Doris E. Bechtley 1158 Melville St. VANCOUVER, B.C. Dec6-57 Prince George Citizen An Independent Semi-Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interest of CenWoI and Northern British Columbia THE WEATHER Clearing overnight and becoming cloudy again Friday forenoon. A few showers Friday afternoon. Little change in temperature. Winds westerly 15 Friday, otherwise light.' Low tonight and high tomorrow, 32 and 45. Vol. 40; No. 27 Prince George, B.C. THURSDAY, April 4, 1957 (Three Sections - 24 Pages) $4.00 per year 5c per copy Canadian Ambassador Suicides In Wake Of US Red Witch-Hunt Gallows VANCOUVER (CP) �The last minute confession by convicted police killer Joe Gordon who went to the gallows here Tuesday was termed today as "ridiculous." Cordon, jn .a letter to the justice depannent, claimed it was he. who held up Brail Pharmacy at gunpoint last July, for which another man, John Graham Bry-son, -15 Is serving a .six-year sentence. "The holdup man definitely was not Joe Gordon," said Irma and David Brail, victims of the gunman. "Joe Gordon has dark curly hair, 1 saw the back of-the (holdup man's) head and it was straight, sandy hair," said Mrs. Brail. "Dave saw the face and he knows it was not Joe Gordon." Meanwhile, underworld sources Jet t be known that Gordon did not commit the holdup. Nor was it Bryson, they said, but a man who considered appealing for protection of the Canada Evidence Act and clearing Bryson. Lawyer Larry Hill, Gordon's counsel, said Gordon paid for Bryson's appeal after his conviction. The appeal was not allowed. Lawyer Hill said earlier he will obtain statements from police officers involved in the Bryson case and send them to Ottawa along with Gordon's confession. Mechanic Charged In COURTENAY, B.C. (CP) � Lclnnd Eugene Miller, 31, was charged Wednesday with the slaying of a 31-ycar-old woman with whom he had been living. Stabbed to death Tuesday night was Mrs. Dorothy Francis Duy-vojomck, mother of two children. Miller was remanded to April 12 without bail. Miller, a mechanic, had started a new job at a service station here Tuesday. Co-workers said that when he left work, he was "very happy." Five-and-a-half hours later, HCMP found the body of the murdered woman. Herbert Norman Dies CAIRO (CP) � Herbert Norman, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt who was distressed by accusations of communist tendencies by a United States Senate sub-committee, plunged to his death today from a seventh floor window. The 4S-year-old ambassador fell from a window in the home of Carl Eng, Sweden's Minister to Egypt. His death was declared a suicide by Egyptian police. The Canadian Embassy said he apparently took his life because of "recent unpleasant publicity and accusations." Norman died, in the words of a note he left addressed to his wife, "without hope"�despite the fact that the senate sub-commltte's allegations that he was a former communist had been repudiated by the U.S. State Department and despite a vigorous defence of his record by External Affairs Min- ister Pearson in parliament at Ottawa. The note, scrawled on Embassy paper, was found in the pocket of his light grey suit. With it was a note addressed to the Swedish minister, not home at the time, apologizing for using the building to take his life. Norman leaves, besides his wife, two sons and a daughter. "I'm right sorry for the inconvenience too, mister, jfcut Lizzy here's BeeKt in the family nigh on 60 years and she's about the only dang buggy that- don't get stuck on these modern new highways." Chalifoux Committed Eye-Witness Testifies As Murder Probe Ends Pioneer Resident To Be Buried Friday A former employee of the Pub-lie Works department, Marcus Elmer C'ahoon, aged 71, of South Fort George, died suddenly at his home Tuesday. Mr. C'ahoon had resided here since 11)10. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Funeral services will be held 2:li0 Friday atfernoon at Knox United Church under the auspices of the Masonic Lodge. A 21-year-old Indian girl became the Crown's star witness in the preliminary hearing of accused slayer Freddie Chalifoux this week when she testified as an eyewitness to the February 7 fracas which preceded the death of 2o-year-old Charles Elkington. A hushed courtroom heard the girl say: *" "J saw a knife in Freddie's hand and the other guy was trying to take it away. I see him trying to hold it against the guy's chest." The words were spoken by Sylvia Gray, friend of the accused and one of a party of Indians who engaged in an all-day drinking session at a down-tgwn beer parlor. � She was speaking while under cross examination by Frank S. Perry, Crown prosecutor, Monday. The protracted, four-day preliminary hearing of Chalifoux, 22- year-old Alberta Cree Indian, concluded shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. He was committed far trial by magistrate P. J. Moran to the spring assize. Almost 30 witnesses were heard during the hearing which opened Fridw.v. ACCUSE!) CALM The accused, rose to receive his committal Tuesday with the same unconcerned expression he has worn throughout the hearing. it was the shy, darkly-attract-IVe Sylvia Gray who seemed to find it difficult to grasp the meaning of crown prosecutor Perry's questions, and who proved to be the crown's key witness. She outlined a'drinking party at the Canada Hotel which began at 10:30 a.m. February 7 when she was in the company of Louise Chalifoux and Emile and Paul Walker. After leaving the beer parlor at 11:30 p.m. she spoke of watching a fight. Questioned by Mr. Perry regarding accused's fight with the dead man, she answered: "Freddie was on the ground and the | other was on top of him." "I SAW A KNIFE" Counsel: "What did you sec?" Witness: "I saw a knife in Freddie's hand and the guy was trying to take the knife away. I see him trying to hold it against the guy's chest." She went on to describe how she had tried to take Freddie to the Island Cache and the Chalifoux cabin. She said Freddie had asked how he had cut his check and she had told him by fighting with the other man. He then asked for a cloth