The Charlotte News

Thursday, April 10, 1958

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from Havana that clashes between rebels and Government troops had spread this date in the wake of the previous day's abortive uprising, with the death toll surpassing 40 as bombings, killings and sabotage continued in all six provinces despite an Army claim that everything was quiet. Rebels had burned trucks and buses in three towns of Havana Province and exchanged gunfire with soldiers. The Army said that several rebels had been killed in that exchange. Rebels had shot up three buses in western Havana, wounding a bus driver. Four bombs had exploded in southern Havana, damaging private property. Troops had captured a band of rebels who had taken refuge in a church after sabotaging water and electric power plants at Mariel, near Havana. A worker was killed in Mariel while trying to throw a bomb. Among nearly 30 rebels known to have been killed in Havana was Marcelo Salado, referred to as a Communist terrorist. Police seized arms in raids on rebel hideouts in Havana. Troops clashed with rebels who wrecked communications near Santa Clara in Las Vilas Province, and the Army said that a number had been killed on both sides. One band of rebels had been barricaded in a church. Rebels bombed a bus station in Pinar Del Rio, and police there moved into Army barracks to concentrate the armed forces to cope with any rebel attack. Authorities seized a large arms cache in the town of Artemisa, including machine guns, grenades and firebombs. Telephone and telegraph communications with Oriente Province, the rebel stronghold in eastern Cuba, remained cut. Police were shooting on sight as they undertook a roundup of rebels in Havana and Matanzas, 63 miles to the east, the only two cities to respond to the rebel call for an armed uprising and general strike the previous day. The lieutenants of rebel leader Fidel Castro said that they would try again to overthrow El Presidente Fulgencio Batista, "probably very soon". Instead of the 50,000 armed rebels, whom Sr. Castro said would rise up, probably less than 200 had answered the call. The rebels insisted that the 2.5 hour outbreak had been launched as a rehearsal for the long-promised all-out attack, but they were shocked and bitter that the public had failed to heed their call for a strike, which had been broadcast from briefly captured radio and television stations. In the Government cleanup, heavily armed national police had shot to kill any motorists suspected of carrying weapons. Two men carrying 19 gasoline bombs were taken from an automobile and slain. Another had been shot down when he hurled a gasoline bomb at a police car. By the time Havana had quieted at around midnight, at least 29 rebels had been killed in the capital. Two policemen had been killed in the suburbs and a number had been wounded. The outbreak was the first fighting in Havana since Sr. Castro had called for "total, implacable war" against El Presidente beginning the prior Saturday.

In Miami, Fla., travelers who had seen violence erupt in the previous day's abortive rebel coup had told of rough treatment and close calls. Two U.S. newsmen reported that they had been beaten by Government police and soldiers. Neil Wilkinson, a correspondent for the New York Daily News, said that he was beaten on the arms and back by a national policeman with a "thing like a carriage whip" as he stood watching the police break up a group of youths who were chanting "Fidel, Fidel" on the Prado. He said that the policeman had beaten him until he fled into his nearby hotel. Bernard Brennan, a freelance writer from Connecticut, said that soldiers had banged him with a gun butt and destroyed some of his film as he shot pictures of a machine-gun squad spraying an alley where they were trying to flush out rebels. Mike Manheim of Greensboro, N.C., who had stayed at the Havana Hilton Hotel, said that telephone service had been disrupted after a series of explosions on Wednesday, indicating that a policeman was driving pedestrians to cover by using a bullwhip.

In Seoul, South Korea, crewmen of a South Korean Air Force transport had overpowered one of their mates who tried to hijack the plane at gunpoint to the Communist North this date. The plane's radio man was shot and killed and the pilot and engineer were seriously wounded. The copilot had taken over the controls of the C-46 and landed it in South Korea, 40 miles south of Seoul. It was the second such incident in two months. On February 16, North Koreans had forced two American pilots of a South Korean civilian airliner to fly into North Korea, and later the Communists had released the two Americans and 24 of the 32 others aboard, but were still holding the plane and its cargo. Air Force officials identified the captain who tried to take over the plane, saying that he was about 30 years old and a native of North Pyongyang Province, north of the Communist Korean capital, and that part of his family lived in the North. There appeared to be some belief that the pilot was not necessarily a Communist agent but just wanted to return to his birthplace. An Air Force announcement said that the pilot made the attempt 40 minutes after the plane, with seven South Koreans aboard, had taken off in a flight from Taegu to Seoul. In the ensuing battle, the crew had fought "heroically and courageously" according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. The plane was reported undamaged.

