The Charlotte News

Monday, June 9, 1958

FOUR EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports from East Berlin that Russia had refused this date to take responsibility for nine U.S. army men taken prisoner by the East German Communists the prior Saturday when their helicopter had made a forced landing inside East Germany. The Russian Embassy in East Berlin declared that the East German regime had jurisdiction over the American prisoners and their aircraft because the helicopter had landed outside the three Western air corridors to West Berlin. Russia guaranteed free Allied air traffic through those corridors under a 1949 Big Four agreement. The Soviet Embassy statement indicated that the U.S. and Russia were heading into a big diplomatic wrangle over the nine Americans. The Russian statement was in response to a newsman's question whether Russia or East Germany had jurisdiction over the Americans. Earlier, the East German Government had claimed that it had the right to say what would be done with the helicopter and those aboard. The U.S. did not recognize the East German Communist regime and had demanded that the Soviets in East Berlin promptly return the eight Army officers, one sergeant and their aircraft. The Western Allies contended that in accordance with the postwar four-power agreements on Germany, all of their dealings concerning East Germany had to be done with the Soviet Union. The helicopter belonged to the 3rd Armored Division and had been on a military exercise. U.S. authorities assumed that the helicopter had turned east due to a navigational error in a thunderstorm and had run out of gas, forcing it to land at Zwickau, 30 miles east of the border. The Soviet Army headquarters in East Berlin said that all nine men were safe and unharmed. The East German Foreign Ministry had announced that it had sent to the State Department a note protesting that East German air space had been violated. The Foreign Ministry followed up this date with a declaration that it had sent its protest directly to the State Department, demonstrating that the East German regime and not the Soviets had jurisdiction over the matter, an effort apparently to get the U.S. to recognize East Germany. With the State Department refusing to deal with East Germany, a diplomatic tangle might develop which would keep the nine American prisoners in an East German jail for some time. A Belgian jet fighter had been forced down in East Germany 12 days earlier and the Soviets had referred all Belgian inquiries to the East Germans.

Soviet Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov had stated on a television panel program on Sunday that a junior Soviet diplomat, Nikolai Kurochkin, had denied trying to purchase American military secrets from Charles Beaumet, an American magazine writer, as alleged by the State Department in finding the diplomat persona non grata and ordering him on Saturday to leave the country forthwith. The allegations included that he had paid hundreds of dollars for Army manuals and other materials, and had sought to obtain secret documents. He was expected to start for home later in the week. The 25-year old magazine writer who lived in Arlington, Va., said that he had never given any classified information to the Russian diplomat, that he had furnished him some non-secret material, part of which "was already in the papers", and had received $435 over several months, starting the previous year. Justice Department officials said that the writer had cooperated with Government investigators after they questioned him about his transaction with the Russian diplomat. Officials said that the writer since had registered as a foreign agent and that the Department planned no action against him. The move to oust the diplomat for "highly improper activities" came about three weeks after the Soviet Union had expelled John Baker, Jr., the second secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, accusing him of violating "the norms of behavior" for diplomats. The U.S. had disputed that accusation. In an interview on Saturday night, Mr. Beaumet had said that he had met Mr. Kurochkin the previous year after he had gone to the Soviet Embassy seeking material for a story on the making of stockings in the Soviet Union, while he was performing freelance work for a textile industry publication. Later, the writer said, the diplomat had invited him to a party at the Soviet Embassy and subsequently he had obtained the material he wanted from Moscow. About five months afterward, the writer said that he had lunch with the diplomat, who had suggested that they collaborate on some articles for Soviet publications. The writer said that he was working for the National Guardsman magazine, which said it had discharged the writer for immature judgment. Mr. Beaumet went on to say that Mr. Kurochkin had expressed an interest in obtaining some material on military doctrine, that he had written a piece from a bunch of handouts to the press and had given it to him, things which were already in the newspapers, but he had given him a sales talk. The diplomat said that the article had been accepted and so he had paid Mr. Beaumet. He had then started talking about Army training manuals, saying that he would translate them and could sell something from them to two Russian magazines, Armies of the World and the Red Star. The writer told him that he was not cleared for classified documents and would not give them to him in any case, that when he had first started asking him for classified material, he had told him that it was impossible. One night, two Federal agents had come to Mr. Beaumet's apartment and questioned him about his contacts with the Soviet diplomat, and from that time, the writer had called them every time Mr. Kurochkin contacted him. He said that he supposed he should have been suspicious as the amounts grew, but was not until Federal agents visited him.

At the U.N. in New York, the Soviet Union had called on the body this date to take immediate action to halt U.S. nuclear testing in the Pacific.

