The Conshohocken Recorder, March 1, 1956

              Officials Predict End of Flat Rock Dam
EVERY PACE
A
LOCAL PAGE
ton Hume ftrtctpaper Since urn •She ftamiter 85th Ycu Conshohocktn, Pa., Thursday, M»r. 1, 1956 TA 8-4600 BR 9-0950 10c
TL. OWE NEWSPAPER
MOST INTERESTED
In Con»hohock»n
Whilamanh Township
Plymouth Township
WM Conshohackw
Remo\al
To Aid New
Water Lines
Bank Building Purchase at $55,000 Ok\l>~> W* ^ ' Of City Pro
HLI7 |Thief Caught in is-Mile 17Freight CarsDerailed
Repuhii<iins [Hazardous Chase and Loot
Worth $75 Is Recovered
b
(I l <>sl
jecl
Resolution to Drttu
Ordinance Passed
At Special Session West Conshohocken — Becoming suspicious of a c
_ . . , „ , without lights pulling out of the Allentown Portbod Cam
Conshohocken — Borough Co ( River Rd f 8hort|y after midnight, Saturday, a We
Council revived a movement Conshohocken patrolman captured the suspect after a 1
to buy the local bank build- miie cnase wnich reached through five communities and in
25 Z* S2P♦.*! ,,*J!5" volved f»ur police patrol cars at speeds ranging betw.m ■
and 90 miles an hour.
Clifford Butts, ol 6 Bristol Et
Norrislown 24. It In Montgomery
County Jail awaiting Grand Jury
action on a charge of burglary
lif was held for court without bail
at a hearing Monday night before
Justire-oMhe-Pesee Milton It
White of Hits borough.
Butts was captured at 12:45 Mon-day
at the home of hla father-in-law.
Oeorge William*, of Shamokin St
K. Non-lion Twp. Having halted rut
car. he was about to run Into the
house
Wllliama. discovered later taking
the loot from the car. faces charges
of receiving stolen goods.
Bulls, after his apprehension by
Officer Albert Slater and other
officers, he was held In Norr 1stown
Cheers County
GOP Workers
mg fire nearly two years,
gave final approval to a sal- T* • «\ « •
ury for each councilman, first ILp C I IfM'ieinti
in borough annals, and rated 1IVC 5 UCILIMU
a $400 increase in the salary
Of luirgt'Sri. at an adjourned
meeting last night in the bor-ough
hall, one uf the most
bizarre in the liorough's 106-
year history.
What was described by the eight primary Coilllllittt <-
counciimen in attends nee as s •'
of the meeUng two hours and 11
mLnutea.
Called for 8 Pal., the session
failed to open until 10:11. Rapid-fire
action from then until ad- pointment
Journment at 11, made up for Its
•low-motion start.
Seven of the eight members pres- Anril 24 primary was an-ent,
a bare quorum, were Demo- , _,, ,
crata. the eighth, an independent nounced today by Elkins
I'epubiican w.io votes generally with Wetherill, chairman, and the
the llrraorrati. The seven absent -a. - .<
ln.-l.ded si, Republican., and one t,f>mmittee began function-
Ifesnorrst elected on the Republl- ing confident of Victory as fl
C*ottlu\k.rtseven absent, on. is m'result of President Eiaenhow-
Florida and one was reported er's speech last night
* rkttsi
"This
Speaks to. INation
Plymouth Meeting — Ap-of
a Republican
campaign committee fur the °n » number of motor violations.
He was fined 14ft more than half
the estimated value of the stolen
goods by Magistrate Elizabeth Wolfe
and committed to Montgomery!
County Jail in default of payment.'