to wipe blood off his face and jacket. He wore gloves and she identified a pair of black leather gloves as those worn by accused on the (See MURDER PROBE,. Page 7) $1 Million Spending Program Outlined at City Hall For '57 Dezell City's Choice In Battle Of Budget Arbitration Committee A former mayor of the City of Prince George will lead the city's fight to reduce school costs by means of arbitration, Garvin Dezell, mayor of the city from 1950 to 1053, Tuesday accepted city council's unanimous request that he represent the city on an arbitration board that will attempt to settle a shool budget disupte. Mr. Dezell is generally acknowledged to have a greater grasp of relative school costs and of the powers entrusted school boards than most men. He declined to comment on the 1057 school budget which council has described as "excessive" until he had time to study both sides of the dispute. City council voted unanimously on the choice of Mr. Dezell at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon. Deadline for settlement of the dispute under terms of the Municipal Act is April 10. School board nominee G. .1. (Sec DEZELL, Page 3) GARVIN DEZELL Lawyer Lashes City Hall For Use Of Petty Politics A city barrister has charged City Hall with using the police magistrate's court "for the purpose of petty politics." John Meredith Tayler facing APPOINTED new manager of the Prince George Co-operative Association is Hugh Baylis who succeeds Robert C. Rose, manager of the Fourth Avenue Co-op for 10 years up until his retirement last week. (Story on Page 24.) City of Prince George this year will embark' on the largest construction program in its histoiy. Despite a tight money market and the threatened curtailment of its 1057 budget, the city is committed on paper to the expenditure of over $1,000,000 in new building alone. Close to half a million will be further expended on other improvements and equipment. The year will sec the construction of the largest single building ever undertaken here. If approved by city council, capital expenditures for the year will total $l,3SS,500. The outlay constitutes the second year's cost of a sis-year capital expenditure program that totals close to $3,000,000. Biggest single outlay will be for the new (5155,000 civic arena, the largest single structure to be undertaken by a city* council since incorporation. MAJOR PROJECTS Other major undertakings include $90,000 for a new police station, tenders for which will be called shortly; $125,000 for a water works program; $55,000 for new public works buildings; $150,-000 for storm sewers; an estimated $200,000 for sanitary sewers; $16,000 for sidewalks, curbs and gutters; and $20,000 for improvements to the Civic Centre. Included in the capital expenditures is $400,000 for the new, hospital and nurses' residence, construction on which however, is unlikely to get started this year. However none of the undertakings will be ratified until the budget is brought before council perhaps sometime next week. Curtailment of some of the projects may result, council has already approved most of them. It is questionable for instance, whether the city will be prepared to embark on the second phase of a sanitary sewer program. Tenders are currently being called by Associated Engineers Services Ltd. and if bids arc beyond estimates set for the program, it is likely that the sewers may be delayed another. year. Already sliced from this year's program is a $30,000 estimate for street paving. The plan calls for a five-year paving estimate with ex- (See ONE MILLION, Page 3) prosecution since last September for allegedly failing to take out a city professional license, Wednesday asked for acquittal and suggested tha't "it would have 'been better if this case had been thrown out of court at the outset." In a written argument addressed to magistrate P. J. Moran, Mr. Tayler expressed enpatience at the court's delay in bringing down a decision and submitted that the prosecution "has done me great harm." "Almost every day people ask me how the case is coming, which is very irritating. More serious than this, it is obvious from the remarks of many people that they think the question in issue is vhcther I am qualified to practise aw. "As there is no question that I am qualified to practise, I believe this prosecution has done me great harm," Mr. Tayler contended. Mr. Tayler was summonsed last September 20 but the case has been adjourned repeatedly to' allow for the preparation of a transcript. The barrister contends that he was employed by a city law firm at the time and that the responsibility of paying the licence fee should have been borne by his employer. At that time he was employed by Frank S. Perry, who, Mr. Tayler argued, was billed for and "paid for two licence fees" for some years before Mr. Taylcr's employ. "It is therefore perfectly obvious that the City Hall, in prose- cuting me for non-payment of the tax at a time when 1 was employed by Mr. Perry, and without giving me any advance notice that they required me to pay, used this court for the purpose of petty politics," he said. Said Mr. Tayler: "I submit that Your Worship has no other option but to acquit me and that the sooner Your Worship docs so the better." The young lawyer's submission was made following his appearance yesterday morning in police court where the case was once again adjourned, this time to April G, to permit the court reporter to complete a transcript. Mr. Tayler was charged at a time when he had secured an injunction restraining the city from interfering with buildings owned by a client. Cawley Committed On Perjury Charge Thomas Cawley, Prince Oeorge appearing in a city police court earlier this week on charges of perjury, was committed for trial to the County Court. The charges arise out of certain receipts submitted by accused as evidence in a trial on charges of theft brought against him last October and on which he was ac-quitted. February's Joint Service Club Council's Giant Bingo, run by the Rotary Club, netted a profit of $2,253.97, it was reported to Parka Board Wednesday night.