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A H m it* S t , ; M sKr^jBl A m l i t 1 il 1! Ml ::$ r T ~ J f ; • 4 j v , ? **s» < / . - I ? ? i i i l 1”>V * *< PUBLIC SEBIVCE COMMISSION HEARING— Roy A. Wehe consultant engineer of San Francisco, left, explains two detailed reports he made of the operations of the Las Vegas Land and Water company to the public service commission at this morn­in gs session. State Engineer Alfred Merritt Smith, right, listens to testimony of the consultant hired by the Las Vegas Land and Water oompany. Solution to Water Problem Near Following Conference Sought In Wife Death FRESNO, Calif., April 4 (UP) Los Angeles police werg alerted today for a 31-year-old college student wanted for questioning in the brutal strangulation death: of his pretty, red-haired wife.: The search for Edgar A. Wer-' Her, a GI student at Fresno? State.college, shifted to southern; California after a mysterious: telegram arrived from Holly-? wood, purportedly signed by the? dead woman. Addressed to the Federal* Housing Administration offices where Mrs. Werner worked as a-typist, the telegram asked her; employers to please excuse hen for being absent. The wire explained she had left town to “be alone and think’? about her marital difficulties; She had been estranged from her husband for about six months. The wire came more than 12 hours after Mrs. Werner’s body was found on a couch in her home Monday night. Police be­lieved it w as sent in an attempt to delay discovery of her death. Deputies said Mrs. Werner had been strangled, either by a shde-lace or a small rope, 18 hours before her body was found. J Her head was mutilated by blows, apparently from a small hammer found near her pajania-clad body. The force of the blows had caused the handle of the hammer to snap o'ff. A search of Werner’s vacaht apartment turned up a T-shitt. and other articles of men’s: cloth­ing, all of which were bllood-stained. Friends told police the Weiv ners broke up their six-year-old marriage over, his alleged? uelty toward his wife. Since en they said Werner had tried persistently to induce his wif' to rehpun to him. They*s. met while both were serving NJ the Air Force, he as sergeant, and she a s ;a WAC, at Camp Pipedale, Calif., dur­ing the last war. Mrs. Werner’s mother, Mrs. Alice Benson, and a brother, Norman, live in Quakertbwn, Pa. , . A solution .!,? the water problem, presented to the Colorado river commisstojr # y the Las Vegas valley wf t.er district, was in prospect today aslmembjers of the water district board met with ^ cdfcninittee from the commission to Work out a program which would insure the district ample water for the future. It was suggested by the com­mission committee that a two-edged program he worked out by attorneys for the district which would propose: 1—Purchase of the water gal-lonage from the existing plant facilities, not to exceed 10 mil­lion gallons per day, and, 2—To submit a letter asking that when the facilities at the plant are advertised for sale, that the water district be con­sidered in the over-all program. A. F . Cahlon, who presided at the meeting, said that the surest way for the water district to be protected, if the facilities are to be sold, Would be'for the water district to enter negotiations im­mediately for purchase of gal-lonage from, the commission be­cause, if the plant is sold, exist­ing cofttracts will be acknowledg­ed. T homas Campbell, represent-; ing the water district, Said that; attorneys already were drawing; up such proposals and that they; would be presented to the Colo-] rado river commission, at the; next meeting of the full board,! on April 27. In the meantime, Campbell said, the water district is mak­ing plans to contact the general services administration to see if it would be possible for the district to purchase the water facilities when, and if, they are sold. Campbell also said that thei Nellis air base water' needs,? which may run some four- mil-: lion gallonsj'. will be; furnished-out of the 10 million gallons thel water district desires for use in this area. The commission committee was quite optimistic about the: possibilities of working out.a suit-; able progam with the water dis­trict, and a ll were agreed that the obstacles now presented are not insurmountable. WEATHER April 4V 1951 H um idity ....27 % Maximum Today’s M ianti m11u:m30 a....m..... .............i— 6552 -: Y esterday’s M aximum ......------..... 