“Herald” had asked him to amplify ‘ quoted and his remarks were not misinterpreted in any way.” The Weather Mostly Fair and Warm Details page two . 113th YEAR kk et * PONTIAC, MICHIG. _ ——-—— TUESD. AY, AU! G US _ THE PONTIAC PRES oh IAKE OVE ST 16, 1955—28 | PAG ES ba ah 7 NEWS GERVICE Gas Explosion Destroys Pontiac Home Terrific Blast Turns Two- Story House Into Rubble in Secs Persons Injured FRONT DOOR MOVED — This door to the adjacent apartment building was torn from its frame and left leaning by the entrance, as shown above, when the blast demolished the two-story house next door, NEXT DOOR — Farce of the blast tore out window frames in the apartment building adjacent to 6-8 Liberty St. Picture above , was taken in the apartment build- , ing. Williams Hazy on lke Comment. Says AP Reporter Bell Scrambled His Words; Writer Denies It GREEN BAY \® — Gov. G. Men- nen Williams says an Associated Press reporter "interpreted" his recent Chicago remarks to mean | that he said Exeatent Eisenhower | was “‘an old man.” | ues in e | Williams said the AP man the only one in the group of news- | men to do this. | * * * The AP story. written by J ac k | Bell, veteran political writer, quot- ed Williams as saying Mr. Eisen- hower was ‘‘an old man who may not want a second term’’ but prob- ably would be induced to run by the Republican party. Williams, in an interview last | night, was asked if he wanted to, add to what he said in Chicago, specifically the quoted reference to’ “an old man.’ “That was the interpretation of one reporter from the Asso- | ciated Press,” Williams said, “In the news conference with a group of reporters, only one seemed to find eneugh information to draw that conclusion. He teok several phrases and placed them in a juxtaposition to make a head- line,”’ | Williams was asked if he did or did not make the statement. “The AP reporter decided that I did,” he replied, BELL ANSWERS At Washington, reporter Bell commented on Williams’ Green Bay statement. “Gov. Williams,” Bell said, “made the direct statement that President Eisenhower ‘is an old man’ before more than 50 re- die before ‘the next campaign, “He also said after a reporter for the Washington Post and Times what the reported called ‘a cold bl statement’ that he or any othér political office holder might’ die at any time. * * * Governor’s words speak Pi themselves. He was accurately At Least 50 Jailed Peron Death Create Unrest in Argentina Diane Poises fo Smash South Carolina BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (‘#—Government charges. Plot Arrests! that “Catholic nationalists” and oppositidn politicians had plotted to shoot President Juan Peron brought Ar- | Hurricane Diane, packing winds of | east southeast of the South Cato- | same west-northwest direction at gentina to its greatest state of tension.since the June 16 115-miles-an-hour force, | Tevolt. Police said more than 50 persons had been arrested. Other sources indicated as many as 200 might have been | jailed. Previous announcements of such plots during the ‘est advisory, said the second hur- nine years at Peron’s regime have signaled widespread in Scout Slaying Lie Detector Tests Show. Nothing in Murder of Peter Gorham MUSKEGON «®—The investiga- + this ca of his enemies. This could be the end of ane “pacification” cam /paign Peron launched aftee| the abortive navy uprising _two months ago. It also could mean a new flareup in the feud between the President and the Roman Catholic Church | —mostly dormant since the revolt —and a mew crackdown on the | opposition parties which have re- fused to go along with the pacifi- ‘| night and was tion of 12-year-old Peter Gorham’s ‘death erept along at what police | called a “‘turtle’s pace” today with | lie detector tests shedding no light in the slaying of the Evanston, Ill., Boy Scout. * cation campaign unless the gov- | ernment ends its restrictive meas- | ures. Adding to the unrest were new antigoverhment ‘demonstrations, ! in frent of Buenos Aires’ Metro- | - = politan Cathedral last night and + COMPLETE DESTRUCTION — two-family house on Liberty street Monday afternoon was taken from the roof of an CHARLESTON, S. C. (INS) — South Carolina coast today and was expected to hit sometime to- | night or Wednesday rfforning. The weather bureau, in its