Butts admitted stealing about 600 [
pounds of zinc valued at IS cental
a pound, according to White
His wife. Irma. 22, with him when'
I he drove from the cement plant and
fled from the bevy of police in
iderrtlv fixed annul! wn'ch iaemi> nxea agiiuun he said he is willing to | pusrusuui-tp, w»<aHs nRo.t.Mh.el»d<., Slater said Butu gained entrnr
us", said Harry Rowland, president, run again at the Allentown Portland Co,
^lCihln^rffth^,1r0l^?J?;1 WrthertU * » "»*dent of Ui«]meriy VaUerrWe"cimenr"co;"by
aence*. alien, « hs^ houra*Vr_the community. Rearing a lock off . .lock room
The committee, whose personnel' door. TooU usable in burglary were
represents every section of the I round in his car
'uiity. will draft plans lor a cam-j 81.Ur, on routine patrol when he
lime sel fu
li'-au faction
"If UlE Republi
Kitoti, the Repub-absent
"in totn"
i won't const to v*rr«"%, Tc^ms. "v s- *-* should take the
In effect. "Anything done tonight
will be blamed on the llemorrjts."
"If s man lacks Use courage of
h.i conviction he should hand In
his resignation as a councilman'',
added Peter Brunt, first ward coun-cilman.
-
Rowland attributed the absence
of the "minority faction" of the cur-rent
council body entirely to the
Issue of the councilman's salary.
O'hera appeared to feel that the
re-introduction of the bank build-ing
purchase at goa.Ow nad consid-erable
to do with It
In the more than two-hour In-formal
arrros.-the board dls'-u
™*' eral rallies will be held in the three out the fleeing thief put on
KwUUaUve daitrJcta. climaxed by a spaed As his car, with the police car
Hitch Hiker
Confesses
He's Burglar
close .pan It. sped north on River
Rd. Slater asked Montgomery
c.Hint* Police Radio to Join in the
Bridgeport police responded, the
trio of speeding cars raced In and
out Bridgeport streets to Norristown.
Norrlstown patrolman, alerted by the
county police radio, also responded.
Later East Norrllon Twp. patrolmen
assisted.
Officer James J. P a b r 1 z 1 o of
t Rririger*"*-' w« sag of thi officer!
Black Horse — A self-confessed aiding in Butts' capture,
burglar who told State police he |
had hitch-hiked to St. Louis. Mo.
which replaced formal action In the before his conscience impelled him
early period, round
Into s frank disruaslon of the
to talk, first admitted breaking Into
$2,000,000
£ To Be Erected
Conshohocken — The board of
directors of Alan Wood Steel Co.
has authorized the construction of
a factory for Its Penco Metal Prod-uct*
Division at oaks, on thi
Schuylkill, about 10 miles from
^•TiSZSSr&S^^^Penco Plant with town-wide,«**£*> »l»~* of ammunition and 112 In cash. ^"^v ■ ***"*
rom the time of Its fir* Introdoc- BIld |at„ ,dmlttcd an MrUer ^tH
Uon In June. 1954. Perpetrator of the latest
At that Ume. council surprised, .^le. 0I break-ins at the
the community with a vote to ne-, „,nge Is Donald W. Shearer. 21, of
gotlatc for the purchase of the Sumneytown. Arraigned before Jus-building
of the Conshohocken Of- tice-of-the-Peace Charles Hen-flee
of the Phlla. National Bank, | arlcka Monday, he was held for a
Fayette and Hector Bta. j hearing at 2 today
It was the first Intimation the in the meantime, Shearer ad-public
had that council had been mltted veaterday to Chief of Police
considering such a purchase, ap- Vlto Pusco, Plymouth Twp.. that j Alan' Woods main plant
porently for several months. Ob- he also had stolen 1500 rounds of The Penco Metal Products dlvi
Jectlon rose from all sides. Includ- j 22 calibre ammunition during Janu- j aion scqulred by Alan Wood Steel
*"■ ^i^*Lprole*i b>' '5t Ch.Wn'' *P' When h* ""'P1 o^nutht tn l«l summer, manufacture* steel
_ (Ocmtinufd on Page Three) Uu range headqusrters kxikSTS. ubtnetl imd ss*sw?tis| asV
der the trade name "Penco."
