k• »—SUNOCO_- Friday. December SI. 1954 Good Evening, Everybody:- The big thrill of the day is again provided by old man ocean* Not one thrill, but three* From the masters of three vessels come stories of perils at sea, rescues, disasters narrowly averted. One sensational escape was that of the crew of the freighter Ontario, on her way from Baltimore to Boston. That always terrifying cry:- "Fire at sea." Just as the Ontario was abreast of the New England coast, flames broke out In her hold. In the fight to subdue them several of the crew were Injured, others were overcome by smoke. But the Ontario was lucky and made Boston Harbor. Therefore the flames were beaten down, but a new danger faced her from the tremendous volume of water that had been poured into her hold. Just as she was about to dock, she was on the verge of capsizing. Sea-going togs and coastguard ry3jr^,__ LEAD - g vessels took her in tow and had to beach her. While this was going on another freighter, the collier Severance .was sending out radio calls for help. ______ The Severc».nce had lost her rudder in the storm. But the crew contrived to make repairs and she^ limping into New Xork under her own power. a? Perhaps the most dramatic story of all is the narrow escape of a giant liner, an escape from a disaster that might have rivaled the sinking of the Titanic for sheer horror. The North German Lloyder Bremen arrived in Cherbourg today with a report from her master that she almost didn’t arrive at all. He was crossing the Channel in sax one of those dense fogs for which those waters are famous. Midway, a huge mass suddenly loomed up ahead. The Bremen was proceeding at slow speed and the lookout telephoned the warning to the bridge just in time. There was a quick and mighty twist of the wheel and the giant liner just missed the thing that loomed up in front. It was discovered to be the water-logged wreck of the LEAD 5 freighter Sisto, the same Sisto which was abandoned at sea last week after the loss of nineteen lives. The Sisto has thus become a matter of concern to the shipping of all nations. menace She is now drifting, ix somewhere, a rfxnajiKK to everything Escape at sea. But death rode the hot wings over the Syrian desert between Baghdad and Damascus. Ever since Wednesday the whereabouts of a giant airliner had been a mystery. This was the great luxurious nflying hotel” built in America for the Royal Dutch Airlines. The ”Flying hotel” was making a Christmas flight from Amsterdam to Java, trying for a new record, loaded with Christmas mail. Today she was found in the desert of Irak, a charred mass of wreckage. The crew of four,and three passengers,all perished in flames. What happened no one knows. This was the same magnificent air liner that only a few weeks ago v/on second place in the race from London to Melbourne, piloted by the Dutchmen, ifx Parmentiei and Mol LEAD - 4 The ©X3.ct cans© of th© disastsr is on© of the mysteries of the air. After crossing the Mediterranean, she ran into a terrific storm, over Palestine, ^es, over Bethlehem, with heijcargo of Christmas mail. RELIEF There's a jarring note in one bit of information that conies out of Washington today. Yesterday’s news indicated that a regular love feast Is brewing between the Administration and the business leaders of the nation. The news from that big Conference at White Sulphur Springs indicated that the goose is hanging high and that the celebrated dove, of peace was being kept ‘ busy carrying olive branches backwards and forwards between the big shots in industry and the heads of the government, The magnlficos of Industry and finance were all set for hearty cooperation with the President. Today it is a different story. The love-feast is all off and it's ail because of relief. The White Sulphur Springs Conference came out strongly for a direct dole as opposed to Washington's idea that work instead .of charity should be provided for the jobless. That notion sounded with a sour note in Washington ears. The reply from the government, on that is "nothing doing," This reply has not come directly from the White House. j The xzjeiaK President himself has issued no statement, but his RELIEF - 2 1 :3 chief lieutenants mince no words about it. Harry L. Hopkins, federal Relief Administrator, says to the big business men: ni don't think there would be anything more -harmful for America than what you suggest." And this time he's backed up heartily by Harry Iekes. Secretary of the Interior and Admlnis- trator of Public Works.. He's with Mr. Hopkins all the way. Then, too, Joseph P. Kennedy, Chairman of.the Securities Exchange Commission, throws up his hands in horror at the proposals from . White Sulphur Springs. Another potentate on the same side of the fence is Mayor LaGuardia of Hew York. . He says that the plan of the big business men would mean putting the unemployed on a 1 starvation basis. § All that sounds like pretty hot stuff. It foreshadows a .’