la- ricane’ 6f the year had slowed in forward movement during the | traveling toward | Charleston vat about 10 m.p.h. Guard Battles Mock Invader 8,700 Michigan Troops ‘Defend’ Grayling Area in Sham Warfare CAMP. GRAYLING (®—Michi- | gan's 8,700 National Guardsmen in j training here moved out of camp |today in a mock defense against | an. invader. The 46th “Iron Fist” Infantry ; Division, started a two-day tacti- | eal problem, rolled by truck into | played about the area near the ‘— “AN interests . This view of the) razed by a blast It was located some 320 miles eyed the lina city at 5 a.m. at latitude 30.6 the same speed of 14 m.p.h. it has north and longitude Winds estimated at 115 m.p.h., 75.0 west. storm’s eye, with hurricane force winds extending 125 miles north and east and 70 miles to the | southwest, Gale winds extended 350 miles to | the northeast and east and 200 miles to the southwest and west of the center. The hurricane warning area now extends from Fernandina, Fla., to | Wilmington, N. C., where Connie | began her ~ march. of death and, destruction last week. Storm warnings were posted elsewhere from St, Augustine, Fla., to the Virginia Capeg®and a hurri- | /cane alert extends north of Wil-) mington to the Virginia Capes. | TERSE WARNING The Miami hurricane-tracking weather bureau issued this terse | warning to the entire alerted area: . » should rush al] necessary precautions for the | | protection of life and property | | against dangerous winds and high tides."’ | which occurred in seconds. the rubble pile can be gained from the officers in| the picture, as they inspect the ruins. Gees! huose, = shows the complete de: ee tures, beet. 2 and15). _in port on the upper east coast of Florida and from | Capes to Cape Henlopen and on | the lower half of the Chesapeake to 70 degrees. Tomorrow it will be slightly cooler with cloudy skies Two of the camp's counselors | were quizzed yesterday in the case. | Police are checking the possibili- ty the 12-year-old was killed by a earlier yesterday in the central Argentine city of Cordoba. Po- lice used tear gas and fire hoses | ‘the wooded areas of the Pickert} | Artillery Range. Its task was to defend the Gray- * William Jannega, te seatter the crowds, arresting about 40 demonstrators in the capital and 15 in Cordoba. ‘There were no signs of special measures to protect the President. The government annduncement said the plotters had planned to shoot him yesterday, from an apartment they had rented on the route along which he usually drove between. his’ dttice ond his home. s ‘Yee tensiieenbsane ace that the conspirators planned also to sex deviate, No charge was made against either of the two coun- selors. Peter vanished from Camp Wa- baningo at nearby Duck Lake duly 5. His body was found Sun- day five miles from camp. He had been shot through the head. 25, Muskegon car salesman who discovered the body while dgiving through the ton area’ with his wife, also took a lie detector test yesterday. * He asked for the test ‘to put an end to cranks’ who he said had been telephoning him since his story of the grisly find was pub- lished, Police said the tests indi- cated he was felling: the truth in his story of the discovery. ‘ Hot Lunches for Schools LANSING (®—Fourth class school districts may purchase or lease itive bids, Atty. Gen. Thomas’ M M. Kavanagh hel ina eplnion oy kill Maj. Gen, Franklin Lucero, the army minister who quashed the June revolt, and other top offi- cials and army commanders, and to launch a wave of terrof by disrupting power ‘linés, commu- nications, radio stations and pub-. lie HP acaggesee government the cetmane nationalist” plotters were “perfectly organized’ in Communist-like cells and had se- creted their arms in a Catholic seminary, It said. some. arms _ling-Houghton Lake area against a imythidal attacking force which ‘had landed in the vicinity of | Traverse City. * * * Trucks rumbled back and forth over sand trails in the movement) of the troops. For two days the guardsmen, | will eat and sleep in the field. They are to get practical experi- ence in camouflage and other phases of warfare. Army planes will be busy on reconnaissance. Wire and radio communications will be tested. TRUCK MEN HONORED Bes men of the Guard were last night. Awards were presented