—- SUNOCO, TUESDAY v APRIL .27. 1952. GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY; This seems tonight like sitting around on the front porch and having a last chat before starting off on a Journey. The trip won't be for so long - hardly more than a horse and buggy jaunt to another state would have been a few years ago. And - broadcasting from aboard ship and from Europe will seem something like phoning home and tellingabout it. Of course, the inevitable phrase is these days - going to the coronation,. But I’m afraid I haven't so much lofty i+rcnJiJ sense of social state and dignity as j® become a duke or a ^ A millionaire. My idea of the advantage of going to Europe right now Is - that London in the throes of coronation, will be a swarming crossroads of the world, where you'll see all sorts of humanity from every part of the^l I imagine that a stroll "p* L ' v L, down th&r&traail will be something like the equivalent of a far ^ A flung voyage to many a distant land-Tflere you'll see the Malay LEAD - 2 attendants of a Sultan of Perak smart, soldierly hardware merchant from coronation London should be a place to walk a few blocks and see the world. Also - a crossroads for interviews with significant people, a chance to do a reporter1s job in contacting dominating personalities. It seems like a priceless opportunity to gain insight into those complicated affairs all over the world, affairs often discussed in this nightly broadcast. Moreover - London in coronation time will afford many a glance at the odd and the curious. Those backstage diversions which are always so entertaining in the pomp and majesty of glamorous events. That1 s the sort of thing I111 be watching for especially — human singularities, comic twisters, when a king is crowned• , I expect to have a busy time, with Blue Sunoco broad- ts*. ____ casting, digging up material, and^aaking^i.io^ ietune _ ew^ree of the coronation. Side trips will take me to Parle, Rome, maybe Vienna - on the go. And right now I have that same old feeling. QsM. LEAD - 3 . ____ .. . • _ — I like almost anybody going off on a trip, and saying: ’’I1!! ring you up on the wireless when I get there. But meanwhile, let's take a look at the news of the day. WALLY Let»s see what coronation news there is. As it happens, thlS :LS dn imPortant date in the royal romance, that memorable drama ol love and kingship. Today ended the probation period in the Simpson divorce. Just six months ago, Wally sued Mr. Ernest S., and the court granted her a tentative decree, six months after which she could appeal and make it final. So now all the former belle of Baltimore has to do is to go through a single legal formality, and she*11 be free to marry His Ex-Majesty, the Duke of Windsor. So today is indeed a red letter day for Wally and the Duke. How did they celebrate it? We aren1t told about Wally. As for the Duke, he celebrated the occasion with a libel suit. Today he instituted court proceedings in London - for libel. This concerns thefbook "Coronation Commentary," about which youTve already heard a couple of times- the one that made his Ex-Majesty so angry. He threatened_to sue unless the publishers withdrew it. We heard last night that the publishers had complied - had withdrawn the book. Nevertheless, word comes today that the Duke is suing anyway. Hers that indignant about it, and as it is really ti !; t p ! J may be quite a court battle. This legal coronation'angle is one thing that Urn going to inquire about when I get to London - because it1© some thing that age might provide quite a bit of fireworks ROOSEVELT I see that President Roosevelt also is taking a trip. leaving at midnight/ «* so Is he. But the President of course can do things in a bigger way than a mere private citizen. The President has sent his representatives to the coronation, like the wartime ambassador Jimmy Gerard. That leaves the chief executive to start off on another kind of jaunt. He*s going fishing. Mr. Roosevelt takes the train at midnight for a quick trip to Biloxi, Mississippi. Then he’ll leave the special train for a drive along the Gulf ports. Then the train again, to New Orleans. There the presidential yacht, the POTOMAC, will take him off on a cruise for tarpon in the Gulf#"|>ack to shore at Galveston, Texas, for a run up to Fort Worth - to the home of the President’s son ElliotTffrhe fishing part of it will be the cruise from New Orleans to Galveston, and the reports are - tarpon are running along that stretch of the coast, 'isxmsxt To most of us a fishing trip is a private sort of affair, but that's another case in which we ordinary folks don't stack up with the President. Instead of being out fishing alone, the