The Crowley Post-Signal from Crowley, Louisiana • 1

Weather Forecast South Louisiana: Partlv 41. -rm tonight and SatuX fttatoltn Bails BASEBALL TONIGHT MILLERS vs. PELS 8PM MILLEB STADIUM VOLUME 55 CROWLEY, LOUISIANA, FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1954 5c NUMBER 193 Army Secretary Under Senators To Hear More Witnesses In Federal II Cross-Examination By Committee Counsel Housing Scandal Probe WASHINGTON UR-The govern-1 merit's chief criminal Trade Barriers Said Slowing US Cotton Exports United States Accuses Reds Of Ordering Murder -The United States ST Russia today of pursuing deliberately outrageous fn "ncmllzed conduct by order-SSnt Trder of a Russian emi-5 fhf Germany and he brutal kidnaping" of another in Berlin. High Commissioner Walter Dowling made the charges in a letter to V. S.

Semyenov, Soviet nigh commissioner in Germany. Dowling referred to the case of Nikolai E. Khokhlov, Soviet Secret ohce captain who switched sides after being sent to the American zone of Germany to kill a leading member of the anti-Soviet NTS refugee organization, and of Dr. Alexander Truchnovich, a West Berlin committeeman of the group, who had disappeared April 13 Instead of committing the murder, Khokhlov gave himself up to American authorities Feb. .20, requesting protection and political asylum.

He rennrtfri rlotaiic nt NEW ORLEANS UP) A leading textile official said today artificial and discriminatory trade barriers in foreign countries were causing a sharp decline in the volume of U.S. cotton goods exports. Matthew J. Cuffe of New York, president of the Textile Export Association of the United States, told the annual meeting of the American Cotton Manufacturers Institute there was nothing to indicate a reversal of the downward trend in cotton exports. But he cautioned against an attitude of defeatism.

"Vigorous action by the entire textile industry, with the cooperation of government agencies, could remove discriminatory barriers against U.S. goods, he said. Removal of the barriers, he said, would bring increased stability to the industry and help solve the raw cotton surplus problem. Cuffe said the U.S. cannot hope to compete on a price basis with the cotton goods staples of Japan, nor the high-priced, specially woven goods of Western Europe that cannot be adapted to mass production.

But, he said, in the so-called middle ground, U.S. cotton textiles good, president of the Crowley Chamber of Commerce; 'Rep. W. J. Cleveland of Acadia parish; Rep.

Fred V. Ducuir Iberia parish; and Rev. Alvin Dyson of Cameron parish. groder, representative Allen parish; A. N.

Turcan, geological service. Baton Rouge; Malcolm Daugherty, president Louisiana Farm Bureau, Baton Rouge; Mrs. Gladney Hoffpauir, Vermilion Farm Bureau, Indian Bayou; Mrs. R. S.

Parrott, representative of St. Landry; and Rep. Ed Landry of Vermilion. Standing, left to right, are Rep. M.

E. Girard of Lafayette parish, Rep. Claude Kirkpatrick of Jeff Davis parish, Jack Hob- AT WATER MEET Present at the meeting in Crowley Thursday when the freshwater shortage in Southwest Louisiana was discussed were the above pictured dignitaries. They are (left to right seated) Dr. M.

V. Har- Warren Olney III, was asked to tell senators today about reports thousands of home owners have been fleeced on repair work fi nanced with government-insured loans. Olney, Guy T. O. Hollyday, ousted last week as head of the Fed i LHSJng Administration JHA), and Norman P.

Mason his accessor, headed a list of witnesses in the Senate Banking Committee's probe of multimillion-dollar housing scandals. As head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Olney has been investigating the home-loan racket for several months Albert M. Cole, head of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, has said some home owners have been charged as much as double the value of work done under FHA-insured loans. He said there were many cases of slipshod work, promises by salesmen of "rebates" that were never paid, and instances where high-pressure home improvement salesmen roamed around the country in bands using the FHA program to "exploit families inexperienced in lending activities." Olney was reported to have played a major role in a White House decision last week to break the housing scandals into the open. Since then five top FHA officials have been relieved of their jobs, by or discharge.

