$urns Lk. Boy Polio Victim
From Vancouver it was learned fnrtav that polio has claimed the if of a 14-year-old boy flown t6
il         h    k
VIGTC3*?IA, B C.
1
 1y
inital there three weeks ago..  It-brought B.C.'s polio death ,i t0 23 while the total number of ca^es for the year has risen to
3 Meantime at Prince George and District Hospital two young patients who have been under ob-U-vation as polio suspects, were at noon today stated to definitely .= ave the disease. They are a six v.par-old girliahd her baby cousin iH.,',1It:iii to hospital this week [�,,,�I their homes at Upper Fraser .,n,i Aleza Lake.
CITY YOUTH MUST SERVE SENTENCE
An appeal against conviction and sentence filed by Edward Baker, 21, of Prince George, charger! with breaking and entering Walter Flynn's store at South Fort George last January, was dismissed by the B.C. Court of Appeal in Victoria on Monday.
Raker, who appeared without counsel before the court, said he was innocent of the breaking and entering charge on which he was �onvicted at the Spring Assize Court here.
The three-man court said he should have testified on his own behalf before the jury; instead of sitting quietly by, if he Wanted to contradict the evidence which was submitted against him.
The appeal judges decided Baker's two-year sentence should stand, in view of two previous convictions.
Prince George Citizen
Largest Circulation of Any Semi-Weekly Newspaper in British Columbia
Vol.35;    No. 75.
Prince George, B.C.,  THURSDAY, September 25, 1952
$4.00 per year        5^ per copy
Manslaughter Verdict In
Assize Jury Acquits   Of  Murder
The murder trial of Francois Peter Dennis, 39-year-old Stuart Lake Indian charged with the August 2 slaying of William Austin, came to a swift close here last night when an all-male jury returned d verdict of "not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter."
Daylight Saving Ends Sunday A.M.
This is great news for those �citizens whose week-end social, activities make an extra "40 winks" welcome on Sunday morning.
Daylight saving time, in effect since April 27, ends in British Columbia at midnight Saturday.
At that time it will be in order to turn watches and clocks BACK one hour.
Greatest satisfaction from the change, however, can be had by waiting until Sunday morning. \After wakening at your regular n^Hr, reach over and turn the hands, of the old bedside timepiece tcHhe left a complete circle.
Then rollvover and go to sleep
.............v
Coast Fishermen Spurn  Price Offe
>5XR)  �
VANCOUVER, Sept. 25 Salmon fishermen from Vanbou-ver and the Fraser Valley Week n.esday rejected a company price offer and will continue a strike which started 18 days ago.
A union spokesman said votes coniing in from all other salmon fishing ports along the British Columbia coast indicate a similar position in every instance.
Vancouver and Valley fishermen were reported by the secretary of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union to have voted for rejection by a 99 per �*nt majority.
Dennis' massive body seemed to sag slightly in the prisoner's box as jury foreman William Rees pronounced the words "not guilty" to the registrar's question on the murder count.
He smiled slightly and the smile lingered after the foreman had pronounced him guilty of manslaughter.
Dennis' trial before Mr. Justice J..O. Wilson opened here on Monday and played to a packed courtroom throughout its three day duration.
From. Judge Wilson's two hour direction to the jury, the 12 men could have arrived at their manslaughter verdict by three courses.
They may have found a lack of intent to kill, they may have de-
termined that the -accused was under influence of alcohol or they may have considered provocation to be of a justifiable nature.
Although Judge Wilson left a fourth' course open to them, insanity, a verdict based on this nature must be identified as such by the jury.
Dennis will not be sentenced until the end of the assize. He faces a possible term up to life imprisonment.
Highlight of the trial came Tuesday when at a special evening sitting of the court the accused took the stknd in his own defense.
Under the quiet questioning of his defense counsel, Hubert B. King, Dennis' story of the events leading up to the slaying was laid before the court.
ROBBED   OF    MEMORY
His version of a drinking party in his home at Pinchi Bay in Stuart Lake was sharply at variance with the versions of Crown witnesses who had gone before him.
Of the killing itself he could describe nothing. He said a blow on the head while he and Austin had been quarreling had robbed him of his memory for the period in which he was said to- have murdered the other Indian.
Dennis told how he and two friends, Maurice,
Michele and Catherine had consumed a quan-
titj* of home brew and of how Austin had come to his house and started a fracas when he learned the others were concealing liquor from him.
He said Austin, whose home is at Grand Rapids, had refused to leatfe his house when told to do so and that he had employed force to push them outside. He described pushing Austin and. his wife from the veranda of his home and he � remenibered the former calling him an Indian name which meant "cripple and very bad things."
