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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1941)
THE STORY SO FAR: More than MO,000 foreign troops secretly assem bled In Mexico by Van Hassek suddenly Invaded the United States. Vastly supe rior in numbers and equipment to the American forces which opposed them, Van Hassek’s troops pushed relentlessly INSTALLMENT SIXTEEN forward. The U. S. army was not pre pared for this sadden attack, and could only retreat In the face of overwhelming force. While an American spy in Mexico City, Bennlng had gained the confidence of two enemy officers, Fincke and Bra vot. Weeks later he unexpectedly met Flncke la Washington, and continued to pose as his irlend. Binning accompa nied him on a boat loaded with dyna mite bound for the Panama Canal. On board he aroused the suspicions of Schmolz, the skipper. Now continue with the story. CHAPTER XVII—Continued Benning went to bed after watch ing for several hours and managed to sleep through part of the day. From his porthole, Benning saw nying fish scurry out of the course of the ship in late afternoon, which confirmed fast progress south. With evening he caught the blink of dis tant light myriads on the coast line. He explored the possibility of escape in the night by whaleboat, but con cluded he stood slender chance of success in such an exploit. At dark he resumed his reconnaissance of the deck in his effort to locate Bra vot. Schmolz’ stateroom was empty at nine o’clock, again at ten. On his third trip down the boat deck, Ben ning found that half a dozen men had assembled, including Bravot and Schmolz. He stationed himself again in the shadows of a whaleboat and waited. An hour passed without de velopment, then the group filed out and went to the rail to strain their eyes into the starlit night. One of them set off a flare, and ten minutes later a second flare. Benning’s ears caught the distant hum of an airplane. The sound grew in volume until a plane zoomed overhead and circled to a stop. The engines of the ship slowed down. Four men lowered a boat. Bravot shook hands with Schmolz and climbed over the rail to disap pear down the ladder. A few min utes later Benning caught the flash of oars in the starlight. The plane burst into a roar of sound, lifted into the night, and streaked off into the void whence it had come. Benning returned heavily to his cabin. Bravot’s departure by plane clearly meant that the ship would not pause at Tampico or Vera Cruz. But at least, Benning consoled him self, he could play a stiffer game on deck with the French renegade out of the way. Somehow, in the tense days ahead, he would find a solution to this hide ous problem, he vowed. If nothing better, a chance at the radio room whence he could flash a warning code to the coast artillery forts and naval base guarding the Canal from Limon Bay. During the next few days, while the dynamite ship ate up the long miles to Panama, Benning carefully went over the vessel and watched his chances. Land had vanished, escape by boat he had dismissed finally as out of the question. Benning's interest centered on the radio room as his best chance. The radio station lay in a cubbyhole un der the bridge. Several times he visited the room, pretending interest In its mechanism. But the radio op erator, one Smidt, was sullenly un communicative and resentful of vis itors. “You been around here enough, mister,” Smidt complained at Ben ning’s third appearance. "I got work to do, so you please keep away.” After that incident, Benning gained an uncomfortable suspicion that be was being watched. Twice he tested his trail by an abrupt about-face on deck. Both times a hatchet-faced steward slouched past him with ex aggerated preoccupation. Only one chance remained if he failed at the radio. That was to reach the American officers who would come aboard to check cargo before the ship was permitted in the locks. But Benning decided that he must not wait on that last des perate extremity. Benning kept up a careful esti mate of the speed and progress of the ship. His calculations told him when the ship must be approaching Limon Bay. Schmolz’ plan, he guessed, was to detonate the ship as it passed through Gatun Locks. Benning’s plan of direct action crystallized on what he judged to be the last afternoon at sea. In his cabin he blocked out, on a sheet from his notebook, a blunt warning message: ‘‘Commanding General, Panama —Halt American freighter now ap proaching Limon Bay from New York with cargo of high explosives. General plot in effect to wreck Pan ama Canal. Instant action impera tive.