.'I row of no mean, proportions. The betting is that the leaders of 1 business, industry and finance will have plenty to say in rebuttal. TflbULL 'ihere one family in America that is sure of a Merry Christ^ The luck of the Xnsull clan holds out. the news was hardly cold about the acquittal of Sam, the head of the clan, when the long- suffering jury that haa been trying brother Martin came into court late this afternoon and said; “Not guiltyl”. Actually, this is the third acquittal in this vexed and long drawn out case. The first man to he tried and set free by a 3ury was Marshal E. Samson. His trial was heard eighteen months ago. Martin^ unlike his elder brother, was tried in the state court. The charge against him was that he had embezzled Three hundred and forty-five thousand dollars. Brother Martin had a tougher fight than brother Sam. It took the federal jury only two hours to find the head of the clan not guilty, Brother Martin* jury was squabbling about iVfifteen hours. They sat up till xour K " A o'clock this morning and then were told to go to bed. At ten o'clock they were on the job again and shortly before tea time they reported their decision. It had been expected that Samuel Insull would be one of the witnesses in his brother's favor. But in that respect the crowd TNSULL - 2 was disappointed. r'.wi. did^nat take the stand. But he was in court while counsel on both sides -address^fe^ the ^ury. And during intervals he maintained his newly acquired role of "Smiling Sam"? swaping wisecracks and jovial remarks with reporters and even with lawyers. '■L'his does not necessarily end the Affair Insull so far as the state is concerned. There are still charges in the Chicago courts pending against Samuel Insull. But the chances are that the acquittal of his brother Martin may induce the state1s attorney to decide that further prosecutions will be useless | '■ ■ i -■ l -/ if TtVRON NE.VTCN on Monday night, the thirty-first anniversary of that first historic flight by the bright Brothers, I told how the newspaper reporter who wrote the first story of flight was fired by his editor — for turning in such fantastic fiction. Then present­ ly I received a note written on the letterhead of the Departijient of v .'-:-- ’ , p fe li #1 Taxation and Assessments of the City of New York, signed by Byron m R* Newton# It read this way:— ”1 .appreciated your pleasant reference -aUirMitix *tw to my old assignment at Kitty Hawk*" It^was from th«^ same reporter# So here was a chance to run down one of the old classics of news­ paper stories* Was it true, that tale of the newspaperman who first reported an airplane flight, and then was fired for being a liar? I got in touch with Byron Newton* He^ one of New York*s 4 i; il 11 1 Commissioners of Taxation now* He’s been in turn, a war correspond­ ent in the Span!sh-Ameri can War, ^c^anla^of the first aeronautic^ department of the United States kjuam* publicity director Woodrow Wilson in his campaign for the Presidency, Assistant secreta y of the Treasury and Collector of the Port of New York* °{ asked him to come and tell us whether that old story is really true* here no?; to answer* How about it * Newton id. <rm X) i BYRQDi NEKTON-2 .. ' RYROH .NI v.TOa:- Yes, it's true. The editors of the paper, and the public too, thought it was a daring piece of fiction when I told that had actually seen a man fly in a machine. They regarded my story as an impudent hoax, bo, i was fired i That is, temporarily. Suspended from the paper for six weeks, without pay. L.i'.:- How did you happen to get that unlucky assignment ? bykon nkwton ;- That’s interesting i But wait a minute. First 1 want to clear up one misconception. The story is wrong in one detail. 