In Paris, Premier Charles de Gaulle summoned his Cabinet into session this date and his office said that he would appoint two sub-cabinet officers to coordinate affairs in Algeria. The officer said that one of the sub-cabinet officers would be, as previously announced, a top-ranking civilian administrator who would serve as an aide to General Raoul Salan. The second post would be in Paris directly under Premier De Gaulle, although not within the Cabinet. The announcement of the second Algerian post coincided with the news that Jacques Soustelle, the chief political figure behind the May 13 right-wing revolt in Algeria, was on the way to Paris. The fact that M. Soustelle was not included in the Cabinet had enraged the right-wingers backing the Algerian insurrection. The Premier had never revealed any plans for M. Soustelle, who had once been the chief lieutenant to General De Gaulle in the French National Assembly. Although the National Assembly was adjourned, the deputies were still holding various committee meetings and M. Soustelle was to many of them what a cape was to an angry bull. His flight to Algiers had been widely condemned in the Assembly and there was substantial sentiment to lift his parliamentary immunity, as was done in the case of Corsican Deputy Pascal Arighi, who had also participated in the revolt.

In Cambridge, Mass., the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory reported this date that with clear weather, in the early morning, one could obtain a spectacular view of the rocket-satellite of Sputnik III, which would be at the perigee of its orbit, only about 130 miles above the earth, in the early morning orbits. It would be visible the following day and Wednesday, primarily in the South. Both satellites would be traveling south southwest and north northeast. The rocket was about 1 1/2 orbits ahead of the cone -shaped satellite, itself. If you get up early enough, the rocket ought look like a fast-moving bright star of the first magnitude, changing in brightness as it tumbles end to end. The satellite nosecone will not be quite as bright as the rocket. Good luck.

The House this date had passed and sent to the Senate a bill appropriating 665.7 million dollars to finance the emergency unemployment compensation law which the Congress had enacted the previous Wednesday.

Secretary of the Army Wilber Brucker said this date that he still felt that the Army needed a minimum of 900,000 men, but that he was bound by the decision of superiors not to resist a 30,000-man cutback.

In London, the five-week London bus strike, having been accepted by regular passengers as little more than an unpleasant inconvenience, had taken a grim turn this date as a sympathy walkout by some subway workers had caused problems with morning rush-hour transportation.

In Bridgeton, N.J., four farm workers had been killed and three others injured this date when a car failed to negotiate a curve and had struck a tree.

In Tokyo, a man from New Haven, Conn., was indicted this date for the death of his brother-in-law and partner while under the influence of alcohol. He was charged with inflicting bodily injuries resulting in death, roughly the equivalent of manslaughter. The trial would be without a jury, before three judges.

In Morganton, N.C., the bodies of two Burke County men had been found prior to dawn this date face-down outside the home of a neighbor with whom they reportedly had argued on Sunday. Both men had been shot, and one officer said he believed they had bled to death. The argument reportedly had erupted when the neighbor had cut the hat of one of the dead men. Deputies said that they were seeking the 30-year old neighbor for questioning. Bloodhounds brought to the scene had failed to pick up a trail, but county officers had started a wide manhunt over the western part of the county for the man.

In Charlotte, Representative Jack Love, who was running for the Democratic nomination to the State Senate, had given no indication yet whether or not he would seek a runoff, after he had come in second in the primary of May 28. He had only four hours left, until the end of the afternoon this date, before announcing his decision, as the runoff would take place, if held, on June 28. State Senator J. Spencer Bell had polled 11,192 votes and Mr. Love, 7,750 votes in the primary. But Mr. Bell had failed by 157 votes to win a majority, as a third candidate, State Representative James Vogler, had obtained 3,754 votes. Many of Mr. Love's friends believed that he would not seek the runoff.

John Kilgo of The News reports that new irregularities in operation of the clerk of the City Recorder's Court had turned up this date. Judge Basil Boyd of the court had made a lengthy statement to reporters, promising to work immediately to clear up the clerk's office. Court officials had said that they had found at least seven warrants apparently illegally nol prossed or dismissed. The judge told reporters that he would begin investigating the circumstances under which the warrants had been nol prossed and would take corrective action.

In Cheyenne Wells, Colo., it was reported that nearly 9 million acres in the eastern part of the state was under attack by grasshoppers this date. The plagues have arrived.

In Buffalo, N. Y., a man who had a list of 250 girls in a black book had lost it when it burned in a $5,000 fire in an office building on Saturday night. He ran an employment agency supplying office workers on a full-time or part-time basis. He waited this date in the hope that the girls would call to register again. No, it was not that guy.

In London, it was reported that five bicycles had been used to decorate chimneys and pinnacles of an Oxford University building during the night, believed to have been hoist up by Oxford students, who had also somehow lifted a truck onto the roof of Cambridge's historic Senate House. Late in the afternoon, the truck was still there, and appeared to be destined to remain for several days. The fire department said it could not handle the removal, necessitating the hiring of a local firm with experience in odd jobs, but it could not get to it until Thursday. The bicycles could simply be pitched off the roof. We challenge them to put a cow up there.

On the editorial page, "Bell Committee Must Finish the Job" indicates that State Senator J. Spencer Bell was planning to marshal the evidence from his committee before the North Carolina Bar Association in Myrtle Beach during the week. What had begun as a modest inquiry into "the structure and workings of the courts in North Carolina" had resulted in disclosures so shocking and far-reaching as to arouse even the professional Pollyannas of the state's justice system.