—Benning, Major G-2.” Until he saw Schmolz go to the bridge, Benning loitered about the boat deck, then went direct to the radio room. ‘‘Mister, didn’t I tell you to keep out of here!” Smidt exploded as Benning stepped into the little room. Benning said quietly: ‘‘I want to use your radio, Smidt. You’ll be good enough to do just what I tell you to do.” Smidt scowled at Benning’s lev eled pistol and yielded with a sullen nod of his head. Benning strapped the fellow’s hands behind his back and forced him to stretch out face downward on the floor. Sitting down calmly, Benning started putting his message into Panama. He had buzzed out the words, ”C. G. Pana ma—Halt”—when a voice chal lenged from the door. ‘‘So, my ship has a new radio man!” Schmolz was framed in the door, his voice a raucous sneer. Murder burned in his round green eyes as he covered Benning with a long-bar reled Luger pistol Behind Schmolz were his mate, steward, and a mem ber of the crew. With an oath he unstrapped Smidt’s hands and kicked the operator to his feet. Smidt took Benning's pistol and mes sage and passed them to Schmolz. “Ei, himmell” Schmolz gasped, as he read the message. "A spy aboard!” In a surge of savage fury Schmolz seized Benning by the collar and jerked him out on deck. With a sud den swing of his ham of a fist, he dropped his prisoner and crashed down upon him with his two hundred pounds of beef and brawn. “Got here—just in time—didn’t I!” Schmolz bellowed. “Not for nothing—did I have you watched!” Schmolz’ beefy fists pummeled emphasis to his words, flailing Ben ning's face and head. “Chuck him overboard to the sharks!” he roared. Benning was driven to the rail. He gripped the rail with his hands and held tenaciously against the fa tal plunge into the Atlantic. One of his assailants clutched his legs, an "So my ship has a new radio man.” other ground with heavy heels at his Angers. Below Benning could see the water foaming down the hull of the ship. His feet were clear of the deck, his left hand lacerated into helplessness. A knife Aashed in the air over his right hand to slash it free of the rail. Schmolz bellowed an order before the knife could reach the Aesh and bone of Benning’s Angers. "Stop it! Hold everything—keep him aboard! Ja, I got a new idea!” The others turned to Schmolz with questioning glares. The knife hung in the air over Benning’s hand. "Ja, in the water it is over too quick! ” Schmolz leered. "So I think we give him a nice stateroom— where he can think—until—boom!” Schmolz sprang forward, seized Benning’s collar and hustled him down a narrow Aight of steps from the boat deck. He searched Ben ning’s pockets and shouted an or der. A winch sang, a hatch crept open over the hold. At command, one man seized Benning’s legs, the other two helped Schmolz cram their prisoner head foremost through the opening. Benning plummeted through black space, struck on head and shoulders and lay stunned, con sciousness holding by a thin thread. Slowly his mind cleared. He stretched his pain-racked body out on the hard cargo and tested shoul der blades by moving them. There was no fracture. Lying Aat on his bacK, ne strainea ms eyes upward through the blackness. The hatch had been closed. He muttered to himself: “This time, Benning, you’ve tangled your self in a fine snarl. Looks like cur tains, doesn’t it?” Benning felt drowsiness creeping over him, a drowsiness that had the power of a strong opiate. He woke with a start to find the engines shut down now. The ship was not mov ing. He concluded the ship must have stopped at Cristobal. Here a quarantine officer would come aboard. Schmolz would advise him of the nature of his cargo, but this merely for the computation of weights and water displacement re quired for passage through the locks. Unless suspicions were aroused, the ship would steam on into the Canal. In a short time the engines churned. Benning took this as veri fication. The ship was leaving Cris tobal. After a time the engines slowed down, stopped. Benning’s pulse ham NEXT WEEK AntMt** AUvJUm OndaUmvd mered in his ears. He guessed that the dynamite ship had come to the locks and was being made fast to the electric mules that would tow her. By now Schmolz and his hench men must have abandoned the ship, after setting detonators in motion for the explosion, he reasoned. Inno cent hands were seeing the vessel through, a hundred seamen whose lives would roar into nothingness with