Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1937 “The Thin Edge of Doom" By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter F REDERICK PRESNOILE of New York city walks away with the blue ribbon today, with a yarn that will curdle your blood, make your hair stand up, and bring you up out of bed in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. And Fred’s adventure is another one of those yarns that goes to show how the real hot adventures don’t come to the birds you’d expect them to come to. Fred served as a soldier with the British army in France and Belgium. He got himself into many a tight spot during the war. But the big ad venture of his career came to him while he was working at the com paratively peaceful job of medical technician. It was on September 9, 1932, that Fred received a call from a prominent physician summoning him to a case in an apartment building on Park avenue. When Fred got there he was met by a woman, the widow of a wealthy New York mer chant, who told him that her son had been suffering from a men tal disorder and needed to be taken care of. Patient Had Homicidal Tendencies. The woman took Fred to her son’s room. He was sitting by a win dow, looking out at the street. He paid no attention to Fred, and when Fred spoke to him he got no reply but a vague mumble and a furtive look. Fred pretended to be interested in things around the room. He sort of hoped the young fellow might respond to that sort of treatment. But the lad just sat in his chair and sulked, and paid no attention to Fred!* at all. About six-thirty that evenirig the doctor arrived. He looked over his patient, and then he warned Fred to watch him closely. “He’s de veloping homicidal tendencies,” the Doc said, “and it’s hard to tell what he’ll do. But he may become dangerous at any minute.” So Fred decided he’d have to watch his step that night. The evening wore on—and still the young fellow sulked. About midnight Fred persuaded him to go to bed. A cot had been set up in the room for Fred, but before he lay down on it he locked , the door from the inside and put the key in his pocket. He waited until he was sure his patient was asleep, and then he lay down ' himself. That Doze Was Almost Fatal. Says Fred: “I was very tired, having just finished a strenuous case that same morning, and I must have dozed off. That doze nearly cost me my life. I awoke suddenly with a nameless feeling that all was not well, and there, not two feet from the foot of my cot, creeping toward me, was my patient.” Fred says no words that he knows could describe the demoniacal fury of the young lad’s distorted features. “And,” he says, “in his right hand was an OPEN RAZOR. To say that I went cold with horror wouldn’t be telling the half of it. But that feeling only lasted a second or two. Then I managed to pull myself together again. “The young fellow must have sensed that I was awake, for with a bound he wac at my side. His arm went up and started to come down again. He meant to decapitate me with that razor. But my left hand shot out and seized his right, and I got a death grip on his wrist to stop the murderous swing.” But now the madman’s left hand was reaching for Fred’s throat, and there in that locked room began a terrible battle. The young fellow fought with all of a maniac’s superhuman strength. He was armed with a razor, and Fred thought that sure enough this was going to be his finish. Still he struggled, and still the maniac fought on. Nearly Split by the Razor. “He made no sound,” Fred says, “but kept spitting in my face as though to blind me. Finally, with a furious heave, he flung me to the floor and tore loose his right arm—the one with the razor in it. The arm went up, and I could see the razor gleam in the light that filtered in through the window. Emitting a grunting sound like a woodchopper swinging an axe on a block of wood he brought that razor down to split me in two.” And then, something else happened. Fred says it’s a strange thing, the way a man’s mind and body will co-ordinate in a moment of stress. He put every ounce of Strength he had into one- great effort of pitching himself away— out from under that descending razor. He rolled violently to one side, and a» he did, his right hand landed on one ctf his shoes. Fred doesn’t even remember’ thinking his next move out. He thinks he must have acted almost entirely by instinct. But he clutched at the shoe as a drowning man would a straw, sprang to his feet, whirled around and swung the heel at the mad young fellow’s temple. He did that all in one motion—and did it so swiftly that it was all over before his mind half caught up with what he was doing. The heel of the landed—right where Fred wanted it to land. The young fellow slumped to the floor, and lay still. ‘ ' * Fred struck him again with that shoe. He looked as though the first blow had knocked him unconscious, but he might have been playing possum, and Fred wasn’t taking any chances. And then the fight was over; Fred stripped the sheets from the young fellow’s bed and tied him hand and foot. He unlocked the door, and