* ■■■ i, ■ • ■ . ... ■■ • tv nrc-ns ’ - -t+iW'S ■rf.j - nil mu i i " i hi'i i >nmn ii i n imi*h i i i i ■ mu iwn'n"i • jm ^ • ■ ;v
''Miiiwfg;
House-Trailer Fire Is
Fatal To John W. Cason
A $50 trailer fire that went un
noticed snuffed out the life last
week end of a 46-year-old Lin
coln man.
Victim of the blaze which
burned itself out inside the small
trailer was John William Cason,
an employe of the Northwestern
Iron and Metal company. His
body was found Sunday morning
in the trailer located in the rear
of 526 North Nineteenth. Cason
reftted the eight by 12 structure
from John Nelson, who lives at
that address, for $10 a month.
Deputy Sheriff Leslie C. Has
son, acting coroner, said death was
caused by suffocation and burns.
Hasson estimated the fire hap
pened between 10 p.m. and mid
night Saturday. There was no fire
alarm.
The fire did little damage to
the structure. A mattress on a
rollaway bed, where the blaze evi
dently originated, was destroyed.
Paint on the inside walls was
cooked off. "The heat must have
been terrific,” Hasson said. Some
of the wood furnishings and the
windows were scorched a light
brown.
Papers and some books in a
cardboard box found under the
bed were only burned in spots.
Cason’s body was found about
10 s.m. slumped over a small
table, Hasson reported. The
clothing be was wearing was
not burned, but the deputy
sheriff said Cason was badly
burned on the right side of his
body and on the neck.
Hasson said Cason apparently
was lying on the bed when the
fire broke out. He said he did not
know how the fire started but
said there was no stove explosion.
Cason might have been smoking
in bed, he added.
No Inquest
The acting coroner said the fire
apparently consumed all of the
oxygen in the trailer and then
went out. The blaze did not burn
through the trailer’s insulated
walls.
Hasson said he saw no reason
for an autopsy or an inquest at
this time.
Nelson said he came back
from Omaha, where he is em
ployed, about 1:49 a.m., Sun
day. He said he thought he
smelled something burning but
after searching Us house, dis
missed it from his mind. Sun
day morning, he said, he again !
noticed the burned odor and
then went out to the trailer,
which is only about four feet
from the house, and found
Cason’s body.
He then notified the city police
who called the county sheriffs
office.
Nelson said Cason had been liv
ing in the trailer since about Nov.
23. The last time he is known to
have been seen alive was about
5 p.m., Saturday, when neighbors
saw him.
Cason was the second Lincoln
fire death within two weeks. The
other victim was Frank Craig, 77,
who was burned to death Dec. 24
when fire swept through the con
verted chicken house in which he
had been living in the rear of
2444 North Eighth.
Cason, who had lived in Lincoln
for short periods during the past
few years, was born in Ottumwa,
la. He had recently been living in
Clinton, la., until he came to Lin
coln in the fall.
EDWARD C. FISHER
Judge Edward C. Fisher an- j
nounced today that he will not be^
a candidate for re-election to the
Municipal court.
Our Honor Roll
The following are some of those
who are new subscribers or have
renewed their subscription to The
Voice.
How does your subscription
stand?
Mrs. A. Newton, Beatrice.
Mrs. Lela Becks, Beatrice.
Miss Jennie A. Morgan.
Mrs. F. L. Troupe
L. E. Ay Is worth
Miss Jeannette Elliott
Mrs. D. C. Helmsdoerfer
Rev. W. I. Monroe
\Tfie Second Million
The ink is hardly dry on the
widely-published announcement
that “Victim X” is dead. Hardly
dry, either, are the tears of his or
her saddened family, for “Victim
X” was the unknown man, woman
or child who recently became a
shocking national symbol of hid
eous recklessness on our country’s
streets and highways. •
Bad enough Is the realization
that in the 176 years of our na
tion’s life a million sons had to die
gallantly in battle to preserve the
freedoms and privileges we so
rightly cherish. Far worse and
strictly dishonorable is the appall
ing announcement that in only a
third of that time we have per
mitted another million citizens to
be battered and crushed to death
in traffic accidents, needlessly and
many times criminally. But
frightful to to the point of reeling
unbelief is the cold knowledge
that at the present rate we are
speeding to a second million such
victims within a mere 25 years.