Ceremony Muffles B.C. Election Talk
VICTORIA, Sept. 25 (CP)�Belief that Premier Bennett will not call a general election this year was strengthened Wednesday with the arrival here ot four Social Credit M.L.A.'s to be sworn into office.
While some political observers attached no significance to the occurrence, others contended the members wouldn't have bothered travelling to the capital to be sworn in if they were facing another general election soon.
They met with Premier Bennett after the swearing in ceremony performed by E. K. Debeck, clerk of the Legislature.
Members are Thomas J. Irwin, Delta; Bert Price, Vancouver-Bur-rard; Rev. Harry Franiceis, Simil-kameen, and R. O. Newton, Columbia.
v
Luncheon At Lakeside Loqge
'MAKE ME ASHAMED'
"He make me kind of asham-, ed," the crippled accused told the court.
Describing the last things he could remember before his mental lapse he said, "I push William towards his boat and told him to go away. He took ahold of my hair. My head is hit sideways. The next thing I remember I am by my steps. I feel headache and i^y head is sore. Then I went back inside my house. There was blood all over my face and on my sweater."
He told the court he knew nothing of William Austin's death afterwards and did not hear of it until that evening when he went to another nearby community, and was told by an Indian woman, "you went moose hunting and you kill William Austin.^.
"I thought she was kidding,*' the burly broad-shouldered Car-
Truck Skids; Takes tife Of Contractor
The newly hard-surface^ portion of the Cariboo Highway iu^t south of Prince George claimed its first life on Monday evening when a light truck driven by a New Westminster man
According to police who ques-oneci eyewitnesses to the acci-ov; Innes was attempting to  i? two  northbound  cars  his truck went into a skid. u punged into the left hand sKn?    Side the highway, then rtah. JCP0M the road into the "dIt    ,nd ditch and 9gain cross-h            8hway to leaP the left
Geor
 for Innes came almost  The accldent took place  miles south of Prince  7 p-m- on Monday.  i- nes' vehicle  g between 45 and 50
 enquiry will be held  week.
went out of control and smashed into a telephone pole.
Dead is William Innes, a 52-. ear-old contractor who was on his way to Prince George.
* Passenger in Innes' truck, ... , et Johnson, was shaken up ��nd suffered shock.
Fisherman Convicted Of Manslaughter
VANCOUVER, Sept. 25 (CP)� William Moon of Campbell River standing "trial on a charge of murder, was convicted Wednesday on a reduced charge of manslaughter. Mr. Justice J. M. Coady remanded him to the end of the assizes for sentence.
Moon was charged in the death here of William Valpe. 74-year: old roominghouse caretaker, who died in hospital May 22 from the effects of a beating the Crown said was administered by the fisherman.
The Crown said robbery was the motive for the attack, and said a Watch pawned by Moon for $5 belonged to Valpe.
rier" Indian'told the court.
He told the court how he had gone into Fort St. James that night and of how he was arrested as he attended Church on' the following morning.
(See MANSLAUGHTER, Page 4)
Vancouver Firm Starts Block Here
Start has been made on the basement of a new office and warehouse building here for Fred Welch & Co. Ltd., a Vancouver plumbing and heating contracting firm, following , award of a contract to Hastings Construction Co.. Ltdy Vancouver.
The building will occupy two lots on the s.outh side of Third Avjenue adjoining Jamieson's Bowling Alleys. "Plans for the building show, a modern one-storey and basement structure of mill construction, concrete block walls and concrete basement measuring 35 by 60 feet.
Manager of the Prince George branch of Fred Welch & Co. Ltd. is Haydn Wilson..
Judge Blasts Court Facilities In City
Supreme Court Judge Mr. Justice J. O. Wilson, conducting the fall assiz-e here, expressed strong dissatisfaction with Prince George's courtroom facilities Tuesday during a brief interruption in the murder trial of Francois Peter Dennis, a Stuart Lake Indian.
Mr. Wilson told Assistant Deputy Attorney General Alain MacLean, Victoria, that his presence in court provided an excellent opportunity for an observation of their surroundings.
While a perspiring crowd of onlookers, witnesses, policemen and officials silently,cheered him on, Mr. Justice Wilson said "if there were a theatre like this courtroom the Crown would probably close it up."
Throughout the assize this �week, the courtroom was fetid, smelly and totally lacking in ventilation.   "
What fresh air did.enter the drab room came through two small window-top openings. Headaches from the stuffy atmosphere were the lot of many who attended court.
Acoustics of the room are such that the tiniest noise made on the street outside booms through its bilious-colored walls as though coming through a loudspeaker, while persons speaking inside the room must almost shout to make themselves heard a few feet away.
So bad did the interference from outside noise become at one
'  The Weather
Not quite so warm tomorrow, says the weatherman, also forecasting cloudy skies broken with sunny periods on Friday. Winds will be light. Low and high temperature readings tonight and tomorrow 45 and 67 degrees.