chief executive will bait his hook under the eyes ROOSEVELT - 2 four hundred and twenty on-lookers. That's because of the guard always kept over a president. The fishing flotilla will consist of four vessels, the yacht POTOMAC, and three warships, the destroyers MOFFETT, DECATUR and SCHENCK, with t crews that toal four hundred and twenty, officers and sailors. A It’s not such a private fishing party *nen you're a president. P i -Ob ARMY Today the House Appropriations Committee okayed the declaration that the United States Army is - inadequate. That - the nation1 s defense is not up to par, not equipped to offer effective resistance to an enemy armed with modern weapons. These declarations are contained in a bill that the Committee today approved - a bill that continues the logic by appropriating more money for the army. During the coming year, the cash spent on the service will be twenty-three millions more than it was last year. A total of - four hundred and sixteen million a;id four hundred thousand dollars. That, however, is less than the figure the President suggested - three hundred and 1 1 i is f : I i fifty-eight thousand dollars less. The Committee not only voted the money, but also warned’ in the future t*U£t still larger sums will be needed to make the nation safe against aggre^on from abroad. rtfj- SPAIN The loud word from Europe tonight is - thunder in Spain! It's a story of bombardments, by cannon and war planes. Bombardment from the sea, from the land and from the sky. From the sea Rebel warships fired shells iio^alencia, the Left-Wing capital* to #iich the Socialist government fled from Madrid months ago. Two of Franco’s cruisers* lying off the harbor, hurled high explosive shells into the city. Thirty missiles from the naval guns burst with terrific defecations in the workmen’s quarter. Buildings wrecked, streets blasted - havoc and destruction. The bombardraent from land struck Madrid. Once again the Spanish capital was blasted by E^bel artillery. The dispatches call it the worst day of all for Madrid, the heaviest rain of shells. They were concentrated in the crowded heart of the city the Puerto del Sol. That plaza of renown is described as a liphuman bodies tonight - for the casualties were heavy Buildings burning, buildings blown up, as one after another the shells shells of heavy artillery fell with deadly precision . 4. the skv was in the Bilbao section The bombardment from the s«.y SPAIN - £ There ^squadrons of Rebel bombers have destroyed the old town of Guernica. It?s important as a matter of strategy, and it was once the capital of the Basques - a city of sacred and historic memories to those fcmi; hardy mountaineers of northern Spain. Eight hundred people are said to have been killed in Guernica today, the town shattered by the bombs^- and then the planes machine-gunned the fleeing fugitives.'^This is the most recent Rebel stroke against the Left Wing defense at Bilbao. Guernica is right behind the fighting line as Franco*s battalions keep V- pushing on and on. They captured the jwo vital strategic points, Eibar and Durango - and they seem about to take Bilbao as well as today bombardments crashed in Spain, fit jrtZtr'*' MARTIN The war news on the capital-labor front tonight brings a surprise. You know who Homer Martin is - chief of the Auto Workers Union and right-hand man of John Lewis and the C.I.O. Today he nominated for an important post. Guess what? — there was an attempt to make him a director of General Motors. That would be something — the Union chief in the big strike chosen to sit on the General Motors Board of Directors. It came about this way^M^Jt Wilmington, Delawarer—At a meeting of the corporation stockholders, a s±xx£ slate of directors proposed by the Company management was presented, the stockholders to vote on it. Just z routine, or It was supposed to be - when up spoke Stockholder Harold Thatcher of New fork. He said he had a name to put in nomination, and he formally entered the name - Homer Martin. The stockholders* meeting was rather astounded, but they had to go on and take a vote, and decide whether John Lewis*s auto union chief was to be elected to the Board. No, he wasn't elected - the astonishment didn't go that far. When the vote was counted, it showed that Homer Martin haj received i ' ; ill I 1 only five votes - all of these cast by Stockholder Thatcher. JUSGE New York he3 a crim© raystery tonight. singular because itfs so blank, without anv fflctlTTp +>10+- -u » aui molive tnat can be surmised, appar- ently without any reason at all. Judge john 0.Neil of tlle Municipal Court is known for the number of his friends, on excellent terms with everybody. Active in