Arthur J. Frentz, assistant commissioner in charge of the home-repair program, was fired yesterday, with a statement from Mason that he had evidence of any illegal activities on the part of Mr. Arthur Frentz." Frentz said he and his superiors had come to a "pleasant and friendly" parting. Hollyday, the only ousted official who had been appointed during the Eisenhower administration, demanded a second chance to testify before the committee to "clarify the record" made by Cole last Tuesday. Cole testified that Holly -day's resignation had been asked by President Eisenhower partly because Hollyday wrote a "laudatory" letter accepting the resignation of an unnamed high FHA official who, Cole said, was under investigation for collecting money in teturn for FHA commitments and for heavy gambling.

Charges of scandal and "windfall" profits have centered on two phases of the over-all housing program (1) FHA-insured loans for large-scale rental housing projects and (2) insured loans up to $2,500 for home repairs. global Soviet network he said was cannot be surpassed in price or Atchafalaya Water Sought By Legislative Group For Southwest Sector Of State NEWS In Brief By The Associated Press SEOUL South Korea has asked the United States for an additional military aid grant of 160 million dollars, a Republic of Korea official said today. quality. "There are no miUs in the world which can produce denim, per cales, chambrays, vat-dyed twills and drills, corduroys, sheets, towels and other items at prices equal to ours when quality factors are taken into consideration," he said. The "so-called middle classes in many countries" were the ones to whom U.S.

textiles appealed, Cuffe added. Cuffe said the U.S. is the only major exporting nation which showed a drop in cotton goods exports in 1953, faUing from first to fourth place, behind Japan, the United Kingdom and India. He termed the rise of foreign competition only one. factor in the weakening of the U.S.

position in (Continued On Page Five) PARIS A dispatch from Hanoi disclosed today a French woman nurse is tending the wounded in besieged Dien Bien Phu. A French Press Agency dispatch said she is the only woman in the beleaguered fortress, alone among thousands of men. The nurse's name was not given. PLANS FOR LOCAL SUMMER READING CLUB ANNOUNCED WASHINGTON President Eisenhower took off at 9 a. m.

today for a three-stop tour of Kentucky. His first stop was at Ft. Knox for a military review. He then planned to speak at Hodgenvilie, birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, and at Transylvania College i Lexington. ueaicateo to -'sabotage, assassination, kidnaping and other violent clandestine activities." Backing his story, the U.S.

Army presented Khokhlov at a news conference in Bonn yesterday. Armv officers also displayed innocent-looking but deadly weapons furnished for the assassination trv. They included specially-silenced electrically-fired pistols and devices which fired lead pellets containing cyanide poison from a dummy cigarette case. In his letter to Semyenov, the f.cting U.S. high commissioner said Khokhlov identified himself as a captain of the Soviet Secret Police, MVD, and stated that he had come to West Germany "by order of the Soviet government to carry out the assassination of Georgi S.

Oko-lovich," member of the NTS executive committee in Frankfurt. Dowling quoted in detail Khokh-lov's orders and preparations for the murder, adding the Russian said he refused to perform his mission because it was "repugnant to his conscience and contrary to humanitarian principles." On Feb. 25, Dowling continued, two East German agents assigned to Khokhlov, identified as Hans Kukowitsch and Kurt Weber, were taken into custody by U.S. authorities in Frankfurt "and confessed their complicity in the assassination attempt." "In the possession of Kukowitsch and Weber," he wrote, "were assassination weapons consisting of two automatic 7-millimeter noiseless pistols and two devices disguised as cigarette cases containing an electrically-operated mechanism for the discharge of poisoned pellets." Dowling satd Khokhlov had begged the United States to ask the Soviet government to let his wife, Elena Adamovna Khokhlova, and their infant son travel to West Germany to rejoin him. Both are living in Moscow.

Khokhlov told newsmen yesterday his "wonderful wife" had appealed to him not to carry out the murder plot. He said that if his story was publicized, "The Soviet government will not dare to kiil my wife." Dowling noted that the switch (Continued On Page Five) to ans Underway WASHINGTON Secretary of the Army Stevens testified today that Sen. McCarthy proposed to him last September, when G. David Schine was about to be drafted as a private, that Schine be given a special assignment to dig out Communists in the Army. Stevens said McCarthy said he thought Schine should be made a special assistant to the secretary, or a special assistant in Army Intelligence.