The one-story building, which
I will have 154,000 square feet of
| floor space, or about two and one-half
times the area in Penco'a pres-
| ent plant in Philadelphia, la being
l built by the Bowers Corp. at a coat
! of about $2 million. Bowers Corp.,
an affiliate of Robert E. Lamb and
Son, Inc. building contractors, will
lease the plant to Alan Wood Steel
for a term of years.
About 4450.000 will be spent by
Alan Wood Steel for new equipment
Conshohocken — hdward J. Heming, genial manager of for the Oaks plant and for mov-
Fleming Motors Inc., 601 E. Hector St., will be general chair- m* ex-sung equipment from Pen-man
of the Red Cross drive this month in the Conshohocken|C01 P""nt P'*nt- construction is
Red Cross Target Night
March 19; E. J. Fleming
Campaign Head in Area
PAUSING FOR A SMOKE—Michael A. Jarow,
welder for Pennsylvania Railroad, at work early
tfnoM by lit.r M . .I-III
today jjettino; box cars back on tracks after derail-ment
of 17 freight cars in Swedesburg.
Swedesburg — Seventeen cars
on a Pennsylvania Railroad
75-car freight en route from
Harrlsburg to Jersey City were
derailed at 3:13 A. M. today
at the Swedesburg underpass.
No am »«n injured in the
accident, which tore up 800 feet
of the east bound track and 250
feet of westbound track. The
derailed cars were in the rear
of the train.
The first 58 box cars and the
tocomot've proceeded to the
Morrisvllle freight yards.
Ten of the derailed car. were
tvrned on their sides, spilling
their rontents. Coal, spilled
onto River Rd. and Fourth M
was removed at dawn by the
highway department.
One of the trucks, the heavy
wheels which support the car,
rolled down the embankment,
coming to rest on the shoulder
of River Rd.
Of the cars Involved, seven
were loaded with flour, seven
with mixed freight and three
were empty.
Railroad official, aald no
freight ears were tied op. The
accident occurred on the Tren-ton
rnt-off of llir Una. Several
of the cars have been re-railed
and the rompany said it hopes
to have one track .pan by I
tonight.
Cause of the accident Is un-known
until an investigation
can be made
The conductor and brakeman
escaped Injury The caboose, in
which they were riding, re-mained
on the tracks.
Railroad crews have been
working feverishly since early
this morning, repairing track
and re-railing the overturned
cars.
Almost ready lo tumble down
the railroad embankment onto
the road are three cars, which
are leaning against the bridge.
Many of Ihe overturned sec-tions
of Ihe train turned side-wise
off the tracks, leaving the
wheels still uptight.
Upper Merlon police were
called tn Investigate the acci-dent
at 3 30 A. M Tliev werr
Chief John J Boyle and Offi-cers
Walter Nftsielakl and Wil-liam
Blewitt.
$500 Award
Given Chestnut
Hill Hospital
Chestnut Hill — The IfrftS
Chestnut Hill award for the
greatest contribution to the
community during the year was
presented to Chestnut Hill Hos-pital
last night at an annual
meeting of the Chestnut Hill
Community Association at Water
Tower Recreation Center.
The award, wtikch csurlei
with It a citation and a check
for t&OO, given by the Broad
Street TrtL-t Co. was presented
by Russell H. Perrier. vice pres-ident
of the bank, and received
by T Morris Perot, president of
the hospital! board of Trustees.
Perot said he would put the
money In tne new bulding fund.
Utility Tax Motorist Hurt, ! <■"*"«" '"""*' ■* 7 I To Debate Lihhrraarry
Is Favored Driver Arrested l^fj"***e
I pi.MM) Mm I ml. i
$500 lt.nl for Court
Oulph Mills — A Marcus Hook ,
Corumohocken — Plymouth Twp s '
recent move to seek legislation en- ]
abling the commissioners to tax'
property owned by public utilities
In the township was lauded last'
night at an adjourned meeting of man waa injured In a three-car
Borough Council by Harry Row- collision at ft P. M yesterday on
land, president I Montgomery Ave.. nei.r Gypsy Rd.