Tammany politics in the Greenwich Village section, he^ an adept in the art of making friends, not an enemy in the world. People who know him can't believe that anybody could have hard feelings against the judge, the grand old man. Today Judge O'Neil left his house on Twelfth Street and walked to Sixth Avenue to take a bus. Passersby noticed a man following behind him, thought it was a friend of the Judge's. HM young, and snappily dressed man in a tan djl ^ polo coat, was carrying a newspaper. Passersby thought A nothing of it, it looked like a friendly gesture — as the young man in the polo coat stepped up behind the Judge and patted him wxrfck on the back with the newspaper he carried. The Judge cried out weakly and staggered.tarx*** For the slap of the newspaper was the stroke of a knife — the hand clutoning The man b&K the polo coat the blade concealed in the pape • JUDGE - 2 sue him but he outdistanced them around a corner of Fifth Av I enue, and vanished. Jucige 0TNeil dragged himself back to his II house, v.here he collapsed. Tonight he’s in the hospital, in a serious condition. It's the blankest kind of mystery, with people saying and repeating — that the aged judge had no enemies, only friends. The surmise flashed — perhaps somebody who had been in court before the judge and had resented the court’s decisionl — a sentenced criminal is often known to carry a grudge against the judge. But Judge O’Neil had nothing to do with criminal cases. His court was strictly civil, and it dealt only with litigations under a thousand dollars. More­ over the cases were decided, not by the judge, but by juries — The kind of court least likely to arouse deadly enmity against the judge. The lack of motive is so complete w that the police today were driven to believe - of mistaken identity, ^h O’Neil was somebody else. The assailant must have thought Judge PURVIS The G-men as we all know , are the Nemesis of criminals. They shoot it out „ith the gunmen of the underworld. They exterminate public enemies. But what does a G-man do when he comes face to face in conflict - not with a Dillinger, not with a Baby Face Nelson. What does he do when the antagonist he faces that G-man eye of steel, and open fire? Does he eliminate her as those public enemies have been eliminated? Let’s see about that. this land. The G-man glorified by the legend - that he is the federal agent who killed Dillinger. Melvin Purvis retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to* give his laurels a chance to flower with a larger bloom. He turned out newspaper articles and magazine stories, witb a fanfare of publicity. Now he s a lawyer - and his trail takes us to the large state of Texas. Does he ga^e at her cooly with The fame of Melvin Purvis has flashed brightly across At the Texas Centennial last year, beauty wa^ed __ _ j-up, fair - the sweetheart 1 radiant, when they chose a quee rrt-n ehritude was placed upon the at - The crown for pu-Lcnr _ the sweetheart of the Centennial. The crown PURVIS - 2 alabaster brow of Mias Janice Jarrett, fairest of the maids. She caught the eye of G-man Melvin Purvis, slayer of Dillinger, lovely to behold - as who didn1!? What could be more fitting than a romance - between the beauty and the hero of desperate battle] So, Purvis and Janice became engaged. Cb Three thousand wedding invitations were sent out* And tonight it would be most fitting, if the story were - their marriage. But itfs just the opposite. The marriage is off - postponed indefinitely, announced. It happened at San Antonia, Texas. A pre-nuptial party,, a reception before the wedding, was staged - but the bride-tp-be didnft show up. She ignored the festivity that was to have been - a prelude to matrimony, hater, she had an appointment with the bridgroom-to-be. He was there, on the minute, waiting with some friends, fie waited and waited. She was late, tardiest of the tardy, finally she see you later,” and avray she tripped. Purvis made a dash to his appeared. There Janice turned , waved "so long", called to her friends - "I'll - «Ifll PORVIS - S hotel room, packed his bags and caught the next train for the Pacific coast. So that’s what a G-man does in the face ox of the enemy, not the public enemy, the girl friend. m i 1 END This brings us to the time to say another kind of "So Long" - not until tomorrow. For on this hour tomorrow and on most of the succeeding days for a month, you’ll hear a series of distinguished speakers, authors, jounalists, travelers. They’ll give you their i t;h< slant on the news, while I'll chime in, time and again, with^the tidings of the day ewon abroad. And now - the sign-off is - So Long Until but Dan Russell will tell you that.