Testifying under cross-examination in the second day of the Senate investigation into the row between McCarthy and top Army officials, Stevens said the proposition was made to him in the Waldorf Towers apartment of Schine's wealthy parents, Mr. and Mrs Meyer Schine. He said McCarthy invited him the apartment. Stevens testified under questioning of Ray Jenkins, special counsel in the nationally televised inquiry by the Senate Investigations subcommittee. The secretary also told the subcommittee that young Schine now 27 and a private in the Army told him last October that he (Stevens) was doing "a good job in ferreting out Communists" in the Army.

Schine was formerly an unpaid consultant to the McCarthy Committee in its probe for subversive influences. A key issue in the hearing is whether McCarthy and his top aides brought improper pressure on the Army to get pie-ferred treatment for Schine. Stevens testified at the outset today that one of his first official acs as secretary was to order a checkup en security and loyalty procedures. In response to Jenkins' questions, Stevens related that he took the oath as secretary of Army on Feb. 4, 1953, and on Feb.

6 issued a directive calling for a complete review of loyalty and security procedures. He said he told his subordinates, "you have a new secretary now, and he has some definite ideas about it." As on yesterday's opening day, there was a packed crowd of spectators in the hearing room. About 35 persons were standing outside, waiting for a chance to get in if any spectators left. Stevens said as a result of the review he ordered, many changes and improvements had been made in the Army's effort to protect itself against espionage or subversives. Jenkins asked if Stevens thought the Army had been "always on the alert" in that respect.

"That is correct," Stevens replied. Stevens said the review of measures for protection against espionage or subversives covered both military and civilian personnel. Jenkins asked Stevens if this subject had "top billing and priority with you." "It did," Stevens replied. Stevens, under further questioning by Jenkins, testified he first learned of McCarthy's investigation of communism in the Army by reading a newspaper account while vacationing in Montana. Stevens said he immediately wired McCarthy, saying he would oppose communism in the Army to the limit of his ability.

Stevens related that he returned to Washington and got in touch with McCarthy. Stevens said he later met with (Continued On Page Five) Cancer Drive Workers Listed By Chairman CROWLEY, La. Workers for the Cancer Drive being conducted in Crowley under the sponsorship of the Beta Delphians have been announced by Mrs. Paul R. Puis-segur, general chairman.

The workers who will canvass the residential and business section are P. F. Tooke, Beau Green-wald, Mesdames Gene Riggs, Kelly Spell, Lawrence Libby, Lawrence Walther, Lorin Hoyt, Albert Gueno, R. S. Johnston, E.

E. Wild, Nathan Ostrich, Jack Golden, Bob Jones, Dave Antis, Renus Hebert, Mitt Holloway, C. O. Hill, Leon Lapleau, Millard Roberts, E. G.

Keller, H. O. Taylor, Norwood King, J. H. Williamson, Jack R.

Smith, Arthur LeBlanc, Ernst Toepfer, Claud Spell, L. O. Fre-maux, J. J. Cassidy, Ralph Van Fosson, A.

D. Gueno, Louir Guidry, Wilton Thibodeaux, O. A. Doty, Gaston Butaud, Maurice La-Grange, Ed Regan, John Terro. The drive in the Negro section of Crowley is being sponsored by Excelsior chapter 84, Order of the Eastern Star, with Mrs.

V. W. Amos as chairman. Workers are C. F.

Mansfield, Lawrence Francis, Cleveland Harmon, Mesdames J. R. May, C. L. Easley, M.

M. Byers, A. Webber, A. Harmon, G. Pete, D.

P. Francis, G. E. Smith, R. Wilson, H.

G. Reuben, E. G. Green, S. Wilkins, E.

Harmon, M. Harmon, F. Mayfield, R. Reese and L. Reed.

Mrs. Puissegur urged that contributions be sent in as soon as possible and those having envelopes in the residential section pass them on so that the drive may be completed through the neighbor to neighbor policy. "DEAR RUTH" TO END FIVE-DAY RUN SATURDAY CROWLEY. La. The Crowley Little Theatre production of "Dear Ruth" kept the crowded audience in laughter from beginning to pnd at the third night presentation Thursday.