It must not happen!
It will not happen if every citi
zen, as a matter of sheer necessity
for self-preservation, does his or
her part promptly, consistently
and courageously. Let us demand
that our police departments en
force the law sternly and im
partially—and give them enough
(Continued on Page 2)
He was a member of the United
Farm Equipment and Metal
Workers local, No. 144, the Inter-,
national Brotherhood of Firemen J
and Oilers, Steelers club, No. 2038.
at Bettendorf, la., and the Inter
national Hod Carriers, Building
and Common Labor Union of
America, AFL.
Survivors include four daugh
ters, Floy, Vera, Janice, and Anna
Cason, all of Lincoln, and a step
daughter, Shirley Cason, also of
Lincoln.
W/' 0 v < or id a Bomb Victim
Die ter Attending Funeral
Hampton to Build
$80,000 Dorm
WASHINGTON — (ANP) — A
long-term, low-interest loan of
$775,000 for the construction of
dormitory facilities at Hampton
institute was recently approved i
by the Housing and Home Finance'
Agency, according to Administra-'
tor Raymond M. Foley.
The dormitory designed to ac
commodate 251 students will be
built at an estimated cost of
$809,100.
The college is located in an'
area of national defense activities
and is available to provide special
training in many activites of the
defense departiment.
Foley pointed out that Hamp
ton’s ROTC enrollment has almost
doubled to 371 students during the
last three years, with 400 expected
to be under junior officer train
ing during the coming school
year. Some ROTC students are
now reported as living four in a
room in buildings built 70 years’
ago. |
|More Than 600 Persons Attended
I Mr. Harry T. Moore’s Funeral ♦
IFrozen Woman
Walks Again ,
CHICAGO. (ANP) — For the
first time since Last Feb. 8, when1
she was found in an alley literally
frozen stiff, Mrs. Dorothy Mae
Stevens, Chicago’s famous “frozen
woman,’’ walked. She was fitted1
with artificial legs last week.
At the time she was found, her
body temperature had dropped 38
degrees below normal, and doc
tors expressed amazement at her
condition. The fact that Mrs.1
Stevens has recovered — minus
both feet and nine fingers—made
medical history.
The artificial legs were pur
chased by the Illinois State Re
habilitation commission. Dr. Har
old. Laufman of Michael Reese
hospital, who has had charge of
^rs. Stevens, said artificial fin
Igers will be fitted later.
j SANFORD, Fla.—(ANP)— Mrs.
Harriet Moore, 49, wife of Harry
T. Moore, 46 Christmas night vic
tim of an anti-Negro bombing,
died in a hospital here, Thursday
night, thus becoming the second
fatality in the dynamite attack.
Mrs. Moore left her hospital bed
on New Year’s day to see the body
of her husband. After viewing his
body as it lay in state, Mrs. Moore,
who had been improving, grew
steadily worse.
Her attending physician, Dr.
George H. Starke said the death
was caused by a blood clot. She
had been hospitalized since Christ
mas night when a bomb exploded
under her bed after she and her
husband, Florida NAACP leader,
had gone to sleep.
More than 600 persons attended
the dead man’s funeral. Dr.
Richard V. Moore, president of
iBethune-Cookman college, was
among the speakers.
No new developments have been
announced officially in the in
vestigation of the incident al
j though the federal bureau of in
vestigation and local authorities
Second Term for Liberia’s 18th
j
MONROVIA, LIBERIA—Another dramatic setting is in the mak
ing for the inauguration January 7, 1952, of the chief magistrate of
this republic of two and a half million soals located on the West Coast
of Africa, when President Tubman, above, is scheduled to be sworn
into office for his second terra. In the midst of his frst inaugural
address, the Liberian magistrate stopped and knelt to make a fer*
vent plea for Divine guidance. 1
Deeply religious, William V. S.