there, outside were the young lad’s mother and the maid, both of them almost frantic. They had heard the sounds of the struggle but couldn’t get through the locked door. They took the young fellow to a sanitarium the next day. Fred never found out how he managed to get hold of that razor. Fred grabbed that razor, by the way, and kept, it for a souvenir of a ghastly night’s ex perience. ■ But I’ll bet a lot of money he doesn’t shave with it. f Q—WNU Service. Early Pueblo People Had Their Balanced Rations At a time when our own Nordic ancestors were living chiefly on half-cooked or raw meat, ignoring the necessity of eating plenty of spinach and fresh fruit tc make them red blooded and strong, the Pueblo people knew all about bal anced rations and were thriving on a variety of delicious foods, de clares a writer in the New York Times. Yellow corn was the staple diet; yucca fruit was utilized, wild honey and sweet saps were excellent sub stitutes for sugar, and beans were so important $s a ration that the Spanish name for bean, “frijoles,” persists today in the name given to one of the most famous cliff- dweller ruins of New Mexico — Frijoles Canyon, in Bandelier Na tional Monument, some seventy miles beyond Santa Fe. There were also squashes, edible gourds, bulbs of the Mariposa lily, and .other roots; berries, pinon nuts, and the seeds of certain grasses which were ground into meal in the stone metates, or grinding basins of hollowed Jtone, pounded with a stone pestle or manos. For salt, to be sure, the Pueblo dweller had to travel long dis tances, securing it through mining or barter. Even today the scarcity of salt in some of these remote Pueblo villages is the occasion for seasonal trips to distant points for supplies of the mineral. Ideals of a Nation The strength and greatness of a nation do not lie in the sinews of its people, nor in the money bags of its traders, nor in the glibness of its orators, but in the devotion of its citizens to a lofty ideal of public and private duty, in the love for all that is true and good and beauti ful, and the hatred of all that is false, evil, mean and ugly; in their strenuous pursuit of knowledge, and their readiness to apply it to the making of life larger, fuller and happier for all. All Gloversville Makes Gloves In Gloversville, New York, the art of making gloves is a commu nity proposition. In one factory, where handmade gloves are man ufactured exactly as they were a hundred years ago, three of the best sewers of gloves are the wife of the mayor of the town, and the cap tain of police and his wife. The making of one glove involves no less than 74 different steps. l STAR | * k * 5 * * * *r- STAR DUST M ovie • Radio ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ VIRGINIA VALE J UST as motion picture theater ^ managers all over the coun try are planning to abandon Bank night and lamenting that the custom ever was started, a radio sponsor is said to be figur ing on a way to adopt it. Cer tain legal, or rather illegal, as pects of the case have to be ironed out before it can be defi nitely announced, but present plans call for the weekly award of one thousand dollars to some listener holding the lucky num ber. Numbers will be printed on the package containing the sponsor’s product, purchasers will mail them to the broadcast studio, and there the drawing will be held which selects the winner. Hollywood studios have always flattered themselves that they paid their performers the highest salaries in the world, but now it appears that Mae West, Marlene Diet- rich, and Greta Garbo are just poor working girls in comparison to Gracie Fields, who is England’s favor ite star. Twentieth Century-Fox could not let the British studios get away with a monopoly on the best of any thing, so they have put Miss Fields under contract to make four pic tures in Hollywood. None of the pictures she has made in England have been shown here, because in them Miss Fields spoke the Lanca shire dialect which might as well be Czecho-Slovakian for all Americans can make of it. Over here she will deliver her lines and songs in plain English. Marlene Dietrich ' From New York to Hollywood Gloria Swanson’s loyal friends gave parties celebrating the end of her too-long retirement from the screen, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an nounced recently that she was to star in “Maisie Kenyon.” Now it appears that the celebrating was a little premature, because neither Gloria nor the studio is satisfied with the story, and her plans are all up in the air again. The most exciting and beautiful picture ever made in Technicolor comes from England and will soon be seen in theaters throughout the country. It is “Wings of the Morn ing” a United Artists picture. Har old Shuster went over from Holly wood to direct it, our own Henry Fonda plays the lead, and John Mc Cormack, the Irish tenor who is adored wherever there is a phono graph, radio, or concert hall sings in it. As if that weren’t enough, they have tossed in for good meas ure authentic views of the running of the English Derby. Sylvia Sidney