his own. Into the black hole there came the soft yellow glow of a ball of light. Benning shook his head dazedly against what must be a phantom of his tortured imagination. The ball swung crazily toward him, gaining in brightness, and a hushed voice came to his ears from overhead. "Say, mister, ain’t you pretty hun gry about now?” Benning’s voice leaped from his throat as his mind oriented itself to this intervention. "Quick, Grimes! Get a rope down here and pull me out of this hole!” The ball of light ceased its rota tion, grew stationary on a thin cord in front of Benning’s eyes. Grimes mulled through priceless seeonds, and countered, "But the cap’n might get sore when he comes back, and kick me off the ship.” “Schmolz isn’t coming back!” Benning shouted. "Quick, get a rope for me or it’s only a matter of min utes until we’ll be blown to pieces!” Grimes did not answer, but Jerked the lantern back up out of the hold. Benning’s fingers bit into the palms of his hands through an eternity of waiting until the lantern reappeared, hitched this time to the end of a stout inch-rope. Benning detached the lantern when it reached him, passed the end of the rope under his armpits and tied a hurried knot. He put the force of his lungs into an order to heave. With legs braced across the open hatch. Grimes put the strength of his powerful arms into the job and brought Benning to the deck. Ben ning staggered to his feet and start ed for the rail. "Come on, Grimes,” he ordered. "We got to get off this ship!” Under the soft light of a new moon, as he ran to the rail of the ship, Benning saw the thick con crete walls of the locks. Beyond were the rows of squad tents of an emergency guard detachment. Ahead the electric locomotives tugged at heavy cables. Benning drove the force of his lungs along the deck in warning to the crew and climbed down the lad der, closely followed by Grimes. At coming abreast of the top of the walls, he leaped, propelling himself outward with his legs, and landed on chest and stomach. For several moments he lay stunned, then stag gered to his feet and ran toward the tents. Sentries barked a challenge, a figure in pajamas burst out of a tent to level a vibrant voice. "I’m the commanding officer— what’s all this yelling about!” Benning panted: "I’m Major Ben ning, of G-2. The cargo of this ship is dynamite—it will detonate at any minute! Get everyone clear here!” The commander swung on his heels with cool promptness and be gan shouting orders. “All out! On the run! Leave everything behind! Get moving to Mindi—on the wagon road—never mind formation!” There was intensity rather than excitement in the officer's voice. • Benning saw that the crew was bursting from the doomed ship. Some, in their panic, leaped into the water of the narrow locks, others made the long leap to the top of the locks. He ran after the officer. Grimes trailing. A puffing sprint brought them to the railroad grade that led into Mindi. Another long run and the officer halted in a deep cup in the Sierra Quebrancha. He commanded his soldiers to scatter into the foothills. Two miles lay behind. Half an hour had passed, Benning judged. The captain introduced himself. Marlin. He began asking questions, suddenly suspicious that be might have been tricked away from his post of duty. Benning quickly es tablished his identity. “But how do you know the ship's cargo is—?” Marlin cut off his query as his cheeks caught the peculiar stir of air as from a gust of wind. Ben ning’s hands drove to cup his ears. He felt himself pitched forward on his face. The earth heaved violent ly, his head rang with the pain of the volcanic might of the explosion that filled the world. All existence had been reduced to roaring, crash ing, maddening bedlam. A clap of thunder shattered his thoughts. It crashed out of distant hills and jungles far down the Isth mus from Gatun Lake. Benning halted. There came a second crash, a third, a fourth. The detonations followed one another successively, within the limits of a few minutes. (TO BE CONTINUED) Linen Assumes Important Role As Fabric for Summer Ward robes hy CHERIE NICHOLAS IN ASSEMBLING the new summer wardrobe, don’t overlook the Im portance of linen for all-occasion wear. There really is no material that more faithfully holds its own than handsome Irish linen. With women of discriminating taste, fine linen is a tradition, and now, be cause of scientific processing, the new linens are rendered practically non-wrinkable. Aside from the practical view, which