"I think we also should do some-1 The Injured man, Russell Wood-thing
toward taxation of utilities | ruff was taken to Montgomery
In our borough. They are taxed in , Hospital. Norrlstown, in the Oeorge
44 States but not in Pennsylvania Clay Fire Co. ambulance, suffering
And yet the telephone rates are possible head injury. Also treated
higher In this State They paid : was the driver of the car in which
the highest dividends last year and [ be was riding, Charles McCafferty.
at the same time are petitioning ; of Upland, near Chester, for abra-
Owynedd — The long con-troversy
centering about Wil-liam
Jeanes Memorial Library,
Plymouth Meeting and ita li-brarian.
Mrs Mary Knowles.
will be the subject of discussion
at a community meeting at the
Friends Meeting House, Route
202 and Sumneylown Pike, here,
at 7 30. Sunday night.
Henry Cadbury, chnirman of
the American Friends Service
Committee, is the speaker
The rhilad.-lpliia city
Wati-r Jlcparlmciil is m-
■Mwkl in a niulii-nullimi rkls
lar prig r I HI thai «ill
strengthen and Improve its
* ntirv water system in Etgp>
borough, Manayunk, Wlsea-hickon.
Cheatnut Hill and oft
Airy, it was. li-arm-il y.'strr-day.
improvement of the ei *
< i ible em-lent
the reinforcing slid rchabllite-lion
of its water distribution net-work
Because thr program will re-quire
Mich considerable capital nut-lay
H will nevoasitaie scheduling
aver a period of years.
Cost or the entire Job wtU be la
the neighborhood of |?0000OO Ac-cording
U) I'flcisifl, the pn<!ert
should begin to lake shape by 1959.
The planning un:t pi the depart-ment
presently is enuaued :i
serle* of studies which would ultl-
.nately resolve ilaclf in plans and
specific*! Ions bring made which
would then lead to thr n instruction
of projects designed to Improve
service to water users in the oily.
Plans are all tentative subject
to further revision when final de-sign
analyst* Is made.
Featured in the program is the
abandonment of Flat Rock Dam
by the state The dam is a familiar
spot on the famed schuylkill River
and Is between Conshohocken and
Manayunk.
When Flat Rock Dam k aban-doned
the water that is preeenUy
supplied to (he KoxUiii'URh-CheM-nut
Hill High Service district
through the BhawmoDI Pnmptwg!
Station will no lomtrr be available.
Thle section will be srrvu-ed from
other sources of filtered water.
Flai Rock den provides the hug*
water bar.::; f. tiring a su<
tor the Sluwinoiu statloi
both the Shswmont uno RoxUoro-ugh
reservoirs.
■ studies irr u
pared by Joseph V Ha '.
engineer and his asses'ant !-• im.a
Cooperali::i
Is Stressed
Awards Preseale I
At I nli i'ui-lv hinmr
Consh.il
cldents from last jri ir*s bdsecaU
World Beries. J
•aalsiant county d
urged Uir ritcesuttv ci UHHtl work
I and preparation al th™ f'.ret i
| nual blue-niid-gold banguei of the
i year-old Boy Scout Cub Pi k 433
of Ba Coemas and Damian iMrlah,
I Tuesday niahi in thi ,wi on of
i 8s Cosma- and DsmiiJn |
| school. (>i i- liuiirlied fortj nknt
< cub1-, parents, ofilc.als anil guests
»<re present.
I Substituting as guest s|>caker fog
j District Attorney Benuird E. P
I Joseph, the sueakrr, addr I
i ulk primarily to the 35 cubs of the
pack, recalled the dramatic vory
of Lou Oehrig. late baseball great,
atreaw.ng his qualltlsn of courage
and kindues.
Addressing the tru.p Informally
were the Kev. VI. t..r Stromla. IJ.n..
rector and the Rev. Louis <ilnrgi,
ssslslanl re. i»r »f Ss. ('ostnas and
llamlan ( hurrh; I tiri Null, dis-trict
comniih-Inner <>t HOT Ni-uuts
and his assistant, Robert Mean. All
lauded the pmirrv. <tf the parish
pack and commended Its officers
and den mothers.
