Amateur Miner
Lays Family Low by
Mercury Poisoning
J ^
ANAHEIM, Calif. Iff) — The
sign on Robert D. Thayer’s front
door - says “Condemned.”
Behind the door is a deadly con
tamination: Coating walls, floor,
celing and furnishings in an in
visible deposit of mercury vapor.
Thayer accidentally spread it
throughout the house while trying
to learn if he’d found gold on his
property.
Thayer, his wife and two chil
dren were all hospitalized with
mercury poisoning — a potenti
ally fatal affliction which can
cause symptoms ranging from in
somnia and digestive upsets to
mental disturbances.
The Thayers recovered, but
their house hasn’t.
Chemists tell him it may cost
$4,000 to decontaminate it. On
top of that, it will have to be
completely repainted inside, and
much of his furniture will prob
ably have to be destroyed.
Their insurance doesn’t cover
the damage. Thayer is still too
sick to work. They have several
thousands of dollars in unpaid
doctor bills. And it wasn’t gold
Thayer found, either.
It started when Thayer, 28, a
sheet metal worker, found gold
flecked clods in the yard of his
$15,000 raheh-style home. He de
cided to test them for gold.
He cleaned the ore with nitric
acid and added mercury, the
liquid metal, which absorbs gold.
“Then I did the most stupid
thing I could do,” he said. “I
evaporated the mercury bn the
stove in a pan. Pure gold would
be left if the ore was pui'e gold.”
The forced air heating system
spread the poisonous mercury
vapor through the house.
‘The next morning,” said Mrs.
Thayer, “Bob was terribly nau
seated. He couldn’t breath. I had
a severe backache. The children
were throwing up. We went to a
doctor and they put Bob in the
hospital right away.
“But they didn’t know what was ;
wrong until I happened to re
member the mercury and called
the doctors about it. Then they
put us all in the hospital.”
The couple and their children
were hospitalized a week. Anti
dotes saved them. But the mer
cury remains in the body, ab
sorbed into body tissues, disrupt
ing normal body functions.
State health experts say mer
cury poisoning can cause insom
nia, irritability, melancholy, agi
tation, and loss of memory.
“We still have some of those
personality changes they talk
about,” Mrs. Thayer said. “We:
were always such a happy family, j
We now have moments of mel
ancholy. Sometimes we have
Anti-Castro Cuban
Council Calls for
Second War of Liberation
j NEW YORK W — A call to
| arms for Cuba’s “second war of
I liberation” was addressed to all
Cubans Saturday by an anti
Castro Cuban Revolutionary
Council.
The council, meeting in New
York, said that unless Prime
Minister Fidel Castro is expelled
Cuba will “die, choked by slave
ry.”
The call was announced by Dr.
Jose Miro Cardona, president of
the council, at a news conference
in the Hotel Roosevelt.
Dr. Miro Cardona said in the
declaration: “Cubans: Our coun- ;
try is occupied by a foreign army
at the service of those who be
trayed the revolution. It is our
duty to our revered liberators to
expel the tyrant from our soil . . .
“In the name of God, we assure
you all that after the victory we
will have peace, human solidarity,
general well-being and absolute
respect for the dignity of all
Cubans without exception. Duty j
calls us to the war against the
executioners of our Cuban breth
ren.
“Cubans: To victory: For de
mocracy: For the constitution:
For social justice: For liberty.”
trouble remembering things.
“It’s awfully hard on the neigh
bors who took us in. But they’ve
been just wonderful.”
The house will have to be de
contaminated by specialists in va
por-proof suits and wearing res
pirators. In one similar case a
home was torn down because it
couldn’t be decontaminated.
To add to the Thayers’ prob
lems, their children have caught
ithe measles from their hosts’
youngsters.
“And the worst of it was,” said
Thayer, “It was fool’s gold I
found. Fool’s gold in more ways
than one.”
"DO IT ALL
WITH ONE CALL"
☆
Modern Laundry
AND
Drv Cleaners
☆
Complete Dry Cleaning
and
Laundry Service
☆
FOR PICK-UP — CALL
MAIN 113
☆
Jim and Rulh McLean
Proprietors
—i I.
--1
Guaranteed ZIEGLER
Dependable and
Fuel Service Quaker
STOVE PARTS
LP Gas and REPAIRS
and Appliance* OIL HEATERS
Office: Ma. 152 Res: Main 89
DEAL WITH CONFIDENCE AT
Green’s City Fuel and Transfer
Representative for
Kossoe Hot Air Furnaces
_ See Us for Installation Estimates —
GUARANTEED — and MONTHLY SERVICE!
• Be Cozy All Winter — with Regulated Heat.
• Cut Down Fuel Costs — by Controlled Heat.