Tubman is a product of the mis
sion school and church. Son of
the Rev. and Mrs. Alexander
Tubman, he was bom in Harper.
Cape Palmas, Maryland County,
Liberia, November 29, 1895. Ed
ucated at the Cape Palmas semi*
nary, which is conducted under
auspices of the Methodist church,
he subsequently received private
instruction to become a prominent
member of the laity. He has
exerted a profound influence in
religious or evangelical work, re*
| gardless of denomination or sect
throughout hit eight years in
! office.
| Since Liberia’s inception early
f in the 19th century, the educa
i tional and evangelical activities
of the missionary have been
closely related to the country’s
I economic, social and cultural pro*
i gress. Representatives of foreign
missionary boards played con
spicuous roles in making Centen
| niai Sunday a memorable success
' in the country’s 100th anniver
sary celebration July 24 to Aug
ust 14, 1947. wwfe
» Missionaries from the Method
ist church mm the Protestant
Episcopal ‘ ch la Afoerka have
tiffin Mtj cmgest b Liberia.
program of the Catholic
church i« directed from Ireland.
Other Foreign Missionary boards
active in religious and educa
tional work here are Negro Bap
tist Convention, Unincorporated,
Negro Baptist Convention, In
corporated, Lutheran church,
A. M. E. Church, A. M. E. Zion
church, Lott Carey Convention,
Seventh Day Adventist and As
semblies of God.
As head of the Liberian gov.
ernment. Pres. Tubman directs
activities of one of the original
members of the United Nations.
Its Free Port of Monrovia is the
finest on the west African coast.
Completed last year with the as
sistance of a Lend-Lease Loan
from the United States, the $22
million dollar port has already
started to pay back through earn
ings.
The great rubber plantations, ;
so valuable to the U. S. when 1
00% of the supply was cut off I
during World War II by the Jap
anese seizure of Southeast Asia,
have become increasingly import
ant. No less important is the
opening up of Liberian mines
which produce an average iron
content of 68.9 per cent, the pur
est iron ore being mined in the
world today. In this small but
active country, America has
found a valuable contribution to
its defense program.
reportedly are studying the case.
In the meantime, innumerable
protests of the bombing are being
directed to President Truman,
iGov. Fuller Warren of Florida,
I and to local authorities asking that
something be done about the anti
Negro violence in Florida.
I Rewards totaling $19,325 have
I been offered for the apprehension
of the murderer or murderers of
the Moores. They are headed by:
| $6,000, state of Florida an
nounced by Governor Warren;
$5,000, NAACP announced by
(Walter White, executive secretary.
Several theories, however, have
been introdnuced as motives for
the killing.
Klan Claims Not Guilty
An unusual factor in this case
is the stand of the usually vicious
Ku Klue Klan. The Florida Klan
burned a cross on New Year’s
Eve and denounced persons who
accused it of the bombings. The
KKK denied all connection with
Virginia School
May Be Named After
James Weldon Johnson
RICHMOND — (ANP) — The
name of James Weldon Johnson,
educator, poet and diplomat, was
proposed last week for the new
Washington Park-Providence
Park school in the North Side.
The late soldier's name was
recommended to the school board
in a joint resolution from the
Parent-Teacher associations of the
two communities. While the board
took the name under considera
tion, it said other suggestions
would be welcomed.
Johnson, who was born in Jack
time United States consul to Vene
sonville, Fla., in 1871, was at one
zuela and Nacaraugua. He was a
teacher, a poet and a life-long
student of literature and drama.
For a number of years John
son was secretary of the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. Among his
literary works one of the most
popular is “God’s Trombones.'*
He was also author of “Lift Every
Voice and Sing,** the Negro na
tional anthem. ,