ranks linen high because of its complete washability, crease resistancy and adaptability to any type of wearing apparel, style ex perts are suggesting linen because of the beautiful colors in which it may now be purchased. A trend this season is the com bining of linen with another fabric. You'll see many linen dresses with wool coats, lined and collared to match the dress. Linen also may be combined With silk or rayon prints very effectively. Often a monotone linen coat is lined with the print of a matching frock. In these instances, the linen used is one of the heavier, sturdier weaves, either plain or with self-plaid woven into the fabric. A fashion highlight this season is the newly styled longer jackets of solid colored linen, worn over bright gingham cherite or printed cottons. The attractive ensemble centered in the photograph illustrates the idea. The jacket, of deep green linen, is cut as expertly and fits as suavely as any painstakingly tailored wool. It tops a black, white and green checked dress which follows careful ly the lines of a classic shirtwaist frock. The use of linen in two-toned com binations is a this-season theme that stresses the popular contrast-color Dramatic Bags Dramatic bags, with swank shoes of shiny perforated leather to match, are smart as can be. In the under arm bag designed by Jenny which the young modern pictured is carry ing, shiny black patent leather is cleverly used to form wings of ruf fled and perforated patent. This bag is roomy but compact and is styled with all the ‘ last word” improve ments. You will find it the perfect complement for your new tailleur and particularly chic carried with the now-so-voguish black faille jacket suits. By the way, the topknot that surmounts the pretty head of the young lady here posing is a very new-fashion chapeau. Newest wrist watches are square, made of pink gold, set with dia monds and rubies and fastened with a maroon wrist cord. vogue. Two shades of Irish linen, a rich tan and a deep green, combine to dramatize the South American in fluence shown in the simulated bo lero of this good-looking dress. This is a fashion designed by Schiaparel li for gay young folk. it’s ‘three cheers for the red white-and-blue” when the classic shirtwaist dress shown to the left in the group marches along in the fash ion parade. The dress is of blue wrinkle-resistant Irish linen. The double blue-and-white collar and cuffs are edged with red rickrack, and the chic crocheted belt also com bines the three colors. A fashion that women will wel come is the redingote that is styled of linen in handsome dark mono tones. This is worn over print frocks very effectively and over linen dresses of a contrasting shade. A practical as well as smart item in any wardrobe is the linen suit that is fashioned with the longer jacket. In navy or dark green or toast brown it Invites many uses, for the jacket may be worn over casual frocks when not worn with its matching skirt. The young set glories this season in the new line middy blouse fash ions. As summer advances, dance floors will boast linen dinner dresses. On beaches, dressmaker bathing suits in linen will take to the water and many play suits and beach dresses of Irish linen will be worn by vacationers. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) White-Ground Prints New In Summer Fashion Picture It is the white-ground prints that have the coveted "new” look. The black-on-white combination is espe cially smart. Wear with these black and-whites one of the very voguish large Milan hats, carry a patent bag matched with pumps, splash a dash of red or yellow in gloves and your boutonniere—the sum total will be "style." Blue on white is also new and the prints that pattern red or yellow on white are exceedingly chic. Handknit Apparel Enjoys Increase in Popularity There is a large demand for hand knit apparel. Even the machine knits have been brought to such a point of perfection that they have the handknit look. Dresses are so expertly fashioned that they do not miss any of the styling details that give distinction to fabric treat ments. Sweaters ariB cardigans abound in unique trimmings, such as wool yarn fringe, dangling tassels, em broideries and knitted skirts are now made with pleats or gores. -— Low-Cut Necklines Call For Bra to Match Dress Necklines are on their way down and down, almost to the waistline. With this type of dress, comes a bra to match. You can fasten the open point high or low, as you wish. The latest blouses have open-throat