Oklahoma City Times (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 79, No. 17, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 9, 1968 Page: 1 of 16
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Move Won't Halt Rioting, Embmttled General Says
Negro Guard Recruiting to Spread?
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ORDEAL'S OVER for Mr*. Karen Corbin, 25, who is examined by Los Angeles
firemen after she was tumbled four miles down the rain-swollen Los Angeles
River. Mrs. Corbin's ear crashed through a fence at a freeway off ramp Friday
and she was thrown into the stream. Her injuries included a broken leg. <AI*
Wirephoto) __
By John Bennett
The president of the National Guard Association of
the United State predicted Saturday In Oklahoma City
the formation of a nationwide program to recruit more
Negroes In guard units.
But, he said, more Negroes in the guard won’t be a
real deterrent to urban rioting.
Maj. Gen. James F. Cantwell is a man who knows
about urban rioting.
He was in the thick of rioting last summer in New-
ark, N. J.
It was Cantwell who as adjutant general of the New
Jersey guard led his soldiers into the streets to contain
rioting Negroes who laid waste to life and property.
He was one of 13 generals and 800 officers attending
the annual convention of the Oklahoma National Guard
Association in the Sheraton-Oklahoma Hotel.
Gen. Cantwell still smarts from criticism leveled by
the national Kerner Commission. TTie Commission, ap-
pointed to probe the riots, recommended strengthening
all guard units with more Negro troops.
The idea actually was that of Lt. Gen. John Throck-
morton, third Army Commander who headed the army
task force against Detroit rioters and testified before the
commission.
New Jersey, the nations' pilot program in Negro
guard recruiting, has suspended recruiting whites into
the guard.
Since last summer, 517 Negroes have been recruited
The guard goal is five percent Negro.
Gen. Cantwell quoted Gen. Throckmorton as saying
more Negro troops in his units at Detroit gave a belter
"rapport" with the troops and the civilian populace.
"I didn't see it made a hell of a lot of difference,
Cantwell said Saturday.
But, he says, his state's Negro recruiting is working,
despite resistance from some militant Negroes.
Cantwell predicts the program eventually will
spread nationwide. The number of Negroes would proba-
bly be proportionate to the proportion of white to Negro
populace.
Gen. Cantwell thinks the Kerner Commission react-
ed too quickly to Throckmorton's recommendations. He
(See NEGRO—Page 2)
.fr-
,\faj. Gen. .lames Cantwell
Red Force Backs Away
After Day-Long Battle
Paid Circulation 310,244 Evening-Morning Doily Average February
Oklahoma Gity Times
ENTIRE CONTENTS COPYRIGHTED 1»6« OKLAHOMA PUBLISHING CO,. SCO N BROADWAY
VOL. LXXIX, NO. 17
16 PAGES-OKLAHOMA CITY, SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1968
5c IN OKLAHOMA—10c ELSEWHERE
Recruits Fill Red Ranks, General Says
CAN THO. Vietnam
(AP) — The new com-
mander of South Viet-
nam's 4th Corps military
area — where the allies
claim the Viet Cong suf-
fered severe losses in their
recent Tet offensive —
said Saturday the Commu-
nists already have refilled
their ranks with new re-
cruits.
The commander, Maj.
Gen. Nguyen Due Thang,
aggressive former head of
the nation’s pacification
program, said the Viet
Cong recruits are very
young and untrained. He
said the Viet Cong are ab-
ducting young men from
the countryside and cities
of the Mekong Delta.
Thang. who took over as
chief government repre-
sentative in the delta 10
days ago, told a news
conference Saturday he
faces tough going pushing
back the Communist ad-
vances made since the end
of January.
The delta's 7 million peo-
ple _ about 40 percent of
South Vietnam’s popula-
tion — produce most of the
country’s food.
All indications are that
the Viet Cong offensive set
(See RECRUITS—Page 2)
Edward H. Litchfield
Death at 100 MPH
Four Young
I
Lives Ended
The lives of four young Oklahomans were snuffed
out — one in a 100-mile-per-hour crash — during a sev-
en-hour period stretching to Saturday morning.
Four teen-agers, including an Oklahoma City man,
were fatally injured in the three car wrecks.
Dead are Tonya Rae Colt, 16; Stephen Elkins, 15,
both of Tulsa; Mary Janning, 15, Clinton, and Nick G.
Gramlich, 18, of 6813 N Grove.
The death of the three teens brings to 26 the number
of persons under 21 years of age who have died in state
auto accidents so far this year.
A Clinton highway patrolman, Gerald Wilmeth. said
Miss Janning was a passenger in a car driven by Donn
Allen Pool. 16, also of Clinton. He was admitted to a Clin-
ton hospital Friday night with back injuries.
The officer said the Pool car failed to negotiate a
curve in the Clinton city limits, ran into a ditch and then
struck a utility pole.
Two hours later, at an intersection in Tulsa, Miss
Colt and Elkins, a passenger in the Colt car, were killed.
Lt. A. R. Haddock, a Tulsa traffic investigator, said
Miss Colt's high-speed car slammed into a tree at St.
Louis and S 56 St.