Anthony Stumpo. a*-.
master, presented the pack history.
Ouido DiClurcio. cubnia'
corned the Assemblage BBB
varelll. pack r>mmltt«c chairman,
waa master of ceremonle 1
(Confinwed on Page Three)
Four Districts or Fire?
for an Increase in rates "
PrIMInf. pre** run-
WrfhlT
1*4 W.
area.
His appointment waa made known '
today by Prank Boras, county chair-'
man for the Red Cross.
Co-cliHiiinaii wllli Fleming are I
Donald Moore. 16 E. First Ave.. and
William H. Carr, 14th Ave. and
Faye'te, residential; Raymond J
Matricardl, S39 Spring Milt Ave.,
representing the Conshohocken
Jaycees, reuil business
A. A Oarthwaite. Jr., a vice-presirient
of Lee Rubber and Tire
Corp., industrial companv gifts;
Henry Firestone. 386 E. Hector St.
president of Walker Bros, union.
rggsswsTJsswl, and Harold C. McCuen,
editor of this newspaper, chairman
of publicity.
Additional appointments will be
announced next week by Fleming,
vlio Is the local Dodge-Plymouth
denier
Mre-uted Is Ihe fact there will be
no In-plant" snlielution from In-i!
strlal workers. Instead, residents
. e urged to donate at least one
J'jr when ihe door-to-dour soll-
... in .ii Is underway.
Target night here wUl be March
19 when girls of St Matthew's and
Coushohoi-ken High Schools wUl
- t.one- to-home canvass for
' / rls will be acconioanied
(Conlinucd on Page Turee) I
expected to get underway shortly
and is anticipated it will be In
operation in the early part of 1057.
More than 300 persona wiU be
employed at the new plant
Whitemarsh Controversy
Looms on New Quarry ree Increase 1 . . . „„, M ^ * _ I Lafayette Hill — A possible new a quarry if It is contemplated
I'ronos'll I ri'llfilil'fl <luarr>'lr-« project on the part of one Thomas White, vice chairman of
wsrssocsi a^-s *'|'|« « 0f uie township and nation's oldest < the board, explained that the 125-
Conahohocken — The present''lnn*- pronUses to create a bitter acre tract of land in question, on
crackdown on gambling in Mont- 'controversy in the mid-section of | Joshua Rd. East of Oermantown
gomerv County was reflected in I Whitemarsh Twp. Pike, was purchased by the 134-
borough council at an adjourned: About ^W aroused citizens crowd- I year-old Corson firm 23 years ago.
meeting last night "* lne auditorium of the township ] probably for the express purpose of
sions of the left hand
Mcf'sfferty in held under SS00
ball for a hearing on a charge of
driving under the influence of
liquor by Justice of the Peace J.
Kirk Anderson, of OrKalb Pike.
Police aald McCarTerty was driv-ing
east on Montgomery Ave when
his car swerved onto tlie wrong
side of the road and struck the
left rear of s truck driven by Er-
Dswl P. PftcanowskJ, of Norrtxtown,
then ztruck a car driven by John
W. Bromhead, of 4 Pirelhorn Rd..
Cinnamon Hill Both the car and
truck were westbound
Investigating were Chief John J.
Boyle and Officers Walter Naalel-ski
and William Blewitt. of tl
Upper Merlon Twp. police force.
Plymouth Twp. Is Split
On Split Up Project;
JudgesPonderArgument
Veterans to Elect
An ordinance introduced at the headquarter*. Joshua Rd and Pint using as a quarry when needed. rj
January session to up the fee on.Ave- ,m.1 H1* Peb. meeting of the The tract Is roned aa Industrial I OSI vJIIlCCrS
multi-number or in-line coin mach- i township board of supervisors, last and the BswwM "me firm Is within
lnes from S10 to t&O, was dropped.