by Maj. Gen. Gor- don A. MacDonald of Detroit, commanding general of thé-46thl Infantry Division. There are hundreds of trucks in the camp. The awards recognize the best ppéaring and best main- tainéd trucks. The winning trucks were given metal pennants to be worn for the remainder of the two weeks training. | and began evacuating their homes The steadily rising tide was ex- | pected to reach at least six to) 'nine feet above normal im places | nearest the center of the season’s second hurricane and —s trop- | ical storm, Residents and vadinentaien at low-lying Savannah Beach, Ga., and other endangered areas heed- ed the .weather- bureau's advice /and businesses overnight, | INUNDATE SAV. ANNAR Should the tide “get as high as predicted, two-thirds of Svannah Beach would be under water. Actually the first probing of Di- ane-—-high tides and gradually in- creasing winds—were expected to be felt later today with absolute center of the storm reacning in- land by -this evening. In ite 2 a.m. bufletin, the wea- ther bureau placed the storm at 325 miles southeast of Charles- tom... Both~Navy and Air Force reconnaissance aircraft were fly- ing into the hurricane to give frequent positions of the eye. Hurricane force winds extend 125 miles north and east and 70 miles force winds, up to 75 m.p.h., reach out 350 miles north and east and| The 170 miles southwest. Pontiac Press Photos Some idea of the size of (Other pic- The storm was moving in the maintained for a day. Small craft were warned to stay the Virginia Bay they were cautioned not to stray far. from port. Mercury to Return fo Near 90 Today A return to near 90-degree tem- peratures was predicted for to- | _day and tomorrow by the U. S. Weather Bureau, The forecast calls for fair skies and a high mercury reading near 90, followed by a low tonight of 66 | and temperatures ranging from 8 to 90 degrees. Yesterday, the downtown Pon- tiac thermometer hit a high of 86, | while the low reading was 66, At when an unidentified man ‘Dana escaped from the in Liberty Street Blast House Completely Wrecked, Nearby Residences Damaged by Concussion, Debris By GEORGE T. TRUMBULL JR. Three men miraculously escaped death yesterday in a mid-afternoon gas explosion that rocked Pontiac’s west side and completely demolished a two-story house at 6-8 | Liberty St. The shattering bjast, felt for two miles, caused injuries | to seven persons, three of them Consumers Power Co. in- spectors performing a routine check on gas service in- Stallation at the house. Reported in critical condition this morning at Pontiac General-Hospital was the owner of the house, Hugh M. Dana, 45. He suffered first degree burns to the front of his body. His wife was at work at — the time of the blast. The two Consumers employes with Dana in the base- ment when the explosion occurred were Benson Savedge, 26, of 2401 Opdyke Rd., and Lawrence Abbey, 21, of 37 Cayuga, Lake Orion. TWO IN GOOD CONDITION Savedge received first and second degree burns to the head and was reported in good condition this morning at Pontiac General Hospital. Abbey was in good condi- tion with second degree burns to the forearms and feet, The third Consumers man injured was Clifford Doug- las, 26, of 6954 Saline Dr., Waterford. He was standing | outside the home beside the company truck at the time, | He was treated and released yesterday for minor burns. Also treated at the hospital were three occu- pants of the nine family apartment building next door at 4 Liberty St. Treated for minor cuts from flying glass were Mrs. Gay Harshaw, 23, Mrs. Carol Stilwell, 23, and her 15-month-old daughter, Robin Gail. According to Edward L. Karkau, district manager of Consumers Power, the three men were making an in- spection of the company’s installation in the heighbor- hood prior to the explosion. “We were checking every possible pipe installation on the street in preparation for a city re-paving program,” he said. INSPECTION MISSION “Our mission was strictly inspection. We were not called on a reported leak and as yet do not know what actually caused the blast,” Karkau said this morning. The manager said the company was conducting an investigation at the scene today. It is believed statements by the injured will help ee the cause. spoke to the injured at the hospital, the