The comedy by Norman Krasna is being presented as the last play of the current season. A favorite of the audience was the teen-age sister of Ruth, Miriam Wilkins, portrayed by Rici Scholl, who was very much at ease and a natural in her role. The parts of Judge Harry Wilkins played by Jay Hoffpauir and Mrs. Edith Wilkins, Hilda Fonte-not, show the typical problems of modern parents. Ruth, who becomes engaged to two men at once is enacted Suzette Menou.

Her fiances, Lt. William Seawright and Albert Kummer, are played by L. C. Melancon, and George Cu-trer, respectively. Other members of the outstanding cast includes Dora played by Leta Murphy; Martha Seawright, Sammy Gayle Rue, Sgt.

Chuck Vincent, Dwight Lyons; and Harold Klobbermeyer, Ray Allen Meche. Reservations for tonight were all filled according to a report made CROWLEY, La. Plans for the summer reading club at the Crowley branch of the Acadia Parish Library, under the sponsorship of the North Crowley Elementary Parent-Teachers Association, were made at a committee meeting at the library on Wednesday and Thursday. Material was assembled by the group of mothers, and an outline of the competition set up. The markers by which the children will gauge their progress this year will be in the form of "bookworms," fat and green, with a new segment added as 10 additional books are completed.

I previous years a baseball field and a swimming pool have been used. The chiMren will also be divided into two teams, the ones with the green "bookworm" and the ones with the pink "bookworm," with competition between the teams. Assisting Mrs. Leslie Roberts, Crowley librarian, were Mesdames M. M.

Buchanan, Tracy Wilmoth, Jack Smith, Tom Potts, N. J. Jackson, and Max Thomas, of North Crowley school, and Mesdames Raymond Butler, B. C. Mader and Homer Barousse of St.

Michael's. Tickets Go On Sale For Musical Comedy CROWLEY, La. Tickets went on sale today in Crowley for the Broadway production of "Annie Get Your Gun," colorful musical comedy that will be presented here in the high school gymnasium next Thursday under the sponsorship of the Crowley Lions Club. The members of the sponsoring civic group stated they took pride in being able to book a touring Broadway company for the people of Crowley inasmuch as it will be the first time for many of the residents to see a successful musical comedy production on the stage. Dancing, singing, comedy antics, and sparkling nit tunes that caused the production to run more than two years on Broadway will be seen and heard in Crowley next Thursday be area residents.

The Crowley Lions Club is sponsoring the production as a benefit for the eyesight conservation program of the club. Tickets may be obtained at Wager's Pharmacy. Mrs. Ashley To Be Honored At Legion Banquet CROWLEY, La. A banquet to honor Mrs.

Thelma Ashley, state president of the American Legion Auxiliary and member of the local unit, and Louis Dawson of New Orleans, Legion department commander will be held at the Legion home Saturday, May 22 at 8 p. m. At the same time dedication will be held for the new annex to the Legion home. The event is being co-sponsored by the American Legion, Acadia Post, and Legion Auxiliary, Unit i5, and serving as general chairmen are Mrs. Mary Lou Knight and Milton Reed.

An advance ticket sale is being conducted and tickets are available from Legion and Auxiliary members. To Blast Well Near Gueydan GUEYDAN, Ml Famed firefighter Myron Kinley made plans today to dynamite a blazing oil well that continued for the second day to spout a baU of flame 75-150 feet in the air. Officials of the Pure Oil Co. said Kinley and two assistants arrived late yesterday from Houston, at the site of the well 3 miles east of here. Kinley plans to approach the roaring well with a shield-protected crane and drop a dynamite charge jnto the mouth of the well, company officials said.

It was expected two or three days would be needed to build the heat-resistant shields, they said, and in the meantime, the well would continue burning. The well, located about three miles east of Gueydan, blew out early yesterday with a terrific inn flamps and black this morning and from the large crowds the play is attracting stories of family life have proved to be favorites with Crowley Little Theatre audiences. CROWLEY, La. Legislators of Southwest Louisiana, headed by Senator Guy Gardiner as chairman, on Thursday in a meeting in Crowley, banded together to tackle the problem of tapping the Atchafalaya River to bring fresh water into the Mermentau-Vermilion Basins. At the end of an all day session, the legislators unanimously adopted a resolution, introduced by Sam Jones of Lake Charles, former governor, to ask the legislature to work on the problem of creating a pumping plant on the Atchafalaya at Hamburg, with a relift at Washington, to send fresh water into the Mermentau and Vermilion rivers, and of setting up the Southwest Louisiana Water Conservation District to administer these installations and to collect taxes to help finance them.