col lared necklines that may be adjusted at will. Brims Large, Small It’s a far cry from the tiny little flower topknots milliners are pleased to call hats to the wide, wider, wid est brims that are forecasted for wear with summer frocks. A proper ly equipped wardrobe of headgear should include both. The cunning flower hats have captured women’s fancy to the extent that they will continue in the picture for a long time to come, but from now on they must share honors with the stunning big pompadour brims, Mexican gaucho felts and the face-framing j "covered wagon” types. By VIRGINIA VALE (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) TWO April weddings in the Hollywood movie colony are still topics for conversa tion, one because it was so conventional, for Hollywood, the other because it was so unusual for that colony and just the accepted thing any where else. The Yuma marriage of Constance Bennett and Gilbert Roland was Hol lywoouian. It was Miss Bennett's fourth marriage, they drove to Yuma by themselves and the clergy man had to supply witnesses. The other, Deanna Durbin’s marriage to Vaughn Paul, was a big church wed ding, very beautiful, and motion pic ture stars who were friends of the bride and groom were invited but not featured as part of the perform ance. An achievement, in Holly wood 1 -* Rudy Vallee is ready to chuck his career and undertake a new one at tb«' drop of a mega phone. Now appear ing in Columbia's musical picture, “Time Out for Rhythm,” with Ann Miller, Rosemary Lane and Allen Jen kins, he’s ready to drop acting and singing if he can get a chance to di rect pictures. He's Eudy Vallee even bought a nome in Beverly Hills to be near the center of the movie busi ness. -* During the next few months there will be a virtual parade of film play ers to the Latin-American countries. Spencer Tracy and Eleanor Powell are slated for goodwill visits; Doug las Fairbanks Jr. will be a sort of good-will ambassador, and Marsha Hunt plans on spending six weeks in South America after she’s finished “Blossoms in the Dust.” -* “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles’ first RKO Radio production, aroused plenty oi controver sy long before it w«s released, and will be one of those pictures that people wiU argue about years after they’ve seen It. It may not be the best picture ever made, but cer tainly it is one of the best—but there are those who main tarn that it should 0rson Welle, never have been made at alL Welles himself scores superbly as writer, actor and pro ducer; the rest of the cast is so good that you forget that they’re acting. -# The first day she appeared on the "Manpower” set Marlene Dietrich announced that she’d take whatever punishment the script asked George Raft to hand her. That included his slapping her twice across the face, knocking her down a flight of stairs, then leaping after her and hitting her across the mouth with the back of his hand. But George hit her harder than he intended. Marlene tumbled down the stairs (as per script), but wound up by severely spraining her ankla (which the script did not call fori). -* Two more well known stage and screen players—Martha Sleeper and William Harrigan—have joined the cast of "We Are Always Young,” Mutual chain’s star-studded serial. That cast probably includes more "name” actors than any other se rial on the air; among them are Jessie Royce Landis, Linda Wat kins, Margalo Gilmore, Joe Laurie Jr., Horace Braham, Pert Kelton, George Coulouris, and William Jan ney, who's starred. -* Andy Hardy’s own, a squadron of RAF fighters, will soon take to the air. Mickey Rooney, the Hardy se ries "Andy,” received a letter the other day from a young RAF filer who wrote "We’re all young fellows In this squadron and we all think you're an o. k. sort of lad, so we’ve nicknamed our squadron (soon to see action) for you.” -T' Stirling Hayward lost Madeleine Carroll in "Virginia,” but he’s slat ed to win her in "Dildo Cay.” As originally planned, it was Dorothy Lamour whom he was to win, but she will be unable to finish her current assignment in “Aloma of the South Seas” in time to appear in the picture. -* ODDS AND ENDS—Mutual’s neus analyst, Wythe Williams, is sponsored on more stations than any fellow ana- . lysl—has 100 stations . .. Robert Donat ! has leave from the British army to make “Pitt the Younger" in an English studio i . . . Warner Bros, have bought a story ; railed “Coffin for Dmitrios" and Co• lurnlna is making one called “Obituary" —and trying to think up