1 did not cover the first flight the Wright Mothers made. hobody did. The Wright Brothers kept tfr«±± their experiments and their success a secret. It was not until 1908, five years later — that the facts were made public, in the story that 1 succeeded in getting. h, T.s- Had you heard rumors of what the Wright Brothers were ... . v • -- - 1 1 ir VRQM NE'wTQN-g ~ BYRON MKl.TOff:- ies, it's true. The editors of the paper, and the public too, thought it was a daring piece of fiction when X told that l had actually seen a man fly in a machine. They regarded my story as an impudent hoax. t>o, i. was fired * That is, temporarily. Suspended from the paper for six weeks, without pay. kih±- How did you happen to get that unlucky assignment ? BYRON NEWTON That's interesting i But wait a minute. First x want to clear up one misconception. The story is wrong in one detail. 1 did not cover the firs' flight the Wright brothers made. Nobody did. The Wright Brothers kept ifcKfcfc their experiments and their success a secret. It was not until 1908, five years later — that the facts were made public, in the story that 1 succeeded in getting. L. T.i- Had you heard rumors of what the Wright Brothers were i ^ i y HTRON NE?,rTQN-S L. T.: (continued) i i ' m 1 • 1 doing down there h IT Kitty Hawlc? BYRON NEWTON: - There we^% rumors, all right. heard them and so did James uv. Gordon Bennett, the famous publisher of the old Herald. He was in A Europe, and he cabled me from Paris to make a trip down to Kitty Hawk and settle once and for all, the question about those faking Wright Brothers* Mr. Bennett was a man of strange whims, and for &ome reason or other he had a deep suspicion of the Wright Brothers. He regarded them as the worst of those flying machine crack-pots. L. T*:- So, you were sent to expose the fake about fryingJ BYRON NEWTON:- That*s it. I went about it secretly, in the way o investigating reporter. The Wrights were still concealing the fact that tiay had actually been able to fly# PPTRON NEKTON-5 L« T>: (continued) doing down there ll"Kitty Hawk? BYRQH JMET/TON:* There were rumors, all right, ^heard them and so did James YIM Gordon Bennett, the famous publisher of the old Herald. He was in A Europe, and he cabled me from Paris to make a trip down to Kitty Hawk and settle once and for all, the question about those faking Wright Brothers. Mr. Bennett was a man of strange whims, and for some reason or other he had a deep suspicion of the Wright Brothers. He regarded them as the worst of those flying machine crack-pots. L. T.: So, you were sent to expose the fake about flyingJ BYRON HEWTON:- That’s it. I went about it secretly, in the way of investigating reporter. The Wrights were still concealing the fact that they had actually been able to fly* BVRGH MEvrOM - 4 With another man I made a long trip to those isolated North Carolina sand dunes. It took us three days to get through the Dismal Swamp. When we finally got to Kitty Hawk we had to camp out in the thickest, in a hiding place infested with ‘black- snakes, chig era and mosquitoes, so that I could stealthily watch what was going on in the Wright Camp, For two days and nights we watched there. Arid finally, on the morning of May 14th, we saw the strange giant bird rise in the air and circle about. What amazed us most was the fact that two men could be plainly seen in the machine. As the plane whirled above the southern thicket it startled the wild fowl, which swooped around it chatting and shrieking. And the wild pigs plunged crashing and splashing through woods and swampy pools. There were only three human beings to watch the newest wonder of the world, I knew I had witnessed something monumental, and I went ahead and wrote my story, telling what I had seen. L. T- And when the editor read it, you were fired for sending in a fantastic whopper. BYRON HTTiwmmi•Yes, suspended six weeks without payi BYRCH MgjWTCK - 4 With another man I marte a long trip to those isolated North Carolina sand dunes. It took us three days to get through the Dismal Swamp. When we finally got to Kitty Hawk we had to camp out in the thickest, in a hiding place infested with black- snakes, chig ers and mosquitoes, so that I could stealthily watch what was going on in the Wright Camo. For two days and nights we watched there. And finally, on the morning of May 14th, we saw the strange giant bird rise in the air and circle about. What amazed us most was the fact that two men could be plainly seen in the machine. As the plane