Aboard   Edmonton's   'Friendship   Train'
WILLIAM HAWRELAK Mayor of Edmonton
J. R. MUNRO President, Chamber of Commerce
Pr. GeorgeCharms Edmonton 'Brass'
C.N.R. Special  Train   Brings   Eighty-Four Prairie   Goodwill   Ambassadors   Tuesday
Amid a whirl of last-minute convivial farewells, songs and impromtu dances at the C.N.R. station platform on Tuesday evening, the "Friendship Train" sponsored by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce rolled slowly homeward carrying 84 tired but happy business and professional leaders from the
booming Alberta capital.
a number o� skillfully executed
From the time the excursionists
arrived here early Tuesday ^^S^SS Napier of ing until tfteir departure 15, hours the Board-of Trade'shared the later they were caught in airound mastei. of ceremony's duties with of informal meetings and dis-j president J. H. Munro of the Ed-cussions with .Prince George ( monton Chamber of .Commerce, business men which, in the Mr_ Munro introduced several words of Mayor William Hawre-lak of Edmonton, "should be of mutual benefit to our two frontier, cities."                                              �
Highlight   of  the   visit  came when   75   members   of
Prince
George Board of Trade mingled with the Albertans at a cocktail party at Melvadeer Lodge, Six Mile Lake, and later enjoyed a luncheon arranged by the Board of Trade. SING-SONG
members of his part3r, including Mayor William Hawrelak, who remarked on the similarity between Edmonton and Prince George.
"Personal visits of this nature,'" said Mayor Hawrelak, "give us an opportunity to understand each other better. We have the same problems which are characteristic of communities whose growth is fast and sudden . . . You have the same spirit here as-we have
in
own group of entertainers led by Jack Jones, which included Gabby Haas, accordian, and Dick Taylor, uitar.
Piper Arthur MUler, complete now   the   townsite with Highland dress, contributed George in 1898.
Also   introduced
HERE IN 1898
R. J. Dinning,    president of Burns & Co. Ltd., mentioned that he had  travelled over what is of   Prince
point during Dennis' trial that Jndge Wilson had the portion of Brunswick Street adjacent to jthe courtroom closed off to traffic.     stores, delighted the. diners with
 Jack Sprague, owner of a  perous  chain  of  Alberta
pros-drug
was   Roger
Graham, C.N.R. general superintendent for Alberta, who : Mr, Munro said was responsible for the fifth annual "Friendship Train" travelling to Prince George this year�the first time it has (See FRIENDSHIP, Page 20)
Night School  Classes For Newcomers Begin �
Large enrollment of "new Can-Several  thousand traffic  law infractions will take place   adians" interested in learning or
Several Thousand Traffic Law Violators Safe Here Today
in Prince George today .  .  .  but motorists need not fear a wholesale distribution of traffic tickets.
This odd situation has � been brought about by the fact that technically, the city's new traffic by-law has become law, but officially enforcement has not yet commenced.
The tiew traffic regulations became law when they were filed recently with County Court authorities here.
A number of resolutions passed by the City Council on Monday night under the provisions of the by-law have not yet been put in the hands of enforcement authorities, a City Hall official said today.
Technically breaking the law! today are all drivers who leave? their cars parked for more than one hour on George Street between Second Avenue and Sixth Avenue, on Third Avenue between Victoria Street and Queen Street, or on Dominion, Quebec or Brunswick Streets    between
Second and Fourth Avenues.
These zones were ruled 60-minute parking only by City Council on Monday.
Also committing infractions of the new regulations are all drivers who park their cars anywhere within the city in any other manner than parallel to the curb, and any truck drivers who park vehicles exceeding-. 19 feet in length in any of the one-hour parking zones.
*D. T. Williams, city clerk, told The Citizen today that the Council will get a chance to ratify some 'Changes in the Monday night resolutions before they are put in the hands of the R.C.M.P. with orders to enforce them.
Police, who have been waiting three years for an enforceable traffic by-law, are well satisfied with the new regulations, an R.C.M.P.   official said yesterday.
perfecting the use of English is expected 7when a specially designed night school course begins on Tuesday, September 20, in room 3 of the high school annex.
Many enquiries have been received about such a course, says supervising principal J. E! Beech.
Many students who took a course in English last year are desirous of taking more advanced studies this winter, he added.
The classes begin at 7.30 p.m.
Blind   Branch   Meets In  City  Hall  Tonight
A meeting of the Prince George branch. Canadian National Institute for the Blind, will be held tonight in the City Hall .at 8 o'clock.
Harvey Clarke, chairman of the local branch, has extended an invitation to the meeting to all persons interested in helping with the forthcoming fund raising program.