The resolution included also the request that the legislature work on a low level dam up above Lake Charles to prevent salt water encroachment north of that station; that an appropriation of $100,000 be made to finance a study of the proposed project to close Southwest Pass and another appropriation of $25,000 to make a study of the damage that might be caused to the wildlife by the closing of Southwest Pass. The legislature will be asked to supply half of the funds needed, and the district, the other half. Representative W. J. Cleveland pledged his cooperation and assistance 100 percent in spearheading the appropriation measure through the House.

Every Senator" and Representative present was named by Senator Gardiner as a member of the committee to 'meet with members of the Department of Public Works to draw up the bills to present the projects to the legislature. The action came following long discussions of all proposals to solve the problem of fresh water for the rice crop of Southwest Louisiana. Roy T. Sessums, director of the Department of Public Works, outlined the proposals which have been studied by his department during the past two years. H.

N. Harrison, engineer for the department, outlined in detail the working of each proposal, explaining the benefits and hazards. He slated that the present shortage of water in the Vermilion basin amonnts to about 153,000 acre feet annually but that in 1980 the present need of 274,000 acre feet will have been increased to 352,000 acre feet. The closing of Southwest Pass wiB cost about $1,000,000 but reallocation of navigation will add $6,000,000 to that project, he said. Ku Myers, chief engineer for the department, expressed the belief that exclusive of the salt water situation, this project is a "well justified project." The need for further study of the project was emphasized, however, when Sessums said that the department would not recommend that the project be undertaken until the Vicksburg Water Experiment Station of the U.

S. Engineers could create a model of the project and determine what the outcome would be. The present belief is that the closing of Southwest Pass would create a fresh water reservoir of Vermilion Bay because the currents would carry fresh wat-(Continued On Page Five) Paratroopers Reach Indochina To smoke 150 feet skywards and rous Defenders Of Dien Bien Phu Crowley Priest Brands As False New Orleans Story He Appealed For Support For Political Group ing sleeping Gueydan resiueiiis. injuries were repoi ieu uui bmpany officials estimated dam age at $300,000. The blowout destroyed the derrick.

Company officials said no trace of it was found. By JOHN RODERICK SAIGON, Indochina ffi American-airlifted paratroopers from France began pouring into Indochina today as the desperate French defenders of Dien Bien Phu battled new Vitftminh attacks on their hard-hit northwest defenses. The first of a fleet of huge U. S. Air Force C124 Globemasters mihH Hown hrieflv in Saigon to The well, the first drilled in ims rea, blew out at 11.440 feet.

I In nHHitinn tr drilling equip ment, the flames destroyed two lea by automobiles. Construction Of Catholic Chapel In Midland Begun MIDLAND, La. The goal of the Midland Ladies Altar Society, a Catholic chapel in Midland, loomed in sight this week as construction the chapel got well underway after less than a year of planning and fund-raising. The building, to cost about $6,000, will be of frame and asbestos siding, and it is being constructed by El-des Thibodeaux, Lyons Point, and Ulysse Coraeaux, carpenters, on a site south of the railroad. The approximately 20 members of the altar society, which was organized last May, have earned $2,000 of the cost in less than a year and they have obtained an additional $4,000 from the Exten sion Society.

The officers who head the group are Mrs. Thomas Romero, president; Mrs. Edward Marceaux, vice-president; and Mrs. Ben Stutes, secretary-treasurer. The ladies are making plans presently to continue their fund projects with a gumbo on May 3 at Guidry's Cafe in Midland.

They have started on the fund for the furnishings of the church. The men of the community are helping with the labor, and each day mort than 20 men gather at the chapel at the end of their day's work and do what can be done to help further the project. Pastor for the church is the Rev. Father M. J.