gets the week’s award for being the best talent scout. Some time ago Marc Don nelley told her about a play he was going to produce in New York and she said that she knew just the girl to play the lead in it. She had seen a girl named Katherine Locke in a very small part in a play and she was sure Miss Locke would be won derful if given a real chance. Sylvia didn’t wait for Mr. Donnelley to send for Miss Locke. She located her and she got the part. V , Eleanor Powell would like to form an alumni association of her old dancing school, but all the people who are eligible for membership in Hol lywood are much too busy making pictures to be both ered with attending meetings. There is Ginger Rogers, Bud dy E b s e n, Ruby Keeler, and Miriam Hopkins — and they are among the bus iest people out here. Eleanor herself has a little time on her hands only because she turned her ankle and has to stay at home fer a few days to rest before she can go into a strenuous number for “Broadway Melody.” ODDS AND ENDS—Marlene Dietrich thinks that she and Carole Lombard look alike and both girls are delighted . . . Miriam Hopkins has bought the late John Gilbert’s house and is redeco rating it in lovely pastel colors that best set off her blond beauty . . . I’aul Muni Has no lurking ambition to cut in on Jack Benny’s comic honors, but he did pl n y "The Bee" on the violin for a few friends . . . About half of the beautiful girls in Hollywood tried out for the part of Flavia in "The Brisoner of Zenda." Madleine Carroll got it . . . Bert U heeler is so unwilling to leave the sunshine and stvunk of Balm Springs that he is com muting to Hollywood by airplane . . . © Western Newspaper Union. Ginger Rogers IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL S UNDAY I chool Lesson By REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST, Dean of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. © Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for April 11 THE SIN OF ADAM AND EVE LESSON TEXT—Genesis 3:1-15. GOLDEN TEXT—The soul that sinneth. It shall die. Ezek. 18:4. PRIMARY TOPIC—In the Garden of Eden. JUNIOR TOPIC—Trying to Hide From God. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC— What Sin Is and Does. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC— The Consequences of Sin. “One of the curiosities of the Brit ish Museum is a brick from the walls of ancient Babylon which bears the imprint of one of Baby-. Ion’s mighty kings. Right over the center of the royal seal is deeply impressed the footprint of a ‘pariah’ dog which apparently trod upon it when it was soft and plastic. Long ages have passed; the king’s su perscription is visible but defaced; the footprint of the dog is clear and sharply defined. “Human nature is like that brick. . . . Man originally was made in the image of God, but over the royal beauty of the Divine likeness there has been superimposed the dirty disfigurement of the Devil’s imprint” (D. E. Hart-Davies). Last Sunday we saw the heavens and earth, the animals„yes, the en tire creation crowned by man him self, as it had come from the hand of God— “and behold it was very good” (1:31). But, sadly enough, it did not long remain so, for sin which had already entered the uni verse soon found its way into the world. God created Adam in his own likeness and image, gave him “a helpmeet unto him,” and placed him in perfect surroundings. He gave him congenial employment, and above all the inestimable privi lege of fellowship with Him. But because man was not a mere automaton—a toy in the hands of a superior being—God gave him the power of moral choice, the oppor tunity to exercise his God-given per sonality in making that choice. Obe dience is the underlying moral prin ciple of the universe. Today we go with Eve and Adam into that cataclysmic experience which we call “the Fall of Man,” for as we read in Romans 5:12, “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” ' I. Temptation (vv. 1-5). Satan is not a cloven-hoofed mon strosity with a forked tail and a trident in his hand. No, indeed, he is more subtle than anything in creation. We read that he is “trans formed into an angel of light” (II Cor. 11:14). His approach in our day is as smooth, and cultured as it was in the garden of Eden. An example is the insidious liquor ad vertising of our day. Another is his use of the man who stands be hind the pulpit or sits in the profes sor’s chair and destroys the Chris tian faith of young men and women. Note the five steps in the fall of man: 1. Listening to a slander against God (Satan lied about God). 2. Doubting God’s Word and love (If we trust God we will obey him). 3. Looking at that which God has forbidden (The eye will betray us unless we guard it). 4. Lusting after what God had prohibited (Compare Genesis 3:6 with I John 2:6). 5. Disobedience to God’s com mand. II. Sin (v. 6). Sin is deliberate transgression, cot a natural weakness, nor a ne cessity. It showed itself in its true light when it at once reached out and dragged down another. We do not sin alone for very long. III. Consequences (vv. 7-15, also 16-19). 