[St. Louis Star-Times, April 7, 1941]
70 More Suits For TNT
Land Ordered
United
States District Attorney Harry C. Blanton announced today that he has received
instructions from the War Department to file seventy more condemnation suits
against land in the Weldon Springs TNT plant area. Five similar suits already
have been filed.
Under the
action Blanton will file a declaration of taking the land, will deposit
government checks with federal court covering the price the government feels is
fair, and will institute condemnation proceedings to afford present owners an
opportunity to contest the government’s value. Actual possession of the land,
however, will go to the government with the filing of the declaration of
taking.
In the five
suits already instituted, the government deposited $27,559 with the court,
compared with $109,768 which the government had agreed to pay for the five
parcels of land under the now-canceled government options.
==========
[St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, April 8, 1941]
U. S. Pays $186,999
for TNT Plant Site
The
government yesterday paid into the registry of the Federal Court here $186,999
and filed declarations of taking against approximately 3350 acres of land for
the site of the TNT plant near Weldon Springs, Mo. The average price per acre
was about $55.
Separate
suits are being filed against each of the 75 tracts included in the
declarations of taking and title to the land will not pass the government until
the separate actions are brought by the United States District Attorney Harry
C. Blanton.
Five of the
separate declarations were filed yesterday and others will be filed on an
average of about a dozen a day, Blanton said.
The owners,
the acreage and the amount paid into court in the petitions yesterday are:
Emily
Estelle Blize, two acres, $780; Fred G. and Hilda Mound, 68 acres, $2480;
Carrie Hamm, as trustee for Eleanor Marie Hamm, a minor, 20 acres, $300;
Charles B. and Susie M. Portwood, 49.45 acres, $1900; Anne C. and Girttrell
Friedley, lot in Hamburg, $300.
The
declarations of taking were signed by Secretary of War Stimson and set out the
land was necessary for national defense, and the amount paid into court was
considered the reasonable value of the property. Owners may contest the offer
of the government by filing objections, but title passes with the filing of a
declaration of taking.
==========
[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1941]
Disguised Nazi Short
Wave Station Pumping U. S. ‘Hams’ on Defense
Amateur
radio operators in St. Louis and throughout the nation have been cautioned
against discussing Aunt Tillie’s new hat or the Weldon Spring TNT plant with a
German station operating under disguised signals. Federal officials believe the
foreign station has tricked American amateurs into disclosing several minor
details about the progress of the defense program.
The German
station is on the air several nights a week, its signals crosscrossing the
sector of the short wave band set aside for amateurs. “CQ, CQ, CQ,” it calls in
the international language of the Morse code. CQ is the signal to amateur
operators that another radio “ham” is inviting anyone to start a conversation
with him.
American
amateurs have been forbidden to answer CQ calls from Europe since the outbreak
of war, but the German station, identified as D4CVK of Bremen, has lured many
responses by turning the “dash-dot-dot” of the D in its call letters into
“dash-dot-dash.” The slight extra pressure on which the transmitting key turns
the call letters in K4CVK, which would be a Puerto Rican station.
In the
tradition of amateur radio, after establishing contact with another operator,
the German gives a name, describes his equipment and inquires how his signals
are being received. That disposed of, amateurs ordinarily drift into discussion
of whatever pops into their minds, ranging from baby’s bright saying to personal
economics and the weather.
The German
operator, apparently the only amateur still functioning n the Reich, seems to
have a way of shifting the dot-dash conversation to defense projects near the
American amateur’s home.
==========
[St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, April 10, 1941]
U. S. to ‘Take’ 45
TNT Site Tracts
The
government yesterday filed “declarations of taking” against 45 more tracts of
land which will be included in the site of the TNT plant at Weldon Springs,
Mo., in St. Charles County.
The money
for the property was paid into the registry of the court Monday when the first
five of the present series of suits were filed. Title passes to the government
immediately, but owner may file objections to the price paid into court by the
government.
The owners
of the land, the amount and the price offered by the government in the actions
yesterday were:
Vincent J.
and Mable S. Lonergan, 5.22 acres. $1040: Q. W. S. S. Realty and Investment
Company, 365.51 acres, $15,280; Sam P. Hall, 9 acres, $720; Cecil O. Stewart,
.52 acres, $2400; John T. and Susie B. Beatty, .98 acres, $100; Marvin Howell,
142.13 acres, $7220; Chiles F. and Mary Stewart, 220.48 acres, $10,140; Grace
W. Watson, 2 acres, $1560; James K. and Vera Muschany, 33.33 acres, $950; Daniel
P. and Gertrude McDonald, 40 acres, $860; Mary E. Atterberry, 40 acres, $600;
Clyde R. and Lucille Tiedemann, .36 acres, $40; Theodore Lammert and others,
50.19 acres, $1280; Eltin and Maude Pitman, 12 acres, $3620; Richard D. and
Hillary B. Shewmaker, no acreage stated, $1700; John Henry and Ella Dieckmann,
122.97 acres, $8092.
John M. and
Martha W. Bowlin, 19.40 acres, $800; Anna Gerdiman and others, 61.44 acres,
$2240; Samuel M. Watson and others, 56.04 acres, $2560; Lydia Bechtold and
others, 4.56 acres, $120; William and Regina Kohler, 8 acres, $288; Sarah A.
Bigelow, 10.36 acres, $800; Eliza Teeters and others, no acreage stated, $320:
Harold L. White and others, 40 acres, $2680; Hodgen Bates and others, 28.23
acres, $1300; Iva Awbrey Fox and others, 69 acres, $2880: Henry Keiser and
others, 105.40 acres, $5640; Earl R. Sutton and others, 63.40 acres, $1480.
John F.
Johnson and others, 56 acres, $1,680; Elsie Knippenberg, 2 lots in Howell,
$560; Earl R. Sutton and others, 2 lots in Howell, $3140; Sam and Anna
Cunningham, 33.33 acres, $920; George W. Stevenson and others, 8 acres, $4980;
Rose and Gilbert McKenney, 55.65 acres, $1400; George H. Dugan and others, no
acreage stated, $3380; T. M. Livergood, 40 acres, $615: Leah and J. G. Jones
Jr., 19.75 acres, $800; C. R. and Ottie Karrenbrock, 80.8 acres, $3360.