H. Cramers of If you are a Daily Signal Sub day with 220 beret-wearing French scriber by Carrier Pia Remember jump-troops wno were rusneu of Paris' Orly Field Tuesday. Tho tntal number being ferried airlift's American crew. The reinforcements were sorely needed at Dien Bien Phu, the be-leagured French fortress in northwest Indochina where the Communist-led Vietminh are going all out for a major victory to influence the impending Geneva conference on Far Eastern affairs. There today the rebel troops smashed again into the northwest defenses of the shrinking French Union fortress and a French communique said fierce hand to hand fighting was in progress.

The brief French communique did not indicate whether the continuing see-saw battle for the northwest defenses was the start of the anticipated third mass try at overrunning the battered French defenses on the encircled plain. The Vietminh were driven out of some forward points in the northwest corner yesterday by fierce counterattacks. Th French claimed the enemy suffered "heavy losses." out by the American Air Force in TOMORROW Is Pay Day For Your CROWLEY, La. A Crowley priest Thursday took issue and branded as false a story published in the Louisiana Weekly, a New Orleans publication devoted to Negro affairs, in which it was stated that a priest's appeal on the Sunday before the April 13 Democratic primary election here was a factor in bringing victory to the ticket known as the Team of Progress. While the article in question did not identify the priest, the Rev.

Charles Mqrrissey, pastor of St. Theresa's Catholic church for the Negro residents of Crowley, said that the article could not possibly refer to any other than him. Father Morrissey made his remarks Thursday afternoon after The Daily Signal reprinted the viewpoint of the New Orleans newspaper on the Crowley election. The Louisiana Weekly sent a reporter to Crowley to view and cover the Crowley election on A-pril 13. To substantiate his assertion that the Louisiana Weekly made erroneous reporting where he was concerned, Father Morrissey asked that delegations of his parish-oners and members of Protestant churches be heard on the subject.

At 3 p. m. Thursday, eight Negro women appeared at the office BOY of The Daily Signal and unanimously held that Father Morrissey at no time urged Negro voters to vote for any one particular candidate. They said that the priest had urged his parishioners to vote, but to vote their own convictions. The delegation pointed out that the priest had offered the church hall to all of the candidates to allow them to bring their messages to the Negro voters.

The delegation stated that the priest did not at any time attend political meetings. Two of the Delegation said that they were not aware tf the assertion made in the New Orleans publication until it was reprinted in the column, "The Little Signal," on Wednesday. Members of the delegation from three Protestant churches also added that their pastors had urged their congregations to vote but did not at any time ask for the support of particular candidates. The delegation was composed of Bertha Moultry, Alma Briggs. and Hilda A i of the Catholic church, Edwina Prade and Octavia Henry of the Methodist church, Virga Moultry of Christ Sanctified church, and Lela Mae Hill and Bessie Mae Peterson of the Baptist church.

jLjj At 5 p. m. Thursday a delega-(Continued On Page Five) ni- rioiiv carrier boy la Junior Merchant. He is in busi- uppk no his papers from The Dail pnal office and depends upon ii pvt'RV SI B- infill CRIBER. The difference In what receives the hurry-up move to save uwn Bien Phu was a military secret.

Advices from Paris aid the Americans possibly woud airlift 1,000 troops in 10 planes. En route they were forced to detour from the direct Europe-to-Asia commercial route to refuel at the British base, at Colombo, Cevlon India's Prime Minister Nehru announced that his, government would permit no foreign troops to cross Indian territory, by air or by any other route. Dispatches from Colombo said three of the giant, troop-packed Globemasters landed there yesterday and two more came in today. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, was their next stop before Saigon. Two hundred and twenty jump-troops, wearing their characters' berets, were aboard the first Giobemaster landed here by the pays anu wuni om subscribers la his only F.vment for laitniuw.v ----jj ur paper six days a But the rebels came back early today with renewed attacks at this sector, trying for a breakthrough to the heart and nerve center of I the fortress' shrinking perimeter.

Already, by a series of night ii aun pav on time; erchant makes up the difference It OI 1113 0 pULnrk. So Don't Forget--- romorrow Is Pay Day assaults and furious digging and thrusting, the Vietminh had managed to draw their steel ring tighter around the fortress. They (Continued On Pae Five) NEW PRICE FOR USED CAR INDIANAPOLIS A used car lot has a special on one auto- it's priced at 35 cents a pound. for Your Daily Signal Carrier aoyl.