Northern Metal Works
Black 115 after 5 p.m. —phones— Shop: Main 115
Navy Leaders Trv
To Explain - 6Lots
Of Water’ There
WASHINGTON UP> — Navy
leaders ran into rough seas at a
Senate Defense hearing Friday
trying to explain why it took so
long to locate the seized Portu
guese liner, Santa Maria.
They never did satisfy Sen.
Richard B. Russell, iD-Ga.) who
brought up the matter at a
closed session of the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
Russell, chairman of the com
mittee, told newsmen about it
afterward.
“I still can’t understand it.
Here was a big, big ship with its
radio going full blast 24 hours
and it took the Navy four or
five days to even find it,” he said.
Russell said he reminded Navy
leaders that they had gotten “tens
of millions of dollars worth of
radars, sonars and other elec
tronics equipment to locate ene
my ships, aircraft and submarines
and yet they needed several days
to find a big passenger liner.”
Secretary of the Navy John B.
Connally, Adm. Arleigh A. Burke,
the Chief of Naval Operations,
and other top officers, were ques
tioned by the senator.
“The only explanation I re
member is there was ‘lots of
water’ out there,” Russell said.
Other senators said the Navy j
was handicapped because the j
Portuguese rebels who seized the |
luxury liner maintained radio
silence at first and frequently
changed courses.
The Santa Maria, with nearly
600 passengers and a crew of 368,
was seized Jan. 22 by a group of
27 Portuguese lead by Capt. Hen
rique Galvao, who boarded it at
the isle of Curacao in the Carib
bean.
Galvao called the seizure a pro
test against the regime of Pre
mier Antonio Salazar, longtime
strong man in Portugal.
A widespread search by U. S.
Navy ships and aircraft finally
located the liner Jan. 25. It was
escorted to Recife, Brazil, where
the crew and passengers, including !
numerous U. S. citizens were
landed.
65 'foTlj
Arctic Sanitary |
Service
. HIM* HMIBiagI
President Kennedy Opens
The 19lil Baseball Season
WASHINGTON UP) — President
Kennedy opened the 1961 base
ball season today with a slick
peg over the heads of scrambling
ball players at Griffith Stadium.
The Presidential pitch, time
honored ceremony that inaugu
rated another year of the national
pastime, skimmed off the hands
of two players. It finally was
grabbed by outfielder Jim Rivera
of the Chicago White Sox.
Rivera, who might have known
beforehand that Kennedy had
more than the usual zip for a
Chief Executive’s toss, was stand
ing at the rear of a mass of
White Sox and Washington Sena
tors.
He waved the ball gaily over
his head and galloped to the
President’s box on the first base
line to have it autographed by
Kennedy.
As has been the custom, Ken
nedy threw out a second ball for
ihe benefit of photographers who
might have missed the first pitch.
The Chicago White Sox edged
the Senators 4 to 3.
Kennedy Asks Thai Johnson Be
Chairman of Nat. Space Agency
WASHINGTON UP — President
Kennedy today asked Congress to ;
approve legislation which would j
make Vice President Lyndon B. ,
Johnson chairman of the National I
Aeronautics and Space Council.
Under present law the Presi
dent is chairman of the council.
Kennedy had announced while
he still was President - elect that
he planned to have Johnson head
of the council.
The wealth of most old people
must be the richness of their
memories. The financial fact is:
50 per cent of .persons 65 or older
have incomes of less than $1,000 a
year.
| Congress A^ked For
$12 Billion For New Arms
WASHINGTON i/P—'The House
j today received a record size au
thorization bill totaling nearly
$12 billion for new missiles, air
j craft and ships.
Chairman Carl Vinson of the
Armed Services Committee said
in introducing the measure that
it is the “the largest authorization
bill ever presented to the Con
gress.”
The Georgia Democrat noted
that a law taking effect at the
first of this year requires specific
prior approval by Congress be
fore appropriations can be made
for major military items.
The authorization request in
cludes changes made by the pre
sent administration in the defense
budget submitted by former
President Eisenhower for the
year starting July 1.
It asks $5,083,600,000 for air
craft, $3,967,200,000 for missiles
and $2,915,000,000 for naval ves
sels.
Call . . .
ARCTIC OIL
DELIVERY
— AUTOMATIC SERVICE —
Fu e
5 You’ve never seen laundry j
so clean j
yet finished so quickly!
All ready for you to iron and
put away — including blankets
and slipcovers!
NS NOME U-WASH |
4 — PHONE BLACK 1 —
— MACHINES DO YOUR JOB!
VrJsi_w \a
right in step with pleasure
Light Olympia Beer is a welcome partner for any Western activity...because
its distinctive character and refreshing good tast£ never change. The uncom
promising quality of Olympia is assured by a rare artesian brewing water—an
invisible difference brought to mind whenever you see the familiar slogan...
"It’s the Water"
W-67
Visitors are always welcome at the Olympia Brewing Company, Olympia, Washington, U.S.A. *01y