishermen. The former channel was fil’ed in bv the spoils from the deep ening of the river and it is now necessary for small craft to go well out into the sound to find sufficient depth of water to reach fishing, grounds off the mouth of the West river. Channel 40 Feel Wide The channel, which will be cut through the mud lump just out of the mouth of the East liver, will be approximately 40 feet wide and six to eight feet deep, Mr. Krebs said. The dredge will also be used to cut out a sandbar in the Pasca goula river near Vancleave which has been handicapping the barg ing of paperwood down the river. Mr. Krebs said. When this is completed, the dredge will begin operation on the beach front, with the first pumping to be done in front of Beach park, Mr. Krebs said. Groins .Being Completed The creosoted timber groins in this area are being completed and it is believed they will hold the sand beach once it is pumped in. The dredge will have little dif ficulty in finding sand deposits for pumping in the beach along the seawall. Mr. Krebs said. The 1947 and 1948 hurricanes largely swept away the former sand beach. Mr. Krebs also said that later plans call for dredging a chan nel fronr Bayou Casotte into the sound and for the cleaning out of the channel in Krebs lake. OLDEST CHILDREN S PROGRAM f New York — (AP) — Because it dates back to 1930. “Let's Pre tend,” Saturday morning? on CBS, classifies itself as the “old est children’s program on the net works.” All that time it has been I produced and directed by Nila I Mack. Up-Stale Firm Is Low Bidder On Dock Work The bid of W. R. Fairchild of Hattiesburg was low among 11 submitted Tuesday for extension of the Pascagoula city dock and construction of a concrete foun dation for a proposed warehouse. Bids were opened at elty ball at a joint meeting of the port commission and the Pascagoula board of mayor and commis sioners. The Fairchild bid for the work totaled $135,341.24. Other bids submitted, exclusive of alternate prices, were: Other Bids E. A. Caldwell, Baton Rougp, S143.294.6P, Arnold V. Wallker Shipyard, $143,781.46; Ernest Con struction Co., Mobile, $143,769.96; Byrd & Bruns Bridge Co., New Orleans, $148,890.20; Hancock Co. and Espy Paving & Construction Co., Savannah. $149,267.38. Bernard & Byrd. Mobile, $158, 181.09: J. P. Ewin Co.. Mobile. $162,960.27; J. Ray McDermott Co., Harvey. La., $159,341.24; W. Horace Williams Co., Now Or leans. $167,524.42; R. P. Farns worth. Inc.. New Orleans, $178, 674.46. All bids were taken under ad visement by the city apd port (Continued On Page 8) Ocean Springs Votes On Moore Plant Bond Issue Voters of'Beat 4 will go to the polls Saturday to decide whether or not a $100,000 bond issue may be floated for BAWI support of the proposed E. R. Moore Co. gar ment factory in Ocean Springs. Polls will be open from 8 a. m. until 6 p. m. Voters must be list ed on the poll books, but poll tax receipts will not be needed. Voting will be in the five pre cincts: West Pascagoula, at Gau tier school; Fontainebleau, at the Community House; North Ocean Springs, at City Hall; South Ocean Springs, at the new Com munity House, and Jacobs, at St. Martin school. The Moore firm, largest manu facturers of caps and gowns used by judges, academies and fratern al groups, decided last month to locate a plant at Ocean Springs. They said they will need a build ing of 20,000 square feet. BAWI sanction was granted in Jackson the following week. The company has said it will employ 150 women full time. The plant is expected to be in opera tion by April 1. Negotiations with Moore were conducted by A. P. Moran. Beat 4 supervisor, and State Rep. Hermes Gautier. Buck Furby Goes To Hightower Home; Funds Needed For Permanent Care Buck Furhy was moved from the county hospital Tuesday hut. thanks to the kindness of the* people of Jackson county, he did not go back to the tilth and neglect that roused public sentiment a few weeks ago. This time, the almost totally paralyzed 20-year-old youth went to the home of Mrs. W. B. Hightower. 1800 Elder Ferry rd. with expenses paid by pub lic contribution. Fund Raised Slowly A fund for the support of Furby was begun under spon sorship of the welfare commit tee of the Elks club, of which J. F. Velcich is chairman. In dustries. organizations and in dividuals cooperated and to date $325.53 has been raised, Mr. Velcjch said. A doubleheader basketball game will be played Tuesday, by the Cy Rape girls' team of Gulfport and the Mobile Pulley Works girls and by a Pasca goula-Moss Point all-star men's team and an undecided oppon ent at the Moss Point gym. The games were arranged after play ers on the teams volunteered to | stage the tilts to augument the Furby fund. The girls' games will be at 7:30 p. m. and tha men’s at 8:30 p. m. Members of the local men’s team are M. J. “Red” Bullock, D. B. “Mutt" Floyd, Boyce “Venus” Jones. Manus Bart ling. Charles Olsen. Perry Gau tier and Alfred Moore. Cared For Buck Last Year Buck is not a stranger in the Hightower home' Mr. High tower is a stepson of Buck’s father by a former marriage and the helpless boy was cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Hightower j for five months a year or so . ago. One of several children, the youngest of whom is less than two years, Bucl? lay helpless for nearly 14 years in the midst of poverty and want. A kindly neighbor. Mrs. John Woodcock, saw the youth lying in his bed in the doorway of the ramshackle house (for which the family pays an absentee ' landlord S10 a month rent) and when investigation proved he was intermittently fed and nev (Continued On Page 8)