In Burlington, N.C., North Carolina's tobacco-chewing junior Senator Kerr Scott was reported progressing satisfactorily this date after his heart attack suffered the previous day. His doctor said that his condition was serious because all heart attacks were serious. He said that the Senator had rested well and suffered no pain during the night. He was reported alert during the morning, laughing and talking with his brother-in-law who was the chief surgeon at the Alamance General Hospital where the Senator was staying. His doctor said that he was annoyed by one thing, that the doctor had stopped him from the use of tobacco. He was almost always chewing a plug or puffing on a cigar. He had suffered a coronary thrombosis the previous day while he and his wife were taking care of driver's license renewals at nearby Graham. His wife had noted that he was perspiring a great deal and they drove to the Graham office of a physician where the Senator was examined. He then called his regular physician who said that a cardiogram showed the thrombosis, the formation of a blood-impeding clot in the heart. He was then taken to the hospital but a full report on his condition would have to await further examination and analysis. Friends of the Senator said that he had recently reduced his weight to about 175 to 180 pounds after doctors had ordered him a year earlier to go on a diet. He was home from his duties in Congress for the Easter recess.

The President would deliver a nationwide broadcast the following Thursday to outline his proposed reorganization plan for the Pentagon.

Senator John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky predicted this date that a large majority in the Senate would support the President's defense reorganization plan.

The President hoped to fly to Augusta, Ga., the following day for a weekend of golf and rest, with White House press secretary James Hagerty indicating that the trip was contingent on good weather in Augusta and on whether the President was able to clear his desk of work in time.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Christian Pineau said this date that the British-American good offices team had failed to reconcile French and Tunisian views on control of the Tunisian-Algerian border.

In London, the chief of Britain's guided missile program said this date that the hydrogen bomb would eventually ease the armaments burden of both West and East by making big-scale war unthinkable.

The Atomic Energy Commission said this date that no evidence had been found to support a Japanese report that fish and marine life in the western Pacific had been contaminated by radioactive fallout from atomic testing.

In Geneva, the Soviet Union this date proposed that the economic ministers of all European countries and the U.S. meet during the ensuing fall to work out a joint plan to combat the recession.

In New Delhi, India's Communist Party the previous night had unanimously adopted a new constitution designed to win votes away from Prime Minister Nehru's governing Congress Party by making the Communists look respectably democratic.

In Tallahassee, Fla., a City judge this date freed two black youths jailed for violating Tallahassee's unique bus seat assignment law.

In Austin, Tex., an official report was expected this date on the death of Maj. James Doolittle, Jr., son of the famed general who led the first airstrike against the Japanese mainland in World War II in April, 1942. His body had been found the previous day in his office, shot in the right temple with a .38-caliber service pistol, found on the floor near his body. The deputy commander of the Tactical Air Command in Austin said that an investigation would show whether the wound was accidental or self-inflicted. There was no evidence of foul play. His wife said that he had not been ill or despondent. He had served 30 months overseas, completing 25 combat missions in the South Pacific and 25 in the European theater, having served in Korea during 1954 prior to coming to Bergstrom Air Force base in March, 1955. He had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters.

In Cleveland, O., five children, all under seven years of age, had perished in a fire at their home this date. The father had been at work when the fire started, but the mother had been home.

In Chicago, a husky youth, held under $120,000 bond on charges of rape and robbery, was reported by Chicago newspapers this date to have failed a polygraph test in connection with two unsolved slayings.