gas that ap- parently had collected in the basement “was ffom a sudden flow of gas in a big volume.” | RUMORS DENIED Metz said all three men denied rumors that a cigarette | touched off the blast. Abbey told Metz the blast appeared “like a big ball of fire. I dropped to the eoune: looked up and saw day- light above me.” Abbey added he rabbed| Savedge and started re- Hunter Planes ‘moving debris to escape Shine Al] Night Around Diane JACKSONVILLE, Fla., ——Navy hurricane hunters gave their new appeared and he} them out of the wreckage. He /said he did not know how). According to City Fire Marshal Charles Metz, whd building. Abbey told the fire marshal he had just removed the meter in the basement of the Dana home. Savedge was next door in the apartment building. performing jan inspection when he smelled '8 a.m. today, the temperature was | 72 degrees, rising to 88. degrees | a1 p.m. gas, Metz said. Savedge ‘old Metz this morning weather laboratory plane its first chance to shine in an all-night flight over, around and across Hurricane Diane. The Constellation took off from Jacksonville Naval Air. Station early last night and -aimed its mil- lion dollars worth of. electronic equipment at all facets of he (Continued on Page 2, Col. 4) (| hurricane. ‘Heard Dull Explosion’ Eyewitness Tells Story By AL LOWMAN “T heard a dull thudding explo- sion, the house seemed to rise off its foundation and debris started flying everywhere.” This was Mrs. F. Dewey Allen's description of what she saw from the front porch of her home at 9 Liberty St., directly across the street from the Hugh Dana home |- which was leveled by, an explosion yesterday afternoon. ~“I was talking with a neigh- ber on the porch when I men- tioned that I smelled gas, Just then, three Consumers Power men drove up-in a truck and went in the Dana home. “After they went.in the house, two of the men began running back’ and forth to the truck to get’ tools,” Mrs. Allen related, | Venetian blinds, pieces of house- Splinters of wood, chunks of glass, hold goods and smoke swept the area. Mrs, Allen, a former Pontiac schoolteacher, said she was unable to move for a split second but when smoke filled her home, she ran from room to room checking the fleor, curtains and — were torn by glass. All windows in the front of Mr&, Allen's home, Reporting a similar r was Mrs. Amelia Blunt, of 13 Li berty, next door to Mrs. for possible fire, “It seemed that every window In Today's Press Editorials seeenaneesenasessr 6 Sports ferns shaegerbs¥etes ly lo Theaters oc... .ccceevenes weet eee Wilson, Eart. . Women's » Pages. ron 3 Be mit agi il ll — * "send warm today, CHIMNEY PLUMMETS — Portion of the chimney is about all that held together wi 6-8 Liberty St. was razed by a blast Monday after Pontiac Deaths Mrs. Dennis Senord Mrs. Dennis (Theclam Mary) Benard, 65, of 101 Auburn Ave was dead upon admittance to Pon tiac General Hospital at 6:15 pm Monday. Born in Calumet May 18, 1890 she was the daughter of Andrew “and Madeline Geroux De Long- champ and the widow of Mr. Be- nard, She came to Pontiac 37 years ago from Calumet and was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, the Rosary Altar | and Daughters of Isabella A section it plunged noon ven the house at. after April 12, 1952, he is survived by his parents and two sisters, Nancy and Kathleen at home Funeral will be Thursday at 10 a.m from the Brace-Smith Fu nera!l Home, Burial will be in Mt. Hope Cemetery In lieu of flowers the family re- quests contributions be made to, the Children’s Leukemia Founda- | tion, 660 Frederick . St, | Mrs. Jay L. Lloyd | Mrs. Jay L. (Flora Leona) Lloyd, | 17. of 820's Baldwin Ave. diced at | 3:30 p.m. Monday in St. Joseph | Merey Hospital. She had beeq ill) four months. | Born in Romeo March 1, 1908 spe | was the daughter of Lyman and| Mary Combs Matthews. She mar- | ried Mr. Lioyd at Lake Orion Nov. | 4, 1931. She came to Pontiac from | Oxford four years ago. Besides her husband she is sur- vived by three daughters and two | sons, Sandra Woods, Mrs. Shirley Coyle, Edwin Lloyd and Franklin 'Spencer of Pontiac, Mrs. Norma Surviving are five sons and two daughters, Alvin, Owen, Clintan, Robert, Mrs. Doris Olsen of Pon- tiac, Kenneth of San Francisco, > Calif., and Mrs. Louise Schram of | Saginaw; two brothers