The patrol said the car was doing better than 100
(See FOUR—Page 2)
Armor-Borne GIs
Cut Up Enemy
With Heavy Fire
SAIGON (AP) — Communist troops broke contact with
armor-born U. S. infantrymen Saturday night after a
day-long battle in the coastal lowlands below Da Nang.
The Americans reported they killed 129 of the enemy.
The U. S. Command said a rundown oi American casual-
ties was not immediately available.
The fighting broke out when a troop of Amcrical Divi-
sion soldiers aboard armored personnel carriers contacted
a Communist force of undetermined size nine miles north-
west of Tam Ky.
The infantrymen, supported by artillery and dive-
--- ■ —-i bombing aircraft, cut up the
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Board Chief Killed,
5 Others Feared Lost
CHICAGO (AP) — Ed-1 Litchfield's body was iden-
ward H. Litchfield, board jtified by R. T. O’Neil of
chairman of SCM Corp. wasiMunster, Ind., brother-in-law
of Mary Litchfield. He had
been waiting at the airport
for the plane to arrive.
The plane reportedly took
off from Wellsville, N. Y.,
and was due to land at
Meigs Field Friday night.
The coast guard said the
plane received landing in-
structions from Meigs Field
but did not land.
SHEDDING TEARS for his lost son, salt miner Arthur
Olivier sr. leaves a mine shaft at Calumet, La. Bodies
of his son and 20 other miners were found Friday fol-
lowing a three-day rescue effort. (AP Wirephoto) Story
on Page 2.
killed and five other persons,
including members of his
family, were believed to
have perished Friday night
when their two-engine plane
plunged Into fog-shrouded
Lake Michigan while coming
in for a landing.
The body of Litchfield, 53,
of Coudersport, Pa., a for-
mer chancellor of the Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, was
recovered at midmorning
Saturday five miles off
Meigs Field, Chicago's lake-
front airport.
The crew of the coast
guard boat that recovered
the body did not report sight-
ing any wreckage of the
plane or other bodies.
Others aboard the plane
were Litchfield’s wife, Mary,
42; his mother, Ethel, 81:
their children, Edward, 10
and De Forest, 4, and the pi-
lot, James Looker, 43, of
Wellsville, N. Y.
Two coast guard boats
started a search immediate-
ly. Three search planes and
a fire department helicopter
stood by but could not join in
the search because of fog.
Smith-Corona Marchant
Inc. (SCM), of New York, is
a major manufacturer of
business machines
W®
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Communists with bursts
from 50-c aliber machine-
guns mounted on their car-
riers.
Reds Fire Mortars
Earlier Communist gun-
ners senl 40 mortar rounds
into night defensive positions
of America! Division troops
| in the same area. One U. S.
soldier was killed and 25
wounded.
Communist mortarmcn
also renewed their harassing
attacks on Saigon after sev-
eral nights of quiet. Three
rounds slammed into a po-
lice dependents’ housing
area in the slums of south-
The airport manager at ern Saigon. lour civilians
11' /
Want Ads CE 5-6722
Other calls CE 2-3?,11
Subpena Sent
To Ray Fine
GORE — Rep. Ray Fine, ice agents told him It was In
Gore Democrat, said Satur-
day he had been subpenaed
to appear before a federal
grand jury in Muskogee next
week.
"I haven’t the least idea
Why I was summoned. I was
Just served with the pa-
pers,” Fine said, adding he
Is to appear before the jury
Thursday morning.
Fine is the fourth person
known to have been subpe-
nacd to appear before the
Jury*, which may investigate
Ihe financial affairs of state
Sen. Gene Stipe, McAlester
Democrat.
Fine served with Stipe In
the senate several years. He
ran lor the house following
redislrlcling.
William Gill Jr., Oklahoma
City, subpenaed Friday said
two Internal Revenue Serv-
connection with an investiga-
tion of Stipe.
GUI said he was contacted
several months ago by an
IRS agent who wanted to see
checks Issued to Stipe In con-
nection with Oklahoma
City’s Atoka pipeline pro-
ject. Gill was an official of
OKATOKA Constructors that
built the $50 million pipeline.
Also subpenaed were A1 J.
Kavanaugh, Oklahoma City,
president of Metropolitan
Paving Co., who was another
officer in the OKATOKA
firm, and W. H. "Pat"
O'Bryan, lawyer and ac-
countant from Oklahoma
City.
The three men were
subpenaed to appear before
tha grand jury at 1:30 p.m
Wednesday.
Air Crash
Kills Man
TROY, Ala. (AP) — One
person was killed and the pi-
lot injured Saturday when a
single-engine plane crashed
and burned about five miles
from this south Alabama
town.
Pike County coroner Rob-
ert A. McGhee identified the
victim as Marvin Fox of
near Bartlesville, Okla.
McGhee said the pilot, Ed-
win Davis of Dewey, Okla.,
was burned trying to extin-
guish the flames but man-
aged to walk two miles
through the woods to US-231
to summon help.
The coroner said the
Beecheraft Bonanza was on
a flight from West Palm
Beach, Fla., to Bartlesville.
McGhee said the aircraft
was transporting a body.