Near Detroit, a mother and her four-year old daughter had been killed this date in suburban Highland Park, after being shot with a rifle between the eyes while they slept. The woman's husband was found dead, with a bullet from the same rifle through his head. A policewoman said that the dead woman had dated a man who was presently held in jail on a bad check charge and had received letters from him, that she had been estranged from her husband, who had started a divorce action but apparently had become reconciled with the woman during the previous ten days. The mother and daughter were found dead in their beds and the husband was found on the kitchen floor.

In New York, a young payroll clerk, 21, had walked out of his office with envelopes containing $4,247, hopped onto a plane to Chicago the previous day and then phoned home to his mother and asked what he should do, being told by her to return and give himself up, which he did. He had received the money from the crew of an armored truck to distribute to 56 employees of a film company. After being notified that he was returning, detectives waited for him at La Guardia Field the previous night. He returned all of the payroll money except for $30 and was charged with grand larceny.

In Raleigh, State Senator Cutlar Moore of Lumberton had stepped down this date as a member of the State Highway Commission and Governor Luther Hodges had immediately appointed State Senator James Mason of Laurinburg as his successor.

John Kilgo of The News indicates that a 33-year old Air Force sergeant had died from carbon monoxide poisoning early this date when the exhaust pipe of his car became jammed in a muddy ditch in Charlotte. County police had identified him as a master sergeant of Arlington, Va., visiting his sister. Police had found his body in the front seat of a 1957 Oldsmobile, in a ditch with the exhaust pipe jammed into the muddy bank and the motor still running in the wee hours of the morning. The sergeant had apparently taken the wrong road and was in the process of turning around when his car slipped into the ditch, causing the exhaust pipe to jam into the earth. A woman told officers that she had seen car lights outside her window in the wee hours of the morning and thought someone might be coming up to her house, but after several minutes had gone back to bed. About two hours later, she looked out the window again and saw the car still parked in front of her house and so called police. It appeared the sergeant had been dead about two hours. He should have turned off the engine and taken to hoof.

In Stillwater, Okla., an Oklahoma State University student during the upcoming weekend would start a series of experiments in sensory deprivation, conducted by a graduate assistant in psychology under a grant from the National Institute of Health. The first guinea pig would be a volunteer, 25, from Tulsa, and the graduate student planned later similarly to test other students, patients at two mental hospitals and reformatory inmates. The first volunteer would remain in the box, measuring 3 feet by 2.5 feet by 5 feet, as long as he was able, with the experimenter hoping that he could last for 72 hours. The student would wear gloves, shuttered goggles and earplugs, and a sensitive microphone would pick up any noises in the dark chamber while a polygraph and electroencephalogram measured the effect of a minimum of sensory stimulation. According to the graduate student, the object of the experiment was to try to discern ways to treat and prevent mental illness and aid in selecting persons for expected long, monotonous spaceflights. He said that in similar experiments, subjects had been unable to remain without sensory input for more than a few hours, some experiencing hallucinations. The subject of the experiment said that he was not worried, that he hoped to get a lot of sleep.

In New York, steps were reported to be underway this date toward resuming negotiations in the strike between CBS television and radio technicians in New York and other cities. CBS was still operating in the fourth day of the strike, stemming from a contract dispute with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. CBS had notified three non-striking unions that it was ready to cooperate in any effort to bring about "a proper resumption of consideration of the problems." The previous day, CBS had tentatively rejected a city mediator's offer to help end the strike, indicating that the walkout was national rather than local. Meanwhile, programs were being handled by more than 300 supervisory and executive personnel who received a production training course the prior fall. CBS had stayed on the air with most of its television programs. This night, two live shows, "Climax" and "Playhouse 90", would be replaced by film dramas. The CBS radio network also was involved in the strike but its programming had not been affected. CBS said that it was awaiting possible action by Federal mediators.

On the editorial page, "Must the Post Office Be Mothballed?" indicates that if Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield would carry the mail, residents of Charlotte could muddle along with their "grossly inadequate" and "obsolete" post office, based on their "uninformed reaction" to Mr. Summerfield's promise to replace the post office if Congress approved the nickel stamp.