1. The serpent is cursed. 2. Sin, death and condemnation enter the world. 3. Sorrow is linked with mother hood. , 4. Responsibility and headship is given to man. 5. The ground is cursed and the burden of labor introduced. IV. Redemption (v. 15). .Rere we have the first promise of redemption, and the scarlet thread of redemptive truth thus runs from this poirtt at the Bible’s beginning to its very last chapter. Even in judging the first Adam for his sin God promises the coming of the second Adam who is to redeem the race. You are in the family of the first Adam by natural birth; nave you entered the family of the second Adam by supernatural re birth? (I Cor. 15:21, 22, 45.) Employing Character A good character when estab lished should not be rested in as an end, but only employed as a means of doing still further good. —Atterbury. Punishment That Hardens If punishment makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.— Locke. To Have Friendship The only way to have a friend is to be one.—Emerson. From Perfectly Cut Patterns c« I ’M GLAD I’m not on the serv- * ing committee .this week,” muses Mrs. Smith of Walnut street, as she takes stock of her self in the mirror preparatory to leaving for the church supper. “I look entirely too swell for me— why, I’m almost excited! I al ways knew surplice waists were becoming, but how becoming I never knew till now. That little deceptiveness is just what I need, and these sleeves are the most comfortable things! If about half oui circle wore dresses like this it would be better for all con cerned; so many of us have out grown the tailored streamlined styles. Now, Mrs. White for in stance—” Enter an Admirer. “Why Mother, you look de-love ly in that shade of blue! And you look real stylish, too—you ought to be going to a Coronation.” “Oh, I’d much prefer the church supper, dear. I’ll be a somebody there in my new dress but at a Coronation I would be little po tatoes. By the way, what did they say about your new jumper at school?” “Mother, I meant to tell you. Mary Jane and Betty are both go ing to coax their mothers to make one just like it. I said maybe you would loan them the pattern, would you?” “Why of course. Did you tell them it took me only two after noons to make yours including two blouses?” Enter “The Duchess.” “Sis, you’re pretty young to be talking about clothes so intelli gently. When you get a figure that clothes really count on— ahem, like Yours Truly’s for in stance; then it might be different —oh Mother, how nice! I’m crazy about it. Gee, such smart lines! Remember, you promised to help me with a new party frock next week if I did well with this shirt- waister. I wish all dresses were as easy to sew and as swell to wear as it is.” < “Perfectly cut patterns spell success for any frock, Kay; your party dress is as good as m&de right now. But I must be on my way or I’ll be more than fashion ably late for the affair. Bye, bye —be good girls and see that Dad dy gets something to eat.” f The Patterns. Pattern 1268 is for sizes 36 to 52. Size 38 requires 5y4 yards of 39 inch material. Pattern 1996 is for sizes 6 to 14 years. Size 8 requires 1% yards of 39 inch material for the jumper ana V/s yards for the 'blouse. Armscye and neck edges of jump er require 2Vz yards of 1% inch bias facing. Pattern 1226 is for sizes 14 to 20 (32 to 42 bust). Size 16 re quires 3% yards of 35 inch ma terial. Send for the Barbara Bell Spring and Summer Pattern Book. Make yourself attractive, practical and becoming clothes, selecting designs from the Bar bara Bell well-planned easy-to- make patterns. Interesting and exclusive fashions for little chil dren and the difficult junior age; slenderizing, well-cut patterns for the mature figurfe; afternoon dresses for the most particular young women and matrons and other patterns for special occa sions are all to be found in the Barbara Bell Pattern Book. Send 15 cents (in coins) today for your copy. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept. Room 1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Patterns 15 cents (in coins) each. © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. The Nationally Known ASPIRIN at the Nationally Popular lOprice st.Josepti GENUINE PURE ASPIRIN GAME CARVING SET for only 25c with your purchase of one can of B. T. Babbitt*s Nationally Known Brands of Lye » This is the Carving Set you need for steaks and game. Deerhom de sign handle fits the hand perfectly. Knife blade and fork tines made of fine stainless steel. Now offered for only 25c to induce you to try the brands of lye shown at right. Use them for sterilizing milking machines and dairy equipment. Contents of one can dissolved in 17 gallons of water makes an effective, inexpensive sterilizing solution. Buy today a can of any of the lye brands shown at right. Then send the can band, with your name and address and.25c to B. T. Babbitt, Inc., Dept. W.K., 386 4th Ave., New York City. Your Carving Set will reach you promptly, postage paid. Send today while the supply lasts. OFFER GOOD WITH ANY LABEL SHOWN BELOW Rad Devil Giant Red Seal Star