Slate troopers said the
crash apparently occurred
about 2 a.m. but Davis was
unable to summon aid until
more than five hours later.
Gang Infiltrated
Agent Fights Mafia
Wellsville, M. J. Tarantine,
said Litchfield and his wife
had been vacationing in Cen-
tral America. He said they
flew to Wellsville Friday to
pick up his mother and the
two boys.
R. T. O’Neil of Munster,
Ind., brother-in-law of Mary
Litchfield, told the coast
guard he was to have met
the plane at Meigs Field, a
small airport on Chicago’s
downtown lakefront which
serves mainly private craft,
at 8:15 p.m. Friday.
Chicago coast guard offi-
cials began a search after
receiving word from the
coast guard at Cleveland
that a private plane bound
for Meigs from Cleveland
was several hours overdue.
O'Neil said he, his wife
and the Litchfields planned
to go to Topeka, Kan., for a
family birthday celebration.
Litchfield resigned as
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal officials
say Herbert Itkin, one of six persons in-
dicted in the Marcus kickback scandal, is
really an undercover agent for the FBI
who infiltrated the world of organized
crime, The New York Times reported
Saturday.
The newspaper story said there is no
solid information to Itkin’s motives for
beomlng an Informer but quoted one fed-
eral official as saying the 41-year-old
Manhattan lawyer risked his life to
"stand up to the Mafia.”
Itkin, described as one of the most im-
portant FBI informers in recent years, is
to be the key government witness in the
federal conspiracy case involving former
Water Commissioner James L. Marcus,
the Times said.
The story said federal officials dis-
closed itkin was providing government
lawyers with large quantities of "inside"
information on various underworld fig-
ures and their dealings, and that he is a
potential witness in numerous other
cases.
The other cases were said to involve
gambling, bribery, labor racketeering, in-
come-tax evasion and a whole range of
other felonies at the city, state and feder-
al levels, some with international dimen-
sions, the story said.
itkin, who is now under 24-hour armed
guard by federal marshals, was described
as carrying out his undercover activities
while he engaged in numerous Interna-
tional business ventures, the newspaper
said.
In a development Friday, federal Judge
Marvin E. Frankel ordered federal prose-
cutors to disclose the identity of a defend-
ant-witness in the Marcus case who was
allegedly the object of a murder plot by
two Long Islanders.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Robert G. Mor-
vlllo said he would identify the alleged
victim next week to defense lawyers for
the two men named In the indictment,
Robert Roden, 39, of Uniondale, and Rob-
ert Schwartz, 43, of Huntington.
The .highly publicized Marcus case
broke last December 18 when the former
water commissioner and five other men
were Indicted on charges of conspiring in
a kickback on a city reservoir cleaning
contract that was awarded without public
bidding.
were killed and 20 wounded.
Heavy Fighting Reported
Viet Cong troops shelled
four other South Vietnamese
military posts on the out-
skirts of Saigon. Casualties
at two of the installations
were not reported.
At the third, spokesmen
said there were none, but a
quantity of ammunition went
up in flames. At the fourth
post, casualties were said to
be light.
Heavy fighting was report-
ed for the second day in a
row along the eastern sec-
tion of the demilitarized zone
near Dong Ha. a supply cen-
ter for other bases along the
frontier.
South Vietnamese head-
quarters said government in-
fantrymen killed 50 Commu-
nist troops Friday and cap-
lured 21 weapons and 100
rounds of rockets and mor-
tars. Nine outh Vietnamese
® ---— tars. iNine -ouin Vietnamese
chancellor of the University |soldiers WOre killed and six
of Pittsburgh in 1965 during woundc(j, a spokesman said,
the height of a financial cri- Posltions Bombed
sis that found the university j . ..
$19.5 million in the red. *n mh(,r ao,lon. 1,1 Xi}f
Manv people laid ,he northernmost provinces U
blame* for Pitt's troubles at S. Air Force B-52 bombers
...... . nnnnnnH sncnopl Pfl I nmiTlll*
Litchfield's door.
CLOUDY
Local: Cloudy and cooler
Sunday with chance of
thundershowers in the af-
ternoon. High will be 63 af-
ter an overnight low Satur-
day of 55. (Details, Page
S)
HOURLY TIMPiRATURi
8 V, itt. 8
of it * a.m. IJ
M 7: a.m. V
.m. * In a.m. *
life I
i a.m.
I•:«:
pounded suspected Commu-
nist positions near Khe Sanh
and Hue, both now consid-
ered likely targets for a ma-
jor enemy assault.
The eight-engine Stratofor-
tresses mounted two raids
Saturday near Khe Sanh and
struck four times Friday
night and Saturday within
nine miles of Hue, an area
they have been hitting regu-
larly in the last several
days.
U. S. commanders have
been watched for several
months for a Communist cf- ]
fort to seize the U. S. marine
combat base at Khe Sanh, in
South Vietnam's northwest
corner, to clear the way for
a push into the northern
provinces.
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Gaylord, E. K. Oklahoma City Times (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 79, No. 17, Ed. 1 Saturday, March 9, 1968, newspaper, March 9, 1968; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc993135/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.