a new title for it . . . As soon as Abbott and Costello finish “In the Navy" they'll begin “Ride ’em Cowboy" . . . Shirley Temple will hate a brand new hair-do when she re turns to the screen, and her hair, grow ing darker as she’s grown older, is brown instead of golden. Vitamin B, Of Value in Anemia Cases By DR. JAMES W. BARTON TWO friends of mine died of pernicious anemia just a few years before Doctors Minot and Murphy (Boston) made this star tling discovery that death from pernicious ane mia could be prevented by _ the use of liver. Since that time liver extract and extract of hog’s stomach have been found effective in this former ly fatal disease. While the cause of pernicious anemia is unknown, I know that severe emotional upsetments and ex treme mental work or overwork had un dermined the health of these two friends and that this might have been a partial cause of their death by pernicious ane mia. Just as mental or emotional strain can Dr. Barton afTect **»• or«ans ot the body — heart, blood vessels, stomach, intestine—so can they also afTect the life stream. That more than the quality or quantity of the red blood cells are affected in pernicious anemia is shown by the fact that even after the blood becomes normal in the num ber and iron content of its red cor puscles, the patient may continue to have symptoms such as pain and ex haustion. Drs. F. SciclounofT and M. Naville, in the Swiss Medical Journal state that in a series of cases of perni cious anemia in which the blood was up to normal, the patients continued to have the symptoms. They ad ministered thiamin chloride (vita min Bl) to 13 of these cases and found that this treatment can re lieve and often cure the symptoms due to the disturbances of the nerv ous system. In favorable cases there was improvement in move ment and in sensitiveness, and the pain stopped in a short time. Nerves Prolong Symptoms. The thought then in pernicious anemia is that the nerves are ap parently damaged to some extent, thus prolonging the symptoms even after the blood is restored to nor mal. The treatment to relieve these symptoms is the use of vitamin Bl (thiamin chloride) which, as stated before, enables the oxygen in the blood to get directly to the nerve cells. Foods rich in vitamin Bl and therefore of help in conditions af fecting the nerves—neuritis, arthri tis. nervous exhaustion—are ham, bacon, peanuts, beef, liver, malted milk, wheat germ and yeast. Pain in Chest Due to Effort AS YOUNGSTERS when we played hard a pain would oc cur in the chest and we would have to stop playing or play more lei surely. This pain was due to the fact that we were playing so hard, or were so excited while playing, that too much waste—carbon diox ide—from the exercise accumulated in the blood. Today, when adults get this tight or gripping pain in chest or under the breastbone, it is called angina pectoris. This is due, as with young sters playing hard, to something preventing enough pure blood to flow through the little blood vessels car rying pure or unused blood from the lungs to the heart. When this pain comes on from ef fort, stopping what you are doing or doing it less rapidly will in most cases cause the pain to disappear. In speaking of angina (pain) due to effort, Dr. Geoffrey Bourne, Lon don, in the British Medical Journal, states that in the majority of cases rest is not needed; in fact, the pa tient should be encouraged to take regular exercise to increase the strength of his heart and lungs. If during the exercise pain occurs, ex ercise may be stopped for a time, but a gradual increase in the amount of work that can be done or exer cise taken before the pain appears will be noticed soon. Patients who are overweight, in whom this pain in the chest occurs, can be greatly helped by a reduction of their weight. Standing, sitting and walking in au erect position, carrying abdomen drawn in, will often prevent this pain. When exercise cannot be tak en, holding the abdomen in by means of a well-fitted abdominal belt will prevent or postpone the pain. * * • QUESTION BOX Q.—Could you suggest a remedy for nose bleed? A.—Most cases of nose bleed are due to a small vessel being near the lining surface of the nose. Blow* ing nose Is often sufficient to cause bleeding. Nose bleed can be due to other conditions of the body. Q.—Where there is an exudative retina condition and a small part of the vision is lost, can it be restored? A.—Your own physician can best answer your questions or could refer you to any eye specialist.