76 M I Blackie Sure Leads A Dog's Life WASHINGTON, April 4 —? (UP)—Nobody wanted Brow­nie except Blackie—and Black­ie landed in the pound for his troubles. Blackie got into trouble when dog catcher William Moore tried to nab Brownie, a fem ale mongrel. Nobody objected to Moore’s efforts except Blackie, a little male mongrel., Blackie bit Moore’s finger. Brownie escaped in the confu­sion. B lack ie.jyent to the pound. IT’S HELLDORADO least Glenn William on, of the Young Electric Sign of it, because he’s ge for the a n n u a l yhiskerino derby which goes |long with the big fete which year for May 10, II, Chet Mayfield, anotier Young employe, puts the rpler to the beard to see just Williamson is faring 1 TIME—-At is certain .ting ready ow well 14 Slugs Slop Texas Badman April 4, 1950 M aximum — -.......... Minimum ..............---- •"•••••—------...... FO RECA ST! Scattered lig h t show ers tonight: clearing Thursday. -Cooie^„ to n ig h t low 44. H igh T hursday 73. South w esterly winds, 15-25 mph. BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 4 (UP)— Police today captured one of two notorious .desperadoes who yesterday dashed to freedom through a machine gun ^crossfire that cut down the No. -1 badman of Texas, Two patrolmen nabbed, Nick Cascio on a dip from a cab driver who saw the bandit walk, ing along a west Birmingham gtreet, Cascio was wounded in the arm and leg and was placed in a hospital under guard. . in the same hospital, George w. Uettie) Bass, 35, safecrack­er deluxe and reputed head of vice and gambling in Dallas, iexas, lay m a critical condi­tion with 14 bullets in his body. Revenge Slayer Hows Down Four MARSHFIELD, Mo., April 4 (UP)—A 24-year-old farmer shot and killed four members of a neighboring family and fired 14 shots at another couple In a wild orgy of revenge because ‘they didn’t like m e.” Kenneth Essery sobbed in a jail cell today as he confessed to killing William Thomas Shockley, 43, his wife Clara, 44, their daughter Helen,, 16, and ’Shockley’s mother, Mrs. Martha Ellen Shockley 75. ' “They were all good people,” he cried. "But they didn’t like m e.” He refused to give sheriff E. I. Cunningham any further explanation. ‘I only remember shootingf Bill Shockley,” E s s e r y said. But I must have killed the others, too.” The. shootings occurred at Shockley’s farm four miles south­east of nearby Conway, Missouri, in the rugged Ozark hills of southwestern Missouri. Essery made no attempt to harm Shockley’s nine other child­ren, most of whom were asleep wheii he appeared at the house last night. .. ' ---- —--- Or-....................... Sparks Slayer . RENO, April 4 (UP) — Date of execution will be set here this' week for Gregorio Arellano, 29, Sparks railroad worker convict ed of murdering pretty Espe-anZa Rodriquez in 1949. Supreme Court Clerk Ned Turner said that a writ of remittitur on Arellano had been sent to the Washoe county district court. Date of ex­ecution in Nevada’s lethal gas chamher will, be set by Judge Wiliiam McKnight. O n t h e * 3 ^ n d id e Editorial ........................... Page 4 Sports . Page 6 Boulder City Pages 14-15 Henderson ............. Page 16 Comics ____............... Page 17 i Classified __ Pages 18-19 $6 Million JNjjH Homes Project Here Shapes Up A six million dollar homes de­velopment in .Las Vegas was in­dicated today-with thl announce­ment of the sale of 120 acres of land near the ;Las Vegas municipal golf course to the Herman Pastor interests from the east. The tract purchased by the Pastor interests, which operate in Omaha, St. Paul and Chicago, lies north of the Twin Lakes road and east of the golf course. The Reno highway, cuts through the tract and the housing develop­ment will be made on both sides of the arterial, ft was reported by Ed Hamilton, of the Hamilton Realty company, who consum­mated the deal. The tract, of 120 acres, formerly . was owned by A. W. Ham, C. VS. Wengert and C. L. Ronnow. Allen Nilva, attorney for Pas­tor arrived in Las Vegas yester­day to complete the transaction and said that the Pastor inter­ests believe in the future of Las V egas-to such an extent they are investing heavily in this* area. As plans have been formulated thus far, the development c&lls for the construction of modern and medium priced homes, with special attention to landscaping and beautification of the entire property. The land, which was purchased by the Pastor interests, adjoins the 40 acre tract recently;; pur­chased by the Prudential Homes corporation. No definite date far the .start of construction has |e e n set as y.et, -Nilva said, buf work; will be rushed as rapidlj/as possible on the porject. M orm on LealEp dl- SALT LAKE CIT5*, April 4 — (UP) Latter-Day Saints church president George Albert (Smith spiritual, leader of more than 1,- 000,000 Mormons rejmained criti­cally ill of a virus (infection to­day on his 81st bir'ljtiday| Physi­cians reported a slight improve­ment in