and three | sisters, Harvey of Flint, Russell and Mrs. Phoebe Graham of Pon- tiac, Mrs. Vinia Lumback of De- James Walls, 89, ow Gas Blast Levels — = Home Here Monday (Continued From Page One) that after he smelled gas in the vicinity of the Dana home, he | went into the: house to tell Abbey. Douglas told Pontiac Detective James Bale he smelled gas while standing beside the truck —be- fore. the blast occurred. ed total damage to the Dana 000. | building next door mated at §20,000, Car} Alt, Pontiac building engi- neer said the apartment house was esti- | 24 tenants sought shelter with rela- tives. | 100 WINDOWS BROKEN The conchssion was estimated to have broken about. 100 windows and caused $3.000 damage to more ‘than 30 homes within a two-mile we? | radius Pontiac ‘ Police and Oakland % ss Pontiac Press Phote | spectators - / theca cal above) Mrs. Bessie Briggs, of 14 Lib ‘erty St.. said the gas company i crew had been trying to enter the house all day. She said Dana ap- | parently came home around 3 p.m. |and let the crew in * * * The upstairs apartment at the house was occupled by Joseph Odorizzi, 28, and his wife Doreen, 23, They had been living in the apartment since their tMmarriage six months ago and both were at work at the time of the explo- sion. blast, Mrs. Odorizzi became hys- terical fearing her husband had not left for work and might be trapped in the wreckage. LEFT BEFORE BLAST Odorizzi said he had left approx- imately 15 minutes before the ex- plosion. Neighbors said children had been playing on the Dana lawn and in front of: the apartment | building just minutes before the blast. | * * ot A similar explosion in the city | ‘occurred on April 4, 1951. The 13- | | room home of Mr, and Mrs. Frank | ‘JAMES WALLS THE PONTIAC PRESS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1955 Officials at the seene estimat- house and contents at about §22,- | Damage to the apartment | | wall had been weakened and the | |County Sheriff Deputies roped’ off | [the area to keep back hundreds of | When notified at work of the | The Day in Birmingham | Back-to-School Shonping Tin: ee Commission BIRMINGHAM — A $2,000 ad- vance for engineering studies on a new proposal to solve the city's at last night's City Commission meeting, But more talk centered on the decree which is to be given by Oakland County Circuit Court next |Monday morning, which will spell lout time limitations concerning Birmingham's violation of a State Water, Resources Commission or- der fo stop Rouge River contami- nation. The proposed decree sets a May 1, 1956, date for determina- tien as to whether will -proceed jointly or inde- pendently to meet its sewage obligations: However, City Mana- ger Donald C. Egbert was in- structed to see if the decree can include a recommendation to the water commission that Birming- ham be given the same length of time as Southfield Township, also involved. Because Southfield is undergoing incorporation, it cannot now take steps necessary to push through the $2,740,000 Evergreen intercep- tor sewer project, considered the preferred solution. The Evergreen was to have been the joint undertaking of six south- /eastern Oakland County munici- | palities, Now four of them, an dBloomfield Hills, are looking to another answer—that of con- | structing what eventually would be the northern portion of the Ever- green sewer, In this instance, sew- : Pontiae Press Photo |e would flow into Birmingham's COLLEGIATE ACCESSORIES—Lucia Arnold of 448 E. Blvd. South, | sewage treatment plant instead of | inspects a fine array of equipment which helps to make college life | the Detroit system. A $2,000 ap- easier. There is a Sheaffers’ Snorkel Pen, an Underwood portable | propriation has been asked from typewriter, a matched set of Samsonite luggage, a Bulova wrist watch | each community to initiate the en- to keep arriving at classes on time and a man's fitted traveling kit. | gineering studies, ~ _ _ | * * fewage difficullies was approved | Birmingham, | Troy and Bloomfield Townships, Post 66 Scouts Make 97-Mile Canoe Journey Nine Explorer Scouts and two adult leaders of Post 66. Joslyn ‘Man Stands Mute Mayor Charles’ Renfrew, who /has named three of a four-man | committee to study Birmingham's taxation methods (following the on Larceny Charge —