I Jil_'in. i r >|n-:ik»
At Los AngeleH
Seymour of Thermal
Conshohocken — NomlnaUon
Edward II
_ ,™7h" offlcera will uke place at a meeting
lwof Consiiohocken Post, 1074. Vet-
Thursday night, urging acUon to ilia rtghu In using It aa a quarry If !
prevent digging of a new quarry they wish, without
by O & W H. Corson, Inc. Ume township permission or any change
manufacturers. In aonlng. e ,? OI Korel«" Wars, at s.30 to-
-night in the post home. Hector and
j Harry St. Fred Avery. post Com-
< mander, will preside Election of
officers Is scheduled for March 1ft.
The protesting
mainly from new
around Joshua
rltiseu .me Tezt-borii.g and test-drilling, re-and
ported to have been done on the
between fier- tract within the last week, caused
Research and Engineering Corp maniown and s ten ion Pikes, reach- [ the large number of home-owners to
Conshohocken, presented a techn;- lag Into a small section of Lafay- storm the meeting.
cal paper at the naUonal meeting ette Hill; Into Twyanewood Farms; j Some of the spokesmen state that
of the American Institute of Chem- Deercrofi; fountain Green and not only will such a project be noisy,
leal Engineers Feta 20-28 at the Whitemarsh Greens. I because of blasting, but they feel It
Hotel Butler. Los Angeles, Calif. - The two supervisors of the three- [ will be s hazard to their young chll-
F.DWARD I. FLEMING
Mr. Seymour spoke on The Ptac- man board present at Uie stirring
Ucsl Application of Fast Reactions session, gave the surprisingly large
! In Uie Field of Combustion as part audience at what waa expected to
' of a symposium on the Study and be a routine meeting, Uttle hope that
Contiol of Fast Reaction.. (anything could be done to prevent
dren.
An executive of the C arson firm.
The Montgomery County Judges submitted a recommendation that
had before them yesterday the Ihe four-ward division he adopted,
problem of deciding whether to di- Attorney Oerbcr, on behalf of the
vide Plymouth Twp. Into four or proponents of the fhe-ward unit,
Hve voting precincts , filed ezreptinns
Judges Knight snd Forrest, sit-; The attorney stressed the town-ting
in Argument Court, heard ar- ship has five commissioners and
guments on behalf of both plans: presently thr Esst and West Die-from
Attorney A Benjamin Sclrics, trie is each elect one with three be-representing
the taxpayers who fa-' ing chosen at large
vor the four-ward division, and At- . He argued that under Ihe flie-torney
Morris Oerber. representing ward plan, each district would Sgged
those who prefer a five-ward plan, a commissioner This would b. in
Plymouth Twp, a township of conformity with home rule, be aald
first class status, presently has two He also said that Uu- fle4)-wai I
wards. East and West , plan would provide an addition I
More than a year ago, a group polling place, lessening congest.t..
of citizens filed a petition asking i and travel distances for voter-for
the partition of the township' Attacking the present four-.
into four wards because of a popu- plan, he said one gggtri
latlon spurt. [have In excess of 1.200 regl- en -
The court appointed a three-man j voters and another tfM
board to consider the matter This; 600. an unequal distribution
Conshohocken — A spaghetti unit, headed by Attorney Thomas' Attorney Sclrlca told lw
supper will be served from 4 until: E Waters, held a public hearing in the township is in a state , |
10 Saturday at Big John's Cafe.i Jan., 1B65. Testimony was heard, and evidence from perwni. ■
Seventh and Maple Silvio DeSan- on behalf of the four-ward split permits. aubdiviMo:
ti.v 127 W Third, chairman of the At the same time, s group of cltl- other indications
SpaghWti Supper linn fit
b* this newspaper, said the event, said it will benefit the Holy zens presented the recommendation( malely all four districts
i waa not ready to make any Name Society basketball team of for the five-ward division j fairly equal In poptltatloi
(OswJswSjgtl on Pope Thr*.) iS3. Cosmas and DanUan. | The .ouri-appolnied rommLssioniUiat plan is re'.
.r