the church1 leader over Monday when he- “took? a turn for the worse” and was feported growing weaker. . f ----------- o--------- * . Stiffer Controls? . WASHINGTON, April 4 (UP) — Mobilization Chief Charles E. Wilson has recommended to Pre­sident Truman new and stiffer controls to curb rising food prices and hold the line on rents. be'dfoornyestCTiTay by ar"<K8igrfr= borE lm er Frieburger, who went to his home to take him to vote in an election in which Upman was defeated as a candidate for township road commissioner. Meanwhile, U p m a n had thought his sons were acting “strangely-” . Under his question­ing, they admitted shooting Foht while playing a game of -(‘wild west bandits” in his house Monday. “The kids had gone sort of silly lately over wild west stories in books, magazines and on the radio,” Upman said. Sheriff Lawrence Gerbner said the boys went to Foht’s home Sunday while Foht was absent and found his .22 caliber rifle and a shotgun. The boys admitted that they “shot up the place,” blasting out several windows of the house whfere Foht, a bachelor, lived alone. Foht came home and took the guns from them. After repriman­ding the boys, he hid the guns in his house. On Monday, he drove to the Upman home a few miles away, apparently to tell Upman about his son’s behavior. Mrs. Upman refused, however* to admit him because, she said, he had been drinking. Foht’s car mired in a ditch outside the Up­man home and -he began walk­ing home. Meanwhile the three boys were at Fqht’s house and had found the hidden guns. They begin their wild west game again and killed a pig in an imaginary “gunfight” with “ enemies.” -They were prowling in Foht’s bedroom and because of his ap­proach on foot were not aware when he returned to the house. James whirled in surprise and fright as his great-uncle entered the bedroom. The gun -went off and the bullet hit Foht in the chin, coursed down his throat and emerged from his shoulder- The boys ran away as Foht fell. Coroner Charles Bartell said Foht apparently died on the bedroom floor during the hours before Upman noticed his sons’ strange behavior and questioned them yesterday. The boys re­peated their admissions to Gerb­ner today. Grebner issued an open war­rant and released the.., bgy the cpstedy “‘of^fneir parents pending an inquest in the county Seat at Galena later today. • ? ' ---------- o----------- Water Hearing Continuation Seen Indications were today that the current hearing -of the Ne­vada public' service commission in this city would be continued for at least another day, with the Las Vegas Land and Water company’s first witness domina­ting the testimony all day Tues­day and this morning. However, City Attorney How­ard Cannon was expected to cross-examine the water utility’s Wimesij '"Roy A. Wehe, consult­ing engineer, as the sessions re­sumed this afternoon. Wehe was called to the stand yesterday morning to explain de­tails of two reports concerning operation of the land and water company during 1950 and 1951. He has gone over the exhaus­tive figures in the two reports item by item and it was expected j that the water company would' call still another engineer to the witness st a n d this afternoon after Wehe’s cross-examination. ... The fireworks in the hearing were expected to start when . Cannon presented the city’s case and local citizens and organiza- (Continued on Page Two) iI Things Look Tougher fdhiohtx_Motorist WASHINGTON, April 4—(UP) Automobiles may he running on tires and gasoline of less than top quality this summer- That’s the glum outlook of industry spokesmen who warn of a pending “severe” tire short­age and a reduction in the octane rating of gasoline for civilian consumption. A Cleveland manufacturer says he doesn’t know whether his company “will have enough rubber to operate’ next month.” John F. Collyer, president of the B. F. Goodrich Com pany-one of the nation’s big four rubber companies—told the sen­ate small business committee that the nation |s “heading straight for an industrial and transportation crisis” unless the government drastically alters its rubber policies. New cutbacks in ’civilian rub­ber consumption, boliyer said, will cause a “severe” tire short­age by summer. Reid Brazell, director of re­fining for the defense petroleum • administration supplted.^anoth-er dose of bad news for motoUst^ with a warning that the power'” rating of civilian gasoline “will have to be reduced” in coming months. Deputy Petroleum Administra­tor Bruce K. Brown said in a speech prepared for delivery to the association today that short­ages of gasoline and other petro­leum products are likely unless there Is a big increase in the nation’s refining capacity. N