whirled above the southern thicket it startled the wild fowl, which swooped around it chatting and shrieking. And the wild pigs plunged crashing and splashing through woods and swampy pools. There were only three human beings to watch the newest wonder of the world. I knew I had witnessed something monumental, and I went ahead and wrote my story, telling what I had seen. In T. And when the editor readit, you were fired for sending ih a fantastic whopper. SYBQM HF.WTnT'i*. Yes, suspended six weeks without pay! ■RTROH NKWTOU - 5 IVT. Jupt as I should be suspended, I suppose. If I told into this microphone that I had seen a man make a trip to the mocn. 3o I suppose i'd better stick to something less fanciful -- like The Uaval Treaty for example 1 .1 I / - - ^ NAVAL TREATY For several weeks now we've had the spectacle of that poor old Naval Treaty staggering around the ring, groggily taking one punch after another, leading with its chin and blocking with its mormoeiftc nose* fhe announooiton^ from Japan that the Mikado would denounce the treaty was jolt \» tlig^hr-eailwbanow comes the knock-out blow, France joins hands with Japan and says:- "Count us out too# We are not going to play anymore#” Such was the gist of a statement made by France’s Minister of Marine, Monsieur Francois Pietri, ~-fLsL However, Piot»4 threw out a couple of words of consolation* He added that La Belle France was still willing to consider this whole question of limiting navies. But that smin4«s. -J. f a da ..rftf 1 1 Japanese newspapers, of course, are putting the blame for this entire business on Uncle Sam. It seems we are an obstinate lot, so gay Be that ag it may, with both France A and Japan out of the picture that once momentous treaty, signed with such brave hopes in Washington twelve years ago, is obviously^^ y Wt puts the matter squarely up to the two / r, /Jooi nf rot is talked about the English speaking nations, / A good de naval TREATY -2 number of things that could be achieved if John Bull and Uncle Sam could only get together and /P M ^ it is qLuite wo - feiiu^y. NavaJ plain that if the twc Naval powers i»= worlfl: came to a definite agreement about naval armaments, the rest of the world would be obliged to in line. SHAW Colonel Richard C. Shaw onoe held one of the most dangerous jobs known to journalism. He was editor of that famous paper. “The Epitaph" of Tombstone. Arizona. (In nearly all books on tne alb time wild and wooily two-gun West, you will find the '’Tombstone Epitaph'* prominently mentioned. Colonel Shaw used to say that the only tools he used were a paste pot, a pair of scissors and a six shooter.) The paper was called "The Epitaph" because almost all the news in it consisted of death notices, the obituary stories about the bad men of the southwest. Those two-gun heroes used to die like the leaves in Valloxnbrosa. The news about Colonel Shaw is that he has gone to join all the famous two-gun men whose obits he used to write. He was eighty years old. The irony is that after living through all those dangerous days, after seeing innumerable gunrighters die with their boots on, he him­ self passed away in Hew York, run over by a taxicab. Colonel Shaw was one of the friends of that picturesque old time character, Wild Bill Hiekok, One of his favorite stories SHAW - 2 concerned Wild sill. Hickok and the Colonel were standing up to the har in Tombstone one evening. At the back of the bar was a huge mid-Victorian mirror surmounted with gilt cupids. Just as Wild Bill was raising a glass to his mouth he saw a face in that ipirror. It was the face of a man who had sworn to kill Wild Bill at sight. The new comer had his gun in his hand. What did Wild Bill do? If he had turned around he would have been killed instantly. Instead of that, he took swift aim in that cupid framed mirror, shooting over his shoulder, plugged his enemy twice between the eyes, and without turning a hair, finished his drink. Colonel Shaw was also fond of quoting one of the stories from his "Tombstone Epitaph". It concerned another famous character, Wyatt Earp. The boys had elected Earp sheriff of Cochise County. When he was installed in office he made one simple statement; "Gentlemen", he said quietly, "I aim to keep the peace in Tombstone, if I have to shoot every doggone man in the place." And I guess my own best way to keep the peace will be to say: SO LONG UNTIL XKMONDAY.